EA Sports NCAA football

Saniflush · « **on:** May 17, 2011, 07:34:45 AM »

http://kotaku.com/5801945/a-walk+on-who-....it-really-means

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A Walk-On Who Made the Team Wants You to Know What It Really Means

Owen Good â€” Alex Howell was the only freshman in the tunnel that Saturday, his chinstrap so tight it fused his jaw shut, 89,000 people packed into to the last row at Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium. Earlier in the week the graduate assistant tapped Howell on the shoulder and asked if he'd like to dress for the game against Mississippi State. Howell doesn't remember the exact words he said, other than it was an emphatic affirmative. So here he was.

Suddenly his teammates, much bigger, much faster than he, poured out ahead of him like water sweeping over a dam, pulling Howell in their wake. He sprinted after them, legs pumping, adrenaline surging, ears ringing, running into a deafening roar that was as much for him as it was for anyone in orange, blue and a white helmet that day.

Ten years after that moment, Howell is now a designer of a video game about college football. For him, priority No. 1 is imparting the sense of awe, good fortune, validation and chest-bursting pride he felt even in a game that, like every one for which he suited up at Auburn, ended without him playing a down.

"It is, literally, the experience I wish I could share with everyone," Howell says. "Now I have that opportunity."

Howell is the first dedicated designer assigned to NCAA Football's "Road to Glory" career mode, introduced in 2005 and fairly neglected for the past few years. Joining EA Sports less than a year ago, Howell's only job is to breathe new life into one of sports gaming's first singleplayer career modes.

Coy about specifics for now, it's pretty clear where Howell's emphasis lies in the mode's off-the-field components. It's the practice field, where Howell made himself most valuable to an Auburn program that went undefeated his senior season. In high school Howell was invited by then-coach Tommy Tuberville to join the team as a nonscholarship player. When he arrived on the Plains, he was converted - at the Rudy-esque dimensions of five-foot nothin', one-hundred and nothin' - to running back from wide receiver. No one plays Southeastern Conference football at that height and weight; they run plays on the scout team.

That doesn't mean coaches don't notice their work. And it doesn't mean they toil without reward.

"From coming on the team as a scrub, I knew that the harder I worked in practice, the harder I worked on the scout team, the more respect I would earn," Howell said, "and the coaching staff would then allow me to do more things. It's really easy to translate that experience of workouts, and practicing, to the video game, up to the point where it's you going through the tunnel with 89,000 screaming fans all around you."

Lots of the NCAA Football design team has exposure to college football beyond simply being big fans. Producer Ben Haumiller was himself recruited by programs such as Texas A&M, and also was invited to walk on at Florida State, but chose not to. Howell, with championship rings (including the one Tuberville made for the 2004 Tigers, infamously shut out of a BCS title shot) is a rarity in the Tiburon office.

"It's great to have that element on the team, of a guy who's actually gone through it," said Haumiller. "A lot of us here played high school ball but didn't step up to playing in college. He knows what it's like to earn time playing in practice. And he's a great game guy, a huge video game nerd."

Indeed, Howell describes himself as "the biggest JRPG nerd," throwing off a sports writer when he talks excitedly about Persona 3 and staying at a hotel whose bar is called "The Velvet Room." This job is not a sinecure for an ex-jock. Howell is a recent master's degree graduate of Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, from whose top-rated game design program he emerged as something of a perfect candidate for this particular title.

"It had always been somebody's second or third responsibility," Haumiller said of NCAA's singleplayer career. "Until now, it never was someone's main focus.

"He's taking role-playing game elements and bringing them into Road to Glory," Haumiller said. "A lot of what you're trying to do in an RPG concerns trying to level up and build your character. Alex understands that as an RPG gamer, and he's trying to do that in a way that makes sense to a sports gamer. You don't want to throw them into something that's completely foreign."

Howell admits that he was one of those guys who, in the moments between all the work, the meetings and the games, was cataloging his experiences and thinking it all would make for a good book someday. His memoir, however, is a video game.

"People just don't understand how much of a business college football is," Howell said, and he wasn't referring to dollars, but the fact this is a singleminded job for the coaching staff, if not also some players. "These are people's careers, and if they don't win, they get fired.

"My first step, that I wanted to take, was in trying to translate the actual emotion of how well you do and how bad you do in the game," Howell said. Players will have more than their own advancement riding on a third-down pass or fourth-quarter fumble; it'll be a moment that has some implied pride or disappointment coming from the sidelines.

The rewards, of course, will be more substantial than putting on a uniform for a single game. Whatever they are, Howell hopes people will find them as meaningful, as hard-won, as simply running onto the field was for him 10 years ago.

Godfather · « **Reply #1 on:** May 17, 2011, 10:03:37 AM »

Boom!

Godfather · « **Reply #2 on:** May 17, 2011, 01:04:02 PM »

Who be lockin topics?

Godfather · « **Reply #3 on:** May 17, 2011, 01:05:41 PM »

Incidentally that Ewok will not be gracing the cover of my NCAA. I share cause I love....

Godfather · « **Reply #4 on:** May 17, 2011, 01:18:52 PM »

and PS3

Saniflush · « **Reply #5 on:** May 17, 2011, 01:50:40 PM »

Quote from: Godfather on May 17, 2011, 01:04:02 PM

Who be lockin topics?

You did bitch. Meant to ask you why you did it? Tried to check my warn meter but didn't see it. I must be on double secret probation.

