NCAA Football 13 - July 10 - 6/11: Demo Out Now, Road to Glory Details

Hey NCAA Football fans! My name is Brian Parker and I am a member of the EA SPORTS Game Changers program as well as an attendee for Community Events on both NCAA Football 12 last year and NCAA Football 13 this year.

The development team was kind enough to ask me to share some thoughts regarding the topic of today’s Playbook #1: Sights and Sounds and what that means to me for NCAA Football 13. Since presentation on the whole is something that I care about a lot when it comes to playing games in the NCAA Football series, I’m excited about where things are going for this year’s game.

As part of their continued effort to get the details right for all of the teams featured in the game, the creative team has once again worked on new traditions to incorporate into the pre-game atmosphere for new schools that previously haven’t had their unique game day aspects included. I know that one of the points we as Community Event invitees keep hearing and bringing up is that every school has their own fan base that wants to see as much unique tradition as possible for their team in the game. With each year that passes for development, it feels as though more and more of these fans are getting catered to in this regard, and NCAA Football 13 is no different.

The past few years of NCAA Football titles have featured “progressive lighting” at the end of each quarter of the game to reflect the passage of time during a game, but the creative team was keenly listening to complaints about the transitions “popping in” unnaturally between quarters. NCAA Football 13 is working to address these complaints by featuring lighting which progresses after every play. Between the beginning and end of any given game, you can expect to be playing under lighting conditions which are always changing in accordance with the true light progression of all FBS stadiums.

The same technology used by the Tiger Woods PGA TOUR team to scan Augusta National for the inclusion of The Masters in that game series is also being used in NCAA Football 13 this year to capture the intricate details of some of the brand-new stadiums for FBS play this coming fall; in particular, the new home fields for Florida Atlantic University and North Texas have both been scanned into this year’s game as incredibly faithful virtual reproductions of the real thing. The level of detail for these new stadiums is jaw-dropping, and I can imagine people using FAU and North Texas just to get a highly-accurate digital preview of the new venues before the season starts.

Another aspect of presentation that I’m excited about in NCAA Football 13 is the inclusion of new trophy presentations for a number of games. Of course the BCS Championship Game trophy presentation has been revamped, but you’ll also be seeing ceremonies after Conference Championship games and some Rivalry Games which have trophies awarded as well. As a college football fan who loves the stories and passion behind rivalries in the sport, seeing this extra attention given to these yearly showdowns is a much-welcomed addition to the presentation package.

People interested in the audio plans for NCAA Football 13 will be excited to hear that the development team attended big games last season—and even got some fan submissions of audio—to help improve the overall experience of what a college football game sounds like. One of the demonstrations at the first Community Event this year included side-by-side comparisons of crowd audio in NCAA Football 12 versus the crowd audio recorded for NCAA Football 13; the written word cannot do justice to how big of an improvement we heard both in terms of the accuracy of crowd noise and chants, as well as the “depth” of sound which happens as a result of sitting in a packed house for a football game.

Right click to save and listen:

Oklahoma '12 vs Oklahoma '13
Arkansas '12 vs Arkansas '13

For as exciting as all of these changes to the Sights and Sounds of NCAA Football 13 are, however, the best is still to come as details on Playbook #2: Gameplay will arrive in just over two weeks. You won’t want to miss learning how the gameplay team is working to make a game that will look and sound better, play better as well!

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Hi NCAA Fans,

Christian McLeod, NCAA Football 13 designer, and I’m here to talk a bit about the audio and commentary improvements we’ve made to this year’s game.

I joined the NCAA Football team in October and have been working on a few different aspects of this year’s game, primarily focused on anything speech and sound related. I’m also a college football fanatic who lives and dies each week during the season with my beloved Michigan State Spartans- GO GREEN! That being said, it should come as no surprise that NCAA Football has been my favorite game to play each year since it was known as Bill Walsh College Football…I’m an EA SPORTS NCAA Football junkie. I’m extremely passionate about the NCAA Football franchise and I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am to be working on the game’s dev team.

Now that you know who I am, let’s get down to business….

Audio Improvements

There’s nothing more important to the atmosphere of college football than the crowd. Whether it’s the swelling of noise after a big play, or the echoing of a team specific chant, we’re making a concerted effort to capture the audio nuances of Saturday (and Thursday for you MAC fans out there!), that make college football so special.

We have a new audio team here at Tiburon dedicated to taking our crowds to the next level. This team is headed by new Audio Director, Aaron Janzen (or as we call him AJ). AJ left the great white north at EA Canada to join us here in sunny Florida in January and we have been working closely together ever since. While in Vancouver, AJ was able to work on both the FIFA and Fight Night series and brings a wealth of sound knowledge to the team—specializing in crowd ambiance. In our time with AJ we’ve been able to harness the same tech and workflows used by games developed in our Vancouver studio.

Our push to deliver the most authentic crowd experience doesn’t stop there. College football is all about the passion of you the fan, and there is no greater spectacle than thousands of rabid, passionate fans supporting their team in unison. Because of this, we’re making a concerted push to get YOUR voice into our game—literally. That’s right, there’s a chance that if you attend a college football game this past fall that you may be a part of NCAA Football 13.

We sent people all over the country, including some of our community members to record crowd audio at games during the season. Below you will find a list of the games we had representatives at this year and if you were in attendance, congratulations, you played an important role in this year’s title.

In addition to the records acquired from games we attended, we also were afforded the opportunity to work with our partner ESPN at this year’s Ohio State vs. Michigan game—one of the most intense and electric atmosphere’s in all of sport. While at the Big House we were able to use a 24 track recorder to pull audio samples that would later be orchestrated by AJ and integrated into our new crowd mix. We hope to continue being able to share in ESPN’s resources and utilize any technological advancements in the future.

Oklahoma at FL State
9/17/11
Attendance: 84,392

Louisiana Monroe at Iowa
9/24/11
Attendance: 70,585

Missouri at Oklahoma
9/24/11
Attendance: 85,547

SMU at TCU
10/1/11
Attendance: 35,632

Auburn at Arkansas
10/8/11
Attendance: 74,191

Arizona at Oregon State
10/8/11
Attendance: 40,403

Arizona State at Oregon
10/15/11
Attendance: 60,055

Oklahoma State at Texas
10/15/11
Attendance: 100,101

UCLA at Arizona
10/20/11
Attendance: 46,565

Washington at Stanford
10/22/11
Attendance: 50,360

Clemson at Georgia Tech
10/29/11
Attendance: 55,646

Purdue at Michigan
10/29/11
Attendance: 112,115

Northwestern at Nebraska
11/5/11
Attendance: 85,115

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
11/5/11
Attendance: 49,362

Indiana at Ohio State
11/5/11
Attendance: 105,195

Nebraska at Penn State
11/12/11
Attendance: 107,903

TCU at Boise State
11/12/11
Attendance: 34,146

North Carolina at Virginia Tech
11/17/11
Attendance: 50,140

BC at Notre Dame
11/19/11
Attendance: 80,795

Kentucky at Georgia
11/19/11
Attendance: 92,746

Miami at USF
11/19/11
Attendance: 57,572

Arkansas at LSU
11/25/11
Attendance: 93,108

Pittsburgh at West Virginia
11/25/11
Attendance: 60,932

Penn State at Wisconsin
11/26/11
Attendance: 79,708

Plant at Armwood - High School
10/28/11
Attendance: under 1,000

Ohio State at Michigan (ESPN 24-track recording)
11/26/11
Attendance: 114,132

As you can see, it is a priority to visit large, medium, and small stadiums to ensure we stay authentic to the sounds that are generated in each.

We’re already planning our trips for the 2012 college football season, and will let you know what games we will be at so you can be sure to rest your voices, drink some hot tea with honey, and have those pipes ready to represent your team on game day.

Below I’ve attached some assets from NCAA Football 12 and their counterparts that will appear in NCAA Football 13 gathered from a couple of the above games.

