Pasta Padre got his hands on a screenshot of the survey from a tipster, which you can see on his blog. Hypothetical gameplay upgrades include spread and no-huddle offenses (with specific animations, such as looking to the sidelines for the play), and "locomotion gameplay with authentic momentum based physics" and more team-specific authenticity in the offensive gameplans. It also sounds like they're interested in more real coaching personalities, as "active real-life coaches and coordinators" could be on the sidelines. Also, they're mulling having specific coaches themselves call signature plays to you through your headset (or the speakers).

Significantly, "All-New ESPN style TV Presentation with broadcast graphics and special attention to rivalries, bowl games, etc." is listed among the options. When I spoke to NCAA Basketball 10 producer Connor Dougan for this column, I asked if the authentic broadcast presentation in NCAA Basketball 10 would be proof of concept for other EA Sports titles. Dougan demurred, not wishing to speak for other project teams. Its inclusion here indicates the NCAA Football folks in Tiburon are considering it - I hope strongly. It's a great addition to the basketball game and would be even moreso for college football.

Check out the full list at the link and then sound off on what you'd like to see. I think all of these would be great new features for an already excellent, very deep simulation.

Potential Features for NCAA 11 [Pasta Padre]

To grab the file, follow these steps:

• Go to the NCAA 10 Main Menu
• Click Xbox Live
• Click My NCAA Online
• Click EA Locker
• Click Media Center
• Search for the file OS COACHES NAMES FULL VER 2 uploaded by ACEMAB194.

A dozen OSers contributed to building the file less than a week after its commercial release. They worked with the default roster on the retail game and created no players. Dynamic Updates will change the players' ratings as they progress through the season, but not their names or other information.

In addition to the verisimilitude, named rosters cuts down on announcer repetition. Without a name to call, they default to typically identifying players as "the senior," etc. Gus Johnson saying "the soph-a-more ...!" gets a little old after a while. This should help.

Again, this file is for the Xbox 360.

NCAA Basketball 10 Community Rosters (360) - Get Them Here! [Operation Sports via Pasta Padre]

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.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Hell, yes it is. I've seen unranked and untelevised N.C. State and North Carolina squads get into a helmet-swinging brawl in 1993. Clemson and South Carolina's fourth quarter throwdown 11 years later - including cops on the field - left both schools sitting at home instead of going to bowl games. And we'll all be dead a long time before there is ever again anything like the unforgettably amazing Miami-Florida International gong show of 2006, which showcased state troopers, 13 ejections, a kickoff from the 10-yard line, and running back A'Mod Ned on crutches, striding forth into the maw of disaster.

Really, though, the answer here is so obvious as to be not worth asking: There's no way in hell the NCAA would license a product that featured fighting, no matter how awesome. And you can forget about it in Madden, too. Football is the most institutionally conservative and image-conscious of the major team sports, and clearly prefers to keep its violence well regulated and between the lines. Anything else is left for games like Blitz: The League.

Two licensed sports games, however, do acknowledge illegal or semi-legal aggression in some way: baseball has its beanings, and hockey, well, need anyone say more. In fact, the physicality is going into new realms in this year's NHL 10, says producer David Littman, himself a former professional hockey goalie who had brief appearances in the NHL.

But the violence isn't a gratuitous minigame, Littman said. It's intended to function as hockey fighting does in the real world: A means of policing opposing players' conduct, responding to intimidating tactics and relentless checking, or to fire up the home crowd and inspire solidarity on your team.

"For me, fighting has a place in hockey because it does have a calming influence," Littman says, making a case that many have - without fighting in hockey, massive guys with sticks would seek dirtier, and more injurious, means to dissipate aggression. "We have that authenticity in this game. If you're being checked all over the ice by the other team, and being run out of your own building, you can bring out your fourth line, start a fight, win it, get the crowd back into the game, and it takes away the effects of that intimidation."

