American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
which was released on July 11, 2005. It is the successor to ''
NCAA Football 2005
''NCAA Football 2005'' is an American college football video game which was released by EA Sports on July 15, 2004. It is the successor to ''NCAA Football 2004'' in the NCAA Football series. The game features former Pittsburgh Panthers wide rec ...
'' in the ''
NCAA Football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most o ...
'' series. The product features former
Michigan Wolverines
The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...
standout and
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...
winner
Desmond Howard
Desmond Kevin Howard (born May 15, 1970) is an American former football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. He played college football at Michigan, where he won the Heisman Trophy as a senior. Howard w ...
on the cover. He is the only cover athlete not to have played the year before their respective game; Howard last played at Michigan in 1991. It is the only game in the series as of 2013 to have a music soundtrack, as the other games play school fight songs and general band pieces, and the last game in the series to feature
Division I FCS
The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...
teams on all platforms. NCAA Football 06 is the first game in the NCAA Football series to shorten the year to the last 2 digits.
Gameplay
''NCAA Football 06'' features a new game mode, "Race for the Heisman". In "Race for the Heisman", you begin as a high school standout hoping to sign with a major college program. After choosing your position and your position-specific drill, you are offered three scholarships, or you can walk on to a school of your choice. The prestige of the offering schools depends on how you performed in your drill.
Another new feature in ''NCAA Football 06'' is the Impact Player. Each team has three impact players, usually the three highest-rated players on the roster, but there is always at least one impact player on offense and on defense. (In Dynasty mode some teams only have two Impact Players in later years, but a third is named later in the season. Impact players will also change based on performance or lack thereof.) Some teams' kickers or punters are impact players, too. Offensive linemen are never impact players in the game. Impact players are called upon to make big plays when "in the zone" (indicated by their white impact icon underneath them pulsating). If they execute a big play, action pauses and the camera zooms in on the tackle, juke move, etc.
Retained from the previous version are the Top 25 toughest places to play (The
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
's
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (in full Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium),
Featured players
The main menu screen features a highlight reel with footage of plays made by some of the most famous players in college football history, including
Ricky Williams
Errick Miron (born Errick Lynne Williams Jr.; May 21, 1977) is an American former football running back who played 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and one season in the Canadian Football League (CFL).
After playing baseball an ...
,
Bo Jackson
Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson (born November 30, 1962) is an American former professional baseball and American football player. He is the only professional athlete in history to be named an All-Star in both baseball and football. Jackson's el ...
,
Archie Griffin
Archie Mason Griffin (born August 21, 1954) is a former American football running back. He played seven seasons in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals. As college football's only two-time Heisman Trophy winner, he is considered one of the grea ...
,
Charles Woodson
Charles Cameron Woodson (born October 7, 1976) is a former American football defensive back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons with the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers. He played college football at Mic ...
,
Herschel Walker
Herschel Junior Walker (born March 3, 1962) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. He was also the Republican nominee in the 2022 United States Senate election in Georgia.
...
,
LaDainian Tomlinson
LaDainian Tarshane Tomlinson (born June 23, 1979) is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. After a successful college career with the TCU Horned Frogs, the San Diego Chargers se ...
,
Barry Sanders
Barry Sanders (born July 16, 1968) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL), from 1989 to 1998 for the Detroit Lions. Sanders led the league in rushing yards four times and ...
,
LaVar Arrington
LaVar RaShad Arrington (born June 30, 1978) is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football at Penn State and was drafted second overall by the Washington Re ...
,
Warren Sapp
Warren Carlos Sapp (born December 19, 1972) is an American former football defensive tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Sapp played college football at Miami, where h ...
,
Ray Lewis
Raymond Anthony Lewis Jr. (born May 15, 1975) is an American former professional American football, football player who played as a Linebacker#Middle linebacker, middle linebacker with the Baltimore Ravens for his entire 17-year career in th ...
