MLB Power Pros 2008 News Post

2K Sports and Konami Swing into Action with MLB® Power Pros 2008

06:34 PM - May 8, 2008 by Steve_OS

Critically acclaimed baseball franchise gets
ready for another season of great family fun

New York, NY, and El Segundo, CA – May 8, 2008 – 2K Sports, the sports publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), and Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., today announced the next iteration of the wildly popular baseball franchise, MLB® Power Pros 2008, scheduled to be available for Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system this July, as well as Nintendo DS™ later this fall. As the highest-rated and top-selling baseball title in Japan, MLB Power Pros was available in North America for the first time last year. Its comedic visual appeal of miniature Major League Baseball player models has attracted a dedicated following through its easy-to-use controls and addictively fun gameplay experience.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Konami again, and with the Baseball™ season now in full swing, we’re proud to offer our fans a refreshingly smart and exciting baseball game that is easily accessible for all ages,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “Baseball enthusiasts will appreciate the variety of newly added features, intuitive game modes and improved overall feel, and we look forward to hitting one out of the park this season with MLB Power Pros 2008.”

With over ten different exciting game modes including the traditional Practice, Exhibition, League and Home Run Challenge modes, MLB Power Pros 2008 will bring fans closer to the action than ever before. Gamers also get the opportunity to act as general manager and control the destiny of their own franchise in Season mode, or engage in entertaining role-playing story modes such as Success and MLB® Life modes. As general manager, gamers can trade, sign free agents, coordinate practice schedules, purchase new equipment, call up and send down players from the Minor Leagues™, along with other management options to bring in fans, win playoff games and eventually, earn the title of World Series™ champion.

In Success mode, fans can participate in a story-based career of rising players in the Double-A Minor League system trying to improve their baseball skills and make an impression on baseball scouts while also having to balance various situations in their personal lives. Through a variety of amusing training and game challenges, players who complete Success mode will also be able to take their created player files into MLB Life as well, or also play as either an existing Major League Baseball® player in Dream Mode, or start as a rookie in Major League Career mode. As a new feature in MLB Power Pros 2008, MLB Life is another story-based mode that will allow fans the possibility to simulate the exciting life and experience of being a Major League Baseball player over the course of a 20-year career. While continuing to play in games through the regular baseball season, players will also participate in a number of realistic situations such as signing contracts, purchasing houses and cars, making charitable donations, building up relationships with friends and teammates, picking up hobbies and much more.

With easy, pick-up-and-play hitting and pitching controls, along with intuitive Wii functionality, other new features in MLB Power Pros 2008 include support of 40-man rosters, change of ball speed, adjustment of defensive shifts, along with a real-time bullpen check functionality for substituting pitchers. MLB Power Pros 2008 will also support the option for players to import their Wii-based characters, Miis™, from their Wii or Wii Remote™ to become part of the exciting action!

MLB Power Pros 2008, developed by Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., is not yet rated by the ESRB, and will be available for Wii and the PlayStation 2 system this July, as well as Nintendo DS later this fall. For more information, please visit www.2ksports.com.

About Take-Two Interactive Software

Headquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., is a global developer, marketer, distributor and publisher of interactive entertainment software games for the PC, PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, Xbox 360 and Xbox video game and entertainment systems from Microsoft, Wii, Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube™ and Game Boy® Advance. The Company publishes and develops products through its wholly owned labels Rockstar Games, 2K Games, 2K Sports and 2K Play, and distributes software, hardware and accessories in North America through its Jack of All Games subsidiary. Take-Two’s common stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TTWO. For more corporate and product information please visit our website at www.take2games.com.

