MLB '08 news and info

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:53 pm

Ya Hit Variety is the biggest thing I love about this series. Just the different ways the ball behaves when you hit it is so realistic. Also, personally, can't beat the Zone batting system. I think it's the most realistic batting model when compared to directional or timed like 2k/mvp.

AJColossal · Post by **AJColossal** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:01 pm

Inuyasha wrote:Well i also bought the PS2 version since I have the ps2 hooked up in my bedroom.

Quick impressions :

Graphics are Excellent for ps2 quality.. They went back to the 06 version which had the best graphics I've ever seen on any ps2 game. Well, let me take that back, almost went back to the 06 version. But it's 10x better than the 07 version which the game took a graphical hit where at some points it ended up looking like HH on ps2. Night games really look great, and day games are ok. Some of the fields they messed (STL, Wrigley) where the grass looks grainy. But overall, the graphics are closer to the 06 version.
Gameplay is as solid as the ps3 version. I really can't tell much of a difference between both versions here. I tend to hit more foul balls, maybe too many, in the 2 ps2 games i've played compared to the ps3 version.

All the options that the ps3 has is there in the ps2, except in game saves. I've just played exhibition games so far so not sure about how the franchise in the ps2 version is. I am assuming the same as ps3.

For someone who's played both, how does the hit variety in the PS3 version compare to the PS2 version?

The PS2 version is a little improved from last year, but I never feel like truly *anything* can happen when a ball is hit. Just tons of line drives and rocket groundballs, with a few flyballs and weaker hit balls thrown in the mix.

From what I've heard and seen in videos, this is one gameplay area that I think the game improved on with the PS3.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:23 pm

I don't see as many Texas leaguers as I wish I would. I've seen a lot of hits up the middle, a few line drives over the head of the shortstop, ground ballls between short and third, more than a few pop ups on the infield, a couple broken bat ground balls, a few hits down the third base line resulting in doubles, and a handful of gappers. There are bloop hits, but maybe one a game that I've experienced so far. Still, it's a pretty good variety. Much better than it was, say a couple years ago for sure.

Here's my one main gripe so far. It's far too easy to bunt for a hit. And there are times when I'm just trying to sacrifice that I still beat out the bunt. The main issue is when you bunt it down the first base line, forcing the first baseman to field the ball and flip it to the pitcher. The animation is too slow IMO. Also, when the pitcher does happen to field the ball, and throw it to first, it seems the umpire gives the safe call every time as long as it is a close play. I've since disciplined myself to only bunt when I'm sacrificing. Anyone else been experiencing this?

RallyMonkey · Post by **RallyMonkey** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:31 pm

Dan,

Agreed on the 1st to pitcher animation. I felt the same last year that many times the flip was so arced that it allowed the runner to beat it out. I even feel that way at times on grounders to first when the pitcher is covering, not just on bunts. But like you i typically only bunt to sacrifice UNLESS i have Ellsbury or Lugo at the plate and i need a baserunner. Although i have been thrown out enough as well so it's not a serious gripe.

BUT, i had my first big bug experience just now. Sox up 3-0 in the 7th against the Jays. Beckett is cruising but gives up a double down the line to Rios and then WHAM, Wells takes him deep. 3-2 game with none out. I call for a mound visit and when i return to the game it's still 3-2 but Wells is standing on first base now!! WTF? Talk about really getting in a bind on the mound. Ah well, let's see if i can get out of the inning!!

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:01 pm

Rally,

That was a new rule put in to place just this year to increase more scoring.

The only bug I have seen thus far is when I go to the pause screen, then the bullpen to warm up a pitcher. I'll come back to live action and all my pitching confidence meters will be blank. Sometimes I will already have a pitch called for me, but I still get the opportunity to select the location. Can't figure out why this happens.

RallyMonkey · Post by **RallyMonkey** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:10 pm

That was a new rule put in to place just this year to increase more scoring.

I think 2K put that rule in their POS game. I'M KIDDING. I kid because i care.

The only bug I have seen thus far is when I go to the pause screen, then the bullpen to warm up a pitcher. I'll come back to live action and all my pitching confidence meters will be blank. Sometimes I will already have a pitch called for me, but I still get the opportunity to select the location. Can't figure out why this happens.

