2K Sports Major League Baseball series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2K Sports Major League Baseball series is a series of Major League Baseball video games, developed by Visual Concepts and Kush Games, and published by 2K Games. There have been 3 games in the series: 2004, 2K5 and 2K6. All games were created for each MLB season. The series was created in 2004 after Visual Concepts teamed up with ESPN. Visual Concepts called the series World Series Baseball in years prior to 2004.
The first edition of the series was released on April 6, 2004 on the Xbox console, and on May 4 for the Playstation 2. The first game, ESPN Major League Baseball had the ESPN license. The player on the cover was New York Yankees 1st baseman Jason Giambi. Reviewers and critics said that the game had roster mistakes and glitches.
The 2005 edition, Major League Baseball 2K5, had the ESPN taken out of the title. But still the game was powered by ESPN. The game improved over the 2004 edition. The game included Web Gems instant replays, K-Zone pitching, Slam Zone hitting, and baserunner mode. The game was released in late February 2005 on the Playstation 2 and Xbox consoles. The cover baseball player was Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter.
The 2006 edition, Major League Baseball 2K6, had the ESPN presentation removed but the commentary team of Jon Miller and Joe Morgan remained intact. ESPN trademarks were removed but the presentation greatly resembled ESPN's. The game included Inside Edge scouting, Swing Stick hitting, and Payoff Pitching. The game was released on April 3, 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox; April 10 for the Xbox 360, and April 13 for the PSP. The game was also released for the GameCube, making it the first 2K Games title to appear on the system - however, this was short-lived as it was the sole MLB 2K game produced for the system, and no Wii version has been made as of yet. The cover baseball player was once again Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter.
The 2007 edition, Major League Baseball 2K7, featured a major overhaul on the "next gen" systems, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, featuring a near-photorealistic pitcher/batter interface. For the third year in a row, Derek Jeter was the cover player. The GameCube was dropped as a platform, and the Wii version was not developed. The major leap in gameplay and graphics were largely attributed to the addition of Ben Brinkman to Kush Games; Brinkman had been the lead developer for the MVP Baseball series of games.
The 2008 edition, Major League Baseball 2K8 is officially planned for 2008. This would be the first version developed to include the Wii.
In 2005, in response to EA Sports' exclusive license with the National Football League and ESPN prohibiting any NFL 2K games for the foreseeable future, Take-Two Interactive signed an exclusive third-party licensing contract with Major League Baseball (MLB), MLBPA and MLBAM to produce MLB games. The agreement, which runs from Spring 2006 to 2012, allows for the console manufacturers Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to produce MLB titles for their respective platforms, but bars third party developers such as EA Sports from continuing or developing their own MLB games.
