Before you trade Julio….
BJ Ryan sure has sucked hard the past two nights...2 save attempts, 2 blown saves. Of course with the little league team they've had playing the Twins, I think the 9th inning in two games has given the O's 3 errors or 2 errors and one wild pitch.
I'm going to bed because I can't watch anymore.....(bot 9 2 out tied 3-3)....
A Daily kos Blog moment – or George Bush is a smart man
Well, let's see:
Your most trusted advisor has been potentially exposed as a leak. Although you said earlier if you found out who leaked the name of a CIA operative, you'd fire them, you've now revised it to say that if you find out on any calendar date ending in "day" that the rule doesn't apply. Pressure has been applied and things are starting to heat up. Even Republicans are concerned. What do you do?
Schedule a press conference to announce your new Supreme Court nominee in prime time and make sure you nominate someone that your daddy nominated before but the Democrats never voted on, becuase hey, that's a way to extend an olive branch and reach out.
You do have to hand it to him. He sure is spending whatever capital he has left. But I think his account is going negative and he doesn't have courtesy pay....FWIW, I have no comment on the new nominee. I did read that he was nominated right before Clinton took office, so no vote was ever made. I don't know if daddy did that just to give the guy a bump, or if he seroiusly thought someone would vote when he was a lame duck. I was ready to give the President a break here and say, hey he went middle of the road...apparently he just said F-you to the other side of the aisle. Then again, you can do that when you have the votes, right?
Anyhoo, all I can say is as long as Rescue Me isn't pre-empted, he can hold his press conferences whenever he wants. Brilliant move though - cuz no one will give a crap about Rove. Democrats can't figure out what to complain about and they will probably explode.
U of M Campus Newsletter – OSU Approacheth
A bizarre and disappointing season likely comes to a close when Michigan and Ohio State resume the biggest rivalry in college sports. It started with the signing of Ubrakto, a local high school QB to come back up Chad Henne for the Wolverines. However, by the end of the summer the campus was abuzz with the news that Henne had knocked up Lloyed Carr's wife following an off-campus kegger at a strip club called the Blue Iguana.
With Henne in the doghouse, Ubrakto was anointed the starter. (How else can you explain Henne not starting?) Heisman hype would grow after Michigan owned Northern Illinois in week 1 of the season, but would soon fade after Michigan endured losses to Notre Dame, Michigan State, Minnesota and Iowa. Rebound wins against Northwestern and Indiana have done little to rekindle the flames of a season that started with burning anticipation for a third consecutive Rose Bowl trip. Now only a win against Ohio State can salvage something from a disappointing season.
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Thus has been my experience in RftH after a week of play. Now, to be fair, the loss to Minnesota was simmed, but I was pretty well crushed by Notre Dame, MSU and Iowa. And some of the game quirks are starting to get on my nerves. I can live with the Notre Dame loss after giving up both a punt and kick return for touchdowns. Against MSU I got away from a solid running game and imploded in the second half with inept QB play resulting in numerous turnovers. But the Iowa game was pure junk. It was close through most of the first half and third quarter, when the oddities really got going. Three times in one quarter I gave the ball to my fullback in short yardage situations (two on fourth down, one on third down) and all three times he got first down yardage, only to fumble the ball. I had TEN turnovers in this game. Four fumbles and six picks. Of those six interceptions, two were deflections off an open wide receiver. One was a ball thrown clear past an open WR, right to the DB. On one I'd called a quick slant and the AI forced a pass into coverage before I could take control of the QB (I hate that feature). The other two were my fault. Seven of the turnovers were in the second half, with four in the fourth quarter (7 minute quarters).
I'm sorry, but that is complete and utter bullshit. And I'm convinced it’s the damn composure and home field advantage "features" at work. I mean, in my old age it takes a lot for me to throw a game controller anymore but after the third short yardage fumble by my fullback the sucker achieved an airspeed velocity that would have carried it into the next county had a pile of stuffed animals not broken its flight pattern. I just... goddam. That's junk. Three straight fumbles from one player in short yardage situations? There's no way to explain it except to say the game decided it would be so.
