A Look Ahead to NCAA Football 2010

Feature Article

Submitted on: 06/09/2008 by Jess Stewart

Now that we know what features are coming with NCAA Football 09, what should we start looking for in 2010?

The hype in the forums for NCAA Football 09 is building exponentially with the game still over a month away. With new features such as online dynasties, wide-open gameplay, and deeper playbooks, some folks are already planning vacations to meet the July 15th release date. A main contributor to the hype has been the presence of NCAA developers answering questions in the forums. This involvement by the developers has been a pleasant surprise and the response by community members has been amazing. Since development of NCAA Football 09 is nearly wrapped up, let's take a look at what we want to see in NCAA Football 2010.

FCS Schools/Create-a-school Feature

Appalachian State's improbable win over Michigan last season makes this a feature that EA must add. If you weren't aware, FCS teams can now be voted into the Top 25 thanks to ASU and their three straight FCS National Championships. The fact is that FCS teams are a huge part of college football. Who in their right mind wants to play an entirely generic FCS Southwest squad? If college basketball games can include 300+ teams I see no reason EA can't add around 50 FCS teams at least.

At the very least give us the ability to create our own team, this feature is something the masses are hungry for and not carrying this over to next gen from current gen was a mistake. Adding this would allow FCS fans to create their own school as closely as possible and have something to work with. This would open up the options for us to keep the game fresh and to add another way to have fun.

Improving the battle in the trenches

Alright EA, it's about time you guys get away from the stiff arm lock and predictable outcomes of the line play. In fact here are all of the situations which can and do happen when the linemen interact:

1) Nothing. Both stand there locked together upright and don't move, at all.

2) Pancake. Upon contact one of the linemen gets sat on his rear. Pancakes are a part of the game but the way in which they happen in EA's football games are ridiculous. Add some animations where the lineman actually pushes the other person to the game after a few yards. For a great example of a pancake check out this vid (Watch the RT #70).

3) Defender spins/rips out of block. This is the only way to get out of a block which it saddens me to say. You either use use the swim move to get by or spin off him. What about a speed rush to the outside or a quick move to the inside? There are so many different things that could happen with the linemen interacting!

4) Defender warps to tackle ball carrier. It's happened to all of us. You're on offense and you call a run play only to see a huge hole in the line. Your eyes light up as you head for the hole and once you reach it some d-lineman magically ends up in a tackle animation and you view the replay thirty times to witness the terrible play.

Most NCAA fans hope we finally get a good engine to simulate the battle in the trenches.

Adding depth to the interaction in the trenches would get extreme praise from the OS community. This could even be marketed EA! The perfect guy would've been Glen Dorsey but a linebacker could work as well. I could envision James Laurinaitis as a pretty good cover boy for EA.

Presentation, presentation, presentation

EA has been extremely honest in the forums and have repeatedly said they have been in talks about improving the presentation. Well do it one time! Here are some ideas to improve a very mediocre attempt at presentation:

1) Team specific entrances. Some the come to mind immediately are: ND's touching of the "Play Like a Champion Today" sign and Clemson's touching of Howard Rock. How about a generic entrance where the players rush out of the tunnel and you let us set some music? How easy would that be!? Just give us something because fast forwarding to the coin toss is about as stale as it gets. Currently we get a great shot of the stadium, they look lovely. But where's the "wow" factor in that? Oh man look at this greatly designed stadium, it really pumps me up for the game. Here you can see what these generic entrances could be like.

2) Pregame information. Give us a little information on the game at hand. Show a couple impact players on each team with a stat overlay and we're all good.

3) Halftime highlights. Could we get some stats with a little discussion on the game and a "play of the half" segment? Have one of the commentators talk about the game a little to recap what happened.

4) In-game information. I would love to see the ESPN bottomline utilized as scores of other games in our Dynasty would scroll across the screen. Wasn't this in a NCAA game before? More stat overlays would also be a great welcome and I think a page can be taken out of 2K's basketball series. The stats could be added very subtly on the bottom of the screen.

5) Post game highlights. Improvement on the current post game system would be a nice addition. Bring back the cut scenes of coaches shaking hands and players celebrating and pouting. Put some weight on the game matchups and if a big upset happens have the crowd go nuts and have commentary on the importance of the upset for the underdog.

Honorable Mention
WR/DB Interaction
Field condition affecting play
Formation subs

EA has mentioned they have their priority list and like everyone out there, I really want to view it and then organize it myself. There are certain features/gameplay additions that should be included to make NCAA 2010 leaps and bounds better than 2009 will be. The interaction in the forums is the beginning of a beautiful relationship and with the continued visits from developers future sports video games titles are only going to move towards perfection.

NCAA Football 09 Videos

Member Comments

# 161 Gossennator @ 02/02/09 03:23 PM

JW but do we get this in NCAA?

