Most of us who know about HB Studios' forthcoming, next-gen golf game learned of it through The Game Code's feature about HB Studios in a feature video they did last July.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWupEz_XEGY. We got more details from Colin Mieczkowski's article about it in September -
http://gpgolfreport.com/2013/09/10/no-tiger-woods-15-hb-studios-to-work-on-golf-game/. While we don't know anything about the game's interface, gameplay, presentation, and appearance, we do know of one refreshingly unique property it will have - a course creator!
As far as I know, only one other console golf game has attempted to include a course creator - World Tour Golf (Prostroke Golf) 2007, from Gusto Games. I rented WTG 2007 because I was skeptical about its gameplay. As it turned out, my skepticism was justified... the game just wasn't fun to play, certainly not enough to spark me to want to create courses on which to play it. I heard from others who did try it and weren't impressed, saying it was too archaic and limited. It's probably not a fair comparison because the original XBox only had 64 MB of RAM, so it wasn't like they had much to work with.
Why does HB Studios have a chance to make a go of it in the course creator department with the XBox One and PS4? How about 128 times the amount of available video/system RAM? Where I think the developers have a formidable challenge is with the course creation interface. A wireless game controller seems to be an handicap compared with working with a full keyboard and mouse, but if you look at HB Studios track record, they've been pretty creative and adaptable with past games. I'm more than willing to give them a chance with this and hope they knock a home run with it.
The game's success for me will ultimately not be based on the course creator; it will be based on the gameplay. I want a golf game that makes me feel an inertial based connection to my on-screen golfer. I want to sense the effects of acceleration, resistance, and momentum in the swing to the extent this can be done with a hand-held controller (Links 2004 on the XBox did a reasonable job with this 10 years ago). I also want to be able to view the action from my golfer's perspective (swing camera view) for as long as I desire, then switch to a panning-reverse angle view at my discretion. I'd like to see the other golfers in my group, wherever they should be standing. I'd like to watch other golfers in my group play their shots from my golfer's perspective, not from their swing camera.
I'd better get off my soapbox before I ramble too much, but I am delighted to learn that HB Studios golf will be a reality as early as this summer! This will get me off the fence about a next-gen console
