Blogged

Duffers, beware

The American economy is under threat. I’m not talking about the housing market, or inflation, or recession. I’m warning you about the precipitous drop in office productivity that will surely result from the impending full version release of the online game World Golf Tour.

Golf? Online? I hear you laughing. I was just like you once, only more so. I don’t golf, you see; my nearest brush to the game took place at a driving range where I endangered innocent bystanders by hooking and slicing all over creation. So when I chanced upon a Fortune article on the beta version of WGT, I was initially unimpressed, even though I was duly warned:

When a friend sidled up to me and whispered “World Golf Tour” in my ear, I chalked it up to the usual hype. I mean, digital golf games are as old as Moses and about as much fun. But then I checked it out one afternoon. Days later I stumbled away from my computer to eat and, if there was time, bathe.

My experience matched the writer’s own; I’d lost so much time, all caught up in the game, I felt like an alien abductee.

The gameplay of the current version of the game consists of driving the ball as close to the pin as possible over nice holes. You have to adjust for distance and wind; you get to adjust your stance and select different clubs. You can hear birds chirping, as well as the deeply irritating ploosh of a ball splashing into a water hazard. And the visuals are gorgeous. Not a surprise, given the approach to detail taken by the game developers and YuChiang Cheng, co-founder and CEO of WGT:

Backed by first-round funding from venture firm Battery Partners, the World Golf team has been taking high-resolution pictures of every square inch of far-flung golf courses - from Pinehurst in North Carolina to the Bali Hai Golf Club in Las Vegas - using a small fleet of helicopters and radio-controlled drones. It takes a dozen people six months and $200,000 to make one World Golf course simulation, says Cheng. But that’s a bargain compared with the millions it can cost to design, animate, and distribute a conventional video or PC game.

WGT’s allure, combined with multiplayer ability, is going to get some people fired. I am so sure.

The full-blown version of World Golf Tour - promising “access to all 18 holes of the famous Ocean Course at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort,” with more courses to come - should be up in a few months. Until then, I’ll be struggling to work my way up from the semi-pro level.

Similar posts:
Tiger Woods out for the season
No pressure here
Not at all proud of this grade
What was Apple thinking?

© 2008 Philip Barron.  Log in  Monitored by SiteUptime