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Basic Info
Consoles: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2 Release Date: July 13, 2010 Demo Date: June 14 Demo Matchups: Miami vs. Ohio State, Florida vs. Florida State, 2 more TBA Official Website:ncaafootball.easports.com Cover Athlete: Tim Tebow (All Consoles)
Box Art
Spoiler
PS3/360/PS2
Features/Additions/Changes Confirmed to be in NCAA 11
Spoiler
Referees - complete with collision detection and avoidance logic [2/26]
Gang tackling - via a refined version of Madden NFL 10's Pro Tak technology [2/26]
Auto Save - Can be disabled by the player [2/26]
Auto load rosters [2/26]
Formation Subs [2/26]
New Equipment, including 'a handful of new facemasks and helmets, like the Revolution Speed helmet', knee brace, ankle brace, elbow guard, elbow brace, three-quarter sleeve, half sleeve, ability to change right and left sleeve separately, towels, hand warmers, new team-colored shoes. [2/26]
Single bowl season - all bowls now take place in one in-game 'week'. [2/26]
Dynamic Conference Logos - On-field logos will change if a team changes conference, including the new logo matching the team's color scheme. [2/26]
Numbers on Helmets - Alabama's numbers will now show up on the helmets during gameplay, and players will be able to select this option for their helmets in TeamBuilder. [2/26]
More Mascots - Oregon, Texas Tech, Stanford, TCU, Wake Forest, Syracuse, Cal, Colorado State, Kansas, Houston, Oklahoma, Akron, Rutgers, Boise State, Army, UAB, and Louisville have had their mascot added to the game, more to be confirmed in the future. [First on 3/4]
Authentic College Systems - Developer Roy Harvey stated that NCAA 11 is going to focus on the authentic college offensive systems. [3/15]
Revamped Lighting System - EA released this blog discussing the new lighting system. [3/25]
Revamped Locomotion - ESPN published this article and EA released this blog discussing the new locomotion system. [4/5]
ESPN-Style Presentation - EA officially confirmed that ESPN style presentation is in the game in this blog [4/15], after the score bar was revealed on [4/8]. The presentation will include many new cutscenes as well, including shots of the fans and the trainer coming onto the field when a player is injured.
Game Speed Slider - EA confirmed in their locomotion live developer chat that NCAA 11 will have a slider so players can tune game speed to their liking [4/14]
Dual Stick Controls - Gamespot posted this interview about dual stick controls in Madden, and CDJ over at NCAA Strategies, a Community Day attendee, confirmed it's in NCAA 11 as well. [4/20]
Hit Stick more challenging to use - IGN mentioned in this hands-on preview that the hit stick will be more difficult to pull off this year. "The hit stick function has been deemphasized considerably from years past; No longer will your man get "sucked" into the player with the ball. Now, you'll actually have to line up the tackle properly and hope that the offensive player doesn't see it coming." [4/22]
Auto-Turbo Option - IGN mentioned in this preview that there will be an option to have the CPU auto-turbo. "I didn't actually get to try these out, but my understanding is that this year, players will get to hop into the options menu and elect to turn off the functionality of the right trigger, thus allowing the CPU to decide when it's time to boost down the field (not unlike EA Sports' NHL game last year)." [4/22]
New On-Side Kick Camera Angle - IGN mentioned in this preview that there will be a new angle for onside kicks. An NCAA dev told them it will "put players in the heart of the action more so than what's been seen before." [4/22]
Team-Specific Entrances - Operation Sports mentioned in this hands-on preview that team-specific entrances will be in NCAA 11. [4/23]
New No-Huddle Mechanic - EA listed the following on their website, indicating no-huddles will work differently this year. "Run the "no-huddle" spread, triple option, wishbone, wild hog, or pistol offenses the same way as your favorite schools. Dictate the tempo of the game when running the spread as you look to the sideline for the plays, or break the huddle and study the defense at the line of scrimmage when operating a traditional, pro-style offense. The game is in your hands." [4/26]
Real Assignment AI - EA listed this feature on their website. "From new running lanes to double-team blocking, experience the most realistic authentic offensive performance like never before!" [4/26]
Squib Kicks are Back - GameTrailers posted a video showing the kick selection screen, and squibs are back in. [4/27]
