by Joe-jgand@pcfootball.net
last updated 6-1-06
Here's the latest PC football news. We take all the news stories
about the upcoming games, combine them, weed out all the useless
console info, separate fact from rumor, and give you what's
left. If you have any news not listed here, please share it with
your fellow PC football gamers. We'll give you your props, of
course.
Click here to submit news.
NCAA Football 2008
(EA Sports)
Release Date: July 2007
EA SPORTS Declares Jared
Zabransky as Cover Athlete for NCAA FOOTBALL 08
Former Boise State Quarterback Defines
Essence of Top Selling College Football Game
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., - March 2, 2007 –
Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today that former
Boise State University quarterback and Tostitos Fiesta Bowl MVP
Jared Zabransky will appear on the cover of NCAA® Football
08 , scheduled for release this summer under the EA SPORTS™
brand. Developed by EA Tiburon, NCAA Football 08 will
be available on the PlayStation®2 and PLAYSTATION®3 computer
entertainment systems, and Xbox® and Xbox 360™ video game
systems from Microsoft.
“This has been a magical season for me and seeing my face
on the cover of NCAA Football 08 is yet another unforgettable
moment in what has already been a great year,” said Zabransky.
“This video game truly embodies the spirit of college football
and I'm very proud to be a part of it.”
Zabransky led Boise State to an undefeated season this year
and most recently to a 43-42 overtime victory against Oklahoma
at the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in what some call one of the most
exhilarating games in college football history. At the
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, he completed 19-of-29 passes for 262 yards
and will most likely be remembered for perfectly executing the
Statue of Liberty play to win the game. In three seasons
as the starting quarterback, Zabransky compiled a 33-5 record
and was named a semifinalist for the Davey O'Brien and Maxwell
Awards this past season.
In NCAA Football 08 , players will look to be a
leader and become a legend on the field. With all-new
Leadership Control, players now lead by example and control the
action on the field and can increase their sphere of influence
by improving their players' personal ratings on each big play.
For the first time on Xbox 360 and PS3, the game will feature a
new and deeper recruiting system and an all-new Campus Legend
mode. NCAA Football 08 is everything that's great
about college football. The game's official website is www.ncaafootball08.com
.
Madden NFL 07 (EA
Sports)
Release Date: Q3 2006
- There is PC
version of Madden
- Al Michaels
returns to the booth with John Madden
- Shawn
Alexander is on the
box cover
- From EA Sports:
Key Features:
Throw the perfect block and create a running lane with
all-new lead blocking control, and then take command of
the tailback and rip off a big gain.
NFL Superstar: Hall of Fame Mode:
Play your way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame by taking
complete control of any position on the field. Your
actions on and off the field determine your impact on
the game.
Run Like the Players Run with the All-New Highlight
Stick:
Bust out player-specific running styles matching those
of real NFL players (e.g., smaller backs slash to break
tackles, while
bigger runners bowl over defenders in the open field).
All-new jukes, cutbacks, and power moves.
Additions to Franchise Mode:
Scout collegiate prospects with the all-new NFL Draft
Scouting System and the College All-Star Game, or
watch players around the NFL impact their teams with
the new Franchise Player Roles feature.
Team-Specific Defensive Playbooks:
For the first time, use actual plays from your
favorite team's defensive playbook to shut down the
running game, pressure the quarterback, or force key
turnovers.
Online Play:
Climb the leaderboard as you take on your biggest rivals
from coast-to-coast in Play Now or Session Match games.
MADDEN NFL 07 for PC-CD
- Same Run To Daylight features as the current-gen
console version
- Customizable stats summaries
- New intuitive mouse and keyboard controls
- Also play using the new Xbox 360 USB controller
NFL
Head Coach (EA Sports)
Shipping:
June 20th 2006
t appears that
one of the newest football strategy games will be making it's
way to the PC after all.
According to the
EA Sports website, NFL Head Coach will be released for the PC as
well as for the PS2 and XBox. The game will be shipped June
20th, no telling on when you will see it on store shelves. Some
of the games features include...
- Build your team through drafts, trades and free agency
- Develop and refine your own playbook and strategies
- Motivate players during practice and games to maximize
their success
- Oversee a full staff of assistants and coordinators to
help you run the team
- Scout each opponent and devise special gameplans for every
game
- Call all the shots, from preseason training camp,
practices and games
- Instill a winning attitude that will make your team a
champion and make you a Hall Of Fame head coach.
