MVP Baseball series
Encyclopedia
MVP Baseball was a baseball
game series published by EA Sports
, running from 2003 to 2007 with five games produced. In 2003, MVP became the official successor to EA's long-running Triple Play Baseball
series, and it simulated Major League Baseball
from 2003 to 2005. However, an exclusive licensing deal between Major League Baseball
and Take-Two Interactive
in 2005 prohibited EA Sports from making another MLB game until 2012. In response, EA made NCAA college baseball
games in 2006 and 2007, but discontinued the series in 2008 because of poor sales.
Bleacher Report
ranked MVP Baseball 2004/2005 2nd on its list of "The 50 Greatest Sports Games Ever Made".
Introducing an innovative pitch meter and zone-based hitting system (see below), MVP 2003 was well-received by critics, most of whom considered the game's overhaul to be a major improvement over Triple Play′s last entry. At the review-aggregation site Metacritic
, MVP 2003 was given a score of 81/100 for the Playstation 2
and 82/100 for the Xbox
.
Randy Johnson
and Miguel Tejada
were the cover players.
Building on MVP 2003′s surprisingly successful rookie effort, the 2004 edition made major refinements to both the game's control scheme and its dynasty mode. In a baseball gaming first, MVP 2004 was licensed by both the MLB and Minor League Baseball
, featuring real minor-league teams at the Class AA & AAA levels. These improvements netted the PS2 and Xbox versions of MVP 2004 twin scores of 90/100 at Metacritic
, far outpacing the competing All-Star Baseball 2005 and ESPN Major League Baseball
.
Albert Pujols
was the cover player for the 2004 installment of the series.
MVP Baseball 2005 brought subtle changes to the MVP 2004 formula, including a "hitter's eye" system with color codes that helped players identify pitch types out of the pitcher's hand, as well as an owner mode, the addition of Class A minor-league teams to dynasty mode, and spring training
minigames. Reviewers continued to rate MVP highly, with Metacritic
scores of 86 and 87 for the Xbox and PS2 versions, respectively, though MVP 2005′s marks were slightly lower than those of its predecessor. Even so, the game still edged out 2k Sports
' Major League Baseball 2k5 among critics.
Reigning World Series MVP Manny Ramirez
was featured on the cover of the 2005 installment of the series.
and ESPN
, Take-Two Interactive
signed an exclusive third-party licensing contract with Major League Baseball (MLB), MLBPA and MLBAM
to produce MLB games in its 2K Sports
series, making MVP Baseball 2005 the last MLB game in the series. The agreement, which runs from Spring 2006 to 2012, allows only Take-Two Interactive and the console
manufacturers Sony
, Microsoft
, and Nintendo
to produce MLB titles for their respective platforms, but bars other third party developers such as EA Sports from continuing or developing their own MLB games.
Despite the fact that MVP Baseball 2005 was the last official MLB release from EA Sports, a very active modding
community exists for the PC version of the game. Modders have added much to the game, including roster updates, uniforms, players, and stadiums, as well as total mod conversions for foreign and classic teams.
games for 2006 and 2007. Both editions of MVP: NCAA Baseball were officially licensed by the NCAA and released for the Xbox and PlayStation 2. The games featured actual NCAA teams and stadiums, though there were no real players.
A new "load and fire" batting system was integrated in 2006, to be followed by the addition of a "rock and fire" pitching system in 2007, both features that would later be emulated by MLB 11: The Show
and Major League Baseball 2K11
on seventh-generation
consoles. The 2007 installment also featured online integration with ESPN
, including commentary from Mike Patrick
and former Stanford All-American Kyle Peterson
. Former University of Texas star David Maroul
was featured on the cover of MVP 06, while MVP 07′s cover athlete was former Long Beach State pitcher Jered Weaver
.
MVP 07 currently represents the final game of the MVP Baseball series; the MVP games were discontinued in 2008 after the shift to college baseball games coincided with a major drop in sales.
called World Series Superstars, which simulates team management.
(MLBPA), as well as fictionalized counterparts for players who are not in the union, such as Jon Dowd in place of Barry Bonds
. Some other players who are not members of the MLBPA were omitted completely. For example Kevin Millar
, who is also not a member of the MLBPA, was omitted completely from the 2004 edition, with David Ortiz
leaving his real-life Designated hitter
spot and filling at first base
for the Boston Red Sox
. In MVP Baseball 2005, he was replaced by the fictional Anthony Friese.
