NCAA Football 09 - Previews, Reviews, Screenshots and more - The Postgame Pub

Raider1one · 03-06-2008, 05:40 PM

EA Selects Darren McFadden as the First of
Four Cover Athletes for NCAA Football 09

McFadden Will Grace the XBOX 360 Cover in
Platform Exclusive NCAA Football 09 Packaging

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE) --Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ:ERTS - News) today announced that former University of Arkansas running back and two time All-American recipient, Darren McFadden, will appear on the front cover of NCAA® Football 09 for the Xbox 360™ video game entertainment system, scheduled for release on July 15, 2008. This year, the packaging for each of the NCAA Football 09 console platforms will feature an exclusive cover athlete. Following McFadden on the Xbox 360 package front will be three other cover athletes from different regions throughout the county to appear on the box art for NCAA Football 09 on the PlayStation® 2 and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment systems, and the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system.

During McFadden’s three year career at the University of Arkansas, the two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up earned three First Team All-SEC selections, was named the SEC coaches and Associated Press “Offensive Player of the Year”, received the 2007 Walter Camp Award, and was the first Sophomore to receive the Doak Walker Award for the best college Running Back two years in row. McFadden holds multiple University of Arkansas records, the most notable being the Razorback’s all-time leading rusher with 4,485 yards in only 37 career games.

NCAA Football 09 will unveil the all-new Break Away Animation Engine which allows gamers to break in and out of moves giving the user more direct control as well as instant influence and responsiveness on the field. At its core, NCAA Football 09 will focus on wide-open collegiate style gameplay featuring unique animations that you will only find on college football Saturdays. This style of gameplay will allow agile backs like McFadden to show off their break out speed and maneuverability in-game.

"These four athletes represent the best and brightest of college football, but our selections aren't just about Heisman candidates and All Americans,” says Sr. director of marketing Tom Goedde. “They represent the spirit and passion of the sport in the same way EA SPORTS video games do."

In anticipation for the NFL Draft, EA will announce the exclusive cover athlete for the PLAYSTATION 3 system on April 24, while the exclusive cover athletes for the PlayStation 2 and the PSP systems will be unveiled the beginning of May. The Wii™ cover will feature the winner from the NCAA Football 09 Cover Mascot Challenge, and will be announced on the NCAA Football 09 website on March 18.

Developed in Orlando, Fla., by EA Tiburon, NCAA Football 09 will be available for the PlayStation 2 and PLAYSTATION 3 systems, the PSP system, the Wii and the Xbox 360 system. For more information about NCAA Football 09 please visit www.ncaafootball09.com.

Crono139 · 03-06-2008, 10:11 PM

Looks like I'll have McFadden on the cover of my copy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raider1one

NCAA Football 09 will unveil the all-new Break Away Animation Engine which allows gamers to break in and out of moves giving the user more direct control as well as instant influence and responsiveness on the field. At its core, NCAA Football 09 will focus on wide-open collegiate style gameplay featuring unique animations that you will only find on college football Saturdays. This style of gameplay will allow agile backs like McFadden to show off their break out speed and maneuverability in-game.

Badass!

Jerome · 03-06-2008, 10:15 PM

can't wait until this comes out. i haven't bought a copy of madden in years, and since i'm a much bigger fan of college football than pro ball, i don't intend to either. hopefully they can keep producing a great game year in and year out.

Crono139 · 03-07-2008, 01:35 AM

Crono139 · 03-08-2008, 12:40 AM

Here's an interview about the game.

"This is our year." Those are the words of NCAA Football's product manager Kendall Boyd as he sits down to talk about the 09 version of his game. We're rolling through the streets of Hollywood as members of Darren McFadden's entourage while Boyd talks about how Madden stepped up in 08 and it's NCAA's turn to finally rise back to prominence when it hits stores July 15.
Boyd explains how the team is much farther along in development than they were last year at this time, and when I ask him about the PS3 version's inferior frame rate, he has the words that Sony gamers have been dying to hear. "The PS3 version will run at 60 frames per second."

"You sure about that?" I ask.

"I guarantee it."

Here's what else Boyd had to say about the new gameplay enhancements in store for 09, what to expect from the Wii, and how this year's game is the one that will finally bring the series back to its PS2 glory days.

