Presentation: Quarterfinals - Improved Commentary vs. HFA/Improved Game Atmosphere

[cdj]

As always, vote for the item you prefer. However, also state how you would like both features implemented into the game and indicate any elements you would (or would not) like to see added for each item.


Improved Commentary

One of the longest running complaints in regards to presentation in NCAA Football has been the commentary. Shallow commentary, long periods of silence and repetitive lines have been the focal points of criticism. Many gamers have suggested more in-depth commentary focusing on aspects such as top players, outstanding performances, strategy and personnel, game stats, etc.


Home Field Advantage, Neutral Site Crowds and Improved Game Atmosphere

Very few sports are known for the importance of home field advantage as college football. Also, very few last-gen features are as universally requested as Home Field Advantage. While some elements currently exist in-game, community members have asked for the (optional) Camera Shake, controller rumble shake, etc. to return.

However, college football also features a unique focus on neutral site games (actual and otherwise) in the postseason – Bowls, Bowl Championship Series and BCS National Championship Game. This feature could see team introduction/runouts for each squad and the crowd cheering for big plays by each squad. Crowd noise levels could possibly be determined via school distance from site and/or Fan Base rating for each squad. This would help recreate the virtual road atmosphere numerous schools (IE: Nebraska and Oklahoma) faced when playing against Miami in the Orange Bowl during the 1980s and 1990s, for example. However, those programs also had a significant (though minority) crowd support and this would help reflect that.

Perhaps the most requested “fix” to the current HFA structure is for the removal of the home-field benefit by the Home team on the scoreboard in neutral site and bowl games. Community members have oft-requested unique presentation aspects for neutral site and bowl games, but not for one squad to receive full HFA benefits over the other.

[Paakaa10]

Home Field Advantage, Neutral Site Crowds, and Improved Game Atmosphere

Man, it sure didn't take long to get to the part of the tournament bracket where you're faced with a decision between two "features" that both need to be improved in NCAA Football, but you can only vote for one of them.

This was a brutal decision. In the end, I gave the slight nod to HFA/Neutral Site/Game Atmosphere because all of those areas are so lacking at present. Even though the crowd models got an upgrade in NCAA Football 12, the actual game experience still doesn't really come close enough to replicating what you see on a college football broadcast.

The commentary needs work as well, but compared to Madden NFL 12 it really doesn't sound that bad. That's not exactly a glowing judgment of how commentary sounded in NCAA Football 12, I'm aware, but the goal of this tournament is to make tough decisions; for me, the game atmosphere needs more help than the commentary if we're talking about this in the short-term.

[Theroarofthecrowd]

Please get more than one set of commentators. Brent Musburger too please.

[DariusLock]

Just doesn't feel like a real college football game so I voted for HFA/Atmosphere.

[baseballplyrmvp]

why did these two have to be paired up against each other? damn

both are needed.....badly. the game has sounded the same for like 10 years, so i think we'd all like new commentary. but if all they were gonna do is add more lines, then its not worth it, imo. i want a commentary system in which i'll never hear the same thing said twice. i want to hear commentary based upon what is happening on the given play, and not a generic canned line that will fit 15 different situations.

i picked HFA because every game feels the same. whether its :Alabama: vs :LSU: or :Western_Kentucky: vs :MTSU:, you cant really tell a difference from the way the crowd sounds. its not loud enough, they dont react to big plays, you cant designate a team color-out.....we can come up with all sorts of ideas here.

[Gotmadskillzson]

I want both, but I had to go with commentary. I can't go another year with the same old lines........

[illwill10]

Chose Improved Commentary. I dont want to hear the same lines again. Would like to see them completely overhaul it. I would like to take the NBA 2k route and add another announcer and add Dynamic Commentary.
But if you think about it, Commentary and Atmosphere go hand and hand. Good Atmosphere and bad commentary is good for a while, but get stale(NCAA Basketball 10). Good commentary along with good Commentary fully immerses you into the game. Example, 3rd down and 5 down 2 points inside the 30 in the battle of top 10 rivals with 10 secs left, the crowd is chanting school songs and on their feet, Analysts are talking about how good this game is and talking about what happened up to now, cutscene showing fans cheering/teammates locking arms/Mascot cheering up fans/Coaches giving out signals, then the offense scores and wins. The Crowd would go nuts, Losing team is in shock, players are truely excited.

[jaymo76]

This should be the FINAL as they are both so, so badly needed. However, this game needs to get that 06 last gen feel back to it so for me it's a no brainer... HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE ET AL. If they add in gameday, I can live with the in-game commentary.

[ram29jackson]

seriously..how could you improve atmosphere anyway? its a 2nd/3rd person video game of cartoon animations..the best you can do is make the crowd louder and add some timely chants..but other than that..all games will look and feel the same aside from night time-day time- weather etc

[Wolverines05]

The commentary is ncaa football has not been horrible. there are a decent amount of lines in the game. the problem is the commentary engine. adding new lines doesnt help. pretty much, ncaa 13 just has to copy 2k's commentary engine and they're golden.

1. they need interruptible commentary: this was seen in mlb 2k6, and something 2k has really excelled at. so a big problem with commentary now is that because of the fast paced nature of football, the ncaa team has put in quick little lines, and boy are there a lot of them. however, analysis comes at an expense as nothing can be too lengthy in case a big play breaks out. interruptible commentary would allow the dev team to focus on more realistic analysis that is long and informative. branching commentary would also be needed to get back onto a particular subject.

2. i could be wrong, but it seems as though in 2k games the commentators will talk casually as opposed to reading lines, resulting in analysis that is real, fluid, and combined with interruptible and branching commentary, almost lifelike. let brad and kirk do their thing, seeing as they are professionals and all, when it comes to the actual color commentary. a banter among the two would go a long ways.

