NCAA Football 2008
 

Preview: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/769/769435p1.html

LOVE the dynamic recruiting feature.

I'm really enjoying 2007 again after not playing it for a few months. It has flaws, but it is much better than Madden for me. I'll be getting this when it comes out and am looking forward to the improvements in recruiting.

I took 2007 back and traded it in - funny as it was the main reason I finally bought a 360 in the first place. The controls just don't feel very responsive to me, but I think that is because momentum was WAY overdone, imo.

We'll see what this year holds.

I love 2007, it being the first real console sports game I have played in over a decade, but I agree that momentum is way overdone. They should have made it a slider feature so you could control it. One of the reasons I haven't tried the top level yet is that I've read you basically have to score first and not make any mistakes to keep the momentum from swinging back because once that happens, you're toast. I'm not good enough to overcome that kind of need for perfection...

http://ps3.gamespy.com/playstation-3.../780122p1.html

new info sorry if posted already. Im excited at the ability to sim during the game so i dont have to play blowouts

Yeah, that would be nice. One of the reasons I haven't finished the remaining schedule in my current career (aside from OOTP taking up all of my gaming time) is that 3 of the 4 games are going to be absolute blowouts, and I just can't get myself motivated to play them. It would be nice if I could play a quarter or a half, establish a lead, and then sim out the rest of the game.

Agreed. That seems like a nice addition as I get bored finishing up the blowouts. I haven't read the above story, but there is a big story on gamespot. I'm not sure I like the increased emphasis on players under player control making big plays = players going in the zone. I'd like players to get a confidence boost regardless if I'm the one controlling them when they make a big play and likewise a decrease if they mess up on their own (as long as it is not overdone.) I guess we'll see how it is when it is done.

This game could be the game that makes me finally get a next-gen console. I'm hoping a lot of things with PS3 vs. 360 become more clear by the time August comes around...

I returned NCAA and Madden 2007 for the 360 because I just despised the menus, I hated th way they worked so much that I couldn't enjoy the game.

Wow, sounds awesome.

Another preview with one very juicy tidbit (I bolded for emphasis) - "NCAA runs at a smooth 60 frames per second, has gang tackles, bruising hits and raucous crowds that don't stop for anything, not even the pause menu."

The dynamic branching animations also sounds very intriguing.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/780/780221p1.html

That whole article...drool....The Weather Channel addition is pretty sweet as well.

Can we let parents of top recruits live in houses rent free?

Does anyone know if this is also coming out for the Wii?

As of right now, it has been announced for the PS2, Xbox, PS3, and 360. Although, I'm fairly sure the new "engine" that they are touting is only for the PS3 and 360.

Pre-ordered today. The only game of the year that always has me salivating.

They're actually releasing it on Xbox? I thought Xbox was completely dead as far as new games were concerned, but I guess not. It does appear that NCAA 08 and Madden 08 are the only games coming out for the Xbox this year. Ah, well, that's good news for Xbox owners.

Although I am probably setting myself up for disappointment, I am really looking forward to this and Madden.

Not only are they releasing it for the Xbox, but the latest developer blogs makes it sound like their are some improvements in the version. I expected it to just be a roster update. More trick plays, automotion plays, and a few other things that sound good for that version if they aren't unbalancing.


Like Kodos, despite myself, I'm becoming excited for this and Madden on the 360 as well. Much more info should be coming out June 11th-13th when EA is doing a large media event.

I think I read earlier that the PS2 and XBOX versions will bring back girlfriends. I hope that doesn't unbalance gameplay or mean that you won't be able to configure the guys sock length in create-a-player.

Speaking of 2008, some great recruiting shots added on Gamespot today:

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/spor...mballs;title;2

They look interesting...but will recruiting be too much for the average user? And how crappy will the gameplay be this year?

I may have to take the 17th off...

I don't know about the average user, but those screenshots have just amped up my enthusiasm for the game by a large margin. The gameplay will be the big question, however, early videos have looked better than last year.

I'm tempted to do so.

I'm with you EF. Always liked the college series.. last year was so-so, but these shots look great!

Might have to get that exchange kit this year.

Nice to see they got the uber-tron in DKR-TMS:

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images..._screen007.jpg

Those aren't static ads at the edges of the scoreboard. Those are images of the ads, and part of the screen. They were missing a part to fill the screen with live action and replays, so they used ad images to fill the black space. :)

Can't wait for this one!

In-game saves? If not, I won't have time to play...

Not sure about in-game saves, but you can sim ahead to the next series or the rest of the game if you can't finish.

