After the release of the NCAA Football series every year, the hottest topic is always named rosters.  Check out the EA rosters for the following users:

PS3 - buckeye02

Xbox 360 - FAIRDALE KINGS

If you have any problems with the rosters, click on the link above and reply to the appropriate thread.

According to PastePadre.com, there’s now a patch available for NCAA Football 11.  Known as the “release day” patch, it includes the following fixes:

• Fixed an exploit where the QB could walk through the defense when the ball is snapped, with a guaranteed a gain of over 50 yards.
• Tuned QB fumbling on scrambles, resolving an issue where the QB would fumble every time if hit past the line of scrimmage.
• Improved deep zone coverage assignments, making it significantly more difficult to be beaten by the deep ball. In particular, deep zones have been improved against Streak routes.
• Tuned QB throwing out of a sack. Previously, it was too easy for a QB to throw the ball while being tackled; this has been toned down to be more accurate.
• Resolved an error with pursuit angles, which resulted in defenders over pursuing the ball carrier every play. The angle was fixed to be slightly more aggressive, creating a more accurate pursuit.
• Tuned the read and react assignment for linebackers, especially outside linebackers, before the handoff. This will make it more difficult to run the ball outside the Tackles.
• Fixed an issue with the CPU ball carrier being stuck in a forward lean animation. Also lowered the frequency of CPU ball carriers leaning.
• Resolved an issue where AI players in man coverage assignment would swerve when covering particular vertical routes, causing them to be beat repeatedly.
• Ball carriers will no longer go into a tightrope assignment when running along the sideline. This was causing the player’s speed to decrease to 70%.
• Resolved an issue that was causing tackles to not matchup in online games, potentially causing a crash in online games.
• Footsliding will no longer occur when the ball carrier has the ball in their left hand.
• Tuned CPU screen passes so they will get rid of the ball faster, resulting in less sacks.
• Resolved a crash that occurred if connection is lost before entering a game mode.

Dell Home has NCAA Football ‘11 for Xbox 360  for $39.99:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/XBOX_360/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&sku=A3822510

This is likely a limited time offer.

Out of nowhere, EA has released “NCAA Football HD” for iPhone 4.  Here’s a description of the game:

“FASTER. BETTER. BRIGHTER. DESIGNED JUST FOR iPHONE 4! Get the pure passion and true intensity of real college football along with the stunning visual impact of the Retina Display. Represent your school and lead them to glory in the BCS National Championship. With rules and plays reflecting the real NCAA Division 1 experience, play the game the way it’s meant to be played – now in amazing HD!

MADE TO MAXIMIZE THE iPHONE 4 RETINA DISPLAY
With the sharpest, highest resolution phone screen ever made, see your collegiate game spring to life with color and clarity as crisp as an Autumn afternoon.

ROLL WITH THE TIDE? DO THE GATOR CHOMP? HOOK ‘EM HORNS?
Represent YOUR school and capture the real feel of NCAA Football! Choose from over 55 of the most popular collegiate teams. Run the wishbone, the spread offense, and more, as you play out traditional rivalries or build your own.

BUILD A UNIQUE TRADITION WITH CREATE-A-SCHOOL
Use the NCAA Team Editor to make your own team from the ground up. Create uniforms, school colors, stadiums, player and team names – even select your own fight song from your iTunes® playlist!

BECOME THE NATIONAL CHAMP
Guide your team through an entire season. Earn bids to the Rose Bowl, the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, and the FedEx Orange Bowl. Or see if you’ve got that special something extra to win the BCS National Championship and be #1.

CHALLENGE YOUR PERSONAL RIVALS
Go head-to-head against a friendly rival via live Bluetooth Multiplayer.

REAL BROADCAST COMMENTARY AMPS UP THE EXCITEMENT
The voices of real-life commentators Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit give you a total sense of the game.”

Check it out on the App Store here.  There’s also a non-HD version for older iPhones here.

In honor of iOS 4 being released today, I have republished this blog article on finding some great iPhone wallpapers.  To check it out, go to sciphone.net’s website at http://sciphone.net/thumbnails.php?album=78

There’s currently over 65 schools available for download.  To download an image directly from within your iPhone, simply hold your finger on a picture for a few seconds. A toolbar will pop up from the bottom and give you the option to save it to your camera roll.  Then, while on the iPhone dashboard, select “Photos”, then “Camera Roll”, click the image you want as your wallpaper, and then click the lower left icon (the square with a “forward-like” arrow), and select “Use As Wallpaper”.

On Friday, EA announced several bug fixes that were mentioned in my previous blog post for NCAA Football ‘11.  The bug fixes include:

