I know we have a boycott, but this sounds cool...

GameSpot is reporting this from EA:

NCAA Football 2006 is graduating an all-new mode designed to capture one of the most exciting aspects of college football. Named the Race for the Heisman, the new mode challenges players to go from high school draft pick to best collegiate player in the nation during their campus careers.

After working out in some drills for perspective coaches and selecting schools, freshman will be set up in a dorm room and take the field to prove their mettle on the gridiron. Once the created player walks the stage and throws his graduation cap in the air, his career can be continued into the pros by importing him into Madden 2006.

This sounds interesting. If only I hadn't joined the EA boycott.

You must resist. They will try to lure you, but you must be strong. Don''t give in to the dark side. Quicker. Easier. More seductive it is. But stronger it is not. Search your feelings, you know this to be true.

Does it come complete with Escalades given as a gift (under the player''s father''s name, of course), cheerleader sluts, a nerdy guy to do your homework, and a special ""NARC"" mode where you have to get through an entire practice high without your coach noticing?

When does EA buy the rights to High School, Junior High School and Pee-Wee Football?

Coming Soon:

Beer League 2006
Rhythmic Gymnastics 2008
Nordic Trac 2009
Backyard Father and Son Catch 2012

"Highlander" wrote:

When does EA buy the rights to High School, Junior High School and Pee-Wee Football?

Speaking of which, does anyone remember an old coin-op football game where you started out playing high school, then college, then pro, then all-star? Many an hour was wasted on that with a friend (two-player co-op, as I recal). That was back in the good old days when you could play for half an hour on a quarter. I had it for an emulator on my old computer, and it was still pretty fun.

While I''m here, disrupting a thread and all, does anyone know of a coin-op football game from around 1990 that involved playing football in a dungeon? I could never remember the name...

I don''t know but I bet it had Jerry Glanville''s name on it.

EDIT: Apologies to puck for hijacking his thread.

Since I''m fairly new to the board, what are the alternative plans for football games? Keep playing ESPN 05 with updated rosters? and correct me if I''m wrong, isn''t EA the only game in town for NCAA for the past two or three years?

I love a good hijacking! As long as it doesn''t involve a bus and Keanu Reeves . . .

And it is beyond aggravating how EA is buying the rights to everything, so I wouldn''t doubt games like:

Backyard Father and Son Catch 2012

Novacain, as far as the football games go, I plan sticking with ESPN 2K5 until Hell freezes over. And yeah, EA owns the NCAA football package. Though I''ve not played a college level football game since my old PS1 days, so I don''t know if the new NCAA games are any good or not.

In addition to looking asstastic, EA''s NCAA had serious framerate issues on the Xbox (the dominate platform around here). The gameplay was meh to boot. It''s very likely to continue to be the only choice for collegiate football considering that they just got an exclusive license.

There is some question about how long 2k sports will keep the servers up (e.g. maybe not past August/September) but that should only affect leagues and tournaments. Regular online play should be able to continue as long as there are people willing to drop it in the console.

The only known alternative to EA of which I am currently aware is the unlicensed game from Midway - Blitz: The League (previous working title == NFL Blitz: Playmakers). It''s going to be less sim for sure, but could be more ""fun"" for the less serious players. I''m likely to at least check it out just for the change of pace.

Edit: While the single player has got all of the drama and such built into campaign mode, I''m going to assume that the online play is a bit more straight-up. I may be wrong. We shall see.

Edit2: Added link regarding 2k sports'' servers.

Yesssss...

The dark side...

Or just buy it used off of Half.com or something once it''s out. That''s what I do with my Ubisoft games, since I refuse for them to have any of my cash following the debacle that was SC:PT copy protection on the PC.

Yeah, I read that. $20 says it''ll be badly implemented, have some atrocious bugs and end up a crap part of the game, just like last year''s gimmick, ""Home Field Advantage"". Like a lot of the stuff EA does, it was a good idea, but completely borked the game in practice since EA refuses to actually release finished products.

EDIT: IGN''s Got a video interview with The Great Satan

It is useless to resist. Give in. You''ll feel better in the end. Why deny yourself that which you know you desire?

I will be playing it next year I cant resist.