About Konami

Konami is a leading developer, publisher and manufacturer of electronic entertainment properties. Konami’s titles include the popular franchises Metal Gear Solid®, Silent Hill®, Dance Dance Revolution® and Castlevania®, among other top sellers. The latest information about Konami can be found on the Web at www.konami.com. Konami Corporation is a publicly traded company based in Tokyo, Japan, with subsidiary offices, Konami Digital Entertainment, Co., Ltd., in Tokyo, Japan, Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., in the United States and Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH in Frankfurt, Germany. Konami Corporation is traded in the United States on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol KNM. Details of the products published by Konami can be found at www.konami.com.

Game: MLB Power Pros 2008Reader Score: 6.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: NDS / PS2 / WiiVotes for game: 11 - View All

MLB Power Pros 2008 Videos

Member Comments

# 21 statnut @ 05/12/08 11:24 AM

This coming to the DS just made my week. Man, fall is going to good for DS sports fans, between this and Tecmo Bowl.

# 22 Ruffy @ 05/12/08 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by statnut


	This coming to the DS just made my week. Man, fall is going to good for DS sports fans, between this and Tecmo Bowl.

Cheers to that man! Portable football and baseball and HIGH QUALITY ones at that makes my day....my advanced war power pors and tecmo bowl will devour my DS playing time!

# 23 CMH @ 05/12/08 03:42 PM

This game is saving 2k baseball right now.

# 24 XiaNaphryz @ 05/13/08 07:09 PM

IGN has a ton of media up of the Wii version

Here's some screenshots of the MLB Life mode. Trust me, it's the most addicitive sports mode you will ever play!

Browsing through the IGN shots, here's some images from MLB Life mode:

# 25 duke776 @ 05/13/08 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcruise


	I'm positive I didn't read that right.

I'm pretty sure this picture proves there is 40 man rosters(look at the rosters option it says 25 and you can change it).

# 26 duke776 @ 05/13/08 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duke776


	I'm pretty sure this picture proves there is 40 man rosters(look at the rosters option it says 25 and you can change it).

I also want to point out that I don't think there are full minor leagues because in this picture it only say 9 players for AAA.

# 27 TheMatrix31 @ 05/14/08 01:20 AM

Didn't see this thread, so I posted in the other thread.

Can't wait! My day just got a whole lot better.

I hope they fix some of the defense and baserunning, though.

# 28 XiaNaphryz @ 05/14/08 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMatrix31


	Didn't see this thread, so I posted in the other thread. Can't wait! My day just got a whole lot better. I hope they fix some of the defense and baserunning, though.

While I agree that it would be good to get last year's nagging issues addressed, honestly I'd be willing to overlook them for another year if they don't screw up MLB Life mode.

Seriously, that game mode is worse than crack - you will end up spending 90%+ of your time in that mode.

# 29 TheMatrix31 @ 05/14/08 01:37 AM

Really? I usually hate superstar modes and stuff. What makes this one different?

# 30 XiaNaphryz @ 05/14/08 02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMatrix31


	Really? I usually hate superstar modes and stuff. What makes this one different?

It's hard for me to describe. The main draw for me is the genuine feeling that you're building a player's career story - nothing majorly pre-scripted, what happens is primarily driven by your decisions and how well your player does in games, but the random specter of injury or some other off-field event can crash things down (luckily, you can always reload if you don't want to accept that). So as a result, there's a real sense of accomplishment and regret as things occur, and major highlights for each player you take through stick in your head and you end up building your own set of stories. Granted, these stories are all in your head as you piece things together, but if following a real player's career as he goes through ups and downs fascinates you in general, you should at least give this a shot.