MVP Baseball 2004 featured a unique addition to any baseball game, allowing users to play as the Minor League
affiliations of Major League
teams, a feature that was expanded in the following year. Various editions of the game have featured Randy Johnson
, Miguel Tejada
, Albert Pujols
, and Manny Ramírez
on its cover. Of those four, Tejada and Pujols have won Most Valuable Player
(MVP) awards during their careers, and the other two have been named MVPs of the World series. Randy Johnson
has also won the Cy Young Award
five times.
/throw meter. Until then, most baseball games' pitching schemes required players simply to press the button corresponding to the pitch they wanted to throw, and hold the button down for a certain length of time to determine how hard the pitch was thrown. In MVP Baseball, the player first holds down the pitch button (or throw button) to judge the power; once the desired power level is attained, the player must release the button and attempt to tap the same button within a target area. The closer the player gets to the target area, the more accurate the pitch or throw will be. While innovative within the field of baseball games, EA in fact adapted this feature from golf
games, which often feature a moving meter to determine the power and accuracy of shots (ironically, golf games largely abandoned shot meters around the time that MVP Baseball introduced it).
The game also incorporated a strike zone divided into nine areas of the plate designed as "hot and cold zones". The feature uses color coding with the colors red, white, and blue to represent the player's ability to hit pitches in the given area; red, white, and blue indicate whether the player hits well, neutrally, or poorly, respectively, in the given segment of the strike zone.
. The MVP Baseball series typically featured alternative rock
, ranging from mainstream artists like Sum 41
to indie
acts like stellastarr*. The games featured several minor hits before they became popular such as "C'mon C'mon" by The Von Bondies
which is also used as the theme song for the TV show Rescue Me
.
2003 Soundtrack:
2004 Soundtrack:
2005 Soundtrack:
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
game series published by EA Sports
EA Sports
EA Sports is a brand of Electronic Arts that creates and develops sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to mimic real-life sports networks by calling themselves "EA Sports Network" with pictures or endorsements of real commentators such as John...
, running from 2003 to 2007 with five games produced. In 2003, MVP became the official successor to EA's long-running Triple Play Baseball
Triple Play series
Triple Play was a series of computer and video games based on Major League Baseball, published by EA Sports until their replacement by the MVP Baseball in 2003....
series, and it simulated Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
from 2003 to 2005. However, an exclusive licensing deal between Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
and Take-Two Interactive
Take-Two Interactive
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a major American publisher, developer, and distributor of video games and video game peripherals. Take-Two wholly owns 2K Games and Rockstar Games. The company's headquarters are in New York City, with international headquarters in Windsor, United Kingdom...
in 2005 prohibited EA Sports from making another MLB game until 2012. In response, EA made NCAA college baseball
College baseball
College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. Compared to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a less significant contribution to cultivating professional players, as the minor leagues primarily...
games in 2006 and 2007, but discontinued the series in 2008 because of poor sales.
Bleacher Report
Bleacher Report
Bleacher Report is a website that provides news and fans' opinions of sporting events.The website was launched in February 2008 by California-based entrepreneurs Dave Finocchio, Zander Freund, Bryan Goldberg, and Dave Nemetz...
ranked MVP Baseball 2004/2005 2nd on its list of "The 50 Greatest Sports Games Ever Made".
MVP Baseball 2003
MVP Baseball 2003 was released in 2003 as the successor to EA's Triple Play games, though it bore little more than a graphical similarity to its predecessors, which had been heavily maligned by critics in the series' final years.Introducing an innovative pitch meter and zone-based hitting system (see below), MVP 2003 was well-received by critics, most of whom considered the game's overhaul to be a major improvement over Triple Play′s last entry. At the review-aggregation site Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, MVP 2003 was given a score of 81/100 for the Playstation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
and 82/100 for the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
.
Randy Johnson
Randy Johnson
Randall David Johnson , nicknamed "The Big Unit", is a former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. During a 22-year career, he pitched for six different teams....
and Miguel Tejada
Miguel Tejada
Miguel Odalis Tejada was a Major League Baseball infielder who has played for the San Francisco Giants, the San Diego Padres, the Houston Astros, the Baltimore Orioles and the Oakland Athletics...
were the cover players.
MVP Baseball 2004 & 2005
In 2004-05, the MVP Baseball series produced a pair of games that are generally considered to be two of the best baseball games ever made.Building on MVP 2003′s surprisingly successful rookie effort, the 2004 edition made major refinements to both the game's control scheme and its dynasty mode. In a baseball gaming first, MVP 2004 was licensed by both the MLB and Minor League Baseball
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
, featuring real minor-league teams at the Class AA & AAA levels. These improvements netted the PS2 and Xbox versions of MVP 2004 twin scores of 90/100 at Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, far outpacing the competing All-Star Baseball 2005 and ESPN Major League Baseball
ESPN Major League Baseball
ESPN Major League Baseball is a promotion of Major League Baseball on ESPN and ESPN2, with simulcasts on ESPNHD or ESPN2HD. ESPN's MLB coverage debuted on April 9, 1990 with three Opening Day telecasts. ESPN Major League Baseball is guaranteed to remain on air until 2013.The title is derived from...
