NCAA Football 2005 golden

With all the attention on ESPN NFL 2K5's budget-price challenge to Madden NFL 2005, many sports gamers have forgotten about the college football titles coming this year. The first of these, EA Sports' NCAA Football 2005, went gold today. The E-rated game is due on July 15 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube, and it will retail for $49.99.

Like previous installments in the series, NCAA Football 2005 will showcase the best and brightest teams of college football and feature a dynasty mode to control each school's program. However, unlike previous NCAAs, each stadium's frenzied fans will have a direct effect on the game, including customized celebrations for big plays. The game will also feature a new "matchup stick" feature to exploit key personnel mismatches.

NCAA Football 2005 also has the distinction of being the first EA title to support Xbox Live. For more on the game, check out our latest preview.