MLB Power Pros 2008 Hands-On Previews (IGN, Gamespot)

[XiaNaphryz]

The following sites have posted their MLB Power Pros 2008 hands-on previews.

• IGN

  "We were curious to see if the franchise would make a return this year, and 2K let us in on the news a few weeks back that we'd indeed be seeing a return to this strange 2K/Konami/Power Pro/MLB partnership not only for Wii and PS2, but also DS. In the last week or so we've had a chance to sit down with the console versions of the game and get into the specifics of '08 play. Not a whole lot has changed visually – in fact, almost nothing has – but the game is deeper and stronger than last year's effort, and already shows off a larger mode offering and data tracking system."

• Gamespot

  "In MLB Life mode, you can play as a real-life player, use your Success mode player, or start completely from scratch with a brand new character. The level of obsessive detail in Power Pros continues in this mode. Not only do you choose whether or not your character is married, but you also choose how many kids he has (and exactly how many of those children are girls, how many are boys, their names, and appearances). Those choices affect the storylines you'll see in MLB Life mode--if you're married, for example, you won't be able to go out on dates with other women (which doesn't seem to be very realistic to the MLB we know and love, but there you go). As in Success mode, you'll have plenty of choices to make in a day--practice, games, traveling, leisure time--but everything will be governed by your vitality meter. If you run out of vitality, you won't be able to play on game day."

[EXboxur]

I can't wait to hear and see more. Online for Wii yet?

[agonytheclown]

Gameplay? I mean, stuff like walks and hit variation? Nah, that wouldn't be a feature of 2K games (rolls eyes).

[mel81399]

Thing is it is not a 2K game but is applying 2k's mlb liscense to bring the game via Konami.
I have started playing MLB PP again on my ps3 (ps2 version)
it is truely great. More fun and quicker than The SHow 08.
Not more pleasing to my eyes but if you are a baseball addict like me you enjoy playing both The SHow and Power Pros.

They dropped the ball on the PSP though, big time.

[Keirik]

Quote: Originally Posted by agonytheclown

Gameplay? I mean, stuff like walks and hit variation? Nah, that wouldn't be a feature of 2K games (rolls eyes).

obviously you know nothing about this series if you are thinking this is really a 2k game.

why not do some research on the game before bothering to post ?

[agonytheclown]

Quote: Originally Posted by Keirik

obviously you know nothing about this series if you are thinking this is really a 2k game. why not do some research on the game before bothering to post ?

Yes, I have played the previous MLB Power Pros, and yes 2K is affiliated with this game. And yes....the "series" has the problems that I suggested they won't fix in this upcoming game. Just you wait and see. I will gladly eat crow with fresh tire marks if I'm wrong, but history tells me otherwise. Appreciate your personal attack.

[XiaNaphryz]

Quote: Originally Posted by agonytheclown

I will gladly eat crow with fresh tire marks if I'm wrong, but history tells me otherwise. Appreciate your personal attack.

Are you claiming to know Pawapuro history? If so, then you would know that hit variety and walks did work out quite well in past games. Pawapuro 10 and 11 were IMO the pinnacle of the series, but those were several years ago with different developers at the helm. Of course, Konami didn't have so many different dev teams at the time either in Pawapuro Productions so they could just focus on the mainline game.

Oh wait, you probably tried to equate 2K's baseball game history to this franchise. Or even worse, just by going by the one previous game that was ever released here. Pffft.

I'm not saying that Konami's definitely fixing the issues from last game, but to say they won't because the game's history never had it is absurd considering the dozens of iterations the franchise has seen in the past 15+ years where the issues were ironed out. Why oh why couldn't they have stopped tweaking the engine back at Pawa 11?

[agonytheclown]

Quote: Originally Posted by XiaNaphryz

I'm not saying that Konami's definitely fixing the issues from last game, but to say they won't because the game's history never had it is absurd considering the dozens of iterations the franchise has seen in the past 15+ years where the issues were ironed out. Why oh why couldn't they have stopped tweaking the engine back at Pawa 11?

Pfft all you want. You want to know what ABSURD is? It's when baseball game software makers continue adding stupid, irrelevant game "features", but don't fix the stuff that defines the game they're portraying. There are walks all the time in real-life baseball, but you won't see a realistic number of them in these games. None of them. Why? Because gamers would rather have their custom intro music and matching socks. They'd rather see the flag blow consistently, and the dirt look like it just came from the compost pile, then to see realistic pitching. And, no, the "issues" I'm talking about have not been ironed out. Ever. They won't be until marketing guru's determine that kids no longer buy baseball games. I know I'm not the only one here on OS that agrees with where I'm going with this. Konami is no different. I'll gladly eat crow (put whatever topping you want on it) if they produce anything near realistic.