MLB 2006 The Show Demo at EBGames for a Pre-Order

[Badgun]

BTW, DB, did you see the Roster Control screen where it gives you the option to control the team, its lineups, etc. ? How great is that!

Be careful. I was pumped about that, too until I found out it is an all or nothing thing. Meaning you have to control every facet of every team. Teams will not do anything on their own. No trades, no call ups or send downs. As much as I liked the idea, I decided not to do it for that reason.

[Diablo25]

BTW, DB, did you see the Roster Control screen where it gives you the option to control the team, its lineups, etc. ? How great is that!

Be careful. I was pumped about that, too until I found out it is an all or nothing thing. Meaning you have to control every facet of every team. Teams will not do anything on their own. No trades, no call ups or send downs. As much as I liked the idea, I decided not to do it for that reason.

There is an auto fix option isn't there?

[MizzouRah]

Just press X to skip some of the pitching animations. I let the intro play in full, but when the pitcher is messing around, I hit X to speed it up.

After a few more games, I'm really liking this year's game a lot. Just beat Boston 9-6, but it was one heck of a game. Mulder was shelled and my bullpen pulled through. I was losing 6-5 in the 7th when Edmonds got his only hit, a booming opposite field HR. I love the play of the game, reminds me of NFL 2k5 when they had the big plays of the game.

[Boom]

What level is everyone playing on so far?

[thebigcaptain]

i'm easy to please.
all i wanted from mlb this year was to correct the freezeup bug, and updated rosters and i would have been a happy boy. i know, all you aficianados out there noticed other gameplay issues with last year's game, but as long as the freezeup thing went away, everything else was negotiable as far as i was concerned.

so what happens?

today, i'm playing just the second game out of the box.
(the first game was uneventful.)
all settings default.
exhibition mode.

i'm the yankees at home against the giants.
third inning.
bernie williams homers.
(yay team....i always liked bernie.)

robinson cano is up next.
the announcer's voices disappear, now there is only ballpark ambient sounds for several pitches.
ok, maybe they both went for a beer, games these days are very realistic.

cano is hit by a pitch, you hear the thunk, but still no announcers.
as cano starts towards first base, the tv screen fades quickly to white.
now there's just ambient crowd noise and a white screen.
plus the announcers never made it back from the beer stand.

i sit for a few minutes, staring at my tv, a white screen with the sounds of the crowd in the background.

what to do?

i hit reset.
i hit x.
i hit square.
i hit start.

no dice.

i try the konami code.

nothing.
no extra lives, i mean nothing.

after several minutes of furious button mashing to no avail, i reboot.

it took me over twenty games played on last year's offering before the game lockup problem reared its ugly head.
i have never had any problems with any other game played on my ps2 console before, since, or afterwards.

first party games, second party games, new games, used games.

i mean none.
i mean never.

just mlb.

what exactly is the problem here?

(sigh.)

i'm putting "black" back in the ps2, and i'm going back to shooting people and blowing stuff up. that always works like a charm.

[GTHobbes]

I just lost 6-4 to the Cubs on Hall of Fame level. Carpenter got shelled for a grand slam by Andruw Jones early in the game, and Pujols hit a 3 run shot in the 7th to cut the lead in half. Eckstein knocked in a run in the 9th but the Cards couldn't get any more off Kyle Davies, who was brought in to close it out. Great game.

[dbdynsty25]

Another small bug...

When you have a switch hitter up to bat and the computer subs in a pitcher...the switch hitter will not change sides, regardless of what pitcher came in. How does this stuff get by the testing staff?

[dbdynsty25]

I just lost 6-4 to the Cubs on Hall of Fame level. Carpenter got shelled for a grand slam by Andruw Jones early in the game, and Pujols hit a 3 run shot in the 7th to cut the lead in half. Eckstein knocked in a run in the 9th but the Cards couldn't get any more off Kyle Davies, who was brought in to close it out. Great game.

HUH? Since when are Kyle Davies and Andruw Jones on the Cubs?

[JackDiggity]

Yes I did...I'm definitely stoked about that. Now the only issue is that I've had a freeze. Well not a freeze, but I can't advance.

After I finished a franchise game I pressed X to get past the box scores...it just sat there...and it's still sitting there. WTF...and I've got a brand new PS2 Slim as well.

Nothing like ruining a perfectly good game with freezes. F*CK.

Sorry to hear this man. I read your first impressions and was going to order the game. Now I think I'll wait. Please keep us updated.

I have played about 6 games, Jackdog without any technical problems whatsoever. I still have the same slim PS2 I had last year when I had all the freezing problems. Also, I haven't seen anyone at OS complain about a freeze, at least in the impressions thread. I'd pull the trigger if I were you.

Done deal. I ordered it last night.

[kicko]

well i picked the game up, having not played the series before (never needed to) my learning curve is a little greater. Overall i think the game is great, i'm sure there's bugs, but it plays a great game. I really need to spend more time with it to form a complete opinion of the game but so far so good. I thought the out fielders needed just a little boost in their feet, i found myself running more then in other games, and that was just for pop flys.

