NCAA Football 10 Benched For Wii

[splff3000]

Gamespot has the scoop.

"As it turns out, there was a reason that EA didn't mention the title, as the publisher has confirmed for GameSpot that NCAA Football 10 will not see release on the Wii this year. "In the interest of providing our consumers with the best possible college football experience, we are currently evaluating our approach to the NCAA Football franchise on the Wii," the publisher told GameSpot. "As such, we will not be releasing an NCAA Football title in 2009 for the Wii."

[Child Rebel]

Re: No NCAA 10 for the wii...

This is what I mean when I say EA is lazy.

[coogrfan]

Re: No NCAA 10 for the wii...

This is what I mean when I say EA is lazy.

The Wii versions didn't sell well, so EA has chosen to cut their losses. How exactly is that "lazy"?

[beeneeb]

Re: No NCAA 10 for the wii...

The Wii versions didn't sell well, so EA has chosen to cut their losses. How exactly is that "lazy"?

I don't care for the "all-play" crap that EA has been putting out for NCAA. The graphics are poor and the gameplay sucks. Just give me a port of the PS2 version with Wii controls and I'll happily buy it.

[Child Rebel]

Re: No NCAA 10 for the wii...

The Wii versions didn't sell well, so EA has chosen to cut their losses. How exactly is that "lazy"?

One reason, well the major reason it doesn't sell well on the Wii is because it's a terrible game. The reason it's a terrible game is because the effort, or lack their of that EA has been putting in certain games.

Also, the reasoning behind the benching of Wii's version of NCAA isn't lack of sales.

[TheWatcher]

Re: No NCAA 10 for the wii...

I would've voted to never release on the Wii in the first place.

[metallicatz]

Re: No NCAA 10 for the wii...

It's amusing when people act like they're in EA's board rooms and in the development loop. NCAA sold poorly on the Wii, and given the target demograghic of that system it's not at all surprising that serious sports games as a whole aren't well represented on that system. Also, given that the vast majority of Wii games garner poor cumulative review scores it's obviously folly to expect that all genres of games will work with that control format. Any sports game for that system is going to be dumbed down in a huge way in order to conform to that control scheme.

[bangpow]

Re: No NCAA 10 for the wii...

This is what I mean when I say EA is lazy.

The Wii is garbage for sports games. There's no need for sports games to come out on that system except maybe Tiger and the Power Pros baseball game.

Maybe if Nintendo would step up to the plate and make a system worth a damn, maybe there would be decent sports titles available for it from not just EA, but 2K as well.

[GKEnialb]

Re: No NCAA 10 for the wii...

Any sports game for that system is going to be dumbed down in a huge way in order to conform to that control scheme.

There's nothing about the control scheme that would require dumbing anything down. Madden's controls for the Wii are excellent -- there's just as many buttons to select receivers and the like as there are on the other consoles. NCAA had some problems throwing because of requiring you to hold a button while making the passing motion, but that's about it.

The reason it didn't sell well is because it got blasted in the reviews when it came out. It got blasted in the reviews because it was half-made. I believe it was half-made because they tried to bridge the gap between very casual gamer and sports enthusiast and couldn't do both by release time the way Madden has succeeded in doing. Focusing on things like the mascot game was a huge mistake -- my daughter played that once and thought it was too weird, but did like playing the regular game. On the other side of the coin, they seemed to make arbitrary cuts on the sim side of things like only being able to recruit 3 during the season and having very limited years in dynasty.

[coogrfan]

Re: No NCAA 10 for the wii...

One reason, well the major reason it doesn't sell well on the Wii is because it's a terrible game. The reason it's a terrible game is because the effort, or lack their of that EA has been putting in certain games.

Also, the reasoning behind the benching of Wii's version of NCAA isn't lack of sales.

EA may not have said that was the reason, but a cursory examination of last year's top 10 sales figures says otherwise:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_in_video_gaming

Best-selling video games of 2008 in the US (by platform)

PS3

1. GTA IV
2. MGS 4
3. Madden NFL 09
4. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
5. MLB 08 The Show
6. Star Wars The Force Unleashed
7. NCAA Football 09
8. Army of Two
9. Soulcaliber IV
10. Devil May Cry 4

360

1. GTA IV
2. Madden NFL 09
3. Fable II
4. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
5. Army of Two
6. Star Wars The Force Unleashed
7. Battlefield: Bad Company
8. NCAA Football 09
   
9. Rock Band 2
10. Ninja Gaiden II

Wii

1. Super Smash Brothers Brawl
2. Mario Kart Wii
3. Wii Fit
4. Rock Band
5. Lego Indiana Jones
6. Super Sluggers
7. Star Wars The Force Unleashed
8. Deca Sports
9. Endless Ocean
10. unknown (?)

You don't have to have an MBA to see the obvious trend: the Wii didn't have a single traditional sports title in it's top 10. This despite the fact that Nintendo sold as many next-gen consoles in 2008 as MS and Sony did combined.

[TheWatcher]

Re: No NCAA 10 for the wii...

The reason it didn't sell well is because it got blasted in the reviews when it came out. It got blasted in the reviews because it was half-made.

Hmmmmm, I can't say I think the reviews really made a difference. The game was doomed by demographics. The NCAA game is always going to sell less than the pro game, and then couple that with the Wii's userbase not being interested in serious sports like 360/PS3 users are and it's a recipe for disaster.

Even Madden Wii hasn't sold great, it's improved but still not great. I knew NCAA didn't stand a chance and it's what I classify as a side-game. I'd rather they pool those resources to give to the important projects (Madden being the #1 project).

I believe it was half-made because they tried to bridge the gap between very casual gamer and sports enthusiast and couldn't do both by release time the way Madden has succeeded in doing. Focusing on things like the mascot game was a huge mistake -- my daughter played that once and thought it was too weird, but did like playing the regular game. On the other side of the coin, they seemed to make arbitrary cuts on the sim side of things like only being able to recruit 3 during the season and having very limited years in dynasty.

The reality is that any football game on the Wii is going to be made for the casual (perhaps VERY casual gamer) who neither cares nor has any concept of what sim is, and that's their target goal. They're really not trying to bridge the gap at all. When you see how silly and cutesy Madden Wii is, it tells you all you need to know. I'd be ashamed to even have that game in my house and anyone who caught me with it and said I had it in public would see me denying it like I'd been accused of murder.

[NYG34]

Re: No NCAA 10 for the wii...

EA may not have said that was the reason, but a cursory examination of last year's top 10 sales figures says otherwise:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_in_video_gaming

You don't have to have an MBA to see the obvious trend: the Wii didn't have a single traditional sports title in it's top 10. This despite the fact that Nintendo sold as many next-gen consoles in 2008 as MS and Sony did combined.

JUST To Tell U Halo 3 and COD5 are on that List.

[zzyzx]

A top-10 list with an entry labeled (unknown?) does not strike me as the most credible source. Call me crazy, but...

Good sports games on Wii sell. See the Madden, Tiger, FIFA, and PES franchises. Crap sports games don't sell. See 2k's library (all of it), NBA 09 and NCAA 09.

EA realized their game was crap. It was poorer quality than their NCAA games for Gamecube from 5 years ago. Taking a year off to figure out how to fix it seems like such an obvious call that it's hard to consider it news.

[PolkaDot]

Re: NCAA Football 10 Benched For Wii

FWIW, I took a look at the features and reviews for Wii NCAA, then watched some videos and decided it was not nearly worth what EA was charging.

[sportyguyfl31]

The wii, to me, was a horrid disappointment. I traded it in for more 360 games within 2 months of having it.