More News on NCAA Basketball 09
by 
Readers of the site were first to know that a potential release date change was coming for NCAA Basketball 09, and only a matter of hours later it was confirmed. The game is now set to release on Tuesday November 18th.
Along with that news came some information about the game itself. Real schedules in dynasty mode, something that had been missing from the March Madness series, was guaranteed to be in this year. However now we find out that the game will ship without them but they will be added via free downloadable update on or soon after the game releases.
Giving the timing of when we received the data, we were not able to get “real schedules” into the finished product. We know this is not what we promised during the community day, and we are sorry we let you guys down on that one. However, we know how important it is to have these schedules in the game, so we will be providing the real schedules as a free update shortly after launch. Given our accelerated ship date, we can’t guarantee it will be there week 1, but we’ll push to get it up asap.
The move up in release date wouldn’t have any affect on the final product, it’s done and ready to go so there would be no point in holding it back. They had all year to get the schedules in so that one doesn’t make much sense to me, though timing wise the change in release date would not be at fault for that.
I just can’t help but feel as though the game is going to be an empty experience. Granted it sounds like the gameplay is going to deliver (finally) but with the lack of an Online Team Play and Be a Pro modes, no names for online games, and now not even having real schedules included at ship I’m not sure how well the game will be received and if it will provide much if any longevity. The game doesn’t even have a page on EA Sports World which concerns me. A demo is expected however when it will arrive is unknown.
October 23, 2008 at 9:25 am
In my opinion, I believe that CH 2K8 will still be better than this game. Someone at OS is currently making the 08-09 rosters and they should be posted by the time the season starts.
October 23, 2008 at 9:33 am
WOW you can’t use those roster online, AND nobody plays it online. And I think I would get tired of playing the same college basketball game. No new animations nothing. You go ahead and play College Hoops 2k8. I’ll play College Basketball 09, with new schedules, real rosters, and new animations. Go ahead and play College Hoops 2k8. Ur loss
October 23, 2008 at 9:35 am
And we all know that LIVE kicked 2k9’s Azzz this year so we would also know the turnout of the college game.
October 23, 2008 at 9:41 am
With recent news on this game my excitement level has definitly gone down.
October 23, 2008 at 9:45 am
Not having the actual schedules upon release isn’t that huge of an issue. I will still be playing NHL and NBA 2K9 and or Live. I usually don’t get into college hoops until late December / January after college football is close to wrapping it up.
It is great to know that the schedules will be available for download or through a patch.
I am definitely looking forward to this game.
As far as having names online, it doesn’t impact gameplay so it isn’t that big of an issue for me. As long as you can play online with minimal or no lag that is good enough.
October 23, 2008 at 9:46 am
Jus when you think this game is going to deliver they drop a bomb on you. I still think the Game tempo and blue ribbon are going to be good. Pasta any word on Dynasty? Any other game modes?
October 23, 2008 at 9:47 am
If there was an Online Team Play I wouldnt care as much about the names. I can only match up a handful of college players and their numbers, which makes playing as a team with just the numbers not as good of an experience. If I was just controlling one player, I’d be able to know who that was and their skills.
October 23, 2008 at 9:53 am
Im still gonna try it out! Im a big fan of the NCAA series from EA. I bought 08 and that played great they should only make it better this year.
October 23, 2008 at 10:24 am
[quote comment="42978"]Im still gonna try it out! Im a big fan of the NCAA series from EA. I bought 08 and that played great they should only make it better this year.[/quote]
Yeah, CH2k8 did a lot of good things, but so did MM08, i actually liked it alot.
October 23, 2008 at 10:36 am
I’ll still pickup the title, but EA really had an opportunity to shine here and appear to have stumbled out the gates. They will really need to deliver with the game play and presentation…and must capture the college atmosphere.
October 23, 2008 at 10:37 am
scdb12, the only thing I liked about MM08 was being able to play some defense in the post, but the game was just too sluggish for my liking.
October 23, 2008 at 10:42 am
i can’t wait for this game,i could care less about the online or be a pro,i never play those modes in games anyhow .i picked up nba live 09 and although it’s not perfect it’s a lot of fun and if ncaa plays like live geared towards the college game,it’s going to be a blast to play,glad they moved up the release date.