That's a lot of recruiting pitches!

I had not heard that. Does that mean you can play half the game, then sim the rest without losing the half already played?

Yes. If you're blowing out your opponent, you can fast-sim to the end of the game.

Recruiting looks much better this year and I may actually LIKE recruting this year after sticking with 2K3 for a long time because recruiting was all in one block at the end of the season.

I love the Recruit Search feature. That's going to help cut down on a lot of scrounging around.

IGN has a video up of a full half of gameplay. Unfortunately, it is insider only. This is enough to actually make me think for a second about becoming an insider there.

For any insiders, here is the link:

http://insider.ign.com/videos/teasers/794/794884.html



They also have 4 much shorter new clips up (which I'm about to watch):


http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/8...31/vids_1.html

any chance of finding a ps2 preview? somehow I doubt it, but if anyone knows of one lemme know.

Yeah, I'd be interested in any info about what features the PS2 version is going to have.

Thanks! I'll have to check these out at work tomorrow.. well, not the insider one. If somebody sees that one, let us know what you think.

I have an insider account. Any specific info y'all are looking for in the vids?

I'm an IGN Insider too. Downloading these right now... I'll let you guys know!

BTW, mods: could we merge this thread with the one I've started??? Good info in both of them, but no need to have two.

Good videos. Gameplay seems smoother in the next-gen version compared to last year (well, I'm only judging from videos since I don't have a next-gen console...). Anyway, is it me or the player models in the next-gen still look "funny"? I don't know, maybe it's just that I'm so used to current-gen. I like them more. Graphics are sure amazing, though, and so is the "highlight videos" feature. Hey, I expect great clips of your dynasties from you 360/PS3 owners!!! :D
Those recruiting screens look very good too. I really hope this stuff is in the current-gen also.

Did either of you guys with insider accounts see any gang tackles? Also, any mario running present? How does the running game look in general?

Must be EA media day. MizzouRah started a thread about how great NHL 08 and NCAA 08 are going to be according to the new press releases. ;)

For the record, I'd love for the NCAA 08 game to be a good one, but I'll assume it's going to be bad and then hope to be pleasantly surprised.

I NEVER said NCAA 08 was going to be great. I said the new recruiting screens look great and last year's game was so-so for me, but I'm looking foward to a more polished game this year.

Since NHL 07 is my favorite console sports game, I can only predict that NHL 08 will be even better, especially running at 60 fps and will the improved defensive skating.

Don't you have The Show to go play or something? ;)

I actually liked NCAA 2007.

EF - were you inquiring whether gang-tackling was present, or were you looking for video confirmation? FWIW, I had heard it IS present.

I didn't notice any gang tackles. The running game seems fine to me, but as I said, I didn't play last year's next-gen version, so I can't really compare the two.

:eek: :D

Just found a link to a video about current-gen dynasty mode!

Very nice video: the dynasty menu has been re-organized a bit, and now there's a pre-season phase with redshirts, schedules, pre-season recruit (15 players) and summer training (kinda like the Madden training camp). Recruiting seems improved, and it now has player promises (jersey #, playing time, position), a very good addition IMO. Medical redshirts are also in.

One thing I LOVED about next-gen last year was the 25-second clock. Because of some of the animations it always seemed you were getting to the line of scrimmage with about 4 seconds left on the play clock. I hate, hate, hate football games that allow you to call the play, and then you head up to the line of scrimmage with 20 second left on the clock. This forces you to just sit there and pretend to pick your ear or something in order to get a realistic amount of plays.

Yes, I know you can change the number of minutes a quarter lasts - I set mine to 9 mins in NCAA last year. Another nice thing about it is, there IS a genuine concern about delay of game penalties.

Pretty impressive.

Yep, very nice stuff I'd say. I edited my post above with comments.

Really? I always have my played called at 20 seconds, and then I pretty much sit around and let it tick down to 8-10 seconds (longer if I'm trying to milk it). The only time I've ever had an issue is when I've waited until about 15 seconds to call the play, then realize I need to audible. Otherwise, I've never experienced the time crunch.

When you say current gen, does that include PS2? Because I didn't see anything on there that specifically said PS2.

It definitely looks like the Xbox menu. I assume it's the same for the PS2. If I remember correctly, these 2 version always had the same set of features over the years.

EDIT: I've just remembered, when EA did that poll (what feature do you want in the current-gen) some months ago, they were precisely referring to the PS2, so I assume the versions are the same.

