MLB 2K8 interview
Moderators: Bill_Abner, ScoopBrady
-
sportdan30
- DSP-Funk All-Star
- Posts: 9100
- Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 3:00 am
- Location: St. Louis
I’m really having quite a bit of fun with 2k8. I played three games last night, all on all-star level defaults, just to get a base before I start tweaking things. As the Yanks, I played Texas twice and then started the first game of my franchise, different pitchers each time. I lost 11-4 (getting use to the pitching system), won 6-2, and lost 6-4. All the games felt very different, which was nice. I just got pummeled in game one, learning the ropes. Hughes was on for me in game two, and I took an early lead and held it. Game three was tight and back and forth all the way until the seventh, when Farnsworth came out with his gasoline can ruining a pretty nice job by Wang and Hawkins.
The Good:
The games all felt and played completely differently.
On All-star level, the game definitely plays better out of the box than 2k7
It’s a challenging game right now, and I’m pretty confident that there are enough options in the game to keep it so.
Hit variety was good, and it wasn’t a homer-fest (yet?) In the three games I had 4 homeruns, with none in the first game, and no player had more than 1.
Baserunning is very easy and intuitive. Didn’t have a single gaffe, and usually the first couple of games played with a new title sees at least a couple of those.
Pitcher fatigue seems to be set at around the right levels for the default settings, with guys (both player and cpu) getting tired.
The new throwing meter is fun. Nothing revolutionary, but it impacts the game just enough, where an off-line throw in a crucial situation can make a big impact.
I have mixed feelings about the new pitching system, but I’ll state the good here first. I love that it makes the user more involved on every pitch, and that it makes the user more responsible for the CPU’s success. In many baseball games you let your pitch go and then it is ‘up to the cpu’ to decide what happens next. The player shoulders more of the responsibility, here. I’ve also walked a handful of batters, which is better than most games on default settings, but it is no where near where I’d like it to be.
The Bad:
The framerate issue. It’s there, and it’s bad. It’s pretty hard to watch any ball movement through or around the infield. It really doesn’t affect gameplay at all, but it makes it hard to watch at times, and at least some part of a video game experience is the video. I’m very disappointed that the game got out this way.
There are some very jerky and ugly animations. Again, not gameplay related, but they still have an impact on how pleasing the game is to watch.
I have seen several graphical glitches. During one at-bat, my pitcher’s head turned absolutely sheet-of-paper white, and stayed that way until the next batter. Wtf?
CPU throws hardly any balls on default All-star. Not only that, default contact for the player is too darn high. Put those together, and that leads to many 1 and 2 pitch at bats. This is where my slider tweaking begins, I think. CPU throw balls way up, player contact way down. Of course, this will no doubt impact countless other areas, so let the fun begin.
Here’s the bad of the pitching meter stuff. Although it’s definitely trickier than the systems used in the past in this series, and harder than The Show’s meter, it still remains too easy to throw a strike on demand. I’ll try some slider stuff here to make things more difficult, but we’ll see. I’m also not completely sold on the crazy motions you have to make for each pitch. Simply put, some pitches are harder to throw for the game’s player, while the actual pitcher might have them as one of their best pitches. There is a disconnect there. For example, Mariano River’s cutter is a down motion, then a diagonal up and in one towards the center of the controller. For whatever reason, this is a hard motion for me to execute smoothly. How the player executes the motion has a direct effect on the quality of the pitch, so essentially Mo’s cutter is far less effective than it ‘should be’ because the arbitrary motion assigned to the pitch happens to be hard for the player to execute. Not sure I dig that, and I don’t even really think it is necessary. More demanding timing on the ‘power select’ and release points would really be sufficient, I think. Overall the system is really fun to use, but I don’t like how the design impacts play in some cases.
No season mode, only franchise. This is epidemic in all games today, but I really wish I could just play a season without having to worry about setting ballpark ticket prices, hiring coaching, or doing any number of things that tangle me up in a financial/contract/etc system that always ultimately ends up being flawed on some level anyway.
While I think the hitting results are better than in last year’s game, the execution of the swing seems worse than last year. The step and swing mechanism seems much jerkier.