Right click to save and listen:

Florida State '12 vs Florida State '13
Texas '12 vs Texas '13

As I’m sure you will agree, the chants captured for NCAA Football 13 are far superior to anything we’ve captured in the past. Just listening to “Texas Fight” echo through a stadium of 100,000 fans gives me goose bumps, and I’m not even a Texas fan. And listen to the fullness of the new Seminole War Chant captured among over 84,000 Seminole fans. For you Oklahoma fans out there you have to be happy with how deep the tones of Boomer Sooner are compared to our old recording. There simply is no discounting the importance of capturing assets that are provided by you the fan out in the wild- the audio quality is unmatched.

The entire Audio team can’t wait to have you hear the all-new NCAA Football crowd mix this season, complete with the new team-specific chants. We’re all very proud that the mix brings a richer, more robust sound to your favorite college football stadium. There is always more work to be done to create the ultimate NCAA Football crowd, but we are very happy with our year 1 results. You’re going to notice a difference the second you boot up your first game.

COMMENTARY IMPROVEMENTS

Since arriving at EA I began working with the team on a completely new commentary philosophy. The key factors behind this new approach involve increasing the commentator’s contextual awareness and the establishment of a true broadcast flow. What I mean by this is that not only do we want Brad Nessler and Kirk Herbstreit to be smarter about what they are talking about as game progresses; we also want the flow of what they say to be able to mimic the pacing of a real television broadcast. I’m happy to say that after many months of hard work we have made several big strides that will lay the foundation for exciting new commentary additions for years to come.

As the years have progressed, the team has become aware that the commentary engine we were using was handcuffing us from a technological standpoint with regards to accomplishing our commentary goals. The first exciting step we made this year was to move away from our old commentary engine, and move to an engine that was pioneered by our friends up at EAC. The key advantage to the new system is that it allows our commentary to recognize past events via statistical analysis, and then is able to reference them at any time during the game. In previous years, we were working with a very linear system that was limited to addressing only certain plays from the immediate past.

I like to use the following analogy when discussing our new engine’s capabilities—imagine our old system as a traditional chapter book where once you begin reading it you are locked into a defined beginning, middle, and end. Our new engine can be related more closely with a “choose your own adventure” novel—an evolving story with multiple branching paths and different endings. The eventual result in future years will be commentary that is much more dynamic and able to evolve over the course of a game.

Another big advantage to this engine is it allows us to establish a much more natural flow in our broadcast. One of the first areas we utilized this new tech to test it was at the end of each scoring drive and quarter where Nessler announces the score. Our current engine is able to request and return this score data much quicker than the old system. The result is a score summary that flows better, without the pauses and inflection changes by Nessler that have reared their ugly heads in past versions of the game. Feel free to listen to the below example of this change:

Right click to save and listen:

NCAA 12 Score vs NCAA 13 Score

We’ve also made a big change when it comes to how we approached our scripting and recording sessions thanks to the tutelage of another EAC colleague, Phil Nakis. Phil is an Audio Engineer in Vancouver and has worked on the commentary in MVP Baseball, FIFA, NHL, and Fight Night: Champion, employing new stitch techniques along the way to deliver some of the most natural sounding commentary in sports gaming. Among the most important lessons to be learned from the commentary in the games mentioned above was how Phil and company relied on their voice talent to be the content experts—utilizing the talent’s years of real world broadcasting to create a theatre of the mind in the video game they were calling.

In the past, our team would watch hours upon hours of games that Nessler and Herbstreit called on television, writing lines of scripted commentary that were meant to be in the voice of our talent. We’ve realized that no matter how much tape you watch we were never going to be able to predict how Nessler, and specifically Herbstreit as an analyst, will react and call a situation as it unfolds on the field. Scripting for the two takes away their ability to put events into their own words and provide personal inflections—a key component to capturing a true broadcast sound.

It is because of this that NCAA Football 13 will mark the first year that we’ve moved away from attempting to write scripts for our talent. The process now involves working in the studio with the talent to paint a picture of the game situation and allow them tell the story in their own words. We want both Brad and Kirk to feel like they are in a booth on a Saturday night, and even pump in crowd noise and fight songs into their headphones to get them into the moment.

As speech technology advances so does the desire to blur the lines between video game commentary and a real life broadcast. It was critical to the team that we move in this new direction to help achieve our goals. The resulting commentary sounds extremely natural and is the first step in breaking down that barrier between being just a video game that talks, and a smart virtual football commentary experience. I cannot stress enough how important it is to the team that Nessler, Herbstriet and our mystery voice to be named later, bring their own personalities and banter to our game. These guys are college football experts, and it’s impossible to script the knowledge they bring to the table.

One final note that should be a welcome addition to long time fans of the series: this year we were able to use this new recording approach to refresh thousands of old lines that have become franchise staples. Much like an FPS uses heat map technology that identifies choke points on a map, we are able to look at user commentary telemetry that allows us to analyze how many times a certain line or bank of lines plays. Using this data allowed us to dig into our old commentary scripts to identify the areas where we needed to focus on providing fresh new content and also isolate any instances where we may want to remove certain lines completely.

We realize stale, repetitive commentary lines have been a legacy issue for the series. Personally I can’t tell you how sick I am of hearing Herbie tell me a quarterback was a sitting duck, and how no one likes a sitting duck. I’m happy to not only report the elimination of that wonderful line, but also the elimination of hundreds of other top offenders along with the addition of fresh new lines as replacements. The analysis of commentary telemetry is something that will be very important to us moving forward, and we are focused on enhancing your commentary experience by removing old, tired lines on a yearly basis.

NCAA Football 13 marks year one of a multi-year approach to make our commentary feel truly dynamic and alive across all game modes. Our new engine, new recording style, and ability to identify repetition are all key factors that will allow us to build compelling commentary into our game, engaging fans in the aura of college football.

Thanks for reading and I am so excited for all of you to hear more about what we’ve been working on for NCAA Football 13. The team is incredibly passionate about college football, and is committed to bringing you the most authentic college gridiron experience possible. I’ll be back later with an exciting announcement concerning commentary in Dynasty Mode. Until then, let us know your thoughts on what you’ve heard so far. The team is always listening.

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Total Control Passing

Passing is more important than ever in the realm of collegiate football, and NCAA Football 13 has taken great strides to give users unparalleled control over this element of the game. Total Control Passing allows quarterbacks to lead their receivers into open space, and reconfigured passing trajectories to allow QBs to drop their passes in between layers of coverage without leading receivers out of bounds and while also maintaining a realistic throwing velocity.

Read and React Defense

Passing isn’t the only revamped element of NCAA Football 13; pass coverage has been overhauled as well. Gone are the days of “Psychic DBs” and “Super Linebackers,” as the new Read & React Defensive AI system requires defenders to see the ball before they make a play on it. This means defenders will react in a much more realistic manner, only making plays on the ball when they actually see it in the air. Now well-executed pump fakes or play action plays are more dangerous than ever, and defenders who lose track of the ball will be hard-pressed to contain their offensive counterparts.

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Greetings, NCAA Football fans! My name is Chris Jacobs and I am a member of the EA SPORTS Game Changers Program, an NCAA Football 13 Community Event attendee and owner of The Gaming Tailgate, an NCAA Football community site. You’ve been waiting patiently for info on gameplay, so let’s talk about some of the numerous improvements you can expect in NCAA Football 13.

At the heart of the gameplay changes coming to NCAA Football 13 is one simple mantra: “If the player can’t see the ball, they can’t catch it.” When it comes to passing the ball, you will need to have your timing down between the quarterback and routes, hitting the receiver once he is in a position to actually look for the ball. This also affects defenders, as they must see the ball before they can react.

The pass icon above receivers will be ghosted by default and will light up once they are looking at the ball and in a position to make a play on a pass. However, keep in mind that a solid icon does NOT mean they are open – just that they are looking for the ball! You will still need to read the defense and make an on-target throw. If you want to throw to a receiver whose icon is not lit up, you can, but you will have to attempt a user catch.

One of the biggest requests from the community was for NCAA Football 13 to feature a new pass trajectory, and I’m glad to say that it is in the game – over 20 of them to be exact! Along with the new trajectory, users have the additional ability to control passes with the left stick to lead receivers or to place the ball where they want it. With defenders needing to see the ball and improved pass trajectory, these two improvements have helped to end the phenomenon known around the community as ‘Super Linebackers.’ (Feel free to read that last sentence again just to let it soak in!)