One thing is clear: matchups are everything. Good teams are way, way better than bad teams. Home field advantage means a lot in terms of having your players execute. And those are good things. It just feels like EA has taken it to the extreme. HFA and composure should be a factor, but you shouldn't end up feeling like they're everything. I mean, I just can't get past it. Three fumbles from one player in three attempts in short yardage situations. Impact players have way too much influence on the game. If it's a wide receiver he can't be stopped from catching a deep ball. If it's a RB he'll shrug off half your defense if he's in the zone. If it's a player on the defensive line or a linebacker, you have almost no shot of running in his direction (and maybe I’m just unlucky, but defensive impact players always find themselves lined up to the side of the field I intend to run to). There's just very little balance. It's a game dominated on big plays, particularly deep balls and it makes it all more than a little nutty. I hate that. Hate it, hate it, hate it.
Yet, I still can't hate the game. Even losing something like 64-24 to Iowa can't change the fact that I'm still enjoying most of this game right now and I'm looking forward to getting a shot at playing the Ohio State game tonight. A win in this one would at least get me to 7-4 (3-3 in games I've played manually) and it should ensure a bowl berth. In the meantime I clearly need to bump the hands and pass protect sliders up another notch or two, though I'm not convinced the sliders do squat in this game.
My verdict after about 7 games played and a lot of time spent in practice mode: B-. The shine is off the apple, but it could still go either way once I get more used to the gameplay and hopefully get the sliders to make something of an impact in how it plays out.
The Movies
One of the cool things about writing this book is that I am researching a lot of games, many of which I really hadn't had a lot of time to read about. It's actually a pretty good selling point, I think. I'm a pretty hardcore gamer, and if I'm learning about a lot of games by doing this, I'd hope a lot of people would, too. I just did an essay on The Movies. If you haven't heard much about this game, it sounds like it could be a lot of fun. Check out the homepage.
Basically, you're the head honcho at a movie studio in the 1920s and have to manage the entire thing, from hiring good stuntmen to pampering movie stars. The really cool thing is that you can create your own 3 minute mini-movie, which gets reviewed by the public (inside the game) and you can share your movies via the game's website. I think it's a really cool idea.
Unrelated Baseball Gripe
When reading the Sunday paper today, I came across this article and it spurred me to write about it. If there's anything I hate in the 'then vs now' of baseball, it's got to be the theme song intros. I'm sorry, when did baseball become wrestling?
Last O's home game I see BJ Surhoff come up. The RF jumbo screen has "B J" in alternating flashing lights and his music comes up -- Dire Straits' Sultans of Swing . I do have to give him props for not picking a 50 Cent song, which is apparently the only thing baseball players listen to these days.
When I went to Fenway for an Orioles - Red Sox game and saw Clemens pitch, the organist played Rocket Man in warm ups. This I have no problems with. Organs are ok. 10 second into clips are not, especially if you're batting .198. Do the losers on WWE Heat have great intro music? No. Sometimes they are already in the ring ready to go. Why not go all out, and if David Ortiz comes out, just turn off all the lights, have "ARE YOU READY" on the jumbo tron and then play Degeneration X. Maybe players could come to the batters box spitting out water on the fans or do a crotch chop as well. Gah!
The only time pre-recorded music should be allowed is between innings and of course at the 7th inning stretch. Boston has "Sweet Caroline" which always gets the crowd going..well all except one I know who knew a woman with that name 
. Baltimore has Thank God I'm a Country Boy by John Denver. Yes, I know what you're thinking, but when you're in the stadium, it makes sense.
So what's bloggerland's opinion of this? I'm curious....
Dan’s NCAA Thoughts continued
The great thing about this blog is that we can all give you our unfiltered, uncensored, unedited opinions. Bill has made some very valid points about the game, but let's face it, I consider myself more of a 'casual gamer' in the football area. Yes, in baseball games, I want to make sure a Save is credited in Save circumstances, but in football, I'm more concerned with things like is going 10/11 with 800 yds passing realistic as well as is the game any fun?
