MLB 2K9 Official Thread of 360 owners fingers crossed

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 11:58 pm

This months GI had said the game was smooth transitioning from hitting to fielding, but there were some kinks that still needed to be fixed.

TheGamer · Post by **TheGamer** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:38 am

http://www.operationsports.com/newspost.php?id=296252

new video up over at OS. Steve says he adjusted the sliders to where he sees more called strikes and he's getting the cpu to chase pitches out of the zone.

There's also a new developer diary on franchise mode. You can control all 30 teams during a franchise and play any game during the season regardless if its your team or not.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:08 am

I still need to play a demo to be completely convinced on this game. The vids definitely show the game has improved but there still are some things that make this game seem "JV" compared to The Show. Little things like animations ending abruptly, etc. I have been reading that many people love the player models in 2K9 as compared to The Show. I simply don't see it. 2k9's look "boxy" to me. Nothing game-killing but annoying...at least to me.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:16 am

http://www.operationsports.com/feature.php?id=832

The new developer diary talks about franchise mode and well, I'm really excited to see the game now... even though it might all be PR hoopla.. they've drawn me in.

The Show will be much more polished.. and it should be since this is year 1 for VC.

I'm just hoping for a fun game without a lot of tweaking or bug work arounds.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 6:45 pm

Demo next week

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:08 pm

2k conference call at OS

http://www.operationsports.com/forums/o ... m-est.html

Murph · Post by **Murph** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 10:11 pm

Danimal wrote:Demo next week

Indeed.

http://www.gamestooge.com/2009/02/20/ml ... next-week/

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:03 am

I finally got around to watching some of the Cards-Cubs footage out there and think this is going to be just such a great complement to the Show. I've always been a sucker for TV broadcast style camera angles in sports games and 2k9 seems to have some really good ones, at least with its replays and real time cuts. Hopefully VC can add even more camera choices through a patch - I remember people talking about a patch that added something like a clothelines view (?) the last couple of years. As it stands, I'm still really looking forward to both of these games coming out (2k/The Show). Each game looks to have some great strengths and few weaknesses (for my taste anyway). What a great looking year to be a fan of baseball games, finally.

Gangrel · Post by **Gangrel** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:43 pm

Taken from OS (which took it from the 2k forums:

Hey guys,
First of all, for those who didn't know, I was out in Europe this past week for work. I just returned to the office a couple hours ago, but that explains why I haven't been here.

The demo is scheduled for release tomorrow, which if I understand correctly, is early in the morning when MS usually releases their demos. PS3 is in their hands, no announcement about that yet but I have been told it will be this week.

Ronnie

After the fiasco of the patch last year (it's out now... no, now... no,. how about now!!!!) I'll wait and see....

But at the very least, it's out before release, so that's one step in the right direction!

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 7:20 pm

Those guys at 2ksports make it harder and harder for me to feel for them as they slowly make their downslide to non-existence. Ever since the days of the old Sega Sports games, it is like their marketing team was cursed with ineptitude.

Hey here is a great idea for a gamecover, a big image of Warren Sapps face.
Hey let's hire a complete prick to oversee the forums.
MLB 2K8, etc Demos? Oh we have to blame MS for not getting it passed though on time.
Game is releasing soon. Quick send Ronnie to Europe.
Let's never let our devs post on our own forum, that is a swell idea.

and on and on...

NoJoke · Post by **NoJoke** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:20 am

Demo is up. Downloading now. 64% and counting.

It's a bit tricky to figure out how to download. You need to go to all game demos, then all, then pick MLB2k9. The demo option is grayed out, but if you hit all downloads, you can download the demo at the next screen. Took me a while to figure it out so I thought I'd share that nugget.

There are already some impressions at 2ksports.

Joe

NoJoke · Post by **NoJoke** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:49 am

Quick two innings before work. Phils at Rays in Philly. Real small sample size, obviously. Things I noticed:

I think it looks better than 2k8.

Pitching is pretty easy. AI swung at every pitch in strike zone, but didn't always make contact. Didn't bite on many balls outside the zone.

AI did double steal with Upton and Crawford in first inning.

I drew a walk.

AI threw a wild pitch and did a pitch out with a man on first.

Hitting is easier because you don't have to time the step back like last year.

