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Coming Soon

ESPN Major League Baseball

Publisher: Sega Sports
Developer: Visual Concepts/Blue Shift
Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox
Release Date: April 8, 2004

ESPN MLB and SlugFest Loaded will arrive later this season. The ESPN-style transitions and logo-branding contributed a great deal to the atmosphere of Sega's previous baseball game, World Series Baseball 2K3. Sega Sports promises to take that integration even further in this year's release, which was renamed ESPN Major League Baseball to play up the branding agreement between Sega and the ESPN television network. There will be a wider variety of TV-style transitions and cutscenes, including on-deck shots, player reactions, and instant replays. Rex Hudler has returned to handle the color commentary, but he's no longer alone in the booth. ESPN Sunday Night Baseball anchor Jon Miller has signed on to contribute the running play-by-play during the game. Karl Ravech, the anchor of ESPN Baseball Tonight, will also provide postgame analysis and commentary.

Among the new play modes is GM career, which is a new twist on the old franchise mode. Your goal is to keep the owner happy by making the trades he wants and helping the ball club to make a profit. Each owner has a different personality and a different focus on team development. These differences will influence the trades you make and the contracts you sign.

ESPN Major League Baseball has a wider pitch selection than World Series Baseball 2K3 did.

We're also looking forward to the new first-person viewpoint and the changes that have been made to the pitching, fielding, and hitting interfaces. The hitting cursor is gone this year--replaced by a new timing-based system--and the pitching interface has been expanded to let you adjust the effectiveness of each pitch.

We'll have to wait a few more days before the final version of the game hits store shelves. When it does hit, we'll update this roundup to see how ESPN MLB stacks up against the other games that are currently on sale.

Read the Preview >>
See the Game in Action >>

MLB SlugFest: Loaded

Publisher: Midway
Developer: Midway
Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox
Release Date: June 2004

Midway decided to name this year's SlugFest game "Loaded" in honor of all of the new features that have been added. Don't worry. You'll still be able to attack fielders on the base paths, and you can still bean batters to cripple their stats. This time around, however, you'll have the option of turning off the violence to play Slugfest: Loaded like a traditional baseball sim.

Sliding spikes up? Slugfest doesn't strive for realism. Instead, it carves its own niche with its unique style.

Fans of traditional baseball will appreciate the new franchise mode, which uses the engine from the popular Baseball Mogul management simulator to put you in charge of every aspect of a team for the duration of its existence.

Above all, the SlugFest series has always been about kicking butt and taking names. That dedication continues in Loaded with new attacks, new defensive moves, and new trick pitches that really let you get inside hitters' minds. You'll be able to get feisty online, as well, this year. Loaded will support exhibition games and custom tournaments on both Xbox Live and the PS2 Network Adaptor.

MLB SlugFest: Loaded punches its way into stores this June. Until then, feel free to check out the links below to read and see more about the game.

Read the Preview >>
See the Game in Action >>

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All-Star Baseball 2005

Baseball Sim
Release: Apr 8, 2004
ESRB: Everyone

More Info

Game Stats

Rank:

31,347 of 79,297
(down by 9,813)

PS2 Rank:

3,254 of 3,726

Tracking:

163 Track It»

Wishlists:

35 Wish It»
Users Now Playing:

26
Number of Players:

1-4 | Offline Modes: Competitive, Cooperative, Team Oriented | Online Modes: Competitive
Top 5 User Tags:
Everyone Rating Description

Titles rated E (Everyone) have content that may be suitable for ages 6 and older. Titles in this category may contain minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language. Learn more