Bowl Bound
College Football (Grey Dog Software)
Bowl
Bound
College
Football Released
Phoenix
, AZ
December 9,
2005
– Grey Dog
Software, a
Phoenix
based
developer of sports management simulation software for personal
computers, is pleased to announce the release of its highly
anticipated college football simulation, Bowl Bound College
Football.
Bowl
Bound
College
Football is
available for digital download exclusively through Grey Dog
Software.
Tired
of your alma mater never getting to a bowl? Think a coach is
past his prime? Or,
just tired of your team not getting the elite recruits?
Then grab your playbook and prepare to challenge your
football knowledge in Bowl Bound College Football.
Critically acclaimed sports sim developer
Arlie Rahn
, lead
developer of Total Pro Football 2004, Tournament Dreams College
Basketball, and Coaching a Dynasty takes college football fans
to the next level with professionally detailed game play, an
in-depth recruiting process, an intuitive, streamlined interface
by Warholic Creative, and the most immersive, thorough AI to
meet sport management sims.
Players
can look forward to:
*Specialize
in six distinct college offenses and seven college defenses
*Choose
from 15 college-based offensive formations and 10 defensive
formations
*Customizable
playbook that can incorporate over 350 offensive and defensive
plays
*Streamlined
gameplan that makes use of your playbook preferences
*Accurate
simulation engine
*In-depth
recruiting process
*College
transfers and early declaring juniors
*Full
college budget involving college and recruit scouting,
conditioning, assistant coaches, academics and other main
priorities
*Summer
training program to maximize player development
*Detailed
play-by-play results that provide the actual play call,
formations and specific results for better team management
*Full
historical archive that tracks all players, team performance and
career leaders over time
*Online
league management options
For
more information on Bowl Bound College Football, including
pricing, promotions, and gameplay screenshots, please visit Grey
Dog’s official website: www.greydogsoftware.com.
About
Grey Dog Software
Grey
Dog Software, LLC an
Arizona
based,
privately-held company, is a leading developer of sports
management simulations for the PC. Grey Dog Software
strives to provide ground-breaking features, enormous
depth, and endless replayability with each game.
About
Warholic Creative
Warholic
Creative, a
Madison
,
Wisconsin
based design
firm, specializes in user interface design, information
architecture, corporate identity, advertising, marketing and
other branded collateral programs.
Jason Warholic
,
the principal of Warholic Creative, has 10 years of design
experience as an art director and creative director.
http://www.greydogsoftware.com
Season Ticket
Football (Wizard Works)
Unfortunately, we don't have too
much info about new releases. As in previous years this
will not be an "action" game, and more of a front office,
business management game. But, hey, it's football. Kinda like a
GM mode with simmed games all the time I guess. Infograms was
bought out by Atari, and there has been no word on the future of
this title. As always, we
will post more info as it comes our way. Keep checking back for
details.
http://www.atari.com/
NFL 2k6/NCAA College
Football 2k6 (Sega)
Because of the
exclusive deal signed by the NFL and EA Sports, it appears that
Sega and Take-Two will not only not be releasing their games for
the PC, but it appears that they will not be releasing it for
the consoles as well.
At this point it
appears that the 2K series might be dead or just on hiatus,
depending how the marriage between the NFL and EA Sports works
out.
You can however contact Sega and
let them know that there is a market out there for a PC Football
game. Just click this
link to go e-mail your request to them.
NFL Fever
2006(Microsoft)
There was no release of NFL Fever for the PC this
year in 2005.
Microsoft elected to give its XSN Sports line a year off so
that further developments could be made that would be put into the
2006 line.
However, because
of the EA Sports/NFL deal any further incarnations of NFL Fever
might be put off indefinitely.
You can
contact Microsoft by clicking
here and giving them an earfull on why you believe they
should make a football title for the PC. We don't guarantee that
they will listen, but it couldn't hurt to try.
Maximum Football (Wintervalley Software)
From what we can see, this is
another FB Pro-style game, allowing the user to manipulate
several aspects of the game. It has been released and appears to
be gaining in popularity. Read about
the game in the words of those who developed it and are playing
it by clicking
the link below.
http://www.maximum-football.com
Football Mogul 2003
(Sports Mogul Inc.)
