Inside Blog – My Q&A With Greg Rinaldi on Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online

Recently, Jeremy Bennett, from the Back Nine Blog and the EA SPORTS Forums where he is a Moderator, sat down with Greg Rinaldi from the Tiger Woods Online team to discuss the game and its current open beta state:

Jeremy Bennett (JB): For those who may be brand new to Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online, what is the best way to describe the overall experience?

Greg Rinaldi (GR): Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online is the first browser-based, online, streaming sports simulation from EA SPORTS. This revolutionary addition to the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR franchise allows players to access their favorite golf title from just about any internet-enable PC or Mac. This means that you can play Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online virtually anywhere; at work, at home, at the airport or even at your in-laws’ house…but wherever you are, you’re only one click away from your next round of golf.

Continued after the jump…

Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online – Open Beta is Now Live!!!

For those who have been in the beta, or signed up recently for the open beta.  It is now live.  Make sure to post any feedback, bugs, glitches, and any other problems in the forums that are found on the main page of the game’s website http://tigerwoodsonline.ea.com

Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online Open Beta Starts Soon

The open beta period for Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online is about to begin.  Make sure to head over to the website to sign up of if you haven’t yet.  Any information that is pertaining to the game can be found at the website as well.

What Will 2010 Bring For The Tiger Woods Gaming Franchise?

With the obvious controversy that has surrounded Tiger Woods over the past few months, I had taken a hiatus on posting anything on the Back Nine Blog as I waited for the situation to play out, and how EA Sports was going to react to the situation.  Now was the calendar turns to 2010, it is definitely time to start firing up the Back Nine Blog again and look toward this new year, which could be a banner year for golf gaming, regardless of the controversy.

Probably the biggest story of 2009 was the controversy surrounding Tiger Woods.  Which leads to a very interesting question.  What will he do to repair his image, and when will he address the public.  These questions are relative unknowns; however, the gaming franchise of Tiger Woods seems to be continuing with a “business as usual” approach.  Promoting these games is going to be real tricky; however, there is no denying that EA Sports has two great games on their hands.

Later this month, EA Sports will unveil Tiger Woods PGA Tour online.  A revolutionary online game that engages both the sport and the social networking aspects of online play on the PC.  Through various beta testing periods, the community has gotten a taste of what this great marriage of sport an social networking has to offer.  More details regarding this game will be delivered once they come out.  I have gotten first hand looks at this beta, and it is definitely worth taking a look at.

Later this summer, we should be able to expect Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.  Last year the game’s release date was pushed back to June, a welcome change with the cluttered summer/fall schedule of EA Titles.  Nothing has been divulged as of yet regarding Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, but when you take a look at how the developers listened to the community not only on the retail version of the game, but with updates to the title as the year went along…you can’t help but notice the community’s resounding cheer for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.  This momentum is going to carry of to the 11 title this year, regardless of the controversy in my opinion.

I look forward to another great year with the Tiger franchises, and would love to wish you a Happy New Year, and thanks for checking out the Back Nine Blog!

Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online BETA Round 3 Has Started!

The third round of the beta period for Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online started on the 27th.  Stay tuned for updates from both rounds two and three of the beta here on Back Nine Blog.

Third Course is Announced for Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online

Thanks to the beta participants golfing 10,000 rounds … we’ve been presented with the 3rd course announced for the PC game set to be released this fall.  Below is the release sent to the beta participants:

The Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® Online team would like to congratulate our Beta community for successfully completing our first-ever Community Challenge! We launched the Community Challenge last Tuesday, July 14th and just six days later, we hit our goal of completing 10,000 rounds of golf.

It was a great week for Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online with the community logging an average of over 1600 completed rounds a day. The most rounds completed in one day was 2039 on Wednesday, July 15th. The 10,000th game was completed by robertmark1 of the UK…great job!

Sheshan Golf Club is a beautiful and intimidating golf course. It features rolling hills, winding rivers, scattered ponds, and a large 50-meter deep quarry to play around. If you’ve never played Sheshan, now’s your chance. Thanks to the dedication of our Beta community, Sheshan is now unlocked and available to play for everyone in the Beta.

Round 2 of Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online Beta Kicks Off July 7th

Hopefully you were one of those selected to participate in the second round of beta testing for this fall’s Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online.  I will be posting my impressions and comparisons with the initial closed beta within the next couple of weeks, depending on how long this phase will last.  In the meantime click the jump below to read Greg Rinaldi’s Inside EA Sports Blog from a couple of days ago that details what will be in the second phase of the beta.

Inside EA Sports Blog: Why We Created an Online-Only Version of Tiger

Check out the latest Inside EA Sports Blog from producer Greg Rinaldi here.

Tiger Online Beta Start Date & Chance to Earn Access

Greg Rinaldi from the Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online team was on EA Sports Live today and announced that the next iteration of the beta will begin on July 7th, and will last for two to three weeks.  Somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people will be selected for this round of beta testing.  In  addition, tomorrow June 19th on EA Sports Live (starts at 3PM eastern, click to start the stream), you’ll be able to find out how you can win one of 50 beta access keys.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online Initial BETA Impressions

A few weeks ago, myself, along with about 60 other thankful and gracious golfing gamers, were able to take part in the first initial beta test for a PC franchise taking a different direction.  Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online gives PC Tiger fans what they missed out on last year, and it will take the franchise into new exciting directions.  This game has been taken in a different direction for several reasons.  The two biggest items that come to mind for me are the fact that it is cost efficient, and the growth of social networking sites (which I will later explain how it is fused in with the game).

Please keep in mind that this is a VERY early stage of the beta designed to test and give feedback, find bugs and give opinions, items from this beta are definitely subject to change throughout each phase of the beta, and I will definitely post updates as each phase is completed.

Please click the jump below to view my first impressions of the initial beta test.