Tiger Woods 360 and Even Less of Me

I'm going camping Monday and will be gone all week. Todd's lack of blogging motivation means ...some downtime. Honestly, you can blame E3. I'm still gassed a bit from that but our coverage is doing very well, traffic wise, so it was worth it. When I get back I'll be jumping into OOTP X assuming the patch is released. Todd's doing that review so I have that luxury.

Also, Blood Bowl will have my full attention starting 6/26. Oh yes. Yes yes yes.

In other game news I am struggling through Tiger Woods on the Xbox 360, and really not feeling it at all.

This is what I want from a golf game:

• I want to create my persona and play a PGA Tour calendar of events, earn prize money, etc. -- Check
  
  
• I'm OK with some RPG elements, adding to a skill set, maybe earning some special skills (expert bunker player, etc.) , that sorta thing.
  
  
• I want to be able to play competitively right after I open up the game and plop it in the drive. This does not mean I should be a master right off the bat, but I do NOT want to be handicapped, either. This can be via an Amateur Tour, Q School, whatever. If my guy isn't Tour Pro ready, fine, let me play other up and comers. But do NOT make me struggle like mad until I "build my character" up like a god damn MMO. -- This is what Tiger 360 does.
  
  
• I don't want to start off hitting drives 225 yards, which makes it impossible to even drive over the rough on some courses from the back tees. And yes I tuned my clubs. I started playing competitive golf when I was 15 years old. By the time I was a Sr in HS I was hitting 250-275 yard drives (not always straight...). My "Pro" upon creation is a flippin' joke.
  
  
• I don't want to play Pebble Beach in 20 MPH winds, scrambling like mad just to make par in tough conditions and then see the AI shooting -23 under for the tourney. I shot even par in two days at Pebble and missed the cut. I don't WANT to shoot 23 under at Pebble in strong wind. That's NOT GOLF. That's Hot Shots Golden Tee nonsense. Tiger is much like that.
  
  
• In fact that's my slogan for this game. Tiger Woods 360: Not Unlike Golf.
  
  
• I also need the fear of the rough off the tee. It's not here. I've played several rounds, and have missed one fairway and that was due to a strong wind at Pebble. Pinehurst? Please. 14 fairways, check. I am a 13-14 fairway hitting par machine. Of course par sucks in Tiger 360, but hey...
  
  
• Want to make it tougher? Well, you need to buy expert clubs, which costs prize money OR you can spend REAL money to buy these clubs in the XBL Marketplace. So, you are basically spending more (real) money to make the game more challenging by buying clubs that are supposed to be better than a Beginner set? WTF kind of logic is that? As Brandon said, it's like buying the New Nike F*** Your Game 3000.
  

Maybe online is the bees knees/cats meow. I have no clue. Does online change any of the above? If not, I'm going back to Rock Band and trying to nail Stevie Ray's Rude Mood.

That song's a bitch.