NCAA Football 12 - Everything you don't see on Saturday - RaychelSnr's Blog

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RaychelSnr's Blog

NCAA Football 12 - Everything you don't see on Saturday Stuck

Posted on September 11, 2011 at 11:44 AM.

(81)

I watched college football yesterday. Then I decided to play a game of NCAA Football 12.

Then I turned my console off -- there's no comparison to be made here.

The NCAA Football series is in a sadder state than I realized, and if the presentation and atmosphere aren't fixed for next year, I can't see how anyone can continue to spend $60 on the game with a straight face. After this year's "bug extravaganza" that seems to be a never-ending nightmare for series fans, I'm just ready to start talking about a better theoretical time in the future.

Whether it comes or not is anyones guess.

But let's assume the new golden age of NCAA Football is coming next year. Let's also assume it's coming because of my vision and wishlist I'll be going through in the coming days, which may or may not be absolutely scary. I have a vision for the direction of the NCAA Football franchise, as I think the game is just outside the cusp of greatness, and I think it's time to share some of the practical things that can be done on a one year development cycle.

Here are four practical suggestions for the presentation of NCAA:

1) Sit down on a Saturday and watch college football, then ask yourself: does our game capture that?

If you answer yes, your resignation letter can be hand-written and delivered to your bosses; it's a simple letter to write so I won't bother you with anything more.

But if you answer honestly, you'll have answered, "not only no, but heck no." And since you did, you are well on your way to recovery. Now that we know there's a problem, how do we solve it?

2) College football is an all-day event. But more importantly, each game has an intense, incredible atmosphere -- and they're all different. A game at the new Mean Green Stadium is completely different from a game at 'Death Valley'. The thing they both have in common is that both games mean everything to the fans at the game. The fans aren't silent, they don't climax to a dull roar.

This is the first step. Fix the crowd audio, make each game different and also learn what all 120 crowds do in NCAA football. Implement them. Hire a good sound guy. Do something. But I beg you (as do the rest of the fans of your series), actually capture this aspect of the sport.

3) Remember those TV broadcasts? Remember the dynamic camera angles? The way players interacted with each other post play? Remember all the broadcast elements that came together in the big-time production of your favorite team's game? If you are confused as to how to do this, find a TV production crew in a truck somewhere and hire them.

Madden's cameras were a good start, but when players still turn into mindless zombies post-play, you know something is wrong. Just look at how guys play to the camera on a Saturday, look how they play to the crowd. None of that is properly implemented in NCAA.

And you have the ESPN license. ESPN means GameDay. Figure out some way to integrate GameDay that is not cheesy. Have games be the 'GameDay Location' each week and set up those tiered TV games again. Use different graphics for different 'networks'. We're just scratching the surface here on what's possible. But each game feels largely the same, we need to move beyond the static presentations of the past decade. It's time for some dynamism.

4) College football is about tradition, either by invention or by success. Learn about each program, all 120 of them. It's not hard to get an actual working dossier as to what each team's big traditions are. I can name several dozen off of the top of my head, and with a bit of work I'm sure I could get everyone covered up until the Sun Belt and MAC with little further effort.

You know what NCAA fans won't be sad about? If you use real footage for some of these things, and celebrate them as well. Just play NBA 2K titles from prior years to get an idea for how you can integrate real footage within a video game. Why not have pregame cut scenes of fans at Toomers Corner? The Midnight Yell at Texas A&M? The Walk of Champions at Ole Miss?

A repetitive cut scene to start each game isn't creating atmosphere, it's creating more boredom. Start introducing different cut scenes to open each team's games -- or better yet, start making things work within a dynamic environment.

The problem that the developers of NCAA have had is that tradition does not just begin at the stadium. When it comes to Saturday, the entire town is fair game -- and when that aspect of college football is finally and fully embraced within the NCAA Football series, the entire NCAA experience will feel as if it's that gorgeous day of events each time you turn on the game.

Let's face it, the NCAA Football series has a fever. The only cure is more cowbell -- at least in Starkville. Perhaps some War Chants in Tallahassee, Jumping Around in Madison, and all kinds of other things in all kinds of other places.

I see a future for the NCAA series where I turn on my console after a long day of football on a Saturday, and instead of turning it off, I just get to relive the whole experience all over again.

Comments

# 31 blkrptnt819 @ Sep 11

I'll probably get banned next year for trolling. I will make sure a boycott is made for this title next year if it takes 12 user IDs to get it done.

# 32 TheWOLFIsL00SE @ Sep 11

your absolutely right. It's Too bad it's become a Money Grab.

# 33 MarvellousOne @ Sep 11

Very well written, and well said. Although I enjoy NCAA Football as a sports game I will say everything said in this blog is spot on. The game does a poor job at rendering the actual college football atmosphere...well lets be honest here, EA does a poor job at rendering the actual feel and replication of any Football or Basketball title...I have yet to play FiFa or NHL nor do I watch these sports so I don't know how accurate of a job they do with them but I do know when it comes to basketball and football they just don't do a great job at capturing the true feel of these sports. NBA Live 10 was the closest I feel they have gotten and that is still nowhere near what 2K has brought to the sport.