Some of the other gameplay improvements include a new catch animation system (400+ new catch animations), 20+ new dropback animations, play-action upgrades (including faster QB animations) and improved receiver control.

On the defensive side of the ball, NCAA Football 13 features improved defensive alignment and defender positioning, disguised coverages and more realistic reactions by defenders while the ball is in the air. From pre-snap through the whistle, defense has been significantly improved in NCAA Football 13.

The final improvement I want to highlight is overhauled punt coverage and punt return AI. In NCAA Football 13, the coverage team will stay in their lanes while the return team attempts to set up a wall. Will your teammates deliver blocks to slow down the gunners? Can you make a move and get free? These changes have helped to make punt returns exciting and a potential game-changer each time out.

Make sure you check out the gameplay webcast and read the blog from EA SPORTS to learn more about all of the gameplay improvements coming to NCAA Football 13. Also, mark your calendars for May 7 to learn about the cool new features and improvements coming to Dynasty Mode. The dev team has been hard at work to make the mode more immersive than ever before.

Thanks for reading, everyone!

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With many teams around the nation participating in spring football it reminds us that the fall season is just around the corner. With that in mind, the development team here at Tiburon is busy at work putting the finishing touches on NCAA Football 13.

This year, we have placed a special emphasis on gameplay. In fact, we have doubled the size of our Core Gameplay team and made the most gameplay changes in the console generation. We started with an area of the game that has become a very popular trend in the college game today: passing.

Teams from across the nation are slinging the rock all over the yard at a record rate. Looking at box scores it’s not uncommon to see each team’s quarterback throw for well over 300 yards in a game. Depending on a team’s offensive style you may even see a quarterback throw the ball 60 times in a single game. With all this “pitching and catching” (like the ole ball coach likes to say…) going on in the real NCAA game, we wanted to re-invent the passing game in our version of NCAA Football 13.

Passing has been a strong part of our game for years, but we felt we could do more with it and make it an even better experience for the user. The first change we made was to re-do our pass trajectories. In years past, we only had one ball speed, which meant only one type of trajectory for every type of pass. So, for example, if you threw a lob pass on a streak to an outside wide receiver versus a lob on a swing pass to a running back, you would get the same type of trajectory, or what we called a “moon ball.” In NCAA Football 13, we have broken down the trajectories and ball speeds into more than 20 different zones. So now that swing pass to the running back can be completed in stride with enough time to turn upfield. We’ve also slowed down how fast bullet passes fly for shorter, medium and deep distance passes. When the receiver is only 10 yards away, you wouldn’t expect a bullet pass to be as hard as the QB can throw it because that would make for a very difficult catch. Therefore, the bullet pass in this case will be much slower than if you were trying to fire in a deep dig route in between zone defenders down the field.

The change to pass trajectories also allowed us to make it easier to get the three types of passes: lobs, medium/touch, and bullet passes. To get a lob pass, simply tap the receiver icon. To get a bullet pass, hold the receiver icon all the way through the QB’s pass animation. Finally, to get a medium/touch pass (and this may take a little practice to master) press the receiver icon and then release before the QB gets to the end of his animation. The medium/touch passes will be especially useful when trying to toss a ball just over linebackers’ heads and in front of the safeties.

Another change we have made to the passing game is our new Total Control Passing mechanic. You have always been able to lead the pass in certain directions by using the L-Stick, but in NCAA Football 13 we have re-tuned the L-Stick lead to allow the user to throw the ball exactly where they want to put it. One scenario where this is especially useful is when you have a slot receiver running a 10 yard dig route versus a Cover 2 defense. Normally you shouldn’t try to complete this pass, as your receiver will be running into traffic with the linebackers in underneath zones. However, with the new Total Control Passing mechanic you can now lead that receiver into space and the open part of the field (the deep middle between the 2 deep safeties) by holding up on the L-Stick.

Combining the new Total Control Passing mechanic and mastering the new types of pass trajectories can help turn you into an unstoppable passing machine!

We have also made some other significant changes to the passing game revolving around the quarterback. Dropbacks are essential to both the timing of the play as well as keeping the QB protected in the pocket. For NCAA Football 13, we have added over 20 new QB dropback animations. These include 1, 3, 5, and 7 step variations from under center, dropbacks with pump fakes built in, and my personal favorite - brand new screen pass drops. The new under center drops are all designed to be timed out with the routes by the receivers. For example, on longer developing routes such as comebacks and the Cover 2 corner routes (or what I often hear referred to as “C” routes), the QB will take a 7-step drop. As he gets to the end of his drop, the receivers should be just about ready to make their last cut which is when you would want to throw the ball. The new running back screen dropbacks are also very beneficial to the user as they allow you to get the QB back quickly and in a much better position to get the pass off over the rushing defenders. We’ve also added some 1-step specific WR/bubble screen plays where the QB will immediately turn in the direction of the screen receiver. This also helps with the timing of the play to get the ball quickly out to your receiver and into the open field.

We’ve also improved the pass animations in general. We have added new deep pass animations that replaced the longer, slower deep passes that seemed to take forever to get off in previous games. We have also added several new rollout/throw-on-the-run animations that will trigger when your QB is on the move. We’ve listened to the complaints about the QB setting up too often when on the run and frequently getting sacked or hit during the release. In NCAA Football 13, if you attempt a pass while your QB is moving past a specific speed, he will trigger an on-the-move pass animation, which can trigger both in and out of the pocket. Now, if you are moving and still want to throw a standing set pass, you can simply let go of the L-Stick and wait a split second and the QB will set up to throw. Watch out though, because with these new throw on the run animations there is definitely some risk to trying to throw certain types of passes. For example, if you are scrambling out to the left with a right handed QB and attempt to pass all the way back across the field to the right, it’s going to be very difficult to complete. Those are the types of passes where you always hear the announcers saying “you should never throw late across your body into the middle of the field.” It’s a risk/reward when throwing on the run, but if you attempt the correct types of passes in these situations (i.e. throwing to the right flat when scrambling to the right with a right handed QB) you will have a much higher success rate when completing passes. Another addition to passes is the new shovel passes. Shovel passes will trigger when a receiver is a short distance away and facing the QB. These shovel pass animations will play instead of the longer, full wind up passes to help aid the user in getting rid of the ball quicker and in a more realistic manner.

Quarterback pocket movement is another important element to having a successful passing game. To help improve the feel of moving around in the pocket we have slowed down how fast the QB can move while in the controlled pocket state. This will allow users to move within the confines of the pocket in a more deliberate manner to keep the QB in a balanced state and ready to pass at any moment. Another upgrade is the addition of 8 new avoidance moves when in the pocket. When you see defensive pressure coming, you can simply flick the R-Stick in any direction to trigger an avoidance move. These avoidance moves can boost your chances of breaking out of a sack and allow you to get passes off when you thought you didn’t have a chance.

Pump fakes are also a good way for a quarterback to both escape pressure and to get a defender to bite on a double move route. In NCAA Football 13, we have replaced several of the older pump fake animations with smoother, faster and better looking animations. These new pump fakes are available both in the pocket and when scrambling. We have also added the ability to pump fake to a specific receiver by holding LB and the receiver icon. To have the best shot at getting a defender to bite on a pump fake, try to pump as the receiver begins his first cut of any double move route.

Another significant change in NCAA Football 13 is the fact that timing now matters when throwing to receivers. At the beginning of every pass play you will immediately notice that not all of your receivers pass icons will be fully lit up. Receiver icons will remain dim until they would be expecting a pass in a realistic time frame. The idea behind this was to eliminate users from being able to snap and fire and complete passes to receivers right off the line of scrimmage without the receivers actually seeing the pass thrown (I’ll get into this a little more later on when we talk about defense…). So depending on the receiver’s route, there will be a window when the icon will light up and when he can expect a pass. Certain routes (such as flats, swings and bubble screens) will have the icons light up right away, while other, longer developing routes (Streaks, Deep Posts, Corners), will light up later on. We have also added special rules to override certain situations to allow receivers to look earlier than normal. These rules include if a defender over them in man coverage blitzes, immediately after a press animation (like Cover 2), and as they come through zones and are between defenders. Now just because an icon lights up, that doesn’t mean he is necessarily open. You’ll still have to read the coverage and throw the ball to the correct receiver based on what the defense is doing. The dim icons also do not mean that you can’t actually throw the ball to a receiver either. It simply means that if you throw the ball when the receiver isn’t expecting it, he won’t go for the ball unless you attempt a user catch.