GameTap: What's been your reaction to the negative response the NCAA Football series has gotten the last couple of years
on the new systems? How do you plan on bringing the series up to the level fans of the series expect on the PS3 and 360?

Kendall Boyd: I think one of the things for us is really focusing on making the transition over to the PS3 and 360. We're in our third year now, and we're finally at a point where we understand the software, the developers know the ins and outs of it, and for this year we're really putting an emphasis on what makes college football unique compared to the pro game. To do that, it comes down to one thing: the gameplay. Gameplay is the basis of any great game, so for us, that's how we're going to bring the charge back.

GameTap: Do you listen to what the NCAA community has to say in terms of making those gameplay improvements?

Kendall Boyd: We do. We actually did a ton of focus group testing and we had two different community days, one in Tiburon and one down in Los Angeles. We're listening to their feedback, and we try to do that with our gaming press as well. The fans are the most important thing, and listening to them and trying to understand what they want in the game is what we're trying to do in terms of delivering that authenticity we've always stood for at EA Sports. Over the years, our research has showed that while we do have crossover between Madden and NCAA gamers, our hardcore guys are always going to come back just to see what we're doing in dynasty [mode]. Two-thirds of our audience plays dynasty; they have grown up with that feature of the game and want us to incorporate more of that authenticity into it. That goes back to what's new at your school, what have they fixed from your stadium, what has changed about the uniform. That's what separates the college fan from the Madden fan.

GameTap: What's the hook for NCAA Football 09? How has the gameplay changed?

Kendall Boyd: The big focus this year is about wide-open gameplay and the college atmosphere. If you went to the National Championship last season, it was all about electricity. We want you to be able to feel the electricity as best you can when you go in and play the game. You do that by making it a more wide-open experience in terms of giving guys more ankle-breaking jukes. At the same time, when you hit the hole immediately at the line of scrimmage, you'll find your opening. But if you're playing against a lesser team, that hole will open, and after running five or 10 yards, it might come down to a footrace. Blocking is one of the big keys to that and [it's] the area the dev team is really concentrating on right now.

From an atmosphere side, if you look at what we brought last year, we had beautiful stadiums. Our stadiums have always been beautiful, but how do you make the experience more vibrant, how do you make it stand out? We want to show the contrast between the home and away teams. The sidelines are now populated and you'll see cheerleaders doing stunts. When you looked at it on PS2, the cheerleaders were part of a cutscene. Now, you'll be driving down the field and you'll see them on the sideline doing stunts and cheers in unison, and it's really cool. That's the kind of stuff we want the fans to appreciate. The subtle things.

GameTap: I hear there's a new physics engine in the game for breaking tackles. How is that going to work?

Kendall Boyd: One of the things we're focusing on this year is our breakaway animation engine. What that means is that for the first time, you really have control of all of the moves that you're doing. The moves are on both sticks, and you still have the ability to do moves off the button controls. But now, much like when you play Fight Night, you can rotate the analog stick to go into a spin move, and instead of just letting that animation play out, you can now go from animation to animation and juke to juke by your control. It's all about the fluidity. I can now run at a guy at a three-o'clock angle, where in the past I was always running at twelve-o'clock, and I can now run toward him, hit my juke, hit it again if he reacted to it, and cut back out. In the past, you were always forced to look ahead, but now you can do these moves at different angles.
Defense is also going to be influenced as it's all about the trajectory [at which] you hit someone. In the past, again, you just went into the tackle animation, but now it's about where you are as you head into the play. If your guy isn't good enough and you take a bad angle, you're going to completely miss and maybe swat at him with your arm. Shoestring tackles, arm tackles, those are all things you'll find in the college game, and that's something our game is focusing on.

GameTap: What can we expect from the playbooks in 09?

Kendall Boyd: We've got two guys who are basically--if there are such things as playbook aficionados, these are the guys. We have a guy who played quarterback for Florida on the National Championship team under Spurrier, and all he does for us is break down film. We have another guy who just sits there and reads gameplay tape. You see Urban Meyer's offense, we translate it into the game. The influence you're going to see this year is more about the strategic side of the playbook. Our depth is always going to be there. I don't think any team in sports gaming does a better job of research than the Tiburon guys, and this year it's about the strategic element. How you bluff your guy. How you do checks at the line. Basically, how you run a spread option offense and go in and no-huddle your way through. Those are just some of the things you can expect to see this year.