EA Sports Online Pass - A code granting access to the following online features (Recruiting Reports for use in Dynasty Mode, Twelve TeamBuilder Slots to download your custom teams for use in Play Now, Head-to-Head Online, Dynasty, and Online Dynasty Modes, Online Multiplayer Modes such as Online Play Now, Head-to-Head, Online Dynasty, and More**) will be included with new copies of NCAA 11; access will be granted to those who buy used copies upon payment of a $10 fee. [5/10]
Improved QB Play, Ways to Defend Scrambling QBs - EA discussed changes to the way QBs throw while being hit as well as new options for defending scrambling QBs and other details regarding QBs in this blog. [5/14]
Revised Phone Call System - EA announced changes to the phone call and other aspects of recruiting in this blog. [5/18]
Improved Prospect Ratings and Generation - EA announced changes to the way prospects are generated and ranked in this blog. [5/20]
"You notice that they're not there," Haumiller says of the previous "NCAA" games, "but now to see them on the field just makes everything seem much more authentic. Now you see them before the snap, during the play, setting the ball and that sort of thing. You see them actually interact as they would during a real game. And while they do have collision detection, what's key is that they have avoidance. It's not like the old PS2 days where you'd use the ref as an extra blocker for you. Remember how you could set it up a certain way where the defender would float into the ref and just fall over? That's not happening anymore."
*Gang Tackling
Spoiler
"It's not as simple as just bringing the technology over from 'Madden'" says Kiniry as he talks about bringing the up-to-nine-man gang-tackling system over from the pro game. "It has been tweaked and tuned to improve on the system. Like last year, when you played 'Madden' and one of the big tackles happened, play would almost stop, like it would pause for a second. We wanted to make it more smooth and make sure we had the right guys involved in every tackle and make sure we had the right frequency. It's bringing over the system from 'Madden' while at the same time making it better."
Adds Haumiller: "New technology will always have some kinks to work out, but we have those addressed now and really smoothed it out."
*Auto Save
Spoiler
"Auto save is now there for all parts of the game," Haumiller says. "Whether you're saving settings or rosters, whether you just finished a game in Road to Glory or whether you're competing in an offline Dynasty, it's all saved. Say you were playing in a Dynasty last year and you won five trophies and while you saved your Dynasty, you didn't save your profile, you lost those trophies forever. That sucked. That was no good. Now your trophy case will be filled with whatever you won and you no longer need to worry about whether or not you remembered to save. It's all taken care of for you. We saw how great this worked in games like 'FIFA' and 'NHL' and it was just natural for us to do it, too.
"It's just one of those things that slips your mind sometimes. You're hustling to get out of the house and you don't think about saving. We had the quick save feature, and that was nice, but it was still something you had to physically do. Now it's all just automatically taken care of for you."
And for those who don't like auto save for whatever reason, there will be an option to turn it off.
*Auto Load Rosters
Spoiler
"This was just a glaring omission in years past," Haumiller admits. "When you finished a Dynasty game and backed out to the main menu, we would dump out the roster you were just using in your Dynasty file and reload the roster that came on the disc. That's fine if that's the roster you always use, but if you're someone who always edits your roster or if you just downloaded a roster, that new roster is the one you pretty much want to use when you head into a new Dynasty or if you go into Play Now or start a Road to Glory. So you would go through high school in Road to Glory and finish those four games, and you've already invested so much time into creating this character, but then you get to college and realize that you don't have the roster file that you thought you did.
"This is one of those features that you really won't notice now that it's there, but you always missed when it wasn't. Now as soon as you download a new roster online, you can check it out right away. You no longer have to go through the whole process of loading that new roster into memory. Now that's done for you automatically. When you download a new roster file, it will automatically be loaded as the current roster file. It's just a way to help clean up the experience and making it an easier process so you don't need to jump through a bunch of hoops to get where you want to go."
