Why NCAA Football 11 Will Be More Fun Than Madden 11 by Kick 88

[Solidice]

I believe E3 is June 15th-17th this year.

[morsdraconis]

Must refrain from getting overly excited... Must refrain...

[Jayrah]

I don't know all of what Madden has in store, but it's going to be tough for them to have more buzz and hype heading into launch than NCAA. NCAA has announced some cool stuff and there's still a couple big items left. I think one is in both FB titles, but not the other - and Madden fans will be jealous. On the first item, I haven't seen anyone, anywhere guess anything close to it. On the second, I've seen a few posts around the web in the ballpark, but no one has nailed the specifics and that's where the impressive part is.

Man you've officially entered the "JB Tease etc." business. That's frickin awesome. I can't wait for this unthinkable news. My head is spinning with ideas of anything that hasn't been talked about. I am flat stumped. This is great.

[Jayrah]

Ok, so my head's been swimming all day with anything I could think of that hasn't been touched because of the cdj tease. 4 guesses, 1 in game, 1 outside game dynasty, 1 recruiting, and one misc:

1) Halftime Band war! Reminiscent of "Drumline". A way to keep the terrible dotta-bands in for 11 and enrich a pageantry of something never touched on in any ncaa series. LOL Or maybe halftime mascot races. . Create a sign? Ok for real, Bowl games need to be special, maybe national anthem from band, big flag on the field and a flyover from a jet or something. Or like a team introduction. Goes right along with team entrances.

2) Recruiting War? With or without a recruiting slider, a recruiting war would be a logical and interesting implementation, due to all the focus on recruiting. Especially if the cpu ai is intricately involved in trying to actively recruit. They are giving bonus points for a pipeline state, why? Just cause he's from a pipeline? maybe, but I think there's more to this. Could also be a war against rivals, who get's the most pipeline points for the season? Then of course there's a bonus for the winner. And if you develop a new pipeline state.... :eek: Super Bonus!

3) Something ESPN. Frick, why have they waited so long to release the second espn blog? Big JB "WOW" feature could very well be here, that's why!

AD Mode, mentioned. Pre/post game shows, mentioned. Awards shows, mentioned. Heisman presentation, mentioned. Mid week show, mentioned. Custom Playbook, mentioned. Scouting, mentioned.

Could be any of those, just to a deeper level than what we hoped originally (cdj said we haven't got all the details on one of those new unannounced features, but we had basically guessed it). Rivalry trophy presentations would be cool and haven't been mentioned (far as I know) but wouldn't be a wow moment.

My real dynasty guess: BOWL/BCS SELECTION SHOW?????????!!!!!!!!!! That would be way cool IMO, ala ncaa basketball 2k8. Would add some presentation flair and suspense to the post season.

4) Now my miscellaneous guess. True Coach Mode? Watch from the booth and pick the plays. Brought the guy from HC over, why not use him to implement a true coach mode.

Hope we find out tomorrow (today to most of you), because these are some of my prime guesses I think and if it's not one of these and they don't tell me soon I might blow up

[Rudy]

I'm waiting for Jayrah to blow up. I'm definitely interested in the new features and knowing NCAA will have one that Madden doesn't is cool. Last year it was the impact camera (although that's too FPS for me - my head spins trying to play with a moving camera like that). I have no clue what this could be.

[xGRIDIRONxGURUx]

I'm waiting for Jayrah to blow up

lol @ that... i was thinking while mowing yesterday, that one addition that would be cool that nobody has thought of, but its not "major" would be the ability to motion and shift, on automotion plays... it wouldnt be breaking rules, but would allow a new look to the game that nobody has thought of... and is perfectly legal and wouldnt allow you to snap the ball to begin the automotion until your man had completely set per rules...

thats prob way off, but is the one thing i can think of that nobody would "expect" but would change the way you can overload a formation quickly...

"E"

[Deuce]

I like this idea...this also brings up another motion question. I wonder if we can now start a guy in motion and reverse his direction w/o him having to go all the way across? I use motion a lot just to see if the d is in man or zone.

lol @ that... i was thinking while mowing yesterday, that one addition that would be cool that nobody has thought of, but its not "major" would be the ability to motion and shift, on automotion plays... it wouldnt be breaking rules, but would allow a new look to the game that nobody has thought of... and is perfectly legal and wouldnt allow you to snap the ball to begin the automotion until your man had completely set per rules...

thats prob way off, but is the one thing i can think of that nobody would "expect" but would change the way you can overload a formation quickly...

"E"

[xGRIDIRONxGURUx]

yeah... i miss those days, but dont miss the goons that do it repeatedly and would snap the ball only to have their WR fly by everyone on defense... but with locomotion i would expect different results...

on utopia months ago i ranted about "speeding the game up without making it faster" not knowing anything about NCAA 11, and got exactly what i cried for... acceleration is now a much bigger factor... i got laughed at by a few people and called crazy, but i knew that:

A) if the blocking didnt get fixed this was the only thing that was going to help us to be able to half-way run the zone read/option stuff decent
B) this was the next logical step in making the game less arcade and do away with DT's chasing down QB's that are mobile

glad were getting the whole 9 yards on the upgrades and fixes, but i would like to see this "random thought" from my brain manifest itself as well on the "list"

"E"

[steelerfan]

I have thought about a EASHL type feature for RTG. If you're unfamiliar, in the NHL series you can create a player in the offline Be A Pro mode and join an online team. In the online EA Sports Hockey League, you can then play full 6 on 6 games where every player is human controlled. It's great in theory, but as with all online gaming it gets destroyed by the end user. I would like this and would try it, but I hope this is not what we're waiting to hear because I doubt I'd enjoy it much after a few cheesefests.

