The Show "MLB 07" Thread

snaz16 · Post by **snaz16** » Wed May 16, 2007 4:00 pm

Danimal wrote:I just want to know if the infield thing they mention is true, if it really plays like the PS2 version then I will pick it up on the way home.

Ditto....Hows that AI infielding...are you guys seeing the double play turned by the computer, like IGN reported it wasn't?
Looking forward to more impressions.

jLp vAkEr0 · Post by **jLp vAkEr0** » Wed May 16, 2007 4:39 pm

All I know if that I ain't stopping at a mall for my bank account's sake.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed May 16, 2007 4:43 pm

Lets let the impressions bake for a couple of weeks.

btmmayor · Post by **btmmayor** » Wed May 16, 2007 5:10 pm

snaz16 wrote: Ditto....Hows that AI infielding...are you guys seeing the double play turned by the computer, like IGN reported it wasn't?
Looking forward to more impressions.

I haven't read the IGN review but I've had the A.I. turn a few double plays on me in the 3 games I've played (the last one to end a big 9th inning rally that I had going).

wco81 wrote: Lets let the impressions bake for a couple of weeks.

From an on the field gameplay perspective I don't know thats necessary since in my 3 games it plays very much like The Show 07 on the PSP (and I would guess the PS2 but I haven't played that version). The hit variety seems to be even better on the PS3 but I can't be 100% sure of that. I haven't read any impressions or reviews outside of this thread so I'm not aware of any on the field bugs or A.I. problems that may be reported elsewhere. I haven't run across any in my time with the game.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Wed May 16, 2007 5:51 pm

Just got in from work...gonna pop the game in for extensive time right now...

Sully · Post by **Sully** » Wed May 16, 2007 6:14 pm

Just got home with it. Here we go...

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed May 16, 2007 6:26 pm

Just took a dump...am sitting at work looking at the clock...will be home in 45 minutes or so...going to have dinner, hang with the family...going to pop in the game later tonight...

Come on...do we need a minute by minute update?

(sorry, I am cranky today but let's leave the posts for impressions or let's start a new "officail" impressions thread. I know we're excited but...)

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Wed May 16, 2007 6:47 pm

The announcers pronounce my name but not new Cardinal's call-up Ryan Ludwick ... makes me feel great.

I just struck out against Jason Schmidt to lead off the game out in LA.

Continuing with the first inning against the Dodgers, I had Duncan on first base, Pujols hits a grounder to second, who turns and flips to start the double play. Bang bang play at second and the ump calls Duncan out but the second baseman drops the ball in transition. LaRussa came out to argue and the announcers talked about how the Dodgers second baseman had the ball in his glove long enough but that LaRussa was going to plead his case anyways.

Sully · Post by **Sully** » Wed May 16, 2007 6:50 pm

Ok, initial impressions through 6 innings of play. The player models could definitely use some work. They just look disproportionate. I'm not saying they're ugly, but we expected better. No biggie, we all knew this.

Stadiums are beautiful, and the crowds are the best in a baseball game to date. I haven't given them much to cheer about, but they're booing at all the right times.

Animations are superb, and the framerate is flawless. Think NHL2K7, and it's silky smooth gameplay. The flow of the game seems perfect. I've seen 3 doubleplays, and each time the 2b and SS interacted with different animations.

Seen Smoltz air-mail a pickoff attempt at 1b into the stands. Pretty sweet.

I have 4 hits through 6 innings. All singles back through the middle. I've hit balls elsewhere, but all my hits were to CF.

No questionable AI yet in my small 6 inning sample size. I'll keep an eye on it.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Wed May 16, 2007 6:58 pm

Brad Thompson's getting absolutely no calls from the ump in the bottom of the first. Walked Wilson Betemit (sp?) on four pitches, even though the last pitch was clearly a strike (announcers even said they thought so). I'll be curious to see how umpires vary from one another over a few games.

Edit: Just like real life...Furcal just hit a triple into the right field gap to score the two guys I walked and clear the bases.

Bottom of the first finally ended...going to be a short day for Thompson if this keeps up. Threw 24 pitches in the first.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Wed May 16, 2007 7:22 pm

Top of the third, Eckstein leads off with a single batting out of the 8 spot against Schmidt. Thompson, the pitcher, lays a beauty of a bunt down the first base line, advancing Eckstein to second with one away. Kodosky (me), batting leadoff and spelling a tired Adam Kennedy at second, hits a deep fly ball to left field on a 3-2 count that gets a tagging Eckstein over to third base with two outs. Brings up Chris Duncan, who sends a 2-0 fastball just barely over the right field fence to make the score 3-2 Dodgers.

