The Golf Club, the new highly customizable golf title by HB Studios, is currently in beta phase and inching closer to its retail release in the Spring. It's a golf simulator that has decided to use generic apparel and clubs(up to this point at least)and fictional courses. On top of that, the developers have included a very deep and detailed course creator for the community to create, upload, and share with everyone. Having been lucky enough to be a part of beta, and seeing the course creator first hand, I have come away nothing short of impressed. Not only does the in-house creator allow one to create the layout of the course, but it also affords one the opportunity to apply personal touches such as trees, buildings, water, bunkers, signs, elevation, and much more. While playing around with this magnificent tool of creation, it got my mind racing with all sorts of ideas, and the endless possibilities of implementation into other sports titles.

Fans of the NCAA football and basketball video game titles -- and NFL to a degree -- both know the stinging and gut-wrenching pain of having their favorite game series taken away. The excitement that these titles brought on a yearly basis was almost immeasurable to the community, and the fact that they are no longer an option has diminished the idea of sports gaming.

Whether it be exclusive contracts, law suites, or cost for securing said licenses, the fact is NCAA Football, NCAA Basketball, College Hoops 2K, and NFL 2K are all a thing of the past for the average fan. Sure they can be modded and updated to a degree, but no significant improvements or modes can be created to keep the games feeling somewhat fresh on a yearly basis.

So I ask myself this: If a small (although experienced and talented) development group in Nova Scotia can create and include a course editor that is as detailed and user friendly as the one currently available in The Golf Club, why can’t other companies mimic that? Keep in mind, this exact editor will be included and available to console users also, not just the PC community.

Of course we have seen previous attempts to allow user creations and editing with games such as All-Pro Footbal 2K8l, and Natural Motion's Backbreaker. Natural Motion traveled down the path of a non-licensing game all together, and 2K secured the licenses of previous NFL legends. While both games were relatively well accepted (2K to a much larger degree) neither one of them warranted a sequel from a corporate point of view. As we mentioned previously, both titles allowed user editing and creations to a degree, but not nearly enough to where one would feel they were actually getting the full NFL experience.

Now imagine a fully customizable football or basketball title that included the correct formats such as the NCAA football playoffs, NCAA’s March madness, or the NFL’s playoff and Super Bowl, all just named something different in game, and the ability to edit those names.

Continuing with that thought, also imagine the a full editor to create every player in said sport, along with the ability to create uniforms, stadiums, and fields or courts. Not possible you say? Well you would be wrong. It is all very possible, and to my knowledge would not struggle with any legalities.

For communities such as the one you find on our own Operation Sports, the possibilities would be endless, if implemented correctly. Rosters would be done in weeks; stadiums, courts, and uniforms would follow suit.

They would be shared online through the console, or uploaded for people to download and allowed for people to apply those downloads to the game in the same fashion that Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer does currently. I am not oblivious to the fact that currently the Xbox One or PS4 currently does not allow for USB transfers, but that will change with system and or firmware updates in the near future.

There would be no licensing fee what so ever that they would have to recoup. There would be no possibilities of player likeness issues either, as the game would ship with generic players, but include an in-depth player creator and editor. There would be no stadium licensing fees to recoup either, as the game would have a deep and detailed stadium and court or field creator. Said title would also include a logo and sound creator.

While all of the ideas I just spoke of may not be exact replicas of what we see on TV, if done correctly, it could come closer than anything we have ever seen before. The PC community has been doing this for years folks, and has done an amazing job with what they have had to work with. It can be done on consoles also, but the idea needs a company with the desire to do it, and do it right and give the community the proper tools to create what needs to be created.

I understand that most of you reading this have not had the opportunity to try out the course creator included in The Golf Club. What I am hoping for is that a company will take the opportunity after seeing what can be done in terms of community creations, and apply it to other sports titles. The world of college athletics and non-exclusive pro-sports gaming is seemingly a thing of the past, but if some company is willing, and has the foresight to embrace this concept, the sports gaming community will be better off. As Albert Camus once said “ A guilty artist needs to confess, a work of art is their confession.”

Isn’t it about time that the console sports gaming community had a true chance to confess?