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MLB 2K10's million-dollar pitcher to be revealed tomorrow
Okay, everyone can stop playing MLB 2K10 now*. The million-dollar prize for the first player to pitch a perfect game has been claimed, and 2K Sports will reveal the winner on CBS's The Early Show tomorrow morning. Although if you're the modern-day Cy Young who achieved this feat, you already know (and, in fact, you'll be too busy appearing on TV to watch it on TV), and if you tried to win this but didn't quite make it, it's just going to be painful to see the person who won. If you'd like to experience that burning jealousy for yourself, tune into CBS between 8 and 9 a.m. *Unless, you know, you're enjoying the game.
NYT: PS3 to stream live Major League Baseball games
According to a report in the New York Times, Sony will announce today that PS3 users will gain access to live streams of Major League Baseball games. By week's end the console will enable subscriptions to the MLB.TV service, which provides access to out-of-market contests, but not local games or others that are broadcast on TV. The NYT doesn't have the scoop on pricing, but a web subscription to the service will run you between $100 and $120 annually, or $20 to $25 per month, depending on the features. Count on more details when the official announcement drops. Sony has been considering new subscription services for PSN since the end of last year. Update: Here's the official release, though it doesn't have much new info. The PS3 app will be free, according to PlayStation Blog, but it requires an MLB.TV subscription to stream games. [Thanks, Ryan G.]
MLB.tv finishes the preseason with a free preview weekend, perfect for iPad launch testing
We're less than a day away from another MLB season starting and the league is celebrating by throwing up another free preview of its online streaming platform. Viewable through a variety of mediums (including iPad, Boxee and Roku of course) there's even more HD streams promised, with VOD access to archived baseball games, a new pitch-by-pitch display and the requisite DVR and multigame viewing features. Unfortunately blackout rules can still put a crimp in the player's style, even with prices rising once again to their $119 (Premium with DVR, home or away broadcast and Multi-Game View) or $99.95 (standard) levels, keeping an eye on the TV schedule will be as important as checking out the bandwidth meter on the Flash-powered player before deciding to pay up for continued access.
New MLB 2K10 media takes the mound
Baseball fans still have about a month before the sport returns to stadiums and televisions across the nation, but this latest footage from MLB 2K10 should at least satiate your need for a virtual recreation of America's pasttime in the meantime. 2K Sports has pitched over a nine-minute chunk of gameplay between the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs, showing off the cleaner version of the pitcher's interface and the familiar fielding system of the last few iterations. Then there's the new My Player mode, which allows you to create a player from scratch and follow his lifetime career. By completing certain goal-oriented tasks in the Minors, you'll then get called up to the Major leagues -- and once there, you'll find even more career milestones to work towards. Do well enough with your created Joe Schmoe and you'll find yourself unlocking milestones that put him on the track to be the next entrant into the Hall of Fame. %Gallery-86204% Source - Part one of My Player mode detailed Source - Part two of My Player mode detailed
Pitch a no-hitter in MLB 2K10, get a million bucks
Your mom may have told you that playing those video games would never get you anywhere, but she'll have to apologize for the rest of her life if you win 2K Sports' MLB 2K10 million-dollar giveaway. The developer is offering up Dr. Evil sums of money to the first person on the Xbox 360 or PS3 (sorry, those are the only qualifying consoles) who can pitch a perfect game in the first 60 days of the game's release -- starting March 2, 2010 at 12:01 AM PST and ending on May 2, 2010 at 11:59 PM PDT. Of course, where there's free money, there are caveats. Two stipulations: You have to play against the CPU in MLB Today mode, where it will automatically default to all of the proper gameplay settings; and you have to record yourself pitching the entire perfect game and slap it onto a DVD. 2K Sports has actually tapped Twin Galaxies for some help on the authentication part, so keep in mind that those guys over there are very good at sniffing out the bad eggs. We suggest you make your friend Tom Foolery wait outside while you attempt to pitch a perfect game, because any kind of tampering or trickery will only get you disqualified. For a full breakdown on the rules, you can check out the contest page on 2K Sports' site at 2ksports.com/perfectgame. MLB 2K10 releases on the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS and PC on March 2, 2010.