I really like the offensive linemen in the lower left video. The user is dropping back like a moron but the blockers are moving around well to form a pocket.

I've heard it is present, but I've seen very little video presentation that would make me think it is. I was asking for video confirmation. From the videos, it seems like it will be 2 guys tackling a guy max..

Gamespot has a preview of the 360 version Dynasty Mode up which explains in more detail about the screenshots we saw yesterday. Also, they mention a blurb about the supersim that will allow players to sim a series, to the next offensive possession, a quarter, a half, or the rest of the game.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/spor...&mode=previews

Sounds like good stuff. Sucks that I'll be going out of town on the 19th...

Looks like there is already a flamewar over at Operation Sports after a few videos were released. Ugh.

Create-a-team on 360 this year?

I just hope they didn't decide to take multiplayer dynasty mode out

Maybe my copy was broken or something, but I NEVER got any replays after the play was over except in the little area in the play-call section. Since I couldn't see those too well, I simply ignored them almost all the time and got to the line really quickly. But, I guess there were the break the huddle animations...but after you saw it once, it was the same every time.

There is an option for replays somewhere in the game. In order to speed up the game, after about a week I turned off replays and the commentators, so I don't recall where those options are.

There is a nice tutorial video re: recruiting on the gamevideos site:

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/12173

It was in?

Was multi player not in the XBOX 360 version last year?

It has always been in the PS2 version. But it wouldn't be the first time EA took it out of their games.

'07 has multiplayer dynasties.

I meant multiplayer(as in online). That's not in '07, is it? Because I had no clue if it was.

From another board via another board:





http://www.gamespot.com/video/938464...ideo-preview-2

above is a video walkthrough of dynasty in NCAA08... as part of that, they scroll through all of the teams looking to pick their team to select for the dynasty. It goes by really fast but I pulled it into a video editing program and came up with these...


Team OVR OFF DEF SPT
Air Force 69 72 67 53
Akron 76 78 75 64
Aalabama 89 92 85 85
Arizona 85 83 85 75
Arizona State 87 90 83 77
Arkansas 85 90 83 56
Arkansas State 73 76 73 61
Army 71 72 67 64
Auburn 85 85 85 64
Ball State 76 78 67 77
Baylor 69 72 67 61
Boise State 85 90 79 69
Boston College 85 87 85 53
Bowling Green 78 81 71 72
Buffalo 69 67 69 61
BYU 69 74 65 48
Cal 89 96 81 80
Central Michigan 78 83 71 64
Cincinnati 78 81 73 75
Clemson 87 85 89 80
Colorado 87 85 85 85
Colorado State 78 83 73 67
Connecticut 71 76 67 61
Duke 80 83 73 77
East Carolina 71 74 69 51
Eastern Michigan 76 94 75 64
Florida 89 94 85 69
Florida Atlantic 71 72 71 51
Florida International 69 72 65 72
Florida State 94 92 95 83
Fresno State 76 78 73 64
Georgia 89 87 83 93
Georgia Tech 89 90 89 77
Hawaii 85 92 75 77
Houston 80 83 81 59
Idaho 69 70 67 67
Illinois 82 85 81 69
Indiana 80 83 75 75
Iowa State 89 90 87 75
Kansas 76 78 73 67
Kansas State 80 85 77 61
Kent State 73 76 71 64
Kentucky 85 92 77 72
Louisiana Tech 85 92 77 72
Louisville 92 96 85 88
LSU 94 92 95 67
Marshall 76 83 67 59
Maryland 89 87 89 80
Memphis 78 83 71 67
Miami 92 92 93 67
Miami University 76 81 69 72
Michigan 96 99 95 77
Michigan State 85 87 81 69
Mid Tenn State 76 81 75 45
Minnesota 80 83 79 59
Mississippi State 78 78 77 64
Missouri 87 92 77 88
Navy 71 78 63 67
NC State 82 87 81 56
Nebraska 92 92 91 83
Nevada 73 74 73 64
New Mexico 76 83 69 67
New Mexico State 76 85 67 53
North Carolina 80 78 77 88
North Texas 71 74 69 56
Northern Illinois 78 81 73 75
Northwestern 85 87 83 64
Ohio 80 83 77 69
Ohio State 92 92 91 77
Oklahoma 94 92 91 93
Oklahoma State 92 92 85 99
Ole Miss 85 87 77 77
Oregon 87 92 83 67
Oregon State 87 90 81 88
Penn State 87 90 89 64
Pittsburgh 82 85 75 80
Purdue 85 94 77 64
Rice 76 81 71 64
Rutgers 87 90 79 85
San Diego State 80 90 75 67

I'm almost calling BS or not done yet. i.e., Oklahoma State rated a 92 while Florida is rated 89 and Georgia is an 89.