After playing for a while, I like to skip a lot of the in-game presentation stuff…batter walk ups, replays, etc. You can simply turn some of these off, yes, but if you have them on and are trying to skip them in game, there are very noticeable pauses before the game gets back on track. Cumulatively, these get quite annoying.
The Good:
The games all felt and played completely differently.
On All-star level, the game definitely plays better out of the box than 2k7
It’s a challenging game right now, and I’m pretty confident that there are enough options in the game to keep it so.
Hit variety was good, and it wasn’t a homer-fest (yet?) In the three games I had 4 homeruns, with none in the first game, and no player had more than 1.
Baserunning is very easy and intuitive. Didn’t have a single gaffe, and usually the first couple of games played with a new title sees at least a couple of those.
Pitcher fatigue seems to be set at around the right levels for the default settings, with guys (both player and cpu) getting tired.
The new throwing meter is fun. Nothing revolutionary, but it impacts the game just enough, where an off-line throw in a crucial situation can make a big impact.
I have mixed feelings about the new pitching system, but I’ll state the good here first. I love that it makes the user more involved on every pitch, and that it makes the user more responsible for the CPU’s success. In many baseball games you let your pitch go and then it is ‘up to the cpu’ to decide what happens next. The player shoulders more of the responsibility, here. I’ve also walked a handful of batters, which is better than most games on default settings, but it is no where near where I’d like it to be.
The Bad:
The framerate issue. It’s there, and it’s bad. It’s pretty hard to watch any ball movement through or around the infield. It really doesn’t affect gameplay at all, but it makes it hard to watch at times, and at least some part of a video game experience is the video. I’m very disappointed that the game got out this way.
There are some very jerky and ugly animations. Again, not gameplay related, but they still have an impact on how pleasing the game is to watch.
I have seen several graphical glitches. During one at-bat, my pitcher’s head turned absolutely sheet-of-paper white, and stayed that way until the next batter. Wtf?
CPU throws hardly any balls on default All-star. Not only that, default contact for the player is too darn high. Put those together, and that leads to many 1 and 2 pitch at bats. This is where my slider tweaking begins, I think. CPU throw balls way up, player contact way down. Of course, this will no doubt impact countless other areas, so let the fun begin.
Here’s the bad of the pitching meter stuff. Although it’s definitely trickier than the systems used in the past in this series, and harder than The Show’s meter, it still remains too easy to throw a strike on demand. I’ll try some slider stuff here to make things more difficult, but we’ll see. I’m also not completely sold on the crazy motions you have to make for each pitch. Simply put, some pitches are harder to throw for the game’s player, while the actual pitcher might have them as one of their best pitches. There is a disconnect there. For example, Mariano River’s cutter is a down motion, then a diagonal up and in one towards the center of the controller. For whatever reason, this is a hard motion for me to execute smoothly. How the player executes the motion has a direct effect on the quality of the pitch, so essentially Mo’s cutter is far less effective than it ‘should be’ because the arbitrary motion assigned to the pitch happens to be hard for the player to execute. Not sure I dig that, and I don’t even really think it is necessary. More demanding timing on the ‘power select’ and release points would really be sufficient, I think. Overall the system is really fun to use, but I don’t like how the design impacts play in some cases.
No season mode, only franchise. This is epidemic in all games today, but I really wish I could just play a season without having to worry about setting ballpark ticket prices, hiring coaching, or doing any number of things that tangle me up in a financial/contract/etc system that always ultimately ends up being flawed on some level anyway.
While I think the hitting results are better than in last year’s game, the execution of the swing seems worse than last year. The step and swing mechanism seems much jerkier.
After playing for a while, I like to skip a lot of the in-game presentation stuff…batter walk ups, replays, etc. You can simply turn some of these off, yes, but if you have them on and are trying to skip them in game, there are very noticeable pauses before the game gets back on track. Cumulatively, these get quite annoying.
I agree completely. As I get older, I feel less and less inclined to want to devote my life to playing a game. I could care less about the draft, the waiver wire, putting together a coaching staff, the confidence of my players or the cost of peanuts. I wish there was an easy way to just turn it all off and let the AI handle it.No season mode, only franchise. This is epidemic in all games today, but I really wish I could just play a season without having to worry about setting ballpark ticket prices, hiring coaching, or doing any number of things that tangle me up in a financial/contract/etc system that always ultimately ends up being flawed on some level anyway.
