NCAA Football series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is for the video game series; for the sport, see College Football.
NCAA Football is a football video game series in which you play as (and against) any current major university football team, as well as several historic teams. This game is developed by EA Sports in an exclusive license with the NCAA.
Contents |
[edit] Yearly Releases
[edit] 2007
| NCAA Football 07 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | EA Tiburon |
| Publisher(s) | EA Sports |
| Release date(s) | July 18, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer, multiplayer online |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, PSP |
NCAA Football 07 was released on July 18th 2006 and is the series' latest incarnation. It is the series' first release on both the Xbox 360 and PSP. USC running back Reggie Bush is featured on the game's cover.
| NCAA Football 06 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | EA Tiburon |
| Publisher(s) | EA Sports |
| Release date(s) | July 11, 2005 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer, multiplayer online |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox |
[edit] 2006
NCAA Football 2006 has features that include the Dynasty mode, wherein the player act as a team's head coach, both on and off the field. Aside from weekly games, the player also controls recruiting freshman for the next year's season; new to the 2006 version is in-season recruiting.
Another new feature in the 2006 game is the Race for the Heisman mode, in which the player takes on the role of a single player attempting to win the Heisman trophy.
Desmond Howard, a Heisman-winning player from the University of Michigan, is on the cover. This is a slight break in tradition as the NCAA Football series traditionally featured an NFL rookie on the cover of the game, with an action shot of him wearing his college jersey from the previous year. The game was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.
| NCAA Football 2005 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | EA Tiburon |
| Publisher(s) | EA Sports |
| Release date(s) | July 15, 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer, multiplayer online |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube |
[edit] 2005
NCAA Football 2005 introduced more fan interaction in the game; the home team's defense can incite the crowd to make noise, making it difficult for the offense to hear the quarterback's audibles.
University of Pittsburgh wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald is on the cover. The game was released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox.
| NCAA Football 2004 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | EA Tiburon |
| Publisher(s) | EA Sports |
| Release date(s) | July 16, 2003 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer, |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Gamecube, |
[edit] 2004
NCAA Football 2004, released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox featured USC quarterback Carson Palmer on the cover.
| NCAA Football 2003 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | EA Tiburon |
| Publisher(s) | EA Sports |
| Release date(s) | July 20, 2002 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Gamecube |
[edit] 2003
NCAA Football 2003, released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, featured University of Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington on the cover.
| NCAA Football 2002 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | EA Sports |
| Publisher(s) | EA Sports |
| Release date(s) | July 23, 2001 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
[edit] 2002
NCAA Football 2002, released only for the PlayStation 2, featured Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke on the cover. He currently is a back-up quarterback on the Carolina Panthers.
This was the first version released for Playstation 2, it lacked features (such as Custom League, Custom Tournament, Create-a-player, and Create-a-school) that were present in the previous Playstation 1 edition (2001).
| NCAA Football 2001 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | EA Sports |
| Publisher(s) | EA Sports |
| Release date(s) | July 25, 2000 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 1 |
[edit] 2001
NCAA Football 2001, released only for the PlayStation, featured University of Alabama running back Shaun Alexander on the cover.
This version included Create-a-player, Create-a-school, Custom League (up to eight teams, double round-robin, plus playoff), Custom Tournament (up to 16 teams, double elimination), and fully customizable Season/Dynasty schedules (which allowed players to violate conference obligations in rescheduling opponents).
| NCAA Football 2000 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | EA Sports |
| Publisher(s) | EA Sports |
| Release date(s) | June 30, 1999 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 1 |
[edit] 2000
NCAA Football 2000, released only for the PlayStation, featured University of Texas running back Ricky Williams on the cover.
| NCAA Football 99 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | EA Sports |
| Publisher(s) | EA Sports |
| Release date(s) | August 1, 1998 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 1, PC |
[edit] 1999
NCAA Football 99 was the sixth edition of the game. The game featured University of Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson on the cover.
| NCAA Football 98 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | EA Sports |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Release date(s) | July 31, 1997 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 1, PC |
[edit] 1998
This was the first installment known as "NCAA College Football" The game featured University of Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel on the cover. This was the first game in the series to feature a multi-season Dynasty Mode, allowing players to take control of a team for four seasons and recruit players to fill out roster vacancies at the completion of each season.
| College Football USA 97 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Black Perl Software |
| Publisher(s) | THQ |
| Release date(s) | June 1, 1996 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis |
[edit] 1997
College Football USA 97 was the fourth installment. The game featured University of Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier on the cover.
| College Football USA 96 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | High Score Productions |
| Publisher(s) | EA Sports |
| Release date(s) | July 15, 1995 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | Sega Genesis |
[edit] 1996
The series was renamed "College Football USA 96", and this version was the first to feature all (108 at the time) division 1-A teams. It was also the first in the series to feature real bowl games (Orange, Sugar, Fiesta and Rose).
| Bill Walsh College Football 95 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Release date(s) | June 1, 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | Sega Genesis |
[edit] 1995
"Bill Walsh College Football 95" was the second installment. This was the first game to feature official school logos and mascots.
| Bill Walsh College Football | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Visual Concepts |
| Publisher(s) | EA Sports |
| Release date(s) | June, 1993 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Sega CD |
[edit] 1994
NCAA Football was originally known as "Bill Walsh College Football" and was released on 5th generation video game consoles, such as Sega Genesis. The Bill Walsh endorsement was meant to parallel John Madden NFL Football.
[edit] Criticisms
Some players have argued that the AI that controls the offensive players' blocking skills is flawed, or that passing in the game is either too easy or too hard.
Players' names and likenesses are not in the game but this is due to restrictions in the NCAA. While the Madden NFL series, EA Sports' professional counterpart to NCAA Football, uses real player names and pictures, those players are compensated for the use of their image. For EA Sports to use college players' names, they would have to pay the players, which would be against NCAA rules. However, the game does represent players by jersey number, position, height, weight, and even ethnicity. So fans of any particular team are sure to recognize their favorite players. The game gives the player the option to name them.
Players also complain about the yearly release schedule. EA Sports releases another game in this series each year, but many players find that new features are not worth spending an additional $50 for another game. Dedicated players, however, argue that the new releases are valuable because of the ability to play with updated teams and players.
Another complaint is that favorite features (such as Custom League) are removed from certain editions just to be reinstated in later versions. Players have accused EA Sports of "holding back" features and improvements to jusitfy each year's new edition.
NCAA Football is not produced for PC's as Madden NFL is. EA has not responded to inquiries as to why the final PC version of the game was released in 1999. This is a cause of some frustration in the PC community.
Since the 2006 game, many Nintendo GameCube owners have complained that the newer editions in the franchise are not available for the GameCube, but instead only available for PlayStation and Xbox platforms.
With EA having signed an exclusive deal with the NCAA to produce football games, some players complain that EA Sports has too much control over the playing experience. For instance, it chooses which teams are included in the game. Many small schools (1-AA,II,and III) are not included.
Some team rosters have flaws. Player numbers, heights & weights, and sometimes even year (usually only when red shirt is involved) can be incorrect.
[edit] Soundtracks
Prior to the release of NCAA Football 06, the only music featured in the game were fight songs of several major colleges. These would play at random, however the user-selected "favorite team" would always have their fight song played first whenever the game was first started.
NCAA Football 06 was the first and so far only to include licensed music to keep the series in uniform with other EA Sports releases such as Madden NFL and the NHL series.
NCAA Football 07 returned to the fight song only format.
