College baseball may be the only sport you can summarize with a single sound effect: ping! The familiar sound of aluminum bat on leather ball has become the hallmark of the sport, and now that the sport's fandom is growing--thanks to some healthy face time on the ESPN networks--it's about time that someone got involved with creating a college baseball video game. Luckily for us, that "someone" happens to be the EA Sports development team responsible for the popular line of MVP games over the past few years. The team has kept the MVP name for its 2006 baseball offering, MVP 06 NCAA Baseball, and as we recently found out in our hands-on time with the game, they have created an interesting college baseball experience.

　　The new load-and-fire swing system might take some getting used to.

　　The most compelling change in NCAA Baseball, as compared to previous MVP games, are the controls for both hitting and fielding. Like many EA Sports games over the past few years, some of the essential game controls in NCAA have moved to the right analog stick. Dubbed "load and fire," the new batting system has you pulling back and pushing forward in order to swing your bat--not unlike the backswing and follow-through in the Tiger Woods golf series. The complexity here comes in not only nailing the timing of putting the aluminum on the ball, but also nailing the direction of your swing. By altering the arc and direction of your swing, you can execute an inside or outside swing in order to make contact with the ball.

　　By mixing in the left or right triggers you can choose to execute power or contact swings, respectively. As the names imply, a power swing is one where you're swinging for the fences. A contact swing, on the other hand, is used to put the ball in play and keep the runners advancing. When using a power swing, you'll have a smaller window to make contact with the ball than when attempting a contact or normal swing, which means you won't want to go for big bomb on every pitch. In addition, the animations for each swing type will be such that it's easier to break into a run after a short contact swing than when swinging for the fences. MVP 06's new swing controls take some getting used to--simply choosing when to come out of your load animation and begin your swing takes some practice. But the end result seems like it will be closer to a real baseball swing (or at least, closer than simply jamming the right analog stick straight up and pressing a button).

　　When it comes to fielding, the basic right analog controls are intuitive and easy: press and hold right to throw to first base, up to throw to second, left to throw to third, and down to toss to the plate. Your throw can go screwy if you aren't careful, however, so you'll want to make sure your aim is true when selecting which base to throw to. Furthermore, the timing of the throw is essential in MVP 06's new fielding controls. When a player scoops up the ball in the field, a small diamond-shaped meter will appear, and you'll want to carefully time your throw with that meter. Release too early and your ball might go sailing over your target's head; wait too long and you might send your throw into the dirt. A bad throw won't necessarily always result in a terrible throw (or even an error), but it will be in your best interest to try to get the timing right each time you field the ball.

　　Teams from 14 conferences will be playable in the game.

　　One thing that hasn't changed from last year's MVP game is the same color-coded pitch system that helps you identify what type of pitch is coming your way as soon as it leaves the pitcher's hand. Breaking balls are color-coded red, for example, while off-speed pitches are tinted green. We loved this system last year and are glad to see it return for the college game.

　　Dynasty mode was a big part of MVP 2005's success, and even if the dynasty mode has been changed significantly to cater to the college environment, it doesn't appear to be lacking any of last year's depth this time. Players who balk at the idea of dealing with the complicated financial side of Major League Baseball will like that the complexity in NCAA Baseball revolves around the aspect of the game that coaches love to hate: recruiting. Just as in the NCAA Football series, recruiting new talent is a full-time job, and just as in the pigskin game, you can recruit players year-round in MVP 06.

　　Heading into the season, you'll have plenty of talent to choose from, including the Baseball America top 100 prospects. You can recruit right away by spending recruiting points, and the higher prestige your school has, the more recruiting points you'll have to spend. Of course, scouting talent is a complex matter, and when it comes to choosing players for your team, you'll want to get as good a picture of each player's potential as possible. To accomplish this, when you initially recruit a player, you'll be given a five-year skill window for that player--a gauge for how that player will develop over his collegiate career. The only problem is that each window in that five-year development cycle will be initially "closed" to you.

　　Competing goals in dynasty mode will make recruiting the biggest studs that much easier.

　　In order to open each window, you'll need to improve your coaching skill level by meeting a number of predetermined dynasty goals in the game. These goals can range from winning a certain number of games to having players win specific season awards over the course of a season. As you complete these goals, your coaches will rise in skill level. Once you've completed all the level-one goals, for example, the first window of potential for a given recruit will open. Complete the second-year goals, and that second scouting window will open. And the process continues all the way until you complete the very difficult level-five goals, where you can then see the entire five-year progress of any athlete you recruit.

　　Furthermore, as you whittle down your list of recruits, some athletes will have specific needs in order to come play for a team--a level-three pitching coach, for example. In order to even have a shot at winning that commitment, you'll need to make sure your coaching staff is up to snuff for the superstars. A few times in a season you may even receive an e-mail from the athletic director informing you that one of your targeted players is coming to campus. And if you can take two of three games in a series, he will likely sign with the team, giving you extra incentive to focus on that particular matchup. Just as in NCAA Football, a recruit's interest level will dynamically change throughout the season, and you'll need to react accordingly. Of course, it wouldn't be an MVP game without loads of gameplay and tuning options. In addition to your standard sliders for things like pitch speed, CPU-bunting ability, and throw accuracy, you can also choose between playing traditional NCAA rules, summer rules (which are essentially pro regulations), or a custom hybrid of your choosing. If you're sick of playing multiplayer games against your buddy who throws nothing but balls, you can turn on the "strike zone pitches only" option, and any pitch that's thrown will land somewhere in the strike zone. Furthermore, MVP 06 will include both offline and online co-op multiplayer play for up to four players (with a maximum of two players per team).

　　Flexibility also comes in the form of a much-improved create-a-ballpark tool, one that will let you shape your outfield walls exactly how you want them--by shape, height, and distance from home plate. Want to create a crazy, snaking outfield wall with individual segments that reach 50 feet high? You'll be able to in MVP 06. You'll also be able to choose from a number of different field surfaces and patterns, and even mix and match traditional grass and turf. Though MVP 06 only includes 29 fields in the game (19 of which are based on real-life college stadiums), you'll be able to create some fairly close approximations to your alma mater's stadium using this tool, or you can simply hit the random button and play in a ballpark unlike any other out there.

　　ESPN integration into MVP 06 means you'll never be far from an updated score.

　　MVP 06 won't just be the first college baseball game from EA Sports, it will also be the first sports game of 2006 from the publisher that will feature more involved ESPN integration in the game that has been promised for a while now. It will come in the form of EPSN radio broadcasts pushed to your Xbox or PS2 when you are online. These are the same broadcasts that you might hear on your local sports radio station, and just as when you're listening on the radio, you can expect to hear updates every 20 minutes. These updates will only take place in the menu screens--you won't hear an ESPN update breaking in on the commentary tracks (provided by Mike Patrick and Kyle Peterson) while playing a game, for example. Sports tickers and ESPN news items will also be constantly updated, so you won't be that far from an update score or news event no matter where you are in the game.

　　It's nice to see that EA Sports didn't simply dismantle the MVP team once the company lost the MLB license (as producer Ben Brinkman told us, the team busy making MVP 06 is exactly the same size group that put together MVP 2005). Though the series has gone in a different direction by necessity, we have high hopes that the same depth and attention to detail that the series has come to be known for will be in place when the game arrives for the Xbox and the PS2 in early 2006. Be sure to listen for the familiar ping of the bat, because we'll be bringing you more on MVP 06 NCAA Baseball in the coming weeks.