Beautifully Rendered Recreational Sport

EA Sports has announced that its flagship golf title will debut for the Xbox One and PS4 beginning next year, Spring 2015. While it seems a bit of a while away, good things usually come to those who wait. The developers at EA Tiburon are proudly announcing that PGA Tour will now tout the Frostbite 3 game engine, allowing for beautifully rendered courses that take virtual golfing to the next level.

Two of the main features are being promoted at this time, and both are welcome and long overdue for the franchise. First, golfers will be able to see and explore the entire course for the first time, allowing for players to be able to gain a more realistic golfing experience. The second is that we will finally be able to skip load times between holes.

Strangely missing from the PGA Tour title is Tiger Woods. I can assume that his contract is up and not been renewed, but instead EA is putting its resources into fantasy courses that will allow you to play from anywhere. The ability to access any part of the course really comes into play here (as seen in the video below), and the developers state that you will be able to find shortcuts and alternate routes on these courses.

It will be interesting to see how the PGA Tour franchise proceeds. Will it continue to lean more and more toward fantasy or stick to its roots of a golfing sim? Only time will tell and until Spring 2015, time is what we've got.