FanHouse

The notion of a fancy party for a video game seems odd -- why dress up and go out for something best enjoyed while wearing ratty gym shorts in your own home? But EA Sports apparently knows what they're doing, and they hosted a party at Marquee -- a trendy Manhattan night club -- last night for the release of NCAA Football '09.

Several college football stars in town for the draft attended the party, including cover boy Matt Ryan (pictured), Arkansas running back Darren McFadden (interview here), West Virginia fullback Owen Schmitt, California WR/KR DeSean Jackson, and #1 overall draft pick Jake Long.

The release also included a full demonstration of the game on large flatscreen TVs, an upstairs lounge dedicated to press interviews, and -- most importantly -- free drinks! Huzzah!

All the prospective draftees got face time on stage after the game was introduced. Most made a quick, quiet entrance, but when the master of ceremonies called Owen Schmitt to the stage, there was nothing. "Owen?" the emcee ventured. "Well, if he were here, we'd know it," he added.

It was at this point that someone with the physique of Ram-Man let out a long "WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Awwriiight!!!" distinctive of people who have attended West Virginia University. Sure enough, Schmitt was just behind me, harelip stretched into a grin as he embraced the spotlight. He parted the crowd with the wide swath of his mohawk and went onstage.

Of course, the supposed point of the night was to introduce a video game to the crowd of white men wearing blazers (including me, masquerading as a grown-up) and a handful of shabbily dressed guys who didn't see the need to shower beforehand. I assume they were either die-hard video game fans or bloggers. Or possibly the lowest form of human life: video game bloggers.


These two guys performed the demonstration, and while one played a mock-up game of Florida-Tennessee (the Gators led 17-0 in the first when he exited the game), the other described its new features: crowd interaction (it gets louder when the home team plays well, and its reactions are designed to affect teams' performance), the addition of mascots and cheerleaders, and the ability to play against other people online. And just as he assured the crowd that this was EA's "best looking title yet" and praised the game's "completely new look," Dewey Hammond of Yardbarker leaned over to me and said, "It looks just like every other year."

Another completely new feature of the game was "Mascot Mash-up," which pits teams of school mascots against each other. In the demo presented to us, eleven Michigan State Spartys took on eleven Brutus the Buckeyes, and the arcade-like gameplay allowed the Sparty returning the kickoff to do flips on the field. It was unclear, however, if there was a function that allowed him to use the bathroom without assistance.