EA seems to play it more safe and reserved with there titles instead of going all out to make there games a true Experience, I don't want to just play college football I want to fully Experience the craze and madness that is College Football, and they drop the ball way to many times with it. Also the ESPN License is extremely wasted with EA, why spend the money for something you barely even use besides for some fancy pregame graphics or some lackluster espn radio that repeats the same info all day long and is never up to date...it just kills me that one of the biggest gaming companies partners with The leading Sports network and they use them in the most non-memorable way. I really would like EA to do much more with NCAA and Madden take these games to the level they should be at we should be blown away by these titles by now but yet we find ourselves settling for the minor upgrades EA has for us year to year, and when they do finally make noticeable changes it's mostly stuff we been asking and pleading for, for countless of years prior then we are back to minor changes year in and out again for like 3 more years.

Great write up MMChrisS

# 34 jagsrock95 @ Sep 11

yep atmosphere is something missing from these games. College football is one of the most exciting sports out there and yet none of that seems to have transfered over to NCAA. Madden 12 has captured some of the atmosphere but like you said in your blog post play it loses that feeling. Im glad I traded Ncaa for madden but im still not satisfied while madden 12 was a start it still has a long way to go.

# 35 ofpveteran73 @ Sep 11

give them a break we give them one year to do all this i mean they should have all this right now but they fix one thing and you guys start bitching about another all im saying is if you want improvement its going to take more than one year.

# 36 RaychelSnr @ Sep 11

@mChase -- typically because I"m a HUGE college football fan and I'm extremely passionate about NCAA. However, Madden's time is coming -- I'm just giving the game a bit longer to sink in before I do a lot of the same stuff.

# 37 Amoo316 @ Sep 12

College football is by far my favorite sport. I enjoy the NFL, obviously because that's where the college players go after words, but it's the atmosphere of the game that makes college the top dog for me. It's tremendously sad when people like myself are not going to be buying NCAA on release next yer.

I haven't bought Madden since Bret Farve was on the cover and the NCAA team has put me in that same place about their series. They will be lucky if they get my money next year. Sadly I'll be relying on NBA2K to get me through the fall and winter because I know it will be a superior game.

# 38 PaperBoyx703 @ Sep 12

Ea will not be getting my money next year. I'll just use Oser's as my lab rat, so to speak, from now on. I've heard good and bad from Madden and will not converge on that until I hear all good news(bug related) Really NCAA team needs to be cleaned up like what happened to the Madden team. I don't care what anyone says about why individuals are gone or moved to different places, that clearly looked like a clean up and then all of a sudden...Madden got a little of its swagger back. Same needs to happen to the NCAA team, from the interviews, and chats and etc it seemed they didn't care or have any interest in what the consumer wanted or were complaining about. Patch #2 list was all of the same from what they released earlier and was highly disappointing and short, nothing about some core elements of the game that were affected and still are. So I'm done until they clean house or get their act together.

# 39 schnaidt1 @ Sep 12

like others have said. i want my 60$ back

it was stolen from me...

to sell me a game with that many bugs. then take 2 months to release a patch that doesnt even fix the most important stuff is beyond me. ill never buy another EA college football game again

fire the staff. get ppl who played football in the studio!!

# 40 sarlndr @ Sep 12

Quote:


	ofpveteran73: give them a break we give them one year to do all this i mean they should have all this right now but they fix one thing and you guys start bitching about another all im saying is if you want improvement its going to take more than one year.

Just how much time do you want to give them? It's not like this is the first year stuff like this has happened. So, no, I won't be giving them a break at all. And I'm sure most people who are on these boards won't either.

Back on topic. Excellent blog, it's like you were reading my mind or something. So much more could be done with this title if they just put forth some effort.

# 41 bonannogiovanni @ Sep 12

The thing that makes me sad is this blog could have been written for 07,08,09,10,11 as well, without changing a single letter. And since 12 is the best of the series (I do really appreciate some things), it means that after 6 years EA Sports NCAA leaves a lot to be desired (personal rant, a little detail: how come NO CAMERA OPTIONS IN THE SETTINGS!). What's worse is we're almost at the end of this cycle. Now, how would you imagine NCAA 14 on PS4? Given the situation I cannot think more than 07 with lifelike graphics, and the vicious circle repeats again. My only glimmer of hope is that now we have an OSer working there.....

# 42 oldman @ Sep 12

I agree. I did the same thing Saturday. I watched a couple of games and then decided I wanted to play some games. First I remembered that the OD is still bugged and we keep getting the Transfer Failed error. Then I decided to start a new dynasty with a team that I have never played as before. Halfway through the team selection process I turned off the game because I realized that any team I picked was pretty much identical to every other team so there was no use going through the whole process again.

# 43 Agame @ Sep 12

GAME Play over atmosphere Please. Focus on the things that are wrong on the field First.

# 44 209vaughn @ Sep 12

Lets just fix the core football game itself. The presentation elements are what EA is good at.

Except this years crowd reactions I admit took a step backward. I use to love cranking up the sound to feel the crowd in my house, but this year the sound quality was just poor.

# 45 Yankees_CT @ Sep 12

Don't get me wrong, gameplay is and will always be first and foremost but....without a good presentation and atmosphere there is no draw, nothing to keep you coming back. This blog was written very well and I think it captures every sports gamers feelings. I play two games all year round until their next version - The Show and NBA2k. Simply because the immersion factor keeps me coming back.
As soon as a play ends in NCAA I am entirely sucked out of the game and simply bored! First thing they need to do is immediately recreate what Madden did with their pre and post play cameras (Madden did do this well). Then the audio needs a complete makover....actually this list will get to long - all of the presentation and atmosphere needs to be redone. It's sad because I enjoyed NCAA for the first week and then it froze and then it crashed and then it got boring and then it got traded in.....sad

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