PS3 Fanboy

Boston Red Sox player Dustin Pedroia will grace the cover of MLB 09, appearing exclusively on PS2, PS3 and PSP. The 2007 American League Rookie of the Year helped the Red Sox win their seventh World Series Title that year.

"Dustin Pedroia has made a tremendous impact on an already storied Boston Red Sox organization and was an integral part to their 2007 World Series victory," said Scott A. Steinberg, Vice President, Product Marketing, SCEA. "We are excited to have him become part of our MLB franchise, represent MLB 09 The Show, and join the impressive roster of MLB stars who have served as previous cover athletes."

This is the first video game to don Pedroia. Previous MLB cover stars include Vladimir Guerrero, David Wright, Eric Chavez, Troy Glaus, Shawn Green, Adam Dunn and teammate David Ortiz.

Another year, another year of sports games. MLB The Show returns to PS3 next year with a slew of new features. MLB 09 The Show will look even better than last year, thanks to added detail. Stadium crowds will be more interactive and varied than ever, and you'll see transitional lighting on the field as the day turns to dusk. An expanded Road to the Show and Franchise mode can also be enjoyed.

09 will also add online season leagues, training/practice drills, and a new ability to store replays onto the hard drive. The most important addition of all, however, are the mascots. Each team's mascot will be represented in the game.

Check out the first screenshots of MLB 09 for the PS3 here.

This year's edition of MLB The Show looks fantastic. Sporting a bevy of features on both PS3 and PSP, The Show looks to be this year's most comprehensive sports game. For example, both the PS3 and PSP version support custom soundtracks, as demonstrated in this new PlayStation.blog post.

The PS3 version in particular has grabbed our interest. Why? It looks absolutely stunning. You'll be able to tell us what you think tomorrow, as a demo launches on the PLAYSTATION Store -- for PS3 and PSP! The full game launches on March 4th.

MLB 08 The Show is a thing of incredible beauty. Yes, although the build we recently played was still early, we saw some truly impressive technical feats on display. This game easily has the best character models we've seen in any sports game. They capture the not only the look of each player, but the feel. We were surprised to see the players come to so much life on the screen, with unique animations for a wide variety of situations. For example, when the Braves were in the lead, 3-1, we saw their defense start taking a fancier, more relaxed stance. Their catches had a bit more flair to them, as if to emphasize "we're better than you." Ouch.

Each batter has unique mannerisms when at bat, and it's those subtleties that baseball fans are going to love. Notice how the bat is held, and how it's swung. Each player feels as different as they should. Perhaps we shouldn't be so fixated, but the clothes in the game are remarkable: they actually fall atop of the characters, fold when players move. The clothes pick up subtle amounts of dirt as the game progresses, and is location specific. If a player lands on his knee, expect to see dirt there for the rest of the game. Attention to such minute details shows the San Diego studio's commitment into making this a real "next gen" baseball game.

The crowd is also much more alive than ever before. It's all fully realized in 3D -- no more sprites here, folks. But, even better than that, you'll notice that the crowd intelligently responds to what's happening in the game. If a fly ball goes their way, you'll see a small mob fight for the ball. You'll see people throwing around a beach ball in the stands. You'll be surprised at how much the crowd will do. Yes, there are some canned animations and repeating character models -- but, we were that much more engrossed by this feature.

MLB 08 is getting some all-star treatment from SCEA. Sony's first-party baseball effort is looking to outdo all competitors on the PS3, with graphics that seem to be unparalleled by most. Each year adds a few more features, subtleties, to the game -- and this year is no different. We've been playing with a near-final build for a while, and hope to give you a preview soon. Until then, enjoy this new trailer.

We hope you really like Ryan Howard, because our updated gallery of MLB 08 The Show is a virtual shrine to him. The Phillies first baseman was selected as the cover man of SCEA's upcoming baseball game. It will be his first time appearing on the cover of a video game.

"Ryan Howard's personality and work ethic exemplify what our baseball franchise is all about and we are thrilled he has chosen to represent MLB 08 THE SHOW," said Scott Steinberg, vice president, product marketing, SCEA. "Howard has worked hard to establish himself as one of the most exciting players in the game and we look forward to him continuing the tradition of MLB THE SHOW athletes having amazing years while being featured on the cover of our game."

Check out our gallery below:

From now on the weekly PS3 release lists are going to include worldwide games. Why would that interest you, you ask? It may be easy to forget, but your shiny black behemoth is capable of playing games from any region. That means every (both) game(s) in the following list is (are) a potential purchase. Here're the releases for the coming week:

US Games

• MLB '07 The Show

EU Games

• Spider-man 3
• Spider-man 3: Collector's Edition (exclusive to GAME)

Asian Games

• None released this week

How about that, eh? A couple of new games out. Keep this up and we might end up with one of those 'software library' things I've heard so much about. Release dates are subject to change, so be sure to call your local retailer and check, just in case. If you pick up either of these new releases, let use know what you think of them.