“One of the things we’re announcing in the next few weeks is a big deal with a big company. We’re going to do games that are going to be technically and narratively very interesting,” he says. “It’s not a development deal. We’re going to do it. We’re doing them. And we’re going to announce it soon enough.”

It’s interesting that he hasn’t gone running to Ubisoft to make games for him, but instead is actually working on this stuff himself with someone paying for it (presumably) and publishing later. His penchant for quirky visuals and stylistic story-telling with flashes of epic CGI will certainly lend itself to the games industry!

These VIP maps are nice bits of content for those who purchased the game first-hand. Second hand users don’t get in on the VIP stuff. However, we’re still waiting for the big update – a vietnam DLC pack!

Question: Did you get much training in today?

Rory: I did a little bit yeah, I woke up at half five and was practicing about half seven. Early start but I got a lot of good work in, got to see the golf course. Yeah I mean its a pretty straight forward golf course and I’m looking forward to getting out there and playing in the tournament.

Question: How does it feel to be on the cover with Tiger?

Rory: Yeah I mean its sorta, if you said to me five years ago “You will be on the cover of the game with Tiger Woods” I would have said nahhh! Yeah its amazing, I think my first Tiger Woods game was PGA Tour 99. Its amazing that I get to be on the cover and I was in the game last year. To be on the cover next to the man himself, its a pretty cool feeling.

Question: Is this going to be a regular occurrence with EA?

Rory: I’m not sure, its just for this year but we will see if they want to keep me or not!

Question: Has Tiger said anything about sharing the cover?

Rory: Not really, I havent really talked to him about it. I’ve met him a couple of times this year but I think he has more important things on his mind!

Question: A major new feature of the game is the inclusion of the Ryder Cup. What are your thoughts on how the European team is shaping up.

Rory: I think its shaping up very very nicely. I think its going to be one of the strongest European teams we have had in a long time. I’m really please I’m going to be a part of that team. And I know if we go to Wales and play the way we know we can, we have a great chance of winning.

Question: Do you think we will see yourself and Graham McDowell teeing up this Friday?

Rory: I’m sure theres a good chance of that yeah!

Question: How much of an inspiration was it to see Graham win the US Open?

Rory: It was a huge inspiration for me because it made me realize winning a major wasn’t as far away as I thought it was. I thought in a couple years time I might be able to win a major but seeing a good friend like that go and win one, win a huge event it gives you a lot of belief. I mean I have played a lot of golf, I know at any given day if he plays his best and I play my best then there isn’t a lot between us. So yeah it gives me a lot of  confidence to see if he can do it, I can do it too.

Question: Whats it like going from picking players in the older games to picking yourself on the virtual golf courses?

Rory: Thats the thing, the graphics since the first one have gotten so much better. Its amazing when you play a golf course now on the game and how realistic it is, its so precise. I remember before the players championship, which is played at Sawgrass, I played Sawgrass hundreds of times in the game, but you sorta go back to it and try and refresh your memory. It can benefit you.

Question: Did EA get much detail from you while making your character in the game?

Rory: Yeah a little bit, they suited me up in lycra and put loads of little shiny balls on me and let me swing away! So I think the swing in the game is very similar to the swing in real life.

Question: Do you usually pick yourself in the game when you play?

Rory: *laughs* Well yeah most of the time. Sometimes I make my own character to see if I can beat myself!

Question: Do you play games much yourself?

Rory: I would when I’m at home yeah. A few of the guys actually carry their Xboxs around with them and travel with them. Ross fisher does a lot. When I’m at home and have a little down time I’ll play. I’m big into just sports games like FIFA, NBA and Madden. I’m not really into any others, a few of my friends play Call of Duty but I havent really gotten into it.

Question: One thing I really like about your career is that this really is only the beginning. You have so much further to go. Do you hope in the future to have your own name on the game?

Yeah we will see how it goes and how Tiger plays in the next few years. It might be tough to dislodge him from the front. But yeah it would be something I would like to have!

After which we got a few photos as you can see above. It was such a surreal experience to talk to someone with his amazing talent yet he is so down to earth. There were queues of kids outside as he left looking just to shake hands with him (which he had no problem doing,  he had so much respect for his fans). Then he left and drove off in an unbelievable Audi R8 Spyder which he got a couple weeks ago. I said to one of the other interviewers “Ya know for a car like that I might take up golf!”. One second thought, I think I’ll stick to the day job!

The questions above were mainly related to the game, some other sports related questions were also asked. If you want me to post them up too just drop me a comment bellow.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 is out now with Rory on the cover and I would recommend everyone to get it (Its even Move compatible on the PS3). These games are something I have always loved, even as far back as Microsoft Golf back on my windows 98 machine!

And finally, I would like to thank Rory for his time and wish him the best of luck playing in the Irish Open this week!

v1.07 will update Supression mode, to remove the faction dominance in some maps. Furthermore, the update will introduce “Happy Hour” which will dish out double XP for the first hour you play every day. A good way for people to be re-introduced with the title, for sure.

