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NCAA won't renew contract with EA [Update]
The NCAA will not renew its contract with EA, the NCAA announced. The current agreement between EA and NCAA expires in June 2014, but NCAA Football 14 "will be the last to include the NCAA's name and logo." The news comes one year after EA filed a $27 million settlement in a class action lawsuit dating back to 2008, which also stipulated that EA could not renew its current exclusive license with NCAA, but could enter a new, non-exclusive agreement for its college football series. The payout for that lawsuit reportedly stalled in Appeals court this month. "But given the current business climate and costs of litigation, we determined participating in this game is not in the best interests of the NCAA," the NCAA added. "The NCAA has never licensed the use of current student-athlete names, images or likenesses to EA." EA faced another lawsuit dating back to 2009 in which former Nebraska quarterback Samuel Keller alleged that EA adopted the likeness of student athletes for its college football games. A California court denied EA's motion for dismissal of the class-action suit in February 2010, and later in May 2012. The suit was combined with a lawsuit from former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon against the NCAA, who claimed that the NCAA blocked "him and other former college athletes from getting paid for their likenesses in [EA Sports] videogames after they left college," according to Bloomberg. We contacted EA for comment, and will update as we learn more. Update: To clarify, the NCAA announced that it will not renew its contract with EA. We've updated accordingly. Update 2: NPD analyst Liam Callahan tells Joystiq that "NCAA Football sales have been fairly stable over the past few years, with no steady declines. There were, however, fluctuations between growth and declines, which was likely to have been caused by consumers not purchasing every year." Update 3: EA's Andrew Wilson issued a statement, noting that "EA Sports will continue to develop and publish college football games, but we will no longer include the NCAA names and marks." Likewise, the Collegiate Licensing Company told Joystiq that it "continues to have a strong relationship with EA, and in representing our partner institutions anticipates participating in the launch of a new game next year that features the college teams, leagues and authentic innovation fans would expect from these games."
NCAA Football 14 review: In the trenches
Option-style offenses seem to be high-risk, high-reward, if NCAA Football 14 is to be believed. The game offers an entire Spread Option playbook that showcases the 30 option types now in the game. Running a read option offense has become my favorite way to play the game, to the point that I recruited players to my Dynasty team (Syracuse) for their explosive, option-friendly abilities. I also fumble the ball a lot, primarily on triple option and shovel option plays where I have three choices: hand the ball off to a running back, keep it as the quarterback or pitch it to a third player. That third choice may as well be the "turnover option," as defenders converge on my player and initiate a collision so quickly that my quarterback will either fumble the ball or pitch it directly into the defender's hands. I've found these option plays to be boom-or-bust in NCAA 14, much like the entire game. %Gallery-186624%
Accused murderer Aaron Hernandez removed from NCAA 14 and Madden 25
Aaron Hernandez, the New England Patriots tight end charged with murder on June 26, has been removed from Madden 25 and NCAA 14. Players that happen to unlock Hernandez's Ultimate Team card in NCAA 14 by getting a gold medal in the game's Shovel Option drill in the Skills Trainer mode will see the card turn into that of current Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith. A future title update will remove Hernandez from the game entirely. EA Sports' statement reads: "We have made a decision to remove Aaron Hernandez from Madden NFL 25 and NCAA Football 14. Because NCAA Football 14 was finalized prior to our decision, Hernandez' image still appears in the Nike Skills Trainer. However, he is not in the game, and anyone who unlocks that particular Nike Skills Trainer reward will receive an Alex Smith Ultimate Team player item instead. The image of Hernandez will be removed via a Title Update in the near future." NCAA 14's Ultimate Team mode, the college football series' version of EA Sports' card-collecting mode seen in many of its games, features thousands of unlockable, real-life athletes. The athletes, many being current NFL players, represent the colleges they attended. In Hernandez's case, his likeness in NCAA 14 was tied to the Florida Gators. He was released by the Patriots on the day he was arraigned, so were he in Madden 25, he would have been a free agent.