GameTap: This is the first year we're going to see NCAA on the Wii. What's going to differentiate the Wii version?

Kendall Boyd: The Wii's been really exciting. Not to go too much into marketing, but we're doing a mascot promotion that's basically been the most successful Web promotion we've ever done at EA Sports. We've had about a half-million unique visitors to the site and we wanted to give the fan the opportunity to vote for which mascot they would like to see on the cover. It's totally fan driven. If you go to Facebook, Michigan State put up a dedicated Wii mascot page for this and they have like 3,000 members. Every day they're hitting it and voting. You go to message boards for Nebraska and you see people asking for fans to vote. That's always been the key to us, to go in and celebrate what's great about college football. To engage the consumers and the fans--and that's what this promotion is all about.
In terms of the actual game, we want to address the Wii audience. It's going to be a much more accessible experience. Family play will be in there--the first time NCAA has had family play. If you're a hardcore player, you're still going to be able to play a great game of NCAA Football, but if you're playing against your son or your parents and you want to be able to have a good experience, you can go in and set the different difficulty levels. The other thing is, we want it to be a quicker and more accessible experience. We've eliminated a lot of the slowdown of getting in and out of the instant replays and such. It's very quick and very fun and has that Nintendo feel to it but still true to the sport.

GameTap: Getting back to the 360 and PS3, I know you guys did a lot of motion-capture work for the 09 game. What kinds of new animations can we expect to see?

Kendall Boyd: A lot of the multiple tackle hits that you'll see are all the results of our new mo-cap. Also, when we were talking about the wide-open controls, now on the left stick, a place where we've never had any moves, now you can go left-to-right on the left stick and you will do a Barry Sanders-esque shimmy. It's really sweet and that's something that came from the motion-capture. Foot-pinning is another big focus, so you can actually see the cuts. When a runner hits and plants, you'll actually be able to see the leverage of the weight. We've also added all-new player models. When you look at an NFL player, they're much more chiseled. Look at a college lineman: They still have muscle tone, but they also have some girth about them. We just want to get those differences between the two to help make the game, not only feel more authentic, but look it.

Crono139 · 03-08-2008, 01:02 AM

Raider1one · 03-15-2008, 11:21 AM

from operationsports.com

The "EA Hype Machine" getting its gears in motion for NCAA Football 09, which is still presumably 3-4 months away from hitting store shelves. In fact, last week during an interview with GameTap (Seen Above in this forum), Kendall Boyd, NCAA Football's product manager, revealed some information about the '09 version of NCAA Football.

After reading the interview, I am first off, very interested to see how the new tackling system works out for the NCAA franchise. As many of you who've followed my writings on MaddenMania/DigitalSportsMania may know, that's one of my biggest pet peeves with football games in general.

And the new system which is promised to make the tackling and on-field gameplay more dynamic and wide open sounds like it will be a step up if done right, which is always the key.

However, it also sounds like this year is the year of the manual controller -- assuming the initial talking points EA is pushing continue to be the emphasis moving forward. Playing online will be a test of who can dominate on the sticks since the animation system will be interruptible and dynamic. Good stick skills, of course, will never replace a sound football mind, but the folks who have great stick skills and even a modest mind for football might just dominate this year.

Another small detail to be gleaned from the interview is that the folks down at EA Tiburon are working on adding some depth as it relates to the little things this year. Hopefully they took a few notes from SCE San Diego's MLB '08: The Show and realized how effective the little things can be.

Also, the playbooks look to be tweaked and improved upon with some strategic depth added. I'm pretty sure these will be fairly solid, as EA Tiburon always seems to do a good job with the playbooks.

As far as the inaugural Wii version of NCAA goes, expect a lot of what Madden has been doing with Family Play integration. In other words, if you are a hardcore sports gamer and you only have a Wii, I kind of pity you because I'm not sure you'll be getting the "full package" so to speak. But if you have some children, then you will probably be pleasantly surprised by how well the Family Play option simplifies the game for the kiddos.

My personal take on the news so far is reserved, as I am sure most NCAA fans can attest to. I honestly expect to see the NCAA series continue to improve, but I don't think it's going to live up to the legacy the PS2/XBOX versions created for the game just yet.

So it sounds like EA Tiburon is tweaking the game and trying to refine how it plays, which is the right step if the other option is trying to pack it full of new features that fall outside the realm of gameplay.