Visuals will also be improved as well as exploits found on two maps in the game – much to the delight of the community.

The update is due in “late August”.

Rather then battle to the death, setting up 100% natural defenses in the way of the Jackson estate lawyers, PopCap have decided to remedy the issue by doing an update which removes the dancing zombie. Be warned, though, the update apparently makes the iPhone 4 version crap out.

However, one US-based iOS developer is also succumbing to the pressure Blizzard has put out on gamers today. Smule, developers of social music apps like Ocarina and T-Payne’s voice-synth app, have put up a notice to say they’re taking the day off to go play StarCraft II.

Alert: iPhone App Developer Smule Declares Starcraft II Company Holiday

Smule, developer of best-selling iPhone apps I Am T-Pain, Glee, Ocarina, and Magic Piano, has declared Tuesday, July 27th as StarCraft II Day at their Palo Alto offices. Work will be suspended for two days in order for Smule to enter into the modern-day equivalent of a ‘LAN party’ to play the game together. The office will, hopefully, return to developing Smule applications again on Thursday.

‘All our base are belong to StarCraft II,’ said Dr. Ge Wang, Smule’s Co-founder, Chief Creative Officer — and Starcraft n00b since 1998. ‘There is no realistic hope that we’d get any work done anyway, so we will instead embrace the occasion. We’ve pre-ordered copies of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty for the entire office, scheduled food catering, and channeled our inner Terran, Protoss, and Zerg in preparation for this long-awaited day.”

‘I require more Vespene gas!’ exclaimed Spencer Salazar, Lead Software Overlord, whose expanding creep has obstructed the placement of pylons by Scott Bonds, VP of Engineering, whose management cannon has gone unpowered for several weeks.

Ge reflected on the rich influence Starcraft has had Smule: ‘The original StarCraft, for us, symbolizes the pinnacle of real-time strategy gaming. The fluidity, the impeccable balance between the three races, and ever-evolving strategies border on — if not define — a new interactive art form. StarCraft II seems poised to take all of that to the next level, and to further decimate our productivity. Experiences like these inspire us to make better products and experiences for our users.

I know in my real job I spent a lot of today working my ass off so tomorrow is easier – thus giving me the potential to concentrate more on StarCraft.

The opening is similar to last season, in that it’s a musically themed interlude to open the series. This time, though, it’s a Bollywood style dance number where one character convinces another to play. The song is called “game on”, and you can watch it below!

Be gentle

No, this time it’s something we can all enjoy. Today is the launch of Starcraft II, the sequel to a game released a decade ago by the good half of the ActiBlizzard company – Blizzard. You know, the World of Warcraft guys.

Expansion packs and online content galore is expected as the game is due to revive the RTS genre in gaming. Just like our Korean friends, the game is also out in Ireland today on PC & Mac (no consoles allowed).

So off you go and recover the economy by investing in epic RTS action!

There is a storyline, two opposing men, one a bird looking thing and the other a spider looking thing, want to woo the new woman thats in the area. The good bird guy sings sweet symphonies while the evil spider sings heavy metal! Surprisingly she chooses the good guy (terrible decision I know) and they serenade each other. In a rage of jealousy, the evil spider concocts a poison that steals all the music from the world. You, as good Mr Bird guy, have to get it all back!

So lets jump into the game play. You have to collect items that are spread out through each level. You do so by running along a variety of strings. As you run along, you can strum from top to bottom to jump up and strum from bottom to top to fall onto a lower level. Each item generates a sound to go along with the song belonging to that level. This is the easy part. Throughout the levels there are strings that you have to hit at a specific time! This is done in sync with the level music. These generate a sound also.

The early levels are easy enough. Each level is some classical music. You start off playing Beethoven’s 5th Symphony which is awesome to say the least. But as the levels progress, you get more difficult additions. Spiders (the percussion section of the symphony) jump at you. Just as they begin to fly towards the screen, you have to hit them. This is a lot harder than it sounds! You have to make sure to do everything in sync!

Every bridge of difficulty is met with a boss fight. The evil spider dude plays a beat with his minions that you have to match perfectly to hurt him. This was my favorite level of the game to be honest. It was the same with Guitar hero boss fights (VS Tom Morello in GH3).  As you win, you gain followers and a crown! If you lose, you get angry red notes that overwhelm you if you do too badly.

All in all I really liked the game, it was a simple concept but leads to a challenging layout. Playing classical music is a plus for me. Games will always appeal to me if they are a bit more unique than the norm. Like the appeal of the GH/Rock Band games you feel more involved with a game when you feel you are playing the music. An enormous amount of portable games cannot pull off the attention grabbing addiction that you need to succeed on a portable platform. I feel Maestro! Green Groove does. Word of advice, play with earphones. Enhances the experience. Keep up the good work guys! Hope to see more additions of the game.

I will give it a decent 4/5 because it managed to fully grasp my attention. It is a good game for the platform I felt.