NCAA 2010 - Demo goes Live
The Demo for NCAA 2010 dropped this morning on Xbox Live. Early review is that this looks a lot more like 09.5 then a clean new version, but hopefully the final copy will have more additions that make it worth the money. Two new features for this year that are already online are Team Builder and Season Showdown.
Team Builder is much like the standard build a school feature in past games, but the nice thing is you can build your teams online right now and then just move them to your PS3 or 360 when the game comes out. This also allows you to get real decals offline such as your high school graphics and utilize them to create a realistic field and helmet. It will be interesting to see if other ea games add this feature going forward, for example allowing you to customize your fighter online for the new Fight Night 4 coming out this month.
Season Showdown is about proving that our school (Michigan if you are reading this blog) is better than the rest. Essentially, you select one college to play in single-player Play Now, Dynasty, and online modes. You're then rewarded with credits in several different categories depending on your performance on and off the field. Already this mode is available online asking Trivia questions about college football to earn your favorite school credits.
Just a quick summary, to notify you the demo is available and some improvements available. Season Showdown appears like a cool new feature, but remains convoluted until we get to see the whole thing working together. For more info see the link below. July 14th can't get here soon enough so we can introduce electronic Tate to the world of College Sports.
http://ncaafootball.easports.com/home.action
and the past few years have not really wowed me. It's like you get the previous year's madden engine and upgrades applied to NCAA. The one thing I want them to change is the in-season recruiting which is so tedious and actually deters me from playing because I don't want to deal with the recruiting during my Dynasty before every game. Maybe I'm just a lazy fuck, but chasing down recruits before every game with the phone calls and shit is really a pain in the ass.
I saw where they upgraded the defense to be more realistic because you could'nt get any pass rush without the blitz last year and the defense had the worst pursuit angles in the world. I'll download the demo tonight via XboxLive and check it out. Thanks.
Oddly, I think NCAA 09 just needed an update (Jesus, could they have missed many more bugs or obvious features?), and don't think, without having played the demo, that NCAA '10 looks like that.
At least in terms of the recruiting, etc. it looks entirely different. The gameplay is always going to be basically the same, with some small tweaks.
Wow, I sound a lot stupider in this comment than I thought I would. Oh well.
The new features and big gameplay tweaks have given me hope that this years game will be much improved. Season Showdown looks awesome and the whole game should be good. I hope the PS3 Demo comes out today, though.
It comes out at 7 tonight.
They don't usually put stuff up untill the night of the day it comes out.
I think the last one I bought was maybe 2005 or 2006. I can't remember. Maybe I'll splurge and get one soon. I'm curious to see the changes to recruiting. I borrowed my friend's copy last year and agreed that recruiting was a pain in the ass and just took up too much time.
After playing the demo: The gameplay itself (which, I'll be honest, isn't the greatest of my concerns most of the time. Unlike apparently most of you, I spend most of my dynasty time recruiting, and go so far as to sim many of the games) is certainly a little different. Being able to lock on as a certain player is cool, the defensive keys are pretty good (though in my experience largely ineffective), and setting up plays could be pretty good (there's not enough time in the 8-minute game to find out how effective they are, unless you just want to run the same play over and over again on offense).
They still haven't figured out that people don't give a flying fuck about watching the video replay? If I had my way, that idiotic feature wouldn't be in the game at all, much less implemented in such a way that you're forced to waste 30 seconds watching it.
You are so right. Talk about a waste of time, and NCAA not knowing their audience. Instant Replay stopped being cool the year after it came out. If they want it to be impactful they need to incorporate it into the game like Live does. For instance when someone breaks a tackle to go in to the endzone, or lays out to catch a touchdown, show it instantly from different angles as part of the live play. Waiting for it after the fact pathetic, unless you are facing a friend, and even then we only allow it for kickoff returns for TDs.
Sometimes I enjoy watching the replays, not that I watch it often, but I like to see a replay of a huge play I just made. If you don't want to watch it I don't think it is a big deal to just skip through the replay. Just hit a button. If they were going to get rid of it and make the game way better, then I'm for it, but I don't see them being much more productive without having it.
not have replays on the game itself? I mean, if I really really want to see replay, I'll go to the game menu and look at it.
but what I'm saying is I don't think it really matters because they aren't going to make the game better in place of the replays. Nothing will be added. I don't really care about the replays either way, though. Personally, though, I would rather just not waste my time going to the menu if they have a decent replay of it that I can watch.
Maybe it was just my experience, but I thought the worst part of the gameplay were the coach's challenges.
