Activision is planning to deliver steroid-free baseball action to the Nintendo Wii and DS this summer with Little League World Series 2008. Featuring eight U.S. and eight international teams, the game will allow player to customize their character, engage in entertaining mini-games, and of course, participate in the Little League World series.
"Activision has captured the essence of what makes Little League so wonderful for players and spectators alike," Jud Rogers, Sr. Marketing Executive, Little League International. "We look forward to working with them in the upcoming months to help polish the game and bring it to Little Leaguers and fans."My desperate hope that the game will let us bean kids in the head with fastballs is exactly why none of my friends invite me to watch their children play anymore. Little League World Series 2008 is due out August 5th for both platforms.
Activision Steps to the Plate with 'Little League® World Series 2008' for Wii™ and Nintendo DS™SANTA MONICA, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced today the upcoming release of Little League® World Series 2008 for Wii™ and Nintendo DS™. Players will have the ability to bat, pitch and field using intuitive controls developed exclusively for Nintendo's platforms. Little League World Series is the perfect game to play with your friends and family. The game hits shelves August 5, 2008.
"Little League baseball fans, players and families simply haven't had a videogame made just for them, so our goal is to fill this niche," said Dave Oxford, Activision Publishing. "Creating this game with the Little League organization has been a pleasure and we look forward to paying homage to the three million Little League players around the world today."
Little League World Series is the first officially licensed Little League video game to hit next-generation consoles. Bat, pitch and field your way from local sandlot slugger to Little League World Series Champion. Featuring eight U.S. and eight international teams, extraordinarily deep character customization, World Series Mode, and various skill based challenges, Little League World Series offers an exciting, authentic baseball experience. Motion-sensing controls on Wii make it accessible for Little League players and parents, while the DS version gives players the freedom to get on the diamond anywhere.
"Activision has captured the essence of what makes Little League so wonderful for players and spectators alike," Jud Rogers, Sr. Marketing Executive, Little League International. "We look forward to working with them in the upcoming months to help polish the game and bring it to Little Leaguers and fans."










Comments
I'll be keeping an eye on this. I'm an absolute whore for Wii baseball games.
How about just signing your kids up for Little League? This sounds really lame.
Please let this be a good DS baseball game. Just one would be nice. The Wii screenshots look pretty awesome though.
Perfect.
Another super-deformer-baseball-themed game along with Wii Sports and the other one of Konami... just what the Wii needs.
I can't help but feel offended by how the characters look.
In any case, I'll pass on this. I think I'd be better off with the Mario one coming out later.
looking at the picture I thought "My lord, are those eyes not a bit racist?"
@Han Daimond: Power Pros was a PlayStation series before it ever appeared on the Wii.
And yes, the world does need more baseball games like that. Console baseball games these days suck.
@badasscat: Hey, MLB the Show is good. What the world needs are good portable baseball games. I'd love to see a DS baseball game that focused on the strategy of the game, but I know that will never happen.
Why is the catcher staring at the batter likes he wants to make out with him?
@badasscat: In fact it started on the SNES but with another name, if I recall correctly.
Do the characters cry if their team loses?
That picture will haunt me tonight.
@Sasquatch: LOL, i wanna know too
It's good to know I'm not the only one who finds beanballs hilarious.
ummm are they cross eyed?
"Activision has captured the essence of what makes Little League so wonderful for players and spectators alike,"
Angry parents instigating brawls and wrestling each other to the ground?
Danny Almonte is a unlockable character
@Han Daimond:
Actually, yes, that IS just what the Wii needs. MLB Power Pros is easily the best baseball experience on the current crop of consoles.
I'm so sick of super deformed crap. I just don't like that "art" style at all. And the fact that all the characters are cross eyed is just weird.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is how raskar et al. silhouette enhancement can look bad. Okami is the counterexample, but Clover had kick-ass artists to make up for its shortcomings.
@liquid_kore:
You and me both
"Activision has captured the essence of what makes Little League so wonderful for players and spectators alike..." Yes, I know my favorite part of playing Little League was watching the other kids mock the fat kid on the team for being slow and unathletic. So, my favorite part would be the childhood trauma. Does this game promise me trauma?
If anyone has played Power Pros. for the Wii already then you know its all been done, it may not be little league but the characters sure look it
Love the shot of the japanese kid. That's not racist in the slightest.
@Raziel Dune: Yeah, I'm pretty sure they are - that's what i was thinking when I looked at the screenshot.
Hmm, it looks interesting. The current crop of baseball games and the Madden-like mentality (updated rosters and essentially the same games) is why you can pick up most baseball games for $5 two years after they come out.
