NCAA Football 10 = NO SALE

I posted this on the Operation Sports forums and thought I would reprint it here to sum up what I feel is a real travesty in the world of sports video gaming. This is in response to the NCAA Football 10's developer's admission that once again the game will be shipping with multiple bugs, chief among them game play sliders that do not work and therefore do not let you allow how the game plays. For example, for the second straight year, it will be virtually impossible to get any pressure on the QB. Again, working sliders should fix this. EA botched this last year as well. They released a patch that was supposed to fix the issue but it had little to no effect. Now with the 2010 version due to arrive in stores in mid-July, EA is announcing that once again the sliders are broken but that they will be patching the game ASAP. Here is my response to their announcement and to the reaction of others on the OS forums:

For the first time since it's inception as Bill Walsh College Football, I will not be buying EA's college football game this year. This has been my favorite video game series ever. Each year the release day was like a holiday to me. But I am not going to support the kind of incompetence (at best) or deceitfulness (at worst) that seems to have overtaken the franchise. How can the pass rush possibly be missing again?! It's a pretty darned essential part of football, you know? BTW, those hoping a patch will fix the sliders in any meaningful way would do well to remember last year's debacle. Another year with no pass rush and sliders that don't work. No thanks.

I have always enjoyed NCAA more than Madden, mainly because college football is my favorite sport and the game seemed more alive. This year it seems as though Madden has been made with real love and affection, while NCAA adds meaningless features and doesn't even rectify problems that were present (sliders, lack of pass rush) and completely inexcusable in last year's game. I am fed up. Peter Moore needs to step in and heads need to roll. Someone who loves college football and football video games needs to step up to the plate the same way Ian has with the Madden series. Until there is a total change in direction for the NCAA series, where realistic game play is the #1 concern, I am done with NCAA Football. I never thought I would say such a thing.

I know many of you on the fence will not be able to resist getting the game anyway and I understand. I would only advise you to try to wait until the game is released and the slider patch is out. Then come here and see what the OS veterans have to say. Make your purchase decision based on that. I'll be saving my money for Madden.