*Formation Subs
Spoiler
"Formation subs are back … that's the best way to put it," Kiniry says. "It's exciting for us as well because I love running two-back systems, and there's nothing better than to be able to set up different formations with different backs. So now, just like how it worked on PS2, you'll be able to go in and for each formation, you'll be able to choose who you want in there. Cool thing is, you can do it while in-game in the pause menu, but for me, the biggest part is that it's a front-end option in Dynasty, as well. So now, you can set up your Dynasty and Online Dynasty in the beginning of the year, and barring injuries, you can let it ride out, and those are your formation subs for the rest of the year."
"Now you can set up who you want as your hands team for an onside kick or who you want as the up back when you're running a fake punt … stuff like that. And even in a bigger case, if you plan to run with an option quarterback, now you can set up your flexbone and wishbone formation and not have to worry about subs when you're calling your plays. Now you have your formations subs already in there and you're ready to go."
Adds Haumiller: "This is by far the biggest request we've received from the community. They've asked for it and we were finally able to deliver this year. We're excited to let fans know that this is the type of approach we're taking with 'NCAA Football 11.' This year is really all about giving the fans what they want."
*New Equipment
Spoiler
"We have a handful of new facemasks and helmets, like the Revolution Speed helmet," Kiniry says. "We also added some injury gear like a knee brace, ankle brace, elbow guard and an elbow brace. So now your offensive lineman will have one or two knee braces, and this just really helps bring more authenticity to the look of the game. For us, it's about keeping up with what's new on the field and making sure we have all of this equipment in the game.
"There are also some new sleeves in the game as well, like three-quarter sleeve, half sleeve, and then you can do right and left sleeve separately. And then the biggest two for the new equipment are towels and hand warmers. So now you can set up your QB with the hand warmer and a towel … everybody loves towels. There's just a certain look to a player that you want to have, and hopefully now you can do it. You want to make sure your players are looking right."
*Single Bowl Season
Spoiler
"Previously, all of the bowl games were played over the course of three different weeks," Kiniry says. "So if someone was playing in Week 1, but you weren't playing until Week 3, you had to sit and wait for him to finish before you could move on. So now, basically what we did is combine all of the bowls together so that everybody can play their bowl games just like it was any other week in Dynasty. It just really speeds up the process and makes it way easier to get through.
"What we noticed last year is it was taking forever to get through bowl season for most online dynasties out there. Bowl season was taking three, four, five days to get through, while the average week was only taking a couple of days at most. We don't want you to have all that dead time waiting for everybody to finish."
*Dynamic Conference Logos
Spoiler
"Like you said, during Dynasty and with custom conferences where you can switch teams around put a team like Miami in the SEC or whatever, the field art last year still had the old conference logos on it," explains Kiniry. "So what we did now is have it where the field art updates anytime a team changes conferences. This gives you a more authentic, real appearance, especially since we adjust the conference logos to make them look like the team really moved. What would the SEC logo look like on a Miami field? A lot of times they colorize the conference logos to match the colors of the school that just changed."
Adds Haumiller: "So instead of getting a bland, generic WAC logo, if you move Alabama to the WAC for whatever reason, the logo will take on that crimson and white look as far as the outlines and the colors for that WAC logo. It will look as if Alabama really went to the WAC in terms of what that conference logo will look like on the field."
*Numbers on Helmets
Spoiler
"This is just one of those things where we finally figured out how to get over that technological hurdle of displaying dynamic numbers for all the players on the field for Alabama or for a Team Builder school that wants to utilize this feature," Kiniry says. "During the actual gameplay, we just couldn't display the numbers before, but now you'll actually see them. It will finally look and feel like you would expect when you play as Alabama."