.
Albert Pujols
Albert Pujols
José Alberto Pujols Alcántara , better known as Albert Pujols , is a Dominican-American professional baseball player, who is currently a free agent...
was the cover player for the 2004 installment of the series.
MVP Baseball 2005 brought subtle changes to the MVP 2004 formula, including a "hitter's eye" system with color codes that helped players identify pitch types out of the pitcher's hand, as well as an owner mode, the addition of Class A minor-league teams to dynasty mode, and spring training
Spring training
In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play...
minigames. Reviewers continued to rate MVP highly, with Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
scores of 86 and 87 for the Xbox and PS2 versions, respectively, though MVP 2005′s marks were slightly lower than those of its predecessor. Even so, the game still edged out 2k Sports
2K Sports
2K Sports is a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. It comprises a single development studio, Visual Concepts, which was purchased from Sega in the year 2005. 2K Sports mainly develops and publishes American sports video games such as NBA 2K series...
' Major League Baseball 2k5 among critics.
Reigning World Series MVP Manny Ramirez
Manny Ramírez
Manuel "Manny" Arístides Ramírez Onelcida is a retired Dominican-American professional baseball outfielder. He was recognized for great batting skill and power, a nine-time Silver Slugger and one of 25 players to hit 500 career home runs. Ramirez's 21 grand slams are third all-time, and his 28...
was featured on the cover of the 2005 installment of the series.
Exclusive licensing deal
In 2005, in response to EA Sports' exclusive license with the National Football LeagueNational Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
and ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
, Take-Two Interactive
Take-Two Interactive
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a major American publisher, developer, and distributor of video games and video game peripherals. Take-Two wholly owns 2K Games and Rockstar Games. The company's headquarters are in New York City, with international headquarters in Windsor, United Kingdom...
signed an exclusive third-party licensing contract with Major League Baseball (MLB), MLBPA and MLBAM
MLBAM
Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P., is a limited partnership of the club owners of Major League Baseball, and is the internet and interactive branch of the league. The company operates the official web site for the league and 30 Major League Baseball club web sites via MLB.com, which draws...
to produce MLB games in its 2K Sports
2K Sports
2K Sports is a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. It comprises a single development studio, Visual Concepts, which was purchased from Sega in the year 2005. 2K Sports mainly develops and publishes American sports video games such as NBA 2K series...
series, making MVP Baseball 2005 the last MLB game in the series. The agreement, which runs from Spring 2006 to 2012, allows only Take-Two Interactive and the console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
manufacturers Sony
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
, Microsoft
Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Studios is the video game production wing for Microsoft, responsible for the development and publishing of games for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Games for Windows and Windows Phone platforms. They were established in 2002 as Microsoft Game Studios to coincide with the release of the Xbox, before...
, and Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
to produce MLB titles for their respective platforms, but bars other third party developers such as EA Sports from continuing or developing their own MLB games.
Despite the fact that MVP Baseball 2005 was the last official MLB release from EA Sports, a very active modding
Modding
Modding is a slang expression that is derived from the verb "modify". Modding refers to the act of modifying a piece of hardware or software or anything else for that matter, to perform a function not originally conceived or intended by the designer...
community exists for the PC version of the game. Modders have added much to the game, including roster updates, uniforms, players, and stadiums, as well as total mod conversions for foreign and classic teams.
MVP: NCAA Baseball
Barred from making MLB games, EA Sports made college baseballCollege baseball
College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. Compared to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a less significant contribution to cultivating professional players, as the minor leagues primarily...
games for 2006 and 2007. Both editions of MVP: NCAA Baseball were officially licensed by the NCAA and released for the Xbox and PlayStation 2. The games featured actual NCAA teams and stadiums, though there were no real players.
