Found this news at 5w-g.com concerning rosters...

[dkemp]

NCAA Football Rosters Sacked on Xbox 360
Posted on July 13th, 2007 in Gaming, Xbox 360, News, Opinion by Shawn Drotar
Ready for sports-gaming Armageddon? Microsoft has some explaining to do.
NCAA Football 08, the highly-anticipated football game by EA Sports, has found its way onto some stores’ shelves, despite the fact that it’s not supposed to be there until the 17th. Such is the nature of street dates.
Nevertheless, the major issue that’s certain to rankle sports gamers is not the seemingly-random availability of the game, but this:
On the Xbox 360, NCAA Football 08 roster files cannot be shared. At all. They can’t be transferred from profile to profile, even on the very same console.
In Microsoft’s Spring Update to the Xbox 360, the Redmond-based giant chose to lock down (with no prior warning) thousands of Xbox 360 consoles that posted save files in an effort to tamp down cheating and discourage the use of Datel’s unlicensed-but-legal Xchange device. Caught in the web were roster-makers; sports gamers that have no specific interest in cheating, but are instead interested in making their games as realistic as possible and sharing their efforts with fellow sports fans to enhance their enjoyment of the game as well.
These gamers form a community; no different than the “modding” communities prevalent - and often embraced by game publishers - on the PC. In the case of NCAA Football, gamers often work together at large, discussion-board-based sites like OperationSports.com to name the unnamed players in the game. The NCAA, per its regulations as an amateur organization, does not allow players’ names in retail versions of their licensed products, but regardless of manufacturer, the NCAA has always permitted these players to be edited in-game, allowing dedicated fans to do the (non-profit) legwork for themselves; building knowledgeable real-life fans in the process.
But as Mark explained in May, this capricious decision by Microsoft risked fracturing this user base, potentially driving customers away from the Xbox 360 and towards the rival PlayStation 3 instead - something that I discussed with Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb back in May. Since the PS3 version of the same game doesn’t restrict transferring roster saves in any way, that day may have arrived. Friday the 13th may turn out to be very unlucky for Microsoft indeed.
Since last year’s game didn’t discriminate when it came to rosters and user profiles, it appears that Microsoft’s newly-added strictures on file sharing made this new limitation possible.
When it was revealed that NCAA Football 08 and Madden 08 were running at 60 frames per second on the Xbox 360 as opposed to 30 on the PlayStation 3, and an impressive demo released this week demonstrated the advantages of that capability, the 360 quickly became the platform of choice for discerning football gamers; an advantage that could soon dissipate as quickly as it coalesced, considering that Microsoft’s security protocols are responsible for the change and the limitation doesn’t exist on Sony’s console.
It remains to be seen what changes, if any, can be made to alleviate this issue. I’m sure that some… industrious individuals are working on it as we speak. But the real issue is: Why? Why must the sports-gaming dolphins get caught up in the carelessly-cast tuna net Microsoft has woven for cheaters? Certainly, there’s a compromise that can be reached - something that doesn’t require abandoning the platform for the more open-ended PS3?
Lest this sound overstated, consider this: Peter Moore mentioned at Microsoft’s E3 press conference that the three biggest franchises in gaming were Grand Theft Auto, Madden and Halo - and the Xbox 360 was the only place for gamers to play them all. It’s a strong point, but in the case of Madden - and NCAA Football - there’s another salient point that shouldn’t be ignored: They don’t have to.



Is this the case? I have not purchase the game yet, but certainly will not if I cant name the players. Responses, and comments are welcome.

[Skyboxer]

Old news. This has been posted here for a few days. There is a workaround and rosters are already out...
In any case good job going to 5w-g. It's a great site for info and opinion.

[dkemp]

Cool, I was getting nervous about getting the game. What are the options or ways to get around.

[neillyb]

Quote: Originally Posted by dkemp

Cool, I was getting nervous about getting the game. What are the options or ways to get around.

Check the NCAA 08 Roster forums for details on the work around. Be not afraid, our boys have figured it out.