IGN posts a review of ASB 2005's Fielder Cam

skidmark · Post by **skidmark** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 7:53 pm

I can see where you are coming from now... not a deliberate payoff, but more of "you scratch my back and I'll scratch your's" relationship. EA gives them the opportunity to post exclusive content which will attract viewers... they in turn grade on a curve (maybe partially as an unintentional boost from the lame giddyness they had from getting exclusive content). There's definitely a hint of that here and there, but its not as obvious as their total obliviousness to the sports genre at times. I've never seen evidence of one actual hardcore sports fan inside the doors of IGN, that why I think they turn out poor reviews. I just wonder sometimes why people are quick to cry payoff when complete ignorance seems to be the more telling answer.

Ed_Farias · Post by **Ed_Farias** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 8:27 pm

"Hey EA, if you pay us to plaster your ads all over our site we will make sure your games get good reviews."

I remember when my buddy was working for activision something happened that pissed of Atvi and they pulled all their ads from IGN. Remember all those annoying Shaun Murray wake boarding ads? Notice they all kind of disappeared

When I talk to my buddy this weekend I will try and remember to ask him what had happened. I would not be surprised if it was the fact that IGN ripped apart an ATVI game and gave false info about the game in the review. Take it as a grain of salt until I ask him.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 8:29 pm

Ed:

Interested to hear your buddy's feedback, but I wouldn't doubt one bit that kind of practice occurs at IGN regularly.

Take care,
PK

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 9:19 pm

Leebo33 wrote:First line of the so-called "review":

"All-Star Baseball is like the Inside Drive of baseball games"

Enough said. Looks like I'll be picking up my copy tomorrow.

Wow!!

No one at IGN caught that????????

SoMisss2000 · Post by **SoMisss2000** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 9:20 pm

pk500 wrote:
Leebo33 wrote:First line of the so-called "review":

"All-Star Baseball is like the Inside Drive of baseball games"

Enough said. Looks like I'll be picking up my copy tomorrow.
Really. That's a great sales pitch, if you ask me. I wasn't planning on getting a baseball title this year after the disappointment of MVP, but if ASB truly is the Inside Drive of baseball games, then I may pick it up on the cheap in a few weeks.

Remember: IGN is an acroynm for Idiot Gaming Nerds.

Take care,
PK

It's already on the cheap at $29.99.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 9:22 pm

pk500 wrote:
The hell with credibility: IGN likes to keep its friends in high places.

Take care,
PK

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 10:13 pm

Parker wrote:A fairly short and lousy review is up:

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/501/501060p1.html

8/10

I say fielder cam, because basically the whole review is about how crappy it is. Hasn't it been confirmed that you don't have to use the fielder cam? It's disgraceful that the reviewer doesn't mention this.

Pitches are too slow? Most people thought they were too fast last year. Of course the reviewer doesn't mention that there are different pitch speeds on every difficulty level.

It doesn't have playable minors so it could never be as good as MVP even if it did everything else right.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 10:14 pm

I hope you're kidding.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 10:16 pm

Slumberland wrote:That review was lousy. Seems totally irresponsible for reviewers to be denouncing the game for two aspects that you can totally customize, and everyone's getting in on the fun. If I had worked on this game, I would be livid.

Yeah, too bad I can't adjust MVP to cut down on the 10-15 diving catches the CPU makes every game.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 10:23 pm

pk500 wrote:>>>I don't think its any type of payoff system<<<

Skid:

I use the term "payola" very loosely. I don't mean the exchange of cash. But I do think EA grants special favors to IGN, such as first hands-on previews, extra early betas, extra screens, goodies at E3, etc., in return for (wink-wink) favorable coverage.

Sure, IGN's position as a site that inexplicably gets a lot of eyeballs also contributes to EA granting favors to the site. But constant positive reviews, even of really bad games, also grease the skids and blur the line between the IGN editorial offices and the EA Sports public relations offices.

No one ever will convince me otherwise.

Take care,
PK

pk,
I'd probably pay good money to see you post that verbatim in the MVP forum over at OS. The EA fanboys would have your head on a stick.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 10:24 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:I hope you're kidding.

you did see the little rolling eyes guy, didn't you?

