Ncaa Football 08 News

[ntmeangreen11]

Madden Mania owner Chris Sanner submitted his opinion piece on the NCAA Football 08 related news that was released this past week.

He comes away with a very optimistic outlook of what the new gaming/animations engine will do for realism in the NCAA series, especially in regards to gang tackling and blocking schemes.

It certainly does sound like a step in the right direction as the blocking AI in the NCAA series really had no where to go but up.

With the recent releases of info from various sources all I can say is wow! Some of the features that NCAA 08 is going to include has me excited for EA football again. My case in point is the fact that both Madden and NCAA will have a new gameplay engine this year with branching animations! What this basically means to the general gamer is that the gameplay will be more dynamic and won't be as static as years past.

So case in point, you run a sweep and get hit by a cornerback but your running back is breaking free of the CB and while that animation is playing a strong safety comes in to mop up the play. In previous versions of both NCAA and Madden the SS would bounce off of the running back because the animation was playing. Now, the original animation is capable of being added upon, so the SS will hit the RB and another animation will play which will mean a gang-tackle happens. As long as there are possible animations that can be played, then something new will happen when players interact.

Let's take that a step farther and go into the trenches. With all the grinding and pushing that goes on in there on a real football field, the static animations of past EA Football Titles just didn't work. Now, expect run and pass blocking to be much improved because of the new animation system. Also, I would expect that without a doubt, the blocking schemes and stuff probably had to be rewritten to compensate for the new systems. Therefore, I suspect my previous article asking for better offensive line play will happen. Which should make every gamer happy.

That is not the only reason I am excited for the new version of NCAA. The new super sim feature sounds like the feature I've always wanted since I played NFL 2kx and I could "Sim to End." Now, if you are bored because you are blowing out San Jose State (sorry Spartan fans) 35-0 at halftime, you can just super-sim to the end and forgo playing the rest of the game. And what if you didn't want to play defense for some reason? Well you can just super-sim through the drive if you want and get right back in to playing offense. See where this is going? The possibilities are endless.

The additional stadiums is much needed and I'm happy that there will be 115 stadiums in the game. However, I'm afraid 30 or so of those are actually bowl stadiums and such. Therefore I wouldn't get too excited yet if I was a fan of North Texas or Idaho. Most of the small schools will still be subject to generic stadiums. However every school in the most major conferences will have their stadiums, which should have been the case last year (which was the source of my single largest gripe about NCAA last year).

So in conclusion, I am very excited about NCAA 08 and for that matter, Madden 08. With the new dynamic animations system it sounds like EA next-gen football is going to really deliver this year in terms of a new football experience. Here's to hoping that it does and we're left smiling like a little kid who just got a free ice cream cone on a hot summer day. - Madden Mania

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Once again, we do not have our stadium in the game after two years. Granted, it is a dump, it's still ridiculous that they can't even get all of the small schools in there, but they can get bowl stadiums in.

[MeanGreenBrigader]

Forget about the stadium...when are they gonna get our actual fight song in the game???

[meangreendork]

The generic stadium they had was kinda close in layout, but they didn't have the metal stands, deck, etc. The details count...

AND STOP WHINING ABOUT THE FIGHT SONG.

IIRC, they can't have the song at EA if our school won't cough it up to them.

[CaribbeanGreen]

I mean, they ALWAYS had Fouts from 98-2006. I don't get how suddenly with all the new capabilities it goes away.

They've NEVER had the fight song. No reason for me to upgrade from 06 till they do.

[Keith7]

I mean, they ALWAYS had Fouts from 98-2006. I don't get how suddenly with all the new capabilities it goes away.

because when EA started making 360 games they decided to start over and redo everything

[GreenBat]

Forget about the stadium

That's what I'm worried Rick V is going to say because the fan base is too worried about an F'n video game.

[Keith7]

That's what I'm worried Rick V is going to say because the fan base is too worried about an F'n video game.

haha you're joking right?

[ColoradoEagle]

That's what I'm worried Rick V is going to say because the fan base is too worried about an F'n video game.

[Bryan316]

Since everyone is about touting what next-gen titles are going to be like, could it be just the next-gen consoles that have the missing Fouts? Even with the new "Campus Badass" mode or whatever it was called last year, the "current gen" consoles still had Fouts. Reading that, to me it comes off sounding like EA did more stadiums in hi-res for the 360 since they had a lot more time for this year's version.

[Daddy Dumpsalot]

The additional stadiums is much needed and I'm happy that there will be 115 stadiums in the game. However, I'm afraid 30 or so of those are actually bowl stadiums and such. Therefore I wouldn't get too excited yet if I was a fan of North Texas or Idaho. Most of the small schools will still be subject to generic stadiums. However every school in the most major conferences will have their stadiums, which should have been the case last year (which was the source of my single largest gripe about NCAA last year).

Umm..well at least we got our name in the article