Customizable NCAA 09 Covers

First of all, did you know Wal-Mart had a Blog? Not just a blog, but a rather large, multi-authored blog? I sure didn’t.

Anyway, I’ve railed for a long time that EA should offer regional covers for their sports games, but more specifically, for the NCAA 0X series. I don’t mind buying a college football game with Reggie Bush or Jared Zabransky on the cover, but as a Buckeye fan, I’d be much more inclined to get one with Troy Smith or Vernon Gholston on my cover.

Well, this year for NCAA 09, you can do just that. You can “customize” your NCAA cover to fit your fandom. But, it’s exclusively available at Sam’s Club:

Sam’s Club will be the ONLY retailer to offer OFFICIAL EA alternative cover images. What does this mean to you? Well, if you are like me and NOT a Razorback fan (almost illegal here in Arkansas, I still will not to that “wooooo pig” thing), you can put an image from a selection of images on YOUR box front at no additional charge.

It’s a very cool idea, but it looks like it’s being executed poorly. First of all, the example posted at the Check Out blog, with the Lucky Charm Leprechaun, looks like a character model from the game. If they use mascots from the game engine as the cover pictures, that is pretty lame. If they’re not using actual photographs, this is a bad idea. And I know there are licensing agreements and NFL player associations to deal with, but it would be really cool if they worked it out to have a few fan favorites from each team available for covers. That would make it an instant buy.

And for those wondering, here’s my dream cover:

(And by “dream cover,” I mean that literally. I dream about buying NCAA 09 with Mount Vernon on the cover. Nightly)

[Cross posted at my other blog, for obvious reasons]