NCAA 14 Dynasty mode levels up with coach skills, recruiting changes
NCAA Football 14 will receive some changes this year to Dynasty mode, the series' career mode in which players lead a school's football team to victory. Of the changes, the addition of coach skills stand out, which grant your team's leader and play-caller more nuance in the form of 18 RPG-like abilities that can be upgraded as your dynasty progresses. The abilities range from "Road Warrior," which helps your quarterback succeed on the road against teams, to "Clutch," which encourages your team to play better in high-pressure situations. NCAA 14 will also see a more streamlined athlete recruitment process. Whereas NCAA 13 included a phone call system, the feature's been stripped out entirely in favor of a points system called "Power Recruiting." Players will receive 5,000 points per week and can allocate points how they see fit towards scouting, recruitment and offering scholarship. Like minutes on a cell phone plan, points roll over every week, so players can put off their athlete recruitment process as well and not falter too much. The offseason recruitment phase, in which players receive 10,000 points to play with, has also been rolled into a single stage, making for a faster, likely more stressful experience.
NCAA 14's Ultimate Team mode to include season tournaments, former greats
While we learned in April that NCAA Football 14 will include its own Ultimate Team mode this year, EA Sports announced details on how it will operate today. The mode will include more than 1,400 former college football players at the game's launch, as well as both solo and special head-to-head challenges. Ultimate Team is the long-running mode that spans most of EA Sports' properties, which combines standard on-field gameplay with a card-collecting system for building and managing your team. NCAA 14's version of Ultimate Team will also include a head-to-head season mode, in which players match up against one another with their specially crafted teams in a 10-game season, before entering an end-of-the-season tournament. Players can earn rewards along the way for toppling challenges that increase in difficulty, such as coins for procuring more card packs. The game will receive similar treatment in the mode that other EA Sports games got in the past, with challenges and card collections being added throughout the real-life football season. NCAA 14 is slated to launch July 9 on PS3 and Xbox 360.
NCAA Football 14 to include offline-only Kinect support
While Kinect integration isn't all that new for EA Sports, as both Madden 13 and FIFA 13 included support for the device last year, the Xbox 360 cover art for NCAA Football 14 includes the "Better with Kinect" banner at the top. EA Sports told Joystiq that Kinect support will be for offline play only, and will be "similar to what we've done in Madden, focused on pre-play voice commands."Check out the hi-res versions of the game's box art, which features speedy-looking Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson, in the gallery below. NCAA 14 will sprint to Xbox 360 and PS3 on July 9. %Gallery-186626%
NCAA 14 presentation trailer features White Stripes chant
This trailer for NCAA Football 14 offers a glimpse at the game's new presentation elements, which include post-play celebrations and familiar chants such as the Seven Nation Army chant heard at many college games. NCAA 14 is coming to PS3 and Xbox 360 on July 9.
NCAA 14 to include physics engine, improved running game
NCAA Football 14 will feature the same physics engine seen in Madden 13, the Infinity Engine. EA Tiburon is calling the engine the "Infinity Engine 2" specifically, which certainly drives the point home about its expected improvements. The developer told Polygon that the engine will be tuned to the same level as its upcoming pro football game, Madden 25.NCAA 14 will also include "ball carrier avoidance," which improves the AI of runners so they raise their arms to push off linemen instead of taking an awkward tackle in the backfield due to incidental contact, as seen quite often with the current iteration of the Infinity Engine in Madden 13. EA Tiburon says other physics-based movements will see marked improvement with NCAA 14's Force Impact system. The Force Impact system is expected to lend more realism to the process of moves such as stiff arms, which will now be targeted to specific parts of a defender and carry out all the way to the ground.Other changes to the game include the removal of the sprint button, which is now replaced with a more realistic speed burst when runners hit the hole in the defensive line. Additionally, ball-carriers will be able to use the right stick to regain any balance lost when breaking tackles. The changes to the running game start with better block targeting for offensive line AI, which EA says is a priority for the NCAA 14 team this year. The publisher will also reveal details about the game's own Ultimate Team mode in May, which is new to the NCAA Football series, but a mainstay in EA's other sports franchises.NCAA Football 14 will launch on Xbox 360 and PS3 on July 9, and will feature former Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson on its cover.