Dynasty mode is quite the favorite of many people; however I am more apt to stick with the training drills and play online, so that being said, let's talk about it.
So far NCAA has been more enjoyable than not enjoyable, however there's no way in a billion years I'd spooge over it in the same way the big sites are. This is not a 9+ game. I think mid-high 8's would be there. I think of it like the Orioles...they are showing signs of improvement, but the weak links are still there and I doubt I'll see them play at the end.
The Xbox Live game has gotten better; however there are still frame rate issues in game that in my opinion are unrelated to lag. I'm very thankful that friendly quit and mercy quit are in this year's edition. About time. The online web page, "EA Sports Nation presented by ESPN.com" is just plain weird, given the ESPN/2K games alliance. Yet again, EA just throws on a badge. The care than went into 2K games ESPN online was just awesome. The Xbox "view career" page has more info than the EA web page. For example Xbox online has % of run/ % of pass / # of blitzes, while online it just shows offensive yards per game. Yawn.
The minigames have given me a lot of training -- I can now run the option with some good results, and the Oklahoma game is quite a challenge.
There are times online when I get very upset -- for example, I'm on offense running a run play, and as soon as I snap the ball, the screen becomes one big mangle of icons, as if I'm going to pass. Becuase there's a non-transparent big "R" on the screen, I miss the fact that I fumbled the handoff and can't see the ball becuase there's a big FUMBLE on screen. Great. There's still no replays on online. No instant replay challenges. Would have been nice if you were in a conference with replay that would be allowed -- but I agree that's a nitpick.
Online I see corner punts and weird ball bounces. I agree, the impact feature is a gimmick akin to being on fire in NFL Blitz or a Gamebreaker in NFL Street.
Back to Dynasty mode, I think we've all agreed that the discipline mode is stupid. As Bill said last year, I'd love to see a coach say, we'll I know you raped that cheerleader in the locker room, but I'm all out of discipline points, so get out on the field and start. EA didn't hear anyones complaint on that one.
Race for the Heisman is a neat idea implemented horribly. One combine? Come on. And if you're a freshman and your QB is a senior and an All-American, why would he get benched exactly? Why don't you practice during the week a la ESPN NFL 2K5?
How come when you call a timeout, you can't boost up you special teams? What good does it do to coach a secondary on a punt return?
Most of the time in this game, when I suck I know why. Blown coverage, calling a run defense on a pass, etc. I can respect and appreciate this. Some times I do get frustrated (ask Craig online).
Speaking of online, did you know that there's an Overtime mode where you can go right into OT online and each get a chance to win? There's a lot of pressure on you in that mode -- I can only imagine how much pressure is on the players. I was too nervous and missed the PAT once.
So, do I think I get $49.99 worth of value from the game compared to last year? Jury is still out. I love having the rosters from action replay, so that's a plus. Every year, I shell out $100 to EA and I don't know why. (madden too). I've done it since 1991. That's $1500. And I think I've sold them all back to EB or Ebay for about $29.95 total. Last year I sold my copy within about 1 week of purchasing it. I think I'll keep this one for a while...
NCAA 2007 Wishlist
I know, 2006 just came out. Still, the blog being the theraputic outlet that it is, I have a list of things, some big and some small, that I think need to be fixed for next year. These are in no particular order, just random thoughts.
- Fix the 4th down playcalling AI. It's the 1st quarter of a tie game and the CPU has the ball 4th and 13 on the opponent's 39 yard line. It should punt. Every time. A fake punt is better than going for it.
- As we've hashed over several times, fix the deep pass. It shouldn't be this easy to complete a 50 yard pass in 1-1 coverage.
- Tone down the Impact Players. A pulsating impact WR means an almost automatic deep pass completion. Same with Impact HBs.
