MLB 2K7

Fanboys may be waging a war of words over the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but one thing is crystal clear this spring - Sony's next-generation hardware is the place to be for baseball fans. Unlike Microsoft's machine, it's got two baseball titles being served up on it this spring. Competition means victory for gamers, and if the superb MLB 2K7 is any indication, this battle is just getting interesting.

As we expect by now from a next-gen game, the visuals and sound are pretty darned sweet. There's eye candy in all over the place, from nifty wind physics that have uniforms flapping gloriously in the breeze to slick in-game graphics and awesome virtual lineup cards. MLB 2K7 isn’t just a pretty face, though, as the inherent gameplay is as deep and varied as Johan Santana's pitch repertoire.

Everyone knows that pitching is an art, whether you're commanding a master of finesse or a strikeout machine. The traditional components of timing, location, and speed are part of the puzzle, but the addition of manipulating the break of your particular hurler's pitch fleshes it out even more. The mechanics are a little wacky - we don't love with the whole expanding/collapsing circle deal - but they present so many opportunities for pinpoint location via movement that it's almost a game unto itself.