Is the NHL cool with this? Absolutely, Littman says. "We work very closely with them [and the NHL players' union] throughout the development process, on what goes in the game," he said. "It's their names on the box with us, too. And we go through yearlong approval processes with them. They're very happy because of our sales and quality, but at the same time they have to protect their names. We worked with them all year, particularly on fighting this year, and no doubt, fighting is a hot topic. There's always controversy, but that was something we worked with them all year on."

In fact, the eminent Edmonton enforcer Zack Stortini was brought in to consult with NHL 10's developers on how to build a first-person fighting engine. His guidance is what tied the fighting to in-game performance boosts, Littman said.

"When you fight in our game, the lines get their energy back, you hear the commentators talking about that, you see the crowd on its feet, banging on the glass," Littman said. "That comes from Zack. He said that there's nothing like being at home, and you've showed the other team that your team's not gonna take it on your home ice."

NHL 10's openness about aggression is authentic to something else: The league's posture on fighting. It's always a prickly subject, because the lessons of hockey's fisticuffs are much more subtle than the beating one sees on a screen. It's also not tolerated in any league other than the North American professionals; in all other ranks, fighting players are ejected, not sent to the penalty box for five minutes.

But the league has repeatedly refused to crack down on fighting with the intent of its elimination, tacitly acknowledging its fundamental relevance to the game. Officially, the league considers the issue from the standpoint of player safety. And if that's its only concern, the fighting in NHL 10 is no problem, because no one is ever injured at the end of a brawl.

"It's a safe way to fight," Littman said. "You can punch people and get punched and you're still sitting on your couch, no bruises. I played professional hockey and was in a lot of fights. To be honest, fighting isn't really where you see the injuries happen."

If bench-clearing brawls are authentic to baseball, MLB has clearly said no thank you to the idea. Then again, it's a league that fines and suspends nearly all of its combatants. Drill a guy in the back in MLB 09 The Show and he'll glare at the pitcher, mouth some unpleasantries and argue with the catcher. You can put a fastball right in his earflap and the reaction is similarly sanitized - he trots down to first no problems. Do this repeatedly and someone might charge the mound. But the animation ends just as the batter breaks out of the catcher's restraint and, it is implied, goes for the pitcher.

This is similar to how beanings have been handled in other licensed MLB games, meaning that league has probably drawn a clear line to developers. (On Tuesday I emailed the game's publicity representatives to talk about beanings and fighting; unfortunately, no one could be made available for comment by the time this was published.)

Interestingly, the NHL games carry a slightly higher age-rating than their colleagues. NHL 10 and NHL 2K10 are both rated E10+, whereas Madden, MLB 09 The Show and others are all E. And there's only one reason: the fighting.

"We have to weigh the pros and cons of that," Littlman said. "Really, I don't think too many 8-year-olds are buying $60 video games. Their parents can for them, sure. Have we ever thought about taking fighting out? The answer is no, because we are striving to be authentic to hockey." Also, fans would desert the game.

And anyway, Littman points out, a concerned parent worried about video game athletes setting a bad example for their youth hockey players can just deactivate the fighting in the game's options.

Stick Jockey is Kotaku's column on sports video games. It appears Saturdays at 10 a.m. U.S. Mountain time.

As an example, the above player was auto-named "Jason Gay" at the online TeamBuilder site. But imported into the Xbox 360 version, the player was renamed "Jason XXX." Users may manually change the name back in all modes of play into which created teams are imported, both online and offline.

The filtering, however, does make EA Sports look like it's demonizing the word, a delicate and persistent issue in online gaming. But in fact, EA's code has no problem with it; in the game, play-by-play man Brad Nessler says the name for players who have it.

Asked for comment, Electronic Arts provided this statement:

We are aware of the situation in which some auto-generated player names used online in NCAA Football 10 are being edited, due to Microsoft's Xbox LIVE language filter. EA encourages diversity in our online communities, and providing a safe place for gamers to play is a high priority at EA.

