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Classic stadiums added (for a price) to MLB 2K7
If you're looking for a good way to connect with your grandpa (and you're tired of him reading you the good parts from The Princess Bride) you may want to consider a new, 800-point ($10) pack of six classic stadiums recently released for MLB 2K7. With the "Historic Stadium Bundle" you'll be able to play at Sportsman's Park, Forbes Field, Griffith Stadium, Shibe Park, Polo Grounds and Crosley Field. If your baseball history skills leave something to be desired, you can find some more information on Major Nelson's blog. That way, you won't be completely unable to relate when gramp-gramp starts waxing nostalgic about Polo Grounds' "oddly-shaped outfield fence." If you only have time to learn the ins-and-outs of a couple of stadiums though, you can also purchase them in two-packs for 300 points ($3.75).
The Yakult Swallows have gotta catch 'em all
And by 'em, we mean children. Kids visiting Yakult Swallows baseball games this summer are in for a happy surprise-- or they're going to game specifically for these giveaways. The team is collaborating with the Pokemon Company to give away some stamp cards and stickers.To promote the Dialga vs. Palkia vs. Darkrai movie, elementary school students who go to Swallows games starting on the 14th will receive a stamp card, which gets a new Pokemon-shaped stamp at every game. Depending on how many stamps are received, the kids are awarded one of three sticker sheets of increasing deluxeness.
Vroop's Liveboard: the retro Bluetooth baseball scoreboard
Vroop's Liveboard won't win any awards for "world's largest" or anything, but if you're looking for an easier (and more decorative) way to keep a close eye on baseball scores around the league, you'd be hard pressed to top this. Designed after a timeless stadium scoreboard, this device sports built-in wireless capabilities that enable it to sync up with the included software in order to keep track and display real-time scores in MLB. Users can select from a trio of modes depending on what scores they'd like to see, and you'll even find a wireless USB adapter thrown in for good measure. Of course, those not interested in America's pastime may find the $299 pricetag a bit baffling, but for those sick of waiting for a ticker to reveal the home team's current status, this fee is completely justified.[Via Coolest-Gadgets]
Major League Baseball still barking up Sling Media's tree
While some broadcasters are actually utilizing the Slingbox and appreciating its benefits, leave it to Major League Baseball to further alienate its dwindling fanbase. After cable customers were just barely able to get back in on the Extra Innings love, it appears that Sling Media is still being blacklisted in the eyes of MLB, as a recent interview with Michael Mellis, Senior VP and general counsel of MLB Advanced Media's offices reinforced the friction between the two. Most recently, Mellis and friends seem to be mulling a lawsuit against Sling, as he claims that the Slingbox "allows viewers to circumvent geographical boundaries written into broadcast rights deals," and moreover, had no shame in admitting that profiteering was at the forefront of their minds by suggesting that "if the league can't protect the rights it sells, that doesn't bode well for future contracts when it wants to resell the rights at higher margins." Reportedly, the CEA has indeed come to Sling's side by proclaiming that this case is a "classic instance of copyright owners trying to suppress innovation purely because it empowers consumers." Of course, we hope you don't let Mellis' words get you too riled up -- after all, he also stated that "there's no guarantee that Slingbox would be around next year as it's just a startup." Let the snickering commence.[Via CNET]
NMS: Up close and personal with The BIGS
Colin Torretta headed out to the Nintendo Media Summit for the Joystiq Network to get a little hands-on time with a lot of games, including the upcoming baseball blowout from Take-Two's 2k Sports, The BIGS. The BIGS is a baseball game, sure, but it's not your average game. It's baseball made bigger, better, faster, and completely awesome ... unless, of course, you want a fully realistic experience. But come on, you can get that anywhere. Sometimes it's nice to wallow in a string of heart-wrenching moments of baseball badassery -- and that's what The BIGS promises. And according to Colin's impressions, The BIGS delivers exactly as promised in most ways ... but not in one highly-anticipated extra. The controls sound fluid (like a beefier Wii Sports Baseball), and judging from the screenshots, we don't have much issue with the look of the game. But it seems that the promised online mode is missing from the Wii game. It's a shame, but we're starting to get used to inviting people over to enjoy the Wii at this point. %Gallery-3430%
