NCAA Basketball 09 First Look (IGN)

[Steve_OS]

IGN has posted their first look at NCAA Basketball 09.

"One of the primary facets pointed out by Sean O'Brien, Lead Producer of NCAA Basketball 09, was the focus on the tempo of the game, which takes center stage in this year's title. If you've watched a basketball game, you know that there's a flow that is established by each team primarily based around their play style. Some squads like to run the ball up and down the court, wearing out the other squad with a hard charging offense and lots of pressure with their defense. Others prefer to play a half-court game, setting up their plays and running down the clock, while others balance the transition game with specific plays. In NCAA Basketball 09, you'll be called upon to duplicate the style of play of your chosen school, using the fast paced play of Memphis or the balanced play of UCLA, for example, to dominate your opponents."

[ehh]

Re: NCAA Basketball 09 First Look (IGN)

Well we got a release date at least, that's a bonus. Not much else in there in terms of new info, hopefully some media will be out next week.

[racerx]

Re: NCAA Basketball 09 First Look (IGN)

Well we got a release date at least, that's a bonus. Not much else in there in terms of new info, hopefully some media will be out next week.

ehh,
What is the release date? I am at work and IGN is blocked.

Thanks

[warnerwlf98]

Re: NCAA Basketball 09 First Look (IGN)

ehh,
What is the release date? I am at work and IGN is blocked.

Thanks

December 2nd.

[warnerwlf98]

Re: NCAA Basketball 09 First Look (IGN)

Racer, some highlights for you:

O'Brien mentioned that since the development team will be using the same game engine as NBA Live, but will have an additional two months of work on the title, they are trying to focus on some of the feedback that will come in on that title but also make sure that NCAA Basketball 09 plays and feels completely different. We were able to find out a few more details from him regarding how the implementation of the tempo and coach instruction has changed the franchise, and how it will wind up carrying over. For instance, the momentum meter and specialized triggers that you could pull off in last year's game is now gone, having been replaced by the tempo meter. O'Brien mentioned that while it was an amusing feature, it was one of those things that was too deep and rarely used by many of the people that they spoke to, so it was removed from this year's game. Kiss the dancing with cheerleaders and pumping up the crowd goodbye. That doesn't mean that the campus atmosphere has been reduced in anyway; far from it – the home team will still go completely nuts at every single score, perform school chants or try to rattle visitors at the free throw line.

After you set your favorite team within your game profile, you can instantly go online and select the Rival option, which will go online and search for another player that happens to represent your loathed adversaries.

As for other gameplay modes, we did ask about the possibility of a Campus Legend mode being included within the franchise. O'Brien did mention that the mode will not be included within this year's game, but that the development team had been looking very closely at the feature that has been a significant feature for EA's NCAA Football series, and mentioned that it could potentially be included within future titles.

Similarly, he mentioned that the implementation of the DNA feature that's being included within this year's game is one that the development team had looked at as a possible future feature, but that the tempo and coaching style elements were focused on much more for this year's gameplay.

[ehh]

Re: NCAA Basketball 09 First Look (IGN)

The DNA thing would be way too big of a feature to implement in a college game, I'm fine with it not being included. I actually like the idea of the tempo meter.

Hopefully Tomba will be on today to give us some more info.

[racerx]

Re: NCAA Basketball 09 First Look (IGN)

Warner thanks for looking out!!!!:

[Vince]

Re: NCAA Basketball 09 First Look (IGN)

wow, long time still.

[ehh]

Re: NCAA Basketball 09 First Look (IGN)

wow, long time still.

Yeah, that does suck that it's nearly three months away. But the good news as the article said is that EA has plenty of time to tweak the engine after the feedback from Live.

[racerx]

Re: NCAA Basketball 09 First Look (IGN)

I really hope that they implement the correct courts for the smaller schools instead of having the generic courts like the series has been having.

[whittleboy615]

Re: NCAA Basketball 09 First Look (IGN)

I really hope they update Tennessee's, Memphis', and UCLA's uniforms. They were all wrong last year for PS3. Tennessee also stated that they will be slightly tweaking their jerseys again this year, so hopefully EA will be in touch with Adidas. I don't think I can take a 3rd or 4th year in a row of having their outdated unis.

[jfsolo]

Re: NCAA Basketball 09 First Look (IGN)

Yeah, that does suck that it's nearly three months away. But the good news as the article said is that EA has plenty of time to tweak the engine after the feedback from Live.

Yes, hopefully EA's college development team can copy 2K's pattern of making significant gameplay/A.I. improvements(IMO) during those extra couple months.

It would be great if we could get someone from the team to drop by and get specific feedback on what areas really need tuning.

[Capitalking]

Will this years version of College BBALL....Have the Online Dynasty feature as the College football has....That would be a great edition to the game.

[stephensonmc]

Re: NCAA Basketball 09 First Look (IGN)

I really hope they update Tennessee's, Memphis', and UCLA's uniforms. They were all wrong last year for PS3. Tennessee also stated that they will be slightly tweaking their jerseys again this year, so hopefully EA will be in touch with Adidas. I don't think I can take a 3rd or 4th year in a row of having their outdated unis.

We just had a NCAA Basketball 09 Community Event. You representative Tomba should update you all very shortly.

[whittleboy615]

Re: NCAA Basketball 09 First Look (IGN)

We just had a NCAA Basketball 09 Community Event. You representative Tomba should update you all very shortly.

I know. You invited me to it, but I couldn't attend because I have school during the week...remember?

Though it was too early to see accurate jerseys, shoes etc. It was mentioned that they were working on getting things accurate again this year.

I'm glad the developers are working on the jerseys.