NCAA 07 XBox 360 Thread

billharris44 · Post by **billharris44** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 2:21 pm

Brando, that's really puzzling, particularly on a Panasonic plasma, which generally have very good protection against IR and burn-in. I usually run something else for 10-15 minutes after I'm done playing (I have a Panasonic as well) just to be on the safe side.

The problem with trying to lower brightness is that if you lower the ticker to a decent level, the game is really too dark, at least for me. That EA logo is disproportionately bright.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:06 pm

billharris44 wrote:Brando, that's really puzzling, particularly on a Panasonic plasma, which generally have very good protection against IR and burn-in. I usually run something else for 10-15 minutes after I'm done playing (I have a Panasonic as well) just to be on the safe side.

The problem with trying to lower brightness is that if you lower the ticker to a decent level, the game is really too dark, at least for me. That EA logo is disproportionately bright.

Yeah, tell me about it. I don't baby my plasma and like I said, it's the first time I've had an issue. It's especially problematic for the online games, which take an hour and feature almost no opportunities to make that f***in ticker go away. During my dynasty games, I watch a lot of replays and take pictures, so that helps break it up.

I can probably lower the brightness to 0 to -3 without it causing a playing problem. I think it's just some IR -- I know you have to work to burn-in today's plasmas -- but it sucks that I even have to think about it.

I'm more worried about it in Madden, because that's the game I tend to want to play for hours at a time.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:22 pm

Brando70 wrote:
Zeppo wrote: They are fairly low -- I have a Panasonic plasma, and the settings range from -40 to 40. I have my brightness for videogames set at 6 or 7. I've had that setting since I reached my 100 hour break-in period, and I've played all kinds of games without issue -- Oblivion, RE4, CoD2, and lots of Madden 2006 and MVP 05.

I'm going to try cranking the brightness down when I play and see if it helps. It's not an issue yet because a) it does go away and b) I can't notice it unless the TV has no signal coming in and I'm really close. It appears to be image retention, which is not permanent, as opposed to burn in. Plasmas are pretty hearty these days, I'm just being careful.

Anyway, I can't really blame EA for this, I just wish they had followed the Madden 06 model where the ticker disappears during the plays. Plus, the bright white of the borders and EA logo is what's really causing the problem.

Wow, that is low! My pany only ranges from -30 to 30, but after my break in period I've been watching TV on standard with contrast at 13-16 and brightness near 5. The 360 I have on Vivid with contrast in the 15-20 range depending on the game, and brightness way up near 15 or 18 depending. Not only that but I usually end up turning the in-game brightness settings if they are available. I try to use whatever calibration patterns I can in the games, though PGR3 is really the only one that was anything close to useful, and that one wants the brightness crazy high.

Anyway, maybe you should try cranking up your settings? lol/ Honestly the first time I've noticed any retention was the other day from Oblivion and that was against a white screen, not a no-signal black, or a medium gray, or anything else. Weird.

And I do blame EA. Plasma screens are huge sellers, and there's no reason they can't take at least the minimum consideration for that in terms of static images. Like you said, Madden last year had it disappear when you run the play, but there's no reason it needs to be there when you pause etc.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:26 pm

I thought Blizz was bad with their servers on WoW but EA takes the cake again...the richest company going this long with servers down???

They are quite simply crap...they dont give a rats ass about customer service just $$$$$

Worst thing that ever happened to a sports gamer was these pricks getting exclusive licenses.

snaz16 · Post by **snaz16** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 7:37 pm

I took the plunge and got a 360 and Ncaa. After 5 games, I've gotten a dirty disc error twice. Anyone else having this problem? After going thru the several pages of "bugs and glitches" thread over at OS, I'm starting to think I may have a bad disc drive

Supposedly newer 360's are having problems with the disc drives. I'm going to be extremely pissed, if I got to turn around and crate this b!tch up and ship it back!

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 7:56 pm

snaz16 wrote:I took the plunge and got a 360 and Ncaa. After 5 games, I've gotten a dirty disc error twice. Anyone else having this problem? !

