Let it be known that my main source of baseball games remain firmly in past generations, namely Baseball Simulator 1000 for SNES, Ken Griffey Jr.’s Major League Baseball for N64, and the most recent, MLB 2004. Yes, 2004, as in 5 years ago. My issue with purchasing yearly editions of sports games is that not enough ever changes. Aside from wrestling games, where gimmicks and match types can change as that sport is constantly in a state of evolution, baseball just sort of remains stationary.
However, if these 8 new screenshots are any indication, Sony’s MLB 09: The Show could get me on deck for next-gen baseball. Released yesterday for all of Sony’s platforms, the 2009 edition of The Show franchise boasts a reasonable list of upgrades, the most enticing of which would have to be what Sony calls “customizable fan chants”. I mean really, graphics are nothing. Gameplay is unimportant. Customizable crowd chants, however, is an entirely different story.