MVP 06 NCAA Baseball slides home January 18

When 2K Games shut Electronic Arts out of the big leagues at the beginning of the year, EA decided to play hardball instead and snatched up the rights to make the first NCAA baseball game. Now the company has detailed the plans for the game's release on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. EA's MVP 06 NCAA Baseball is scheduled to arrive in stores January 18 with a retail price of $29.99. The game has not yet been rated.

Originally planned for a spring 2006 release, MVP NCAA Baseball 06 attempts to capture the college ball experience with aluminum bats and the kind of charged atmosphere that only comes from a crowd mad with school spirit. The game comes from the same team that worked on MVP Baseball 2005, EA Canada. ESPN's Mike Patrick and former Stanford standout Kyle Peterson handle the commentary, while features like the create-a-player and create-a-stadium tools give players customization options. For more on MVP 06 NCAA Baseball, check out GameSpot's recent hands-on impressions of the game.