BASEBALL’S BACK WITH EA’S MVP 06 NCAA BASEBALL
The Highest-Rated and Top-Selling Baseball Franchise Goes Back to School Next Spring
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Wednesday, September 7, 2005 – Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today that MVP™ 06 NCAA® Baseball is in development and scheduled for release in spring 2006 under the EA SPORTS™ brand. This new version of the best-selling and critically acclaimed MVP Baseball™ franchise is being produced by Electronic Arts Canada in Vancouver, B.C., and will celebrate everything that makes NCAA® baseball unique – aluminum bats, intense action, and stadiums filled with school spirit and packed with passionate fans.
From the same developers of the franchise that IGN earlier this year called the “best baseball experience on the market”, MVP 06 NCAA Baseball will debut new batting and throwing systems, the nation’s top universities and conferences, and a deep college-specific Dynasty Mode™ that takes you on the “Road to Omaha®” with baseball’s brightest young stars.
“We’re excited to be able to work with our partners at the NCAA to deliver the first-ever college baseball video game and our most innovative baseball product to date,” says Brent Nielsen, senior producer for the project. “Baseball purists and casual fans alike have flocked to the MVP Baseball franchise in record numbers year after year. We know MVP 06 NCAA Baseball will only grow that passion for the best baseball experience on the market.”
Complete with an engaging visual presentation and ESPN’s Mike Patrick and former Stanford All-American Kyle Peterson calling the action, MVP 06 NCAA Baseball features an all-new Custom Ballpark feature and a robust Create a Player option. The game also includes exclusive new online* features for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and Xbox Live®.
“The excitement surrounding the College World Series and college baseball as a whole continues to rise with fan attendance and public interest increasing each year,” said Dennie Poppe, NCAA Managing Director for Baseball and Football. “MVP 06 NCAA Baseball will allow fans an opportunity to experience college baseball through high tech video that has thrilling game action, along with the exciting team spirit and atmosphere that you see during an actual game. We’re pleased to work with EA on this project that will bring fans even closer to NCAA college baseball.”
"Electronic Arts has gone to great lengths to capture the unique features of college baseball," said Pat Battle, Chief Executive Officer of The Collegiate Licensing Company. "We have heard tremendous positive feedback from the university athletic directors, conference commissioners and the baseball coaches. There is a great deal of momentum surrounding college baseball, and this project is another significant step forward."
The game, which joins NCAA® Football and NCAA® March Madness® in the EA SPORTS™ family of popular NCAA-licensed properties, is slated to ship on the PlayStation 2 console and Xbox® video game system from Microsoft. Screenshots of the game can be found at http://info.ea.com.
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for videogame systems, personal computers and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA SPORTS BIG™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2005, EA posted revenues of $3.1 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.
About the NCAA
The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletic opportunities for more than 360,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 49,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA Championships in Division I, II and III sports. For more information, go to www.ncaa.org.
About The Collegiate Licensing Company
The Collegiate Licensing Company is the oldest and largest collegiate licensing representative in the nation. CLC currently represents more than 200 colleges, universities, bowl games, athletic conferences, The Heisman Trophy, and the NCAA (including the Men's and Women's Final Four, the College World Series, and all NCAA Championships). Headquartered in Atlanta, CLC is a full-service licensing representative, which employs a staff of more than 80 licensing professionals with the capability to establish and manage every aspect of a collegiate licensing program.
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Electronic Arts, EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG, POGO, Dynasty Mode, MVP and MVP Baseball are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U. S. and/or other countries. NCAA is a registered trademark of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. PlayStation is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft and Xbox are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.