Now i have seen this a couple times but i've always seemed to have it linked to situations where i'm in trouble on the mound. Once i throw a strike or two they seem to come back. I just thought it was the game's way of saying the pitcher is feeling the pressure of the given situation...although i guess it could be a bug as well.

fanatic · Post by **fanatic** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:16 pm

Leebo33 wrote: I think the pitch speed is perfect for me with it turned all the way down, but I do believe they should have the option to lower it even further in the future to help those of us with almost 40 year old eyes!

Agreed...I'm dying at the plate. Good thing I'm planning to neglect other parts of my life for this game.

MUTTS · Post by **MUTTS** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:19 pm

I was all set to buy this title and a ps3 to use as a bluray player however all of the bugs being reported at various sites are frustrating. If a patch happens, I'll likely buy. Otherwise I may hold out and see if a ps3 price drop comes later in the year.

Tony

Nozzleman_216 · Post by **Nozzleman_216** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 12:20 am

MUTTS wrote:I was all set to buy this title and a ps3 to use as a bluray player however all of the bugs being reported at various sites are frustrating. If a patch happens, I'll likely buy. Otherwise I may hold out and see if a ps3 price drop comes later in the year.

Tony

Not a single bug/glitch that ruins or takes ANYTHING away from what this phenomenal game has to offer!!! This games makes my PS3 purchase well worth it, loving blu-ray and the upscaling of dvds (ps3 does it well) and I am enjoying a few other games as well

MUTTS · Post by **MUTTS** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 12:41 am

SEMINOLE wrote: Not a single bug/glitch that ruins or takes ANYTHING away from what this phenomenal game has to offer!!! This games makes my PS3 purchase well worth it, loving blu-ray and the upscaling of dvds (ps3 does it well) and I am enjoying a few other games as well

Tell me more because I'm itching for some baseball. Ive read over at OS about guys hitting home runs and then ending up on 1st base for the next batter, subs coming in at multiple positions and then disappearing etc. Are you subbing/pinch hitting without problem?????

Tony

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:32 am

I picked up the ps2 version of the game. Does anyone yet know if there are gameplay differences between ps2 and ps3? I played over nine innings of the ps3 demo, and it feels very similar.

Decently fun so far, but I see the same issues I always see with this series. CPU scored 3 runs against me in the first three games, and I had a no-hitter going with Phil Hughes over the very first seven innings I played. I won 2-0, giving up 4 hits. (Allstar, pitch meter) The second game I won 4-3 in extra innings (Classic, HOF) but the last I won 3-0 with Pettite going to Rivera for a 3 hit shutout. (Classic, HOF) So two shutouts in the first three games.

I'm also already seeing lots of hits for me (player) compared to runs scored...again, as in this series in the past.

I like the new baserunning controls, the presentation is of course superb, and there seems to be even more hit variety than last year's game. More foul balls, too.

Overall I definitely like it, but nowhere near 'buy a ps3 like it.' I think I'll be good splitting time between this one and 2k8.

Blublub · Post by **Blublub** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:36 am

MUTTS wrote:I was all set to buy this title and a ps3 to use as a bluray player however all of the bugs being reported at various sites are frustrating. If a patch happens, I'll likely buy. Otherwise I may hold out and see if a ps3 price drop comes later in the year.

Tony

Tony, if it helps any, the developer has a much better track record than most when it comes to patches. Last year there was an issue with night games in Oakland that was fixed pretty quickly. Not to mention weekly roster updates, which is virtually unheard of elsewhere.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:24 am

The only issue I've really found, and it's easily fixed, is that you can EASILY advance to 3rd when you have a guy on 2nd and the ball is hit to short...they don't bother to even run at you. You can just take off for third. I just stopped doing it in situations that would end up having the runner held at 2nd...but it's just something I noticed, like the pitcher to first throws that is a little bothersome.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:25 am

Oh yeah...and this game is crack. But they do have the Braves schedule wrong. LOL. They open the season Sunday the 30th in Washington for the opening of their new park. The game has it on Monday...so it screws with my starting rotation and day off of rest for my starters. Bastards!