But even though focusing on the gameplay is the most important goal, we better get Create-A-Team this year. I don't want to have to yet again hear a familiar phrase for the third year running in response to the, "Did Create-A-Team make it into the game this year?" question:

"Maybe next year."

Crono139 · 03-22-2008, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EA Sports

NCAA Football 09 Art Director Jason Renfroe shares some details on what his team has done to improve the in game visuals and some of what you'll see in future screens of NCAA Football 09.

On player models:

"We've done a lot of work this year to improve the player models. They have a much more dynamic body shape. A key example here is what we've done with our linemen. In years past all of the linemen were big, fat guys. This year we have added lineman body types that are much more athletic. This really helps make the players look more authentic. We also added extra padding to accentuate the players' form and see the pads and their movement."

On improved lighting:

"In the past we had one lighting model. This year we have two. One model is for environments and one is for players. This does a lot to help the way players look better when they are in the shadows. We also added a subtle rim light around the players so they pop more on screen. To improve the look of the stadiums, we've saturated our crowds and really brought in a lot of color to better bring out the college atmosphere. Our skies and field art are new as well."

**Chubz** · 03-22-2008, 02:33 PM

wowow

Raider1one · 03-28-2008, 07:03 PM

from operationsports.com

Although NCAA Football 09 won't be out for a few more months, there is a bit of hope surrounding this season's release.

This is now the third installment for the series on the Xbox 360 and second for Playstation 3. It is about time for EA Tiburon to show us what they’ve got up their sleeve. Development problems should be tackled by now as well as graphics and frame rate issues. This is perhaps the year we should see the full power of “Next Gen” come to fruition.

What we know so far:

With little info being available for NCAA Football 2009 currently, we mostly have last year to go on when looking ahead to this year. However, most of us have seen the video of cover boy Darren McFadden giving the shimmy shake in his Arkansas uniform. This tells us that stick play is going to be focal point once again and with that news, stick jockeys everywhere should rejoice.

We also have seen that player models have been slightly improved from the screenshots recently released by EA Sports. The way the pads fit under the jersey looks refined. Things have also been touched up a little, giving everything a more polished look.

Finally, EA has stated that they are committed to bringing more atmosphere to this year’s game. One can only guess at this time what that might include, but the consensus is that it will be a welcome addition.

What we should be looking for:

After the patch was released for NCAA Football 2008, the game play was vastly improved. This is a trend that should continue in the same direction with the upcoming title. We are talking everything from touch passing to better blocking and defensive back play should be touched.

The menus last year were certainly an area that lacked pop to many. The dynasty menu mostly was the culprit to these complaints. That shouldn’t be too hard to revamp and jazz up a little for aesthetics and functionality.

The inclusion of discipline and medical redshirts are features that are highly requested, and their additions may finally pop up in next gen this July. This would only help to improve a pretty decent dynasty mode, and make the game replay factor last a bit longer.

Downloadable content disappeared last year for the 360, causing a step back with no alternate unis at all to use. One of the hopes across the community for this season is that alternate and throwback jerseys return to the NCAA franchise in some form or fashion. It does not matter whether it is via free download with a much earlier release date than in 2007 or if they are included on the game disk somehow, the hope is that we will see alternates back this season.

Finally the rest of the FBS stadiums should be replicated and put in the game, as there were only a few dozen more left. The addition of FCS teams may finally rear their heads as well on the newest consoles.

When will we know:
With spring practice here for many and coming up for others, it is never too early to start thinking about college football. However, it is still too early to tell what we can fully expect with NCAA Football 09. As is typically the case, we should start seeing some major details turning up towards the month of May.

With E3 no longer giving us our first taste of NCAA in early May, we are forced to rely on EA to release info in the coming months. In the meantime, be sure to stay tuned to Operation Sports for those details.

In the meantime, expect more info to slowly leak in the coming weeks. Check EA’s homepage and Operation Sports often, as things are always being updated.

If everything goes as it looks it might NCAA Football 09

could see a breakthrough year. However, potential has never been EA’s problem. Hopefully we get everything we wanted and more with NCAA Football 09 this summer!

