Gaming Friday: NCAA Football 10 and Customization?

NCAA Football 10 launched this week. They launched with four covers, one for each version - Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech (360), Mark Sanchez, USC (PSP), Brian Johnson, Utah (PS3), and Brian Orakpo, Texas (PS2). That's a pretty solid move, though I still would love to see them get full customization in the cover athlete process.

Wouldn't it be solid if you could make the game cover all about your own school? I mean, what if you could pre-order your game and then have the game ship to your house with your school on it? That'd be hot.

EA is starting something in this zone as they introduced an online Trivia Challenge to own the NCAA Football 10 website. It's pretty simple, really, but interesting. Go to EA Sports' NCAA Football site (or click here). Then choose your school, answer 5 trivia questions, and submit. Your correct answers elevate your school in the standings. Each week, the highest school in points owns the NCAA Football site. This week it was Virginia... naturally, they make it super easy to promote this on Facebook or Twitter.

So I like the start of this. Could have potential to get people rallying and coming back to the site through the year, I guess, if "owning" the EA Sports site is prestigious enough. But more than that it just got me thinking. Most people take their games and have them in a cabinet or case, buried away in a stack. Mine are in a stack with my DVDs. Not very viral, as it isn't super likely you'll see my NCAA Football cover when you come by my house.

But if I could have customized the game to have Drake on the cover, even with a created player, that would be smoking hot. I'd keep that out and visible. And I'd feel a connection each time I play. I mean, cover athlete that was an NCAA star is a good idea, but just how popular nationwide was Michael Crabtree? Or Texas Tech? Or Utah? I think once the model starts to shift gaming is going to hit a whole new level of cool.