No Xbox Live for Tiger Woods 2005 in Europe

Electronic Arts has confirmed reports that Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 will not feature online support in Europe on Xbox Live, despite the fact that the PS2 version will go online via EA's existing infrastructure. American gamers will enjoy a full suite of options for both versions.

Last year's Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 - released long before EA agreed to bring its titles to Xbox Live in any capacity - was roundly criticised in Europe after EA's bizarre decision to strip the title of its online functionality, despite the popularity of the game's online options in the US and the series' enthusiastic following in Europe.

Now it seems EA has decided to let PS2 Online users go online after all, and it's Xbox owners' turn to find themselves looking at their PS2 buddies with green faces. This means that golfing fans of Microsoft's black box must continue to make do with Links 2004, get a PS2, or gather friends round the television if the desire for multiplayer arises. Hopefully next year the situation will sort it self out eh?

"We took a decision to only include Xbox Live support into a selection of our titles in this first year in Europe to ensure that we were able to smoothly roll out the service across Europe. We have four titles supporting Xbox Live this year - Burnout 3, FIFA Football 2005, Need for Speed Underground 2 and GoldenEye: Rogue Agent - and further titles will follow next year," an EA spokesperson told Eurogamer this morning.

"In the US, we have a higher number of titles supporting Xbox Live this year, although a similar process occurred when we rolled out our first online console service last year on PlayStation 2 and expanded that number in the second year. We will look to continue to build on the portfolio of supported online titles through 2005 and beyond and are fully committed to Xbox Live plus other online services."