I have had it 3 times since NCAA came out...2 times I had to restart online games...sux...Something bad happens to me everytime I buy a system when its new...

My PS1 had to be played upside for its last four years...
My first PS2 wouldnt read certain color discs..

I dont think they really test thsese suckers just try them out on us..

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 12:14 am

Haven't had any problems with the 360 (purchased in January) or NCAA. In fact, after having a real laggy game against BDunn, my last three online games have been pretty good.

The more I play, the more I like the game. There's a lot of things I wish they would do, but overall its fun. Nothing like seeing a WR come back and knock the snot out of a DB to help your receivers get extra yards.

The image retention problem also has been temporary. I lowered brightness while playing, and while I still got some IR, it was lighter. It's also been going completely away if I take a couple days off between games and watch TV or play other games. So I'm not really worried -- I don't have the kind of time to do permanent damage to the screen

Still, though, these developers need to think about plasma owners when they make these things. It's not that hard to make a game plasma friendly.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 9:28 am

XXXIV wrote:My first PS2 wouldnt read certain color discs..

You had a racist PS2?

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 6:09 pm

Brando70 wrote:The more I play, the more I like the game. There's a lot of things I wish they would do, but overall its fun.

I'm probably moving in the other direction...the more I play the less I like it. I'm just obsessed with how stupid the momentum is, I don't like the numerous amount of interceptions, there are too many fumble returns for TDs, and the lack of CPU missed FGs just really annoy me.

But worst of all, there are times when the game is incredibly scripted. Today I was playing Rob and the game gave me a total gift TD when I was down by 2 TDs. He was trying to basically run out the clock with both hands covering the ball and it was "stripped" away and I picked it up and ran for a TD. Right before I played Rob I was playing my Army at Texas A&M in my dynasty. I started out great winning 14-7. Now, I expected to get blown out but after giving up the tying touchdown it was worthless. I suddenly fumbled everything, missed tackles, missed wide open receivers by 10 yards, couldn't block anyone, etc. Things like that weren't happening in the first quarter. It's not that I felt A&M was manhandling my team, as they should, but it felt more like I was fighting the game more than a superiour opponent. As Rob put it during our game, "momentum is something best left to sportscasters." It's not that Rob wasn't 14 points better than me. He clearly was, but it was just a very very strange way of getting there.

Don't get me wrong. I have not felt cheated, I still like the game, and I've had fun. It's not "broken." It's just not the classic football game I was really hoping for. There are just too many things that aren't right about it.

I'm looking forward to Madden!

Blublub · Post by **Blublub** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 6:29 pm

I'm with Leebo. The more I play the more the stuff that was mildly annoying to begin with becomes unbearable. Funny thing is that the PSP version seems much preferable were it not for the running bug. It just feels more random than the 360 version. I agree there seems to be some pretty serious scripting at play at times.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 2:08 am

If any of you guys that are losing favor with the game still have an Xbox or PS2, you owe it to yourself to give the current gen version a try. None of the stuff you mention happens in the current gen version. The momentum meter, which is just horribly implemented, isn't as bad on the current gen version as it is on the the 360 version.

I'm 9 games into my dynasty and having a blast on the Xbox version.

While the Xbox version isn't perfect, it plays a much, much better game of football than the 360 version.

If all you have is a 360, then I can understand your disappointment. The direction EA is taking our favorite football franchises makes me shudder.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 3:18 am

I'm just trying to figure out why a guy who hates the 360 version keeps posting in the 360 thread. Weird.

Post by **Jared** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 7:39 am

Umm...this isn't the "I heart NCAA 2007 for the XBox 360 thread". If people don't like the 360 version, or think the XBox version is better, they are more than welcome to post those opinions here.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 7:56 am

Badgun wrote:If all you have is a 360, then I can understand your disappointment. The direction EA is taking our favorite football franchises makes me shudder.