Nice variety on hits.

Outfield fielding camera is very far away from the action.

I didn't notice any lag in framerate.

Commentary is much better. Thorne is good, but even if he wasn't, it is addition by subtracting Morgan and Miller.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Joe

NoJoke · Post by **NoJoke** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:42 am

Quick two innings before work. Phils at Rays in Philly. Real small sample size, obviously. Things I noticed:

I think it looks better than 2k8.

Pitching is pretty easy. AI swung at every pitch in strike zone, but didn't always make contact. Didn't bite on many balls outside the zone.

AI did double steal with Upton and Crawford in first inning.

I drew a walk.

AI threw a wild pitch and did a pitch out with a man on first.

Hitting is easier because you don't have to time the step back like last year.

Nice variety on hits.

Outfield fielding camera is very far away from the action.

I didn't notice any lag in framerate.

Commentary is much better. Thorne is good, but even if he wasn't, it is addition by subtracting Morgan and Miller.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Joe

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:56 am

My impressions:

Alright I had a chance to play the 3 inning demo. The good news it's better than last years game. I played as the Devil Rays and no hit the Phillies for three innings. Sadly it was all too easy. I didn't see any options that I could adjust so they may be there and might make the game more difficult. Base running is more simplistic than The Show's base running. I had advanced my baserunner on first go to second and couldn't figure out how to stop him so he ran to home plate and got called out, LOL. (my fault don't know the controller scheme).

I didn't notice the flapping baggy shirts in the game. Gary Thorne is just a monster calling the game and brings the audio presentation to life. Sadly the crowd is nowhere to be seen except for the occasional applause or boo. I believe I heard 3 in the booth not sure as i'll play the game later to hear if there's a two or three man booth. Regardless the audio of the booth sounds authentic and natural.

Last years, pitching is back but it's much easier to pitch this year. My biggest problem with the game is the predictability of the AI. Again maybe it's because it's probably set to easy in the demo but it's ridiculously easy.

Pro's

1) The commentary is outstanding !
2) It's easier to hit
3) It's easier to pitch
4) Looks better than last years game (graphics wise)

Cons

1) AI swings at everything in or close to the strike zone
2) AI never swings at balls out of the strike zone
3) Animation exhibits the stop/start/ jerkiness of 2K Sports games. This is not a biggie for some.
4) Crowd is too quiet

TheGamer · Post by **TheGamer** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 1:24 pm

Just played 3 demo games. Nothing in the demo to make me change my preorder. Controls are pretty simplistic. I was able to get the cpu to chase out of the strike zone w/Kazimir. He has a nice biting curve ball. The most swings and misses I got against the cpu was when I didnt go to max effort on my pitches. When I went to 2/3 to 3/4 effort on the yellow meter is when I would get a called strike. I noticed when I tried to go max effort, I would miss my "release point" at the vibration mark and that is when the cpu got their hits. I got Chase Utley looking on a change up off the corner of the plate. Reminded me of a Glavine change. I got caught up in using the 2k8 3-step pitching control scheme as that is what I'm accustom too. The 2-step process seems like it will be much easier for the pick up play folks.

I wasn't a fan of the swing stick in 2k7 or 2k8 that doesn't seem to have changed for me here. Hopefully I'll be able to option out to the button swing. I do love the analog for pitching and defense though.

The demo seems to run very smooth. I didn't notice any hiccups, but I wasn't able to pick out any in 2k8 during the gameplay, just during cutscenes. But I don't notice any hiccups during the out of gameplay moments here.

Demo looks very nice graphically. nothing seemed out of sorts, but there were some collision detection issues with the players running thru each other. I would think VC would have this fixed in the final game. They still have the blurred affect when looking past a close player to view someone/something in the background. I've never really liked this in any 2k games.

Just a few things, but as a 2k baseball fan, I don't think I have anything to worry about. I've always wanted to see what VC could do with a baseball game ever since playing NFL 2k and NBA 2k on the Dreamcast. This demo felt very NBA 2k9ish presentation and graphic wise.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 2:11 pm

Thanks for the impressions.. I'm itching to get home!

