Power Pro Baseball Series Coming to the US

Wii

August 3, 2007, 12:40 pm EDT
Total comments: 6

The popularity of the Power Pro series is huge in Japan, and now 2K Sports and Konami are bringing the series to the States with MLB Power Pros for the Wii.

2K Sports and Konami Announce MLB® Power Pros

New York, NY and El Segundo, CA - August 3, 2007 - 2K Sports, the sports publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), and Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. announced today a new and exciting Major League Baseball® title - MLB® Power Pros. Developed by Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., and based on the best selling "Power Pro" baseball series in Japan, MLB Power Pros will be published by 2K Sports in North America and will be available in Fall 2007.

"For years, Konami's Power Pro Baseball has been Japan's No. 1 baseball game, in sales and fan ratings," said Kazumi Kitaue, Chairman and CEO of Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. "Now, in an excellent partnership with 2K Sports, it is with great pleasure that we bring Power Pro Baseball to the North American market as MLB Power Pros, where this great sport was born."

MLB Power Pros delivers an original visual style to America's favorite pastime. Every MLB® player will be represented in the "Power Pro" character style - a miniature toy-like figurine model. Gamers will recognize their favorite baseball stars through comic usage of facial expressions, facial hair, and hair styles. Every MLB ballpark has been faithfully replicated with their respective famous landmarks, bringing astounding authenticity to every game. This visual combination is certain to delight baseball fans of all ages.

Solid gameplay features and responsive controls provide an exciting baseball experience in MLB Power Pros. The easy pick-up-and-play mechanics in both pitching and batting allow for instant fun. Amazing animations will be seen in the field with incredible double plays, diving catches, and even home-run-robbing wall catches.

Featuring over a dozen different game modes, MLB Power Pros offers great long-term playability highlighted by the detailed Season Mode and popular Success Mode. With Season Mode, players become an MLB team general manager with the goal of winning the World Series™ by controlling all aspects of the team including training players, purchasing better equipment, making trades, and much more. Success Mode combines traditional role-playing elements with baseball scenarios to create one of the most unique and compelling game modes in any sports title. This story-based mode puts the user in the role of a college baseball player with the goal of becoming a Major League player - gamers will train the player in numerous games while dealing with real-world situations of academics, part-time jobs, and other social situations.

MLB® Power Pros will be available on the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and the Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo in Fall 2007.

Talkback

NWR_insanolordJ.P. Corbran, Community ManagerAugust 03, 2007

This sounds promising. I didn't want something like The BIGs, I wanted a realistic-ish MLB baseball sim, and, apart from the player designs, this seems to be good with the realism. I thought I was going to have to wait til Spring for MLB 2K8, but this sounds even better since I was never a fan of the 2K baseball games.

This is now the part of the show where we bow our heads in remembrance of MVP Baseball 2005, still the best baseball game ever made, and wish Take Two hadn't gotten the exclusive rights to Major League Baseball.

NintendoTrekker18August 03, 2007

This game looks undeniably awesome--great art style, tons of stat tracking, modes with Mii integration, MLB players, a deep RPG mode, options for multiple style of controls, etc.

I've been waiting to play one of these for years. It will be great to get it--it's become another must-have Wii game this fall!

Jonnyboy117Jonathan Metts, Associate EditorAugust 03, 2007

I never, never thought this series would come to America. Good job, 2K.

Flames_of_chaosLukasz Balicki, Staff AlumnusAugust 03, 2007

I wonder if Konami/2k sports will keep the online features in the Wii version that was in the Japanese version.

KaironCarmine Red, Associate EditorAugust 03, 2007

I... might be buying a baseball game in the future...hmm...

NWR_LindyJon Lindemann, Associate EditorAugust 04, 2007

This is AWESOME news. I'm with Jonny - I never thought we'd see this in the West. It's about time somebody brought one of these games over here. It's a consistently top-selling series in Japan, so you gotta think that it will appeal to U.S. players as well.

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