Pac-12 Conference streams come to iPad, fuel that Big Game rivalry on the road
Cal and Stanford fans away from home no longer have to huddle around their laptops if they want to learn who's one-upping who. The Pac-12 Conference has just launched an iPad app for its authenticated Pac-12 Now service: as long as you're with a TV provider that carries the college sports division's games (sorry for now, DirecTV customers), you can tune into 850 live matches spread across a myriad of sports. As you'd hope, going the digital route allows for some on-demand viewing, a dedicated program guide and the social sharing you'll want to rope friends into watching. Only Bright House, Cox and Time Warner Cable subscribers can use the iPad viewer at first, although support should come to BendBroadband, Comcast, Frontier and Suddenlink this fall, right alongside Android- and iPhone-sized apps. Hopefully, they arrive in time for a little ego padding around the Big Game in October.
ESPN delivers College Football companion app to iOS and Android just in time
If you're a football fan, then we don't have to tell you that college football kicks off this evening. But, perhaps, you have yet to find the perfect app for your smart phone or tablet to keep you informed during the fifteen solid hours of football this Saturday. ESPN hopes that its new ESPN College Football App will be the perfect companion on game day, and all year round for that matter, by delivering up to the minute news, stats and even video clips. The app ties in with your ESPN.com account for easy access to your favorite teams and of course will alert you to scores and other things, like potential upsets. It'll even give you quick access to the WatchESPN app so you can check out a game on your second screen. Add in the fact that this app is free, and we don't see any reason a football fan wouldn't head to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and download it right now. [Thanks, @bartenz]
Must See HDTV (August 27th - September 2nd)
This is it, the crossover where summer and fall programming mix. College football is back in action, and we say good bye to some of our favorite summer TV shows like Breaking Bad. TV fans should also keep an eye out on the disc releases, as many shows boxed sets are hitting shelves before the new season begin airing soon. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames. Breaking Bad This weekend the first half of the fifth and final season of AMC's Breaking Bad comes to a close, before viewers wait for the second half to air in summer 2013. You won't find any spoilers here, but the path Walter White has taken has certainly arrived at places few would have predicted when the show began. The only question now is how many surprises are left before it all comes to an end. (September 2, AMC, 10PM) Doctor Who Also fresh this weekend is a new series of Doctor Who episodes, kicking off with Asylum of the Daleks. The better news as of late has been BBC America closing the gap in airing new episodes and that DirecTV is carrying the channel in HD at last. If you can't wait for new shows, check out the Pond Life preview clip embedded after the break. (September 1, BBC America, 9PM) College Football While preseason week four of the NFL season is skippable pigskin action, the return of college football this weekend will have us planted firmly in front of our HDTVs. The Hawaii/USC and Michigan/Alabama matchups Saturday night should start the season off with a bang and we can't wait. Looking for your favorite team in the listings? We've got many of the nationwide broadcasts covered, but reader Jose Perez reminds us of this comprehensive TV schedule at LSUFootball.net that should let you know who is playing where all season long. (August 30th - September 1st)
ESPN's bowl coverage swaps out the telestrator for augmented reality GameView
We dug into ESPN's use of the Xbox 360 and EA Sports games to power its Virtual Playbook segments last year, but in preparation for this round of BCS bowl games it's upgraded the system with a bit of augmented reality. The new GameView system uses a tabletop 70-inch touchscreen LCD, a copy of NCAA Football '12 and four dedicated workstations to blend everything together and create a simulation for viewers to see the analysts move virtual players around the field. It should at least be more interesting than CNN's previous election coverage implementation, although we're mostly wondering when a combo of Kinect, Surface and old school electronic football will bring the experience directly to our living rooms to play around with. Check out the gallery for a few more screens and expect to see this implemented more during the upcoming big time bowl games -- no, there's no secret code Desmond Howard can input to get a national championship game between two college football teams that haven't already played each other, we asked.