I need to figure out what controls I like and what controls I don't like. If I try to use to right stick for every part of the game it would be way too interactive for my tastes and I would end up with carpal tunnel after about 3 games.
It is hard to get a feel for things after just a few games. But it is more fun than last year - simply because the variety of hits. It is a lot more fun to scratch out a run than to hit HR after HR.
Baseball games are the hardest to judge after just a few games. It will take a few weeks before I know what i think.
-
sportdan30
- DSP-Funk All-Star
- Posts: 9100
- Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 3:00 am
- Location: St. Louis
WEll, from everything I read on OS, the stuttering problem seems to be mostly caused by some kind of disc accessing or whatnot.
They say if you play without your VIP profile on, the game runs smooth. (does the VIP save every play you make?)
Having never played one of the 2k baseball games before, I'm not sure how apt they are to patch it.... or if that's even possible in this case. I hope so..... but the game is still fun in the meantime.
They say if you play without your VIP profile on, the game runs smooth. (does the VIP save every play you make?)
Having never played one of the 2k baseball games before, I'm not sure how apt they are to patch it.... or if that's even possible in this case. I hope so..... but the game is still fun in the meantime.
gamertag: Ace EZ
Once a Dragon, a Dragon for life!
Once a Dragon, a Dragon for life!
I have a favor to ask.....
Could someone with the game, try the demo and let me know if it's representative of the full game? I am specifically interested in the stuttering issues.
BTW, folks over at OS report these things fixing the stuttering issue:
-play in 720
-turn of pbp
-turn off cutscenes
-use arial camera
-disconnect your hard drive
Could someone with the game, try the demo and let me know if it's representative of the full game? I am specifically interested in the stuttering issues.
BTW, folks over at OS report these things fixing the stuttering issue:
-play in 720
-turn of pbp
-turn off cutscenes
-use arial camera
-disconnect your hard drive
A fix for the stuttering was posted on OS "
Here's what I did...
1) Started my 360 with HD attached
2) Load menus came up, my VIP, settings and roster were auto-loaded
3) I started a franchise and started my first game
4) Before the first pitch is thrown, I tap the middle button on the controller to bring up the blade from the left that controls your profile. I signed out of my profile (and in turn out of my VIP as well) and got the error message saying "Progress Won't Be Saved" blah blah blah.5) played three innings (don't have time to finish, need to get back to the office) and then simmed to the end of the game. I won 8-3.
6) Back at the main menu of the franchise I tapped the middle button of the controller again and logged back in to my 360 profile/VIP. I went to the save menu, saved my franchise and viola! No problems.
So we should be able to play franchise mode immediately without any frame rate issue.
For exhibition games just follow Step 4.
Now of course there are cons with this. If you don't have your VIP loaded you obviously cannot unlock achievements, cards, or have your stats saved. If that's important to you than this fix isn't something you'll be interested in.
"
I'm hoping this means a patch can easily fix things...... this trick apparently works according to multiple replies....
Here's what I did...
1) Started my 360 with HD attached
2) Load menus came up, my VIP, settings and roster were auto-loaded
3) I started a franchise and started my first game
4) Before the first pitch is thrown, I tap the middle button on the controller to bring up the blade from the left that controls your profile. I signed out of my profile (and in turn out of my VIP as well) and got the error message saying "Progress Won't Be Saved" blah blah blah.5) played three innings (don't have time to finish, need to get back to the office) and then simmed to the end of the game. I won 8-3.
6) Back at the main menu of the franchise I tapped the middle button of the controller again and logged back in to my 360 profile/VIP. I went to the save menu, saved my franchise and viola! No problems.
So we should be able to play franchise mode immediately without any frame rate issue.
For exhibition games just follow Step 4.
Now of course there are cons with this. If you don't have your VIP loaded you obviously cannot unlock achievements, cards, or have your stats saved. If that's important to you than this fix isn't something you'll be interested in.
"
I'm hoping this means a patch can easily fix things...... this trick apparently works according to multiple replies....
gamertag: Ace EZ
Once a Dragon, a Dragon for life!
