OS Staff Writers, by now you have all heard the news about the fourth NCAA title update not including a fix for player tendencies. To some this is an absolutely huge deal and to others it seems as if they are perfectly content with the game as-is. But let's go beyond that; let's discuss whether the string of bugs this year, plus the lack of any patchable resolution will be detrimental to NCAA 13, or will the blunders of NCAA Football 12 be forgotten by many next July?

Robert Kollars: I am probably more understanding when it comes to issues with game titles than most. As it stands though, I have already traded inNCAA. I play NCAA Football because I love the actual sport itself, and I want a chance to use all the great talent from so many teams. I am at an absolute loss that player tendencies are STILL broken, even with four patches. If tendencies were the only issue I might be a bit more forgiving, but this game has been riddled with bugs since the first week of release. 

While not a flagship title of Electronic Arts, NCAA is still a very popular one. It goes way beyond that of a niche product. If you trust the numbers reported,NCAA 12 has sold over 1 million copies, and NCAA 11 sold just under. The foundation was laid for this series to grow dramatically, but the amount of issues, and EA's inability to fix them, could prove very costly. They followed the same path with NCAA Basketball 10, by releasing a solid product only to abandoned the issues that were holding it back from being a great game. This is a dangerous path that EA has chosen, and in my honest opinion, I believe they will see a significant drop in week one sales of NCAA 13. I hope if this happen, that gamers aren't fed the typical "college games just don't sell" line. College games do sell, but like any other consumer purchased product, it helps if they actually work.

Phil Varckette: In professional wrestling (stay with me), there is something called the three month rule. If a storyline has been finished for three or more months then it's OK to rehash it. The same basic principle applies here. 

Every year we all have our issues with the game whether they are big or small. Yet, like clock work we jump aboard the EA hype train again come late winter only to be let down once again. Don't get me wrong, the game certainly does have its redeeming qualities, but when highly touted features are broken, it's no wonder some people feel the way they do about EA. I have not bought an EA football game since NCAA 10, and I don't plan on buying one again until I know the game has taken great strides. Sadly, I doubt this will happen in this console generation. 

Next year may be different when it comes to sales. When you hype a major feature like player tendencies and the feature doesn't work out of the box, that's one thing, but to have four patches and not fix the issue? This is just plain unacceptable. Will it drive customers away? That remains to be seen. But I do know one thing, it seems like every year more and more people are getting tired of EA's schtick.

Matthew Coe: I don't see any way that NCAA 12's myriad of problems doesn't affect both the attitude towards, and the first week sales, of NCAA 13 come July 2012. I know for me personally, I will not be buying on release day. I need to hear and see for myself that the NCAA team down at Tiburon have ironed out all of the issues present in NCAA 12. I get the feeling that many others have finally said "Enough!" and are tired of being burned by the incomplete yearly releases in the sports gaming market.

Sports gamers have gotten the short end of the stick this generation of consoles by and large, and it feels like we are collectively "waking up" to this fact. However, the proof always comes on release day. After all of the hype and PR is done, we'll see if gamers are willing to vote with their wallet. 

I think NCAA 13 has the potential to become the most eye-opening example of this generation - either when sports gamers stay away from pre-orders and first week buys, or when they go out and buy the game right away (which is almost a tradition for a lot of gamers) forgetting all about NCAA 12'sbugs/glitches. 

After NCAA 12's release woes and four patches deep with unresolved issues, we're finally going to see if gamers are willing to put their money where their mouth is.

Bo McCready: I’ve purchased every NCAA Football game since NCAA Football 99. But this year was the first that I didn’t buy the game during week one; instead, I waited for the first patch. Here we are, three patches later, and I’m still frustrated by many of the same things I was when I first played the game. Psychic DBs, strange glitches and a laughable physics engine are growing increasingly hard to ignore. 

I don’t think the NCAA blunders will be the only things that hurt sales, though. The NCAA Football team's inability to fix very visible problems sure isn't helping build goodwill. But these games have had glitches every year, and dumb saps like me line up to buy them because we love the sport and we don’t have any other option. 

Rather, it’s the success of other games that, in my opinion, might pose the greatest danger to NCAA’s sales. Hardcore sports gamers have loved the NBA 2K series for years, and the NBA 2K12 Greatest Mode and upcoming Legend’s Showcase DLC look like boundary pushers. FIFA 12 added an extremely effective set of sliders that can seriously change the gameplay experience, as well as a dramatic overhaul of the game’s physics. Other big-time series are moving forward, but NCAA Football is stepping sideways.

Chris Sanner: This is what I'm now dubbing as "The Great Video Game Experiment of 2011-12."

Consumers seem to get angry with EA a bit more each year. And this year, we were treated to a pair of games from EA Tiburon which had numerous issues -- one of which seemed mostly exempt from that sort of a fate in years past. So now what? I think now is the time we're going to see how serious gamers are about wanting better products. The question is now going to become: are gamers mindless zombies who buy something because of it's name, or are they smart and buy things because they feel it's good?

We know the inability to patch player tendencies, a major feature this year, is a short term blunder. EA has already made their money off of NCAA 12, with record sales all around. Now next year, we are going to see if they can attract more mindless zombies to the cash register or if consumers will finally take a stand against perennially broken sports products from the two biggest publishers in this genre. Only time will tell.

What about you, OS members? What is your take on the future of sports gaming and the NCAA Football series?