mp games are great but i think we should have option as before on simultaneous play or playing in turn..thats my 2cnts worth

cem_ea_id.Ozthunder wrote:Maybe this has been covered elsewhere but to make multiplayer work EA may have to bite the bullet and have downloadable content. For example caching all the courses on players PC's so that multiplayer can just get on with the job of handling the connections and players, not loading course graphics at a various different internet speeds across the world. With luck we should be able to get the golfers on the course live as full graphics and not tracers and a marker.

At the end of the day it will be multiplayer that will break or make the game for many customers. So getting it right without compromises is crucial to success ( my opinion of course ).

in total agreement here also we play a lot of alternate shot games, under these playing formats that would be next to impossible

Great point on the alternate shot games....also what about scrambles? Ahhhhh, I reallllllly hope they get the MP right or that will be a dealbreaker for most of the community. It is just an essential part of the game..if not the most essential as the social aspect of playing has been what has kept so many ppl around for so many years.

well, I tried MP games today with pretty good success. 2 18-hole rounds that went flawlessly, 1 18-hole round where a player left after the 1st hole, showed DNF, I tried to continue but was disconnected also. Continued with single play to finish the course. Then I set-up about 6 short par-3 only games, had some pretty good response with that, set no clock and at least 4 went well, all players that started finished (yippee).

Most of the changes that were installed worked pretty well, however when we had one player in a foursome, who did not start. 3 players waited 4 minutes for him, but no joy. Had to reset the game and played successfully. The reverse camera during putt works very well. I did not have any luck with the other player camera (direct overhead shot of myself at address was all I got), and the 2 minute start limit was exceeded as the above indicated, so I guess that didn't work, at least for me.

Additional modes of play are must introduction at some point IMO. This is a golf game we are BETA testing and golf is not just about singles strokeplay.

We need to be testing.........

Alternate Shot
Better-Ball
Greensome
Scramble
Skins
Matchplay
Stableford

Also, a 'Mode of Play' creator would be great (like they have in Links 2003) where user can create their own style of game, for example: where players get points for achieving certain requirements each hole, and also apply point multiplier combo's for things like holing a bunker shot or making eagle after missing fairway off tee etc. End of the round, player with most points is winner.

it would be cool if there was like a sound to alert u when an opponent has joined. and maybe make the timer a little longer and add a chat box.

alot of times i notice too late that an opponent has joined and i have to restart... not even that long later gets annoying i feel like i have to stare at the screen till someone joins.


i also def agree with dazmaniac. And have the win/loss stats as well for sure

Before launching into my thoughts on multiplayer firstly I would like to say that I enjoy the single game and the graphics and physics of the game are far better than many give credit for. I would hate to see the game fail.

Having said that, it is Multiplayer that will make this game live or die in the pay to play world.

Multiplayer is not anywhere near good enough for that yet and if released in its present form will kill the game.


These are some issues I see:

Golfers want to see other golfers on the course playing in real time, not little avatars and tracers.

We want to see different faces, races, shapes and sizes.

Internet connections vary around the world and while many folks in US may be on high speed connections, many elsewhere are on standard ADSL or worse. The lag in loading a course is a big problem. I am 53 so I have patience, but a lot of your potential customers will be under 25, they do not.

Variety in the type of match.

The only answer I can see and EA seem to balk at this as it appears to go against one of their original concept tenants is that content such as the whole course needs to downloaded and cached - that way the multiplayer engine can simply look after animation and physics.

To make this happen multiplayer needs to be scrapped in its present form and rebuilt.