A new "load and fire" batting system was integrated in 2006, to be followed by the addition of a "rock and fire" pitching system in 2007, both features that would later be emulated by MLB 11: The Show
MLB 11: The Show
MLB 11: The Show is a Major League Baseball video game published by Sony Computer Entertainment and developed by Sony San Diego. The game was released on March 8, 2011 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2...
and Major League Baseball 2K11
Major League Baseball 2K11
Major League Baseball 2K11 or, in short, MLB 2K11, is an MLB licensed baseball simulation video game published by 2K Sports. MLB 2K11 is available for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, and Wii.-Commentators:The commentary is delivered by...
on seventh-generation
History of video game consoles (seventh generation)
In the history of video games, the seventh generation of consoles is the current generation , and includes consoles released since late by Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony...
consoles. The 2007 installment also featured online integration with ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
, including commentary from Mike Patrick
Mike Patrick
Mike Patrick is an American sportscaster.-Career:Patrick began his broadcasting career in the fall of 1966 at WVSC-Radio in Somerset, Pa. In 1970, he was named Sports Director at WJXT-TV in Jacksonville, Fla., where he provided play-by-play for Jacksonville Sharks' World Football League telecasts...
and former Stanford All-American Kyle Peterson
Kyle Peterson
Kyle Johnathan Peterson in Elkhorn, Nebraska is a former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers.-Career:...
. Former University of Texas star David Maroul
David Maroul
David William Maroul is a former baseball player. He was the 2005 College World Series Most Outstanding Player. He played collegiately for the Texas Longhorns. He is one of six players from University of Texas at Austin to win that award. The others are: Tom Hamilton, Mickey Reichenbach, Calvin...
was featured on the cover of MVP 06, while MVP 07′s cover athlete was former Long Beach State pitcher Jered Weaver
Jered Weaver
Jered David Weaver , is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim...
.
MVP 07 currently represents the final game of the MVP Baseball series; the MVP games were discontinued in 2008 after the shift to college baseball games coincided with a major drop in sales.
Possible revival
In March 2011, ESPN reported that EA would bring the series back as a console game after the exclusive licensing deal expires in 2012. Also in March 2011, EA Sports released an MLB-licensed game for FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
called World Series Superstars, which simulates team management.
Players
Until 2005, the game featured all players in the Major League Baseball Players AssociationMajor League Baseball Players Association
The Major League Baseball Players Association is the union of professional major-league baseball players.-History of MLBPA:The MLBPA was not the first attempt to unionize baseball players...
(MLBPA), as well as fictionalized counterparts for players who are not in the union, such as Jon Dowd in place of Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds
Barry Lamar Bonds is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. Bonds played from 1986 to 2007, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds...
. Some other players who are not members of the MLBPA were omitted completely. For example Kevin Millar
Kevin Millar
Kevin Charles Millar is an American former professional baseball first baseman and current analyst for MLB Network and New England Sports Network. Millar played college baseball at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, where he continues to reside in the off-season. Millar is the nephew of former...
, who is also not a member of the MLBPA, was omitted completely from the 2004 edition, with David Ortiz
David Ortiz
David Américo Ortiz Arias , known as David Ortiz, nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican American professional baseball player who is currently a free agent. Previously, Ortiz played with the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox...
leaving his real-life Designated hitter
Designated hitter
In baseball, the designated hitter rule is the common name for Major League Baseball Rule 6.10, an official position adopted by the American League in 1973 that allows teams to designate a player, known as the designated hitter , to bat in place of the pitcher each time he would otherwise come to...
spot and filling at first base
First baseman
First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team...
for the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
. In MVP Baseball 2005, he was replaced by the fictional Anthony Friese.
MVP Baseball 2004 featured a unique addition to any baseball game, allowing users to play as the Minor League
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
affiliations of Major League
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
teams, a feature that was expanded in the following year. Various editions of the game have featured Randy Johnson
Randy Johnson
Randall David Johnson , nicknamed "The Big Unit", is a former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. During a 22-year career, he pitched for six different teams....
, Miguel Tejada
Miguel Tejada
Miguel Odalis Tejada was a Major League Baseball infielder who has played for the San Francisco Giants, the San Diego Padres, the Houston Astros, the Baltimore Orioles and the Oakland Athletics...
, Albert Pujols
Albert Pujols
José Alberto Pujols Alcántara , better known as Albert Pujols , is a Dominican-American professional baseball player, who is currently a free agent...
, and Manny Ramírez
Manny Ramírez
Manuel "Manny" Arístides Ramírez Onelcida is a retired Dominican-American professional baseball outfielder. He was recognized for great batting skill and power, a nine-time Silver Slugger and one of 25 players to hit 500 career home runs. Ramirez's 21 grand slams are third all-time, and his 28...
on its cover. Of those four, Tejada and Pujols have won Most Valuable Player
Most Valuable Player
In sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...
(MVP) awards during their careers, and the other two have been named MVPs of the World series. Randy Johnson
Randy Johnson
Randall David Johnson , nicknamed "The Big Unit", is a former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. During a 22-year career, he pitched for six different teams....
has also won the Cy Young Award
Cy Young Award
The Cy Young Award is an honor given annually in baseball to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball , one each for the American League and National League . The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955...
five times.