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:36 am

webdanzer wrote:Decently fun so far, but I see the same issues I always see with this series. CPU scored 3 runs against me in the first three games

I wasn't having nearly the success you were in the first few games, but I did think meter pitching on All-Star was too easy so I lowered the pitch command slider a few notches and gave up 7 runs and walked 3 unintentionally. It's only one game of course and Jamie Moyer was the starter so we shall see. My bullpen struggled too though. One thing I am not seeing so far is too many hits compared to runs, but I'm certainly not the best videogame baseball player out there. In last night's game I thought it was cool that at one point I had 7 runs on 5 hits due to 2 CPU errors, a HB, and a walk. I did get some more hits late and ended up with 9 runs on 9 hits.

My biggest "problem" right now is that the game is too realistic...LOL. With the pitch count slider raised to have realistic fouls/balls and with a high scoring game last night it took me well over an hour to play the game. I know I can go to fast play, but I love the presentation so I'll have to find a happy medium!

One thing I'm sure of after playing the Show and F1 with the Dual Shock 3 is how much better the experience is with the vibration function. It isn't used much in the Show, but it adds to the experience and I like having the extra weight in the controller.

phantompain · Post by **phantompain** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:00 am

Slumberland wrote:I'm curious about this idea that the CPU offense might be better on All-Star than HOF. Anyone else get this impression? I'm playing on HOF, and they've gotten some hits and a dinger here and there but I haven't been roughed up or lost yet.

Slumberland,

I don't know what to think about this. Last year I played HOF exclusively and this year it doesn't seem the same. Doubles and triples seem very hard to come by. There are some sliders online from skyboxer at OS for all star. I think they are called SKYALLSTAR when you download them. I have played two or three games with them and I have hit about 2 doubles a game, as well as the CPU. Home runs feel right as well. I have had a complete game shutout for me, a 3-2 win and a 6-3 loss. I am going to keep playing with them to make sure they will hold up, but so far I like what I see. I suggest trying it out as All Star may be the way to go this year. Or at least until someone hammers down some good HOF sliders.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:26 am

Well, last night I lost to the Rockies 5-3 in their ballpark. That stadium looks gorgeous by the way. The games during the day look better than night games IMO.

I switched to classic pitching for the first time and I am now a believer. Clement walked three and Flores walked one as well, all unintentionally.

Top of the 7th, Willy Taveras singles. Catching me off guard, he steals second. Surprising the heck out of me, he proceeds to steal third! Of course Colorado scores on a sacrifice.

I switched to fast play as well. With the increased number of foul balls, it definitely lengthens the game. I'm actually thinking of setting the foul ball down a notch.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:30 am

Leebo33 wrote: I wasn't having nearly the success you were in the first few games, but I did think meter pitching on All-Star was too easy so I lowered the pitch command slider a few notches and gave up 7 runs and walked 3 unintentionally. .

That's good to hear. I haven't started messing with sliders yet, as I like to get a few games under my belt before I do, but it seems necessary. I'm very glad you were able to get those results with meter pitching. I greatly prefer it to classic pitching as I like to get more user imput involved in pitching success. I will try this tonight.

I also greatly agree about the vibration adding to the experience. The innings I played on the ps3 demo were with a non-rumbling controller, while I had full rumble with the PS2. Added a lot to the tension!

phantompain wrote:
Slumberland wrote:I'm curious about this idea that the CPU offense might be better on All-Star than HOF. Anyone else get this impression? I'm playing on HOF, and they've gotten some hits and a dinger here and there but I haven't been roughed up or lost yet.
I don't know what to think about this. Last year I played HOF exclusively and this year it doesn't seem the same. Doubles and triples seem very hard to come by. ... I suggest trying it out as All Star may be the way to go this year. Or at least until someone hammers down some good HOF sliders.

On my HOF games this year I noticed that hit distribution definitely seemed to be skewed towards singles, and I have traditionally been a very good hitter in this series. I did better in my AllStar game but the cpu was still weak....but that was an admittedly small sample. I may try playing HOF with plate coverage on to see if that helps, but I don't know how to help out the cpu yet. Definitely let me know if it seems like the CPU performs better on Allstar.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:54 am

Yes, my offense on HOF has been very singly. A couple doubles off the wall, but nothing in the gaps yet... the outfielders are on them in a flash.