First, I never had an instance where the ruling on the field wasn't overturned (if I was playing against the computer). If the referee announced a challenge, I knew it wasn't going to help me.
Worse, sometimes the instant replayed showed during the challenge would directly contradict an overturned ruling. Balls that were yards away from being caught somehow became completions after challenges.
I don't mean to bitch, because it happened only a handful of times, but it did put a damper on the gameplay.
they tried and failed with that feature. The only times I got a challenge was automatic and it just pissed me off. I never actually had to decide to challenge a play because the game usually calls it right anyways. No reason to have it in the game.
I lost a game because of a fumble that should have been overturned but wasn't.
sometimes the recruiting is the fun part
This video had me dying. I've purchased this game every year since 1997, until last season. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7xdUn1GPKQ
That is so true.
Have they improved the run blocking at all? It drove me absolutely insane in last year's version that there was no Zone running, since that is M's bread and butter. You could only run man-blocked QB Choice and Off-Tackle plays. I was really hoping they would implement the actual Zone read for this year's edition.
an actual zone blocking system at all exactly, but they have made the blocking way more open and free running. It's a lot better IMO.
Totally agree with recruiting. I used to play a super old version of NCAA, maybe 03?, with Joey on the cover. Anyway, I prefer the simple recruiting that always guaranteed me the #1 class instead of having to follow players through the whole year only to have a crappy class.
Can't you automate recruiting? I thought I remember having the option to designate preferences that helped simulate the recruiting process.
I kind of liked the recruiting, though. Sure, the gimmicky football-with-a-face was really lame, but I did enjoy the overall strategy of it. Plus, it was pretty easy to snatch up 5-stars with Michigan's prestige, so I never became overly frustrated.
there hasn't been a good game since the 360 came out. wtf with only one camera view? this game sucks and ea sucks. i havent' bought any from those monopolizing money hungry sob's since 07. when/if 2k gets to make one that will be great
Rosters?
Are you going to be able to dl it out of someone else's account?
I have bought the NCAA game every year, and just a few months ago I finally saved enough money to get the PS3. I was enormously disapointed in the difference between NCAA Football 2009 on PS2 and 2009 on PS3. Was it a completely different programming team? Why does it suck donkey balls? The gameplay in the PS2 is smooth, fast, and the players move like real people. In the PS3 version, the guys are sluggish, hold themselves awkwardly, the blocking is horrible, the momentum is exagerated, the QB winds up like a pitcher, etc... It's like someone took a big dump on my favorite birthday present. It really reminded me more of Madden than NCAA Football. I am debating buying this new game, and I'm glad I can download the demo for free. Anyone else play both versions for 09??? WTF???
One of the big reasons I bought the Xbox 360 was for the next gen sports games, but after playing that disaster 2008 version, I'm done. The players are clunky and it feels stiff. The later PS2 versions were so much better.
2008 was indeed shit, but 2009 was much improved. Players did run like they had rusty nails in their shoes though, stuttering every 4 steps.
The Create-A-Legend mode though was awesome. Worth the purchase, I think.
I'm cautiously optimistic for 2010.
The players still moved funny, and I heard they took out roster editing for recruits after they signed. Editing is my favorite thing to do besides play. I'm probably skipping this year again. Madden looks so much better.
I just downloaded the demo this morning, and this year's gameplay is improved. The player momentum bs is fixed, and the players are smoother. It isn't quite what the PS2 2009 was as far as crispness in response, but it is way better than the last PS3 version. Hopefully, the Michigan fans can represent during the season in the Showdown mode. It starts a week before the real season, and we get the UM points for beating people online with our team. I wonder how fast/accurate they make Tate? Should be fun to put Denard in to run the option as well. I am glad this programming team turned it around, 'cause the NCAA football is a great game concept. The only thing missing is a feature where you turn the BCS off and have playoffs.
http://www.thewolverineblog.com/?p=132
this page shows all of michigan's offensive player ratings. you should also be able to find the defensive ratings if you look around the site a little.
http://www.thewolverineblog.com/?p=135&cpage=1#comment-158
here's the defensive ratings.
Dude, it's way different from 2009. There are still a few bugs to get rid of, but otherwise I really like the change in gameplay. There is definitely a lot more change so far between this demo and 2009 than between 2009 and 2008.
i just wish they would bring back formation subs and have a full 85 man roster. i played the demo for ps3 and it looks better with a lot more horse colar tackling.
Not sure if anyone has seen this video, but shows some new animations and side-by-side clips of upgrades to the game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU06-d4AxM4
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