NCAA March Madness 09 News Post

Fixing the March Madness Series

02:20 PM - May 30, 2008 by Steve_OS

With the news that 2K would not be continuing its critically acclaimed College Hoops series this year the onus is now on EA to ensure that March Madness steps up to the plate. Will Soistman checks in today with an article called "Fixing the March Madness Series".

Quote:


	"Even ****** back to the last generation of systems the March Madness series has definitely not been up to the level of the competition that has been presented. So hoping for a stellar outing next season may be asking for a lot, but why not hope for the best?"

Game: NCAA Basketball 09Reader Score: 7/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 29 - View All

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Member Comments

# 21 ehh @ 06/03/08 06:23 PM

I probably won't have to worry about MM09 since I sold my 360 and don't plan on buying another one for the foreseeable future, but I want there to be a good college game on the market each year.

There are a lot of issues that need fixing with this series starting first and foremost with the game play. I hate to say it but MM08 might be in the same boat as 2K baseball in terms of needing to ditch the engine and build from scratch.

When I played MM08 it looked like the animations were from a PS2/Xbox game, this is another area that desperately needs fixing. Everything from player movements to the nets after a swish needs to be upgraded.

In terms of dynasty mode, MM has a long way to go. Real schedules have been beaten to death but can't be understated. The recruiting process needs to be beefed up and I wish EA would just sit down with a copy of CH2K8 and copy it 100%.

Another big thing is the user/menu interface from everything to starting an exhibition to creating/editing a player. The edit-player feature and roster editing was brutally bad and slow in MM08. I love editing players/rosters but it was almost an unbearable task this year. It's the same problem in NCAA Football so I wouldn't hold my breath for this to be fixed.

The rosters need to be much more accurate, both current and classic rosters. As a die-hard UConn fan, I could hardly identify a single player on the all-time UConn squad. 1993 Michigan had Jimmy King and Chris Webber as the same ranking I believe.

Remember the big jump that CH made from 2K4 to 2K5? It felt, looked and played like a new engine. That's the type of change MM needs to make, this game needs a whole new feel.

# 22 BJNT @ 06/04/08 06:34 PM

As long as they bring back the option to export players to NBA Live like they did with March Madness 04 and Live 04. I will definately take a look at March Madness 09. That's the main reason why I've chosen College Hoops over March Madness. I love being able to watch a guy go from high school all-american, to college superstar, and then see what he can do in the NBA. March Madness brings this back I'm in.

# 23 radiohead @ 06/05/08 12:07 PM

Behindshadows2,

i'll cede your point that a lot of people who did not play march madness 08 are simply "hatin" and not providing any constructive criticism which "may" help fix mm.

but to be fair, the reason why many of those guys didn't play march madness 08 is because of how bad the game has historically been. in other words, i think it's hard to find a large community to draw constructive criticism from because MM as alienated so many gamers over the years.

i've always thought that mm had superior atmosphere and presentation AND that mm has always had potential to be much better than choops. but, the finished product always feels like a rudderless boat.

it's good to know that there is a new dev. team working on mm. that fact alone will put mm on my radar. but honestly, i'm not holding my breath.

like you said, it's time for results.

# 24 sixfootjew @ 09/10/08 02:10 PM

LEGACY MODE LIKE 2k... nothing is tighter than starting with a butt cheeks squad and earning other coaching jobs after 2 seasons, or making that tm into a contender..

# 25 mac022393 @ 09/27/08 06:30 PM

All u need to make the game better is to allow the users to down load the draft classes from March Madness to Live as in NCAA Football and Madden.

# 26 Tomba @ 09/27/08 08:04 PM

I think it is very important to note the gameplay nad game mode improvements the games made via my recap thread. There really shouldn't be any negativity around this title as it's been vastly improved over NCAA 08 for starters. I can not stress enough that EA have made strides with NCAA 09. Again, it's a improvement over the upcoming NBA Live 09 as well.

# 27 Heelfan71 @ 09/28/08 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Behindshadows


	Again another pointless post! Again, you want to dispute me, but you've never played the game! And there is no dynasty on the demo. So again your points aren't valid or even worth the convo. !

I played both and I dispute your claim. CH Dynasty > MM Dynasty

# 28 Behindshadows @ 09/28/08 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heelfan71


	I played both and I dispute your claim. CH Dynasty > MM Dynasty

Why are you opening up old wounds?

I'm done with this debate and have moved on to NCAA Basketball 09. Waiting the release and waiting to see some gameplay. I'm sure it will be what all College Basketball fans will enjoy.

MM08 wasn't bad, but hopefully NCAA 09 will be a great improvement over all the things that plagued MM08 last season.

Can't wait...

And got Tarheels....

Alumni

# 29 Tomba @ 09/28/08 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Behindshadows


	Why are you opening up old wounds? I'm done with this debate and have moved on to NCAA Basketball 09. Waiting the release and waiting to see some gameplay. I'm sure it will be what all College Basketball fans will enjoy. MM08 wasn't bad, but hopefully NCAA 09 will be a great improvement over all the things that plagued MM08 last season. Can't wait... And got Tarheels.... Alumni

Many of the things plaguing last years NCAA 08 are gone largely in part to it now using the NBA Live 09 engine as a base and then improving on it to make it feel more like College basketball.

# 30 Heelfan71 @ 09/28/08 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Behindshadows


	Why are you opening up old wounds? I'm done with this debate and have moved on to NCAA Basketball 09. Waiting the release and waiting to see some gameplay. I'm sure it will be what all College Basketball fans will enjoy. MM08 wasn't bad, but hopefully NCAA 09 will be a great improvement over all the things that plagued MM08 last season. Can't wait... And got Tarheels.... Alumni

I hope you are right.

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