CBS' iconic Road to the Final Four and March Madness presentation is paired with ESPN's signature college basketball, and both announcing teams will call an offense of back cuts and ball reversals familiar to fired-up gyms in the dead of winter. But can NCAA Basketball 10 deliver a game just as compelling as the sport's annual Cinderella stories?

Loved
Men in Motion: This year's big gameplay innovation involves implementing the motion offense, which is to college basketball what the option is to college football - versatile, team-oriented and not really used in the professional league. NCAA Basketball 10 offers what appears to be a head-spinning variety of motion sets, but it's easy enough to implement them. You'll bring the ball up in a base motion offense and then by touching the left bumper (or L1) initiate the play. Your teammates then start cutting across the half court, with passing indicators either grayed or lit depending on whether they're open for the pass. Timing is a big key, and it takes a few games to learn how to hit your man right as his icon becomes lit; just waiting for a full color indicator results in a lot of standing around. The responsiveness can be frustrating at times - direct pass control can often zip passes completely across the half-court no problem, while a skip pass inside in the motion offense suddenly becomes a turnover because the indicator goes gray when you don't expect it. Still, getting the hang of the motion does deliver satisfying thrills unique to this style of game. Seeing your man curl off a screen to the top of the key, hitting him in stride and dropping the dagger three exemplifies the character of the college game, and indeed sets NCAA 10 apart from its pro sibling NBA Live.

Prime-Time Performer: Much has been made of this game's use of both ESPN and CBS's broadcast packages, and with slight quibbles they live up to the hype. The CBS "heartbeat" graphic opens that package over a black screen, followed by a cut to the network's title graphics, iconic theme song, and Gus Johnson introducing the arena and the competitors. ESPN's Brad Nessler, Dick Vitale and Erin Andrews return as voice talents but are accompanied by that network's graphics and theme music too. It instantly took me to a sports bar on a Wednesday night in January. Nessler and Vitale, as veterans, have a deeper script and provide the truest broadcast. I straight up enjoy anything Nessler does and Vitale is tolerable because, frankly, he's in a recording studio and doesn't have a specific coach (or two) with an ass for him to kiss all game long, the worst aspect of his schtick. Johnson does a great job delivering his inflections and his excitement in the situations you'd expect to hear it. Unfortunately, he and Bill Raftery are rookies and as such, go into repetition earlier than Vitale and Nessler. The wipes and graphics are true to life for both networks, although they sometimes hang before going back to the action. Shooters go to the free-throw line with a biography box, complete with a major, again, just like on television. I love it that the announcers talk about going to a commercial, over highlight footage or a sideline cinematic, when you call a timeout. The CBS Selection Sunday show is minimal but an utterly necessary touch, and it's always fun seeing another bracket and rating other teams' shot at the Final Four in addition to your own. In all, these features deliver a verisimilitude that will definitely fire you up at least the first few times you see it, and is always enjoyable.

Hated
That's All Folks?: The motion offense and the broadcast presentation, though both are substantial, are it, unfortunately, as far as gameplay and experience changes from NCAA Basketball 09. The dynasty mode is basically a carbon copy from the previous year and, disappointingly, its schedules out of the box are not authentic, and must wait for a patch on Tuesday to fix these. That will be when EA Sports rolls out the game's first Dynamic Update, new to this year. It is similar in basis to NBA Live's Dynamic DNA, in that it will provide the updated, current state of college basketball as a context for your singleplayer dynasty, with a real world Top 25 and RPI and announcer commentary responding to those numbers. There's no superstar career mode, although I know how much effort this would take to create as it has no analogue in NBA Live. Online play has one head-to-head mode and no online dynasty, which is now integrated into every other major sports title. If anything needed at least an online tournament mode, it would have to be NCAA Basketball, but its multiplayer capabilities remain previous-gen.

AI Doesn't Play Smart: NCAA 10 is still fundamentally the NBA Live engine, right down to the harebrained AI your players and the computer's will exhibit. Too many passes go to a man standing with a foot out of bounds to be acceptable. The opposing offense will inexplicably dribble down its clock and get locked into passing back-and-forth rather than attacking the basket. I've seen both on display in NBA 10. There also isn't much of a post-up offense to speak of, looking like a NBA Live 10 with its post mechanics stripped out before they were patched back in. In truth I didn't notice it that much because I was lobbing into the high post mostly to distribute the ball to a cutter, occasionally going one-on-one with a baby hook. You'll definitely want to bias the sliders toward more fouls at lower difficulties or shorter time lengths, as not enough are committed and when the CPU starts using them for clock management, it'll often have five or more to give before you go to the line. I also had issues with the point guard coming back to take the inbounds pass after a made basket, sometimes taking off for the wing immediately but looking back, I could have had some bizarre three-guard offense put in at the time.

