The Masters

It's November and the number of people online nightly from around the entire planet is under 100 and dropping. It seems hard to even get a Play Anyone Ranked game lately. I am already waiting for the post Christmas spike.

Looking back to when TW10 was released I was hoping to see a bigger community this year, especially with the hype around the M+ and new online tournaments. What happened? We seem to be stuck where we were last year.

On the positive side, Ive had some great matches lately, because it seems only the sharks are left in the tank, but that's not good for the long term growth of the game.

One thought I've had is that once the High Definition Wii hits the market there will be a surge in the WII community across the board as more hard core gamers move to the platform, but until that time XBox and PS will continue to dominate and limit the growth of all Wii Communities, including TW10.

Buck

It is the same as it has always been. I have often wondered why there has never been more than 148 players online, EVER. At least 50 countries sell TW10 and have online capabilities but no more than 150 and average of 100 players online. No response from EA and the band plays on.

hog

I went hunting for data on total units sold and found: http://www.vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=32292

If I read right, so far sales are around 580K units for TW10 on the Wii, on its way to something close to 1M. 09 sold 1.3M. Where is everyone? The total numbers would seem to allow for a bigger community than we see right now, despite PS and XBox being bigger.

Can you imagine how good it would be if there were 300-400 per night? You could drop into a four man battle anytime. The sight would be rockin.

we normaly have 15 - 20 of the top players in wiiga chat every evening this is why you dont see them in play anyone. as for why its not growing who knows. the ranking system in sim is a joke i dont know if this has anything to do with it . just a thought.




dgg

The vast majority of Wii owners are young kids and older folks, and I would suggest that many of them have no interest in online gaming. The majority of the online gaming demographic head toward the Xbox and PC (and some PS3) I would believe. Of course I'm just assuming these things, but I've read enough about Nintendo sales and other gaming trends to feel confident in some of these assumptions.

on tw 09 last year in 2008 i saw 306 players online on christmas. i guess well have to wait for christmas to see that again!

It doesnt help that the online scores are compromised on a regular basis, and until thats resolved I think alot of people figure whats the point of posting a score. I agree with the other poster though the online touneys reward those who can play everyday, every tourny, its more of an endurance test than anything else.

Badwolf4 wrote:I agree with the other poster though the online touneys reward those who can play everyday, every tourny, its more of an endurance test than anything else.

This is so true, ranking is more about how much you play, not how well you play. While there are definitely those in the top 100 who deserve to be there, there are plenty who got there just by playing enough games.

the tw community may not be growing but the wiiga community is growing very quickly. we are getting very close to 250 members now.


dgg

I think NCD is on the money, online gaming is more the domain of your hardcore gamers and they tend to go for the higher spec equipment, in terms of consoles this means PS3 and XBOX 360. The Wii has tapped heavily into a new market, most of my friends that have a Wii are more your casual type of gamer who play on the weekends when they have some spare time or when they have some mates over and have had a few drinks, in which case the Wii is brilliant. If the Wii gets its hardware up in the region of the PS3 and XBOX I think you will get more online gaming happening.

I think the TW10 online site could be improved, the ranking system is highly open to manipulation and in play anyone it is annoying you have no idea of the level of your opponent. ALso I think you should be able to play the multiplayer offline games online, that way people can go online and have a muck around and still enjoy themselves. At the moment your only option is to play a round by yourself (which you wont win because a couple of people get unbelievable scores every time) or play an entire round with no idea whether it will be competitive or not.

I know more than a few golfers who love TW2010 but do not play online because they have little chance competing. I think that if EA starts providing a "real golf" online mode, and a few golf magazines get a chance to review it, you would see more of these people playing online.

Frankly, since I play by real golf rules, I lose most of my matches and thus have a low rating. And a lot of players will see my rating and drop me from their matches. Frustrating for me, since not only do I like a chance to try and compete, but I usually play a lot faster than they do, so its not like I'm slowing down their games. I also had one person with a high rank bail after I played the first 3 holes at Saint Andrews -4.

The Wii has been successful because it has been marketed to the non-gamer market. If EA figures this out about TW, they could not only garner a larger share but get more interest in online play from real golfers, which can only make the online experience better, IMO.

brianlevine wrote:I know more than a few golfers who love TW2010 but do not play online because they have little chance competing. I think that if EA starts providing a "real golf" online mode, and a few golf magazines get a chance to review it, you would see more of these people playing online.

I think there's a flaw in this thinking, though. You are assuming that anyone who plays real golf will love the frustrations of playing a simulation mode in video game golf. I highly doubt that. People play video games because they are fun, and they make what are normally difficult tasks (taking on the german army by yourself, single-handedly defeating an alien nation, playing PGA Tour golf) quite easy, and therefore entertaining. There's a reason Tiger Woods had this really fake, awkward swing in his match against Jimmy Fallon. He wasn't playing the game as a simulation of golf, he was playing it as a video game, and he wasn't connecting the two.

The other issue is with your marketing idea. TW10 is not a golf simulator. No matter how many help features you take away, it still doesn't offer the same experience as real golf. In fact, once you take away the help features, I think it's actually FURTHER from real golf, because of the 2D world you're forced to play in. On top of this, most people who want to play golf on the Wii aren't looking for a real golf analog. They are looking for a good time and something they can pick up easily and play casually. If there are any marketing efforts, they are going to be focused on that aspect.

I'm not trying to crush your hopes and dreams brianlevine . I know you are looking forward to some real golf modes for next season, but I wouldn't hold your breath about it. You guys who play sim-style are an extreme minority, and EA isn't going to waste time creating modes that only two people are going to play. You know you'll at least be getting some forceable advanced settings for custom games online, so that's a start.

i think you are dead on ncd.i know a lot of real golfers who have said that they play the game for fun as i do and if they wanted to play a golf sim they would just go play real golf. btw ncd will we be able to see the settings in play anyone next yr that will be forced on us giving us the opportunity to opt out if we dont like them. sounds like this is going to be an entertaining mess. i personaly believe that the game already offers a level playing field. it is the optins we chose for our style of play that creates the mismatches. does anyone think that by forcing a style of play on your opponent is going to help the online wii gaming community thrive. i dont i will opt out of games with settings i dont like which means i will be playing less games in the sim area and most likely just playing in the wiiga.




dgg

Hey, I didn't start this thread.

And I am sure that there are plenty of golfers that play this game as a nice diversion and don't mind the video game aspects of it. However, there are some that do. There is the potential for this game to become a pretty decent golf sim, and I'd like to see EA address this (without taking away features that gamers like).

And while I love playing real golf, A) its expensive and B) its very time consuming. TW2010 fills in nicely for me.

i agree with that aspect also brian .i have edited my above post to reflect my more immediate concerns with the supposed changes to the 011 edition.


dgg