Walked two with metered piching in a game last night, most so far. Drew two as well.

I still want to get through my rotation a couple times before making any changes, i.e. classic or cranking down the accuracy.

Scratch that... I did indeed hit a gapper... a deep gapper.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:01 am

MUTTS wrote:I was all set to buy this title and a ps3 to use as a bluray player however all of the bugs being reported at various sites are frustrating. If a patch happens, I'll likely buy. Otherwise I may hold out and see if a ps3 price drop comes later in the year.

Tony

You will love this game. I have seen a couple small things but the overall package is incredible. On top of that the PS3 is a great media machine, and I was a big skeptic.

I do think either the CPU needs some offensive tweaking, or I need to tweak my pitching (or change to classic). It is a bit easy to dominate on All-Star defaults with the pitching meter. I think it's partly because you don't get punished enough for missing badly on the meter.

Overall, though, it's really incredible. So many amazing little touches -- commentators talking about series stats, the way you can fight off pitches, the ball physics. I had to save a game yesterday during a 1-1 extra innings duel, and when I came back, the announcers said something like, If you're just tuning in, we're having a great baseball game here at Wrigley.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:02 am

sportdan30 wrote: I'm actually thinking of setting the foul ball down a notch.

I am seeing too many of those too but Im not sure that its more than we see in an actual game...

Love the game more and more every day but I do stil suck at it ... 3 home game exhibitions with the White Sox and I still dont know if the scoreboard exlplodes.

Only Hrs I have hit are with the Dodgers...

HipE · Post by **HipE** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:06 am

The game finally clicked for me last night. It took me awhile to get a feel for it after playing Power Pros the past few months, but now that I've turned off the guess pitch feature I'm really starting to get my timing down while batting. I'm getting a High Heat type experience with the game now, although I don't think the hit variety is anywhere close to what you see with Power Pros. That could just be a limitation of zone batting vs cursor batting though, where there are so many more options depending on where the bat makes contact with the ball.

For anybody using the Cubs, have you used Eric Patterson yet? The guy looks like a bobblehead doll, I'm almost wondering if there is some glitch with my game that makes his head triple the size it should be. It looks so ridiculous that I won't even use him anymore, it kind of freaks me out.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:09 am

I love the foul balls, man... they contribute to my starters occasionally throwing 100 pitches by the 6th inning, and they keep me in at-bats and lead to walks.

phantompain · Post by **phantompain** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:14 am

webdanzer wrote:On my HOF games this year I noticed that hit distribution definitely seemed to be skewed towards singles, and I have traditionally been a very good hitter in this series. I did better in my AllStar game but the cpu was still weak....but that was an admittedly small sample. I may try playing HOF with plate coverage on to see if that helps, but I don't know how to help out the cpu yet. Definitely let me know if it seems like the CPU performs better on Allstar.

I won't be able to get to play again until later tonight, but I can say that in the few games I played I was giving up dingers and doubles to the CPU. I did have that one complete game shut out, but the other two games were definitely tougher and very enjoyable. I was surprised by this to be honest. If you get a chance to play some today, just try SKYALLSTAR sliders and see how it plays out for you. Several people at OS seem to think these work great for CPU and HUMAN offense. It was certainly great to see some gappers and home runs, whereas I was all "singly" as Slumberland called it (great word BTW...LOL).

FYI: I play with CLASSIC pitching and that is also what the sliders are made for. If you check OS in the slider section and look at Skyboxer's ALL STAR slider thread, there are some people that are using it with meter pitching as well and I think they only tweaked a couple of sliders for the difference. Otherwise I will post tonight or tomorrow what happened with more test games.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:33 am

One reason I'm hesitant to tweak is that I still view games through some NES-era lens... i.e., I want to play (and beat) the game the developers gave me. Set it to the highest difficulty and try to keep up, that's my M.O. If I start tweaking sliders, then whose challenge am I meeting. My own? I don't like making an already insular hobby feel even more so. So I'll usually take some statistical inaccuracies in order to keep the game "intact" if possible. I'm probably giving developers too much credit. And when the game isn't hard enough even on the highest setting, well, you've gotta do something. I usually favor an interface tweak (like shutting off the pitching cursor in MVP 2005) over sliders.

Carry on!