Mild Manners: For a game with such polish in its presentation, what it's "broadcasting" comes off somewhat bland. There are too many generic looking players, and too many generic arenas for its mid-major teams and in tournament play. Over the course of a long season, the broadcast novelty will wear off and the games will start seeming to blur into one. For players, there are some 800 faces to choose from in create-a-player mode but the body types seem restricted to just a few templates. Until you build a familiarity with your roster it's hard to pick out key players because height in the college game, with 6-9 centers and 6-4 forwards, is not as matched to a position as it is in the pros. While all schools in the major conferences have their home arenas represented, tournament sites are generic until you reach the Final Four, and even then, the dimensions seem a lot more cramped than what you're used to seeing on the television. Also, I'm disappointed that the crowd and the commentary in tournament play seems to favor the designated home team as if it were a regular season game. College basketball has a rich tradition of tournament crowds kicking in for the underdog if they're close, or leading, late in a game. And overall, rather than the sustained jet-engine intensity peculiar to college arenas, the crowd's emotion rises and falls in waves, and cuts in inconsistently.

NCAA Basketball 10 is an odd duck to recommend. For a casual basketball fan with a lot of school pride, it's very entertaining, very accessible, and even educational in how it teaches you the basic college offenses. It's also a less complicated game to master than NCAA Football, so someone nostalgic for his campus days will be winning bragging rights faster here. Hardcore hoops junkies will at least want to see the motion offense and the CBS and ESPN packages, and will need more than a rental period to cut down the nets.

It's for the sports gamer or the basketball fan in the middle - not wed to a particular school or team, nor that fixated on offensive strategy - where NCAA 10 might fail to hold someone's attention. Of course, you don't have to run your offense through half-court motion sets. You can use a straight-up pick and roll, or drive and kick all by yourself. For those who prefer to play this way, it will feel very much like a reskinned NBA Live 10. And if there's anything bemoaned in the college game, it's the one-season mercenary who's already thinking of the pro game. NCAA Basketball 10 is likewise a fine performer that uses up its eligibility too soon.

NCAA Basketball 10 was developed by EA Sports Vancouver and published by Electronic Arts for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on Nov. 17. Retails for $59.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played all game types in both single and multiplayer modes.

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"I'll be forever thankful for the opportunity the PA Scholarship has given me to attend USC, one of the world's best game design curriculums," said Gorman. "I've already been able work on several trial games including a board game called Spacewolves that I designed with some friends. Look out gamer community, I'm coming up!"

While at Hamilton College, Gorman was a computer science major and creative writing minor. Her biggest interests seem to be in the intersection of story telling and game design.

The annual PA scholarship, established in 2006, is available to college students interested in pursuing a career in the game industry. The winner is selected based on service, leadership, character, financial need and the potential to make a positive impact on the game industry.

"We're grateful at how much the community has supported us over the years and being able to assist bright new talents like Kyla is one of the ways we try to give a little back," said Robert Khoo of Penny Arcade. "Kyla shows the kind of passion and excitement for creating games that ensures the rest of us will have innovative titles to play in the future."

Application information for the 2010 scholarship will be available in spring 2010.

Libraries around the country, from the Library of Congress, to university and community libraries, are beginning to archive, collect and even check-out video games.

A 2007 study found that of the more than 400 libraries surveyed, a quarter of them said they had PC games available at their location to be checked out and nearly 20 percent said they checked out console games.

But why would a place of learning become a home to gaming?

Scott Nicholson, associate professor and library scientist at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies and the Library Game Lab of Syracuse, said there are three main goals libraries have for including video games in their collections.

They do so to provide a new service for those who aren't coming to the library, to help the library grow in its role as a community hub and to provide a service alongside existing library services like book clubs or story time.

Some libraries even have events where people can play the games inside the library, Nicholson added.

"Gaming in the library provides users with a chance to meet other people in their community who are not in their normal school or work life - people far outside their typical demographic boundaries," he said. "The library has become a place not just for taking materials home, but for engaging with others in the same physical community.

