Sonny Corinthos

EA has just revealed a collaboration with Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament to feature one of the most revered tournaments in golf – the Masters – in Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters. For the first time in franchise history, players will be able to step onto the hallowed grounds of Augusta National, experience the rich history and tradition of the Masters Tournament and begin their own journey to capture the most sought-after prize in professional golf – the Green Jacket. I’m excited about this for no other reason than I am from Augusta, GA, oh yeah and the chance to win the Green Jacket.

The Masters edition will go on sale in North America on March 29 and worldwide on April 1, available on the Wii™, Xbox 360® and PlayStation®3 consoles, with support of the PlayStation® Move controller. The Masters and five additional courses will also be included in the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 12 Collector’s Edition, developed exclusively for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system.

New features and enhancements include:

■Masters Moments – Play through memorable, historic moments as players try to measure up against some of the sport’s greatest legends.

■Tiger at the Masters – Relive each of Tiger’s four wins at the Masters by attempting to equal or beat his scores in each round of the Tournament.

■The Caddie Experience – Behind every great golfer is a trusted and reliable caddie. Players will have a caddie by their side on every swing, providing strategic advice, from shot selection to reading greens, helping them become a more successful golfer.

■The Closest Thing to Being There – For the first time ever, EA SPORTS™ utilized a new state-of-the art laser scanning technology at Augusta National Golf Club to laser scan every hole featured in the game. This will provide players with the most authentic digital representation of the Tournament and Par 3 courses. Every tree, every azalea and every undulation in every green was recreated down to the smallest detail.

■Broadcast Presentation – Feel the emotion of every swing as called by the all-new commentary team of Jim Nantz and David Feherty, who headline a completely revamped TV broadcast presentation package.

■Career Mode – The all-new career mode will closely mirror the journey of an amateur golfer’s rise through the ranks and chase the title of Masters champion.

■New Players – Over 20 professional golfers to choose from, including Zach Johnson (2007 Masters Champion) and Bubba Watson (2010 Ryder Cup – Team USA).

■Championship Courses – Take on the best of the best on sixteen of the world’s most celebrated courses, including Augusta National Golf Club, Royal Melbourne Golf Club (Australia), Atlanta Athletic Club, TPC San Antonio, St Andrews Links and Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 12: The Masters will retail for $59.99 on Xbox 360® and PlayStation®3, $49.99 on the Wii™, and the PlayStation®3 exclusive Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 12 Collector’s Edition will be available for $69.99.

Rob V

Hopefully Move works well this time.

chuckd21

So I wonder if Nantz is calling all the rounds now or only the Masters stuff? If it's a total revamp then that's what, the third broadcast team this game has had in 5 years?

Decker

Another case of EA giving something extra on the PS3 version, apparently. I prefer playing 360 games, but they do stuff like this(extra courses here, extra bonus games in Medal of Honor and Dead Space 2) and it sort of forces my hand.

RobLutter

I like the subtle rebranding...

EA SPORTS MASTERS [Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12]

And no Tiger mug on the cover.

Guessing after Tiger's deal expires... this will be MASTERS12... MASTERS13... etc etc...

whoopdido

As "disappointed" as Billy Payne was in Tiger last year, I'm kinda suprised they chose to partner with him. Augusta is always so worried about its image. It's not like they could ban Tiger from the course or anything...well, I guess they could. It's a private course and entrance to the Masters is by invitation only, but they couldn't REALLY do that. They could, however, choose not to associate themselves with his video game.

In any event, I'm pumped. Unless I'm mistaken, Augusta has never appeared in any golf video game ever, so this is really cool. I passed on Tiger 11, but will definitely be picking up 12.

chuckd21

Seeing how much extra content is on the PS3 version makes me think I'll just skip this one entirely.

Rob V

I prefer the Xbox 360 over the PS3 as well... but if this translates well via Move, I'm in... if not, I'm out entirely. TW11 was lame IMO.

mugwump

I abandoned this franchise when it became nothing more than a shell to push additional DLC of the type that used to be included for free with the packaged game. That being said I have friends who are planning to finally break down and buy PS3s or 360s just to play this game. Golfers are nuts.

NiCK Crush

This sounds awesome.

MFRONE

I'm so glad I bought TW11 on Sunday

zekeburger1979

PS3 Collector's Edition Cover:



Xbox360 Cover:



Wii Cover:



Interesting how the Wii version is $10 cheaper but has 9 more courses than the Xbox360 version and $20 cheaper and 4 more courses than the PS3CE version.

As much as I would love to get the PS3CE, I wonder if $20 more and less courses to start off with is worth the tradeoff in HD graphics. I'll wait and see what the reviews say about Move support.

How much was it to download courses on TW11?

whoopdido

I think it's interesting that the PS3 version has Tiger on the cover, but both the Wii and 360 versions don't have a picture of him at all. I don't know who that is on those covers but it's not Tiger.

astrochimp

Wii has an additional 23 courses but only 14 for the 360?

Boba Fett

They did that with '07. I had it for XBox, then bought a used copy of the 360 version and noticed a bunch of courses missing, including the local course, Pumpkin Ridge, which really ticked me off.

zekeburger1979

The regular PS3 edition doesn't have Tiger on the cover and only 15 courses including The Masters. The Collector's Edition adds 5 more courses and has Tiger on the cover. I wonder what the exclusives will be for that?

chuckd21

The Wii courses aren't high def, and so more can fit on a disc. Plus the DLC market on Wii wouldn't really support putting courses out for download.

PS3 is obviously getting more courses than the 360 because of the extra space on a Blu Ray disc. 360 owners will get the luxury of downloading each of the extra courses at $10 a pop.

I've never paid to download a course, and unless there were achievements involved I doubt I ever will. So unless Tiger 12 is just balls out amazing and fun, I'll skip it this year.

sauce07

I see Tiger on the cover for every system

whoopdido

That's not Tiger in the purple shirt teeing off on 12.

Decker

It's a black guy playing golf at Augusta. Who else could it possibly be?

whoopdido

I don't think he's black. Most golfers are very tan. That doesn't look anything like Tiger's follow through and there are 2 golf bags there and neither bag has Tiger's "Frank" driver head cover.

I couldn't find a good picture of his follow through from the back, but here's a link showing his swing. Even though it's an animation, it's definitely Tiger's swing. His follow through looks nothing like the guy on the cover.

http://www.markwallacegolf.com/tigerwoodsswing.html

And here's a link showing the club head cover that he's had for who knows how long, which is also nowhere to be seen in the picture.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/mart...-brand-new-bag

whoopdido

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf...-cover_1193819

And here's a story actually confirming that he's been dropped from the cover of his own game.

nickdawgy

It may not be Tiger on the cover, but it's small enough and tan/dark enough that to the average person it's Tiger Woods. They are thinking "well of course it has to be him, it's his game"

whoopdido

That's a good point.

Decker

Just heard Jim Nantz on the Dan Patrick Show this morning promoting The Masters tiger woods PGA Tour 11. I know it was a promo piece, but Jim's no shill (okay, maybe he is for Sony). His discussion of how realistic the course was, that he really didn't know if he was seeing a video of the course or a computer simulation had me pretty excited for this one. He clearly reveres the course and to have him so pleased with the results has really piqued my interest in it.