baseball

Know what I just realized? I'm on game overload. There are too many great games for the iPhone and iPod Touch and not nearly enough hours in the day.

In fact, I'm concerned about the platform's effect on national productivity. I can't prove it, but I think Apple is responsible for lowering the country's GDP. Thankfully, I was able to resist the siren song of gaming just long enough to write up these five new arrivals:

Chop Chop Tennis  So this is what the kids of South Park would look like if they dressed as ninjas and played tennis. The latest in the Chop Chop series lets you play singles or doubles on any of five colorful courts. The gameplay is decidedly Wii-style, but here you're swiping (with your finger) instead of swinging. Alas, for now it's a one-person outing, though developer Gamerizon says local multiplayer is coming soon. (But what it really needs is online multiplayer.) Price: $2.99.

Fast & Furious: Adrenaline  Does the iPhone really need another racing game? Hey, if they're good, keep 'em coming. Fast & Furious: Adrenaline (the latest title based loosely on the movie franchise) breaks little new ground in the genre, but it delivers plenty of high-speed, free-wheeling action for those who like arcade-style street racing. Multiplayer is limited to local competition, but at least the price is right: 99 cents.

Flick Baseball Pro  There's been a lot of advance buzz about this title, and with good reason: it's without a doubt the best arcade-baseball game to date. You get to pitch, bat, and even field fly balls, all by engaging in various types of timed tapping. The graphics, audio, and presentation are all console-quality, making it all the more surprising that the game is priced at just $2.99.

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Editor's note: This is the first installment of "45 minutes on IM," a new interview series that I will be doing, hopefully weekly. Instant message is hardly the newest or hottest communication medium, but it is a very effective way to have a conversation. Because the medium is kind of contemporaneous, I've decided to maintain a bit of the on-the-fly flavor of the discussion, including the occasional "all-caps" response. But we'll skip the smileys. Please enjoy these interviews, and if you have suggestions or feedback, please let me know.

If you've been … Read more

Movers and shakers in the Internet video sector are typically easy to identify: YouTube, Hulu, iTunes, and Netflix.

A name often overlooked, however, is Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM). The Internet arm of professional baseball is one of the most successful online subscription services--along with the Wall Street Journal and Consumer Reports--and the No. 1 most profitable video-streaming service on the Web.

On Thursday, MLBAM is expected to enable subscribers to watch live Webcasts of pro baseball games on Sony PlayStation 3 video game consoles, the companies announced Wednesday evening.

As part of the partnership with Sony, MLBAM subscribers … Read more

A year ago, Microsoft's Silverlight video technology was under fire.

Two high-profile situations--a decision by Major League Baseball to dump Silverlight in favor of archrival Adobe Flash, as well as a series of glitches at Netflix that were blamed on Silverlight--had generated negative publicity.

Since then, however, the complaints seem to have died down. And now, Silverlight is apparently on a roll.

The streaming-video technology is coming off a mostly glitch-free NCAA Men's college basketball tournament. This week, CNET parent company CBS said that CBSSports.com streamed more than 11 million hours of live audio and video during … Read more

I can't decide if this is brilliant or ridiculous.

A few minutes ago, I saw a tweet go by from @sf_giants, the official fans' Twitter account of the San Francisco Giants baseball team. "The Giants want to have the largest tweet-up in history! Check out this exclusive $20 tweet-up only for Giants followers," it read.

One the one hand, if you say you're doing something like the "largest tweet-up in history," that's sure to get my attention. On the other, if you follow that up by saying that it's going to cost … Read more

There are lots of pitching machines on the market for baseball fans, but researchers at Japan's Meiji University have teamed up with Sapporo-based MR Corp to create a batting-tee robot that presents balls on a cushion of air. They say it's the first of its kind in the world.

The Jet Hitter lets batters practice alone by floating balls on a cushion of air instead of a tee. The machine can be loaded with up to 70 balls, and it automatically holds them in midair for the batter.

The inventors say the Jet Hitter makes it easy to … Read more

Just as spring training arrives, so do the year's two Major League Baseball games. Though this season always reminds us of the gone-but-never-forgotten MVP franchise, we're happy to report that both offerings do the sport justice.

Jeff: PS3 owners will have to make the decision between MLB 2K10 and MLB 10: The Show, as the latter is a PS3-exclusive title. That said, Xbox 360 owners won't be shut out of a good game, as 2K10 has finally broken the streak of disappointing baseball titles. In fact, this year's effort is the one of the best improvements year over year we've seen in a very long time.

Pitching in 2K10 remains the most difficult to master (pitching is done via two-step gestures with the right stick), but it only took us about five full games before we felt comfortable with our delivery. Where 2K has transferred most of the game's action (hitting and pitching) to the right thumb stick, MLB 10 remains traditional with more conventional button-based mechanics. We're not sure either way is the "right" way, but we definitely had an easier time making contact with the ball in The Show. Check swings in MLB 10 were also a nice advantage in the batter's box, as the game offers three different types of animations for doing so.

More so than in years past, both MLB 2K10 and MLB 10 allow the batter to see the ball fairly well, as we found ourselves taking pitches as often as we swung. The Show lets you guess an incoming pitch--ultimately giving you a better idea what's coming even if you're wrong--and 2K10 flashes the name of a pitch if it's not delivered perfectly.… Read more

As any real baseball fan knows, there is a very small group of accomplishments that are held above all others as the rarest in the game, and therefore worthy of being remembered forever.

A no-hitter is rare, indeed, but not in that group. Neither is hitting for the cycle. On the other hand, there's the unassisted triple play. Just 15 players have turned one in in the entire history of the game. And hitting four home runs in a single game. That's been done by just 15 sluggers.

Then there's the perfect game. This extreme rarity, in … Read more

The World Series may have come and gone (for some reason earlier this month), but that doesn't mean the real national pastime has to roll over. In fact, "rolling over" is exactly what this particular pastime excels at. While baseball may not be the same without hot dogs, you can take them away from the game and enjoy them throughout the long cold winter. Of course, if you want that authentic flavor that can only be had from uncountable revolutions on the heat source, you are going to need something special.

The Nostalgia Electrics Retro Series 50s Style Hot Dog Roller … Read more