Innovations
Upon its release in 2003, one of the game's most inventive aspects was its pitchPitch (baseball)
In baseball, a pitch is the act of throwing a baseball toward home plate to start a play. The term comes from the Knickerbocker Rules. Originally, the ball had to be literally "pitched" underhand, as with pitching horseshoes. Overhand throwing was not allowed until 1884.The biomechanics of...
/throw meter. Until then, most baseball games' pitching schemes required players simply to press the button corresponding to the pitch they wanted to throw, and hold the button down for a certain length of time to determine how hard the pitch was thrown. In MVP Baseball, the player first holds down the pitch button (or throw button) to judge the power; once the desired power level is attained, the player must release the button and attempt to tap the same button within a target area. The closer the player gets to the target area, the more accurate the pitch or throw will be. While innovative within the field of baseball games, EA in fact adapted this feature from golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
games, which often feature a moving meter to determine the power and accuracy of shots (ironically, golf games largely abandoned shot meters around the time that MVP Baseball introduced it).
The game also incorporated a strike zone divided into nine areas of the plate designed as "hot and cold zones". The feature uses color coding with the colors red, white, and blue to represent the player's ability to hit pitches in the given area; red, white, and blue indicate whether the player hits well, neutrally, or poorly, respectively, in the given segment of the strike zone.
Soundtracks
Like all recent EA Sports games, the soundtrack to each MVP Baseball title contains licensed songs, called EA TraxEA Trax
EA Trax is the title of the in-game soundtracks on some of EA Games' video games featuring up and coming artists, as well as mainstream artists. Music genres featured range from hip hop to rock, depending on the game's genre...
. The MVP Baseball series typically featured alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
, ranging from mainstream artists like Sum 41
Sum 41
Sum 41 is a Canadian rock band from Ajax, Ontario. The band was formed in 1996 and currently consists of members Deryck Whibley , Tom Thacker , Jason McCaslin and Steve Jocz .In 1999, the band signed an international record deal with Island Records...
to indie
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
acts like stellastarr*. The games featured several minor hits before they became popular such as "C'mon C'mon" by The Von Bondies
The Von Bondies
The Von Bondies were an American alternative rock band. The group disbanded in July 2011. Its most recent members were Jason Stollsteimer on vocals and lead guitar, Christy Hunt on rhythm guitar and Leann Banks on bass guitar...
which is also used as the theme song for the TV show Rescue Me
Rescue Me (TV series)
Rescue Me is an American television drama series that premiered on the FX Network on July 21, 2004, and concluded on September 7, 2011. The series focuses on the professional and personal lives of a group of New York City firefighters in the fictitious Ladder 62 / Engine 99 firehouse.The show...
.
2003 Soundtrack:
- The All-American Rejects - Swing, Swing
- The Donnas - Who Invited You
- The Exies - Without
- (hed) planet earth - Blackout
- Revis - Caught in the Rain
- Burning Brides - Artic Snow
- OK Go - Don't Ask Me
- Pacifier - Bullitproof
- Shinedown - Fly From the Inside
- socialburn - Everyone
- Soundtrack of Our Lives - Sister Surround
- Sum 41 - All Messed Up
- Taproot - Poem
2004 Soundtrack:
- Chronic Future - Time & Time Again
- Hoodoo Gurus - Bittersweet
- Lucky Boys Confusion - Hey Driver
- Maxeen - Please
- Seven Wiser - Take Me As I Am
- Snow Patrol - Spitting Games
- stellastarr - My Coco
- Steriogram - Walkie Talkie Man
- To My Surprise - Get It To Go
- Trust Company - Surfacing
- The Von Bondies - C'mon C'mon
- Jonny Lives! - Get Steady
- Hometown Hero – Robbers
2005 Soundtrack:
- ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - "Let It Dive" (Called "...Trail of Dead" in the game)
- Dropkick Murphys - "Tessie"
- The High Speed Scene - "The IROC-Z Song"
- Hot Hot Heat - "You Owe Me An IOU"
- Louis XIVLouis XIV (band)Louis XIV was an American rock band from San Diego, California.-Beginnings: :Lead singer/guitarist Jason Hill, guitarist Brian Karscig, and drummer Mark Maigaard formed the group in April 2003 while living in Paris, France. Bassist James Armbrust soon joined after.Louis XIV, the band's first album,...
- "Finding Out True Love Is Blind" - Rock 'N' Roll Soldiers - "Funny Little Feeling"
- The Bravery - "Honest Mistake"
- The Donots - "We Got The Noise"
- The Zutons - "Pressure Point"