With the legendary wide receiver Jerry Rice as the centerpiece of the video, the trailer highlighted some of the features that will be in the game. That includes tip drills between defensive backs resulting in interceptions, one handed catches and balancing acts along the sideline. All-Pro Football 2K8 will ship with over 240 legendary players, including John Elway, Walter Payton, Johnny Unitas and Barry Sanders. The trailer also showed off some of the larger than life stadiums that these stars will play in. Two stood out in particular: one was a western theme, with a silhouetted posse of cowboys literally looming sixty feet tall over the football field. Another was a large number of bald eagle statues perched atop the stadium, as if the game was being played inside a bird's nest. While someone might be tempted to make a connection to the actual NFL teams from that trailer, the visuals of these huge "themed" stadiums went a long way to dismissing these thoughts.
When we asked Thomas how deep the customization of the gameplay would be, he replied that the development team wants to let players define what is going to make their squad a success, and that includes practically every aspect of the game. Gamers will have the opportunity to edit team names, player uniforms and even the cities that their teams will be able to play in. If players don't feel like tweaking a team at all, they can simply select one of the pre-built squads and leap into the game. As for the teams, Thomas mentioned that the squads will be comprised of a mix between legendary athletes that you choose and fictional pro players, although he didn't mention what the specific balance would be on a roster.
While Thomas couldn't release any specific details on the season or the number of teams that you'll play against, he did confirm that instead of a Franchise mode, there will be a Season mode in the game. Part of the reason for doing away with Franchise mode was because there was no specific history with the teams that would be included in the game, and since the players would have the ability to customize so much of the season they play and the teams they play against, it didn't seem to make any sense. He also managed to put to rest a question about player attributes in the game, mentioning that they won't change based on progress over the course of a season. For example, a fictional athlete won't get a better hands attribute if he catches a lot of passes, and the legends won't improve their stats either (They're legendary players anyway, which already makes them better than most of the guys on the field in that particular position).
We'll have more information on All-Pro Football 2K8 soon, but for now, check out JRob's interview with Jerry Rice.