Once a Dragon, a Dragon for life!
Gangrel wrote:A fix for the stuttering was posted on OS "
Here's what I did...
1) Started my 360 with HD attached
2) Load menus came up, my VIP, settings and roster were auto-loaded
3) I started a franchise and started my first game
4) Before the first pitch is thrown, I tap the middle button on the controller to bring up the blade from the left that controls your profile. I signed out of my profile (and in turn out of my VIP as well) and got the error message saying "Progress Won't Be Saved" blah blah blah.5) played three innings (don't have time to finish, need to get back to the office) and then simmed to the end of the game. I won 8-3.
6) Back at the main menu of the franchise I tapped the middle button of the controller again and logged back in to my 360 profile/VIP. I went to the save menu, saved my franchise and viola! No problems.
So we should be able to play franchise mode immediately without any frame rate issue.
For exhibition games just follow Step 4.
Now of course there are cons with this. If you don't have your VIP loaded you obviously cannot unlock achievements, cards, or have your stats saved. If that's important to you than this fix isn't something you'll be interested in.
"
I'm hoping this means a patch can easily fix things...... this trick apparently works according to multiple replies....
this would be acceptable to me if it works. I only care about saving my season progress, not about achievements, etc.
Good find Gangrel!
-
dbdynsty25
- DSP-Funk All-Star
- Posts: 21611
- Joined: Mon Aug 19, 2002 3:00 am
- Location: Thousand Oaks, CA
-
Slumberland
- DSP-Funk All-Star
- Posts: 3574
- Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2003 4:00 am
Personally, I think I can live with the stutters, but ideally I hope they patch the sucker........
Pitching and Batting run smooth for me, so that's the most important stuff.
I also realize today I need to learn to adjust my fielders more often, as last night the CPU was getting wayyyy too many gappers, and shots over the head of the outfield.
Pitching and Batting run smooth for me, so that's the most important stuff.
I also realize today I need to learn to adjust my fielders more often, as last night the CPU was getting wayyyy too many gappers, and shots over the head of the outfield.
gamertag: Ace EZ
Once a Dragon, a Dragon for life!
Once a Dragon, a Dragon for life!
Online play is almost completely unplayable for me. The herky jerkiness of the frame rate combined with the online lag makes the entire game feel like a guess fest. I couldn't get my timing down at all, very bad experience.
Offline it's noticeable (crappy frame rate) but you can still get a fun game of baseball out of it. Here's hoping they can fix this with a patch otherwise I think 2K may have taken a slight step backwards in the second year of their three year plan.
This sucks...
Offline it's noticeable (crappy frame rate) but you can still get a fun game of baseball out of it. Here's hoping they can fix this with a patch otherwise I think 2K may have taken a slight step backwards in the second year of their three year plan.
This sucks...
Disappointing to here man.macsomjrr wrote:Online play is almost completely unplayable for me. The herky jerkiness of the frame rate combined with the online lag makes the entire game feel like a guess fest. I couldn't get my timing down at all, very bad experience.
Offline it's noticeable (crappy frame rate) but you can still get a fun game of baseball out of it. Here's hoping they can fix this with a patch otherwise I think 2K may have taken a slight step backwards in the second year of their three year plan.
This sucks...
[url=http://sensiblecoasters.wordpress.com/][b]Sensible Coasters - A critique of sports games, reviews, gaming sites and news. Questionably Proofread![/b][/url]
Yikes,JackB1 wrote:some guys over at OS are saying the framerate in the demo is better than in the full game. looks like this will be a rental for me.
I've been playing the demo and the frame rate is not that great - way too much stuttering in the live action as well as cut scenes. If it's that bad in the demo I shudder to think what it's like in the full retail version.
Is it too much to ask for sports games with smooth framerates in next gen versions?
Best wishes,
Doug
"Every major sport has come under the influence of organized crime. FIFA actually is organized crime" - Charles Pierce
Actually, its just a matter of signing out of the dashboard once the game starts. Unless you want to save your VIP or accumulate achievements, its not that big of a deal. 2k should have had this fixed before they released the game though. but it really is a simple process. And it does work.Slumberland wrote:(jaw on floor)
That's the worst hoop-jumping list of bullsh*t I've ever seen. Blowing on the cartridge was SO much easier.