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 3:34 pm

I don't mean this as a slight, but I think it is obvious that 2K9 won't match up with The Show and that is fine. I just hope it provides a fun baseball experience for the 360 that can be built upon. I am anxious to fire up the demo later on tonight. Hopefully I will be impressed.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:03 pm

Rodster wrote: Cons

1) AI swings at everything in or close to the strike zone
2) AI never swings at balls out of the strike zone
3) Animation exhibits the stop/start/ jerkiness of 2K Sports games. This is not a biggie for some.
4) Crowd is too quiet

sounds like a lot of slider adjustments will be needed

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 5:42 pm

JackB1 wrote:
Rodster wrote: Cons

1) AI swings at everything in or close to the strike zone
2) AI never swings at balls out of the strike zone
3) Animation exhibits the stop/start/ jerkiness of 2K Sports games. This is not a biggie for some.
4) Crowd is too quiet
sounds like a lot of slider adjustments will be needed

I think the difficulty is set to Easy by default.

Gangrel · Post by **Gangrel** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 6:39 pm

I just played one game before supper. I am probably an idiot, but how does the pitching metre work?

When I do step one of the gesture, the circle starts off full. If I let it go to almost nothing before doing step two of the gesture, does that mean the pitch will be more powerful?

How does one miss on a pitch then if there is no accuracy thing to do? Or am i just not "getting it"?

Also, maybe I've forgotten, but how do i get my runner to steal a base? I know :T is to lead off, and LB seems to be a MAX lead off, but I could never get him to steal......

I'll play some more later, but I already like it better then last year. Just so long as the sliders, etc will fix the game and it was in fact on easy....

skinsfan · Post by **skinsfan** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:15 pm

Overall,pitching and hitting with the right stick feels much more responsive and intuitive than last year.The CPU does hack at most everything,but I have gotten the lower order guys to swing at stuff out of the zone.
The CPU pitcher throws nothing but strikes,but changes speed and location a bit.I like the hit variety and feel that I can "place" hits to a certain degree.

Presentation,of course,is miles better than last year and the graphics are improved as well.I Haven't had any frame rate problems,either.

I think if there is a CPU Takes/Swing slider and a CPU Pitch Location/Throws Strikes slider that work,this may be a decent game of baseball.

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:58 pm

Played a few games & was smiling the whole time. Great announcing, love the fielding cam, and it looks great. Saw some nice foul balls & a few gap'ers. Hit one to the wall & outfielder was crouching to "rob it". I thought 'here we go with one robbed HR a game junk...' and then the guy leaped, mistimed it, and it bounced off the wall for a double - cool with me!

Also, it wasn't until the end of game & they announced the "pepsi player of game" that I was reminded of the whole pepsi ad "controversy". Didn't even notice the ads during the game. Good stuff. Let's hope the online is smooth!

snaz16 · Post by **snaz16** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:29 pm

They don't by chance have a demo out for the pc ? As usual silver members get shut out of the demo for a week. I'll be playing the show by then. M$ curious decision always baffles me on this. Good thing I wasn't on the fence to begin with

tjung0831 · Post by **tjung0831** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:10 pm

Played one game so far and i'm very happy. This one appears to have a lot of potential. Game is smooth as butter, the TV style presentation is the best i've seen in any sports game in regards to the different camera angles and they pull it off flawlessly. Game is gorgeous...maybe not so much up close but the shots of the ball in play are beautiful. Default batting and pitching felt good to me...haven't felt this good about a baseball game since MVP 2005....well at least one that I can play anyway. I went from wait and see how the reviews go next week to 1st day purchase....no brainer for me as it's been awhile since I've had a decent playing ball game. For those of us that have been jonesing for a good 360 baseball game...I think we have a definite winner here. Looking forward to next week and this might even be a take a day off work and play all day kind of game...those are far and few between these days for me.

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:19 pm

snaz16 wrote:They don't by chance have a demo out for the pc ? As usual silver members get shut out of the demo for a week. I'll be playing the show by then. M$ curious decision always baffles me on this. Good thing I wasn't on the fence to begin with

Apparnetly Ronine, guru of the 2kforums, is looking into a demo for the PC game. So we could know something by the end of the day to sometime next year.

For reference the PC Demo for NBA 2K9 came out 11 days after it was released. I am pretty sure that Steam was the first to have it.