"Communities on the Web typically are from many different areas - communities in the library are people who all live and pay taxes in the same physical space."

And, Nicholson points out, games have been in libraries since the 1850s in one form or another.

"Video games are simply one current manifestation of an activity that has been in libraries for decades," he said. "Along with video games, some libraries support many other forms of gaming - board, card, (role-playing games), and big games."

The inclusion of games and video games aren't just limited to public, community libraries. Universities and research libraries have also started including them. Even the Library of Congress is in the midst of a video game archiving effort.

Recently the Universty of Colorado at Boulder announced they were considering adding playable video game consoles in their library as part of a commons area, which also houses a café.

CU outreach librarian Deborah Fink told the university paper that the center could provide a break to students.

"I think education is waking up to the fact that we are whole beings," she told the Colorado Daily. "We know it's important to take breaks and to refresh yourself."

Nicholson says the inclusion of a gaming area is no different than having a coffee shop in a university library.

"The cafe does not support the mission of the library, but draws people in and makes the library a more comfortable space for people to explore information and get to know each other," he said. "Gaming is a similar activity - if the goal of the library is to be a place for relaxation and socialization, then it fits into that goal."

The inclusion of video games in libraries isn't much different than earlier movements to include pieces of art, movies and music as items that could be checked out.

By opening the door to video games, libraries and communities nationwide are reflecting the growing importance of gaming not only as part of today's popular culture but as a medium that can confront serious issues and spur emotional and intellectual debate.

Well Played is a weekly news and opinion column about the big stories of the week in the gaming industry and its bigger impact on things to come. Feel free to join in the discussion.

DP: Let's look several years into the future for a moment. Should I even bother learning today's skills? Surely they'll have completely changed by the time I get out of college? What kinds of jobs are absolutely 'rock-solid', and will undoubtedly still be around five to 10 years from now? And what new jobs do you think might exist that nobody has quite pinned down just yet?

GN: Specialization and hierarchy are the norms in film production, and are antithetical to what needs to happen in the games industry. The reason for that distinction is that the game industry is more focused on invention than on repeatability/measurability. Programmers that can draw are going to be in much better shape than an animator specializing in putting talking mouths on cats. The solutions of tomorrow are not going to fall into the production or organizational categories of today.

It's a quick read and has some worthy tidbits if you're aiming for a development career.

Valve's Gabe Newell on Becoming a Game Developer [GameCareerGuide]

... The study needed an external factor that influenced study time. It found it in video games, specifically by dividing the students based on whether their roommates had brought gaming rigs to school. About half of the males and a quarter of the females fell into this group. But the impact of access to gaming didn't depend on the students' gender: those with video games in their rooms spent about two-thirds of an hour less on academic work per day out of a mean of 3.5 hours of study time. That decrease closely tracked the amount of time that the students reported spending gaming, suggesting that there was a direct transfer of effort between the two activities.

As Ars Technica points out, this is not really a gaming problem, rather a time management one. A life outside of academia is to be strongly encouraged (everyone needs an outlet for stuff not relating to books, lectures, tests, and essays), but it has to be balanced out with academic requirements. Isn't this simple common sense?

Deathmatch: video games vs. study time, a flawless GPA victory [Ars Technica via GamePolitics]

University is hard. You must study and learn. Instead of just selling things like books that help students do that, this unnamed college has filled its display case with World of Warcraft. What's next? Bongs, obviously. Brian Ashcraft

Good Idea! [Tenser, Thanks Flor!]

A couple jokers thought it would be funny (they were right) if they raced through the university in Pac-Man costumes. And they even have "waka-waka" noises and screaming! That's book-readin', learned college smarts, right there. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Wonderland]

In an interview over at Gamespot, he says:

I was actually amused by the fact that [the main character] ran around with chopsticks and poking people's eyeballs out. But in my university career, I became more and more aware of [regional] stereotypes and hierarchies that continue to be perpetuated in the mainstream media. Not just in video games—[but] television, news, movies, and stuff like that.

This almost happened to me with my "Women in Art History" course. Every class was a bunch of drivel about why various great works were oppressive, phallic records of the Male Gaze and should be removed from their museums and etc.

And as the class progressed, you could see the students being convinced of this, and the joy they felt for the pieces being strangled out of them by indignant rage or impotent guilt, depending on their gender.

Parungao also seems to be a little behind on his game canon. He says he feels "that these games symbolize, in many ways, the constant trend in themes in video games when considering 'Asian-ness' and stereotyping in video games." More like, they were the only games he still had left over from middle school.