"This is an iconic look and I'm glad we were finally able to get it in the game," adds Haumiller. "If you are an Alabama fan, you looked at our game last year with the solid-colored helmets and it just killed you. We wanted to do a little make good with Alabama fans on this one, and it's just one of the things that fits with our theme this year, and that's creating the game that the community and the fans have been asking for.
Updates 03/04/10
Spoiler
*First Blog EA posted their first blog about NCAA 11 here, basically just confirming everything that ESPN revealed in their first look at '11.
*New Mascots
EA confirmed via their Facebook fan page that new mascots will be appearing this year, and the first confirmed addition is that of the Oregon Ducks.
School: Oregon
Mascot: Donald Duck
In 1947, an informal handshake agreement between Walt Disney and athletic Director Leo Harris granted the University of Oregon permission to use Donald Duck as it's official mascot. Donald was the only costumed duck mascot of any collegiate or profession sports team until 1993.
Updates 03/08/10
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*EA posted the first video blog - All 3 parts can be seen below.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Updates 03/09/10
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*New Blog - "A New Game Plan" - Indicates the team will focus on the core experience, authenticity, and innovation this year. It can be found here.
*All 3 Video Blogs are now up - They can be seen here and just recap everything revealed in ESPN's first look.
*New Mascot - EA confirmed via their Facebook fan page that Texas Tech mascot 'Raider Red' will be in the game this year.
School: Texas Tech
Mascot: Raider Red
Raider Red was created by a member of the Saddle Tramps as an alternative to using the Masked Rider due to a rule passed in 1971 that prevented members of the Southwest Conference to take live animals to away games. The student persona of Raider Red is kept a secret from the community until he/she passes on his shotguns to the next heir. Raider Red fires his two 120 guage shotguns after every Tech touchdown and field goal.
Updates 03/12/10
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*New Mascot - EA confirmed via their Facebook fan page that Stanford mascot 'The Tree' will be in the game this year.
School: Stanford
Mascot: The Tree
The Tree was originally performed by the Gand managers' girlfriends until the mid-80s when a more formal selection process was adopted. Tree candidates performs stunts that are sometimes outrageous, unwise and dangerous during "Tree Week" to impress the Tree selection committee. The Tree's costume is created anew each year by the incumbent Tree.
Updates 03/13/10
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*IGN posted a new article confirming the information originally released in the ESPN first look here.
Updates 03/15/10
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*Operation Sports posted their "Season Opener" Articlehere - Developer Roy Harvey confirmed this bit of information "In summary, Harvey stated that NCAA 11 is going to focus on the authentic college offensive systems, the core game play of course, and they are looking to appeal to and capture the emotion of the college game."
*New Mascot - EA confirmed via their Facebook fan page that TCU mascot "SuperFrog" will be in the game this year.
School: Texas Christian University
Mascot: SuperFrog
Stemming from the name of the student year book "Horned Frog" coined in 1897, SuperFrog was created in 1979 by the TCU AD who wanted a mascot "which people could laugh with, instead of laughing at."
Updates 03/25/10
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*New Blog - Screens and Lighting - EA released a new blog, which can be found here. Included in the blog was a description of the revamped lighting system and these two screenshots.
Updates 03/29/10
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*New Mascot - EA announced via their Facebook fan page that Wake Forest's mascot, the Demon Deacon, will be in the game this year.
Mascot: Demon Deacon
Wake Forest's nickname came to life on a dare. In 1941, Jack Baldwin accepted the dare of a fraternity brother to be the Demon Deacon. In a game against North Carolina, he dressed in top hat, tails and umbrella and, while riding the Carolina ram, led his team onto the field. Since that day, the Deacons have never played a day without their Demon Deacon.
School: Wake Forest
Updates 04/02/10
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*New ESPN Article - ESPN posted this article which discusses the new lighting system.
Updates 04/05/10
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*New ESPN Article - ESPN posted this article detailing the revamped locomotion system that will be in NCAA 11. They released the following screenshots in the article as well.
*New Blog - EA released this blog, including the video and screenshots seen below, detailing the new locomotion system.
