10:53 - The community leaders are in our "Game Ops" room that'd decked out with big screens, couches and individual headsets. They're knee deep in NCAA Basketball 09 at the moment and in a few hours, we're expecting to grab them for some feedback.

11:38 - The guys are writing down alot of things that they can give feedback on currently. It's a great because for the first time at a community event, every person is playing on their own TV against the cpu. Normally, community leaders go head to head. It's still too early to report feedback they're taking notes on, but in another hour or so, initial feedback might be a possibility.

12:09 - Note taking and feedback is still going strong. Rebound and alley-oops are two things that the community leaders are pointing out as positive points from the two hours they've played so far. Balls no longer hit the floor, and alley-oops are more fluid and controllable.

12:33 - We're now showing NCAA March Madness 08 and the improvements we've made over last year. Right away the community leaders can notice the choppy animations and sliding footsteps. They say that NCAA Basketball 09 is marginally better than what they've seen of March Madness 08. At this point, they can't even look at it.

1:18 - Now we're doing something REALLY unique. In what many would consider a GOLDEN opportunity, we're giving our community leaders in attendance the chance to tell our producers what they like about the OTHER game. They're breaking it down comparing it to ours and giving fantastic feedback for our production team. We do care about what others are saying about our basketball games and adversely, what they think of other companies' basketball games. Our production team is taking notes, so rest assured guys, we're paying attention!

2:01 - So we're in the process of ***** footage for a video we want to release recapping the NCAA Basketball 09 Community Event. Confessionals and interviews with producers are the areas of focus. They're talking about things that you can't know about at this time, but hopefully you all can be a little patient and wait for this video, or the community leader's impressions in their write ups.

2:34 - Discussions have broken. They're back to playing the game like crazy! We'll have producer Sean Campbell in an interview next.

4:56 - Sorry for being late on the update. Some of the community leaders wanted to play me so I had to rise to the challenge. We're in the final feedback session right now before our producers catch planes to LA. One thing that's really coming out is people are loving our ***** percentages. "Your ***** percentages are better than most RELEASED games," one community leader said. Still trying to get Sean Campbell for an interview. Will bring him by ASAP.

7:10 - Again guys, wrapped up in playing the game with some of the community leaders.  I have Sean Campbell, Assistant Producer for NCAA Basketball 09 with me.  He's been here both days of the community event. 

Q: For your first community event that you've been to, how has your experience been?

A: It's a very positive and eye-opening experience.  Seeing and talking with these community leaders has opened my eyes to the passion of sports gamers there are out there.  It was been great hearing all the feedback and suggestions and seeing just how committed the community is to helping us make the game better.

Q: Tell us a little bit about what you do as a producer, and how it's been working on NCAA Basketball 09?

A: As this is my first year of being a producer on this title, I basically take part in every area of the game, and that's really just to help in my understanding on how the game is made and how this production team works.  My job is to help be the basketball mind and facilitator between the concept and programming of the game.  It's really been amazing, and I'm really lucky to be working on a team that has a high basketball and video game IQ, plus they're actively investing their time and energy into my growth as a producer.

Q: NCAA Basketball 09 is the only college basketball game out there this year.  Tell us what makes NCAA Basketball 09 different from NCAA March Madness 09. 

A: We're really excited to be working off of the NBA LIVE engine for the first time in the next gen era. We're confident that since we're running off the same engine, our primary task of focusing on core gameplay is a lot more manageable, and it allows us to find that time to make the differentiation to the college game a lot more authentic.

Q: How important is it to have a community event this early?

A: I see this as being a vital part of the development cycle because these are the people who not only play the game more than anyone, but they represent a much wider audience that we really need to impress being the only game on the market this year.

Q: In closing, tell us why we should be interested in NCAA Basketball 09 this year?

A: We've had the chance to improve and differentiate ourselves from NBA LIVE 09, which is already provides an excellent core gameplay experience.  And I feel that we've come as close as any college basketball game has to capturing the authenticity and feel of the college game and atmosphere!