Loot Ninja recently had the opportunity to discuss the upcoming 2K Sports title, MLB Power Pros 2008 with Robert Nelson the Producer of the game.

Power Pros is developed by 2K Sports and released on PS2 and Wii for the second year in a row in North America, but for the first time on Nintendo DS. MLB Power Pros uses MLB licenses for all stadiums and players and is a huge success in Japan.

Rob Nelson calls it “Blend of sim baseball, but has a look and design acceptable to new players.” Power Pros 2008 tries hard to be mixed for casual and hardcore gamers so that no one is left out.

There are two new modes – 2 RPG style modes, which will let you create a character of your own. Success mode has been redone with a new story and characters. You now have to get your player from AA (minors) to the major leagues by impressing coaches and scouts while building and making your character successful. MLB Life mode is the other brand new mode, which takes your newly created character or from success mode or existing player i.e. Derek Jeter and build them from scratch even buying houses and cars.

When Rob was asked about why Power Pros is successful he explained that the success comes from the game appealing to casual and hardcore gamers. Also having easy controls, but yet living up to expectations of hardcore gamers by including many modes draws in bigger audiences.

The Wii version will be different in that you can now take your custom Miis and put them on a Wii remote to transport them to a friend’s house. The PS2 and Wii versions are the same with the only differences being the Mii’s and controls.

The DS version of Power Pros will have wireless play, PS2 and Wii will have local multiplayer, but will have no online modes. Also do not expect any motion plus compatibility in this game, Rob says maybe for the next one.

Power Pros is very simulation intensive with heavy Japanese origins. It includes dating and relationships, which are important for the progression of your character who can even get married.

Defensive shifts are possible now and the AI has been tweaked to make fielding easier and more fluid along with tweaking the AI to make drawing walks a bit easier so that it can feel a bit more real.

One very important question that was lingering in my mind was if there were any thoughts of bringing Power Pros to other consoles? Rob Nelson responded, “We haven’t announced it, but it is in discussion now”

Retail prices will be the following: PS2 $19.99, DS $29.99 and the Wii $39.99