NCAA Football 10 Blog: It's in the Details

[TheWatcher]

I think the addition of the camera flashes, field goal nets, Windsocks and swappable bowl endzones is all great. But what's with the big EA logo on the net? My problem with EA Football games right now is that you're overselling your name and logo to the point of annoyance. It's just not necessary. We all know who made the game!

Also, I have to be honest... after seeing the first release photo I was impressed, but now seeing these couple new ones it's a letdown.

In this shot, the grass still lacks strong color tone and the overall picture still has a washed-out look:




This photo shows that ugly haze that also plagued Madden 09:



Effects for indoor are still overdone, it looks like there is some kind of smoke-fog that's lingering from a big bomb explosion and the grass still lacks proper tone:


Starting with the 09 games (both Madden and NCAA), the images are lacking realistic clarity. Color tones are off (for example, see Notre Dame in NCAA 09 and notice that the helmets lack that strong GOLD and shine... it's really bad), lighting lacks strength (something the 07 games excelled in). The crowd in the distance has a weird haze where instead you should be using blur effect like it was masterfully done with NCAA 07 for 360 just for the fact that it looks more broadcast but also to mask the fact that the crowd image has been taken down to aid in reaching/maintaining 60 frames.

Check out what was done with NCAA 07 in this regard:




Look at the lighting intensity and picture clarity in these NCAA 07 images (This is from Brian Moore's site):











The tone and temperature of the lighting is just not on point like it was with the 07 games and it doesn't hit the players right at all.

With only just a little over 2 months to go until shop is closed up on NCAA 2010, I doubt much can done about it. The two new stadium shots don't look any different than last year's game, and if they are recent shots from a recent build, then that makes me even more disappointed. It just looks like the same thing from last year, unless we get shots during the game like the first closeup one shown with Cal Vs. Stanford, but I know we've been shown those kinds of shots the past two years and the actual game never shows us these during auto-replays.

[thejake]

Quote: Originally Posted by prowler

I think some people are disappointed because Madden announced something big and NCAA announced a small (yet very welcomed) feature; OMT just can't win. Still it's not even March yet, if it were early June when this was announced then the anger would be understandable. Something of interest to me: Fortunately, our brilliant graphics engineers created what is called the Texture Compositor. This was originally developed for handling created stadiums and uniforms for Madden. It allows the game to take multiple pieces of art and combine them into one as the game loads. Out of mild curiosity, if stadiums are now broken into pieces, does that mean we will be able to... I dunno... mix and match those pieces... for... I dunno... maybe created schools? Just wondering.

Maybe we'll be able to mix and match uniforms, independently selecting jerseys and pants?

[SageInfinite]

Quote: Originally Posted by rgiles36

Though that it is indeed a work in progress, it could still be a tad bit alarming. I only say that b/c that's how the scenario played out last year in Madden: a few screens debuted minus refs, I then asked Phil, and he confirmed that there were indeed no referrees. Not to say that applies here, but I just wanted to point it out.

My thought exactly. Unless the gameplay and atmosphere is just incredible this year, I can't purchase another game where they feel the refs aren't important enough to add. It's inexcusable IMO.

[AJTev21]

OMT, I know you can't talk specifics but I loved online dynasty(as I know almost everyone else did) and I was wondering if you can just confirm it will coming back and if so, will it be relatively the same or is it overhauled. I thought it was damn near perfect save a couple of glitches. I understand you may not be able to comment on it but any kind of non specific info would be great.

[OMT]

Quote: Originally Posted by IamLEGENDsince87

OMT, any chance we will be ale to change sock color to white when editing players??? im a Buckeye fan and sometimes we wear high whites or "tights" for cold away games N I think it would be nice if I could see that in th game

No. Sock color is a team setting, so you we can't change it on a player by player basis.

[OMT]

Quote: Originally Posted by AJTev21

OMT, I know you can't talk specifics but I loved online dynasty(as I know almost everyone else did) and I was wondering if you can just confirm it will coming back and if so, will it be relatively the same or is it overhauled. I thought it was damn near perfect save a couple of glitches. I understand you may not be able to comment on it but any kind of non specific info would be great.

Its back and we've fixed some stuff. There's also a new component that I'll be talking about at a later date.

[SageInfinite]

Quote: Originally Posted by OMT

No. Sock color is a team setting, so you we can't change it on a player by player basis.

Is there anyway the team settings could be opened to edit something like that?

[TheWatcher]

Quote: Originally Posted by SageInfinite

My thought exactly. Unless the gameplay and atmosphere is just incredible this year, I can't purchase another game where they feel the refs aren't important enough to add. It's inexcusable IMO.

I wish I could be more optimistic myself, but this thought still comes to mind: Phil once said on the EA boards that it was too tough to get refs in the game at 30 frames because of AI conflicts. So how then would they be able to do it now at double the speed? It's not as if it's easier now at 60, lol.

These last two photos are definitely a cause for concern realizing that March hits on Sunday and the game closes up in late May. Not just the ref thing, but the fact that the photos are totally unimpressive and pretty much the same as last year. Sure progressive lighting will help if it's actually in this year, but the images just aren't clean like they were in the first year of this series on 360. I just don't understand why the lighting is so off and why the colors are so lifeless now. This is the 3rd version of NCAA at 60 frames now, I would've thought by now the lighting would be back on par with where the 07 release took it, but it's just not going anywhere if the photos are any indication.

The only hope is that the photos are from an early build a while back, but if those are photos from a recent build then that's not good.