There are things I don't like about the 360 version, but I don't feel that way at all. It's still much better than the barely playable (to me) NCAA 05 and 06 on Xbox and a lot of the problems in Madden 360 are fixed. The momentum is bad, but it's not even close to as bad as the composure "feature" was when it was first implemented. The lack of missed FGs is frustrating, but it's not like it hasn't happened in other games (NFL 2K4). I don't think these are issues that can't be corrected. If the Xbox series got back on the right track this year then I'm sure the 360 version *can* get a lot better. The scripting in the 360 version isn't anything like the scripting that occurred in the first current generation version of NCAA, which was the most scripted sports video game ever IMO.

I'm going to try Madden. If I go back to the last generation then it will probably be on PSP (I would love to have a 360 Madden/PSP NCAA combination, but I have zero confidence the PSP version will be fixed). If Madden on 360 is bad, I will probably stick with NCAA for 360 or pickup a PS2 football game on the cheap someday.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 9:46 am

Badgun wrote:If any of you guys that are losing favor with the game still have an Xbox or PS2, you owe it to yourself to give the current gen version a try. None of the stuff you mention happens in the current gen version. The momentum meter, which is just horribly implemented, isn't as bad on the current gen version as it is on the the 360 version.

I'm 9 games into my dynasty and having a blast on the Xbox version.

While the Xbox version isn't perfect, it plays a much, much better game of football than the 360 version.

If all you have is a 360, then I can understand your disappointment. The direction EA is taking our favorite football franchises makes me shudder.

I'll probably pick this back up for my ps2 when I pick up Madden next week. I didn't play it much when I first bought it for the ps2 on release day. Are the difficulties still the same? Meaning, do you play on Heisman in the current version like many are doing on the 360 version?

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 10:57 am

Let me ask you guys this: is it because I don't play v. CPU that I don't believe the hype about the momentum meter? As far as I've seen in the online games I've played, the momentum meter has no effect whatsoever on game play. I just don't believe it! I've chipped away at it, I've been behind in the game on the road with the meter full against me, and been able to come back to win the game. I've never seen any dropped passes, missed blocks, turnovers, etc. that were any different due to where the momentum meter was. I've seen plenty of all those, but I haven't noticed that the momentum meter has had any effect on them at all.

Maybe it's a too-small sample size, since I only play online games. Or maybe it only really matters v. CPU, but I swear if there weren't a visual depiction on-screen of the momentum meter, I would never know it existed at all. I just don't believe the hype!

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:13 am

My sample size is also small, and lately I've been playing online, but I haven't seen a huge screwgee from the Mo Meter. When I played Sully in the league, I got 5 bars when I scored first at FSU. While he suffered some initial dropsies that seemed momentum-related (almost like his guys weren't focused), he recovered and eventually came back to win. The two of us also only had one turnover each, interceptions that were both our fault.

Same thing when I played Millennium the other night. Regardless of the momentum meter, which jumped all over as the lead changed), we both moved the ball pretty effectively. He had three fumbles, but if I remember correctly only one looked out of his control (a bad pitch from his QB).

I do think the meter is overdone, that scoring first in an away game shouldn't max it out. Again, though, I've only played a a few games in my Dynasty, and the one huge upset I've suffered (losing to Ohio), I did a lot of dumb stuff.

I would also love to try out the XBox version for comparison, but my big black box is no longer with me. I do think that the 360 version is light years ahead of the super-shitty 2005 and the cleaned-up-but-still-a-little-ripe 2006 version.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:25 am

It's all in our heads then.

I'm probably blaming the momemtum meter for other ills in the game like me averaging 4 picks a game offline with interceptions at zero and the 6 turnovers I saw between two teams in the 4th quarter of a recent dynasty game.

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:27 am

Badgun wrote:If any of you guys that are losing favor with the game still have an Xbox or PS2, you owe it to yourself to give the current gen version a try. None of the stuff you mention happens in the current gen version. The momentum meter, which is just horribly implemented, isn't as bad on the current gen version as it is on the the 360 version.

