NCAA Strategies attended the NCAA Basketball 09 Community Event that took place last weekend at the EA Canada Headquarters in Vancouver, BC. We weren't able to attend, but check out Part 1 of their event recap. Part 2 should be coming later today.

"Held at the EA Canada studios in Burnaby, British Columbia on September 9-10, ncaaStrategies.com was one of eight sites in attendance for the first ever NCAA Basketball Community event. Formerly known as March Madness, NCAA Basketball has been re-branded as EA Canada attempts to get the franchise back on track after years of falling behind the competition.

This report is solely for giving you guys a feel for the event and info directly from the producers. In-depth gameplay notes and impressions/opinions will come in later reports.

Layout of the Event - This community event was comprised of a format that had not been used before. Day one of the event was filled with producer presentations and feedback/discussion with community members. Though we did not play NCAA Basketball 09, we were given a walkthrough of the features & changes in the game. During this time, members stated what they liked & disliked about previous incarnations of the game, asked clarification on game features (how they work, logic behind decision to include), and also what features/aspects they preferred in other basketball titles, including NBA 2K8 and College Hoops 2K8.

Day two of the event featured 10+ hours of attendees playing the game, while producers were available for interaction. Each community member had their own television and game console available for playing. Throughout the day, most mixed up solo gaming with some human vs. human matchups.

Day One

Day one featured presentations from the producers where questions could be asked and feedback submitted. Here is a list of the producers in attendance: Brent Nielsen (executive producer of the basketball titles NBA Live & NCAA Basketball), Sean O’Brien, Connor Dougan, Joe Stallings, Novell Thomas, Chris Winters, & Sean Campbell.

The following is a recap of the presentations given during the day. "

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