Here's a post I made on GAF regarding My Life mode in a previous Pawapuro game. It's a bit loose and not as well written as it could be, but I hope my points come across:

Quote:

Originally Posted by XiaNaphryz


	It's much less cutscene driven. You create your player at the beginning, get an initial contract with a team, and then throughout the mode you'll get different choices at various times as the calendar year goes by (who you train with, whether you go out on a night on the town with your teammates or not, etc). You can choose things like what car to drive, or what house to own, etc. There's a small bit of socializing, as you can meet women along the way and possibly get married and have kids - you get a massive condition boost on your kid's birthdays, which is a cool touch. There's also a "fame" rating that will rise as your player does better and better - up to a rating of 100 being mega superstar, meaning constant TV commercial offers, lots of post-game interviews, more leverage in contract negotiations (i.e. you can get away with higher salaray demands, more bonus clauses like getting a bonus for winning MVP, etc) You can change your current training regiment at any time which determines your current stat growth, but you'll get boosts/losses also based on your game performances. You ONLY control your player during games - only your at-bats or innings you're called up for pitchers. No control of any other players whatsoever, this mode is meant to sim just your player. You won't play much when you start, only when the manager puts you in. So it's possible for you to sit out of entire games if you're on a loaded team. But as you do well in games and gain the manager's trust, you'll get put in more and more. You have to earn playing time, but when you do get a starting spot you'll feel like you earned it. For an example of the game mode: The pitcher I created in Pawapuro 10 started as a relief pitcher for the Tokyo Giants, but soon earned the closer spot towards the end of my rookie season. I earned the rookie of the year award for that, and was allowed a shot at the starting rotation the next season. I did pretty well, leading the league in ERA, but lack of run support meant a lot of no-decisions and 2-0 losses. Same thing happened the next season as my player earned pitcher of the year by leading the league in Wins, ERA, and K's, but the rest of the bullpen was crap as were the 3rd and 4th starters. During this time, my fastball velocity increased to the low 90s, my slider and sinker reached level 4, I became one of the major star faces of the league, bought a luxury car, a huge mansion of a house, dated a few people and eventually got married and had one kid. I ended up getting traded at the start of the next season to the Hanshin Tigers, which kinda irked me as they were at the bottom of the standings most of those seasons. So my player went out and continued to lead the league as the game's top starting pitcher, slowly improving my stats along the way. I eventually led the Tigers to a championship title in my contract year, which meant tons of free agent offers in the offseason. I also noticed as my player approached his late 20s/early 30s, stat improvement was slowing down considerably. Most of my training effort was more to keep my stats where they were than in any real increase. I could go on and on, but this mode is truly awesome for one main reason: it's you are building your player's career story, and you'll be intimately connected with key highlights that happen along the way.

# 31 TheMatrix31 @ 05/14/08 03:40 AM

Wow. Thanks for that rundown. Sounds interesting to say the least! Can you skip games you dont play in?

# 32 XiaNaphryz @ 05/14/08 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMatrix31


	Wow. Thanks for that rundown. Sounds interesting to say the least! Can you skip games you dont play in?

Games you aren't involved in are always skipped, and you never have control over other players (this is a sim of your own player after all). You only play your at-bats as a position player, or pitch in innings the manager puts you in as a pitcher. So early on as a rookie, you might have a lot less playing time as you'll likely be coming off the bench or the bullpen, so you might have only one appearance per game and possibly have a stretch of games where you don't come in at all.

# 33 TheMatrix31 @ 05/15/08 12:47 AM

But what I'm saying is, you won't have to actually WATCH games unfold if you won't be playing in them? They'll jump in to the game if you're chosen as a PH or rsomething?

# 34 XiaNaphryz @ 05/15/08 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMatrix31


	But what I'm saying is, you won't have to actually WATCH games unfold if you won't be playing in them? They'll jump in to the game if you're chosen as a PH or rsomething?

Oh yeah, if you're not currently active you'll just see the scoreboard fill-up as innings are played and it will cut back into gameplay when you're actually up to do something.

# 35 caseyd @ 05/15/08 01:40 PM

This sounds awesome. I have this game called Inside the Park (made by the people that make OOTP) and it's basically the same but through that text based game. I'm excited to actually be able to play out my stuff. No PS3, so I've never been able to play the Road to the Show mode in The Show. Can't wait for this.

« Previous 12Next »

More Links

2K Sports and Konami Swing into Action with MLB® Power Pros 2008