This game is currently available
on the SportsMogul website. Click the link below to be taken
there. This is a text-only game, that gives you a chance to call
the shots with full control over your team's roster and
finances. There has been no details on a 2004 release as of yet,
but we are keeping our ear to the ground.
http://www.sportsmogul.com/footballcd
Division
Rivals
This is a game that is currently
in development. It has the look and feel of the late, great
FBPro series from what we can see by the screenshots they have
up on their site. News of their progress has been scetchy as of
late, but you can click onto the link below to go to their site
and see their progress for yourself.
http://www.divisionrivals.com/
NFL Gameday/NCAA
Gamebreaker (989
Sports)
This
is a huge surprise. There will be no release of a football title
from 989 sports on any platform this year. This is the press
release as found on sports-gaming.com:
Sony's
first-party sports development house announces that NFL GameDay,
NCAA GameBreaker, NBA ShootOut, and NCAA Final Four will sit out
the 2004-2005 season.
We need more time to create
the game and establish the new benchmark in sports games,"
said SCEA Paul Murphy Sports Public Relations Specialist Paul
Murphy. Saying SCEA's decision was prompted by "market
feedback," Murphy stressed sales of the games in franchise
were not disappointing.
989 was careful to note that
other franchises would not be affected. Development is
continuing as planned on the MLB and World Tour Soccer
franchises, as well as the upcoming Athens 2004 Olympic game,
and 989's new NHL hockey franchise, which will debut this fall.
Indeed, Murphy held up the
success of the MLB franchise as the model 989 Sports would
follow. "The additional time and development put into MLB
allowed it to be the success it is," he told GameSpot.
Click here to visit SCEA's feedback site
FB Pro (Sierra)
Once again FB Pro will not be making a return either this year,
or any year in the foreseeable future. They have informed Bret they closed their Dynamics division
in 2002, and cut everyone
who worked there. Very sad for a company that was once the
leader in this genre for them to abandon their customers in this
fashion. However, the executives that killed the series were
fired in 2001 and Sierra has said they were going to re-release
some classic games. FB Pro however, didn't make the cut, but
Leisure Suit Larry did.
Go figure.
But
now there is some additional news as of June 24, 2004: Sierra
itself has been shut down by Vivendi.
As
found on GamerFeed.com:
More
depressing news for the industry, Vivendi Universal Games has
cut 350 staff and shut down Seattle-based Sierra. The venerable
games company created some of the most popular action and
adventure games in the 80's. The Sierra brand will live on in
name only and projects tied to the Sierra pipeline, Half-Life
2, Ground Control II and Tribes: Vengeance are
already being developed by other teams within Vivendi. Also
affected by the restructuring, the Hoyle brand of card and board
games have been canceled.
"Restructuring the organization and reducing our cost base
are necessary to improve our operating effectiveness and
profitability," said VU Games CEO Bruce Hack, in as terse a
manner as possible. "This constitutes another important
step in our turnaround plan aimed to better position the company
for growth."
Along with VU Games restructuring, the game company is prepping
up for profitability with a powerful lineup for the second half
of 2004. VU Games is looking for some higher revenues with
titles like World of Warcraft, Spyro: A Hero's Tail
and the well-received The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from
Butcher Bay.
Vivendi
can be reached at http://www.vugames.com/
Total
Pro Football 2004 (.400 Software Studios)
This
is another text-based game currently in release.
http://www.400softwarestudios.com/
3-in-1
Football (Lance Haffner Studios)
We
haven't heard if there is going to be a 2005 release of this
perrenial favorite or not. At this time their website is down ,
but we will keep trying to get news on if and when the game will
be released. This is another text-based game, but it is one of
the better ones. It enables you to pit teams from different
era's against each other to answer all of those pesky
"what-if" questions. The games has many of the great
teams from the NFL, NCAA and all the years of the USFL.
http://www.lhgames.com/
Front
Office Football / The College Years (Solecismic Software)
These
are both text-based games that concentrate on team management
rather than actual game play. FOF deals with the pro game and it
fully intigrates with their other game The College Years. You
may use the Draft Files from TCY to create draft files for FOF.
In The College Years, you assume the role of the head coach of a
major college football team. Each year, you'll recruit athletes
from any of nearly 14,000 public high schools modeled in the
game, train them and try to build a winning team in the
challenging world of college football.
Both
games are available at Solecismic's website.
http://www.solecismic.com
Make
some noise!
Several companies have again decided
that there is no money to be made in a PC football game. EA
has made this same rationale about their NCAA title, and other
companies have said they aren't interested in having PC gamers
as customers. Are
you sick of this excuse? Are you tired of being tossed aside? Well, we all are. Write to these
software companies and tell them that you are sick of being
treated as a second-class customer.
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