October 23, 2008 at 10:52 am
Im not pickn this trash up, i rented MM08 last year and it sucked. I jus dont see how this gameplay is gna b diff from Live 09? seriously blotchy gameplay, sluggish handles, sometimes unresponding defense. Lol i think ima stick with my old animations and “Real NAmes” on CH08 astliest i kno im playin a good game. N by the way 2k smashed live, in IMO. Live is garbage. N i bought both. But live is goin 2 find a new home at gamestop in the next few days
October 23, 2008 at 10:53 am
hey pasta,any word on how many teams are in this? …thanks
October 23, 2008 at 12:35 pm
[quote comment="42986"]scdb12, the only thing I liked about MM08 was being able to play some defense in the post, but the game was just too sluggish for my liking.[/quote]
It was a little bit sluggish I can agree with that, in the post is where MM08 shined.
[quote comment="42990"]Im not pickn this trash up, i rented MM08 last year and it sucked. I jus dont see how this gameplay is gna b diff from Live 09? seriously blotchy gameplay, sluggish handles, sometimes unresponding defense. Lol i think ima stick with my old animations and “Real NAmes” on CH08 astliest i kno im playin a good game. N by the way 2k smashed live, in IMO. Live is garbage. N i bought both. But live is goin 2 find a new home at gamestop in the next few days[/quote]
This game is goin to be better than live in terms of fine tuning the engine and playing like how the college game feels. By the way NCAA basketball will have the real names and schedules along with the most in depth information on a team ever; Blue ribbon yearbook. (If it is implemented right)
October 23, 2008 at 12:40 pm
If they don’t fix the net animations then I won’t be getting this game. Live still can’t even get this right. Every shot is a swish. Nothin but net. I know some of you will say I’m petty & that’s fine but if a basketball game can’t even get something as basic as net animations right then it’s a no go for me.
October 23, 2008 at 1:01 pm
EA has the opportunity to make a great game by having no competition, but if history has shown us anything, it is that EA will release a crappy, buggy game. Madden has no competition, how did that turn out? Same with NCAA, that was released buggy as hell. Good luck to those who buy this game, I really hope it is good, I just don’t expect it to be.
October 23, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Pasta – I believe it was stated that the demo will be out around Nov. 11, one week before release.
This is just my own guess, but I think one of the reasons real schedules did not get in at release is that a lot of schools don’t release their final schedules until mid- to late-summer. For example, the local team (Nebraska) did not release their final schedule until Sept. 3. With 320+ teams in the game, it’s probably very time-consuming to get them all in. I’m just glad they are putting them out via patch.
October 23, 2008 at 3:10 pm
NO REAL SCHEDULES!?!?!?!
WTF?
this game is trash already
October 23, 2008 at 3:13 pm
I agree with paul, No competition, no good gameplay, Seriously i dnt understand why people keep believing in EA. They dont care about u lol as long as ur paying 60+ dollas on games thats all that matters.
October 23, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Pasta, i was at the event. saw them talk about the game saw them play the game and then played it myself then gave feedback. 3 things i was trying to get across to the dev’s actually made it to the final product as community feedback game improvement.
i felt the game was already more than 70 percent done when i played it. only a bunch of tweaks away and they had this years version out the door. i am not surprised by the date change.
we have to hopefully wait til next year to see newer better player models and uniforms which the group was all in favor of…
October 23, 2008 at 6:22 pm
the player models are terrible. How can they have such great graphics with such terrible player models.
October 23, 2008 at 6:57 pm
So other than the online lacking this year, and schedules being patched at a later date. What is the general feeling from the people who have played the game. Is this game going to be better than Live 09 gameplay wise? Do you think we are going to be disappointed? Thanks. I read the comments and saw one or two people comment who have played the game. Thanks. Pasta your input would be great also. Love the site.
October 23, 2008 at 8:07 pm
[quote comment="43013"]I agree with paul, No competition, no good gameplay, Seriously i dnt understand why people keep believing in EA. They dont care about u lol as long as ur paying 60+ dollas on games thats all that matters.[/quote]
Why can’t some like a game without someone saying they “believe in EA”. I have plenty of games from many different companies that sit on my shelf.
It doesn’t matter who makes the game, it’s what YOU get from it. last I checked, almost all new games are $60.00
So why bash EA games when you don’t like it, cause I’m sure you have a couple of bust lying around somewhere.
October 23, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Too bad EA wont release the patch until 7 weeks after the game is released
October 23, 2008 at 9:50 pm
crazy
October 23, 2008 at 10:09 pm
this is why i am against companies having the exclusive license to a brand. EA sucks at making next gen sports games(besides FIFA).They take away things and leave out things,and they can cause they know they’re the only game in town.I am sick of EA.
October 23, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Yea the dude the majority of my “Bust Games” are from EA (MAdden, Live) i dnt get in 2 adventure games outside of (halo, Fable) . So yea i play sports games alot.
