Electronic Arts released last week, as the eyes of gamers were glued to the press conferences at the E3 trade show, the 2010 edition of Tiger Woods PGA Tour, its long running gold franchise.

The game has been developed for the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, the PS2, the PlayStation Portable and the Nintendo Wii, and even if sales numbers for it are only available early in July, it seems that the new release has managed to break one record fore the series.

After launching the NPD Group numbers for hardware and software sales for the month of May, the main analyst of the group, Anita Frazier, Twittered that “Tiger Woods video games have sold over half a billion $ at U.S. retail life-to-date.” It's nice to know that there are videogames shattering records even as the industry in general registered a year over year fall of about 23%.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 is aimed at both hardcore gold lovers and at more casual players, with a raft of options related to realism that can be turned on or off at will.

Players are even encouraged to take part in Live tournaments, playing in real time over the course of one week, and there are even options allowing players to compare their scores on some gold courses with those registered in real life by professional golfers. Weather options have also been improved in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, with rain set to dramatically alter the way a hole is approached by the gamer.

The Tiger Woods videogame series has managed to go over 500 million dollars in sales just as Forbes is saying that the overall worth of the real Tiger Woods should surpass one billion dollars. Of course, videogame licensing rights account for just a small sliver of that income.