These passing changes are all well and good, but they don’t work if the receivers don’t make catches! Well, have no fear my friends because we have also added a brand new catching system. This new setup allows us to eliminate holes so you won’t see balls flying over receiver’s heads without a catch attempt. This new system also makes it much easier to tune existing animations and allows us to tune the amount of warping on a per animation basis rather than a global amount. For instance, the harder catches to trigger, like sideline catches, may have a slightly higher warp tolerance than a standing catch, which is much easier to trigger. But the biggest part of the new catching system is the addition of over 430 new catch animations! These new animations give the game a completely fresh look as many of the animations that you have seen for years have all but been eliminated and replaced with newer and better looking ones.

Another new feature is the change to user catching. Many users have expressed frustration about how hard it has been to take control of your receiver and actually make a grab. This year we have slowed down the control when clicking on a receiver and made it much easier to take control when the ball is in the air to help position the receiver.

Of course, with all these changes to the passing game you are probably wondering “What about the defense?” Well, we’ve made some major changes on that side of the ball as well. To help defend against the new Total Control Passing and new catch system we felt it was important to focus a particular area of the defense that has been neglected the past few years: Defensive Alignment. We have seen, heard, and read the countless complaints (and rightly so!) about the flaws in our alignment system, and any defensive coach will tell you if you don’t align properly before the snap, you have no chance. With all that in mind we have completely revamped our alignment system with brand new realistic lettering of receivers and rules for every type of formation and set. You won’t see mismatches where your outside linebacker will be in man coverage on a slot receiver while the cornerback is on the other side covering a tight end. Defenders will now align according to the offense and make sure that have they have best defensive matchups possible.

Another key change to the new alignment system in NCAA Football 13 is the fact that defenses now do a much better job of disguising their coverage. In previous years it was fairly easily to tell if the defense was in a man or zone coverage. One of the tricks was to send a man in motion and if someone followed it was man, if no one followed it was a zone. However, in this year’s game, if you call a zone and a receiver goes in motion, the defender that would be assigned to him in man coverage will follow. The defense will swap zone assignments as the receiver motions across the formation while giving no clues to the offense as to their defensive set. This change will be huge in helping to confuse the offense and a great way to slow down the passing game.

“Psychic DB’s” …we’ve all heard that before. Well, in NCAA Football 13 you won’t be seeing them. With the addition of the new Read and React Defensive AI system, the days of defenders magically breaking on the ball without seeing it actually thrown or cutting at the same time as the receiver, are all but over! Just like in real life, defenders will have to actually see the ball thrown or find it in the air before they can break on it. This ties directly into what I talked above with the receiver not being able to play catches unless they see the ball, so it goes both ways. This change will affect both sides of the ball in different ways, but nobody will be able to catch or swat unless they see the ball first. However, if the user has manually taken control and attempts to make a play on the ball, they will still have a chance. The new Read and React AI System will also affect when defenders break on route cuts. So again, there was another reason that we needed to make sure our defense was aligned correctly before the snap.

Finally we can’t talk about NCAA Football 13 without bringing up the Option. The Option is one of unique aspects of the college game and we have added to it in a variety of ways. First, we have added new pitch animations that look and feel more natural. We’ve also added a set of pitch tackles which will trigger in a more realistic manner. We hated seeing the user attempt to pitch the ball only to be hit and pull the ball back in without the pitch being released. Now you will be able to pitch the ball before the tackle occurs and still release the ball to your pitch man. We’ve also added new pitch catches (with the new catching system) which also gives the Option game a new and fresh feel.

That’s just some of the things that we have been working on here at Tiburon for NCAA Football 13 but that’s definitely not all! There are plenty of other great additions that I left out because I didn’t want to spoil the fun all at once… Thanks for checking out the blog! Just a few more months until the fall season is here but it’s an even shorter wait until NCAA Football 13 hits the shelves on July 10th! Thanks again for reading and get ready to air it out!

Larry Richart- Gameplay Designer NCAA Football 13

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DYNASTY OVERVIEW

Studio Updates and ESPN Bottom Line bring you the stories of Saturday, featuring live studio updates from earlier matchups and games in progress. Kirk Herbstreit, Brad Nessler, Erin Andrews and now Rece Davis of ESPN provide authentic and enhanced commentary on all the action. In addition, recruiting now goes deeper than ever with updates to dynamic pitches. For the first time, recruiting grades can change each week based on your performance in Dynasty mode.

STUDIO UPDATES

Studio Updates will occur dynamically throughout each game, keeping fans up-to-date with scores and news from across the country, just like during game days on ESPN. Rece Davis, the newest addition to the commentary team, will provide players with live updates from the studio throughout each Dynasty game

The implementation of the ESPN Bottom Line ticker will keep fans up-to-date throughout the NCAA Football 13 Dynasty experience, with a new simulation process that now evaluates games being played in real time before and during a game. Priority Score Alerts, Final Alerts and Upset Alerts will be displayed just as they do during game day broadcasts.

SCOUTING & RECRUITING IMPROVEMENTS

The new scouting feature provides fans a detailed experience while scouting a new recruiting class. Starting in the pre-season, each coach will have an allotted amount of time to scout players and determine attributes to unlock their overall rating, gaining familiarity and knowledge about their players’ abilities in the regular season.

Recruiting pitches have been updated to include dynamic grades, allowing users to improve their University ratings and sell their school to top prospects through the influence of various actions in Dynasty Mode. Fourteen unique pitches have been created to reflect certain categories in Dynasty and will be updated continuously, including Championship Contender, Coach Prestige, Coach Stability, Conference Prestige, TV Exposure, Pro Potential, Stadium Atmosphere, Playing Style, Program Tradition, Playing Time, Proximity to Home, Academic Prestige, Athletic Facilities and Campus Lifestyle.

New updates have also been made to the following:

Enhanced Phone Calls
Breaking into the Top 10
Triple Threat Athletes

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Hi NCAA Football Fans!

Christian McLeod, NCAA Football 13 designer, here again, and today I get to tell you about one of the most exciting new additions to the presentation of NCAA Football 13’s Dynasty mode- The ESPN Bottom Line and Studio Updates.

Every week college football tells a story- the upsets, battles for position in the polls, conference struggles, last second plays and big player performances, each shaping the national landscape that given week. Even more importantly, the story of college football unfolds over the course of an entire day, from the kickoff of the 12:00pm games, to the final whistle of the Pacific coast late games. College Football as a whole is a living entity, with every score potentially affecting another team’s season as the day unfolds.

As an avid college football fan I can tell you that there is nothing more exciting in all of sports than spending an entire Saturday in front of the television watching the story of the week play itself out. If I’m not flipping between channels during each commercial break, my eyes are glued to score tickers and updates from around the country at every break in the action. Just because I am rooting my Spartans to victory doesn’t mean there aren’t other compelling stories going on at the same time.

This feeling of a truly dynamic, living college football experience was extremely important for us to capture in Dynasty mode, and was a major focus from a presentation standpoint in NCAA Football 13.

The first step we took when examining how to mirror the compelling experience described above, was to examine where non-user games were simulated within the Dynasty mode itself. In past NCAA Football titles, every game from a specific week would be simulated after a user had played their game and advanced to the next week. The result of this system was that it was impossible to see what type of impact other games from around the country had on your team until you advanced a week and then navigated through the menus to check in on scores from across the country.

I like to use the following example when discussing our old way of simulating in Dynasty. Imagine living in a world where you could only watch your favorite team’s game, and would not receive any type of in game updates via your television, phone, or other device. Knowing your team had a 3:30 kickoff you do yard work until that time and then bunker down for the next 2.5 hours. After your game was over you turn your television off, go to sleep and then read about all the exciting action that happened before, during, and after your favorite game the next morning in the Sunday paper.

