TeamXbox writes: "The raw excitement and rabid fanfare for collegiate sports is one of those uniquely American experiences. While people in other parts of the world go to college to learn something and actually prepare for their future lives, American teens generally go to college to learn how to do keg stands, eat on ten dollars a week and scream like maniacs with a hundred thousand similarly clad fellow students on Saturday afternoon. It's often referred to as "the best time of your life" for a number of reasons. Attending college football games. Something you can enjoy your whole post-beer bong adult life.
EA Sports has been capturing that residual joy of college for years now with the NCAA Football series. Thought of by some as a "little brother" to Madden, a franchise that has shared a lot of its technology over the years, NCAA has always held its own though, even surpassing the flagship title certain years in quality. For 09, it looks like they're taking the ain't broke/don't' fix mentality and adding smaller upgrades to the game. At least compared to what EA Sports is doing with Madden. It seems like more attention was put into the Wii version, which is fine because it is actually fun, and they're making the game really accessible, which could be great for parties. Still, NCAA for the Xbox 360 is that same experience you've come to know and love, plus some updates that should put enough shine on the game to make it interesting."
As GamePolitics has reported, Electronic Arts may soon face a lawsuit by retired NFL players who believe their likenesses were unlawfully incorporated into EA's best-selling Madden game. But former college players now want their slice of EA's money pie as well.
SF Weekly reports that a one-time college quarterback is now making the same claim as NFL retirees in regard to EA's popular NCAA Football and NCAA Basketball franchises. Samuel Keller (left), formerly of Arizona State and Nebraska, is the lead plaintiff in the class action suit.
But College athletes aren't allowed to be payed. A roster download is done by third parties, and merely makes renaming every player in the game much, much quicker. Which is what many gamers will do anyway.
And the players aren't always right anyway. Austin English (#33) from OU is black in NCAA 2008, but is clearly white in real life.
I don't know what he wants EA to do, they aren't allowed to pay the players, and gamers want to play as the players. It's a lose-lose.
The NCAA Football 09 $1,000,000 Challenge, sponsored by House-Kidder Entertainment, is a new nationwide Tournament that will allow U.S. video gamers to compete using the NCAA Football 09 video game on the Xbox 360 for a Grand Prize that could be as much as $1,000,000.
Operation Sports' Wil McCombs examines NCAA Football 09's recruiting model and gives suggestions on how to improve it for NCAA Football 10.
Excerpt: "The main system 'improvements' in '09 were, in my opinion, aimed in the wrong direction. Last year, EA developers presented gamers with ways to streamline the process via features like Quick Call and CPU assistance. Sadly, many sports games -- particularly EA Sports games -- yearn for the casual gamer, and these new tweaks made it nauseatingly evident. Considering the over-the-top, hardcore nature of most college football fans (and NCAA gamers), it seems counter-productive to dumb down the product for the masses, at least in this department."