October 24, 2008 at 5:38 am
IMO, EA Sports has had one flop this year and that was facebreaker. As for people that say that EA sports makes bad games, look at the press release average for the games below for their 2008-2009 line-up. This isn’t just one rating, this is the average for all the reputed reviewers in the industry. Nascar 2009 was the lowest rated game at 7.4 which equates to a “Good” rating. EA sports has had a pretty good year for gaming, and biased has run rampart on this forums saying that EA sports makes trash games. Face it, admit it, its your EA hate that makes you say that. I’m not for EA, I’m not against EA. I’m for logical judgement of a game. And for those who will be quick to say that I’m an EA fan boy (Reignman, sdot), note that I’ve already said various times that NBA 2K9 is an overall better game than NBA Live 2009. I create sliders for NBA Live and NBA 2K. I’m all for good gaming and forward progress.
As for the argument as which game was better. NFL 2K5 and Madden 2005….both were rated at 9.5! They were a wash! Not one game was better than the other! It was a matter of preference!
Madden = 8.5 press rating average (Great) << Exclusive
NHL 09 = 9.0 press rating average (Outstanding)
FIFA = 8.9 press rating average (Impressive)
NCAA Football = 8.1 press rating average (Great) << Exclusive
Nascar 2009 = 7.4 press average rating (Good) << Exclusive
Tigerwoods 2009: 8.5 press rating average (Great) << Exclusive
NBA Live 2009: 7.7 press rating average (Good)
October 24, 2008 at 6:27 am
[quote comment="43050"]this is why i am against companies having the exclusive license to a brand. EA sucks at making next gen sports games(besides FIFA).They take away things and leave out things,and they can cause they know they’re the only game in town.I am sick of EA.[/quote]
Well here they don’t have an exclusive license. Its not EA’s fault that no one else chooses to make a college basketball game. The sales just don’t support multiple titles. Don’t be surprised when NHL goes that way as well.
I don’t place this being the only game as reasoning it is lacking. If anything I’d think they’d push extra hard, they have to earn the college hoops followers. I guess they just didn’t have time to get much in this year other than implementing the Live engine and working on the tempo feature. Still doesn’t do much to get me excited about the game.
October 24, 2008 at 7:04 am
I agree with JR. IMO, people are way too critical of sports games. Even 2K isn’t perfect and in my opinion 2K hasn’t done a whole lot in terms of progress over the past few years.
EA gets a bad rap because Madden is the only NFL game. Is it perfect – no. Is 2K5 perfect – No. 2K5 has more exploits than you can shake a stick at.
If people just stop and look at the games that they are playing and appreciate the fact that this form of entertainment exists then they may appreciate how these games look and play.
I get tired of reading about glitches here, bugs there and get upset about patches. I played games during a time when patches didn’t exist and if you bought a game that had glitches and bugs you had to live with it. There were no forums to voice frustrations.
My point is appreciate these games for what they are. These are not actual players in these games, they aren’t actual stadiums or fans. They are number-generated visuals programmed to entertain us.
Say what you want about EA but I think the games are excellent. The same goes for 2K. Although I have lost faith in the stunting of innovation at 2K the games provide us an escape.
Bashing publishers solves nothing. If you don’t like a specific game, don’t buy it.
October 24, 2008 at 7:11 am
I was just curious if anyone knew whether this game would have the Online Dynasty mode like NCAA Football?
October 24, 2008 at 10:19 am
[quote comment="43068"]I agree with JR. IMO, people are way too critical of sports games. Even 2K isn’t perfect and in my opinion 2K hasn’t done a whole lot in terms of progress over the past few years.
EA gets a bad rap because Madden is the only NFL game. Is it perfect – no. Is 2K5 perfect – No. 2K5 has more exploits than you can shake a stick at.
If people just stop and look at the games that they are playing and appreciate the fact that this form of entertainment exists then they may appreciate how these games look and play.
I get tired of reading about glitches here, bugs there and get upset about patches. I played games during a time when patches didn’t exist and if you bought a game that had glitches and bugs you had to live with it. There were no forums to voice frustrations.
My point is appreciate these games for what they are. These are not actual players in these games, they aren’t actual stadiums or fans. They are number-generated visuals programmed to entertain us.
Say what you want about EA but I think the games are excellent. The same goes for 2K. Although I have lost faith in the stunting of innovation at 2K the games provide us an escape.
Bashing publishers solves nothing. If you don’t like a specific game, don’t buy it.[/quote]
The reason EA gets so much flack is because they are by far the wealthiest Sports gaming company out there but yet there games don’t reflect that. They do make some good sports games (NHL, Fight Night) but most of there games don’t seem to live up to the hype. Madden is a good game but it has so much more potential. EA needs to learn how to push these Next Gen consoles to the max. I know that they only have less than a year in most cases to work on a game but it’s about to be 2009 & they’re improving at a snails pace. This combined with EA being the biggest Sports Gaming Company out there is why people bang on them so much.