In today’s ever-connected sports universe this scenario simply isn’t realistic, and we realized that for NCAA Football 13 we needed to change our weekly simulation logic so that it better reflected what we see in real life. The simulation process now evaluates games being played before and during the realistic time frame of a user’s game, and then begins to expose them in real time during the game. How are they exposed you ask? I’m very proud to announce the implementation of the ESPN Bottom Line ticker into this year’s game.

Utilizing the data that is received from the simulated games, the ticker will be keeping you up to date throughout your own game. That means should you be playing a 3:30 game, you will be receiving final scores from any of the 12:00 contests that are completed. Furthermore, the 3:30 games will be updating in real time as your game progresses, and you will even start seeing some early scores roll in from games that start even later in the day. The ticker will also give you a quick glimpse at upcoming games, complete with team logos and time of kickoff. What makes the ticker even cooler is that it reacts exactly like what you see on ESPN on game day. That means you’ll be seeing Priority Score Alerts--complete with the score changing dynamically on screen--Final Score Alerts, and Upset Alerts. The Bottom Line ticker will even remain visible during instant replays and while the game is paused. We wanted to ensure you wouldn’t miss a score, even if you are busy adjusting your depth chart or looking to capture that perfect screenshot (any screenshot you take will not have the bottom line present, so have no fear aspiring virtual photogs).

As cool as the Bottom Line ticker is, we wanted to take the immersion of the scores you see one step further. Being avid college football fans we immediately knew the perfect feature we needed to implement in order to keep users updated throughout their game on the happenings of college football--NCAA Football 13 will mark the debut of Studio Updates in Dynasty mode.

That’s right; you now will be kept up to date throughout your dynasty game by live cut-ins to the studio to provide updates on everything going on across the country as your game is being played. And if you watch as much college football as we do, you know there is only one voice that is the definition of Studio Updates:

I am very proud to publically announce the addition of Rece Davis to the NCAA Football commentary family.

Rece and his son are big fans of the NCAA Football series and he was thrilled to get a chance to be a part of the game. Rece will be your man in the studio on your game day, keeping his finger on the pulse of everything college football and narrating the scores and stats from big games, upsets, rivalries, BCS updates, and even talk about players having great games.

Rece will also be the first voice you hear when you boot up a game of NCAA Football 13, providing a live look-in from the studio before sending it off to Brad and Kirk in our all-new game introductions.

Studio Updates will occur dynamically throughout your game, presenting single score screens, multiple score screens, or any combination of the two whenever an exciting event happens throughout the country, just like what you see every Saturday on ESPN. The dev team has spent a tremendous amount of time working on the tech and logic behind these updates to ensure that you will not only be receiving updates that are relevant to the conference you are playing in, but also to touch on the best stories throughout your game as soon as they happen.

The result of everyone’s hard work is an experience that ties you into your virtual season unlike anything seen before in the franchise, and an experience that will differ dramatically from user to user.

Regarding the commentary of the updates, it was very important that we capture the essence of Rece through his very unique delivery style and passion for college football. In our first meeting we sat down and discussed how we wanted him to approach these virtual updates as he would on any given game day in the studio. It was the goal to make the feature sound as authentic to Rece’s personality as possible. Utilizing our new ad-libbed commentary style discussed in my previous Audio blog, Rece immediately brought his colorful descriptions of teams, rivalries, stadiums, players, and scoring plays to life like only he could. No matter what teams you are a fan of you are going to be smiling when you hear the personal touch Rece gave to each of your schools.

There is a tremendous amount of depth in the commentary we recorded for the Studio Updates, with thousands of possibilities for each game. Our new commentary engine allowed us to create branching story paths for each of the updates, creating something new for Rece to say about each of his games, even if he returns to a game multiple times. After polishing the commentary of the feature for several months now I can definitively say I am very excited for you to hear what Rece has to say as your season progresses.

We didn’t just stop at Rece when it comes to updates either. My personal favorite part of the feature is that Brad Nessler will react to the updates and describe their impact on the national landscape and within your game. That means if Rece just updated you on a monumental upset, Brad will react. Better yet, if you just saw an update on a hated rival, a team you are jockeying for position within the conference/top 25/BCS, a team you played last week or play next week, or a possible upset in progress, Brad will talk about it. Brad’s reactions act as narration to your season, and how what is happening across the country directly impacts your team that week.

The implementation of the Bottom Line ticker and Studio Updates was a big undertaking for our team, and we all feel the end result is something really special. We can’t wait for you all to jump into your dynasties and see just how immersive the experience is.

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What's up NCAA Football fans? My name is Dr. David Johnson (aka Madscientist06) and I am an EA SPORTS Game Changer and owner of MaddenMatrix.com - a NCAA Football and Madden NFL community site. Those who know me, know that I am a NCAA Football Dynasty-aholic! I was honored to be invited to attend several NCAA Football 13 Community Events this year and because Dynasty mode is my absolute favorite, I was excited to be asked to discuss several of the new features of this upcoming release with you. Let's dive right into the good stuff!!!

For those of you new to Dynasty mode, this is the mode that allows you to take over a team as the head coach or coordinator and play out multiple seasons, building your team by recruiting fictitious computer-generated prospects. Players on your team transfer to other schools, graduate, or head to the pros, just like in real life; so it is your job to continually bring in new players and, at the same time, develop the players currently on your team (they improve, partly based on their performance and playing time). I call it "Refresh and Rebuild"! To add to the excitement, you can compete with a number of your friends in the same dynasty for bragging rights! The better job of recruiting you do, the better your team will be and the better your chances will be to achieve NCAA Football glory!

One huge feature everyone is sure to love in NCAA Football 13 is how the game emulates the stories of Saturday. One of the things that really keeps a Dynasty player engaged is to become totally immersed into the emerging stories within the dynasty. Now, while you are playing your dynasty games, you'll receive in-game Studio Updates containing late-breaking action, ESPN style, with commentary by ESPN's very own Rece Davis! The ESPN-styled update is done very realistically, so, if you are playing an early game, for example, you would not get scores from a game that is being played later that evening. EA has also added an ESPN Bottom Line ticker, which is virtually identical to its real-life counterpart in appearance and functionality. The ESPN Bottom Line ticker, which displays at the bottom of the screen, keeps you updated with non-stop updates while you are in the middle of playing your game with scores from games in progress around the league. How cool is that?

One of the great appeals to Dynasty mode, and a feature which adds tremendous replay value to me and many of Dynasty enthusiasts, is recruiting.

Dynasty mode has received a major upgrade with the addition of recruit scouting. Yes, I did say scouting! Here's how it works: You can scout recruits weekly and during the off-season. During the off-season, you are allowed 20 hours to scout players that you are interested in. Each week during the season, you are allotted 5 hours of scouting time which you can spend on any recruits of your choice. Similar to recruiting in previous years, you can spend as much as 1 hour scouting each recruit or as little as 10 minutes.

Once you select how much time you want to scout a player, you are taken to the scouting screen where you'll see the true ratings revealed. The scouting screen is nicely designed, organizing recruit's attributes into related groups, such as Base (speed, strength, awareness, agility, acceleration, stamina, and injury), Tackling (tackle, hit power, pursuit, and play recognition), Coverage (man, zone, and press), and Block Shedding (block shedding, power moves, and finesse moves). Of course the groups listed depend on the position (e.g. quarterback, wide receiver, defensive end) of the recruit you are scouting. The example I included was for a cornerback.

Those familiar with dynasty mode know that each computer-generated recruit has a letter grade for each of the existing player skill attributes such as Speed, Catch, Acceleration, Route Running, Strength, Break Tackle, and Agility, the same as in previous years. New to NCAA Football 13 you can view a recruit's "Projected Overall Rating (OVR)". The term "projected", in this case, means the prospect's OVR could actually be better or worse than advertised, and in some cases, the difference could be substantial. As true player attributes are revealed, the player's projected OVR also changes, moving closer to the true OVR rating with each new reveal.

In previous years, a player's true numerical attribute ratings would not be revealed until the off-season. In NCAA Football 13, you are able to discover a recruit's true attribute ratings, over time, starting in the off-season, and weekly, as you devote more scouting time to the same recruit. You may, however, uncover an attribute that changes your interest in a particular player as well. For example, you are looking for a possession wide receiver and find the 85 OVR rated recruit with a B+ catch you added to your recruiting board is not as good as you initially thought. In that case, it may be time to target other recruits. On the other hand, you may find the prospect is actually better than initially rated. This, my friends, is real life! Gotta love it!

