Nintendo's Double Play

So here's a surprise. We, along with most everyone else, thought Mario Baseball would be the only Nintendo-developed baseball game appearing on the GameCube. Apparently we were wrong. Nintendo has announced their own MLB-licensed baseball game, Nintendo Pennant Chase Baseball, for the GameCube. The title marks the company's first self-published hardball title since the N64/Ken Griffey Jr. days, and the first non-EA MLB game on the GameCube since the death of the All-Star Baseball franchise last year. According to our news story, the game is fully licensed by both MLB and the MLBPA and will feature the formidable frame of Red Sox slugger David Ortiz on the cover.

The announcement of this title probably did little for the blood pressure readings of Take Two executives, who recently OK'd a pact with the MLBPA to secure a uniquely semi-exclusive license. The agreement, designed to take third party publishers (such as EA Sports) out of the MLB picture, had no such restrictions for first party titles (such as Sony's MLB 2006, or cancelled Microsoft properties such as Inside Pitch and the High Heat franchise).

While Take Two may be fuming at this news, Nintendo execs are likely considering this an amazing stroke of luck--beginning in 2006, they should have GameCube baseball all to themselves. The question remains, however: Can Nintendo's traditionally weak sports console support two baseball titles?