major league baseball
Latest
Jeter still MLB cover model
If you base your sports game purchases on how pretty the cover athlete is, than this is a great day for you. Derek Jeter will once again don the cover of a 2K Sports' title. Predictably that title will be Major League Baseball 2K7. Mr. Jeter (or DJ as I like to pretend I call him) had this to say: "It is a real privilege to represent the premier MLB title in the video game industry." He continued, "Just as I am always striving to improve my game, 2K Sports is constantly improving theirs, and this dedication has made Major League Baseball 2K7 the best MLB video game ever." He then stopped reading the cue cards and went back to his favorite hobby of counting money. Major League Baseball 2K7 will appear on the PSP March fifth (according to EB Games). [Via IGN]
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.
Sprint announces on-phone MLB audio
Just in time for the playoff race to heat up, Sprint's inked a deal with Major League Baseball to provide every -- yes, every -- major league game via streaming audio to Vision and Power Vision-enabled handsets. What's more, each game will be available via both team's flagship stations in addition to a Spanish feed. Called "Gameday Audio," the service will run ya $5.99 and should be available this month. Now just throw in a little A2DP, maybe some Sirius for entertainment during the seventh-inning stretch, and you've got yourself a pretty wicked setup for baseball on the move.[Via PhysOrg.com]
Major League Baseball not a fan of placeshifting
After alienating fans with long strikes and doped-up players, you'd think that Major League Baseball would be wise to make moves towards recapturing its lost fan base; instead, recent comments by an executive from MLB's media division indicate that baseball may be intending to further sour relations with its customers by cracking down on the placeshifting of televised games. Speaking at this year's Digital Media Summit in LA, MLB Advanced Media executive VP George Kliavkoff went toe-to-toe with fellow panel member and Sling Media marketing VP Rich Buchanan, arguing that Slingbox customers are "violating the scope of their [cable and satellite] user agreements" when they rebroadcast content out of their home market. The whole issue seems rather silly to us, as baseball is essentially complaining that you're somehow screwing a local affiliate by watching an out-of-market game when you're traveling to its city, even though the sport as a whole is still benefiting from your viewership and the vast number of placeshifters probably ensure that no net eyeballs are actually lost. Note to MLB: Cricket is starting to look more and more attractive every day.
Mobile ESPN gets MLB
Not that it should come as much of a surprise that Mobile ESPN would secure content for one of the two biggest sports in the US, but they announced clip highlights, scoreboards, Fantasy team management, and team alerts for the 2006 Major League Baseball season. You know what you gotta do to get access, friends; we're thinking of joining up just to see the spectacle that is the Mets take on yet another season... on our phone.[Via Mobile Tracker]