- The Impact Cam is a cool idea but it comes up at the oddest times. I had my Impact HB on a toss sweep stiff arm a player and it went into Impact Cam mode, which was cool, until 2 other defenders swallowed him up for no gain. This happens a lot, it seems. It's not a huge deal because it's a frilly little feature but still..
- Allow the Discipline system to be an option for those of us that think it's silly as hell and do not wish to use it.
- Make fatigue a factor. I think this was actually a lot better in 2004 because my players rarely seem to get tired.
- A small one, but fix the punt physics. The ball lands and bounces straight ahead every single time. Has anyone seen a punt die yet? I have also yet to see the CPU try a coffin corner. Anyone else?
- As mentioned, fix the sim stats. If you're going to have all this stuff like awards, and stat tracking, make it look at least marginally realistic. What gets me is that this part of the game used to be fine. It's hard to win the Heisman when you're competing against RoboQB.
- This is a big one: Allow the CPU to adjust to what you're doing. If you are running over the CPU, it should adjust and add more players to the box. If you have a WR that the CPU is having trouble covering, it should try to double him. If you are calling nothing but Prevent defenses the AI should see this and just run the ball all day long instead of sticking to its pre-designed gameplan.
- Fix the Top 25 ranking AI. If Pac-10 Team X finishes 10-1 and Pac-10 team Y finishes 9-2 and team X beat team Y during the season, there is no way that team Y should finish the season ranked ahead of team X. Right?
- I'd love to be able to play on 15 minute quarters. If Madden can use the accelerated clock, why can't NCAA?
- Make the FG meter faster on AA level. Missing a FG on AA is usually only due to a 30 MPH wind game.
- Again, reduce the drops. I have the CPU catch slider at 99% and it still drops 6-10 passes a game.
- Add more penalties. I've still never seen offensive PI, a CPU delay of game, too many men on the field, etc. Some of those might be hard to implement, though.
- There really needs to be a sim to end feature. If you're beating Ball State 41-3 in the 3rd you should be able to sim the rest instead of sitting through a blowout. A mid-game save would be nice, too.
On the plus side of things, and there is a plus side of things, many items have been fixed from pervious versions. The CPU can run more effectively, which is a huge, huge plus. (Sometimes the Impact guys are too good, but still, beggars and choosers). It's no longer easy to speed rush with a DE. It's much more difficult to blitz with a LB between the gaps.
The CPU QBs also look underneath more often than it used to, and the QBs will scramble, which is very important in the college game. I also love that Heisman lvl isn't a blatant speed cheat level for the CPU. A fast human controlled runner can actually pull away from a CPU defender, which I can never recall happening before. There is also an obvious difference this year between the talent levels of teams. A lot of people begged for this; to be able to tell a big difference between the USCs and the Central Michigans of college football. The game definitely does that.
I'm anxious to read what Todd and Dan think of the game after they have had time with it. I know Todd's been a busy boy lately but hopefully he and Dan can get some more impressions posted.
I thought I was reviewing the game for Gameshark but turns out I'm doing it for CGM, along with Madden. They may want me to do a dual-combo review with both of them. I dunno yet. I'm just glad I was able to secure a Madden review.
My NCAA blogging will be at a slower clip, though (To the great delight of some of you) as I have to get back to the book writing. These things don't write themselves--as I am learning...
Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
I did everything I could to avoid mowing the lawn today. It was very hot and the excuses went from taking the kids to the city for Harry Potter day and playing NCAA to watching Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.
Having watched ye olde Willy Wonka movie as a kid and as a parent, I had my fears about this one, even though the reviews were generally positive.
No need for fears on this one folks, this is a superb movie. It stays truer to the book -- although you may have to explain to your kids the difference (there's no golden goose in this one, and different parents are there as opposed to the original movie).
It was a great movie to watch. I saw it in a huge theater (one of those old ones refurbished) with full digital surround sound. The boat ride made me feel like I was on Star Tours at Disney. Pretty cool.
Alright, so back to more video gaming.....