3. dynamic commentary!!!!! again like 2k. go over conference standings, the polls, heisman favs, stats during game, during season, give all that info to me not just by graphics (which are still sorely missing) but by sound as well.

4. i know its hard, but it would be nice not to hear, Alabama. 6. The Utes of Utah. 0. commentary needs to be more seamless. look at 2k.

People usually dont realize how important sound is to a movie/game. but thats especially true of a sports game. if commentary were on 2k's level, the game would be vastly more immersive

[illwill10]

The commentary is ncaa football has not been horrible. there are a decent amount of lines in the game. the problem is the commentary engine. adding new lines doesnt help. pretty much, ncaa 13 just has to copy 2k's commentary engine and they're golden.

1. they need interruptible commentary: this was seen in mlb 2k6, and something 2k has really excelled at. so a big problem with commentary now is that because of the fast paced nature of football, the ncaa team has put in quick little lines, and boy are there a lot of them. however, analysis comes at an expense as nothing can be too lengthy in case a big play breaks out. interruptible commentary would allow the dev team to focus on more realistic analysis that is long and informative. branching commentary would also be needed to get back onto a particular subject.

2. i could be wrong, but it seems as though in 2k games the commentators will talk casually as opposed to reading lines, resulting in analysis that is real, fluid, and combined with interruptible and branching commentary, almost lifelike. let brad and kirk do their thing, seeing as they are professionals and all, when it comes to the actual color commentary. a banter among the two would go a long ways.

3. dynamic commentary!!!!! again like 2k. go over conference standings, the polls, heisman favs, stats during game, during season, give all that info to me not just by graphics (which are still sorely missing) but by sound as well.

4. i know its hard, but it would be nice not to hear, Alabama. 6. The Utes of Utah. 0. commentary needs to be more seamless. look at 2k.

People usually dont realize how important sound is to a movie/game. but thats especially true of a sports game. if commentary were on 2k's level, the game would be vastly more immersive
Fully agree.

[psusnoop]

seriously..how could you improve atmosphere anyway? its a 2nd/3rd person video game of cartoon animations..the best you can do is make the crowd louder and add some timely chants..but other than that..all games will look and feel the same aside from night time-day time- weather etc

Ram why continue to post on these wishlist items when you are clearly against most of not all things listed? Just doesn't make sense at all :smh:

Sorry now back to the discussion.

Man I really wanted both of these and still do. I think they are both in need of an overhual in the worst way. Please address them both EA, make this feel like a Saturday night in college football please! Im going to go with HFA here but like I said I want them both.

[Pig Bomb]

how anyone would not pick atmosphere is beyond me...the game in no way resembles saturday afternoons.... come on EA get it cranked up!!!!

[CLW]

Commentary. Both are needed improvements but for my $ a realistic/improved commentary would do more than fixing the HFA issue.

[SmoothPancakes]

how anyone would not pick atmosphere is beyond me...the game in no way resembles saturday afternoons.... come on EA get it cranked up!!!!

Because we're tired of listening to the same old crap commentary from 5 years ago.

[jaymo76]

Because we're tired of listening to the same old crap commentary from 5 years ago.

Smooth... you can't bash the commentary as compared to madden 12 ... some of the worst ever!!! Yes NCAA is repetitive but if you had never played this series before you would probably think it's pretty decent. Still though, I think if the game/atmosphere was loud and exciting, it would make the commentary look better because you would be lost in the atmosphere and presentation of the game.

[SmoothPancakes]

Smooth... you can't bash the commentary as compared to madden 12 ... some of the worst ever!!! Yes NCAA is repetitive but if you had never played this series before you would probably think it's pretty decent. Still though, I think if the game/atmosphere was loud and exciting, it would make the commentary look better because you would be lost in the atmosphere and presentation of the game.

True, the game atmosphere definitely needs work just as bad. It has been lacking severely in recent years. I haven't played Madden 12 outside of the demo, so I'll take your word for the commentary in it. I still believe that we do need new commentary, or at least drastically updated and revamped commentary from what we have now. While it may sound pretty decent or good to someone playing the series for the very first time, for those of us who have been buying NCAA for years, it's something that has been equally as lacking in recent years as has the game atmosphere.

This, just like the other vote, is unfortunately a match-up of things that are both very much needed and will result in two very good and very much needed things unfortunately being eliminated.

[jaymo76]

True, the game atmosphere definitely needs work just as bad. It has been lacking severely in recent years. I haven't played Madden 12 outside of the demo, so I'll take your word for the commentary in it. I still believe that we do need new commentary, or at least drastically updated and revamped commentary from what we have now. While it may sound pretty decent or good to someone playing the series for the very first time, for those of us who have been buying NCAA for years, it's something that has been equally as lacking in recent years as has the game atmosphere.

This, just like the other vote, is unfortunately a match-up of things that are both very much needed and will result in two very good and very much needed things unfortunately being eliminated.

In all honesty I thought after the release of NCAA 12 that these two items wouls/will get serious attention in NCAA 13. I suspect commentary, atmosphere and college gameday show will be the big "additions" in 13.

[ram29jackson]

Ram why continue to post on these wishlist items when you are clearly against most of not all things listed? Just doesn't make sense at all :smh:

Sorry now back to the discussion.

Man I really wanted both of these and still do. I think they are both in need of an overhual in the worst way. Please address them both EA, make this feel like a Saturday night in college football please! Im going to go with HFA here but like I said I want them both.

no, its an actual question..and if knocking the one, I must be a little more inclined to the other....the 2 need to be combined to improve atmosphere, better crowds and announcers reacting to action on field...and quite frankly,Lee Corsos one liners still make me smile

[blkkrptnt819]

Both but if I have to pick one it's HFA/Improved Atmosphere.