Take-Two: revenues up in Q4, down overall for the year
Take-Two warned us (and investors ... actually, mostly investors) to expect smaller revenues for the fiscal year that ended October 31, and its fiscal-year results, announced today, hold true to that portent. The company's net revenue for fiscal 2009 was $968.5 million, down from $1.5 billion. Take-Two attributes the loss to the lack of a game as strong as Grand Theft Auto IV. It wasn't all bad news, however. Net revenue in Q4 was actually up over 2008, from $323.4 million to $343.4 million. Take-Two attributes the success in this period to Borderlands, NBA 2K10, both the downloadable and disc-based releases of the Grand Theft Auto content and, yes, GTA IV, which must have experienced a resurgence when Gay Tony and Episodes from Liberty City were released.
MLB At Bat adds in-app purchases
It's no secret that one of my favorite iPhone apps is Major League Baseball's At Bat [iTunes link]. Last season it provided real-time statistics and video clips from games across the league. This season, it added live video streaming of full games as well as Game Day audio. At first the video streams were free, then MLB switched the model to feature one free game of the day, and the others were available to MLB.TV subscribers. Frankly I thought that was a bummer, as I don't want to pay a monthly fee for baseball. They must have read my mind, because version 1.4 was released this week with in-app purchasing. Users can buy any live video stream for $0.99US. Hooray! No more MLB.TV. I've gushed over this app before, so I'll keep it short this time. Not only is it a great experience for fans, the developers seem on top of what we want. Each update is significantly better than the last. Now if only the NFL and the PGA would create something as good.
Roku Video player now streaming live HD baseball games from MLB.TV
We've always loved the Roku Video Player, and it's getting even more flexible over time -- in addition to Netflix and Amazon video rentals, the $99 box can now play, pause, and rewind live HD baseball games in 720p from MLB.TV, as well as play archived games from the previous week on demand. You'll have to pay the one-time MLB.TV subscription fee of $35, but that's not terrible, especially if you're an out-of-market fan looking to catch your favorite team without having to trek out to a bar. Now if only the NFL would let anyone but DirecTV carry Sunday Ticket, we'd be all set.
MLB is about to make a million dollars off an iPhone app
Lots of developers are saying that they can't sell their apps at $9.99 in the App Store, but Major League Baseball is apparently the exception -- the $9.99 At Bat app is not only gaining accolades from users, but it's selling like nachos at the ballpark, too: with 130,000 copies sold so far this year, MLB is about to break a million dollars in revenue, even after Apple takes its cut. Pretty impressive for a pricey app. Of course, that's chump change when you consider exactly what MLB is dealing with -- the app integrates the Gameday Audio service, which sells for $14.99 on its own, and baseball's television and video content makes much, much more than a million dollars. The iPhone revenue, big as it is, is just a drop in the bucket for MLB, really. But nevertheless, the MLB app stands out as proof that, even if you have to include exclusive live audio content from major sporting events around the country, it is possible to make an app that people will happily pay $9.99 for. Stands to reason that if developers can make their app at least as functional and useful as At Bat, they too can make a million dollars.
Get your first glimpse of MLB Superstars
2K Sports just dished out a new trailer for their upcoming game, MLB Superstars, and it's pretty much like the other updates we've had on the game. Instead of looking at ridiculous screens, you get to look at ridiculous screens in motion. This trailer focuses on the 'Whack a Wall' minigame.What do you all think? Still just a bunch of minigames thrown together, or do you see something you like here?%Gallery-31217%[Via press release]
MLB Superstars pitches us some new screens
Click image for new screens If you're asking yourself why we're continuing to cover this game, know that it's sort of turned into a sick obsession for us. Taking widely recognized baseball players and making their likenesses compete in minigames that are anything but their sport of choice is like taking a gardener and asking him to build a rocket and land on the moon. It's just plain silly.But, then there are small, tiny rays of hope that manage to break through the thick protection of cash-in that is the outer crust of MLB Superstars. That ray of hope? The Philly Phanatic. It can't be all* bad now, can it?%Gallery-31217%*Yes, it can. And probably will be.
