My Personal Atmosphere Tips for EA.

[BSherrod]

Here at OS, we can all agree that the lack of presentation in NCAA 08 for the next gen consoles is extremely evident and I'm sure there have been thousands of posts and threads with tips to improve the current situation. Well here is 1,001; my tips to add some atmosphere to the game.

1. The Crowd

How about trying to put the fans, student section, band, frats and such in the correct place. I have noticed that there is a fine mixture of away fans and home fans, but certain games should not have so many travelers from the away team. Also, add shakers for the southern teams, I know almost all SEC teams have them (except Mississippi State and those stupid cow bells). Add team specific chants or some sort of function that would allow use to use our own MP3s.

2. The Band

A crucial part of college football is the band, have them on the field before the game! This also plays into the uniqueness of each team. For the first year, I would love to take 2 or 3 generic halftime shows that play at halftime or having most teams run thourgh the band while the fight songs play.

3. On The Field

I will gladly take a cut back on player models to add some life to the sidelines or some sort of warm up. We all know APF2K8 used it's last gen engine, but they do have everything from the chain gang to trainers on the sideline. Let's see some coaches getting fired up about a call or throwing the red hanky for a challenge. There are so many things happening around the field that is not being represented and it makes the game seem lifeless.

4. ESPN Integration

So it's great I can hear Sportscenter from my menu and a ticker that show's real scores. How about showing me a Sportscenter show complete with audio or video highlights? The plays of each game are already rated for greatness, how about showing me a highlight show of my conference or the Top 25 every week or after my dynasty game. College Gameday should be integrated into the game, let the game of the week have Corso & crew on campus talking about the current week in football. The stat box and drive summarys I get from the big games are just text, I can't feel like it's a big play when there is just a number on screen. And also how about doing an ESPN magazine cover or ESPN.com frontpage showing the player of the week or profiling a Heisman Canidate? Nothing can explain the little joy I got from my Tide showing up on the cover after beating Oklahoma in a regular season game in the Xbox days. During the game, I really don't want to see a generic EA sports logo, how about using the complete ESPN overlay package? Changing a couple of .jpgs to say ESPN, ESPNU, ABC, or ESPN2 would make a big difference to me.


More to come later, excuse any grammatical errors.

[UNMLobo]

Quote: Originally Posted by BSherrod

1. The Crowd How about trying to put the fans, student section, band, frats and such in the correct place. I have noticed that there is a fine mixture of away fans and home fans, but certain games should not have so many travelers from the away team. Also, add shakers for the southern teams, I know almost all SEC teams have them (except Mississippi State and those stupid cow bells). Add team specific chants or some sort of function that would allow use to use our own MP3s.

I noticed at University Stadium (UNM), they put the visiting fans in the correct place with a few scattered around the stadium. What I feel is missing from the crowd is a change in attendance levels. Every game is a sellout. They should have the fluctuate depending on your performance. There is a place where average attendance is recorded during legacy, why not see it in the stands. Also, the stadium should clear out in a blowout during the fourth quarter. Both of these were in previous generation games.

I would also like to see more variety from the crowd. They are always hyped up. Let the poor people sit down occasionally. Also, ditch the coats for the hot games and add rain gear in the rain. Only a few people wear t-shirts in the snow, not half the stadium.

Just my 2 cents.

[PhiPsi1]

Forget about the atmosphere issues. Let's focus on GAMEPLAY! but i agree with all your sentiments above.

[ezpkns34]

Quote: Originally Posted by PhiPsi1

Forget about the atmosphere issues. Let's focus on GAMEPLAY! but i agree with all your sentiments above.

yeh, i'd have to agree with you, but i will say if there was a better atmosphere i'd be more willing to overlook some of the gameplay issues

[Tig5309]

Quote: Originally Posted by UNMLobo

I noticed at University Stadium (UNM), they put the visiting fans in the correct place with a few scattered around the stadium. What I feel is missing from the crowd is a change in attendance levels. Every game is a sellout. They should have the fluctuate depending on your performance. There is a place where average attendance is recorded during legacy, why not see it in the stands. Also, the stadium should clear out in a blowout during the fourth quarter. Both of these were in previous generation games. Just my 2 cents.

I've noticed the same for Marshall's visitor's section.

I'd like to see the band integration before games and at halftime but maybe done in a way that it is in the background and overlaid with stats or some other information.

[TylerDurdenVol]

I'm a gameplay first guy but can EA at least make the players on the sidelines diffrent from each other except for a bunch of Joe Kleckos.LOL!

[BROman]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tig5309

I'd like to see the band integration before games and at halftime but maybe done in a way that it is in the background and overlaid with stats or some other information.

the 1st ncaa gamebreaker did that (the band was in the background w/ a halftime menu overlay), it was pretty cool.

[Village Idiot]

Quote: Originally Posted by PhiPsi1

Forget about the atmosphere issues.

I am so glad you don't work for EA. (Or do you? That would make sense, too.)