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On the May 18, 2023 edition of The Andy Staples Show, co-host Ari Wasserman (national college football reporter for The Athletic) shared that he had been contacted by EA SPORTS to view Dynasty Mode and the recruiting aspect of EA SPORTS College Football to share his thoughts and opinions.

While under a strict NDA, Wasserman was unable to share any game details or specifics. However, he did seem very optimistic and pleased with what he had seen.

"I don't know if either of you had the opportunity to do this, but EA SPORTS contacted me during the development of this game and I'm not allowed to give any details because I had to sign an NDA. They took me through the recruiting interface and were using my coverage and resources of [inaudible]. ... They were asking like 'how often do you see this happen?' or 'how should we do this? or that?' And I will tell you because I've seen some of the back of the interfaces of what they're working on and stuff. It is going to be awesome. And they are doing it in a way where you're just not going to get a Madden engine with the college uniforms. They are really trying and I think the reason why they delayed it a year was so that they wanted to make sure that when that game finally made its return that it wasn't just some crappy knock-off of Madden and that it was its own thing and like the Dynasty mode and recruiting and rankings and territories and all the things that we talk about on this show is going to be represented to some extent in the video game. ...

"I don't know if that's [NIL collectives, player/portal tampering, et al.] going to be represented yet, but I do feel like as the years go on, it's going to be a priority for EA SPORTS to make sure that whatever's going on in the recruiting dynasty interface to actually mirror what we're talking about because people want a college football or the creators of the game want a college football fanatic like the people who listen to the show and the people who have dedicated their lives professionally to covering it to feel connected to the actual sport. ... "It's like really, really, really cool." ...

The last major hurdle for the launch of EA SPORTS College Football has been cleared: FBS players can opt-in to having their name and likeness appear in the game, launching July 2024.

In the latest TGT Podcast, cdj and JBHuskers talk about this big news which has been ten years in the making.

Follow the link to watch the Video Podcast and share your thoughts on the show along with future topics.

The Gaming Tailgate Podcast is also available on Spotify and iTunes.

To submit show feedback, ask a question, or suggest a topic for a future show, e-mail the guys at podcast AT thegamingtailgate.com or post your thoughts below. ...

The reason for the cancellation of the EA SPORTS NCAA Football franchise and the last remaining hurdle for the launch of EA SPORTS College Football has been cleared. ESPN.com's Michael Rothstein broke the story this morning: 'An EA Sports representative confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday that it has contracted with OneTeam Partners to "facilitate collegiate athletes' names and likenesses" into the game, solving one of the major questions about college football's return to the video game space.'

Early reports state that each player who opts-in would receive around $500 with the goal being to acquire the license for every scholarship FBS player, per Matt Brown. Brown also notes that players at the service academies cannot enter into NIL agreements, though those programs are looking into the issue.

Continue on for more on player NIL coming to the game as well as our follow-up aspects and questions with this latest news. ...

The latest trailer and developer deep dive blog for EA SPORTS PGA TOUR focuses on Career Mode. Here are some of the highlights:

Par for the course (pun intended), users will start off the mode creating their golfer, including their appearance, swing, bag design, apparel (including multi-round outfits), and more. The users journey will now being with a selectable starting point: 'as an amateur in one of the top amateur events, on the Korn Ferry Tour, or the PGA TOUR.'

The Season Hub will allow users to see the full calendar of events, track career progress and other milestones.

Career Progression is RPG style, allowing users to earn XP and Skill Points as they upgrade their golfer in five key areas: power, driving, approach, short game, and putting. New shot types can be unlocked as skills are progressed past certain levels. These shot types can also be progressed from bronze to silver and then gold to allow user mastery of each type.

Club and Ball Spec Systems: Each club can be customized for power, accuracy, control, and recovery. Users can also save up to five different bag configurations.

Career Gameplay discussion focused on user options, including AI difficulty and pairings. as well as season settings. The AI will use official ShotLink data in an effort to make each golfer play like their real-life counterpart.

Check out the EA SPORTS PGA TOUR Career Mode Deep Dive here or continue on to see the trailer and read the blog. ...