03-06-2008, 05:40 PM	#1 (permalink)
Raider1one Banned Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: WEST COAST Posts: 418 vCash: 2702 Donate Rep Power: 0	NCAA Football 09 - Previews, Reviews, Screenshots and more EA Selects Darren McFadden as the First of Four Cover Athletes for NCAA Football 09 McFadden Will Grace the XBOX 360 Cover in Platform Exclusive NCAA Football 09 Packaging REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE) --Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ:ERTS - News) today announced that former University of Arkansas running back and two time All-American recipient, Darren McFadden, will appear on the front cover of NCAA® Football 09 for the Xbox 360™ video game entertainment system, scheduled for release on July 15, 2008. This year, the packaging for each of the NCAA Football 09 console platforms will feature an exclusive cover athlete. Following McFadden on the Xbox 360 package front will be three other cover athletes from different regions throughout the county to appear on the box art for NCAA Football 09 on the PlayStation® 2 and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment systems, and the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system. During McFadden’s three year career at the University of Arkansas, the two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up earned three First Team All-SEC selections, was named the SEC coaches and Associated Press “Offensive Player of the Year”, received the 2007 Walter Camp Award, and was the first Sophomore to receive the Doak Walker Award for the best college Running Back two years in row. McFadden holds multiple University of Arkansas records, the most notable being the Razorback’s all-time leading rusher with 4,485 yards in only 37 career games. NCAA Football 09 will unveil the all-new Break Away Animation Engine which allows gamers to break in and out of moves giving the user more direct control as well as instant influence and responsiveness on the field. At its core, NCAA Football 09 will focus on wide-open collegiate style gameplay featuring unique animations that you will only find on college football Saturdays. This style of gameplay will allow agile backs like McFadden to show off their break out speed and maneuverability in-game. "These four athletes represent the best and brightest of college football, but our selections aren't just about Heisman candidates and All Americans,” says Sr. director of marketing Tom Goedde. “They represent the spirit and passion of the sport in the same way EA SPORTS video games do." In anticipation for the NFL Draft, EA will announce the exclusive cover athlete for the PLAYSTATION 3 system on April 24, while the exclusive cover athletes for the PlayStation 2 and the PSP systems will be unveiled the beginning of May. The Wii™ cover will feature the winner from the NCAA Football 09 Cover Mascot Challenge, and will be announced on the NCAA Football 09 website on March 18. Developed in Orlando, Fla., by EA Tiburon, NCAA Football 09 will be available for the PlayStation 2 and PLAYSTATION 3 systems, the PSP system, the Wii and the Xbox 360 system. For more information about NCAA Football 09 please visit www.ncaafootball09.com.

03-06-2008, 10:15 PM	#3 (permalink)
Jerome PGP HoFer Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Sacramento, California Posts: 2,000 vCash: 5460 Donate Rep Power: 57 Awards Showcase Total Awards: 2	Re: Ncaa Football 09 can't wait until this comes out. i haven't bought a copy of madden in years, and since i'm a much bigger fan of college football than pro ball, i don't intend to either. hopefully they can keep producing a great game year in and year out.

03-07-2008, 01:35 AM	#4 (permalink)
Crono139 <3 Hayley <3 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: NJ Posts: 3,867 vCash: 41710 Donate XBL Gamertag: Crono139 Rep Power: 96 Awards Showcase Total Awards: 2	Re: Ncaa Football 09

