Operation Sports Forums - NCAA Football 11 Blog: ESPN Integration

EA Sports has just posted another NCAA Football 11 blog. This one covers the ESPN integration.

Quote:

"Hey everyone, this is Greg Heddlesten and I’m a Designer for the NCAA® Football 11 team here at Tiburon. My main area of ownership is presentation and, as Roy mentioned in his previous blog, when we began work on NCAA 11 it was very important for us bring even more authenticity to the product and continue to blur the line between real life and the game. One of our first goals for this year’s title was to give our in-game presentation an upgrade with the audio and visuals of ESPN College Football.

Previously, we had only gotten our feet wet with ESPN integration by implementing the ESPN SportsCenter updates and the news ticker. But everyone here, as well as everyone on the forums, felt that the ESPN experience just wasn’t complete without the ESPN College Football theme music and the in-game visuals and presentation. We all got our first taste of what an ESPN style broadcast could bring to our college sports products in NCAA® Basketball 10. The excitement, imagery, and sounds they were able to implement gave their game an entirely new vibe. With that in mind, it was time for us to dive in and really give our in-game presentation a new coat of paint with the help of ESPN.

One of the cool things about working with ESPN on the visual side was we were able to see the new graphics package they were going to roll out in 2010 before everyone else. The general public got one of their first glances of this new visual style during the Bowl Season this past winter. It was really important for us to have the graphics in the game match what you would be seeing during the College Football season this year. The reference provided by ESPN really helped our artists replicate the look and UI animations you’ll see on television and help us continue to blur the line between NCAA Football 11 and watching a broadcast of ESPN College Football. So, without further delay, let’s take a closer look at what’s to come!"