Jumbo · « **Reply #6 on:** May 17, 2011, 01:53:21 PM »

Quote from: Godfather on May 17, 2011, 01:18:52 PM

and PS3

So nice.

chinook · « **Reply #7 on:** May 17, 2011, 02:52:17 PM »

you got one for the wii.

AWK · « **Reply #8 on:** May 17, 2011, 04:10:08 PM »

Quote from: chinook on May 17, 2011, 02:52:17 PM

you got one for the wii.

I'm sure there is a massive gaping vag cover for Wii owners.

Saniflush · « **Reply #9 on:** May 17, 2011, 04:55:12 PM »

Quote from: AWK on May 17, 2011, 04:10:08 PM

I'm sure there is a massive gaping vag cover for Wii owners.

So you are saying Chizad has it?

AWK · « **Reply #10 on:** May 17, 2011, 05:10:35 PM »

Quote from: Saniflush on May 17, 2011, 04:55:12 PM

So you are saying Chizad has it?

You're catching on.

The Prowler · « **Reply #11 on:** May 17, 2011, 05:41:54 PM »

My NCAA Game I'd add being able to hire Assistant Coaches, being able to upgrade your stadium (make it worth while to take a Western Kentucky from a nobody to multiple National Champions and instead of playing in front of 28,000 fans you can upgrade your stadium up to 110,000), being able to upgrade facilities (if your facilities are a D+, that's not going to attract the Top talent, but after multiple Conference Championships and National Championships, you'll be able up upgrade those facilities), being able to see the facilities being upgraded in the background. All of the upgrades would be coming from Donors and money from the Conference and from the Bowls. I'd also bring back getting put on probation, but not for petty shit like it was a few years ago.

The Prowler · « **Reply #12 on:** May 17, 2011, 05:54:36 PM »

Uh Oh, they brought back the Long Hair...Hell Fuck Yeah. All of my LBers & DEs will have Dreads or Mullets.

The Prowler · « **Reply #13 on:** May 17, 2011, 07:38:45 PM »

Check around the 1:08 mark...they also have Mike McNurra still on the team.

Godfather · « **Reply #14 on:** May 17, 2011, 11:59:03 PM »

Quote from: The Prowler on May 17, 2011, 07:38:45 PM

Check around the 1:08 mark...they also have Mike McNurra still on the team.

Ok it has to be said...what asshole 12 yr old is EA getting their information on what gamers want out of this franchise. I admit that the eagle entrance is cool, once maybe 4 times...but seriously after that I am just clicking to get the game started. They have so many other things that they could be developing, even stuff Prowler was talking about...and they add IMO bullshit stuff like this that brings me no interest or game excitement. How about revamping recruiting so that it isn't so fucking tedious. How about continuing to improve graphical displays. How about the fucking ability to create your own plays.

The Prowler · « **Reply #15 on:** May 18, 2011, 05:26:44 AM »

Quote from: Godfather on May 17, 2011, 11:59:03 PM

Ok it has to be said...what asshole 12 yr old is EA getting their information on what gamers want out of this franchise. I admit that the eagle entrance is cool, once maybe 4 times...but seriously after that I am just clicking to get the game started. They have so many other things that they could be developing, even stuff Prowler was talking about...and they add IMO bullshit stuff like this that brings me no interest or game excitement. How about revamping recruiting so that it isn't so fucking tedious. How about continuing to improve graphical displays. How about the fucking ability to create your own plays.

I totally agree, the entrances are cool and everything, but there is A LOT of things that could be done to make it badass...but, I've thought about this every year, if they were to do that, then there would be no where to go from there. Make a College Football game completely bad to the bone with everything that I stated previously and a few more things that I and others have in mind, then that would be the only game you make...now you'd make a fuckload of money up front...or you can make a shitload of money over 5-10 years by speading out the ideas.

The Road to Glory thing is okay, but I think they should make that as a add-on, which would give them more memory space to put more into the actual game. As for the recruiting...I wish it would be more indepth, like being able to view Jr. and/or Sr. Highlights of the prospects, view video of the prospects at Summer camps, once your Team Prestige gets to the 6th Star you'd have the chance to host your own Summer Camps, invite prospects that you want to see go against each other.

I'd basically make it as close as possible to how it really is.

Kaos · « **Reply #16 on:** May 18, 2011, 08:15:22 AM »

All that recruiting, dynasty, glory, practice, summer camp, evaluating, coach hiring, program building jazz is wasted on me.

All I want to do is run the game. Don't care about seeing cheerleaders or poorly rendered fans.

Godfather · « **Reply #17 on:** May 18, 2011, 10:49:19 AM »

BTW those asking for Wii covers...don't know if you are serious? I don't believe the Wii is making this franchise anymore. If you do want the cover, let me know I'll throw it up here, it will only take me a minute.

Jumbo · « **Reply #18 on:** June 25, 2011, 02:57:37 AM »

This demo will be available this Tuesday the 28th.

The Prowler · « **Reply #19 on:** June 29, 2011, 06:36:04 AM »

I hate to burst everyone's bubble, you can put whatever picture sleeve on your box...but you'll still see the Ewok everytime you start up.

Other than that...Fuckin AWESOME. Download the Demo and watch all the "new additions" videos. Wanna replay your Senior season and play iron man style? Go for it. Wanna be able to create a 16 team Super Conference? Then do it. Wanna kick the Big East outta the BCS Bowl tie-ins? Get kickin'. Want your Conference USA to have the Orange Bowl tie-in? Go ahead abd make it happen. Wanna start your career as a Coordinator and work your way up? You've got it. Want True 3D Camera shots? You don't have to wear the goggles.