MLB Superstars introduces us to Baseball Golf
Click for new screens 2K Sports has dished out a few more screens from their upcoming game, MLB Superstars. In these latest shots, we see some of the titular superstars tackle one of the game's hybrid minigames, Baseball Golf. We're not sure how it works, beyond what is shown in the screens. The real question is whether or not these new screens make the game look more appealing than the previous batch?%Gallery-31217%[Via press release]
2K Sports reveals MLB Superstars
With October right around the corner, everyone's got baseball fever. We must admit that we're even caught up in it a bit, cheering our favorite team onto victory. And 2K Sports is trying to capitalize on the madness by unveiling their newest baseball title for the Wii: MLB Superstars.MLB Superstars is being developed by Deep Fried Entertainment and will be a party title (see: minigames), featuring games such as Baseball Golf, Baseball Pachinko and Baseball Bocci. It will also feature minigames that aren't even in the realm of baseball, such as Mascot Dance (you can probably imagine what this is) and Green Monster, where players must break down a wall with a baseball bat.[Via press release]
Verizon is working on bringing MLB Extra Innings to FiOS TV
With only a few months to go until Major League Baseball's opening day, Verizon's blog is reporting that a carriage deal for the MLB Extra Innings package is in the works. The package brings many out of market games to baseball fans, and was almost a DirecTV exclusive last year -- just like the NFL Sunday Ticket -- before consumer groups and the anti-trust types got involved. Now it appears that in addition to just about every digital cable and satellite provider, the nations largest fiber provider will also have the package. There's no word on how many of the games are presented in HD, but going on FiOS's track record we'd assume if the game is produced in HD, than it'll be presented in HD. The bad news is that even when the deal gets done, it won't be in all markets. We can only assume this has something to do with FiOS TV upgrades planned for 2008, that'll take care of its QAM bottleneck.
Sharp solar panel system installed at AT&T Park
While you were busy watching Vladimir Guerrero take home the Home Run Derby crown two nights ago (not to mention the All-Star game last night), you may not have been aware that AT&T Park was feeding uber-clean energy back into the grid serving PG&E's customers throughout northern and central California. Sure enough, the home of the San Francisco Giants is now also home to 590 Sharp solar panels located in three separate areas of the stadium, which combine to generate some 120-kilowatts of electricity. The size of the entire array is reportedly "equivalent to approximately 40 residential solar systems," and while this system won't conjure up as much power as the CIS Solar Tower, it will certainly make good use of the ballpark during the off-season.[Via EETimes image courtesy of MatrixCS]
Nintendo's DS Lite orders food, shows replays at Safeco Field
Those looking for a little more interaction at Safeco Field this season need only bring their DS Lite and a few extra bucks. This season, Nintendo is trialing the Nintendo Fan Network at the home of the Seattle Mariners, which enables onlookers to "order food and drinks, watch the live television feed of the game, access stats and scores, and play trivia from the comfort of their seat." The quietly introduced pilot program has brought several kiosks to the park, which uploads a program to the DS Lite and enables the WiFi-equipped handheld to take part in the bonus festivities. Eventually, the Big N hopes to expand the system into other stadiums, but for now, Mariners fans can get in on the action for $5 per game, or $30 for ten games.[Image courtesy of Flickr]
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]
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!
MLB highlights coming to iTunes Store
With opening day right around the corner, Major League Baseball and Apple have announced a deal for game highlights to appear on the iTunes Store. Each day there will be a 25 minutes "MLB.com Daily Rewind" highlight show and each week two "'Games of the Week,' featuring full versions of the best games from the National and American Leagues." Each of these games will be $1.99 (compared to $3.95 per game through MLB's Digital Download Service) though there will also be a Season Pass of the "Game of the Week" for $19.99 and a Multi-Pass of the "Daily Rewind" for $7.99 per month.MLB.TV is probably the best online sports offering, so real baseball fans will probably want to go there instead as it allows you to stream "every 2007 regular season out-of-market game" live plus a lot more. However, this iTunes deal looks interesting, and with MLB under fire for the exclusive DirecTV deal, more media choice is a good thing. We can hope this will be a success and cause MLB to expand their iTunes offering with more games, etc.To whet your appetite for the season the iTunes Store is now offering a 2007 Season Preview for free download (iTunes Store link).
New MLB 2K7 screenshots look ... nice
IGN posted some new screenshots of this spring's upcoming baseball game MLB 2K7. The off-screen video from CES caught our attention and these screenshots further pique our interest. It's entirly possible that 2K Games is going to improve on the standard baseball formula with a more realistic, televised format to the game, but we always worry about the graphics of their sports games. Though, these screenshots show some hope, the character models are pretty good, but we'll just have to wait and see if 2K pulls through. More videos please![Thanks, Jonah]