Nintendo Media Summit: The BIGS hands-on (Wii)
This week's Nintendo Media Summit was a largely first-party affair, but there were a handful of third-party games also being shown off for the Nintendo Wii. The first game I played was Take-Two's baseball title, The BIGS. I was particularly interested in the motion controls and how The BIGS differentiated itself from the other major baseball offerings like MLB '07 or MLB: The Show. It turns out that The BIGS is almost an arcade game. Though the gameplay itself feels fairly realistic, concessions are made to make baseball more ... fun. The developer showing off the game mentioned that baseball is kind of a boring game, but it has moments of extreme excitement. Home runs, triple plays, and stolen bases all grab your attention and make the game worthwhile. To this end, Blue Castle Games decided to increase the action in the game. You're gonna get more home runs, you're make more spectacular plays, and there are gonna be more 'wow' moments per game than you may see at your local ballpark. Also, as you pull off great plays, you earn special points for moves that allow you to power up for a super powerful hit or save, à la NBA Street. Overall, it seemed like a great combination of realism and arcade fun, a rarity in sports games -- especially baseball games.%Gallery-3425%
Today's swing-for-the-fences video : The Bigs
As baseball players keep bulking up in unnatural ways, we wonder if this extreme version of the sport is what fans want to see; upcoming 2K Sports baseball game, The Bigs, seems to take that pro-girth approach. ("Big" is right there in the title.) Two trailers for this NFL Blitz- and NBA Jam-style baseball title show some of the flashy effects.And maybe we shouldn't connect The Bigs with the current state of baseball; if we want straight simulation, we can play another title. See the trailers and decide for yourself after the break.
Widget Watch: MLB Schedule
I am not TUAW's resident baseball fan, but since it is peanuts and crackerjack season I thought it only appropriate to feature the MLB Schedule widget. This widget gives you an at a glance look at your favorite team's schedule with a 5 day period. If the game has already played it shows you the score, otherwise you get the start time, the opponent, the location, and who is pitching.MLB Schedule is a free download (and remember if you like to follow more than one ball club you can run multiple versions of the widget).
Washington Nationals intro "Mobile Tickets"
Any new mobile phone related goodness is welcome around here, so we're really loving this Mobile Ticket business from the Washington Nationals, MLB Advanced Media, and Tickets.com. Starting now -- yeah, this is immediate stuff, friends -- when you pick up tickets for the game at the Washington Nationals site, delivery options include sending it to your handset via picture messaging (check the pic). Once the receipt is received on your mobile you can head straight to the gate where the barcode on your ticket is scanned and presto, you are in. We think that the movietickets.com people really have to get in on this action, like, now![Via SlashPhone]
RevFire system measures speed and spin, lets pitchers know when to throw in the glove
Pitching a baseball or softball isn't only about how fast you can get the damn thing across the plate, but how effectively you can spin the ball and control its position and timing as well. Well speed is easy to measure -- radar guns have been around for years -- but it's been more difficult for pitchers and coaches to determine how spin changes over time, with visual analysis generally being the best tool available. Well now thanks to a company called RevFire, teams can use a device of the same name to measure both speed and spin for multiple pitchers simultaneously as well as track individual performance through a number of practices and possibly even seasons. The one downside here is that the RevFire system uses proprietary balls to go along with the handheld monitor: two balls come in the package, so a few out of the park homers is all it takes to sideline the unit until replacements arrive. Unfortunately for would-be backyard flame throwers, RevFire seems targeted more towards organized teams than the lone gunmen trying to red shirt his or her local Little League team, a notion only furthered by the lack of pricing info on the product page. Sounds like a handy addition to the modern coach's tool chest, but maybe not so great for that washed up player who's been hanging on by good looks and a string for the last two seasons.