When we went to Microsoft for a comment, a spokesman acknowledged the ongoing debate and pointed to the XBL terms of use, which prohibit text in Gamertags or "other profile fields that include comments that look, sound like, stand for, hint at, abbreviate, or insinuate content of a potentially sexual nature."

Both sides gave - quite understandably - policy-based answers to what is ultimately an incremental development in this issue. NCAA 10 may not have the kind of user base that gets fired up about this, after all.

But whether or not "gay" is more a self-identifier or a term of abuse, it continues to be someone's last name. Rudy Gay. Tyson Gay. Efforts to proactively micromanage this evolving word's use may, privately, have the intended effect. Publicly, it will continue to create instances such as these, in which some major corporation wittingly or, in EA's case, unwittingly and through no fault of its own, puts its brand on the implication that the word is inherently shameful.

Microsoft says it's still exploring ways to integrate the word with its community and its TOS. But, really. As decisions go, you're gonna make it now, or make it later. Let some churlish gamer's ugly behavior speak for itself, and deal with him tomorrow. But you can take "gay" off the filter list today, and end this as a controversy.

O'Bannon, who starred on UCLA's 1995 national championship team and has since retired from the NBA, has filed suit against the NCAA - not Electronic Arts or any publisher of sports titles. His is a blanket claim, covering his appearance, without compensation or permission, in DVDs, video games, and on sports apparel. Secondly, this deals with licensing as it pertains to former athletes, not current ones.

That said, he intends to do something that someone at NCAA HQ should notice. With any money won in this case, O'Bannon wants to establish a trust fund, whose proceeds would benefit today's players when they are finished with their amateur, collegiate careers.

In a back-of-the-envelope way, this could help unwind the NCAA, and its member institutions', use and licensing of their student-athletes in blatantly commercial endeavors while still paying them something without rewriting its own eligibility rules or opening things up to the larger argument of paying college athletes.

The rest of the lawsuit hashes over some of the same points made in Sam Keller's lawsuit, filed back in the spring. But if O'Bannon's sincere about the trust idea, at least this one offers a constructive outcome, should the NCAA choose to see it as an opportunity and not a threat.

Video Game Licensing a Key Issue as Former UCLA Star Leads New Lawsuit Against NCAA [GamePolitics]

A similar lawsuit went down not long ago where retired NFL players had their likenesses unlawfully used in Madden NFL games. The plaintiffs in that case won their suit to the tune of $28.1 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

The plaintiff in this case is Samuel Keller, a former quarterback at Arizona State and Nebraska. Keller claims in his 24 page complaint that the NCAA let EA use college athletes' likenesses as part of some agreement between EA and the NCAA that "intentionally circumvents the prohibitions on utilizing student athletes' names in commercial ventures by allowing gamers to upload entire rosters, which include players' names and other information, directly into the game in a matter of seconds."

His proof: EA's game, NCAA 2009, features several randomly generated characters such as Arizona State's "Quarterback No. 9" and Nebraska's "Quarterback No. 5" which bear a strong resemblance to Keller. Ergo, they're not randomly generated and somebody owes Keller money.

SFWeekly reports:

The suit goes on to state that the NCAA's own bylaw 12.5 prohibits the commercialization of a student athlete's "name, picture, or likeness." The athletes themselves must even sign an affidavit confirming they "read and understand" this rule regarding the maintaining of their amateur status.

So it rankled Keller to note that "with rare exception, virtually every real-life Division I football or basketball player in the NCAA has a corresponding player in Electronic Arts' games with the same jersey number, and virtually identical height, weight, build and home state. In addition Electronic Arts often matches the player's, skin tone, hair color, and often even a player's hair style."

"The motivation of the Defendants is simple: more money," the complaint says. It closes by demanding a jury trial, actual, statutory and punitive damages as well as disgorgement of all profits EA earned from the games featuring NCAA players. Plus it wants all copies of the games seized and destroyed.

