Although Acclaim officially announced ASB 2002 last year, little has been known about the game until most recently. As the game is approaching its finishing stages, Acclaim is beginning to to leak out details surrounding the first Baseball game to grace the Playstation 2.

As we have not seen the game in any playable form, this intial preview will basically outline the gameplay features and supposed PS2 advantages that Acclaim is promising to come out in the final product. So sit back have a gander and be sure to check out the slew of screen shots that Acclaim were nice enough to give us.

Here is what you need to know:

Gameplay/Feature Set:
Major League Baseball & Major League Baseball Players Association: ASB 2002 is licensed by both the MLB & the MLBPA providing all 30 major league teams & over 700 major league players.

Cooperstown Edition: ASB 2002 will feature an authentic Cooperstown team with 25 Baseball Hall of Famers, including Reggie Jackson, Nolan Ryan and Mike Schmidt.

Play-by-Play: ASB 2002 will feature Bob Brenly, newly named manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks as color commentator with his former national television play-by-play partner, Thom Brennaman. Chuck Morgan, Texas Ranger's PA Announcer, will serve as the public address announcer.

Classic Uniforms: ASB 2002 will offer classic uniforms for each Major League Baseball Club, including the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants.

Stadium Graphics: All 30 MLB stadiums will come alive with detail and touches throughout. Working scoreboards, dynamic jumbotrons, animated crowds, bullpen action and fireworks are but a taste of what will be delivered.

Player Attributes: ASB 2002 will utilize 130 unique batting stances, 50 pitching deliveries and over 1,500 motion captured animations to make each player react as he would in real life.

Future Throw Technology: Another favorite from previous games, FTT allows the user to "pre-load" throws, meaning that before a ball is fielded, the user can press the throw button which will in turn make the fielder perform a super-smooth catch and throw animation.

3D Batting: Similar to past efforts, ASB 2002 will incorporate a 3D batting icon that allows the user to determine where the player hits the ball. Additional it produces realistic angles and ball spin.

Easy Batting: Aside from 3D Batting, ASB 2002 will also contain an Easy Batting option. This feature hides the batting icon and makes it "timing" based.

Honors: All-new Louisville Silver Slugger Award along with season awards like the MVP, CY Young, Rookie Of The Year and Gold Glove allow you to gain recognition for your seasons work.

6 Modes of Play: ASB 2002 will allow the user to play SEASON, EXHIBITION, SERIES PLAY, HOMERUN DERBY, BATTING PRACTICE, and ALL-STAR play.

Extensive GM Mode: ASB 2002 will allow the user to Trade, Draft, Create and customize all rosters/lineups in TEAM MANAGEMENT mode.

User Specific Options: For single as well as multi-player use, ASB 2002 will allow the user to customize his/her gaming experience individually. This will allow advanced users to play newcomers and help even the playing field.

TV Style Presentation: Ranging from camera positioning/cuts to graphical information displayed in-game, ASB 2002 will take on a broadcast-quality presentation to rival real-world MLB broadcasts.

Environmental Effects: Not only will the stadiums reflect their real-world counterparts, but the world in which they are contained will take on a life of their own. Day/dusk/night sky transitions, 3D clouds, and accurate weather effects (rain, overcast, snow, wind) will combine to provide the most realistic baseball environment seen in a baseball game.

PS2 Advantage:
One of All-Star Baseballs defining characteristics has been its jaw-dropping graphics. Players and stadiums in previous versions have been so realistic that many remarks have been made to the effect that the game was close to "photo-realistic". Using the pure processing power of the PlayStation2, the visual impact of All-Star Baseball 2002 will remove almost all barriers between the game and its real-life counterpart. Polygon count will be dramatically increased, giving believable "life" to the player models and stadiums. A good example of the difference between the Playstation 2 incarnation and ASB games of the past is that there will be more polygons in the player models head alone than was used to create entire stadiums in previous years.

Sound will also see a major upgrade due to the vast amount of space available on the PlayStation2 platform. Play-by-play will mimic real-life broadcast quality due to the number of calls that can be placed on the disk. Environmental sound ranging from a multitude of crowd reactions to vendor calls will also help suspend the users belief that he is in an actual stadium.

Baseball is a game that is extremely statistic laden. Extensive statistic tracking is one of the qualities that can make or break a baseball title. The expanded size of the Playstation 2 memory card will enable ASB 2002 to save a larger amount of data which will in turn provide the user with unprecedented statistical tracking in player, team and user statistics.

So there you have it. Let's hope this all translates into a true next-generation baseball title. Check back with us in March for the definitive review.