MLB.TV Mosaic: baseball nirvana
Today is one of the best days of the year: the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, spring is in the air. It's Opening Day! Major League Baseball has really been on the forefront of delivering content on the web, and this year looks to be the best yet. MLB.TV started testing their stand-alone Mosaic player last year, and it looks like they've updated it significantly for the 2007 season (it just became available for download last night). Mosaic is a very cool application that lets MLB.TV premium subscribers watch six (!) baseball games simultaneously (the above screenshot is rather boring since there were only two games last night). You can then click on any of the game to bring up a larger size window focusing on that game alone (as below). This year MLB.TV is doubling the bit-rate of their streams to 700kbps so I would expect the video quality to improve significantly over the last few years.The biggest downside to Mosaic is that it's a resource hog. This is unsurprising when you discover that it is in part a Java application that depends on Flip4Mac for the video (all the streams are Windows Media based). In addition, location based blackout restrictions apply to the home markets of teams (based on the billing address of your credit card). Nonetheless, for the big baseball fan (and particular fantasy baseball player) Mosaic is close to nirvana, especially for those of us who no longer live in our favorite team's home market. The Mosaic player is included with a premium subscription to MLB.TV which is $119.95 per year. They have also have a regular subscription for $89.95 that will allow you to watch one game at a time in a browser window as well as an audio-only Gameday Audio subscription for $14.95.Oh yeah, Go 'Stros!
News flash: Baseball players play baseball games
Apparently baseball players' involvement with video games goes further than Guitar Hero related injuries. An Orange County Register story reveals that games like Sony's MLB '07 The Show have "virtually become required playing in every clubhouse and on the PSPs players use to pass travel time." The little factoid is unattributed, but probably came from Mets third baseman and The Show cover star David Wright, who goes on to explain the game's usefulness as a tool for checking out the competition. "Pitchers throw the curves and sliders they're known for and hitters chase what they chase in the game. It's like scouting," Wright said. Does anyone else miss the days when sports games were more about accessible fun and less about being virtually indistinguishable from their real life counterparts?
Everybody's doing it: Wii workouts
We've run across a couple of bloggers taking on Wii Sports workout regimens and we must say that it does sound appealing. It's funny -- preWii, people were complaining about the potentially tiring effect of playing for hours, and now other people are looking to maximize that very effect. We must say that a few rounds of boxing or tennis are pretty nice after a long day at the computer. What's your take on it? Think that Wii Sports can have any effect on a gamer's physique?
Wii Sports Pack offers trio of Wiimote extensions
In what's likely to go down as the most heavily accessorized (and harmful) controller ever, Nintendo's Wiimote sure is garnering a lot of attention from accessory makers. Sure, those Wii Gloves may keep butterfinger disasters from ever occurring, but they really don't give you any sort of competitive advantage when throwing down in Wii Sports. While we knew JoyTech was planning its own barrage of controller add-ons, it looks like Brando is offering up a sweet trio of Wiimote extensions to presumably improve your Wii Sports play. For just $22, you'll get a tennis racket, golf grip, and a baseball bat, which could arguably pull double duty as a sword in Red Steel. Of course, you'll still need to pick up that foam donut separately (or bundled in with another game) for the ultimate Excite Truck experience, but hey, you gotta start somewhere.
Surprise -- Derek Jeter to grace MLB 2K7 cover
New York Yankees Shortstop Derek Jeter will have his mugshot plastered on the front of all copies of Major League Baseball 2K7. This should come as no big revelation, as the seven-time All Star has previously adorned the covers of the last two annual editions. Jeter has also appeared serially on game boxes for the now-deceased All-Star Baseball franchise from Acclaim. Say what you will about Electronic Arts for lack of innovation, but at least they swap out cover athletes every year (thanks in no small part to the curse). To be fair, 2K Sports is hoping MLB 2K7 will be a reinvention of the franchise. According to designer Ben Brinkman, "First year, drill down to the core and get the core baseball game going. Year two, add some cool features, maybe some tersely modes, maybe redesign franchise. The third year, just wrap it up into a nice bow and nail it." So if not this year, expect MLB 2K9 to be the real winner. MLB 2K7 will come to bat Spring 2007 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PSP, PS2, and the original Xbox.
It's (technically) Virtual Console Monday!
And you know what that means ... new games! Unfortunately, it looks like Nintendo has one hell of a hangover (we can't blame them, we were up till 6 AM ourselves), and they only managed to spit out two rather inauspicious titles: Baseball and Urban Champion, both for the NES. After five hundred points each, we maintain that both playing baseball and punching someone in the face are both far more enjoyable in real life in Wii Sports.And by the way, fellow fanboys, Happy New Year! Did your megaton party involve raucous Wii-playing? As you know, there was a more important countdown in Times Square around a month and a half ago, so if you played right through midnight, wish yourself a happy belated 2007 and check the ball-drop on your TiVo. Just kidding. We know you've already erased that to make room for the next episode of Heroes.