Man, EA is not having much luck with legal matters lately.

Jocks Vs. Nerds: Former College QB Sues NCAA, Videogame Company Over Use of Athletes' Names and Likenesses [SFWeekly via GamePolitics]

Yesterday we broke the news that College Hoops 2K9 was canned after negotiations between The Collegiate Licensing Company and 2K Sports broke down. We also reported on a rumor that Electronic Arts may have had a hand in the break down.

Late last night David Tinson, director of EA Sports public relations, got back to us to sort of deny the rumor... sort of.

2k and CLC are in the best position to comment on College Hoops.

EA is in the middle of a long-term license with the CLC and we expect to stay in the college basketball category.

Hmm, that doesn't really answer the question at all and 2K also declines to comment on Electronic Arts. The CLC still hasn't gotten back to us on this.

Responding to rumors we broke earlier today that College Hoops 2K9 has been canceled due to a breakdown in negotiations with the license holders for collegiate basketball, 2K Sports parent company Take-Two had this to say to Kotaku:

2K Sports has decided not to continue negotiations with the CLC for the license for its top-rated College Hoops franchise, which would have been released next in November 2008. We are committed to providing fans with high-quality, critically-acclaimed sports games, but given our disciplined approach to the business, we do not believe the current discussions would result in an acceptable outcome.

I followed up with Take-Two to try and get more details and while the declined to talk about any roll EA might have had in the break-down, they did confirm that College Hoops 2K9 has indeed been canceled.

No word still from The Collegiate Licensing Company or Electronic Arts, but we'll keep you posted.

Rumor: 2K9 College Hoops Canned, EA Seeks NCAA Deal [Kotaku]

Rumor has it that 2K Sports have walked away from negotiations with The Collegiate Licensing Company and that 2K9 College Hoops has been officially canned due to the break down in the talks.

The Collegiate Licensing Company is the nation's leading collegiate trademark licensing and marketing company and can license the nations college teams to a video game maker. While I've yet to hear back from the CLC or 2K Sports, I have heard that Electronic Arts may have something to do with this latest development.

According to the rumblings, Electronic Arts may be in the process of trying to secure another exclusive sports franchise by landing the same sort of licensing deal that managed to grab with the NFL.

Electronic Arts' NCAA March Madness 08 scored a 70.9 percent on Game Rankings, while 2K8 College Hoops scored nearly ten percent higher with an 80.5 percent.

I've requested comments from 2K, CLC and EA and will make sure to update when official comments or no comments roll in.

Update: At least part of the rumor has been confirmed by Take-Two.

Miis aside, most gamers must resign themselves to play made-up characters, while top athletes get to play virtual versions of themselves in games like Madden and NCAA. But, do they? In a recent interview, NFL-drafted University of Southern California reciever Dwayne Jarrett says:

How do you feel about your ratings in the game? I don't even know my ratings to tell you the truth. They weren't that bad from what I can recall, so I'm happy with it. I don't take that stuff to heart at all.

Do you throw to yourself every time?
No, I don't play with USC when I play.

Who do you play with?
Florida State, Miami. You know, South schools.

Kudos to Jarrett for keeping ego in check and realizing there's no escapism in playing a virtual version of yourself. Just loads of empty self-satisfaction. Brian Ashcraft

Future NFL Stars Talk Gaming [Switched]

Unfortunate for them. But fortunately for me, that custom cover for NCAA 07 featuring Jack Ikegwuonu for the Xbox was already made!

Hey dudes, the Xbox really isn't that expensive. You can get one used (obviously not a concern) for, like, a hundred bucks! You really want to risk a fine, jail time and potentially ruining your college football career.

Oh wait, you're college athletes. You pretty much have immunity to do whatever you want! Michael McWhertor

Ikegwuonu faces charges after weekend arrest [ESPN]