Another HUGE upgrade to Dynasty mode is the new Dynamic Pitch system. In Dynasty mode, each team is rated on a number of key characteristics or attributes such as Pro Potential, Coach Prestige, Conference Prestige, Program Tradition, and Championship Contender. Each computer-generated recruit rates each of these team pitch grades based on his interests. For example, the recruit may be interested in playing at the NFL level, so teams which have traditionally produced pro athletes (teams with high Pro Potential grades) would greatly appeal to him. Your job as a recruiter is to match up your team strengths with what the recruit values most. In other words, accentuate the positive. One big problem with team pitch grades in previous versions is the grades were mostly static, meaning some of them never changed over time. The problem with that is if you took over a low C-rated team and built them into a powerhouse, you'd often still be stuck with the same low pitch grades. The same would normally be the case if you took over a powerhouse and performed poorly.

EA has addressed this issue in NCAA Football 13 by linking team pitch grades to team characteristics and on-field performance metrics. Let me give you an example. Conference Prestige will now be determined based on an evaluation of the top teams in a selected conference. If the top teams, on average, get better over time, the Conference Prestige pitch grade will improve. Conversely, if teams decline, so will the pitch grade. The Pro Potential pitch grade is determined based on your team's ability to produce NFL players. A mock draft conducted at the end of each season is used to determine where your players would fall in the draft. The more of your players that make this mock draft, the more it helps improve your Pro Potential pitch grade. Players drafted higher make more of an impact on the pitch an players drafted in the later rounds.

Each pitch grade is linked to a number of metrics. In order to help you maximize your grades, EA has included dedicated screens, in the dynasty, which provides details on what factors are used to determine each pitch grade, providing you clear understanding of what you need to work on to improve your pitch grades.

One last thing, random recruit pitches are a thing of the past! In NCAA Football 13, you have complete control over the pitch process. You decide which pitches to make each week, and, to add even more flexibility, you can even ask a recruit what topic he'd like to talk about as well. The only stipulation is you cannot duplicate a pitch during a single phone call. I'm sure everyone in the community who were not fans of random pitches will be happy with this change.

I want to thank EA for allowing me this opportunity to share some of the new features with you. There are so many other great changes to dynasty mode I could talk about, but I just wanted to cover a couple to get you fired up for the early July release!

I personally can't wait to get my hands on NCAA Football 13 and start a new dynasty! I think the community will be really excited about the improvements made to my favorite mode! If you have any comments, hit me up on twitter (@Madscientist06).

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When NCAA Football 12 launched, we were troubled by the stability issues we saw with Online Dynasty which lead to Transfer Failed errors for some of you out there. When reports of those errors started to roll in, we found that we did not have the proper tools we needed to be able to diagnose and solve those issues quickly and efficiently. While we have continued to work diligently to resolve these issues; there is always the potential for one of these incidents to occur. This year we have added a new popup indicating a transfer failed has occurred and an associated incident identification number. This will provide an idea about what has caused the transfer and help us track down the issue faster. We have also added new processes to provide more detailed logging of failures should they occur, improved automated scripting to help identify the failures, and finally improved logging for user actions within Dynasty.

However, due to the complexity of an online feature such as this, there is always the possibility that an error can potentially occur. Through our new tools we will be notified when an error occurred but reporting the identification number will help with the communication of what errors people are seeing when they are reported and also which errors have been addressed if we have to roll out fixes.

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HEISMAN CHALLENGE

For the first time in franchise history, familiar faces are now on the field in NCAA Football 13, where fans can build a national powerhouse by placing one of 10 former Heisman Trophy winners on the team of their choice for the upcoming NCAA season. Under center, in the backfield, or split wide, utilize a Legend’s skill set in the quest to win the Heisman Trophy. Video interviews with each Heisman Trophy winner will be unlocked throughout the season, detailing the achievements of their glory days. In addition, fans can truly test themselves by matching their Heisman Legend’s historical performance in one season, which will not only win the Heisman Trophy, but also unlock each player in Road to Glory.

Heisman Legends include:

Marcus Allen– 1981 Heisman Trophy recipient, University of Southern California
Doug Flutie– 1984 Heisman Trophy recipient, Boston College
Eddie George– 1995 Heisman Trophy recipient, Ohio State University
Robert Griffin III– 2011 Heisman Trophy recipient, Baylor University
Desmond Howard– 1991 Heisman Trophy recipient, University of Michigan
Carson Palmer– 2002 Heisman Trophy recipient, University of Southern California
Barry Sanders– 1988 Heisman Trophy recipient, Oklahoma State University
Charlie Ward– 1993 Heisman Trophy recipient, Florida State University
Andre Ware– 1989 Heisman Trophy recipient, University of Houston
Herschel Walker– 1982 Heisman Trophy recipient, University of Georgia

The following DLC Heisman Legends are also available:

* Tim Brown – 1987 Heisman Trophy recipient, Notre Dame
* Archie Griffin – 1974 and 1975 Heisman Trophy recipient, Ohio State University
* Jim Plunkett – 1970 Heisman Trophy recipient, Stanford University
** Mark Ingram – 2009 Heisman Trophy recipient, University of Alabama
** Matt Leinart – 2004 Heisman Trophy recipient, University of Southern California
** Tim Tebow – 2007 Heisman Trophy recipient, University of Florida

* Available through the NCAA Football 13 demo download.
** Available through NCAA Football 13 pre-order from GameStop.

REACTION TIME

The new Reaction Time feature allows players to experience what it’s like on the field as a true Heisman Trophy-caliber athlete. Reaction Time literally slows down the action, allowing users to look for openings in defenses and perform skill moves to get into the open field, before smoothly transitioning back to regular speed. Gameplay has also been enhanced to include special teams and an updated playcall system.

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Hi NCAA fans, Brian Parker from EA SPORTS Game Changers here to share all the details about the newest feature in NCAA Football 13. Since 1935, the Heisman Trophy has been awarded to 74 different college football players judged to be the most outstanding athlete in a given season. The 25-pound bronze trophy is perhaps the greatest individual achievement any collegiate athlete can attain, and NCAA Football 13’s new “Heisman Challenge” mode is a testament to the importance of this yearly award.

It all starts with the cover of the game, featuring reigning Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III of Baylor University as well as Barry Sanders, the 1988 Heisman Trophy winner – and former Oklahoma State Cowboy – whose legend continued into the NFL as a member of the Detroit Lions. As Griffin III prepares to begin his own NFL career with the Washington Redskins, NCAA Football 13 allows gamers to use both athletes—as well as many others—in an attempt to replicate or even surpass the impressive statistics of each player’s Heisman Trophy campaign.

During my time with a work-in-progress build of the game at a recent Community Event, I got to sample the mode using Barry Sanders. Since I was only 4 years old when Sanders was tearing up the turf in Stillwater, Oklahoma, much of my understanding of his 1988 season is left to video highlights and statistical records. Thankfully, EA SPORTS sat down with each of the athletes featured in the Heisman Challenge mode to record face-to-face video interviews, which are interspersed over the course of the season as you play. Sometimes the videos are triggered by surpassing one of the athlete’s records in your season, or just as a result of an upcoming rivalry game like the Bedlam Series between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. In each case, hearing the athlete describe the achievements of their Heisman season helps to understand the individual outside the lines, reflecting back on glory days.

That said, gamers need not feel restricted to only use Barry Sanders as a Cowboy; the Heisman Challenge mode allows any team to be selected for the Heisman-winning athlete, so Sanders could just as well end up wearing the crimson and cream of the rival Oklahoma Sooners. Maybe you want to see whether or not Sanders’ 42 rushing touchdowns from the 1988 campaign could be replicated against the stout defenses of today’s SEC; all you need to do is select a team like Florida or Alabama and find out for yourself. Maybe your goal is completely different: to see if you can double up on Barry Sanders’ college career high in rushing yards (2,850); suiting up for a team in a smaller conference might be just what you need as you run over hapless defenders.