Sadly, people get turned off by different things. My sister must own a good dozen baseball games like those 2KX yet she has no interest in Power Pros, no matter how many times I show her the good reviews for it.
Here's hoping this is good. Little League Baseball was best done on the NES, though. I had a classmate in high school who played the game incessantly.
The guy at bat looks like he should be in the special Olympics.
Boring. When I clicked on this I was expecting to see 6th graders hooked up to mocap.
Never underestimate the cross-eyed league. It's a whole new level of challenge.
I'm pretty sure all the "eggs" complaining in these comments about the depiction of the batter would prefer if the batter wearing the Japan jersey be drawn, rendered and represented as a white person, am I right?
@Bon5ai: No.
I admit I didn't particularly take offense to it, but the batter is depicted with slanted eyes, and cross-eyed. Both are negative western stereotypes of Asians and neither happen to be accurate. Asian eyes are no more "slanted" than western eyes, and neither are they cross-eyed.
The cross-eye thing may be just an unfortunate choice in the art style - it looks like the umpire and catcher might be western and their eyes are both stuck in the middle too. (MLB Power Pros also has characters with their eyes stuck to their noses, but it's not combined with slanted eye sockets.) But it's kind of like making a game about an eating contest where fried chicken is one in a series of eating contests, but the one screenshot you happen to release features a black character eating fried chicken. Why on Earth would you choose to release that as your first screenshot?
There's really no excuse for the slanted eyes, though. And I think that's what makes the cross-eyed look more noticeable.
@badasscat:
As an asian american I am offended by the fact that you are sensitive enough to think this is a problem.
Stop looking for racism where there is none. This is the same situationa s the ludicrous RE5 racism scandal.
@badasscat: OK, so if they DID show a black character eating chicken, how would you know that the black character depicted was indeed black?
Answer that question and you'll see that there's nothing wrong with depicting Asians as having unique eye shapes. Why is "slanted" (your words) a negative stereotype? What did a particular shape of one's eyes ever do that were negative? Are they a disability? Are they ugly? "Negative" was your choice of words. Can you explain that?
@ViperTooth: Right on. I too am Asian American and there is no racism here. The whole art style of the game is reminiscent of anime anyway.
"Mommy, what's wrong with that man's face?"
Hmm but from the style of the models this might be a quick code to cash game for them... sadly them kids will eat it up -Grasps Okami box away from bad games-
Ugh. People are always looking for something to get "offended" about, ESPECIALLY when it involves cultures and ethnicities outside their own. It never fails.
@B-Minus: Great point. It seems there are too many unwanted heroes out there. I really don't think Asian people need anyone to come to their rescue over a depiction of eyelids.
@kseezy:
Yeah. I'd like better looking asian characters in games. All the asian RB6V2 faces look like butt.
@B-Minus:
I've honestly never met an asian person who got upset about asians being depicted as slant eyes.
We ARE slant eyes. That's why you can tell we're... you know, asian. This isn't japan where they have a white people complex and make all of their characters have huge eyes.
When they make a game when an asian guy is like CHING CHONG NONG BONG, then we have a problem. But untill then? Shove the racist stuff into the overhead compartment. You aren't going to be needing it on this flight.
@ViperTooth: I'll agree with you on this one here being Chinese background myself.
That's the creepiest baseball screenshot I've ever seen.
All I want to know is whether the Hawaii team is featured in this (it better!).
@ViperTooth: You post is mostly true, but elaborate on your Japan has a white man complex and huge eyes statement please. Do you mean they wish they were white or that they tend to copy western culture?
I always figured it to was the latter and that the origin of big eyes in Anime wasn't because they were stereotyping white people but copying Disney characters and how they looked, such as Mickey Mouse. I forgot his name, but one of the pioneers of Japanese animation said he drew his characters with large eyes because large eyes made them look cuter. Now isn't identifying large eyes with cute a universal thing? It can't be Japan only.
Here's an illustration that demonstrates the "cute character".
[cdn-www.cracked.com]
@kseezy: Then I have no idea as to what kind of anime you're watching.
It's probally just me but the faces kind of remind me of Nights.
@statnut: Any DS baseball game is better than that Fantasy All-Stars one that just came out.
As long as the gameplay is good, I think it will be fine. One of my NES favorites is Little League Baseball.
@Mr.SithNinja: Maybe the catcher's a girl?
Or perhaps they're supporting gay kids who want to play baseball?
@Asper:
The 8-ball says yes to this causing you trauma. Not to mention me. And the gaming world, really...
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