XBL gamertag:SecondACR Vet
PSN: BHoward1
http://community.2ksports.com/community ... id=1010465
http://twitter.com/ BradHowardSr
PSN: BHoward1
http://community.2ksports.com/community ... id=1010465
http://twitter.com/ BradHowardSr
When do I enter up up down down left right right a b a b select start?TheGamer wrote:Actually, its just a matter of signing out of the dashboard once the game starts. Unless you want to save your VIP or accumulate achievements, its not that big of a deal. 2k should have had this fixed before they released the game though. but it really is a simple process. And it does work.Slumberland wrote:(jaw on floor)
That's the worst hoop-jumping list of bullsh*t I've ever seen. Blowing on the cartridge was SO much easier.
[url=http://sensiblecoasters.wordpress.com/][b]Sensible Coasters - A critique of sports games, reviews, gaming sites and news. Questionably Proofread![/b][/url]
My personal favorite was "disc boiling"Slumberland wrote:(jaw on floor)
That's the worst hoop-jumping list of bullsh*t I've ever seen. Blowing on the cartridge was SO much easier.
What happened to 60 fps that was being touted
I'll probably DL the demo,but it looks like its "The Show" all the way this year. Playing it on 720p is a letdown after how gorgeous this game looked at the highest resolution on the Dell 24" last year..Gangrel wrote:A fix for the stuttering was posted on OS "
Here's what I did...
1) Started my 360 with HD attached
2) Load menus came up, my VIP, settings and roster were auto-loaded
3) I started a franchise and started my first game
4) Before the first pitch is thrown, I tap the middle button on the controller to bring up the blade from the left that controls your profile. I signed out of my profile (and in turn out of my VIP as well) and got the error message saying "Progress Won't Be Saved" blah blah blah.5) played three innings (don't have time to finish, need to get back to the office) and then simmed to the end of the game. I won 8-3.
6) Back at the main menu of the franchise I tapped the middle button of the controller again and logged back in to my 360 profile/VIP. I went to the save menu, saved my franchise and viola! No problems.
So we should be able to play franchise mode immediately without any frame rate issue.
For exhibition games just follow Step 4.
Now of course there are cons with this. If you don't have your VIP loaded you obviously cannot unlock achievements, cards, or have your stats saved. If that's important to you than this fix isn't something you'll be interested in.
"
I'm hoping this means a patch can easily fix things...... this trick apparently works according to multiple replies....
EDIT: Actually, it's pretty simple to do this.. Thanks!!
tried the demo and had some fun so far.
REALLY like the pitching method. Best of any baseball game yet!
That's saying a lot. I also like the throwing method. 2K did a nice job of making the game more immersive.
One thing thats bugging me is that the strike zone is TOO BIG!!! That is to say, the umps call anything CLOSE to the strike zone a strike. If a hair on a seam nicks the black, you can be sure it's gonna be a strike. Hope there are some sliders that will help that out.
So far, not much to complain about except that the AI throws too many strikes and that big strike zone.
REALLY like the pitching method. Best of any baseball game yet!
That's saying a lot. I also like the throwing method. 2K did a nice job of making the game more immersive.
One thing thats bugging me is that the strike zone is TOO BIG!!! That is to say, the umps call anything CLOSE to the strike zone a strike. If a hair on a seam nicks the black, you can be sure it's gonna be a strike. Hope there are some sliders that will help that out.
So far, not much to complain about except that the AI throws too many strikes and that big strike zone.
so you gonna buy it? I feel guilty not buying it since I buy every baseball game every year. My brain tells me to avoid it, but then again I want to buy it. Maybe if its cheap I'll get it.JackB1 wrote:tried the demo and had some fun so far.
REALLY like the pitching method. Best of any baseball game yet!
That's saying a lot. I also like the throwing method. 2K did a nice job of making the game more immersive.
One thing thats bugging me is that the strike zone is TOO BIG!!! That is to say, the umps call anything CLOSE to the strike zone a strike. If a hair on a seam nicks the black, you can be sure it's gonna be a strike. Hope there are some sliders that will help that out.
So far, not much to complain about except that the AI throws too many strikes and that big strike zone.