Couple of other side notes...no, the camera on Duncan's HR did not go to a cut scene. When they were showing the replay, one of the announcers commented..."that ball just kept going, and going, and going..." Whoever's playing right field jumped the wall but didn't bring it back down.

First pitch to the next batter up (Pujols), Schmidt throws a purpose pitch high and inside, causing La Hombre to back out of the box.

I hit the select button to type all this, and the umpire in my ear hollers, "He's got time." When I go back, he'll say something like, "Okay, let's play ball."

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Wed May 16, 2007 7:31 pm

Active scoreboards are great.

Thompson's on a roll now. After getting through the first, the announcers just said, he's retired five straight.

If any other PS2 users ever noticed the ball going through the shortstop when they're throwing it around the horn after an out, they've fixed that (thank goodness).

Pitching from the outfield view, foul balls straight back to the screen just look awesome.

This game is like the NFL2k5 of baseball games, IMO.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Wed May 16, 2007 7:31 pm

I seriously don't want to sound too excited about this game but man, it is just superb. Its baseball. I don't know where to start. I am so pleased with the way it has turned out. Like mentioned above, the stadiums are just sick. I have no problems whatsoever with the graphics. I haven't seen any quirky things yet...just seemless animations, and tremendous hit variety. I beat the Reds 6-3. Harrang had a 1 hitter thru 5 but I got to him in the 6th. Howard hit a solo shot and then the gates opened. Narron brought in Stanton to face Utley and I sat on a curve, got it and doubled in the go ahead run - AWESOME. Its a gratifying experience playing the game. The coolest play of the game was an error

Whoever the 3B for the Reds was made an incredible diving play on a smoked groundball by Burrell. I had never seen the animation before (in the PS2 version). It was phenominal. It was one of those where it was a short-hop that was almost by him. He jumped to his feet and airmailed it over the 1B's head. A run scored on the play to make it 5-3. I just don't know what to say about 5.5 1UP gave this game. Its so nonsensical I can't even explain it.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Wed May 16, 2007 7:50 pm

Diablo25 wrote:I just don't know what to say about 5.5 1UP gave this game. Its so nonsensical I can't even explain it.

If "the show" looked anything less than MLB 2k, it was going to get poor reviews no matter how good the game played.

I may pick this up when WE:11 comes out for Japan (which would force me to buy a PS3). No way I can spend $600 for a baseball title.

btmmayor · Post by **btmmayor** » Wed May 16, 2007 7:54 pm

Diablo25 wrote:I just don't know what to say about 5.5 1UP gave this game. Its so nonsensical I can't even explain it.

They gave the game a 5.5? Who reviewed it, Peter Moore? Why does anyone even go to that site? I've played 4 games and all 4 games have just been spectacular baseball. Maybe I'm missing some game killing bug that they have in their review (haven't read it) but that is just complete nonsense.

My only dissapointment is with the field textures. From a distance some of the outfield textures are just plain ugly in my opinion. Other than that, so far I'm seeing a smooth running, very pretty high definition version of The Show 07.....and thats a good thing.

thebigcaptain · Post by **thebigcaptain** » Wed May 16, 2007 8:27 pm

well...i was really looking forward to this game.

i've been watching my son play mlb 2k7 on our ps3 since it was released.
it's an eye catching game, and the pitcher/catcher interface is nothing short of brilliant. positioning the catcher behind the plate and spotting the ball so it will break properly into his glove is the most enjoyable pitching mechanic since the rainbow pitching meter was popularized by ea's mvp series.

but certain fielding camera angles, framerate issues (which may be peculiar to the ps3, i don't know for sure since we haven't played the xbox 360 version of mlb 2k7 yet ), as well as the incessant parade of homeruns began to become more bothersome. while mlb 2k7 was vastly improved from the previous year's effort, it clearly is a work still in progress.

when we finally got the call that mlb the show for our ps3 was in stock, we drove burnout style to and fro the local gamestop, sat down in our living room and powered up.

it started off badly.

we got a "network connection error" display on our tv, which neither of us could figure out the reason for. we just kept mashing the ol' x button 'till it went away, which it did. once past that roadblock, the game did take....oh... maybe two or three minutes to load whatever it needed to load onto the hard drive's cache.

tradition in our household requires a first game to be played at yankee stadium versus the redsox. again, right off the bat, things did not go well. the leadoff batter for the sox scorched a liner down the third base line. matsui chased it down and threw it back in towards second as the announcer stated that the runner was in with a standup double. the only problem being is that he was already standing on third. actually the play itself indicated that the runner probably would have made it into third with his speed and matsui's defensive shortcomings taken into consideration, so we took it as an audio glitch, another long time sports videogame tradition.

