Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Total Pro Golf

I think this is a really, really good idea.

Phoenix, AZ April 8, 2006 – Grey Dog Software, a Phoenix based developer of sports management simulation software for personal computers, today announces Total Pro Golf [TPG]. Total Pro Golf is scheduled for a Q3 release and will be made available for digital download exclusively through Grey Dog Software for U.S. $24.95.

Get ready to swing into action in Total Pro Golf. Total Pro Golf puts you in charge of your golf career, allowing you to fully customize golfers, sponsors, courses, and scheduling. Acclaimed sports sim developer Gary Gorski, lead developer of Total College Basketball and Total Pro Basketball 2005, includes a course designer tool enabling players the opportunity to create custom courses and share them with friends. Total Pro Golf tees players up for an incredible and realistic golf experience.

Feature Set:

*Create your golfer and take him on a career path from the minor league tour to try and reach the pro tour and eventually retire on the senior circuit
*Earn sponsorships and win tournaments to help finance your career and equipment purchases
*Use the Total Pro Golf Course Designer, a simple and easy-to-use standalone tool, to create courses for TPG that you can use and share with your friends and the community
*Extensive stat tracking, sim tournaments or watch them in 2D game mode, multiple tournament formats and multiplayer tours

Grey Dog plans to release a TPG Course Designer, free to the community, in 2nd Quarter 2006.

You may wonder how a golf sim without a swing mechanic could be interesting.

I'll answer that, but I'd like to ask another question first: how could a fully 3D, detailed golf simulation with stunning graphics, a career mode, and the now-lengendary mouseswing be boring? Because Tiger Woods, to me, has gotten boring. It's stale.

And besides being stale in general, here's why it's boring to me: no course management. In Tiger Woods, it's all about shotmakin--if you're good enough with the swing, you're going to tear up the course.

That's just not how it is in real golf. So while Tiger Woods is fantastic to look at and mouseswing is wonderful, it's not realistic beyond the golf swing. Layers and layers of complexity have been added to the game over the years, but none have addressed the fundamental weakness of the game.

So a golf game with simple graphics that emphasizes course management, with a user-friendly course creator, is filling a real gap in golf games. And if there are realistic weather effects (again, not to be found in TW) as well as accurate slope and lie effects, it's going to be very compelling. There are a TON of things that Tiger Woods isn't doing, and probably won't ever do, when it comes to simulating golf. This game is a fresh idea, and Gary Gorski is a very talented designer.

One other thing: they're releasing the course creator before the game itself is released. Again, that's a great idea. If the course creator is easy to use, it will encourage people to design courses and enhance the game before it's even available. And it will also get people talking about the game.

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