,
Tim Dwight
Timothy John Dwight Jr. (born July 13, 1975) is a former professional American football player who was a wide receiver and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons. He played college football for the University ...
,
Randy Moss
Randy Gene Moss (born February 13, 1977) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots, Tennessee ...
,
Ron Dayne
Ronald Dayne (born March 14, 1978) is a former professional American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. Dayne played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers football, University of Wisco ...
,
Warrick Dunn
Warrick De'Mon Dunn (born January 5, 1975) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 12th overall in the 1997 ...
,
Lawrence Taylor
Lawrence Julius Taylor (born February 4, 1959), nicknamed "L.T.", is an American former professional football player who spent his entire career as an outside linebacker for the New York Giants ( 1981–1993) in the National Football League (NF ...
,
Tim Brown Timothy, Timmy, or Tim Brown may refer to:
Music
* Timothy Brown (bassist) (born 1969), bassist for the band The Boo Radleys
* Timothy Brown (conductor) (born 1946), English choral conductor
* Timothy Brown (hornist), English hornist
Sports Gridir ...
, and
Peyton Manning
Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and four with th ...
.
Development
Like ''
Madden NFL 06
''Madden NFL 06'' is an American football video game which was released in 2005. It is also a launch game for the Xbox 360. It is the 16th installment of the Madden NFL series by EA Sports, named for noted color commentator John Madden. The produ ...
'', which has an exclusive license with the NFL, EA has an exclusive license with the NCAA to use stadiums, logos, and team nicknames. According to NCAA Football (a not-for-profit corporation serving to represent various stakeholders for college football), the "EA Sports video football game generates more than $8 million in royalties for NCAA Football and its members." Also, player names are not available in the game because the NCAA would have to pay the players for naming rights so they are called by their positions and numbers, but the player can still give them names.
Music
Prior to the release of ''NCAA Football 06'', the only music featured in the game were
fight songs
A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...
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 last to include licensed music to keep the series in uniform with other EA Sports releases such as ''
Madden NFL
''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. It is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden and sold more than 130 m ...
'' and the ''NHL'' series. This format was dropped for ''
NCAA Football 07
''NCAA Football 07'' is a collegiate football video game published by Electronic Arts. It is the successor to '' NCAA Football 06'' in the ''NCAA Football'' series. The product features former USC player Reggie Bush on the cover. While there wer ...
'', with the soundtrack returning to college fight songs. However, it was possible to turn off the licensed music and listen to the fight songs in NCAA Football 06. The music features mainly college rock, punk and post-punk selections, including
Bad Religion
Bad Religion is an American punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilitie ...
,
The Clash
The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...
,
NOFX
NOFX () is an American punk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1983. Vocalist/bassist Fat Mike, guitarist Eric Melvin and drummer Erik Sandin are original founding and longest-serving members of the band, who have appeared on every ...
and
The Mr. T Experience
The Mr. T Experience (sometimes abbreviated MTX) is an American punk rock band formed in 1985 in Berkeley, California, United States. They have released eleven full-length albums along with numerous EPs and singles and have toured international ...
. It is the first NCAA game to feature the option of non-fight songs in the menus.
Release
Upon its release, ''NCAA Football 06'' was the best-selling video game for July 2005, occupying both the number 1 and number 2 spots corresponding to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions respectively.
Reception
By July 2006, the PlayStation 2 version of ''NCAA Football 06'' had sold 1.2 million copies and earned $56 million in the United States. ''
Next Generation
Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to:
Publications and literature
* ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company
* Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...
'' ranked it as the 40th highest-selling game launched for the
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
,
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...
or
GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined sales of ''NCAA Football'' console games reached 7 million units in the United States by July 2006.
The game still ranks among the best game of the series, It also was met with positive reception on release.
GameRankings
GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
and
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
gave it a score of 87.68% and 87 out of 100 for the Xbox version, and 87.42% and 87 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version.