Once you’ve decided which school you’ll be playing for in the Heisman Challenge, the mode presents you with a list of achievements from the athlete’s real-life Heisman Trophy season, which serve as your goals as you prepare to play through a full college football season. Progress towards these milestones is tracked from the Heisman Challenge hub menu—very similar to the menu found in Dynasty and Online Dynasty modes—and you’ll also be tracking your standings in the current Heisman Trophy rankings as you try to relive history and bring the Heisman Trophy home all over again.

In order to make you feel like you’re controlling a true Heisman Trophy-caliber athlete on the field, the development team for NCAA Football 13 has introduced a new gameplay mechanic for this single-player mode: Reaction Time. We’ve all heard it said before from the world’s greatest athletes: “Everything just seems to slow down out there.” With Reaction Time, the game really does slow down; holding the L2 button on Sony PlayStation 3 or the Left Trigger on Microsoft Xbox 360 will send the game into slow-motion and allow you to look for openings in the defense and perform skill moves to get into the open field. Running between the tackles with Barry Sanders against a soft opponent early in Oklahoma State’s season was impressive enough, but once I started using Reaction Time it was addictive to bait defenders, go into slow-motion and make use of the various “skill moves” on the right analog stick to clear my way through to a touchdown. Seeing the game play out in that reduced speed also helped me improve my vision in the running game in general, which carried over to more successful play in the other game modes of NCAA Football 13.

With two star athletes sharing the cover of this year’s game, the new Heisman Challenge mode presents a great opportunity for gamers young and old to learn more about some of the athletes who have hoisted college football’s iconic individual award. On July 10th you’ll definitely want to give this NCAA Football 13 game mode the old college try.

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What's going on NCAA fans? Hard to believe the football season is not far away! I know most of you are starting to get the college football “itch”, well we have been feeling that way ever since ‘Bama took the title again! This year we’re trying to scratch that itch with a brand new mode in NCAA Football 13 and it’s called the Heisman Challenge.

Now, to be honest, before I started working on Heisman Challenge I never realized how absolutely amazing some of these guys’ Heisman winning seasons were. Take for instance, Ohio State's Eddie George. This incredible running machine averaged 150 yards rushing a game. Archie Griffin? He only rushed for 5,589 yards on 924 carries in his career. Oh yeah...did I mention he took home the Heisman hardware two times?



So for starters, let's cover the basics. What is this Heisman thing and why should you care about it?

Heisman Challenge allows you to play as any one of 16 Heisman Trophy winners. During the season you will be trying to match and beat the milestones and stats that the Heisman players put up their award-winning year. That’s the Challenge part.

So right off the bat let me introduce the 16 Heisman Players that you will be leading back to glory:

Marcus Allen – 1981 USC

Herschel Walker- 1982 Georgia

Doug Flutie – 1984 Boston College

Barry Sanders – 1988 Oklahoma State

Andre Ware – 1989 Houston

Desmond Howard- 1991 Michigan

Charlie Ward – 1993 Florida State

Eddie George – 1995 Ohio State

Carson Palmer- 2002 USC

Robert Griffin III – 2011 Baylor

*Jim Plunkett- 1970 Stanford

*Archie Griffin – 1974 and 1975 Ohio State

*Tim Brown – 1987 Notre Dame

**Tim Tebow – 2007 Florida

**Matt Leinart- 2004 USC

**Mark Ingram – 2009 Alabama

*Available through Demo download

**Available through pre-order from GameStop

Taking a look at that list, and you will notice that those are some of the all-time greatest to play college football. This is a monumental day for the NCAA Football franchise, because for the first time ever, you will get to play as real athletes in our game! Not only that, but you also get to play as the cover athlete, Robert Griffin III.

And yes, they look exactly as they did during their Heisman year. We spent a lot of time re-creating the exact look and style of each Heisman Player, including the awesome hairstyle of 70s great Archie Griffin, the elbow pads of the legendary Barry Sanders, and the swelling muscles of Herschel Walker.

My personal favorite part of the mode is the fact that you get to put your Heisman player on any team in the NCAA. So for my first couple of playthroughs, Barry was dominating the Pac-12 on Stanford. And playing with RG III on any SEC school is an absolute blast.

Along with re-creating the exact look and style of each player, we also ramped up the attributes of these players up to absurd amounts. Barry has the speed, Eddie has the power and Desmond has the hands. So when you play with these guys, you will feel like you really are much better than everybody else on the field, and that’s because you are.

So, what else makes Heisman Challenge new and interesting? Gameplay, that’s what. We added in a brand new feature called Reaction Time and we also added the ability to return both kicks and punts. Having certain Heisman players such as Desmond, Barry and Tim Brown meant that special teams were a must.

We also added the new Reaction Time feature, which is found in Heisman Challenge as well as Road to Glory. When we interviewed the Heisman Players about their glory days, they all said the same thing about big moments in big games. Things slow down. How do you think Barry Sanders was such a beast when he was juking and jiving all over the field?

So how does Reaction Time work? By holding the Left Trigger during gameplay, you'll be able to slow the speed of the game. It sounds pretty simple, but there is actually a lot of depth behind it. Let me explain a little more.

Reaction Time is counted in seconds, which is depleted as you use it. So any time during the play when you hold LT, you're instantly thrown into Reaction Time. Then, when you release the trigger, you're back at full speed. It's a beautiful transition that you, as the player, will definitely enjoy - because it does not take away from the overall game experience.

Furthermore, both running backs and quarterbacks have their own unique Reaction Time cameras. Reaction Time came from the idea that when a player has a ton of adrenaline pumping through his body during those high-intensity plays, he experiences the action on the field as if it were moving in slow motion. These unique cameras zoom in on the action, allowing the player to more easily concentrate on the important things.

Reaction Time is stored in its own meter on the playcall screen, which tells you how much Reaction Time you have remaining. The maximum amount you can ever have as a Heisman Athlete is 15 seconds, and you can replenish spent Reaction Time by doing positive things in game. So scoring TDs, gaining first downs, completing passes and more will all put more Reaction Time back into your meter. Also as a failsafe, you are always given a small amount of Reaction Time at the end of each play. So a larger boost for doing well in plays, and a smaller boost to fill it up if you want to conserve it.

Not only did we add in special teams and Reaction Time, we also tuned the heck out of the playcall system. No longer will you only get 5 carries as a RB, or 8 passes as a QB. You will get over 30 carries a game, and many more opportunities to pass as a QB. Not only that, but if you don’t like the play you are given, you have 20 chances a game to change that play into a pass or a run.

NCAA Football 13 also includes over 60 incredible interviews with our Heisman Winners. Our rookie designer Christian McLeod did a heck of a job preparing all sorts of personal questions to ask these guys. He went above and beyond the call to make the interview material well worth watching.

As you pass key weeks in the season, video interviews will be unlocked that show the Heisman winners reflecting on certain parts of their Heisman season. If you play through the season on your Heisman Winner's original college team, you'll be treated to videos that align perfectly with that year's key moments. I really could talk for days about how amazing these videos are, but you guys just need to play NCAA Football 13 and find out for yourselves. My personal favorite is the last Herschel Walker interview when he talks about winning the Heisman. Have tissues ready, because it's both emotional and inspirational.

When brainstorming ideas for this mode, I wanted to make sure we hit certain key game design features, because of the legacy of players we are representing. So that's when our designer minds kicked in and we came up with the "Challenge" part.

When you first boot up Heisman Challenge you're given 4 goals to complete with each player. We call these "Chasing History”. These goals are unique stats and accomplishments for each player during his Heisman year...and are they fun to try to beat. At first glance, these stats really don't jump out as being all that difficult in video game world. But take a step back for a second, and think about video games versus real life. Throwing for 20 TDs in a season is one heck of a year for a QB in real life; throwing for over 60 TDs in one season is one heck of a year for a QB in any video game. Let's face it; we gamers are really good at winning. So now you'll face a pretty difficult challenge in a football game. Instead of beating FCS East 77-0 in Dynasty Mode, try and put up Tebow's crazy numbers on Vandy, while playing in the SEC.