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...368-post1.html

Quote:


	It is my pleasure to introduce Madden’s newest piece of technology, one that is also shared within many of the EA SPORTS games, called "Procedural Awareness". What is it? We’ll you’ve likely heard of “head tracking” with IK. If you haven’t, it’s a way to turn the players head around to face a target dynamically, without the need for canned animations. Well, think of Procedural Awareness (PA for short) as the “next-gen” version of head tracking. Since it is so early in the year, unfortunately I can’t show you any videos of it running in the game, but I can show some “tech demos” of sorts:

# 162 Mrswagger9 @ 02/08/09 01:34 PM

Good article.
but what about making your own playbook!!!
# 20 Dval7 @ 06/09/08 11:25 PM
i think you are right about the pre-game introductions as far as michigan running out and touchin the go blue banner and coaches talking before the game.....and another thing for pre-game is that they should show them warmin up like they did on the xbox and ps2

# 163 gatorsfan46 @ 02/10/09 10:52 PM

I would love to see all the fcs teams in 2010
Bringing App St. to the sec or big east and taking them to the BCS title would be great. And Im sick of getting torched for 300 or more passing yards per game against some of the worst teams. I use the gators and almost every game i get torched, that really needs to change.

# 164 gatorsfan46 @ 02/11/09 12:15 AM

i mean whens the last time FIU put up 500 yards of passing?
have they ever put up 500 yards of total offense?
there qb's overall is like 75 and he went 34 of 42 for 516 yards on floridas d
i find it hard to beleive that anyone can put up that much passing yards on an sec team

# 165 jedigman @ 02/15/09 06:53 PM

EA said that there will be procedural awareness, which has to do with the players line of sight, and turning there heads. probably effecting interceptions and quarterback progression. I am hoping that is a sign of things to come as far as making some real improvements to the game play.

My top three wants for 2010 are:

1. difficulty, when I can score over a 100 pts. on Heisman with the CPU AI turned up to 80 there is a problem.

2. Please bring back the off season training camps, so you can have some say on who improves and how much

3. and alternate jerseys. remember the days when Vanderbilt Had Like 5 jersey options

# 166 Rhudey @ 02/15/09 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevin80216


	new schutt and riddell helmet designs and more facemasks ALTNERATE HELMETS AND COLORED CLEATS AND GLOVES

NCAA doesnt allow colored gloves, thats why everyone wears grey.

# 167 Kriech23 @ 02/16/09 07:07 PM

Oregon has like 103 different combinations of jersey/pant/helmet looks and there are only like 4 choices to choose from. I know 103 is a lot but at least give 8 or so. Not that I'm an Oregon fan but it's the little things that produce into the bigger things.

# 168 toosmoothforya @ 02/17/09 04:27 PM

The biggest things to see in 2010 are:

1.) Better D-Line interaction: The O-Line is way to good on passing plays unless you blitz in a zone.

2.) Better Hit Stick: There aren't many tackles in life where you just push a guy and he falls really hard or your kinda do a hard flex like the Hulk and he falls down. Need more realistic hit stick. The low tackles are good but the high ones aren't

3.) Better Play from QB- Tired of QB throwing sorry slants, outs, and dump offs to the RB.

4.) Better directional passing from QB- Similar to precision passing in wasn't in 09. I liked QB vision should have opition to toggle between it during gameplay. Now of course a QB w/ 86 acc isn't Peyton Manning.

5.) Presentation: Pre-game needs to be better w/ impact palyers as mention already. I like Corso picks from old gen versions. Need the importance of upsets and the stats on every opening drive doesn't need to be the oposing DE who in week 9 has 6 tackles and 1 sack who cares!!??!!

# 169 nexdawg @ 02/17/09 06:59 PM

After seeing the "PA" feature in NCAA 10 I wanna see QB progressions. Meaning that a QB must be looking @ the receiver he is throwing 2. You would have 2 press the WR's button 2 look in the his direction and press his button 2 throw it 2 him. You can change your primary WR before the snap or just stick with the primary WR on the play. This will add a ton of realism because currently you can throw 2 a WR without even looking in that direction.

And another feature that needs 2 be added is something that allow players 2 play 2 the strength of those players. Maybe more ratings or something different all together that makes player play with tendenices that certain players have. The easiest example are Scrambling QB and PocketPassing QB why do i play or sim a season and scambling qb's dont scramble this needs 2 be fixed. Right now there are no difference in how they play. Speed back and Power back another pos. where they all behave the same. Matter fact no position plays with any tendenices. If all pos. play the same whats the point of seperating them? They can do better and i hope they are on that!