03-08-2008, 12:40 AM	#5 (permalink)
Crono139 <3 Hayley <3 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: NJ Posts: 3,867 vCash: 41710 Donate XBL Gamertag: Crono139 Rep Power: 96 Awards Showcase Total Awards: 2	Re: Ncaa Football 09 Here's an interview about the game. "This is our year." Those are the words of NCAA Football's product manager Kendall Boyd as he sits down to talk about the 09 version of his game. We're rolling through the streets of Hollywood as members of Darren McFadden's entourage while Boyd talks about how Madden stepped up in 08 and it's NCAA's turn to finally rise back to prominence when it hits stores July 15. Boyd explains how the team is much farther along in development than they were last year at this time, and when I ask him about the PS3 version's inferior frame rate, he has the words that Sony gamers have been dying to hear. "The PS3 version will run at 60 frames per second." "You sure about that?" I ask. "I guarantee it." Here's what else Boyd had to say about the new gameplay enhancements in store for 09, what to expect from the Wii, and how this year's game is the one that will finally bring the series back to its PS2 glory days. GameTap: What's been your reaction to the negative response the NCAA Football series has gotten the last couple of years on the new systems? How do you plan on bringing the series up to the level fans of the series expect on the PS3 and 360? Kendall Boyd: I think one of the things for us is really focusing on making the transition over to the PS3 and 360. We're in our third year now, and we're finally at a point where we understand the software, the developers know the ins and outs of it, and for this year we're really putting an emphasis on what makes college football unique compared to the pro game. To do that, it comes down to one thing: the gameplay. Gameplay is the basis of any great game, so for us, that's how we're going to bring the charge back. GameTap: Do you listen to what the NCAA community has to say in terms of making those gameplay improvements? Kendall Boyd: We do. We actually did a ton of focus group testing and we had two different community days, one in Tiburon and one down in Los Angeles. We're listening to their feedback, and we try to do that with our gaming press as well. The fans are the most important thing, and listening to them and trying to understand what they want in the game is what we're trying to do in terms of delivering that authenticity we've always stood for at EA Sports. Over the years, our research has showed that while we do have crossover between Madden and NCAA gamers, our hardcore guys are always going to come back just to see what we're doing in dynasty [mode]. Two-thirds of our audience plays dynasty; they have grown up with that feature of the game and want us to incorporate more of that authenticity into it. That goes back to what's new at your school, what have they fixed from your stadium, what has changed about the uniform. That's what separates the college fan from the Madden fan. GameTap: What's the hook for NCAA Football 09? How has the gameplay changed? Kendall Boyd: The big focus this year is about wide-open gameplay and the college atmosphere. If you went to the National Championship last season, it was all about electricity. We want you to be able to feel the electricity as best you can when you go in and play the game. You do that by making it a more wide-open experience in terms of giving guys more ankle-breaking jukes. At the same time, when you hit the hole immediately at the line of scrimmage, you'll find your opening. But if you're playing against a lesser team, that hole will open, and after running five or 10 yards, it might come down to a footrace. Blocking is one of the big keys to that and [it's] the area the dev team is really concentrating on right now. From an atmosphere side, if you look at what we brought last year, we had beautiful stadiums. Our stadiums have always been beautiful, but how do you make the experience more vibrant, how do you make it stand out? We want to show the contrast between the home and away teams. The sidelines are now populated and you'll see cheerleaders doing stunts. When you looked at it on PS2, the cheerleaders were part of a cutscene. Now, you'll be driving down the field and you'll see them on the sideline doing stunts and cheers in unison, and it's really cool. That's the kind of stuff we want the fans to appreciate. The subtle things. GameTap: I hear there's a new physics engine in the game for breaking tackles. How is that going to work? Kendall Boyd: One of the things we're focusing on this year is our breakaway animation engine. What that means is that for the first time, you really have control of all of the moves that you're doing. The moves are on both sticks, and you still have the ability to do moves off the button controls. But now, much like when you play Fight Night, you can rotate the analog stick to go into a spin move, and instead of just letting that animation play out, you can now go from animation to animation and juke to juke by your control. It's all about the fluidity. I can now run at a guy at a three-o'clock angle, where in the past I was always running at twelve-o'clock, and I can now run toward him, hit my juke, hit it again if he reacted to it, and cut back out. In the past, you were always forced to look ahead, but now you can do these moves at different angles. Defense is also going to be influenced as it's all about the trajectory [at which] you hit someone. In the past, again, you just went into the tackle animation, but now it's about where you are as you head into the play. If your guy isn't good enough and you take a bad angle, you're going to completely miss and maybe swat at him with your arm. Shoestring tackles, arm tackles, those are all things you'll find in the college game, and that's something our game is focusing on. GameTap: What can we expect from the playbooks in 09? Kendall Boyd: We've got two guys who are basically--if there are such things as playbook aficionados, these are the guys. We have a guy who played quarterback for Florida on the National Championship team under Spurrier, and all he does for us is break down film. We have another guy who just sits there and reads gameplay tape. You see Urban Meyer's offense, we translate it into the game. The influence you're going to see this year is more about the strategic side of the playbook. Our depth is always going to be there. I don't think any team in sports gaming does a better job of research than the Tiburon guys, and this year it's about the strategic element. How you bluff your guy. How you do checks at the line. Basically, how you run a spread option offense and go in and no-huddle your way through. Those are just some of the things you can expect to see this year. GameTap: This is the first year we're going to see NCAA on the Wii. What's going to differentiate the Wii version? Kendall Boyd: The Wii's been really exciting. Not to go too much into marketing, but we're doing a mascot promotion that's basically been the most successful Web promotion we've ever done at EA Sports. We've had about a half-million unique visitors to the site and we wanted to give the fan the opportunity to vote for which mascot they would like to see on the cover. It's totally fan driven. If you go to Facebook, Michigan State put up a dedicated Wii mascot page for this and they have like 3,000 members. Every day they're hitting it and voting. You go to message boards for Nebraska and you see people asking for fans to vote. That's always been the key to us, to go in and celebrate what's great about college football. To engage the consumers and the fans--and that's what this promotion is all about. In terms of the actual game, we want to address the Wii audience. It's going to be a much more accessible experience. Family play will be in there--the first time NCAA has had family play. If you're a hardcore player, you're still going to be able to play a great game of NCAA Football, but if you're playing against your son or your parents and you want to be able to have a good experience, you can go in and set the different difficulty levels. The other thing is, we want it to be a quicker and more accessible experience. We've eliminated a lot of the slowdown of getting in and out of the instant replays and such. It's very quick and very fun and has that Nintendo feel to it but still true to the sport. GameTap: Getting back to the 360 and PS3, I know you guys did a lot of motion-capture work for the 09 game. What kinds of new animations can we expect to see? Kendall Boyd: A lot of the multiple tackle hits that you'll see are all the results of our new mo-cap. Also, when we were talking about the wide-open controls, now on the left stick, a place where we've never had any moves, now you can go left-to-right on the left stick and you will do a Barry Sanders-esque shimmy. It's really sweet and that's something that came from the motion-capture. Foot-pinning is another big focus, so you can actually see the cuts. When a runner hits and plants, you'll actually be able to see the leverage of the weight. We've also added all-new player models. When you look at an NFL player, they're much more chiseled. Look at a college lineman: They still have muscle tone, but they also have some girth about them. We just want to get those differences between the two to help make the game, not only feel more authentic, but look it. Last edited by Crono139; 03-08-2008 at 12:43 AM.

