BLOOMINGTON – In late April, Mark Skirvin came to Andrew Mascharka with a job that no one had tackled in at least eight years.
Skirvin, IU’s senior assistant athletic director for marketing, needed Mascharka to take some time between the women’s basketball postseason and spring soccer practice to take a checklist to Memorial Stadium and snap what turned out to be about 800 photos. to be.
Photos, panoramic shots, even full 360-degree spins, from yard lines on both sides of and including the 50-yard line. Mascharka had to capture the stadium from different depths and from multiple specific angles, shot after shot on the incredibly detailed list Skirvin provided. Mascharka, director of photography for IU Athletics, had to include photos of everything unique to the stadium, such as Hep’s Rock, the impressive five-story press room and the distinctive spires of IU’s North End Zone facility.
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Skirvin needed everything for April 15th. That was the tough deadline he’d been given to give all the photos to Electronic Arts, as part of the video game giant’s revival of one of its oldest—and most desired—game series: “NCAA Football.”
“They were very specific. They had a sheet that basically guided us through what they needed,” Mascharka told IndyStar. “They’re focused on making this as detailed and accurate as possible.”
EA’s NCAA football franchise — which started out as “Bill Walsh College Football” before evolving into its more modern vintage — was at its peak among the most popular sports-based video games in the country. Even now, eight years after it was partially discontinued due to legal concerns over its use of similarities, game users annually produce and share detailed rosters for every team in the game, downloadable as long as a gamer has an “NCAA 14” disc, an Xbox 360. (school sports games have not been made backward compatible) and an internet connection.
What led to the discontinuation of “NCAA Football” and other college sports video games like “College Hoops 2K” is the same thing that is now opening the door for its return.
Perhaps the most prominent early challenge to the NCAA’s ban on athlete compensation actually arose from a video game, when former UCLA star Ed O’Bannon realized his likeness was still being used in college basketball games long after his career ended. O’Bannon claimed he should share in the profits from such use.
From 2009, when his lawsuit was filed, through today, O’Bannon v. NCAA has remained one of the most recognizable challenges to the NCAA’s compensation policy for athletes. It led to a variety of further legal actions, some of which expedited the approval of the name, image and likeness last year.
EA’s original franchise died after its 2014 iteration, when the NCAA and other entities pulled out of licensing deals in an increasingly weakening legal environment.
Now that NIL is allowed – and in some cases state laws – a closed door is now opening again. On February 2, 2021, five months before NIL activity was officially legalized, EA tweeted a photo of a confetti-strewn football field, with the message, “For those who never stopped believing, College Football is coming back.”
The long-awaited relaunch is scheduled for July 2023.
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Several hurdles remain to restart the franchise, not least among them organizing licensing deals with all the athletes involved. In some cases, athletes from schools have already entered into group licensing agreements that could speed up the process, but the broader effort is likely to remain complicated.
What EA has asked of the schools are details – as much as humanly possible.
“They have given us a whole set of guidelines,” Mascharka said. “They wanted to get as close to a render as possible.”
That included the long, detailed checklist of shots of specific yard lines, points in the stadium, and corners of an empty Memorial Stadium. Mascharka had to take the same shot in some cases of say 22.5 degrees and 45 degrees, with EA specifying 21 locations around the field it would need to complete the rendering.
In addition, the company asked for those stadium-specific landmarks, to add depth to their reconstruction. Mascharka said designers asked for even minor comments, such as the placement of a rain drain near the pitch, to get even the tiniest details in their final rendering.
“Then they needed us to take the important places in the stadium,” he said, “to make sure they make it.”
At the same time, Jeremy Gray, IU’s Senior Associate AD for Strategic Communications, compiled an equally detailed list of possible sound effects specific to Memorial Stadium. For example, what music should the band play down first instead of third, or if it would do something different after a touchdown compared to following an extra point. In addition, the company wanted reactions and traditions from the public – e.g. IU’s first-down march – all to build the most realistic recreation possible.
Gathering all this information was an important part of the franchise’s reboot process, which had built a strong reputation for its attention to detail. All of this gives EA plenty of time to build out those renderings and game day recreations, as schools across the country provide the same information IU did.
For fans, it’s another welcome step to get “NCAA Football” up and running again, possibly within the next year.
Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.
Is EA Sports coming out with NCAA basketball?
In February 2021, EA Sports announced it would bring back a college football video game, presumably NCAA 23, for PC and consoles. Last week it was reconfirmed that EA Sports plans to release this college football game in July 2023.
Is EA Sports Bringing Back NCAA Basketball? Although it is expected to be released in July 2023, its reception will influence the possible turnaround of a college basketball video game series. See the article : The inside story of how Paolo Banchero became the NBA’s #1 draft pick. As player names/likenesses appear in-game, fans continue to eagerly await EA’s take on the college football series.
Why is there no NCAA basketball video game?
After EA Sports’ rival publisher 2K Sports canceled its own college basketball game, College Hoops, in 2008, EA changed the name of the series from NCAA March Madness to NCAA College Basketball. The series was discontinued on February 10, 2010.
Is NCAA on EA Play?
I’m sure gamers are wondering what this means. On the same subject : The global video game market is expected to decline for the first time since 2015. This is simple: EA SPORTS will continue to develop and publish college football games, but we will no longer include the NCAA names and brands.
Are there any college sports video games?
EA Sports has announced that it will be reviving its college football video game, with a scheduled release for the summer of 2023. See the article : ‘Stranger Things’ Is Moments Away From Breaking This Netflix Record. EA hasn’t released a college football game since 2013, and fans are eagerly awaiting the latest edition.
Will there be a college football video game in 2022? According to internal CLC documents, EA Sports currently plans to release EA College Football in July 2023. That could certainly change, but a 2022 release seems unlikely.
Why did they stop making college sports video games?
In July 2013, the NCAA announced that it would not renew its licensing contract with Electronic Arts due to an ongoing legal dispute over the use of player likenesses in the games.
Will there ever be another college sports video game?
No matter when the game is eventually released, college football fans with a modern video game console will be ready to jump right back into the action. EA Sports announced the return to a college football video game franchise in February 2021 with the new working title EA Sports College Football.
Are there any NCAA video games?
Last week it was reconfirmed that EA Sports plans to release this college football game in July 2023. NCAA 23 will be EA Sports’ first college football video game in a decade since the series was discontinued in 2013.
Is NCAA 14 on Ps4?
Amazon.com: Ncaa Football 2014 Ps4.
Which consoles can you play NCAA 14 on?
Can I buy NCAA 14 digitally?
Why the game is so expensive, a market statement. Demand for NCAA ’14 is driving prices up, but a shortage of supply is driving costs up: Due to the NIL saga, EA is currently unable to sell the game on digital storefronts such as Steam, XBox, or Playstation.
Is NCAA Football on the ps4?
Now if you want to play college football on a console, you’ll need a PS3, Xbox 360, or a copy of the latest version of Madden. NCAA Football 14, the final game in the series, is not and never will be backwards compatible with newer consoles such as the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