• On Xbox 360, the Reese’s Perfect Play of the Game will not always be the final play. As some of you have already speculated, we temporarily save off highlights to the hard drive during the game so you can view them later, however this is not something we are able to do in the demo.
• The CPU team will now decline penalties.
• Front four defensive linemen will generate a better pass rush. There are many contributing factors to this that have been tweaked. CPU defensive linemen will rush the pass more aggressively and will not get thrown to the ground as often when “losing” to the blocker. Defensive ends will also do a better job of getting off their blocks at more appropriate angles to help contain a scrambling quarterback. Additionally, you can always tune the pass rush to your liking using the AI sliders if you still feel it is lacking (or overpowered) in the final product.
• A major issue was fixed where the sound would cut out and eventually cause the game to freeze.
• Pass defense has been greatly improved, both in man and zone coverage assignments. They will do a better job defending crosses, slants, and the flats in man coverage. Also, deep zone assignments have been improved to defend against the deep pass. Like the pass rush, you can further tune this to your liking using AI sliders.
• Improved lead blocking by pulling linemen and fullbacks on tosses and sweeps.
• Fixed an issue where place kickers were getting subbed out for (usually) quarterbacks on kicks.
• Fixed issue where the commentary would occasionally sound garbled on Xbox 360.
• Dual Stick Ballcarrier Control has been improved, making R-Stick moves look and feel more responsive. Also made some visual improvements with turning and leaning animations.
• Fixed some issues that caused receivers to drop catches they should have made. Again, this is also something that can be tuned further using AI Sliders.
• Quarterbacks will no longer stutter when scrambling and crossing the line of scrimmage.
• Fixed several situations where the wrong team was celebrating after a big play.
• Playcall will not suggest going for a 2 point conversion when it shouldn’t.
• In general, we made defenders a little better at getting off blocks. This helps in defending against outside runs and quarterback scrambles as mentioned before.
• Fixed several camera issues on kickoffs, including the one where the camera would not follow the ball on the ground.
• Fixed a broken play where the quarterback would get stuck in his handoff animation and just run backwards away from the line of scrimmage.
• Fixed FB Fake HB Toss play so the quarterback will not toss the ball behind the running back.
• Improved head tracking for ball carriers, receivers and defenders.
• Fixed some issues with auto replay cameras where it was too low to the ground and was not focusing on the correct targets.
• More general tuning was done on option plays to make them run smoother.
• Fixed an issue with playcall where it was not remembering the last formation you called.
• Fixed an issue where receivers couldn’t make a tackle quickly after an interception.
• Removed an exploit that would allow for “Rocket Catches”.
• Fixed an issue where the CPU Ballcarrier would continue to cover the ball during long runs, even if no defenders were near.
• Defenders will now be able to press receivers when they are in preplay motion.
• Fixed an issue where defenders would turn the wrong way on curl routes.
• Fixed an issue where defenders in man coverage would make a bad direction change after pressing the receiver.
• Tuned some out-routes out of the backfield that were too effective against man coverage.
• Fixed an issue where linebackers would stutter in pre-play and would get stuck.
• Fixed some issues with players bumping into each other during preplay adjustments.
• Fixed some issues where defenders would get caught offsides a lot against the no huddle.
• Fixed the issue causing a delayed whistle in post play.
• Fixed an exploit that disables bump and run after a play is flipped, causing coverage to go back to normal.
• Fixed an exploit that allowed you to consistently recover onside kicks.
• Adjusted CPU AI for kick returns so that they will not attempt to catch kickoffs that are headed out of bound.
• Improved CPU clock management so they will call a timeouts properly to set up a late field goal.
• Fixed an issue where the Read Option would not be executed properly from the hash marks.
• Numerous Commentary Fixes and Additions.
• Various other tweaks and tuning to improve general gameplay.

The demo for NCAA Football 11 came out earlier this week and the consensus is that this is the best entry in the franchise.  The “hurry up offense” implementation has been getting some great feedback in the various online forums.  Without getting into too many details, here are my pro’s and con’s from the demo:

Pro’s

Implementation of the offenses
Locomotion
ESPN integration
Pregame entrances
Formation subs
No more Lee Corso
Presentation-style replays

Con’s

720P resolution
Too many fumbles
In some plays, the defensive line doesn’t rush at all and the QB has 30 seconds to pass
Ability to celebrate with the mascot (still unrealistic and pointless)
Not enough stats (doesn’t feel like a real ESPN broadcast)

While the demo itself plays very well, I still don’t feel immersed into the college football atmosphere.  The development team at EA is relying too much on the consumer to make the emotional connection with the game (the ability to write your own Dynasty stories).  While running the hurry-up offense, I would like to see an upclose view of the QB looking at the coach.  I then want to see the QB looking down at the playbook on his list and then directing his team like a general.  Alternatively, I would like to see some “side-views” of the entire team looking at the sidelines and looking at the playchart that some teams use.

Don’t get me wrong…the game plays great and this feels like the first entry in the NCAA Football series in which I don’t feel like I’m being robbed of $60.  I just hope that my impression of the game doesn’t derail once I get my hands on the full version.

NCAA Football ‘11 is quickly poising itself to be the best entry that we’ve seen in the series so far. Here’s a quick looking at what you can expect for this year’s release:

Better lighting:

Improved blocking:
120 Ways to Win:  

ESPN Integration:
Locomotion:
Team-specific entrances:  

Other known features:

Additional mascots
Post-play interaction between players (trash talking and sportsmanship)
Fans celebrating after a big play
Formation subs

Rumors:

Additional broadcast packages
Pre-game show
No more Lee Corso

Gameplay video:

While shopping for a laptop online, I saw a coupon code specified for the Wii version of Madden 11. However, when I tested the same coupon code on NCAA Football 11, I was surprised to see that it worked. Here’s the coupon code:

PAXEAST842

To pre-order the game, go to EA’s store via this link. I do not know how long this offer will last.

Only months before the expected release of NCAA Football 11, we finally have some information on what will be included. Most of the changes are features that should have been included in previous versions that they are finally addressing. Here’s the short list:

1. Referees
2. Gang Tackles
3. Auto save
4. Autoloading of rosters from one mode to the next
5. Formation subs
6. New equipment including the “Revolution Speed Helmet”, knees braces, and more
7. Bowls are a single week in online dynasty
8. Dynamic conference logos
9. Numbers on helmets

There’s nothing too big here to get excited about. However,I’m impressed that they’re finally addressing some of the most wanted features.  This could be the year that NCAA Football 11 becomes the true “next-gen” game that we have all expected.