The blatant truth of it is that none of these games are representatives of anything current. Shadow Warrior came out in 1997, and Kung Fu in 1985. Asian-ness, my ass.

Way to go, Rob. You psyched yourself into no longer enjoying your childhood entertainments. I just hope no one else is taken in by this gradegrubbing masquerading as "research". Eliza "the man" gauger

Read full article and wearily angry flames here [GamePolitics, and also thanks to Alan for sending this in earlier]

Deprived of a rich gaming background by overprotective parents? Can't keep up with the witty banter at your local network gaming establishment (do these even exist anymore?)? Keep embarassing yourself in front of friends and relatives when asked to make speeches at Zaxxon-themed bar mitzvahs?

Roffling reader Chris sent in a link to his blog where he is hosting a PDF of a final exam paper from the University of Teesside School of Computing, where one of his hapless friends has enrolled in the History of Games course:

16) Many videogames contain undocumented secrets in the form of mini-games, extra characters, levels etc. What are these secrets commonly known as?

a) Monkey nuts.
b) Christmas gifts.
c) Magic moments.
d) Easter eggs.
e) Trap doors.

I actually like "monkey nuts" a hell of a lot better. Thanks Chris! eliza gauger

Now this is an education... [True Player]

Swedish Kotakuite Anders sends these photos of the 2006 carnival at Lund University. The giant NES float is called "Nintander", which is a mix of the word "Nintendo" and the Swedish term for "teeth." (Ah, that biting Scandinavian humor.) The next carnival won't be until 2010. More pics, after the jump, will have to hold you over 'till then. Brian Ashcraft

The incredibly useful World of Warcraft site MapWoW.com reports that the University of Washington tops its list of college-affiliated site visitors. The post speculates that Seattle's colossal nerd population (as in: there are great numbers of them, and many of them are huge) makes this a not-unexpected result.

Several other tech-heavy schools make the list including RIT, Purdue, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. A few big name schools win out on sheer number of students, such as University of Michigan, The Ohio State University, and The University of Texas. The state of California has the most universities in the top 25.

There is a complete ordered list of 1109 universities available on the site, and a top 25 in the post itself.

MapWoW uses the Google API in conjunction with realtime game statistics to document resource distribution across the in-game continents.

Next time you need to know where to steer your botfly-infested kodo steed to farm the most Kingsblood in the shortest amount of time, and don't feel like being screamed at or ignored in the General channel, plug your variables into MapWoW and go about your business. Eliza Gauger

University of Washington plays the most Warcraft [MapWow.com]

Yet, another buncha of college kids doing a Mario send-up. This one at Gordon College in Massachusetts is pretty imaginative and gets a 1Up for a very clever "pause."

Gordon College [Official Page] Thanks, Mauricio!

Here is UCLA's video game quartet, The Jumpmen, singing tunes from Super Mario Bros.. Fun sure, but man, I hate acapella.

Clip Here [GoNintendo]

Baton Rouge Community College (BRCC) is creating a new degree program in hopes of supplying the city's upstart gaming industry with a ready work-force. "This will keep young people from having to leave Louisiana," says Mayor Kip Holden. "They can stay right here in Baton Rouge, earn a good living and at the same time, be a part of a growing dynamic industry."

Nerjyzed Entertainment is working with the community college to develop a workforce through a 2-year program for video game design. "Our students are going to have the opportunity to be trained and eligible for high paying positions in the film industry, in the digital media industry," says BRCC Chancellor Dr. Myrtle E.B. Dorsey. The company will employ about 80 people with salaries up to $75,000 a year.

But what happens when those positions are filled? Where do the students at BRCC find employment? Certainly, the idea is that this company will attract other companies and before you know it, Baton Rogue with be crawling with developers. Louisiana's had a rough time recently, but something about this reeks of desperation. That being said, I do hope this works out for the city.

Story Here [WAFB] Thanks, Gavin!

Wait. GameCube? They're not even bringing in the Revolution dev kit? Hey, great, why don't they teach you how to program for the Amiga 1000 while they're at it?

Nintendo And Freescale Partner For Game Development Education

Frat boy fav CollegeHumor.com has a live action version of Final Fantasy. That is, if Final Fantasy starred polo-shirt wearing undergrads. It looks like these guys put a ton of work into the vid. Sure beats studying.

Watch It Here [CollegeHumor] Thanks, Jeff!