I'm 9 games into my dynasty and having a blast on the Xbox version.

While the Xbox version isn't perfect, it plays a much, much better game of football than the 360 version.

If all you have is a 360, then I can understand your disappointment. The direction EA is taking our favorite football franchises makes me shudder.

Which game plays a better game of football is purely subjective. I'll stick to the 360 version. THere is no going back to the PS2 version for me.

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:06 pm

Leebo33 wrote:It's all in our heads then.

I'm probably blaming the momemtum meter for other ills in the game like me averaging 4 picks a game offline with interceptions at zero and the 6 turnovers I saw between two teams in the 4th quarter of a recent dynasty game.

I haven't had experiences quite that drastic, but count me in as someone who thinks the mo-meter is overdone. Something I think we all anticipated. When the other team has mo, I play pretty conservatively and pick my spots as to when I am going to take a shot at a big play.

Also Leebo, I see you have INT's at 0, what do you have knockdowns at? And QB ACC and WR catching at?

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:09 pm

Well i like momentum but not all the interceptions are based on momentum. A lot of them are still stuck in impact players. I have a 99 CB that picked off 15 in a season and 5 in a game. The CPU kept running these comeback routes and my CB kept jumping on them. Throwing over the middle and LBs picks are my weakness.

Momentum is broken but not in the way many think. There will be times, I will score and the CPU mo will max out. Mostly on things like a defensive score or off a kickoff. Sometimes I wonder if the momentum meter isn't displaying the "actual" momentum in the game.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:20 pm

bkrich83 wrote:Also Leebo, I see you have INT's at 0, what do you have knockdowns at? And QB ACC and WR catching at?

I think I have ACC and catching at 60. I have run the gamut on knockdowns going from zero to max. It might be back to default. I'd love to find a slider solution for the picks because I'm real happy with the most other results.

The six turnover 4th quarter game was Army vs. Arkansas State. Maybe it was caused by low ratings. Funny thing was I think those were the only turnovers of the game! It was almost like the game engine said, "hey, we have to average 3 turnovers a piece and we don't have any yet so let's get moving!"

I don't want to sound too hard on the game as I do like it.

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:26 pm

Leebo33 wrote:
bkrich83 wrote:Also Leebo, I see you have INT's at 0, what do you have knockdowns at? And QB ACC and WR catching at?
I think I have ACC and catching at 60. I have run the gamut on knockdowns going from zero to max. It might be back to default. I'd love to find a slider solution for the picks because I'm real happy with the most other results.

The six turnover 4th quarter game was Army vs. Arkansas State. Maybe it was caused by low ratings. Funny thing was I think those were the only turnovers of the game! It was almost like the game engine said, "hey, we have to average 3 turnovers a piece and we don't have any yet so let's get moving!"

I don't want to sound too hard on the game as I do like it.

Sounds like your sliders are about what mine are at.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:31 pm

Leebo33 wrote:It's all in our heads then.

I didn't want to suggest that it was. The meter definitely causes some issues. I think it makes it harder to strike for a big play. But I have found that, like BK said, if you get a little conservative and grind out a drive, you can counteract it. Unless your guys fumble a half dozen times

I do wonder if it varies depending on team ratings or where you are at? I haven't played a lot of powerhouse games yet except for a couple of early exhibitions.

It might be that I didn't a) play Madden 360 last year and b) have played every other Madden since the beginning of time, but NCAA 07 on the 360 feels different to me, and I'm sure that's a big reason why I'm enjoying the game. The way receivers come back to block on running plays or after the catch is enough to warm my jaded soul. However, there's definitely a lot of room for improvement in the game, both on and off the field.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:38 pm

Brando70 wrote:
Leebo33 wrote:It's all in our heads then.
I didn't want to suggest that it was.

I needed a smiley or a

I do think it is in my head sometimes as I get furious as the movement of momentum makes no sense sometimes. Getting a FG on the opening drive, especially when you should/could have scored a TD should not max out your momentum.