I had high hopes when EA Sports hinted a couple months ago that "figures recognizable to the sports world" would be playable golfers in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, due in March. That kind of longhand comment, as opposed to just saying "former sports stars" had me thinking the game might include some kind of celebrity pro-am event.
Well, that seems not to be the case—at least in what was revealed Monday of the game's celebrity roster. Four former stars, all of whom have some relationship with EA Sports already, will be a preorder bonus if you get the game through Amazon. That's it.
I'll be a little surprised if it indeed stops at that; I emailed an EA Sports representative to ask if any additional announcements regarding celebrity golfers were on the way. We've heard back nothing. [Update: The rep got in touch to say this is the only announcement, concerning celebrities, that EA Sports has to make at this time.] A pre-order bonus through a single retailer just doesn't sound like the kind of thing the game's director of marketing would be excited to bring up with me in a phone call six months before release.
Anyway, if you lay down a pre-order with Amazon, you get a code that delivers a playable Marshall Faulk, Jeremy Roenick, Sugar Ray Leonard and Dwight Howard in the game.
Faulk, the Hall of Fame running back for the St. Louis Rams, was on the cover of Madden NFL 12's collector's edition; Roenick was featured as an all-time great in NHL 12 and goes way back with EA Sports, all the way to the treasured NHL '94. Dwight Howard, of the Orlando Magic (currently, anyway), was on the cover of NBA Live 10. And boxing hall-of-famer Sugar Ray Leonard is in Fight Night and has made promotional appearances for the label.
I bring all of that up to say these four would be about the easiest retired sports greats that label could bag up. Though EA Sports is mum, I think we'll hear something more about this. If not, well, I'm not sure why the fuss was necessary.