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It wasn’t long ago that the videogame world had never even heard of an attorney simulation game, at least in the US market, but it hasn’t taken Capcom’s little series long to catch on and become a popular series on the Nintendo DS. Filled with all the intrigue of a mystery novel come to life, the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney games did well initially in Japan, where they appeared on the GameBoy Advance, before making their way to the US market via the DS.

The previous three games, Ace Attorney, Justice for All and Trials and Tribulations, all featured Phoenix Wright as the series’ main protagonist; Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney introduces an all-new protagonist and Phoenix Wright appears as a defendant accused of murder in the opening case of the new game.

Graphically, the game hasn’t changed much from its GBA origins. About the only improvements in the way the game looks is a mildly richer color palette and some smoother-looking textures; other than that, the signature art style of the series is largely unchanged. While the game looks fine by DS standards, however, it doesn’t look quite as nice as the Harvey Birdman attorney sim Capcom recently released on Sony’s PSP platform.

While the opening sequence that places rookie attorney Apollo Justice on the defense for Phoenix Wright is a shocker, the biggest changes to the series come in how one interacts with the game. Like the notorious fifth case on the first Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney game, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney was built specifically for the Nintendo DS platform, rather than being ported up from GBA. As such, all the exciting investigative tools so enjoyed in that fifth case are now present and accounted for in all four cases that comprise the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney game.

That means the game takes full advantage of the DS’ microphone and touchscreen; you can once again rotate items via touchscreen to uncover concealed clues, or use the microphone to shout “Objection!” during the course of a trial. AJ:AA also features several new features.

One is the perceive system, which helps Apollo pinpoint nervous body language that helps him identify when a witness is being deceptive. A crime recreation mode is also introduced for the first time, and is utilized to help pinpoint new evidence. With all these new DeWalt tools in his arsenal, one might think it would be a snap for Apollo Justice (and gamers) to solve the four cases in front of them. However, it’s not quite so easy and gamers will need all these tools to get to the truth of the matter, since the Capcom scribes behind this game are quite good at plot twists, rabbit trails and big reveals, to keep things interesting.

As before, each case grows increasingly challenging, making solving the final case a significant achievement. More of an interactive novel than a true videogame, Apollo Justice may feature a brand new main character, but everything DS fans enjoyed about earlier Phoenix Wright games has returned – in spades.

The release of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney catches the US market up with the Japanese market. The future looks bright for the series, however. It is well-known that Capcom announced the fifth game in the series about a year ago, in May 2007; that game is expected to release next fall. Also, in February 2008, a spinoff title featuring life on the prosecution’s side of the courtroom, featuring Miles Edgeworth and Dick Gumshoe, was announced as under development by Capcom, so with at least two more games on the way, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is definitely a new beginning not a final swan song, for games of this genre.

It’s a bit sad when a once-solid franchise falls behind the pace, and that the only way, really, to regard MLB 2K8. The game isn’t bad, but the problem is more one of coasting while others are revving ahead. For Sony gamers, there is an alternative in the company’s MLB 08 The Show, but for Wii and 360 owners, MLB 2K8 is pretty much the only game in town.

Much like having an exclusive lock on football titles has made EA Sports’ Madden series lazy and uninspired, so too has having a third-party exclusive on MLB titles made 2K Sports’ baseball titles seem lazy and uninspired. Not having any legitimate competition tends to do that.

The nihilism kicks off almost from the word go; the graphics seem barely touched from last year’s edition, which wasn’t that great to begin with. Even before the 2K8 edition, even before the PS3/360/Wii era had begun, the series was troubled by freezes, glitches and graphical dead space; that hasn’t changed and eventually one has to wonder if 2K Sports and developer Kush Games even care about fixing the game visually.

While Ben Brinkman of Kush has been quoted from several sources saying that 2K8 is the “middle act” of a three-year plan to make over the franchise, that does little to comfort gamers who are shelling out hard-earned bucks for this year’s version. The franchise needs a top-to-bottom graphic makeover using an all-new game engine to really deliver the goods, and that’s not a position 2K Games is in; under their exclusivity agreement with MLB, 2K Sports is obligated to deliver a new iteration every year, which shortens development time, making a complete makeover difficult.

Yet the progress this year seems merely incremental, not revolutionary, especially from a graphic perspective. The new Swing Stick interface is actually harder to time and master than last year’s version, and the all-new pitching system is very realistic, based on analog stick interaction, but also is quite difficult, especially for less experienced hardball gamers, and ultimately many folks will end up choosing an older, alternate control scheme – which, at least, 2K Sports had the courtesy to include several of within the game. Mastering the pitching control scheme is ultimately rewarding, but extremely hard, kind of like buying car insurance online.

On the 360, the graphics lack the fluid animations of other sports titles on the market and feel like they are chugging along; I’ve seen the PS3 version in action and it’s no better, so it’s not a platform issue, it’s a developer issue.

