Will NCAA 13 Exist? - ZFarls's Blog

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ZFarls's Blog

Will NCAA 13 Exist?

Posted on June 22, 2009 at 09:19 AM.

(5)

Where have you gone NCAA?

Its not NCAA the games fault, its the release cycle

With the NCAA Football demo making its way online yesterday, many people began to hammer it on forums and twitter. They also used it to decide whether or not to purchase it. Although I run a madden site, NCAA was actually my drug of choice in the early part of the decade.

Some Quick Demo Thoughts-Overall, it didn�t seem much different, my brother is an NCAA fanatic and when I asked him how it was, his lack of enthusiasm scared me. I liked the new sideline animations and although I could still RC a curl the defender seemed to react to it better and did the same animation.
I felt the difference in the vibrating stick but didn�t enjoy it. People said it felt like Madden 09, but I didn�t fully sense that. One thing I noticed was the pop up ball on a qb hit, as I got 2 user pics that way. People have such a negative attitude towards the game this year, whether it�s the way madden overshadowed it in the community or the roster error it doesn�t seemed to be as hyped as in previous years. I used to get all jacked up for it�
NCAA 03 with Joey Harrington on the cover may be the worlds finest sports game and ranks in my all-time top 3 for games. I can specifically remember calling numerous stores to try and get it early by a few hours and even considered taking a ride to Fricken OHIO to get a copy a day early. It is not that I like Madden more or anything like that I just don�t know what happened to the series. Lets see�

NCAA 02-04 were absolutely dominant options in my mind. There is no doubt these raised the bar higher than any Madden game until�

Madden 05- This for me was the killer game in the series. NCAA got a unique speed and feel update but Madden took leaps ahead with playmakers and hit stick. I liked NCAA 05 with Larry Fitz but the running lagged and too many passes were dropped. It had a refined option which was better though.

NCAA 07- I was never excited more for a video game. I saw some sweet commercials and had my brand new xbox 360 tuned up. I was living on Cape Cod and working at a resort that summer. Any time I wasn�t working, beaching or hanging out with my GF, I wanted to be playing NCAA. I had a nice dorm room with TV and a great little xbox set up. I drove and picked up the game and couldn�t have been more disappointed with it. I wasn�t even going to buy Madden that year because I was leaving for Australia on Sept 1.
The whole next gen until 08 for EA was a complete debacle and left a bad taste in my mouth. I skipped NCAA 08 and picked up Madden 08, which started the Maddenbible.

For NCAA 09, I had skipped a few generations and was pumped about the online dynasty. I split it with my brother and by the time Madden had came out, I let him take it to school. There wasn�t enough there to keep my interest.

Spending 60 dollars is not the issue for me, its more of will I get my 60 dollars worth for this game. I have decided I will buy depending on updates and cycle of the games.

Should you purchase every cycle?
NCAA- I buy every other year for the most part. My brother is a huge fan so we may split the game, but he thought the demo was similar to last years. He is still a student so 60 dollars to him is a good chunk of money that could be spent on something else. This game has been a one month teaser until Madden comes out. I love college football in real life and enjoy the rosters which they didn�t get right. That turned me off.

Fight Night- Round 3 was amazing and captured my heart with the demo. I was pumped for round 4 until I got the UFC demo. Now I may wait a few months on fight night. This is a good thing because if it was a yearly offering I would skip it completely, however, because I know it will be around and had a long dev cycle, I will wait to pick it up no problem.

Tiger Woods- This was also a killer series in its early years. I bought yearly until 07. I skipped 07 with the next gen and ended up buying 08. I skipped 09 and while I was pumped for 10, I didn�t pick it up yet. I would ideally like to see more courses over anything else. Golf games will never change too drastically so I feel like waiting and the advent of Tiger Woods Online will be huge for the genre.

NHL - 93,94,98 were some of my favorite NHL games. The series started to feel similar and I even switched to 2k5 for a while. However, EA gambled and hit the JACKPOT with it�s right stick controls. This was the greatest move in the history of EA sports and they will be getting a yearly purchase from me until they lose this magic. Hockey is so fluid and non set up like football. You are constantly finding yourself in new places on the ice with great tools. The EAHL will only make this game grow as a community and NHL deserves all the praise it receives.

College Hoops- NCAA 2k7 is in my top 5 of all time games. I have not enjoyed a March Madness game since 90�s, but purchased one last year. As long as the game is fun and competitive, I could care less about the bells and whistles. I was taking on my bro who was Duke with Stephon Curry. The game was a back and forth battle which always adds to the experience. Just as Curry was about to heave a 3 for the game winner, it suddenly froze. This could have been a great matchup that propelled us to play more but it kind of spoiled it for me.

NBA- Dead to me.

Madden- I actually skipped 07 due to being out of the country, however this was sgibs GAME. 08 was a good offering and 09 updated despite being a down year on the tournament scene.
With Madden 10, I see transparency in the EA development cycle and am very pleased. I see a company who is often scrutinized who has done everything to get feedback from it�s community. Hopefully this will all be worked out with a game that has evolved and really hit its stride in this generation. I commend the team on their hard work and will continually be buying Madden until I see this flame die out.

Overall: I don�t feel like the yearly additions to the game are making a big enough of an impact. With two football releases coming within a month of eachother it doesn�t leave a lot of time for everything else.

At the end of the day football is just that. They can�t make huge changes because they have nailed 95% of the game for 7+ years now.The meat and potatoes will always be the gameplay which will rarely change. We might get a new camera angle or idea but in the end you will still pick a play with 11 guys on the field. Adding a new helmet or more realistic wristband just won�t do it for me. I am a big picture guy.
This will lead to non yearly release in my opinion and a different style of purchase for future generations. Will their be a Madden 19? Who can honestly say. How could they still have anything new to put in, football will still be the same game by then and they are already doing a great job emulating it.

Comments

# 1 CreatineKasey @ Jun 22

The suggestion on here by one of the OS guys to use patches and a bi-yearly release seems far more appealing to me than getting these updates which to me seem minor. Good post.

# 2 statum71 @ Jun 22

Believe me, bi-yearly wouldn't make things any better. People would still have issues with it.

# 3 matt8204 @ Jun 22

Guys, forget it. I know where you're coming from, but these companies are never going to stop releasing their sports games on an annual basis. Where would they make up the lost revenue? Are people going to pay $60 for roster updates and miscellaneous downloads that improve the game slightly?

# 4 ZFarls @ Jun 22

Or when "next gen" comes out will the break it again and have to build up from there.

My main point is that the things they add are so subtle that it hardly seems to get any better.
The almighty dollar will have the final say, but I see subscription based services kicking in with online gaming and consoles.

In 2013 what can they possibly add or make a minor adjustment too. The first year that the new intros were in the game were sweet, now it makes it feel like an old game but its still part of football and can't be done any other way.