EA SPORTS PGA TOUR will feature 20 selectable shot types that will help the user as they develop a strategy to attack the hole and the situation facing them. The user will select their shot type before choosing a club and ultimately their swing.

The Gaming Tailgate has put together a printable guide to help users to learn each shot type and enable them to make the proper selection out on the course. This two-page PDF, best printed 'double-sided,' is a handy resource to learn each shot type and the best situation for each one.

Continue on to view/download the PDF. ...

March Madness is upon us and that means it is time for the 2023 TGT Tournament Challenge on ESPN.com. It is free to join the group and the winner of the Tournament Challenge group will receive their choice of either a $20 PSN, XBL, or Nintendo card.

Feel free to invite friends and family to join the group. The more, the merrier! Click here for a direct link to the Tournament Challenge group.

In addition to the Men's Tournament Challenge group, there is also a TGT group for the Women's Tournament Challenge. There is no prize for that group, simply pride. ...

EA SPORTS has announced that the release of EA SPORTS PGA TOUR has been pushed back two weeks to April 7, allowing launch of the title to coincide with The Masters tournament.

EA SPORTS PGA TOUR will now launch the week of the Masters Tournament, with an early access release on Tuesday, April 4 and worldwide launch on Friday, April 7. Creating an authentic golf experience has been our goal, and this small shift in release date allows us to add a few final touches to the game that we are very excited to deliver to all of you, including updates to some favorite courses to reflect 2023 designs. ...

As we approach one month before the release of EA SPORTS PGA TOUR, the development team has been sharing additional, in-depth game info via Community FAQs and developer blogs. Combing through the multiple entries, here are some brief highlights:

- Cross-play will not be in the game at launch, but EA is "constantly evaluating the possibility of this feature appearing post-launch." However, EA did add that "cross-Platform progression is available for your created golfer so you can save your gear, outfits, and achievements to access your created golfer across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox."

- On consoles, the game will run at 30 FPS, while on PC it can run at 30 fps, 60 fps, or unlocked framerate.

- Online game modes support simultaneous play for up to 16 players and includes Competitive, Social, and Private Match. Offline game modes include Quick Play, Career Mode, Challenges, and (limited-time) Tournaments.

- Weather impacts include altitude and wind.

- "In game, we represent [the best times to show each course/hole in its best light] as 3 different “tee” times, morning, mid day and late afternoon, across 4 unique “Biomes”. Each of the 4 biomes , Humid subtropical, Mediterranean, Oceanic and Desert, have varying lighting conditions, levels of contrast, clouds and atmospheric haze etc. to give each course a unique look based on its location and the time of day that you are playing."

- The 3-click swing system is currently planned for addition in a title update shortly after launch.

- "There are four options for camera height when addressing the ball with the ability to set your default preference for normal swings and putting independently. There are three different camera packages for tracking the ball while it’s in flight. ... Additionally, there is also a pre-shot “Zoom” camera that allows you to preview the landing area of your upcoming shot. You have complete freedom to control the zoom camera’s rotation and depth along with three options for its height."

- Created players will have "have 12 different swing animations to choose from, seven male and five female."

- The game will launch with 28 real-life courses and two fictional. The 202 major courses will be added after release. (Continue on to see the current live service timeline and more.) ...

The official EA SPORTS PGA TOUR website FAQ has disclosed the initial course and golfer offerings for the title when it launches on March 24.

The game will feature 30 golf courses (28 real, two fantasy) and nine golfers. The course offerings are highlighted by Augusta National, St. Andrews, TPC Sawgrass, and Pebble Beach, among others. The two fantasy courses are Wetlands and Lighthouse Pointe, both of which appeared in 2015's Rory McIlroy PGA TOUR, EA's last console golf offering.

The golfer list appears thin, however the FAQ does mention to 'check back through the spring for additional content releases,' which implies more golfers and/or courses may be added post-launch. (The 2023 majors courses will arrive after launch and Game Informer reports that EA also aims to add the traditional three-click swing system in a title update.)

Continue on to see the full list of course and golfer options as well as additional game info from the FAQ. What golfers or courses would you like to see added? ...