MLB Power Pros 2008 is the follow up to last years MLB Power Pros from 2K Sports and we had a chance to put a lot of time into the game. Do not let the fact that these super cute versions of ball players do not have noses or mouths fool you into thinking that this is a dumb down baseball game, in fact quite the opposite in some respects it can be too complicated.
Power Pros is a huge franchise in Japan and over the last few years it has slowly made it’s way to the North American market. The bobble head style characters in conjunction with the cartoon style graphics make it very easy for any age gamer to become interested in this game, but the intricate nature of the game makes it a huge challenge to master. Read More »
Sony posted their sales data for the first quarter of their fiscal year or 2008. Strong sales of hardware and software have made the PlayStation division profitable for the first quarter in a long time.
The PS3 saw sales of 1.56 million units, up from 0.70 million a year ago. Software for the PS3 went through the roof selling 4.7 million last year while boasting 22.8 million units in Q1 08. Good news for Sony with the PS3 definitely picking up on all fronts.
The PSP didn’t do too bad either, rising to 3.72 million units sold in Q1 2008 compaired to last year’s 2.13 million. Software rose as well, showing 11.8 million units against Q1 2007’s 9.8 million.
The PS2, on the other hand, saw drops in both hardware and sofware sales. Not surprising, given the increase in adoption of the PS3. Hardware went down to 1.51 million from 2.66 million and software dropped to 19.3 million from 31.1 million.
Overall, Sony had a pretty strong quarter. With a lot of great games coming for both the PS3 and PSP, I can see this trend continuing for a while. I wonder how long it’ll take them to get profitable on the PS3…
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. Read More »
An article surfaced today letting us know that buying a PS2 is the equivalent of buying a blood diamond. That’s right Sony’s production of the PS2 actually was causing conflicts and actually killing people in the Congo.
At the center of the conflict is the unrefined metallic ore, coltan. After processing, coltan turns into a powder called tantalum, which is used extensively in a wealth of western electronic devices including cell phones, computers and, of course, game consoles.
Allegedly, the demand for coltan prompted Rwandan military groups and western mining companies to plunder hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the rare metal, often by forcing prisoners-of-war and even children to work in the country’s coltan mines.
But you may ask how does this involve Sony and their best selling PS2? Apparently the increased demand of PS2’s during its original launch lead to a higher demand of electronics which also meant a higher demand of the ore. Read More »
I was looking through my Xbox 360 profile and realised that as of January 6, 2006 when I got my 360 I have played 164 games on it, this includes about 70 or so arcade titles, but excludes demos. That is about 50 Xbox 360 games a year and about 1 per week. Not sure what everyone else’s game list looks like, but I was a bit surprised.
This list is just for my 360, I also have played at least 30 PS3 games and another 30 or so Wii games, not to mention another 20 each on the PSP and DS. PC I have been pretty light on and except for the Blizzard franchises I have been pretty quiet on that front. I have rented over 60 games from Gamefly since August of 2006 and probably traded in at least 50 games to get different ones.
Those stats are only for this generation of consoles, if I add in my Dreamcast, PS2, PS1, Gameboy, NES, SNES and Gamecube libraries (whihc unfortunately I no longer have) that number would go up significantly. I would say that in the older consoles I probably owned over 200+ games.
I would say I am a pretty avid gamer even though I have slowed down from my younger years and something tells me I won’t be slowing down anytime soon, what do you think? What does your game library look like?
In a show of continued dedication to the PS2, Sony announced a new Lego Batman PS2 Bundle. The bundle will be priced at $149 and include a copy of Lego Batman and the DVD of Justice League. Not a bad bundle when you consider that the regular PS2 is priced at $129, that means you get a DVD and a game for $10 each. For those of you that are looking to stay a bit budget this is perfect for you, you can grab Rock Band, Singstar and a lot of titles for the PS2.
If you haven’t played Marvel Ultimate Alliance, shame on you! This was a really fun game with a ton of different playable characters and it looks like Samus from Metroid was almost in the mix? Not sure why they would have wanted to add in Samus as she is definitely not a Marvel character, but looks like Nintendo yanked the plug on this idea although some of the code from the PS2 version was left behind. It would have been a bit awkward to have a major Nintendo character on a PS2 let alone a Marvel based game.
Ok as someone who has spent a lot of time playing Phantasy Star Online and Universe, I have to say this is pretty sweet to get this RPG on my PSP. The ad-hoc mulitplayer coop has been confirmed but online coop has not been confirmed yet. Looks to be a direct port from what PS2, PC and Xbox 360 users are used to, complete with the expansion Ambitions of Illuminus. Great to have on my PSP with some good looking graphics and carry around, hopefully they make it free to play online and then I will buy this in a heartbeat. So far no official US release date for this title, but definitely coming to Japan.
Sony was not making a claim left or right if online servers were going to be shutdown. Logic would dictate that older games would fade into the distance, but Sony was not dropping any hints or at least sending a mixed message.
“SCEA has made no announcements about shutting down the servers, so I’m not sure where this website got that info,” an SCEA representative told Shacknews today. “Based on some of the game names it sounds like it is from another territory.”
During a recent update Sony did drop this tid bit:
A listing on Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s website confirms that the online functionality for 14 titles listed in previous reports will be shut down in European territories. No such announcement has yet been made for North America.
Looks like Europe is copping to the fact that they are shutting down 14 titles for online play. Wonder why there is no word in North America, chances are people won’t care too much since this will affect old titles and nothing really current.
Alone in the Dark is coming to every platform. No, its not Tara Reid as a Biochemist. Its the upcoming survival horror game that is supposed to make you shit yourself with fear. This trailer gives us a little taste of what to expect. Shit yourself with fear I said.
We're like Spaceballs... we're making Loot Ninja everything. Coming soon we'll have hats, shirts, hoodies, possibly banana hammocks if one Editor has his way...
Check out the shirt prototypes here and the hats here
