MLB 12 The Show

[sportdan30]

Preview.

Commentary overhaul and new ball physics.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/12/ ... d-ps-vita/

[Rodster]

Still sounds like the 3 man booth is unchanged and it's just a refresh of the commentary. If they have natural interplay between them, I don't care. This years commentary was not terrible but not as good as it should be.
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You’ve been suspiciously quiet about multiplayer modes so far – you’re probably still ironing out the details, but can you give PlayStation.Blog readers a sneak peek of what’s in store?

For PS3, we have a brand-new mode that is really, really innovative. Nobody has every done a multiplayer mode like this in any sports game, ever. We’re going to reveal it in early 2012. So in addition to the other features I told you about, there’s still this secret feature that we’ll be talking about soon. We think people are going to love it.
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Strange because all the years i've been playing this on the PS3 it's been a lag-fest. I wish they ironed out all of the performance issues first before adding more MP modes.

[10spro]

I am curious as to what that special MP mode will be like along the so called secret feature. If it fails to impress, I may just skip it for the first time since its debut on the PS3. Not that it's a bad game, far from it, but it's getting a bit monotonous for me including the commentary.

[wco81]

Heard elsewhere that you can play the Vita version, save it to the "cloud" and then continue on the PS version.

Well, that is a way to try to spur Vita sales and two copies of the game instead of one.

[snaz16]

http://espn.go.com/espn/thelife/videoga ... =fullstory
Pretty good read on some of the new features. Along with full move support,what caught my attention was a new variation of classic pitching called "pulse pitching"....and full analog zone hitting,which might be a little too much for these old digits,but hey,the more options the better. A lot of new animations,etc....

[vinny-b]

no weather. No legitimate improvments to Road to the Show mode.

not impressed

[Gurantsu]

The main thing for me was using the sticks for fielding, and the now-stale commentary.

Sticks came in last version, and I can turn down the announcers! Seriously, there's not much more here to tempt me, I just can't justify dropping sixty bones on it, especially when 2K11 saw so much more play time with me.

I still like to pull it out and play it, but so far I don't see an upgrade in my future.

[AJColossal]

no weather. No legitimate improvments to Road to the Show mode.

not impressed

The "preview" pretty much talked about Vita and Move, which I don't really care about.

Hopefully they didn't really get into all of the upgrades. As for weather, rain was in last year, it just happened too rarely.

If it's as advertised, I'm excited about the ball physics. As great as last year's was, there were types of hits/plays you would see regularly in MLB that weren't really depicted in The Show.

Think I read an OS preview where the developer was playing and Matt Kemp had a ball pop out of his glove and roll around the warning track after he collided with the wall. That's the kind of thing you didn't see in the Show before.

Again, they've been touting improvements in ball physics for years, but if it's as good as they say, that's a huge deal for me.

[Brando70]

I will be picking it up as soon as it's available. Loved '11. Thought the hit variety was so much better than 10, and now it sounds even better. But it's the pulse pitching that I like. Being able to have input on pitches but having more randomness sounds great. I found Analog pretty good with the location indicator turned off and two house rules (had to move the left stick, and if my catcher called a non-fastball on a 3-ball count, I had to throw that pitch). But I still didn't walk guys as much as I should have.

I don't get too hung up on the commentary because I play franchise and even with all new commentary, you'll hear everything within the first three weeks of a season.

I also doubt I'll be able to use the analog hitting. The classic is challenging enough as it is for me.

[Rodster]

I'm like Vinny, I only play R T T S and I may pass this year if there aren't enough improvements, to justify $60.

[FifaInspected]

Being new to The Show this year, I have no regrets having bought a PS3 just for this game. It's sickly good.

[Pete]

For the pure gaming joy this game has given me, I will happily hand over my $60 on release day.

By far my favorite and most played game.

[Diablo25]

I'll get it as usual. These guys know how it's done.

[sportdan30]

As always, a release day purchase. Really excited about the improvements.

[10spro]

As I mentioned before, this maybe the first year where I may take the wait and see approach. I really want to see a serious improvement on MP and if the Jays are successful at signing Yu Darwish I may take a direct plunge at day 1.

[Rodster]

Newegg is taking preorders and discounting the game by $12 with free 3 day UPS shipping.

Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 12731&SID=

Code: EMCNJND85

[backbreaker]

GamerLiveTV CES2012 Video Dev interview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5YUSz6u ... AAAAAAAFAA

[bulls23]

As a 360 owner, never had the chance to play the game at length, but you would think with Sony being the leader in baseball games, weather, rain delays and retractable roofs would be part of the package by now.

These things are a large part of the baseball atmosphere and affect results.

Its also interesting to note that after copying analog controls, this year The Show developers are now copying the commentary style of MLB 2K.

[Diablo25]

Another video from CES. Looks a lot like last year. You can see the ball physics are more true.

[sportdan30]

I doubt the commentary will be on the same level as the 2K series. It'll be improved, but I'm not expecting an infinitely better sounding broadcast. What I am excited about is the
way the game is transitioning to look very similar to a game you would see on tv. The quick camera shots of the pitcher and batters looks great.