While the new pitching control is a highlight (if you can ever get the hang of it), it’s not the only aspect of the game that’s strong and praiseworthy. Responding to long-term criticism, support of minor league teams has been vastly expanded. The game features no less than 90 real-life minor league teams, as well as 20 authentic minor-league stadiums, with more periodically released over the course of the season via Xbox Live for the 360. Those minor league teams even have some of the real-life players on them, although this is limited to those players who have at least spent some time in the majors.

I also appreciated some of the refinements made – to my complete surprise, since I usually suck at fielding – to the fielding controls. Even baserunning has improved, thanks to smarter baserunning AI. These refinements are not major new features, but have long been needed and offer some much needed relief from a problem that has plagued the series for a long time.

In the end, though, the “room for improvement” areas are critical and more numerous than the nice improvements and new features. Sadly, since Microsoft long ago stopped developing their own first-party baseball game, there is no alternative for 360 owners looking for an MLB game this season. It’s not a terrible game, but it could and should have been a whole lot better. Here’s hoping 2K9, allegedly the year in which 2K Sports and Kush will complete their makeover of the franchise, will finally deliver the goods on all levels. At the moment, however, I’d suggest saving your shekels this year and keep on playing 2K7.

It’s ironic … and shocking. It wasn’t that long ago that Sony’s in-house sports development team, previously known as 989 Sports and now just referred to generically as SCEA, was an industry laughing stock. But as the PS2 era wound to a close and the PS3 era dawned, Sony reinvested in reinvigorating their sports game lineup, and the results have been increasingly improved reviews, although none of their games have yet eclipsed the industry big boys, 2K Sports and EA Sports. Until now.

MLB 08 The Show has finally broken through; although it has turned out to be an off-year for 2K Sports “third-party exclusive license” MLB competitor, MLB 08 The Show nevertheless deserves recognition for finally pulling off the unthinkable and besting one of the two main third party sports developers. This year’s Sony baseball sim is just simply better than 2K Sports’ MLB 2K8. How? Let me count the ways as we open the books on MLB 08: The Show.

First is the new, deeper Road to the Show mode, which boasts new advancements, career goals, and position specific situations to play through. No longer restricted to a single season of play, the game allows you to track your players’ career from the rookie leagues on up to the majors, gaining experience and new skills along the way; the mode is basically a baseball RPG, which is a good thing that lends both depth and replay value to the game. To be honest, this is what won me over. I’ve seen similar features in Sony’s basketball franchise, but it is here where the concept has finally come together to create a solid experience in single-player mode, one that is not limited or limiting.

The new progressive batting system is also a welcome innovation; the game rewards players for consistent hitting, but penalizes them for failure, which helps keep the stats realistic and reflects the ups and downs all hitters go through as a 182-game season plays out. There is also a lot more stat-tracking this year, right down to a batter’s history against specific pitchers, which should satisfy the stat fanatics out there.

One feature I treasure, as a busy person, is the ability to save your game right in the middle of a ballgame; many sports games do not include this feature, which means either pausing the game and possibly getting caught up in something that causes you to forget the system is on with the game paused, or perhaps quitting and having the play the game over; neither option is particularly appealing and by allowing the user to save their progress in the middle of the game, MLB 08 The Show gets heartfelt gratitude for their consideration of an adult gamer’s schedule. While such a feature will rarely be needed on the pause-friendly PSP, it is a boon to PS2 and PS3 gamers.

Other convenience features include the ability to create a folder called My MLB Music on either the PSP or PS3 versions of the game, and import your favorite MP3s into that folder so they can be played in the game. This is worlds of fun for folks who want to game and hear their own favorite music playing at the same time. The feature, however, is not available for PS2 owners.

The game’s graphics are nothing too world-changing, but they are decent enough to get by with on the PSP and PS3; on the PS2, however, the graphics are starting to look dated. At least MLB 08 The Show on PS3 comes with out-of-the-box compatibility with the upcoming DualShock 3 controllers. Of course, since Sony made both the game and the new controllers, that one was a given.

The fielding controls are the game’s biggest flaw; the controls are as wonky and un-crisp as ever, and certainly make it worth turning on fielding assistance or auto-fielding whenever possible, though that’s not an option, really, in Road to the Show mode. The pitching controls are improved and the batting mildly improved, though, so at least the results on controls vary from position to position. And anyway, I’ve never liked the fielding controls in any baseball game I’ve ever played, so maybe that’s a wash.

In the end, no matter whether you’re playing on PlayStation 2, PSP or PlayStation 3, MLB 08 The Show is good enough that folks who own Xbox 360s and Nintendo Wiis may just start wishing Sony would make their franchise available to platforms other than their own, especially with this season’s surprising drop-off in quality on 2K Sports’ MLB 2K8.