Guitar Hero benches big leaguer
When Detroit Tigers pitcher Joel Zumaya was benched during October's American League Championship series with inflammation in his right arm, Tigers Athletic Director Kevin Rand theorized it was because the pitcher was "playing in different times now, different weather." Turns out the actual problem was not different weather but a different game -- specifically, Guitar Hero.The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Tigers manager Dave Dombrowski told WXYT-AM yesterday that Zumaya's injury recurrence came from excessive virtual guitar shredding, not from excessive baseball throwing. Once the Tigers training staff realized the injuries were "more consistent with the action of a guitar player than a baseball pitcher," Zumaya stopped playing the game and recovered in time to pitch in three World Series games.We can't help but question Zumaya's priorities here. While pitching in the World Series is important, think of the damage done to Zumaya's Guitar Hero career during this hiatus. We can only hope practice and hard work during the off-season will bring him back to top shredding form.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
HD offerings gluing Americans to their couches
You won't color us impressed on these statistics, but it's finally becoming a bit more apparent that HD offerings are making more and more Americans park it on the couch for longer periods time. While we've given you plenty of reasons (that you probably didn't need) to gander at HDTV, recent numbers are showing that folks are watching HD broadcasts at times for no other reason than the fact that it's in HD. In a recent survey conducted on ESPN's behalf, a whopping "22 percent" of sports fans said they watched events now that they would've never even glanced at if it weren't in HD, while another 22 percent said that HD converted them into sports fans altogether. Although ESPN has been a frontrunner in the push for total HD programming, their offerings are apprently transforming folks who were previously indifferent about March Madness and Rivalry Week into dedicated viewers of all sorts of HD content, and we couldn't possibly agree more. Moreover, an astoundind one-third of all reposndents said that having the program in HD influenced their decision to watch or pass, so maybe there is something magical going on in that 720p / 1080i hubbub, after all.
Wii Sports has depth
In the surprisingly oft-updated series "Iwata Asks", Iwata sits down with some heavy hitters from the Wii Sports development team. We all know the reason that the game exists: to introduce to gamers, new and old, how easy and intuitive Nintendo's magic voodoo wand of a controller can be. Many, however, have expressed fears on how such a simple title could long hold a player's attention.Iwata asks the developers these very same questions. The developers go through every one of the five games, describing in detail some of the more complex facets of gameplay. Though the lengthy article is most certainly worth a read, some key points are summarized below: In Wii Tennis, the developers note how impossibly difficult it is to "hit the same exact shot twice". The game measures your skill level numerically, and pits you against over sixty progressively more difficult opponents. The game also has a new "rocket serve" feature, whereby if a serve is hit at the very apex of the ball's toss, the first shot will get an intense burst of speed. Though the controller cannot technically read one's full body motions, Wii Boxing was designed to move the player's body in-game when a player actually dodges, via the subtle hand movements during said dodge. In other words, the game will work best when the players actually dance around, dodging punches and counterattacking. Wii Golf has taken nine of the best classic holes from the original NES Golf (on which Iwata himself programmed!), and remade them in full 3-D glory. Only eight people worldwide would have recognized this, but it's a nice little bonus. Wii Bowling contains absolutely no arbitrary random variables, as many bowling games seem to. However, despite this, no one at Nintendo's internal testing team was able to score a perfect 300 game. To help you hone your ball rolling skills, the game offers three training-type minigames to pass the time. Also, in a nice touch of realism, you can actually roll the ball away from the lane or even into adjacent lanes around you. To those who feared that Wii Sports would be a two-day affair, worry not. Between your girlfriend and your grandmother, we're sure that your racket-swingin' days will last far into the future.
HDTV Listings for October 24, 2006
What we're watching: World Series Game 3 is at hand, and luckily we've got our HDTVs tuned in to see any "foreign substances" that may-or-may-not be intentionally placed on a pitcher's hand. Otherwise, not much tonight, new episodes of Dancing with the Stars, Help Me Help You and Friday Night Lights plus the return of HBO's Emmy-award winning Elizabeth I.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