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Updates 04/06/10
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*Accurate Arkansas Facemasks - Art director Jean Adams said here that Arkansas helmets shown in the screenshots from April 5th are fixed in the game.
*LT/Harvin Facemasks Confirmed - Art director Jean Adams said here that the facemasks have been improved to look more realistic, as well as posting the following screenshot showing off several types of facemasks in the game this year, including those worn by LaDainian Tomlinson and Percy Harvin.
Updates 04/08/10
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*New Mascot - EA confirmed via their Facebook fan page that Syracuse's mascot, Otto the Orange, will be in the game this year.
School: Syracuse
Mascot: Otto the Orange
The fuzzy, loveable orange made his debut in the early 80's and was known as "The Orange" until 1990 when the cheerleaders chose Otto over Opie fearing that he would inevitably end up being called dopie.
*Cover Athlete Announced - EA announced that Tim Tebow will be the cover athlete for all versions of the game this year. The following articles/videos were posted regarding the announcement.
*ESPN Presentation - EA indirectly revealed that ESPN will play a larger role in presentation in NCAA 11 by showing the score bar with the logo that ESPN uses for telecasts in a video they released. See the screen cap below.
Updates 04/09/10
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*New Mascot - EA confirmed via their Facebook fan page that Cal's mascot, Oski the Bear, will be in NCAA 11.
School: Cal
Mascot: Oski the Bear
Oski, named after the “Oski Wow-Wow” yell, made his debut on September 26, 1941 during the football season-opener against St. Mary’s. Before his ‘birth’, live bears were used.
*No PSP or Wii Versions - EA announced that there will not be a PSP version of NCAA 11, as seen in this article by IGN, and Operation Sports confirmed that there will not be a Wii version this year here.
Updates 04/12/10
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*New Mascot - EA confirmed via their Facebook fan page that Colorado State's mascot, CAM the Ram, will be in NCAA 11.
School: Colorado State
Mascot: CAM the Ram
The name 'CAM' stems from CSU's former name, Colorado Agricultural and Mechanical College. The current CAM is the 22nd ram to serve as the mascot.
Updates 04/14/10
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*Game Speed Slider - EA confirmed in their live developer chat about locomotion that there will be a slider for game speed this year.
*Catch De-bugging Tool - In the developer chat, EA also confirmed that the catch de-bugging tool used in Madden is being used in NCAA 11 as well to help the AI be more aware of the sidelines/endzone/first down markers.
*New Mascot - EA confirmed via their facebook fan page that Kansas' mascot, Jay, will be in NCAA 11.
School: Kansas Mascot: Jay
The term “Jayhawk” was coined in 1848 and combines two birds – the blue jay (a noisy, quarrelsome thing known to rob other nests) and the sparrow hawk (a stealthy hunter). After the Civil War, Jayhawks became synonymous with the impassioned people who made Kansas a Free State. In 1886, the bird appeared in a cheer – the Rock Chalk chant. The first version of the mascot was drawn in 1912 and was transformed over time into the smiling Jayhawk that remains today.
Updates 04/15/10
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*ESPN-Style Presentation - EA confirmed in this blog that ESPN-style presentation will be in NCAA 11. The following screenshots were included.
Updates 04/19/10
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*Box Art Revealed - EA released this PS3 box art, with a flipped image of Tebow in the blue background in the upper left.
*Gameplay Video - EA released this video, showing some NCAA gameplay in replay mode.
*New Screenshots - EA released several new screenshots, highlighting Texas and Alabama.
Updates 04/20/10
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*Dual Stick Controls - Gamespot posted this interview about dual stick controls in Madden, and CDJ over at NCAA Strategies, a Community Day attendee, confirmed it's in NCAA 11 as well.
Updates 04/21/10
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*Team Entrances? - Gamestop updated their NCAA site, and this tidbit along with previously known features was mentioned. "Feel the emotion of authentic college football more than ever with NCAA Football 11. From running the ‘no-huddle’ spread offense to walking out of the tunnel locking arms, everything you do and see will be original to your favorite school. With an all-new locomotion engine and real assignment A.I., only NCAA Football 11 gives you 120 ways to win!"