Poor USC
My Akron Dynasty rolls on, and I'm 5-4...but still working on sliders believe it or not. I cannot find a set that I like yet, which is really annoying me. I started over with a new theory on the pass game, so we'll see how it turns out. I did get my first in season commit last night, a 3 star LB from Michigan.
Anyway, USC is 5-4 as well, and unranked. USC has losses to Oregon, Notre Dame, Arizona State, and Washington. ASU beat them 44-14. Wow.
The QB stats, while not a huge, huge, deal, are still something that I cannot believe got past QA at EA. It's week 9, and the Pittsburgh QB is 175 for 210 (83%) with 20 TDs and ZERO INTs. Eat me, Dan Marino. So I go to the Heisman watch..and he's not even listed. This part of the game is, without question, broken all to hell.
Enjoy my White Stripes CD, You Dickheads
Our Lebaron convertible was broken into last night, right in our driveway. We're cleaning out the garage so the cars have been outside the past few nights. Well, late last night someone cut a rectangle out of the top and got in the car and ripped out the CD player. Aren't people great? We had just installed high powered flood lights, which apparantly served as a high beam flashlight for the crook(s). We try to help. Did I mention we're building a house in the country? Did I mention that I cannot fucking wait to do so?
Anyone know where to get a vinyl convertible top repaired?
Back to Baseball
Those that care, MLB Extra Innings is free this week. So if you enjoyed Curt Schilling f-up royally in the 9th vs the Yankees, or prefer seeing the Orioles play some great little league ball giving up 3 runs on 2 errors in one inning, you can see it all gratis. Enjoy!
NCAA Online
Of course, one thing that no one posts about is online mode. Many are of the "since we warezed/received this game early, we can't tell about online" variety...so I will go into it.
Today's contestant was TV's Craig Tompkins formerly of a lame ass site called Operation Sports. Craig easily beat me in game 1, so we'll skip that one and move on to game 2.
The online game was pretty easy, seeing your friends games played online on the EA ticker is pretty neat also. It took me a moment to find where to pick your team, then I realized I was lame and figured it out.
Online game was pretty lag free (the 768 up of Verizon DSL offsets the crappy 1.5 down), however there were some frame rate slowdowns. Craig and I both agreed that it was not lag but in fact the return of the frame rate slowdown. It didn't happen much, but was still noticible. If you change your EA Messenger settings, you can have your game stats emailed. Here's our stats for game 2. I have edited them to protect the gamer tags and deleted some of the 0's that are useless (ie # fake punts) . Please note that my formatting on this...uh blows, so i hope you can follow it.
Here are the official results of your NCAA(R) Football 06 game on 2005.7.14-3:02:55.
Mode: Ranked
Qtr Length: 5 minutes
Difficulty: All-American
Opponent: Craig (edited)
Rank: 1365
Final score: Craig 21 vs. Dan 23
Statistics Craig Dan
Rushing attempts for 22 22
Rushing yards for 37 14
Passing attempts for 29 12
Passing yards for 242 76 Punts 4 6
Times player went for two 2 0
Rushing touchdowns for 0 0
Passing touchdowns for 2 1
Returns touchdowns for 0 1
Defensive touchdowns for 1 1
Turnovers for 2 4
Interceptions for 2 4
Sacks for 6 3
Number of third downs 12 8
Third down conversions 4 2
Fourth down attempts 0 0
Fourth down conversions 0 0
No-huddle plays 2 1
Audibles called 1 1
Hot routes used 3 1 Scrambles 0 0
Option plays 5 3
Shotgun plays 36 6
Hail Mary plays 1 2 Blitzes 26 15
Time of possession 10:23 9:37
Favorite offensive play book Clemson Wisconsin
Favorite offensive formation Shotgun Ace
Favorite defensive formation Nickel 3-4
Now you see why Craig lost. My awesome offensive display of 77 yards. Of course it doesn't mention special teams yardage, but you can see I ran a kick back and a pick back for a TD. Oh that and Craig did a few too many shotgun plays, wouldn't you say?