I'd have to say the same... perhaps ratings from last season? Georgia Tech has a near-consensus-All American at P, but a 77 Special Teams rating?

Or, could this be from a few years down the road in dynasty mode?

There is a video preview of the game up on Gamespot today. Offline MP dynasty mode is in the game as during the video you can see that up to 12 teams can be selected to be human controlled in a dynasty.

http://www.gamespot.com/video/0/6172293/autoplay-video


Edit: Just realized this is the same video posted earlier by Vex.

Come on the obvious telling point is Louisiana Tech having a 92 rated offense~! LOL

That lidt has to be fake... Florida State is rated way to high.

NCAA Community Day today in Orlando, can't wait for the details.

I can't wait for the real thing. Tigers are going to be B12 champs this year. :)

Colorado is the worst rating, an 87 overall coming off that kind of season....most top teams are rated at the level, colorado is not a top team

The worst rating I see in any category is 45 -- the worst overall rating is 69. Why even bother with a 100-point scale?

You know it partner!

The ratings are all screwed up, but that's typical of EA.

Florida State a 94. Florida an 89. Ummm. . . ok.

Colorado 87, Auburn 85. Ummm. . . ok.

Iowa St 89, Boston College 85.

OK, these people are psychotic.

Oh, and Mizzou will not win the Big12 North this year. Sorry boys. (I hope they do as I'm pretty sure Nebraska will and I can't stand Nebraska) I just don't think they have the talent to pull it off.

fixed

Offense is too low.

A few tidbits that have been released from the media day (much more should be posted tonight on a few sites):

- You can upload up to 10 photos and 5 videos onto a website run by EA. I wonder if there is a way to copy the videos from that website to your own website? If so, it could be very nice for dynasties.

- You can go back and view plays from throughout the game with multiple camera angles. If you are playing a longer game, space limitations will delete the most mundane plays such as 1 yard runs. However, if you are only playing a 5 or 6 minute quarter game, every play will be saved.

- Individual defensive playmaker pre-snap controls give much more defensive flexibility.

- Much more extensive player editing.

Great stuff. I read (Utopia, maybe??? don't remember exactly) that this will be available to current-gen also, obviously in a more limited way. This is a very, very nice addition.

"Your job is to rate movies on a scale of good to excellent."
"What if a movie's bad?"
"That's what good's for."

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Has anyone seen whether in-game saves are going to be possible this year?

Anyone know if EA typically puts region locking on their 360 titles?

I may be wrong, but I don't think they'll be in. They haven't mentioned 'em at all. Keep in mind, though, that the "super-sim" feature will allow you to sim the game to the end, good thing to speed up dynasties.

I'm not sure on this one either, but I really think so. They always did with the first Xbox. I hope I'm wrong.

It's pretty much a given that any American 360 titles will have region locks. The PS3 version is region-free.

Looking at a few sites, it seems like the general consensus is that the 360 videos we've been seeing on IGN and places like that must be on JV or Varsity. A fair number of previewers are reporting that on All-American or Heisman, the game is much more defensive oriented and they were ending with scores of 3-0 and 14-7. The general consensus appears to be that DB AI is much better and the long ball plays are more realistic. They've also said a demo is due out "in early July." I'm looking forward to seeing for myself how much better the DB AI is and the blocking is (the two things that seem to be drawing the most praise along with automotion on offense.)

That's the one nice thing about the new systems. You can download the demos for these EA games and tell if their claims of 'improved AI' and 'no money plays' are all accurate or not.

One thing I forgot about until today was how the CPU made nearly every FG last year. Hope they fixed that.

Thread on Utopia with a bunch of infos.

Screens from MaddenMatrix (you have to be registered).

And for those who were asking about PS2, 6 IGN PS2 videos.

WHERE THE HELL ARE THE HAWKEYES????? :eek: :eek: :mad: :mad: :mad:

SCREW YOU, EA!!









;)

Heh, good point.

Damnit. I'm getting excited about this and Madden.

I still remember the game of NCAA 07 I played online with a total of 3 kicks returned for TD's, 6 blocked XP's/FG's, and 3 defensive TD's. The blocked kicks especially remind me of how EA's games continually piss me off year after year. But I'll probably at least borrow this game to try it out (but hell if I give EA any direct $$$).