These goals are FUN. They really are. With the combination of Reaction Time, and all players having outrageous attributes, you can finally get something out of beating your Homecoming opponent by 60 points. What makes it even more fun is the scenarios you can create are endless. Barry Sanders at Stanford, Herschel Walker in the Big 12 or Doug Flutie in the SEC! And for a real challenge take any Heisman Winner and play with a smaller school for a season.

Continuing down the Challenge road, we also added in a revamped leaderboard with all new goals and accomplishments you can achieve to enhance your bragging rights.

I believe you'll agree that these new goals and accomplishments add more depth to the overall challenge. So instead of just trying to beat your Heisman winner's own personal goals, you can now try to break NCAA records and school records to earn even more points for the leaderboards!

So that's the Heisman Challenge in a nutshell. It's a fun, challenging and exciting mode that really showcases some of the guys who made our college football experiences so amazing. Speaking personally, it was an absolute honor and joy to immortalize these players in video game history.

Enjoy and War Eagle!

-Alex

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What’s going on NCAA Football Community? It’s Alex Howell, back again to fill you in on my pride and joy, Road to Glory. Last year we introduced a lot of new and exciting features, so let me tell you a little about what we worked on this year.

The biggest feature coming to RTG, which you might have seen during the Heisman Challenge reveal, is Reaction Time. Without going into a terrible amount of detail since the cat is out of the bag, Reaction Time slows down the game when you hold the Left Trigger/L2. It’s simple, fun, and highly addicting.

Reaction Time is counted in seconds, and is depleted as you use it. So any time during the play when you hold LT/L2, you're instantly thrown into Reaction Time. Then, when you release the trigger, you're back at full speed. The transition flows extremely well from being in Reaction Time to being out ofit, because it does not take away from the overall game experience. Every camera angle for Reaction Time was tuned to bring you as close to the action as you could get, without losing track of what’s happening on the rest of the field.

Reaction Time is not unlimited either. You will have a meter in play-call that shows you how much time you have left. You can also earn more Reaction Time by performing well on the field. The more TDs you score and the more first downs you gain, the more Reaction Time you restore.

But Reaction Time in RTG is much different than from how it is in Heisman Challenge. In RTG, Reaction Time is completely based off your Awareness rating. The higher your awareness rating, the larger your meter grows. When you start out the mode, you will have a small amount and as you progress throughout college, you can use the upgrade store to buy Awareness boosts, which in return increase your total amount of Reaction Time.

After extensively looking all over the interwebs for feedback on RTG, there was one gleaming change that needed to happen in NCAA Football 13, and that was the difficulty of the entire mode. So this year the very first feature we worked on was adding in Difficulty Options to RTG. Each level effects your progression for Coach Trust, XP and Gameplay. If you want the easy road, play on Freshman, but if you want the ultimate challenge, try playing on Heisman Difficulty. Trust me, it’s hard.. On freshman difficulty, XP points will be much easier to obtain, Coach Trust is easier to grab, and the gameplay difficulty is set on the easiest level. Meanwhile, players opting for Heisman difficulty will have to grind hard to create the ultimate big man on campus.

We also spent time tuning our play calling logic so that we could avoid situations like a running play when you’re behind with three seconds left in the game and the ball on the 40 yard line. That will not happen anymore. Instead, we have completely revamped the playcall system to make sure that you are having more fun and getting more of the plays called just for you. Along with tuning the playcalling, we also tuned the amount of Recruiting Points you get in High School. Last year, you were getting a lot of points on Offense and not as many on Defense, so we adjusted both.

Another highly requested feature from the community was the addition of Kick Returns and Punt Returns. Talk about something that is just an absolute blast to play in RTG. As a RB/WR/DB, you will be able to return every single kick/punt, if you are high enough on the depth chart. It’s also another way to get out there and prove yourself, and even though you might not be starting, you can still return kicks and punts. Also, returning the ball with Reaction Time is a ton of fun. You can really see the lanes develop and follow the key blocks that will lead you to the endzone.

I briefly touched on this in the Heisman Challenge presentation, but we have also added improvements to the existing accomplishment system in RTG. These accomplishments are ways to really test yourself and see how good of a RTG player you really are. Every single NCAA, school, year and season record you could think of is including in the Accomplishment screen, along with position-specific goals which will really challenge you throughout your college career. This year they are shown off in a much more user-friendly way, via medals, which are added to your overall Legend Point score.

Of course we had to revamp the Leaderboards to accommodate the new skill levels, so we also reworked the Legend Point system as well. There are two sets of Leaderboards now, one of Varsity difficulty and a joint leaderboard for All-American/Heisman. This will really let fans duke it out to see who can get the most Legend Points, since you now have over 70 different accomplishments that make up your overall Legend Point score.

Now for a little High School love. This year we have added in eight brand new High School stadiums, bringing the total number of stadiums to 11. These stadiums range from being in small towns out in the middle of the cornfields, to right in the busy part of a metropolitan city. These stadiums really bring a diverse atmosphere to the already broad way you can play RTG by importing TeamBuilder teams.

Along with new stadiums, we added in a brand new practice facility to the College portion of RTG. Now instead of playing on forever field that has gotten a bit long in the tooth, you get a realistic facility that actually has two fields on it. Since most Universities practice Offense and Defense on separate fields, we thought that bringing this to NCAA was an absolute must. We’re also very proud of another brand-new feature, the Scouting Report. Every single time you walk onto the practice field in College, you will be greeted with a Scouting Report screen that will give you every single bit of information about what you need to know for that week of practice. If you are on the scout team, working your way up to the top, you will see who you are practicing with, what playbook you are using, and even the key players that you will be mimicking.

Thanks again for taking the time to check out the blog and I really hope you all enjoy the new features in Road to Glory this year! Also, if you are able to win the Heisman with any player in Heisman Challenge, you can use that player’s model in RTG. A fun little addition we thought would extend your playing time even more! War Eagle and Go Trojans!

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Greetings, NCAA Football fans. My name is Chris Jacobs and I am a member of the EA SPORTS Game Changers program and you can find me at The Gaming Tailgate, an NCAA Football community site. Today I want to break down some of the improvements coming to NCAA Football 13's Road to Glory mode.

To start with, let's talk about some of the community requests that have been implemented this year. With users having four seasons to move from prized recruit to star player, some Road to Glory fans want to ramp up quickly and get playing time as soon as possible, while others want to move more deliberately up the depth chart after putting in the hard work in Practice and any Playing Time they may receive each week. In NCAA Football 13, Road to Glory has added in difficulty options (Freshman, Varsity, All-American, & Heisman) that will directly affect your progression in Coach Trust, XP, and Gameplay. This will give users the opportunity to play and progress the way they want within Road To Glory.

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of Road to Glory in the past was the lack of touches for your player. This year the play-calling has been tuned to provide more carries for running backs and more pass plays for quarterbacks. Now your player will have more opportunities to shine and in turn, make the mode more enjoyable.

Another top community request added to the mode is the ability to return kicks and punts. This ability will be available for running backs, wide receivers, and also defensive backs. With the improved punt return system in game - as well as Reaction Time (which I'll discuss next) - the ability to return kicks will give your player an additional avenue to earn Legend Points and change the momentum of a game.

As first mentioned during the announcement of Heisman Challenge, "Reaction Time" is a new gameplay feature exclusive to Road to Glory and Heisman Challenge. On the field, holding Left Trigger (L2) will slow the action down, allowing you to see the everything in greater detail in determining what move to execute or what hole to hit. A personal unexpected benefit of Reaction Time is that it will aid you in your play under normal speed and conditions as well. Reaction Time is limited in time and can be increased with Good & Great Play Bonuses as well as with Progression & Progression items you can buy within the Road To Glory store (credit-based).

The Legend Point system has also been revamped in NCAA Football 13. Points are now earned by completing goals which are based on position. There are an extensive number of goals that you can achieve to earn Legend Points. With this change, there are now two different skill-based Legend Point leaderboards: one for Varsity and another for All-American/Heisman.

The Practice experience has also received some changes, including a Scouting Report that shows information about your upcoming foe and your assignments for that week. With so much time spent within Practice, a new practice facility has been added featuring two fields based on whether you are playing offense or defense.

For more info on all of the changes coming to Road to Glory, make sure to check out the blog from Designer Alex Howell and check out the archive of the RTG webcast.

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