Must See HDTV (November 28th - December 4th)
Welcome to the midseason break -- while many shows are either already on hiatus or getting ready for one, cable favorites like The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles are just getting restarted. Of course, given the season that's not all there is to watch with a slew of movie debuts and one-off events like the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and Grammy nominations taking place as well. Check below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listings of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames. Cave of Forgotten Dreams This week is a good one for 3D fans, in theaters Martin Scorsese's Hugo is racking up the acclaims for its integration of effects and story, while at home viewers can finally experience Werner Herzog's trek into the Chauvet Caves of South France, exposing the oldest known human drawings. The entire documentary is filmed in 3D to help bring the shape and depth of the cave paintings alive, and by all accounts it's effective. Since you're probably not on the (very short list) of people who will ever be allowed access to the cave and its delicate relics, this is your best shot at taking a step 35,000 years into the past at an entirely different era of humankind. Check out the trailer after the break, but after seeing this one in theaters earlier this year we can definitely say 3D is the only way to watch. (November 29th, $18.99 on Amazon) College Football The last week of the college football season means everything comes down to these games to decide conference championships and who goes on to which bowl games. From the Big East being decided by the result of West Virginia vs. South Florida, to a couple of brand new conference championship games for the Pac-12 and Big Ten, to the always classic ACC and SEC football championships, and even a few rivalry games like Baylor/Texas and Oklahoma/Oklahoma State -- it's all here. No matter which team you root for there will be something at stake this weekend, so arrange your schedule accordingly. The Take After jumping into the original programming game earlier this year with Moby Dick, Encore is ready to push The Take, a British crime drama. Tom Hardy (Inception, Bronson, The Dark Knight Rises) stars as Freddie Jackson, an ex-con fresh out of prison who is trying to take over London's underworld with the help of the rest of his similarly crooked family. As you can tell by the name, the theme here is that everyone and everything is available for a price, we're willing to spend an hour of our time and see if this is a series worth watching thanks to its strong cast, check out a quick trailer embedded after the break. (December 2nd, Encore, 9PM)
ESPN 3D doubles its college football coverage in year two
So far, college football is the jewel in ESPN 3D's broadcast schedule, and the network just released its broadcast plans for the 2011 season. The schedule for the 2011 season has increased to 20 regular season games and five bowl games, plus the BCS National Championship on January 9th. Things kick off with UNLV/Wisconsin on September 1st and Miami/Maryland September 5th, while some dates are still TBD. Hit the source link to see the full schedule, which will probably please ACC and Pac-10 fans, although we're not seeing many dates scheduled in the flyover states so most Big Ten (12?) fans should probably hold onto their tickets. Check out our review of last season's coverage, we'll keep some specs handy to see how things have changed in a year.
ESPN 2.0 on Xbox Live features improved guide, stats feed and more
The ESPN application on Xbox Live offered some interesting functionality to sports fans, though perhaps not enough to make it a viable competitor for their standard cable fare. ESPN 2.0, a massive renovation of the platform scheduled to launch August 25 (just in time for college football), will be a much more worthy contender. Gizmodo recently previewed the updated software, revealing a number of its new, tantalizing features, such as the ability to watch two games on ESPN 3 at once, and a live score feed on the side of the UI. The highlight feature is the new Guide, a carousel of thumbnails showing currently streaming programs, each of which include stats, scores and information about each game. Check out a video demonstration of the software on Gizmodo, and join us in wishing for a future where every sport is simulcast conveniently on our gaming consoles. (We've just got to get our Jai-alai fix.)
