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EA holds license for non-exclusive college football games for three years
Earlier this week, the NCAA announced it would no longer provide its name to EA's college sports series of games, but the publisher will continue to work with the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), the entity that handles trademark licensing and marketing services for universities. A source familiar with the agreement tells Joystiq that EA's current licensing extension with the CLC is for three years starting on July 1, 2014, and is for a non-exclusive college football game. The source says EA was not going to renew its exclusive contract with the NCAA for at least five years, as stipulated by EA's proposed $27 million lawsuit settlement from July 2012. The lawsuit alleged that EA "violated antitrust and consumer protection laws and overcharged consumers" for its football games due to its use of exclusive licenses with the NFL, NCAA and AFL. NCAA announced this week that it will not renew its contract with EA, and that NCAA Football 14 "will be the last to include the NCAA's name and logo." EA's statement on the matter revealed plans to continue development on a next-gen college football game using licensing provided by CLC. The continued agreement with CLC enables EA to develop games using the branding of college programs across the nation as it did in the NCAA Football series, without the NCAA mark.
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.
