Image from IGN.com

MLB Power Pros, which is in fact a long running baseball video game series in Japan, was finally localized for the United States last fall with the excellent MLB Power Pros 2007 for Wii. I personally judged it to be the best baseball game for any system, and many enthusiastic and "clued in" Wii owners (and PS2 owners) picked the game up.

Happily, Konami and 2k Sports must have judged that experiment to be a success, as they are not only bringing the 2008 iteration of the game back for Wii, but they are also releasing a DS version of the game!

For those not in the know, Power Pros is best described as a combination of old school, RBI Baseball style one button gameplay with zany RPG-like upgrade abilities and features. The game features a wonderful story mode, which is better implemented than EA's clumsy attempts to do the same (i.e. Superstar mode in Madden). In last year's game, you guided a young college player through several seasons of college baseball, all while training, working out, dating, and studying for classes. It was all presented through a delightful interface and light but amusing dialogue.

Let's hope that the DS version brings more of the same, but shrunk down for handheld play. We'll all find out on July 29th.

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