Tiger Woods PGA Tour '08 First Look

WOW! The franchise that changed video game golf is doing it again this summer. You can read the full article here, check out the pics, but I'm going to post a few bullet points:

• The new Photo Face feature is the next logical evolution of the character creator, known in Tiger as Game Face. The idea isn't new: take a picture of yourself and upload it on a character model. While we've seen this before with mixed results in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas, Tiger 08 takes it to an entirely new level. First you import a front and side photo from the Xbox Live Vision Camera, the Sony Eye Toy or a picture on your PC. Next you simply match up a number of markers with key points on your face, like eyes, nose, lips, ears and chin (a template shows you exactly where to put the points). Finally, hit go and Tiger 08 starts building a brand new character head (rather than wrapping a photo texture around a blank face as in Rainbow Six).
• User-created gameplay took shape in a new challenge system. Let's say you're 300 yards out and stick the ball inches from the pin on the highest difficulty setting. EA has set point values for all of these variables. The longer the shot, the more points you get. The closer to the hole, the more points you get. The higher the difficulty setting, the more points you get. Once you upload the clip and the point value is set, other gamers can download it and try to beat your shot, earning these challenge points along the way.
• We also know that there will be only 15 courses on the PS3 and 360 -- too few, we say. But look for Boston, Westchester, Cog Hill and the rest of the FedEx Cup courses to be included.