[morsdraconis]

I have thought about a EASHL type feature for RTG. If you're unfamiliar, in the NHL series you can create a player in the offline Be A Pro mode and join an online team. In the online EA Sports Hockey League, you can then play full 6 on 6 games where every player is human controlled. It's great in theory, but as with all online gaming it gets destroyed by the end user. I would like this and would try it, but I hope this is not what we're waiting to hear because I doubt I'd enjoy it much after a few cheesefests.

But, with a community like this (or another one I'm involved in) it could be REALLY cool. I always enjoyed playing the RTG and Superstar Mode stuff from Madden and NCAA but never enjoyed the CPU being completely stupid with it's ability to do stuff (like playing a QB, you can freakin' forget running the ball, even if you have the best RB in the game, he makes the DUMBEST reads on the lanes...).

[steelerfan]

But, with a community like this (or another one I'm involved in) it could be REALLY cool. I always enjoyed playing the RTG and Superstar Mode stuff from Madden and NCAA but never enjoyed the CPU being completely stupid with it's ability to do stuff (like playing a QB, you can freakin' forget running the ball, even if you have the best RB in the game, he makes the DUMBEST reads on the lanes...).

I hear ya and I've played some NHL this way. The problem has never been my community teammates. It's been the opposition and the lame "power up" equipment you earn by playing. Within a few days, everyone's wearing gold skates, camo helmets and tie-dyed gloves. It just annoys me. I refuse to put that equipment on my player so instead, I suck (ratings wise) and then you get in a game against cheesers. Just not worth my time.

[morsdraconis]

I hear ya and I've played some NHL this way. The problem has never been my community teammates. It's been the opposition and the lame "power up" equipment you earn by playing. Within a few days, everyone's wearing gold skates, camo helmets and tie-dyed gloves. It just annoys me. I refuse to put that equipment on my player so instead, I suck (ratings wise) and then you get in a game against cheesers. Just not worth my time.

Ah, I can definitely see that being a reason not to do that stuff as I would have felt the same way.


But, anyway, to stay on topic, I agree with the above about bringing back the ability to go into motion and bring the player back before completing the motion to one side and also adding the ability to motion a player in an auto-motion play would be SWEET and definitely something I've VERY MUCH wanted since they added auto-motion back in the PS2 days.

[JBHuskers]

I started getting into PS1 football in 1998 which was my freshman year of college. Up until then I was strictly Nintendo. I was definitely more into the pros than college, so I was a Madden guy for many years. I only had owned one NCAA game in the PS1 days, which was I think 2001 (Shaun Alexander on the cover), but I really couldn't get into it. I think it was due to the fact that there were no rosters (back then I didn't realize the goodness of roster sharing). So I just went back to Madden. Back in the PS1 days, there probably wasn't really much of a difference in terms of the fun factor.

But as the technology moved along, I started getting into NCAA, and stayed away from Madden for years until 09. Even after getting back into Madden these past few years. The fun factor is just there for NCAA moreso than Madden for me.

[morsdraconis]

I started getting into PS1 football in 1998 which was my freshman year of college. Up until then I was strictly Nintendo. I was definitely more into the pros than college, so I was a Madden guy for many years. I only had owned one NCAA game in the PS1 days, which was I think 2001 (Shaun Alexander on the cover), but I really couldn't get into it. I think it was due to the fact that there were no rosters (back then I didn't realize the goodness of roster sharing). So I just went back to Madden. Back in the PS1 days, there probably wasn't really much of a difference in terms of the fun factor.

But as the technology moved along, I started getting into NCAA, and stayed away from Madden for years until 09. Even after getting back into Madden these past few years. The fun factor is just there for NCAA moreso than Madden for me.

I didn't even touch a college football game until NCAA 05 (the one with Fitzgerald on the cover) for the PS2 (besides Bill Walsh College Football for the Sega Genesis, which was absolutely atrocious cause all you had to do was run the ball and spin over and over again anytime a defender got close to you).

I played PC Madden from about 2004 on and was WAY more into it than I was NCAA football (had a really awesome custom football league that I was in called Bay Area Custom Football League or BCFL but that was killed when they stopped making it where you could use custom football teams in franchise mode in 07 I think it was).

[jaymo76]

Just the number of teams/bowls, etc. give NCAA so much more lngevity with the infinite possibilities.

[Anton32]

Im looking forward to NCAA this year, From playing the Alpha stage at Community Day, even then it looked promising. I just need someone to teach me the ropes. LOL

[JBHuskers]

Im looking forward to NCAA this year, From playing the Alpha stage at Community Day, even then it looked promising. I just need someone to teach me the ropes. LOL

That might be a Game Changers blog down the road...a little lab session on NCAA 11.

[Jayrah]

That might be a Game Changers blog down the road...a little lab session on NCAA 11.

That would be a GREAT thing.