The Future of the NCAA Series.

[floridagatorfan]

I agree with a lot of your post and that I would love to see the interaction with the community that Ian Cummings has provided. I think it is quite clear that what he has done has allowed the community to help in making Madden a better game. Things like posting up running animations and getting community feedback to tweak them is a great example.

However, while the people on OS forums and the ones that are interacting are the diehard loyal fans we represent a very small percent of NCAA football's overall consumer base. Most people that play NCAA do not realize the gameplay flaws like the hardcore do and are content buying it each year regardless of the improvement. From a business prospective NCAA will still make a lot of money even if they alienate the people that post on these forums.

I don't want to say that the NCAA team is not giving effort or doesn't care, I just feel like whoever is calling the shots just doesn't get it. Hopefully, like you said, we can have a complete overhaul next year but I am not getting my hopes up. This year I willl probably pass on NCAA '10 and wait for Madden as it looks like they have made tremendous strides.

[HamTonks]

TL;DR.

[Bamafan3723]

Quote: Originally Posted by NOBLE

Good post. Should be stickied.

Another good thread pointing out how bad the NCAA series has become.

[ChicagoSparty]

Quote: Originally Posted by HamTonks

TL;DR.

YS.

[SHO]

Quote: Originally Posted by HamTonks

TL;DR.

/b/tard?

[WisconsinSports414]

Regardless of what happens over the next few months, I think this year will be looked back on as turning point for football video games. That's one reason why I am personally rooting for Madden to well - better than it normally does, and better than it did last year in sale - Not just because I want a better game, but, also because it might bring about a trend that so far has proven to help the qualities of these games drastically - which is, taking more input from the consumers. We're already starting to see it now, with the way the MLB 09 team operates and the drastic changes made by the Madden team so far.

[Boucher]

Quote: Originally Posted by HamTonks

TL;DR.

If you didn't read why did you post? This isn't IGN we don't do that here, we act like grown ups. Hard enough concept to grasp?

[umd]

Quote: Originally Posted by mmorg

Remember the NCAA series is always one year behind the Madden series.

I disagree with that. That was hardly the case w/ last gen. That "one year behind" is a weak argument, like the "no competition" argument. NCAA has never had any "true" competition. And don't bring up the lackluster Gamebreaker titles cause I don't buy it.

I firmly believe the NCAA dev team is doing exactly what they have planned for this franchise. It is not being developed w/ the same style or focus of Madden in order to diversify it from Madden in order to capture a larger part of the football gaming market. Especially since there is only a 30 day lapse between releases. EA intends to take Madden in the direction it is going and NCAA in the direction it is going to expand the customer base w/ two games with different gameplay and feature sets.

The bottom line is NCAA hasn't lived up to even the marginal expectations since 360 and PS3 because the series is on a different development path than it was on the xbox and PS2. The game is being casualized and "off field featurized", and it is being done purposely from a marketing and development perspective.