Xbox 360 vs Xbox
Yesterday, I received a 2nd copy of NCAA 07 in the mail, so I did what anyone would do -- went to return it and exchanged it for the 360 version. (STILL waiting for Gamefly. SLOW doesn't begin to describe it...and that's FASTReturn!)
Anyway, I played it a little. In 2 games, I got 8 of 50 achievements (total of 105 points..damn where did EA's old "run 5 yards, get 300 points" system go)...so far I really am enjoying the 360 version.
The big question that keeps coming up among elite gamers is should I get the 360 or the regular version, and I hope to answer that soon.
Here are some pluses for the 360 version:
You can use the 'gamebreaker' stick (or whatever TF it's called) to change a running play before the snap (ie run left instead of run right).
You can ask Corso on offense as well as defense.
The horrid camera views on kickoffs and punts is gone (I'll take this one camera angle any day over that).
I prefer the playcalling screen on the 360 version.
It looks better.
I haven't played the 360 online yet, I will tell you I was SHOCKED to read that NCAA's 06 stats carry over to this year, so that 1-23 record comes with you. Last I checked, even in real football, the season resets your record...but I digress.
The regular Xbox online play I did find to be laggy.
In my mere 2 games with it, I've played as BC vs #3 (!) Notre Dame and rolled over them both times. I'm guessing the default level is "lame".
Anyway, so far I don't think you can go wrong with either version, but I'm VERY early into it. At this early point, if you put a gun to my head, I'd say go ahead with the 360 version. If you haven't played NCAA before, what you don't know won't kill you, so you won't be as anal about not having certain things that are on the regular Xbox that aren't on the 360.
Of course, my playtest isn't over yet, so stay tuned...
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Dan:
July 22nd, 2006 - 19:09
Dan, try this. Sim a bunch of seasons and see what happens. You’ll see tons of teams going to bowl games with losing records (I had Maryland go with a 4-8 record!) and teams like Rice and Utah State will win the national title many times, but Notre Dame will not ever win it. Rice could go undefeated for a decade and not even get tickets to the big game, much less play in it. Simming games is bad, but playing them is pretty fun.
July 22nd, 2006 - 20:06
I did see the 4-8 bug once Joel but the notion that Rice and teams of its ilk will win “many times” is not necessarily true at all. Todd and I ghave simemd about 15 seasons between us and the most unlikely winner one year was Utah and that was a one time thing. Plus, Utah is a 4 star program in the game.
July 22nd, 2006 - 20:56
I just finished simming 60 seasons ( to test the AI and get my 100 points of course) and Rice won a total of 5 times. Other notables was Indiana winning once, Vanderbilt once, Kansas twice, Troy once (!), and UL Monroe making to the title game once. Unreal. Oregon State had the most title wins by far with 12 out of 60. ND never won despite having the top recruiting class 10 times. USC did win 3 times though so that’s a little bit realistic.
July 23rd, 2006 - 02:07
I’ll probably play 12-15 season between my BMOC and Dynasty in ’07, and I can live with an occasional team having a sub-.500 season and making a bowl game. The thing I don’t want to see ever, and which I saw in the ’06 game once, is Oregon going 5-6, not making a bowl game and finishing in the Top 25 in the final season standings.
July 23rd, 2006 - 07:50
You definitely won’t see a 5-6 team in the top 25. It’s rare that you’ll see a 8-4 team in the top 25. In some seasons you might see just one 3-loss team in the top 25. At least, based on my 5-season sim. Joel, does this trend continue deeper into a dynasty?
July 23rd, 2006 - 09:02
Yep I am seeing just what Todd is seeing. Several undefeated teams a year, and the rest of the top 25 is mainly filled with 11-1 and 10-2 teams with maybe 1 or 2 9-3 team squeezing in. If you lose 4 games you are not in the top 25. Period.
I am not the biggest fan of the simulation engine mainly because I think there are too many blowouts (I see WAY too many 44-7, 48-10 type games for my taste) and there are not enough upsets. There’s a reason that so many teams finish the year with 1 loss and I think it’s that the auto schedules make it too easy for good teams and that ranked teams beat unranked teams about 90% of the time. You DO see upsets, but the sims just seem a bit too much ‘by the numbers’ to me.
July 23rd, 2006 - 12:28
Yes, I don’t recall seeing a team with 4 losses or more in the top 25 at year’s end. But it seems that coding the win/loss ratio into bowl games really wouldn’t have been that hard. Makes you wonder how much they really know about college ball.
if team * has 6+ loss, then they stay home.
Yup, seems simple to me. But then again, what do I know? I don’t have the sense to get out of the way of hurricanes?
July 24th, 2006 - 07:13
At some point I will do the 60 year sim and post results and highlights. A major gripe I have about the 360 version is that EA now has the capability to track a lot more stats than they do – for example how about a page listing National Champions or tracking the bowl game results. It would be cool to play in the Orange Bowl in year 14 and see the stats and game results for the previous games.
Like Bill said, there are too many blowouts in the game this year – even in the bowl games. Too many 48-14 games between teams that probably should be 28-14 games.