ESPN 3D gears up for year two with more college football, Home Run Derby and Little League
We had already learned a bit about ESPN 3D's summer schedule including X Games 17, but now that the NBA Finals are over, it's announced even more events as it moves into its second year of existence. VP Bryan Burns says we can expect 20 college football games to be aired in 3D this fall, up from 11 last year, including the BCS National Championship just like last season. also on the schedule is the MLB Home Run Derby (again) on July 11, some World Football Challenge soccer matches and a slew of Little League World Series games in August. As much as we enjoy watching the Danny Almontes and Terrelle Pryors of the world, we're all about the amateur sports, but it's been a year -- queue up some pro football and regular season baseball ESPN.
Vizio teases entry into the tablet fray with pizazz via Rose Bowl spot (video)
Teasing tablets ahead of the CES deluge is nothing new for manufacturers now, but we'll at least give Vizio a few style points for its expensive approach to the tactic. That's because what looks like a Vizio-branded tablet made a not-so-secret appearance during the Rose Bowl. Specifically, the device appeared about 15 seconds into the chairman's message in the hands of Vizio chief sales officer Randy Waynick. Just in case a mere sighting was too subtle, Waynick was also kind enough to mention Vizio's dedication to "entertainment freedom for all" and the ability to view content on "any of their great new products, from anywhere" -- wink wink, nudge nudge. Details on the gadget are obviously unknown, but we're confident the actual specs (if any) will emerge next week. We're also pretty positive it's not Vizio's 7-inch razor portable TV. If you weren't watching the game, check out a video of the device's brief cameo on national television after the break. Update: We originally speculated that this tablet was probably running Android based on the buttons. Some eagle-eyed readers have pointed out though that only three buttons are visible at the bottom of the Vizio screen -- which means WP 7 could also be a possibility. It's worth noting too that no traditional Android buttons were visible on the prototype Motorola Honeycomb Tablet. The bottom line is we can't make a ruling on the OS based solely on the buttons.
Sprint TV broadcasting 30 college bowl games, including entire BCS
Quick: can you name 30 college football bowl games? Well, if you keep your face glued to your Sprint phone's screen for the next couple weeks, you'll be able to, thanks largely to the partnership Sprint inked with ESPN earlier this ear to bring ESPN Mobile TV to its devices. You'll be able to get to the games on your phone through either Sprint TV or the dedicated Sprint Football Live app, which are available on "most" models in Sprint's lineup and cost you nothing as long as you're signed up for unlimited data. Notably, Sprint's broadcasting will include the entire Bowl Championship Series -- and in the off chance you're interested in one of the five bowls that aren't being televised on your phone, the Football Live app will still offer you play-by-play coverage and stats. Follow the break for the full press release.
ESPN on Xbox Live updated for the 'College Bowl Showdown'
Over the course of the next month, a variety of college Bowl games will pit the year's noteworthy teams against each other. ESPN is adjusting its services to accommodate these matches and now offers an update to its Xbox Live portal. The most substantial addition in this update is the College Bowl Showdown meta-game, where you'll predict the winners of each Bowl game and earn a score based on your accuracy. Scores can be compared with your friends list, and there's a new sorting option to view highlights in one continuous video, rather than flipping through miscellaneous segments. (Content is streamed based on the types of sports you've added under the "My Sports" tab.) Microsoft is also a promotion contest alongside the update -- you can learn more on the Xbox website.
Versus schedules first 3D broadcast: Oregon/Cal college football November 13th
ESPN 3D won't be alone in its broadcasts of college football and other sporting events for long, now that Versus has announced it's launching 3D broadcasts (just two years after getting its own fulltime HD channel) during two college games November 13th. The first game, TCU/San Diego State at 4 p.m. will be the first ever to feature iRL3D that lets viewers on PCs view highlights in 3D on Versus.com, while it will launch a full 3D broadcast during the second game , Oregon/Cal at 7:30 p.m. Multichannel News has the details, quoting VP Mark Fein saying the network decided this was the time since the broadcasts feature two teams currently ranked in the top 5. Like ESPN's broadcasts, the 3D version will have its own announcers and Versus says it's already signed up Comcast, Cox, FiOS and Time Warner to broadcast the game and is negotiating with other carriers. No word yet on exactly which channel the broadcasts should appear on, but we'll keep an eye out.
