The forums at OperationSports.com have been buzzing with two interesting sports game tidbits, one culled from a job posting and the other from the website LinkedIn.

The job posting shows that Visual Concepts in Novato, California will now be developing the MLB 2K series. While this might immediately be exciting news for 360 and Wii baseball gamers who don't get to play the Sony-only MLB 08: The Show, there's a twist: Kush Games, the previous developers of both the MLB 2K and NHL 2K series, is now defunct. Ryan Jones of Access Communications confirmed that NHL 2K9 will also be developed by Visual Concepts, and -- we have to assume -- on shorter-than-usual schedules.

But more interesting to us, and dooming to the prospect of MLB 2K9 being a gem, is the LinkedIn page of Ben Brinkman, the man behind the last two games in the MLB 2K series (and the series' supposed savior). The page states that Brinkman is now working for Activision. We've since confirmed that Brinkman has left 2K, and we are looking for more info on what he'll be working on going forward.

The upside: Visual Concepts has been in charge of the NBA 2K and College Hoops 2K series, both of which have outscored the competition for years. We'll keep you updated as more details emerge.

Re: Visual Concepts
As I recall, didn't Visual Concepts used to do the MLB 2k series back when it was called "World Series" baseball, and had Jason Giambi on the cover?

Dont forget the worlds best football series
Visual Concepts also made the excellent ESPN NFL 2k5, the best football game EVAR.

While...
I do love Visual Concepts... they sure dropped the ball (pun intended) on All Pro Football 2K8. Hopefully they can bring me back to NHL 2K series. This was the first year I've purchased a non-2K sports title for any console since 2001, in wake of the superb NHL 08.