What i didn't like was do they even tell you if the other team has pitchers in the bullpen? like in MVP

and how do you know your pitchers tired, all i see is pitch count, and i had T.Wakefield with about 57 pitches thrown in the 7th, so if its by pitch count only i got some tweaking to do.

[lexbur]

and how do you know your pitchers tired

One way to tell is the "sweet spot" in his pitching meter gets smaller or disappears altogether.

Played two full games last night, plus a few random innings, here's some impressions:

-I'm not sure about all the passed balls and wild pitches. Seems like way too many, but it could be just me getting used to the pitching.

-drew a few walks, which was nice, even though I was pretty impatient at the plate all night

-Seemed like every hit was either a single or HR, not many doubles, but again, it could just be me, I'm still fumbling around a little running the bases, baserunning always takes some getting used to from game to game

-Nice to see the CPU baserunners make mistakes (picked a guy off first, nailed a guy at third from rf, threw out 2 guys stealing 2nd)

-Nice to see the umps make mistakes once in a while, adds realism

-I've been playing on fast gamespeed, I guess I need to slow it down to see some of these great animations, I'll try it.

-Alot of Willie Mays over-the-shoulder catches in the OF, but not a big deal

-saw a ground rule double, kinda cool, although it was mostly because I misplayed the ball

-haven't seen the brain dead infielders yet

-no dreaded freeze-ups yet, not even on my rickety old launch-date PS2

Overall, I'm loving the game right now. I was up way too late last night playing.

[Leebo33]

I'm playing the PSP version, but if you hit select you can see the pitcher's energy level bar on that screen along with the pitch counts.

I've seen a lot of doubles and only one instance of braindead infielders in 4 games (let a popup fall by the pitcher's mound...it happens IRL too once in awhile).

[Diablo25]

The key to getting walks, for me, is sitting on pitches when you are ahead in the count. I don't do it often but when I'm ahead in the count 2-1, 3-1, 2-0 etc. I guess the pitch...if I'm wrong I just don't swing. This is a very realistic approach. Last night I was ahead in the count 2-1 so I sat fastball and didn't get one so I took it for ball 3. Now I'm in a bigtime hitters count. I sat fastball again and got a slider...ball 4. Some may disagree with this approach but it will get you some walks and it is a professional approach to hitting.

[MizzouRah]

I just lost 6-4 to the Cubs on Hall of Fame level. Carpenter got shelled for a grand slam by Andruw Jones early in the game, and Pujols hit a 3 run shot in the 7th to cut the lead in half. Eckstein knocked in a run in the 9th but the Cards couldn't get any more off Kyle Davies, who was brought in to close it out. Great game.

WOW! Hall of Fame level? How can you hit on that level?? Tips please!

I can't wait to get home tonight and get a few more games in. I could play this game all day right now.

[AJColossal]

I've been happy with the game as well. Played two full games on All-Star last night, won a game 7-1 and then got handled 6-0! Another game I started was 2-2 in the 7th inning. There looks to be a pretty good variety of scores which is a huge plus in my book.

The biggest quirk I have noticed is going after a hit ball on defense. A couple times I thought I was close enough to make a play, but the ball got by me. Checking on replay, one of the balls was unreachable, but one of the balls went through me, although I did somewhat over-pursue the ball.

The jury's still out, but it could end up to be a fairly realistic way of making you playing defense. Maybe you have to make sure you take a good angle on the ball, or it'll go by. It could also be forcing you to use the dive and jump moves as well, without assuming that you'll just catch it cause you're "close enough" to the ball.

Have any of you tried using a "tight" strike zone? I heard it may help with walks a bit more, although the game is pretty good out of the box in this regard.

[GTHobbes]

The key to getting walks, for me, is sitting on pitches when you are ahead in the count. I don't do it often but when I'm ahead in the count 2-1, 3-1, 2-0 etc. I guess the pitch...if I'm wrong I just don't swing. This is a very realistic approach. Last night I was ahead in the count 2-1 so I sat fastball and didn't get one so I took it for ball 3. Now I'm in a bigtime hitters count. I sat fastball again and got a slider...ball 4. Some may disagree with this approach but it will get you some walks and it is a professional approach to hitting.

This is the exact same approach I've been using with this game for the past couple of years...I agree that it makes it seem more realistic, in my mind anyways. I turned the strike zone to "tight" last night, too, and was very happy to see some borderline pitches being called for balls. The key is to have the patience/will power not to swing whenever you don't get the pitch you're looking for.

And the flip side is..even if you get the pitch you're looking for, there's no guarantee you're going to do anything with it. I've swung and missed before, and I've also still hit into plenty of outs.

[MizzouRah]

I've been happy with the game as well. Played two full games on All-Star last night, won a game 7-1 and then got handled 6-0! Another game I started was 2-2 in the 7th inning. There looks to be a pretty good variety of scores which is a huge plus in my book.

