Your TV screen is snowy; is that real?
Still not sure if this is considered an improvement in the world of sports video gamingon a video game or some smart cross product placement, but EA Sports has announced that the Weather Channel's interactive site has been added to the recently released "NCAA Football 08" video game, providing "up-to-date information" and "reflect accurate, real-time weather conditions at NCAA stadiums" via the Internet.
What's wrong with this picture?
Real time, in a video game? What's real and what isn't?
“This is a long-awaited feature for gamers – it is the first sports game we know of where actual current weather conditions will affect weather conditions in the game,” said Derek Van Nostran, director of marketing for The Weather Channel Interactive said in a press release sent out by EA Sports. “The Weather Channel Interactive welcomes this opportunity to work with EA Sports to bring an extra dose of realism to the game.”
Here's how it works: Every time a player with a live Internet connection loads a new game, they have the option to choose real-time weather from TWCI. The video game will then use the current conditions at the selected location to create the weather experience for that game.
Our suggestion: Play all the games now while conditions are pretty good. Wait for the winter, and you could get messy.
“We are always looking to add more realism to the game experience,” said Jeffrey Luhr, producer for NCAA Football 08, said in the release. “Adding real-time weather conditions from The Weather Channel interactive truly helps gamers feel ‘in the game.’ ”
Thanks, but whether or not I want my weather real on a video game, I'll wait until Jillian Barbarie makes it official.