This is how college football feels.
"There wasn't much football going on at Towson State University, my alma mater. Sure, we had a team. But I didn't notice. There is, however, such a thing as college football mania. I got to see it up close when my friend, J.P., nearly had a nervous breakdown while watching his Georgia Bulldogs lose a game. I could care less. But the nice thing about sports video games is that, when done right, they appeal to die hard fans of the sport and also to those of us who are just fans of gaming."
Historically, no one does this better than EA Sports.
With NCAA Football 09, they've done it again.
Here are some quick highlights:
* Players have an impressive amount of agility and maneuvers, making it easy to make evasive and impromptu movements.
* The defense is tough. Really tough. Expect hard hits and turnovers.
* Quarterback Quiz - a mini-game aimed at serious football strategists - is a fantastic addition that gives you a chance to buck up your quarterback after an interception.
* Do not underestimate the power of the home crowd.
* Do not underestimate the power of effective time-outs.
* Coke Zero Mascot Mash Up - Animated character chaos at its best.
* Special teams mini-games (Think HORSE with field goals instead of basketballs)
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."
