You would be hard pressed to find a PC owner from the nineties that hadn’t wasted a time playing golf games. This week EA has taken the genre (and the time wasting) to a new level, with its ‘freemium’ title, Tigers Woods PGA Tour online
One of the most enduring genres of sports games on the PC has been golf. Access Software’s Links was one of the first 3D games to grace DOS based PCs, and it would be hard to find someone who owned a PC in the 1990s who didn’t indulge in a round or two of digital golf.
Links as a brand lasted for many, many years until it was killed off in 2003 by Microsoft (it purchased Access Software in 1999). Since then the major golfing franchise has been made by EA Sports under the Tiger Woods brand.
This early history means that a lot of PC owners who may never have graced a real world fairway know how to smack a digital ball around. Golf games themselves have evolved and spread to consoles but they have always been about in one form or another on the PC.
A fully functional golf game played in your web browser.
It is on the PC that golf games are undergoing their next evolution. This week marks the launch of EA Sports Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online, part of a new generation of online games that have been dubbed Freemium products. This term refers to a business model in which the game is free to play, but real world cash can be spent to get in-game items and bonuses.
To facilitate this model the game runs in a browser, using a plugin called Unity 3D. It streams content over the internet as needed, and by using the browser EA is able to tie users in to its storefront with which you can by currency that you then spend on items in game.
| You can play the game with other people or as a single player experience. No matter what, you can always access a live chat channel with others playing on the same course (thankfully you can also hide this if it becomes a bit much). |
Until now EA has only used this model for more hardcore online titles, but with Tiger Woods Online it is pushing Freemium towards a much wider audience.
The best things in golf aren’t free
What this means for the end user is that the game is easy to get into. Simply go to the website, register for an account (or log in with an existing Ea.com account), download the small plugin and get playing. The game will limit you to a handful of courses and some basic gear at first. New game features are unlocked as you play the courses, and money is earned when you complete ‘achievements’ like landing a 200 yard drive or coming in under Par.
This in-game money is spent to upgrade your character or buy new items. Most of these items are cosmetic and time limited – a new pair of pants will only last for five rounds for some strange reason. On top of this you can spend real cash to buy ‘Points’, which can then be used in game to access a better range of items.
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| This isn’t a case of EA selling the world’s most expensive pants, rather items with a cash price use the in-game currency that is earned while playing. Other items are only attainable with EA ‘points’ that one spends real world cash to procure. |
A sign of the times
So while there is certainly a potential for Tiger Woods Online to drain one’s wallet of cash, the basic game can be experienced for free. For those who haven’t dipped their toes into the Golfing waters since Microsoft drove the Links franchise into the ground this is a great opportunity to try the genre with no strings attached.
It is also a sign of things to come, as games targeting a non-hardcore audience are pushed in the most accessible way. While a lot of talk about social gaming focuses on people building farms and spamming facebook with the results, titles like Tiger Woods Online show that big game companies are also putting serious effort into creating polished, professional products for free (as long as you like the standard colour pants).