Stuff like this is very cool, that combined with the profile page...very nice.
Would anyone be interested in a quick 4 or 8 team tournament tonight? Leave comments here.....
An NCAA Annoyance
Just a quick comment before I get to book writing. I'm playing the next game in my Akron dynasty against Central Michigan. It's 45-14 Zips at the start of the 4th. My HB has 217 yards on 28 carries. He's unstoppable. Part of the reason for this is that CMU isn't very good, esp. on defense. The other problem I think is EA's fault. How many times does it take for my HB to gash this defense for 5, 6, 7, 10 yards a carry before the AI starts to put more than 7 men in the box? They refuse to get out of the base 4-3. Sure they might blitz out of it or run different 4-3 packages but sheesh. You'd think it would at the very least force the safety up, wouldn't it? Maybe switch to a 5-2 and bring up safety help to slow down the run game? That's football 101. As it is, the Akron HB has had his way the whole game, and it's been kinda boring running through these trucksize holes, with the AI calling a base nickel on 2nd and 6 after I have passed 8 times the whole game.
More Madden
So much for the theory that signing the exclusive deal meant the retirement of the Madden name. John's here to stay, it seems.
Race for the Heisman – In Depth
Not wanting to waste any time, I jumped into Race for the Heisman (RftH) last night. It's getting a lot of negative buzz from a lot of people right now and I can only say its well-deserved. EA has been touting this feature like the second coming, but like every brand new, big feature they come up with: its execution is the epitome of missed opportunity.
In short: It's dynasty mode, only in a different interface, without any control over the depth chart (until you take the field) or recruiting. Oh yeah, and you get such nifty features as fans writing letters to you, an SI-style campus newsletter (no stories, just headlines) and a digital pic of your girlfriend.
Whoopedy-freak'n do.
Understand, I'm not saying its awful. It's not. But it is a wasted opportunity and I HATE it when publishers continually waste good ideas with bad implementation (which EA Sports does frequently). When you start a RftH the only thing you do before starting a drill session is input your last name. Honestly, I'm not even sure why you do that because it doesn't appear to be used prior to creating the rest of your player following the drills. The drills are all position specific. I went with a pocket QB (no shock there).
Here's where the wasted opportunities start. This is a one-time event, so EA should've really gone nuts with the drills. You know, passing accuracy drills. Arm strength drills. Scrambling drills. Option drills (which are what is run if you create a Scrambling QB). There should be drills specific to short, medium and long passes. And it all should translate into the ratings your player gets. Instead you get the QB Skeleton passing drill, in which you have ten chances to complete passes to covered receivers. It's actually a fun drill and I love how it scored with points assessed and withdrawn based on your decision making as follows:
Points Awarded:
- Throw to open receiver (though I don't it's always given when it should be)
- Throw on time (fast decisions yield more points)
- Throw velocity (appropriate velocity yields more points)
- Throw for TDs (ramps up with consecutive TD passes)
- Consecutive Completions (ramps up with each successive catch)
- Dropped passes (doesn't count as complete but you get half the points instead of being penalized)
Points Deducted:
- Throwing into coverage (ramps up if you throw into double/triple coverage)
- Getting picked off (huge penalty)
- Throwing an incompletion (drops don't count)
- Not throwing (you get something like 10 seconds to make your pass before they blow the whistle)
The system really works quite well. But the notion that the game is building your base QB stats and generating scholarship offers based on ten passes is just insane, even for a video game. And that's the real problem. On the strength of ten passes (where I did rather well) I was awarded offers to Michigan, Iowa and Florida. First of all, the game really needs to let you set your home town (or at least state) before this point, that way the offers you get can at least be based in part on proximity. Let's face it, if I suck in these drills with Michigan as my home state, it's more realistic for me to get an offer from Western or Central Michigan than it is Boise State. As it is, you always get three and only three scholarship offers and there doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason why -for example- Michigan would want you, but not Michigan State, UCLA or Syracuse. Yes, you can walk on, and that's a good out to have, but how much effort would it have taken to have a deeper set of drills, a hometown and maybe a preferred schools list affect your offers. (And really, why limit it to three? That's just dumb.)
