Official site is updated with some pics, but it's nothing we haven't seen before. Also, here's picture proof for you of the messed up stats.
http://japan.gamespot.com/ps2/screenshots/common/pictures/0,3800075610,10286037p-3,00.htm
That is of course Daisuke. If I were making him, I'd give him a few attributes. First off, I'd bring his control to D level at least. I'd probably give him mistake pitch ability and an ability that drops his control and pitch break in the 4th inning. I'd also drop his fastball speed, since he rarely goes over 94 MPH on a real radar gun. Probably give him the ability that makes him better winding up than out of the stretch.
Now I'll report on what the Japanese fans are saying. First off, as soon as the stats were posted, they all acknowledged that their hype for the game totally died. A few expressed gratitude for not preordering the game. A couple said what I said a while back and asked if Konami had anyone in their company who knew anything about the majors. Konami, I'd work for relatively cheap. Just say the word. It'd probably increase sales by 100,000 at least. Hehe.
Ok, lots of people knocking lack of edit. One comment says it all...
"I can't believe that there's a modern era sports game without a full edit mode."
Basically saying what people have been saying about Madden for a while now, but made even worse without an edit mode. I think it's obvious what they're doing with the console Pawapuro titles now. They're not catering to the fanbase who grew up with it and are trying to cater to little kids who don't know any better. My suggestion for people getting frustrated with the series is to go elsewhere. It's just not the same game anymore, and since it's been SOOOOO long(and I'm sure they've been flooded with complaints), nothing will change. It'll probably stay like this until it becomes unprofitable. I suggest trying out Pawapoke 10 on the DS, since there is a completely different team there and hopefully Pro Yakyu Spirits 5 will improve the framerate issues and keep progressing.
The Pawapoke team is headed by producer Kenji Fujioka, who has been in charge of the series since Pawapoke 4. He has been with Pawapuro from the start and actually designed the now famous characters. Programmer is Naoki Nishikawa, who has also been with Pawapro since the start. Hideto Inoue is in charge of sound, and he's also been with Pawapuro since the beginning.
The Pro Yakyu Spirits team is headed by Tomoharu Okutani, who also produced The Baseball 2003, which was what Pro Yakyu Spirits used to be called. The other producer is Kazuhiro Nanba, who produced the online PC version of Pawapuro a few years back. Programmer is Koji Toyohara, who was programmer for Pawapuro back in their glory days with Akada producer.
Who knows why the PS3 version of PYS was so incomplete? From the framerate to the very strange online mode, it was obviously rushed out in order to give PS3 an early Japanese title. All I know is that, despite being thoroughly disappointed by the rushed effort, it's the lesser of two evils. Pro Yakyu Spirits sucked royally when it was first released in 2004, but they've made big leaps with each year on the PS2. That's more than I can say about Pawapuro.
Now, let's take a look at the heads of Pawapuro's development team. This should give you a good insight as to why they suck now.
Head producer is Hiroshi Tanibuchi. He took over for Isao Akada after Pawapuro 8. His mistakes aren't as obvious as the last guy I'll write about, but the series has been slipping each year since he stepped in.
When you have threads on the internet dedicated to telling you to die, I don't really think you've done your job. Director is Fujinori Narita, and he's been director from Pawapuro 12-14. There's not much info on him and he's not hated as much as the producers, but since 12-14 all suck, we can assume he's not too great.
Akira Toyama is a former director, designer, and produced Pawapuro 12, which was basically the bridge from the decent Pawapuro 11 to the unbearable 13. He's an anime otaku who was responsible for adding the anime openings to the series as well as the female characters and overall otaku style to Success Mode.
He's just a bit less hated than Tanibuchi, but still very hated for being an anime otaku and turning the series into what it is now.
So yeah, all you have to do is analyze the development teams and you'll know who'll be able to come out with quality software each year.
Pawapuro has all the newbies who ruined the series while Pawapoke and PYS have the old guard. Bet on Pawapoke 10 this December and PYS5 around March to be worthy purchases.