*Fox Business Channel Interview, Gameplay in the background - Fox posted this video interview with Tebow, and some gameplay can be seen in the background.
*Updated Cover - EA posted an updated version of the NCAA 11 cover, with a new image replacing the previously flipped image in the upper left of the blue background.
Updates 04/22/10
Spoiler
*New and Updated Mascots - Today EA announced via their Facebook fan page that Houston's mascot, Shasta, will be in NCAA 11. EA also posted these updated screenshots of the Oregon, Texas Tech, Syracuse, and Stanford mascots, already confirmed to be in the game.
School: Houston
Mascot: Shasta
In 1927, John Bender, a former head football coach for the Washington State Cougars came to Houston and decided to name his new team the Cougars. The cougar was named the official mascot by the University in 1946. The next year, the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity raised money to purchase a live cougar and held a contest to name it. The winning student submitted the following: “Shasta (She has to). Shasta have a cage, Shasta have a keeper, Shasta have a winning ball club, Shasta have the best.” There were 5 reigning Shastas until 1989 when the university chose not to purchase another live cougar. That was the year the costumed Shasta began appearing at games.
*Console-Specific Covers - A 360 cover was released, which is different from the previously revealed PS3 cover.
*Offensive Styles Video - EA posted this video detailing some of the "120 Ways to Win" in NCAA 11.
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*EA Sports Season Preview - GameTrailers TV aired their show, including a segment about NCAA 11. Other vids were also posted.
*Game Informer Preview/Vid - Game Informer posted their preview here. They also posted the following video interview with Ben Haumiller.
Updates 04/26/10
Spoiler
*New No-Huddle Mechanic - EA listed the following on their website, indicating no-huddles will work differently this year. "Run the "no-huddle" spread, triple option, wishbone, wild hog, or pistol offenses the same way as your favorite schools. Dictate the tempo of the game when running the spread as you look to the sideline for the plays, or break the huddle and study the defense at the line of scrimmage when operating a traditional, pro-style offense. The game is in your hands."
*Real Assignment AI - EA listed this feature on their website. "From new running lanes to double-team blocking, experience the most realistic authentic offensive performance like never before!"
*New Video - EA posted the following videos showcasing some of the new presentational elements this year, as well as locomotion.
*New Screenshots - EA added these screenshots to the official website.
*New Videos - thezoneblitz.com posted these new video interviews.
Updates 04/27/10
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*Squib Kicks are back - GameTrailers posted this video interview, in which the new onside kick angle can be seen and squib kicks can be seen on the playcall screen.
*New Article - Game Informer posted this article about creating Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium in NCAA 11.
Updates 04/30/10
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*New Blog - EA posted a new blog, discussing real assignment AI here. The blog included the following screenshots.
*New Video - EA posted this video as a part of their new blog about real assignment AI.
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Updates 05/04/10
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*New Blog - Pregame Entrances - EA posted this blog showcasing the addition of authentic team entrances. The following screenshots and video were included.
Updates 05/10/10
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*EA Sports announces "Online Pass" - EA announced via their website that a code will be included with new copies of their sports games, including NCAA Football 11, granting access to online features. For those who buy the game used, the features can be accessed for a $10 fee. The features this pertains to in NCAA Football 11 include the following:
Recruiting Reports for use in Dynasty Mode
Twelve TeamBuilder Slots to download your custom teams for use in Play Now, Head-to-Head Online, Dynasty, and Online Dynasty Modes
Online Multiplayer Modes such as Online Play Now, Head-to-Head, Online Dynasty, and More**
Updates 05/11/10
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*New Video - EA posted the following video, showing some fan cutscenes, mascots, and team entrances, as well as a few of the offensive styles.
Updates 05/14/10
[spoiler] *New Blog - EA posted this new blog, discussing improvements to QB play as well as new options for defending scrambling QBs. The following screenshots were included in the blog.