The other problem, as mentioned is your initial player stats. They seem completely random, only with bonuses applied to ratings affecting your position. Excepting Endurance and Injuries, my QB had no ratings over a 70 that weren't related to the QB position. Now, I created a player who is 5'11" and 175 pounds. He has an arm strength rating of 92. His arm accuracy is 91. As a freshman the only two core QB ratings are already in the low 90s. I know he's a Heisman hopeful and all, but is that not just a little much?
Once you get into the game the depth actually goes down. Basically, you can run drills. The implication is given that running drills will improve your player ratings (as if my QB needed them). But there's still just the drill for your player. And when you finish it the only option is to restart or quit. When you quit you're told all progress will be lost. Was there progress made? If so, the game doesn't tell you. Nor would it matter if it did, because I see no way at all to save it. This reeks of a feature that was partially implemented and then removed, probably because it unbalanced play. The thing is, in a RftH game the idea of having to take your player through drills could be great. But again, you need more drills, and they need to not be implemented as an option, but as part of spring camp and weekly game prep and not just something you do if and when you feel like it. If the game managed and regulated that part of it well, it would have worked just fine to have drills affect your player ratings and it would've been a nice differentiating feature from Dynasty mode.
That's really it so far. Once you start a game there is nothing different about it than a regular Dynasty game, except that your ridiculously unqualified freshman player will unseat even Matt Leinart to ensure you're on the field. You can't control depth charts from the system menu, but you can control from them in the in-game menu. You still have to call your own plays (which is fine, but it would be nice if you could have the AI coach call them). You still play every position on the field (again, that's fine, but the option to have a player lock would be nice).
Then there's this whole heavy-handed discipline system in dynasty, but near as I can tell none of it factors into RftH, where it might actually be useful to have the choice of rolling ethical dice with your player. Maybe a booster offers you a Bowflex that will increase your strength ratings, but you run the risk of accepting a gift and getting suspended. Maybe you are given the option of attending a campus party that -as a result of spending more time with the school's student fans- increases your composure on the field, but at the same time you run the risk of getting wildly drink and busted, or having your grades drop (again, with suspension or ineligibility).
All EA had to do was really show (and implement) a little imagination and they could've really done some neat things with this feature (and effectively counter-balanced the fact that you don't control recruiting). It still wouldn't be for everybody, but it for those of us who like to put our created player in the game, it could've added a ton.
Instead we get a digital picture of our player's "girlfriend" affixed to our dorm room PC. I can already see where this is going. The pic of my initial gal pal is quite the... uh... well, let's just say there's more of her to love. That or she's allergic to bees and got stung. Does anyone not think that the pics get more "attractive" as you do better on the field? Because, hey, relationships are all about getting to upgrade your chick's looks after you complete a few TD passes in a big game. There's nothing quite like reinforcing cheap, easy stereotypes is there? (Okay, it's really not that big of a deal, I just f-ing hate this kind of hacky garbage. Just like the E3 booth babes, it's designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator of male stereotypes and it bugs the hell out of me.)
As for the actual RftH. I'm suspect of this Heisman meter that measures your progress in the national spotlight. You enroll and have nothing in it (good). But after week one of my first season I actually had my bar go up about a tenth of the way. And I didn't even play a game! How does a true freshman's Heisman meter go up when he hasn't even played? Did he have a particularly good week of practice?
Regardless of my disappointment with the mode, I'm going to try and stick it out for four seasons and see if there are "hidden" features that crop up as you play. I'll keep a running (but much more brief) summary of game results and such as I progress. I don’t intend to play out every individual game (as I do want to move into true dynasty mode sooner rather than later). I think once I get used to the gameplay and settle on some sliders (I'll probably just opt for Bill's and tweak from there) I'll play every other match-up or something.
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