after that point, it was all good. a very smooth framerate coupled with appropriately placed camera perspectives make playing the field a pleasure.
the pitcher/catcher interface is very much unchanged from prior mlb games, other than the computer assisted pitch calling that you can ignore if you wish. i give the edge to 2k7 in this category.
however, in the show, you can hear the ball smack into the catcher's mitt, an audio cue curiously missing from 2k7.

there was a great variety of hits, foul balls, animations by fielders, as well as numerous trademark walkups to the batter's box.

one thing that has bothered me with the newer generations of sports games has been the efforts to make the player's faces as photorealistic as possible. the results have been at best mixed, at worst the results are some downright scary versions of real life players that now look like resident evil zombies. pick your favorite player and then infect him with whatever the name of that virus was in resident two (or was it three?)
and you'll get the idea.

the show adapts a somewhat more cartoony graphical style that i find more pleasing overall. many of the well known faces of the game are recognizeable without jarringly calling attention to themselves. where the graphics do fall short is in player models. there is not a great variety of body types, but i haven't run into any player that is so grossly misrepresented in height or weight that it becomes bothersome.
(but sheffield's bat wagging still drives me crazy.)

which of the two baseball games looks better?
i'll bet most would say mlb2k7, if only for it's newness, but i personally still prefer the show's art direction style.

some might prefer the more recognizeable joe morgan and jon miller
announcing team, but both announcing teams sound great and keep up well with the action (even with that unfortunate one time glitch i mentioned earlier.)

the crowd is definitely more entertaining in the mlb2k7 version, and more generic sounding on the show. maybe there's just more drunks in the crowd that escaped from take two's rockstar franchises.

but which videogame which plays a better game of baseball?
if you ask this oldtimer, mlb the show 2007 is making me feel a little bit better tonight about my early adoption of the playstation 3.

play ball.

btmmayor · Post by **btmmayor** » Wed May 16, 2007 8:35 pm

I take that last post about a pretty version of The Show 07 back. I really think they have pumped up the ball physics and number of animations for the PS3 version which makes me very happy since I figured this to be a straight port. This is not the case as I'm seeing a ton of new stuff that I've never seen in the couple of months I've been playing 07 on the PSP.

Here is one play that sticks out to me. On a ball hit to short, Jack Wilson slides left deflecting the ball off of his chest. He then grabs it off the ground, stands up and quickly fires wide to first. The first baseman stretches out for the catch but can't quite keep his foot on the bag. He catches the ball but falls off of the base to his hands and knees, pulling his foot while the runner is safe.

Now, if this kind of thing happened every other inning it would be nothing special (think helmet popping off after a big hit in Madden....cool the first time but then after the 86th it losses a little something). I've yet to see these types of highlight plays repeated even one time so far in a solid afternoon and early evening with this game. Good stuff!

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed May 16, 2007 8:43 pm

I'm very happy to hear the PS3 version has some new stuff and that it's legit. I can't wait till next year...when I can probably justify having a PS3. It just doesn't make much sense to me since I'm halfway through my PS2 season and there isn't anything else on the system I want. That just means that 08 is gonna be amazing. Gotta love development time.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Wed May 16, 2007 9:06 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:I'm very happy to hear the PS3 version has some new stuff and that it's legit. I can't wait till next year...when I can probably justify having a PS3. It just doesn't make much sense to me since I'm halfway through my PS2 season and there isn't anything else on the system I want. That just means that 08 is gonna be amazing. Gotta love development time.

Can't say that I blame you. I don't even want to imagine the anxiety level I will have for that release if this version keeps impressing. Giddy up.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Wed May 16, 2007 9:07 pm

I'm going to let the first impressions, "bake in" so to speak, but I'm glad you all are enjoying the game so far.

I wonder why IGN gave it such a bad review? Maybe they were expecting more in terms of graphics or something?

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Wed May 16, 2007 9:14 pm

Enjoying it isn't the word for me, Todd...I'm loving it. Starting my second game against the Tigers now (their stadium looks beautiful in a day game), and Zamaya just hit 100 on the gun. I might have to play an inning or so tonight in each of the different ballparks just to see as much as I can.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Wed May 16, 2007 9:41 pm

MizzouRah wrote: I wonder why IGN gave it such a bad review? Maybe they were expecting more in terms of graphics or something?

That is my only guess. Funny thing is, in my opinion, the graphics are solid.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Wed May 16, 2007 9:43 pm

I will say this, some tweaking is needed. Just like the PS2 version, the Human contact slider needs to be reduced. I just played the Brewers on All Star and I had 16 hits in the 6-1 win. Freddy Garcia had a CG

Sully · Post by **Sully** » Wed May 16, 2007 9:47 pm

Diablo25 wrote: Freddy Garcia had a CG

Now that's unrealistic...

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Wed May 16, 2007 10:00 pm

Well, I'm glad you all are enjoying it, I'm envious.