03-08-2008, 01:02 AM	#6 (permalink)
Crono139 <3 Hayley <3 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: NJ Posts: 3,867 vCash: 41710 Donate XBL Gamertag: Crono139 Rep Power: 96 Awards Showcase Total Awards: 2	Re: NCAA Football 09 - Previews, Reviews, Videos and more

03-15-2008, 11:21 AM	#7 (permalink)
Raider1one Banned Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: WEST COAST Posts: 418 vCash: 2702 Donate Rep Power: 0	Re: NCAA Football 09 - Previews, Reviews, Screenshots and more from operationsports.com The "EA Hype Machine" getting its gears in motion for NCAA Football 09, which is still presumably 3-4 months away from hitting store shelves. In fact, last week during an interview with GameTap (Seen Above in this forum), Kendall Boyd, NCAA Football's product manager, revealed some information about the '09 version of NCAA Football. After reading the interview, I am first off, very interested to see how the new tackling system works out for the NCAA franchise. As many of you who've followed my writings on MaddenMania/DigitalSportsMania may know, that's one of my biggest pet peeves with football games in general. And the new system which is promised to make the tackling and on-field gameplay more dynamic and wide open sounds like it will be a step up if done right, which is always the key. However, it also sounds like this year is the year of the manual controller -- assuming the initial talking points EA is pushing continue to be the emphasis moving forward. Playing online will be a test of who can dominate on the sticks since the animation system will be interruptible and dynamic. Good stick skills, of course, will never replace a sound football mind, but the folks who have great stick skills and even a modest mind for football might just dominate this year. Another small detail to be gleaned from the interview is that the folks down at EA Tiburon are working on adding some depth as it relates to the little things this year. Hopefully they took a few notes from SCE San Diego's MLB '08: The Show and realized how effective the little things can be. Also, the playbooks look to be tweaked and improved upon with some strategic depth added. I'm pretty sure these will be fairly solid, as EA Tiburon always seems to do a good job with the playbooks. As far as the inaugural Wii version of NCAA goes, expect a lot of what Madden has been doing with Family Play integration. In other words, if you are a hardcore sports gamer and you only have a Wii, I kind of pity you because I'm not sure you'll be getting the "full package" so to speak. But if you have some children, then you will probably be pleasantly surprised by how well the Family Play option simplifies the game for the kiddos. My personal take on the news so far is reserved, as I am sure most NCAA fans can attest to. I honestly expect to see the NCAA series continue to improve, but I don't think it's going to live up to the legacy the PS2/XBOX versions created for the game just yet. So it sounds like EA Tiburon is tweaking the game and trying to refine how it plays, which is the right step if the other option is trying to pack it full of new features that fall outside the realm of gameplay. But even though focusing on the gameplay is the most important goal, we better get Create-A-Team this year. I don't want to have to yet again hear a familiar phrase for the third year running in response to the, "Did Create-A-Team make it into the game this year?" question: "Maybe next year."