The biggest quirk I have noticed is going after a hit ball on defense. A couple times I thought I was close enough to make a play, but the ball got by me. Checking on replay, one of the balls was unreachable, but one of the balls went through me, although I did somewhat over-pursue the ball.

The jury's still out, but it could end up to be a fairly realistic way of making you playing defense. Maybe you have to make sure you take a good angle on the ball, or it'll go by. It could also be forcing you to use the dive and jump moves as well, without assuming that you'll just catch it cause you're "close enough" to the ball.

Have any of you tried using a "tight" strike zone? I heard it may help with walks a bit more, although the game is pretty good out of the box in this regard.

I tried tight last night and it seemed to yield more balls called. Everything seems damn good out of the box, minus a few quarks here and there.

This is one game I let the animations play out, except I'll spded up the pitcher at times, it's done so well. It seems to me the levels are only for hitting and pitch guessing difficulty - meaning the AI plays tough on rookie just as it does on all star, which is nice.

[Boom]

Anyone else having problems getting online?

I get past the DNAS and updates etc, but then when I select my account name I get a Network Error wtih the following message:

"The SportsConnect Login operation has failed. Please try again later."

Then once I press X for "ok" it freezes on me.

This happens everytime I try to get online.

[MizzouRah]

Has anyone maxed out the pitch count slider yet?

This was posted by Chris a few days ago when asked about the slider:

RE: Pitch Count Slider. This slider does a lot more than just effect the AI pitcher nibbling at the corners. It affects the User pitcher as well. It effects pitcher stamina, accuracy, foul ball frequency, and a bunch of stuff to balance the game towards higher pitch counts. I personally play with the slider all the way up, as I have tried to learn to be a more patient hitter and want to see more walks. As Badgun will recall, I used to swing at everything.

I think I might max that one out tonight and see what that does in relation to gameplay.

[AJColossal]

Interesting find, MizzouRah. When I get home, I'm definitely going to try "tight" strike zone and maxed pitch count.

What do you guys think of lowering the contact slider? Last year, it kind of helped with hit variety. Although it's pretty good out of the box, I wonder if it would improve it even more.

[sportdan30]

Gonna try that here at lunch on the PSP.

[kicko]

yeah i have not touched sliders yet until i know for sure what needs tweaking, This could very well be my BB game of choice this year, the only thing from 2k that i like a lot is the catcher telling you what to throw.

[MizzouRah]

Interesting find, MizzouRah. When I get home, I'm definitely going to try "tight" strike zone and maxed pitch count.

What do you guys think of lowering the contact slider? Last year, it kind of helped with hit variety. Although it's pretty good out of the box, I wonder if it would improve it even more.

Yep, I'm going to try rookie level, maxed pitch speed and maxed pitch count sliders. Hit variety seems perfect, so I'm not messing with that yet and fielder arms seem fine to me as well.

[sportdan30]

Without a doubt, the pitch count makes a difference. I played the last three innings of a game (Cards vs. Cubs) that I started yesterday evening. Sure, if you want you don't have to move the cursor, the majority of the time it'll be a strike. Then again, you run the chance of getting it smacked. By positioning the cursor elsewhere in the zone, you're not guaranteed you're going to throw with pin point control.

With Carpenter, I worked the count on several occassions compared to the first 6 innings. Heck, I had only thrown 40 something pitches in those six innings whereas the two innings he did pitch, he threw at least 4-5 pitches to each hitter. I'm definitely a believer so far in this slider being maxed out. By the way, I didn't change the strike zone to "tight" but I was definitely getting squeezed on more than a few calls. Excellent!

Further, the CPU pitcher is all over the strike zone. I'm rather impatient at the plate, but you definitely see more pitches outside the strike zone. I may have to turn down the pitch speed to induce more walks, so I can time the pitches better. Regardless, the pitch count slider is a great feature.

[MizzouRah]

Without a doubt, the pitch count makes a difference. I played the last three innings of a game (Cards vs. Cubs) that I started yesterday evening. Sure, if you want you don't have to move the cursor, the majority of the time it'll be a strike. Then again, you run the chance of getting it smacked. By positioning the cursor elsewhere in the zone, you're not guaranteed you're going to throw with pin point control.

With Carpenter, I worked the count on several occassions compared to the first 6 innings. Heck, I had only thrown 40 something pitches in those six innings whereas the two innings he did pitch, he threw at least 4-5 pitches to each hitter. I'm definitely a believer so far in this slider being maxed out. By the way, I didn't change the strike zone to "tight" but I was definitely getting squeezed on more than a few calls. Excellent!

Further, the CPU pitcher is all over the strike zone. I'm rather impatient at the plate, but you definitely see more pitches outside the strike zone. I may have to turn down the pitch speed to induce more walks, so I can time the pitches better. Regardless, the pitch count slider is a great feature.

Good news!!