NCAA Football 09 hands-on time this week

Later this week I will be in NYC for an event surrounding the unveiling of the NCAA Football 09 cover athlete. Also attending is Chris Jacobs from NCAA Strategies and David Wales from PSU. While there we will have an extensive amount of hands-on time with the game which should occur on Wednesday and Thursday. I’ll be coming back on Friday evening and then holding a live blog during the NFL Draft on Saturday.

We are expecting the latest build and we have been given free reign to discuss anything about it. Originally I had imagined a restricted build similar to what we used to get at E3 but apparently it will be the full thing. That means we’ll be able to dig into aspects such as online dynasty menus, campus legend changes, ect.

Keep in mind that this will still be an early build and I wouldn’t expect everything to be fully implemented and certainly the gameplay won’t be tweaked and balanced the way that it will by release time. While there should be a sufficient amount of time with the game it will still be somewhat limiting (please don’t expect extensive reports on Dynasty mode for example). The good thing about the timing is that our feedback will be directly considered and potentially acted upon. So given the circumstances look for the reports to be more informational than opinionated with full details of the feedback that has been given.

If you have any questions or areas you’d like to hear impressions or information on feel free to leave them in the comments. I can’t promise that I’ll get to all of them but I’ll definitely take them into consideration.

NCAA screenshot update: EA is releasing a new alternate uniform screen every weekday. The first one is Kansas which can now be seen here.

Gamestop Madden Monday: Inclement Weather

The Gamestop blog is back again this week with its “Madden Monday” entry. Last time it covered the user controlled celebrations and now they go over the topic of inclement weather. You can read it in full here.

Unfortunately the screenshot they posted originally was so small that it was difficult to really examine it for what they were describing. So I got ahold of the full size screenshot.

Update: Clicking the thumbnail below will bring up the image. Then click full size to view it as originally intended.

You’ll see deeper snow on the fields, with dramatic accumulation and realistic wear from play. Player’s footsteps will leave imprints, snow will be piled on the sidelines and the yardage lines will be shoveled, just like in a real game.

Improved color correction and stadium light bloom mean that you’ll see the steam of a player’s breath on a frosty night, as well as splashes of water when his feet hit the rain-covered turf. And the 3-dimensional interaction that snow and rain particles have with the wind may tempt you to bundle up when you play. You’ll see it all at a movie-quality 60 FPS rate on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

No mention is made regarding weather being a factor in online games this year which (along with night games) is something that has been sorely missing.

MLB 08: The Show roster update 4/21

This week’s (4/21) roster update for MLB 08: The Show is out and contains 114 player movements. There was also a patch released at the end of last week. What it affected is still unknown although it doesn’t appear to have improved online play and may just have applied to some of the minor issues the game had. Highlights of the roster update below. Those without online access can grab the file manually from here.

LF Wily Mo Pena moved from Nationals Minors to Nationals Position.
CF Shane Victorino moved from Phillies Position to Phillies Minors.
CF Jayson Werth moved from Phillies Bench to Phillies Position.
SP Dontrelle Willis moved from Tigers Starting to Tigers Minors.
SP Francisco Liriano moved from Twins Minors to Twins Starting.
3B Ty Wigginton moved from Astros Position to Astros Minors.
3B Geoff Blum moved from Astros Bench to Astros Position.
3B Nomar Garciaparra moved from Dodgers Minors to Dodgers Position.
RP Kazuo Fukumori moved from No Team to Rangers Minors.
3B Mike Lowell moved from Red Sox Position to Red Sox Minors.
1B Sean Casey moved from Red Sox Bench to Red Sox Position.
SS Royce Clayton moved from Red Sox Minors to Free Agent.
RP Josh Sharpless moved from No Team to Giants Minors.
RP Vinnie Chulk moved from Giants Minors to Giants Relief.