03-22-2008, 02:33 PM	#9 (permalink)
Chubz Who's The Boss Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Toms River, NJ Posts: 6,007 vCash: 4087 Donate My Blog: The Chubzone XBL Gamertag: xXchubbzillaXx PSN Gamertag: Chubzilla Blog Entries: 3 Rep Power: 100 Awards Showcase Total Awards: 2	Re: NCAA Football 09 - Previews, Reviews, Screenshots and more wowow __________________

03-28-2008, 07:03 PM	#10 (permalink)
Raider1one Banned Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: WEST COAST Posts: 418 vCash: 2702 Donate Rep Power: 0	Re: NCAA Football 09 - Previews, Reviews, Screenshots and more from operationsports.com Although NCAA Football 09 won't be out for a few more months, there is a bit of hope surrounding this season's release. This is now the third installment for the series on the Xbox 360 and second for Playstation 3. It is about time for EA Tiburon to show us what they’ve got up their sleeve. Development problems should be tackled by now as well as graphics and frame rate issues. This is perhaps the year we should see the full power of “Next Gen” come to fruition. What we know so far: With little info being available for NCAA Football 2009 currently, we mostly have last year to go on when looking ahead to this year. However, most of us have seen the video of cover boy Darren McFadden giving the shimmy shake in his Arkansas uniform. This tells us that stick play is going to be focal point once again and with that news, stick jockeys everywhere should rejoice. We also have seen that player models have been slightly improved from the screenshots recently released by EA Sports. The way the pads fit under the jersey looks refined. Things have also been touched up a little, giving everything a more polished look. Finally, EA has stated that they are committed to bringing more atmosphere to this year’s game. One can only guess at this time what that might include, but the consensus is that it will be a welcome addition. What we should be looking for: After the patch was released for NCAA Football 2008, the game play was vastly improved. This is a trend that should continue in the same direction with the upcoming title. We are talking everything from touch passing to better blocking and defensive back play should be touched. The menus last year were certainly an area that lacked pop to many. The dynasty menu mostly was the culprit to these complaints. That shouldn’t be too hard to revamp and jazz up a little for aesthetics and functionality. The inclusion of discipline and medical redshirts are features that are highly requested, and their additions may finally pop up in next gen this July. This would only help to improve a pretty decent dynasty mode, and make the game replay factor last a bit longer. Downloadable content disappeared last year for the 360, causing a step back with no alternate unis at all to use. One of the hopes across the community for this season is that alternate and throwback jerseys return to the NCAA franchise in some form or fashion. It does not matter whether it is via free download with a much earlier release date than in 2007 or if they are included on the game disk somehow, the hope is that we will see alternates back this season. Finally the rest of the FBS stadiums should be replicated and put in the game, as there were only a few dozen more left. The addition of FCS teams may finally rear their heads as well on the newest consoles. When will we know: With spring practice here for many and coming up for others, it is never too early to start thinking about college football. However, it is still too early to tell what we can fully expect with NCAA Football 09. As is typically the case, we should start seeing some major details turning up towards the month of May. With E3 no longer giving us our first taste of NCAA in early May, we are forced to rely on EA to release info in the coming months. In the meantime, be sure to stay tuned to Operation Sports for those details. In the meantime, expect more info to slowly leak in the coming weeks. Check EA’s homepage and Operation Sports often, as things are always being updated. If everything goes as it looks it might NCAA Football 09 could see a breakthrough year. However, potential has never been EA’s problem. Hopefully we get everything we wanted and more with NCAA Football 09 this summer!