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 10:58 pm

Sorry...at a screen res of 1280 x 1024 those little f***ers are small and my eyesight isn't the best.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 11:11 pm

Badgun wrote:
pk500 wrote:>>>I don't think its any type of payoff system<<<

Skid:

I use the term "payola" very loosely. I don't mean the exchange of cash. But I do think EA grants special favors to IGN, such as first hands-on previews, extra early betas, extra screens, goodies at E3, etc., in return for (wink-wink) favorable coverage.

Sure, IGN's position as a site that inexplicably gets a lot of eyeballs also contributes to EA granting favors to the site. But constant positive reviews, even of really bad games, also grease the skids and blur the line between the IGN editorial offices and the EA Sports public relations offices.

No one ever will convince me otherwise.

Take care,
PK
pk,
I'd probably pay good money to see you post that verbatim in the MVP forum over at OS. The EA fanboys would have your head on a stick.

They are vicious lil buggers.

You do have to admire their spunk though.
Theyd rather play an average game than turn their backs on their lord and masters.

J_Cauthen · Post by **J_Cauthen** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 11:35 pm

Leebo33 wrote:First line of the so-called "review":

"All-Star Baseball is like the Inside Drive of baseball games"

Enough said. Looks like I'll be picking up my copy tomorrow.

Dayum Leebo33... that's all I needed to hear also; I can't think of any better flattery the game could get!

I'll be right behind you picking up my copy!!

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 11:53 pm

Anyone know if ASB 2005 has day-to-day fatigue for position players?

snate · Post by **snate** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 12:36 am

Slumberland wrote:Anyone know if ASB 2005 has day-to-day fatigue for position players?

Yes, it does have day-to-day fatigue for position players.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 12:59 am

Yes, I remember last year people were flipping out because they thought the CPU was changing their lineups when all that was really happening was it was resting tired players. I really liked it.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 12:25 pm

Hmm ... I just watched a few videos of Fielder Cam in the Next Level Gaming review of ASB 2005, and I think it's bad-ass.

I guess I'm in the minority. Then again, I LOVED First Person Football in ESPN NFL Football.

I really enjoy any camera angle that's as immersive as possible and puts me "in the game," even if my skill suffers a bit. That's why I dug First Person Football and why I love cockpit cameras for racing games.

Take care,
PK

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 1:57 pm

Here's something about the fielder cam that these reviewers don't get. They are complaining becuase it's just about running to a spot to catch the ball. Hey I have news for them that's all I have been doing in my baseball games since 2000. In MVP I just run to the circle. In MLB I run to the baseball.

So with the fielder cam you just run to the flying circles and you can use the right stick to change your view. Either it must be compeltely unplayable or these guys are a bunch of hyprocraites. I tend to think it's the latter but I'll know in about 4 hours.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 3:10 pm

Got the game this morning. Really like the fielder cam, but haven't been able to set it so that it's only on when I'm fielding. It's just a drag when I'm batting, as it doesn't give a good enough sense of where the ball is going. If it's a choice between fielder cam on all the time and no fielder cam, I choose the latter.

Some quick notes.

Good:

-I drew two walks.
-Broadcast angle for pitching is the best I've seen this year. It's even a little unsteady, as if there's an actual camera operator.
-Cursor-less pitching seemed pretty tough. I walked one and threw about 100 pitches in 7 innings, Trachsel vs. the Marlins. There's a really nice info bar beneath the score that flashes pitch count, as well as a ball/strike breakdown.
-Dontrelle Willis has his cap on crooked.

Not so good:

-Throws seem unresponsive from time to time. Not sure whether you have to mash the buttons, or preloading is an issue. Missed out on two double plays when I just couldn't get a fielder to fire to second. After MLB's easy-as-pie DP controls, this was a drag.
-There must have been some baseball video game developer's summit wherein they all agreed that ball barely touching the edge of the strike zone would be called as strikes 75% of the time. Still, it's not the problem that it is in MVP and MLB.
-Must find setting to turn off fielder-cam when batting.

I haven't played enough yet to comment on the fly-ball, center of the field issue with zone batting. But mostly, it feels like ASB (surprise, surprise).

Digital Sportspage

IGN posts a review of ASB 2005's Fielder Cam

Re: IGN posts a review of ASB 2005's Fielder Cam