Last week's issue of Famitsu magazine confirmed that Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2015 will appear on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita during the series' regularly scheduled spring release period. The suggested retail price for this year's game has not been revealed, thus pre-orders are not currently open at popular import shops like Play-Asia and NCSX.

Famitsu's article highlighted two of Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2015's new features:

• 3D face scans will make players and coaches look more authentic. Facial expressions and mouth movements will also appear more lifelike.
   
• "Live Seasons" mode will create short challenges based on the real-life results of Nippon Professional Baseball games. Users will be able to replay the key turning points from each day's NPB matchups. Winning challenges will reward stamps that can be redeemed for special items at the in-game shop.

Though it wasn't officially announced, one screenshot (shown above) hints that Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2015 might reinstate a roster limit on foreign-born players. In this image, the nameplate of South Korean cleanup hitter, Lee Dae-ho, has an orange bar going through it, likely indicating that he is a foreigner. This restriction was removed from Pro Yakyuu Spirits several years ago, but it returned in the 2014 edition of Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu, which is Konami's anime-inspired take on Nippon Professional Baseball (better known to Americans as Power Pros).
 

Another screenshot (pictured above) suggests that Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2015 will record the location of each pitch and display that information during at-bats. Pitch history charts could only be accessed after a game's conclusion in Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2014.

Konami have declined to comment on whether or not Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2015 might appear later this year on PlayStation 4. The company's first sports title for the system, Pro Evolution Soccer 2015, was released globally last November. Nippon Professional Baseball, however, is a much more niche product -- one that lacks the international appeal of soccer -- and as such, draws a predominantly Japanese audience each year. In its homeland, Sony's PlayStation 4 just recently topped one million units sold this past January, so the Japanese install base might not be large enough yet to justify a PlayStation 4 release of Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2015. Keep an eye on Operation Sports' baseball section, as we'll post a news story whenever Konami's PS4 publishing decision goes public.