As far back as I can remember, there has been virtual golf. Whether it was something like a Mario golf game, or Golden Tee at the arcade, video game golf has been a mainstay as much as any FPS or RPG.
Golf started off with a pretty simple scheme: aim toward the hole, press a button, and you’re done. Then came the three-click scheme: click once to initiate the swing, a second click for power, and a third click for accuracy (or some variant of that).
The most recent variation came with the analogue swing, using a controller’s analogue stick to replicate a golf swing. This was by far my favorite option, because short of swinging a real club, it gave you the most control over the swing. Next came motion control golfing with the Wii, although the overall control you had over your swing was pretty rudimentary, to say the least.
Times have changed, however, and so has the virtual golf swing…again. This time your whole body will now be taken into consideration in what’s sure to excite virtual golfers the world over. As someone who golfs in real life, I can’t begin to explain how exciting Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 looks simply because I can actually perform a golf swing.
Gaming Examiner sits down with Lead Designer Mike DeVault to discuss some of the new changes to this year’s game.
Gaming Examiner: The Kinect integration is receiving a lot of press lately as the way to stand in relation to your TV is somewhat unique when compared to some more “traditional” motion-controlled golf games. How did you come about the decision to have the player stand facing the screen as opposed to perpendicular to the screen like you would with the Wii or PS Move?
Mike Devault: When we started designing this year’s game our goal was to deliver the first simulation sports game on the Kinect. In order to deliver a simulation swing we needed to have players directly face the Kinect sensor. We experimented with a bunch of different player positions and in the end it was the forward facing position that proved to be the only way we were going to be able to pick up the data points necessary to deliver the depth of simulation we were looking for.
GE: I would imagine that standing perpendicular to the screen would also allow for a proper swing plane to be calculated? How is the new setup more accurate?
MD: By standing face-on to the camera it gives us the ability to replicate your authentic swing in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 through the ability to capture not just your swing but your entire body movement’s data points. Kinect scans more than 1,000 data points in real-time to recognize the player’s swing mechanics and replicate it in-game.
GE: You have described the presence of the swing plane being like a halo that the player can try to follow; is there a way to turn off that option for those who golf in real life and maybe don’t need the visual assistance?
MD: Yes. You can turn the swing plane arc off completely if you’d like. In fact our hardest difficulty level automatically removes the arc from view.