[backbreaker]

As a 360 owner, never had the chance to play the game at length, but you would think with Sony being the leader in baseball games, weather, rain delays and retractable roofs would be part of the package by now.

These things are a large part of the baseball atmosphere and affect results.

Its also interesting to note that after copying analog controls, this year The Show developers are now copying the commentary style of MLB 2K.

From my understanding per the devs, retractable roofs, require render 2 stadiums and create a different dynamic lighting engine to get proper shadowing and a host of other technical mumbo jumbo. Which will eat at the memory.

They do have weather, light to medium rain that does affect the game play. It is not the best, but they plan too improve upon it this year.

Maybe I'm not as hardcore as the others or as you, but rain delays in a video baseball game does nothing for me at all.

I have become bored of the franchise, but hopefully the commentary plus additional OSD integrated into the commentary will have generate some excitement for me.

What has sold me the most is the synergy with PS3/Vita now that I can take the vita to work with me and play a RTTS or Franchise game save it to the cloud and play it when I get home.

I have no problem with other companies taking or stealing from another company to advance my experience.

Like Steve Jobs Said, "Good Artist Copy, Great Artist Steal".

[backbreaker]

As a 360 owner, never had the chance to play the game at length, but you would think with Sony being the leader in baseball games, weather, rain delays and retractable roofs would be part of the package by now.

These things are a large part of the baseball atmosphere and affect results.

Its also interesting to note that after copying analog controls, this year The Show developers are now copying the commentary style of MLB 2K.

From my understanding per the devs, retractable roofs, require render 2 stadiums and create a different dynamic lighting engine to get proper shadowing and a host of other technical mumbo jumbo. Which will eat at the memory.

They do have weather, light to medium rain that does affect the game play. It is not the best, but they plan too improve upon it this year.

Maybe I'm not as hardcore as the others or as you, but rain delays in a video baseball game does nothing for me at all.

I have grown bored of the franchise, but hopefully the commentary plus additional OSD integrated into the commentary will help generate some excitement for me.

What has sold me the most is the synergy with PS3/Vita now that I can take the vita to work with me and play a RTTS or Franchise game save it to the cloud and play it when I get home.

I have no problem with other companies taking or stealing from another company to advance my experience.

Like Steve Jobs Said, "Good Artist Copy, Great Artist Steal".

[Rodster]

I just wish they beefed up RTTS some more. That is the only mode I play but every year it feels the same with a few tweaks.

[MizzouRah]

I doubt the commentary will be on the same level as the 2K series. It'll be improved, but I'm not expecting an infinitely better sounding broadcast. What I am excited about is the
way the game is transitioning to look very similar to a game you would see on tv. The quick camera shots of the pitcher and batters looks great.

I agree about the quick camera shots.

The pitchers eyes look really weird close up though.

Baseball on the console is so boring though.. I'm going to pick this one up I'm sure, I just hope I can find a way to keep myself interested.

[bulls23]

As a 360 owner, never had the chance to play the game at length, but you would think with Sony being the leader in baseball games, weather, rain delays and retractable roofs would be part of the package by now.

These things are a large part of the baseball atmosphere and affect results.

Its also interesting to note that after copying analog controls, this year The Show developers are now copying the commentary style of MLB 2K.

From my understanding per the devs, retractable roofs, require render 2 stadiums and create a different dynamic lighting engine to get proper shadowing and a host of other technical mumbo jumbo. Which will eat at the memory.

They do have weather, light to medium rain that does affect the game play. It is not the best, but they plan too improve upon it this year.

Maybe I'm not as hardcore as the others or as you, but rain delays in a video baseball game does nothing for me at all.

I have become bored of the franchise, but hopefully the commentary plus additional OSD integrated into the commentary will have generate some excitement for me.

What has sold me the most is the synergy with PS3/Vita now that I can take the vita to work with me and play a RTTS or Franchise game save it to the cloud and play it when I get home.

I have no problem with other companies taking or stealing from another company to advance my experience.

Like Steve Jobs Said, "Good Artist Copy, Great Artist Steal".

Fair enough on all your thoughts. I believe a good rain delay system would do wonders for strategy, but it has to be done right and not just thrown in like 2K did years ago.

- Picture checking the weather report on your schedule screen (60% chance of rain)
- Then seeing clouds building or game starting out cloudy with drizzle.
- You then need to decide whether to change your starter before the game, quick pitch if you are ahead, or stall if you're behind.
- When a rain delay hits, your pitchers stamina drops so much per minute of a delay. You could have a fast forward of the rain delay, showing how much time until it stops...in that time you decide whether to get your bullpen up.
-This could happen once or a few times during the game depending on precipitation chance
-The ump would then call the game depending on how the field conditions are affected.
-If you're in a retractable roof stadium, it starts to close when drizzle begins.

I would enjoy a feature set like this immensely and it would be not only interesting to see graphically, but also affect the game strategically.