# 170 go gvsu lakers!!! @ 02/23/09 12:13 AM

i think it ncaa needs to be more collage like. LIke really realistic, to where the team comes out of the locker room and does there thing before the game and stuff like that. It would really get you pumped before the game. I also think they need it to be just like a real football game, Well all im sayin is it needs to be more realistic it would be a must buy then!!!!

# 171 moylan1234 @ 02/23/09 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gatorsfan46


	I would love to see all the fcs teams in 2010 Bringing App St. to the sec or big east and taking them to the BCS title would be great. And Im sick of getting torched for 300 or more passing yards per game against some of the worst teams. I use the gators and almost every game i get torched, that really needs to change.

I agree but judging from some of the dev comments I don't think it's going to happen this year. all we can hope for is CAS at this point

# 172 cardinalbird5 @ 02/23/09 07:34 AM

Aside from the lack of presentation, o-line/d-line interaction, lack of qb authenticity, glitches, no FCS schools, only 70 on each roster, and no true player tendencies, they really need to focus on the little things or at least, add them in by now.

I am talking about refs on the field, a coaching carousel, seeing coaches and real players on the sidelines, reporters and photographers moving on the sidelines, interacting fans, pre-game intro's, etc.

I'd also like to see an emphasis on special teams. I want to choose if I want my best players on special teams or not. I want botched snaps and more realistic kickers. Every kicker on default sliders can make 60+ yarders like it is nothing. More kicks to need to be randomly blocked, and there needs to be more ratings for kickers. Punters shouldn't just be able to place kick and vice versa. There should be more ratings than Kicking Power and Accuracy. There should be trajectory, clutch, punt kicking, place kicking, kicking off the tee, etc. Kicks should be also harder to make and it'd be nice to see some option for the rugby style kickers and the formation where the QB punts it (I forgot the name of the punt, but Big Ben does in the NFL). I also want to see centers and long snappers with an actual snapping rating. If they are freshman centers that are 70 or lower overall they should show it sometimes.

As of right now, you see no coaches, refs, interaction on the sidelines (except a bunch of dummies that look the same and move in the same motion), or anything else.

# 173 jdrhammer @ 02/23/09 10:23 AM

Do cpu controlled Def. players go for pass fakes??? That would help buy some time in the pocket. I remember it being on last gen.

# 174 nexdawg @ 02/23/09 02:34 PM

I would like 2 call 4 an end 2 all sliders if they fix the in game problem sliders wont be necessary! Just the skill sets you know freshman,varisty,etc etc

# 175 cardinalbird5 @ 02/23/09 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nexdawg


	I would like 2 call 4 an end 2 all sliders if they fix the in game problem sliders wont be necessary! Just the skill sets you know freshman,varisty,etc etc

Nah I say keep the sliders. They sort of tried that in Madden and people hated it. There is a wide variety of skill levels in these games, so some may believe All-American is way too easy and Heisman is too hard.

# 176 nexdawg @ 02/23/09 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cardinalbird7


	Nah I say keep the sliders. They sort of tried that in Madden and people hated it. There is a wide variety of skill levels in these games, so some may believe All-American is way too easy and Heisman is too hard.

If the AI is correct they wont need it. If everybody hated it clearly it wasnt done right!

# 177 onyx1985 @ 02/26/09 05:55 PM

I think they should fix the graphics a little bit. and defenitly fix the game play. like a starting RB shouldn't get tired faster then his back up. they should give you way more option with the players gear, like way more shoes, wearing t-shirts under your uniform or underarmor for exsample you should be able to pick what kind of shoes you want to wear and what color just like any basketball game you play.

# 178 ugafandeardorff24 @ 02/26/09 11:22 PM

one thing that i want out of campus legend is, well actually 3
1. I'd like to be able to transfer if i wanted to.
2. I'd like to be able to play in a night game besides high school games
3. And i'd really like to ba a return man and not just play the position i play.
Whenever im fast and i go to college, im always at th top of the depth chart in returning punts and kicks, but im never on the field to do so.

# 179 nexdawg @ 02/26/09 11:51 PM

what about play calling that make sense

# 180 tramaine @ 03/05/09 12:19 PM

my only suggestions for 2010 would be to have the real life stadium look for the bowl games, i.e. each end zone with the team art. i'd also like to echo everyone's sentiments about the alternate jerseys. Also when a team gets an invite to join a bigger conference, have the old conference artwork taken off the field and replace it with the new conference's logo. I had UTEP for a few seasons on 09 and i got invited to join the Big 12 and i took it but it kind of sucked to have the Conference USA symbol still on the field. Also i think there should be some type of option to play your games at whatever time you'd like. For instance i like night games but there are certain seasons where only one or 2 are on the schedule. And if in Dynasty Mode with recruiting i think there should be the ability to still recruit a player already committed to another school because kids commit and de-commit all the time...that would add a lot to the recruiting part of the game, which is already excellent.

« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8910 Next »

More Links