EA Sports

For those who are interested, There is an article written about the process that EA has in selecting player ratings.  There is 1 person who does ALL of the ratings, known as the "Ratings Czar."  It's a fun read, and it has sliders so you can see what some of your ratings would be in Madden.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/madden/#

With the World Cup finished, NBA free agency winding down, the second half of baseball underway, and The Open looking like a one-man race, the sports calendar has finally hit a dead spot. Just six weeks from today the college football season begins in earnest, but an old staple of this time of year is missing this year.

For about the past decade, I remember counting the days until mid-July for the release of the year's new EA Sports video game about the sport we love most hear: NCAA Football. Obviously with the O'Bannon lawsuit and pay for players debate raging throughout the country, it's unclear when the series will return. I would expect some wholesale reform in college football that allows for a return of sanctioned video games someday, but for now we are stuck with last year's version. The relief of all this is that we zealots retain $60 rather than buying what's usually a highly similar product with a fresh coat of paint and new rosters. Yet, I will miss popping in the new game all the same.

What does the (for now) death of the series mean to college football and its fans this year? Some may return to past entries, but the appeal of letting EA Sports setting up mostly analagous schedules and rosters will certainly scare many away from this avenue.

Also, I hope to find some fresh roster update on the internet in the coming weeks, but this year that is exceedingly more challenging as it involves not only tracking down the correct players and inputting names, but projecting both improvements and new players. Is anyone crazy enough to do this, probably not for the whole game (yikes) but perhaps just for Michigan or even the Big Ten?

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/11010455/college-athletes-reach-40-million-settlement-ea-sports-ncaa-licensing-arm

College football and basketball players have finalized a $40 million settlement with a video game manufacturer and the NCAA's licensing arm for improperly using the likenesses of athletes, leaving the NCAA alone to defend itself in the upcoming Ed O'Bannon antitrust trial.

In the end, according to the agreement, 77 percent of the funds that are due to players (after lawyer fees) will go to the class of players represented by Berman, who sued the NCAA on behalf of former Arizona quarterback Sam Keller. Just over 12 percent will go to players in the class represented by O'Bannon, the former UCLA basketball star. The final 10 percent will go to the class represented by former Rutgers football player Ryan Hart and former West Virginia football player Shawne Alston.

Additionally, O'Bannon, Keller, Hart and the other named plaintiffs would receive payments of $2,500 to $15,000 for their time and efforts in representing the classes.

If the settlement is approved by U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken, the lawyers will receive up to one-third of the settlement funds, or $13.2 million, plus a maximum of $2.5 million in legal fees that they argue is "particularly reasonable in light of the advanced stage of this case." They state that the collective lodestar, or total amount of legal services expended, by the various plaintiffs' firms that have worked on the Keller, O'Bannon and Hart-Alston cases exceeds $30 million, plus expenses of $4 million.

Michigan Related BOMBSHELL:

In June 2013, former University of Michigan president James Duderstadt wrote that "(in) a sense, the NCAA's objective is to preserve the brand so that it provides revenue primarily for a small number of people who get very, very rich on the exploitation of young students who really lose opportunities for their futures. ... And that's what's corrupt about it. The regulations are designed to protect the brand, to protect the playing level and keep it exciting, not to protect the student athletes."

O'Bannon settled with Electronic Arts and the Collegiate Licensing Company today. The only defendent left in the lawsuit now is the NCAA.

An interesting read from SI analyzing where the lawsuit goes from here. The O'Bannon class action could go after broadcasters next. One item I didn't know is the schools not represented by the CLC will probably try to push for the NCAA to settle as they will be more exposed in the lawsuit. Those schools include Ohio State and Michigan State. Not sure how that works but maybe someone here with a law background can break it down.
 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130926/mccann-obannon-ea-clc-settlement/

Seems to have broken about an hour ago.

In a 2-1 vote, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that EA had used the images in its video games of several ex-NCAA athletes without their permission in its NCAA football and basketball series. The decision comes two weeks after EA lost the rights to put the NCAA logo and name on its games beyond this year.

 

Circuit Judge Jay Bybee, writing for the majority of the court, said EA's game "literally recreates [Arizona State University quarterback Samuel] Keller in the very setting in which he has achieved renown."

 

Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas dissented, however, arguing that the games' creative elements "predominate over the commercial use of the athletes' likenesses" and that "Keller's impressive physical likeness can be morphed by the gamer into an overweight and slow virtual athlete, with anemic passing ability".

 

The decision could open up additional legal action against the video game publisher from other former college athletes who have been unhappy with their likenesses being used in the games without compensation.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/former-ncaa-athletes-win-video-game-lawsuit-against-ea-6C10809666

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/31/us-electronicarts-lawsuit-idUSBRE96U0VA20130731

I got an email the other day notifying me of a Class-Action lawsuit against EA Sports.

Supplemental Notice of Proposed Settlement of Class Action
United States Federal District Court for the Northern District of California

Did anyone else get this email? did you submit a claim? Do any lawyers know what this is about? I've bought NCAA 2011, 12, and 13 for Xbox, and according to this I could get about $20+ back per title up to 8 titles. Any thoughts?