October 24, 2008 at 10:38 am
[quote comment="43080"][quote comment="43068"]I agree with JR. IMO, people are way too critical of sports games. Even 2K isn’t perfect and in my opinion 2K hasn’t done a whole lot in terms of progress over the past few years.
EA gets a bad rap because Madden is the only NFL game. Is it perfect – no. Is 2K5 perfect – No. 2K5 has more exploits than you can shake a stick at.
If people just stop and look at the games that they are playing and appreciate the fact that this form of entertainment exists then they may appreciate how these games look and play.
I get tired of reading about glitches here, bugs there and get upset about patches. I played games during a time when patches didn’t exist and if you bought a game that had glitches and bugs you had to live with it. There were no forums to voice frustrations.
My point is appreciate these games for what they are. These are not actual players in these games, they aren’t actual stadiums or fans. They are number-generated visuals programmed to entertain us.
Say what you want about EA but I think the games are excellent. The same goes for 2K. Although I have lost faith in the stunting of innovation at 2K the games provide us an escape.
Bashing publishers solves nothing. If you don’t like a specific game, don’t buy it.[/quote]
The reason EA gets so much flack is because they are by far the wealthiest Sports gaming company out there but yet there games don’t reflect that. They do make some good sports games (NHL, Fight Night) but most of there games don’t seem to live up to the hype. Madden is a good game but it has so much more potential. EA needs to learn how to push these Next Gen consoles to the max. I know that they only have less than a year in most cases to work on a game but it’s about to be 2009 & they’re improving at a snails pace. This combined with EA being the biggest Sports Gaming Company out there is why people bang on them so much.[/quote]
How long has 2K used the same engine in their basketball game? Their game gets so much positive press and it has looked the same to me since the Xbox.
I have not purchased a 2K games since the 360 came out. if they would just change the models and graphics with their gameplay and presentation, the game would be awesome.
October 24, 2008 at 10:51 am
[quote comment="43083"][quote comment="43080"][quote comment="43068"]I agree with JR. IMO, people are way too critical of sports games. Even 2K isn’t perfect and in my opinion 2K hasn’t done a whole lot in terms of progress over the past few years.
EA gets a bad rap because Madden is the only NFL game. Is it perfect – no. Is 2K5 perfect – No. 2K5 has more exploits than you can shake a stick at.
If people just stop and look at the games that they are playing and appreciate the fact that this form of entertainment exists then they may appreciate how these games look and play.
I get tired of reading about glitches here, bugs there and get upset about patches. I played games during a time when patches didn’t exist and if you bought a game that had glitches and bugs you had to live with it. There were no forums to voice frustrations.
My point is appreciate these games for what they are. These are not actual players in these games, they aren’t actual stadiums or fans. They are number-generated visuals programmed to entertain us.
Say what you want about EA but I think the games are excellent. The same goes for 2K. Although I have lost faith in the stunting of innovation at 2K the games provide us an escape.
Bashing publishers solves nothing. If you don’t like a specific game, don’t buy it.[/quote]
The reason EA gets so much flack is because they are by far the wealthiest Sports gaming company out there but yet there games don’t reflect that. They do make some good sports games (NHL, Fight Night) but most of there games don’t seem to live up to the hype. Madden is a good game but it has so much more potential. EA needs to learn how to push these Next Gen consoles to the max. I know that they only have less than a year in most cases to work on a game but it’s about to be 2009 & they’re improving at a snails pace. This combined with EA being the biggest Sports Gaming Company out there is why people bang on them so much.[/quote]
How long has 2K used the same engine in their basketball game? Their game gets so much positive press and it has looked the same to me since the Xbox.
I have not purchased a 2K games since the 360 came out. if they would just change the models and graphics with their gameplay and presentation, the game would be awesome.[/quote]
What are you talking about? 2K9 did improve graphics & player models this year.
October 24, 2008 at 12:25 pm
If 2k were to redo their engine for CH and NBA I wonder what everyone would be sayin
October 24, 2008 at 4:56 pm
pasta- i love your site, but believe it or not some people dont care about online play or what is has to offer, i just want a good game with good realism, i couldnt care less about online play, i care WAY more what it looks like when i turn it on and start playing.
October 24, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Taking a break from sports gaming. I bought Fifa but haven’t played it yet. I’m really getting into Fable 2. This is hands down Game of The Year.