MLB 11 The Show a quick tidbit

[Rodster]

Thanks for saving me $60 Grant. I am definitely skipping a year. For me the audio was part of the game I thoroughly enjoyed and they managed to screw that up, what a shame.

[matthewk]

By the way, I sped the game up by changing to fast play and it seems to be even quicker than last year. I can see getting in a game within 35 minutes easily on fast pace.

Does fast play keep the batter walkups and some cutscenes? I think in the past they removed batter walkups, so it took me a second or two to figure out who was up. I just want the time between pitches sped up without losing all the other presentation.

I was one those bored with the Show last year, and had more fun with 2k10. I still play '09 once in a while. Three things I wanted out of '11 were 1) analog controls like 2k10, 2) More exciting atmosphere, and 3) faster pace in between pitches.

[GTHobbes]

I almost didn't download the demo because I usually get no fun out of playing with teams other than the Cards. Nothing on tv last night so I figured what the hell, I'll d/l the demos for The Show, Dragons Age and Lego Star Wars and at least give the new analog controls a go. I'm so glad I did.

For someone who has been following the Cards for close to 40 years now, and playing baseball videogames almost just as long, this game is like a dream come true. I'm in the completely opposite camp as some of you guys in that I dislike fast speed baseball and instead love the "slower" pace setting (not sure if it was there in previous years or not). When I sit down to play, I WANT to spend a good hour and a half playing a baseball game, knowing I can save at any time. I love on the "slower" pace setting that pitchers walk off the mound between pitches, and that hitters take a step out of the box and go through their rituals between pitches (I also LOVE being able to call time out this year by pressing down on the d-pad -- so cool!). I want to play a baseball game that looks just like one I'd watch on tv, and no game other than NBA2k11, maybe, does that better than The Show.

For as good as the game has been the past 6-7 years now, it did start to feel a little stale to me 2 years ago and I can relate to how some guys might just be tired of the whole Show experience. But adding the broadcast fielding camera last year, and all of the new pre-set pitching and hitting camera angles this year, along with the new analog controls which I didn't think I'd like but am now coming to love (more on that in a second), has made The Show feel like a new game to me. I also love all of the new pre-set hitting and pitching camera angles they've added, and can't wait to get my hands on the camera editor to come up with some of my own, which can only help keep the game feeling even more fresh.

As for the analog controls, it took me a couple of innings to get a hang of the pitching -- and even when I did get the hang of it, I still wasn't getting the calls with Lincecum that the other side's pitcher was getting (it was cool that the announcers even picked up on it and mentioned it a couple of times throughout the 7 inning game). After playing with it, I don't think I would ever want to go back to the old (or any other) pitching meter. Felt great when I hit my spot and got the call, and the challenge involved with missing your spot adds a little something different to every pitch in the game.

I also had trouble getting the hang of the analog hitting (think I struck out 12 or so times in the first game I played), but I think with some time in the BP cages I'm going to get the hang of it and really enjoy the change. There were already a couple of times last night when I guessed right on the pitch location where I was really able to step into the pitch and make good contact with the ball and had a very rewarding feeling that I've never experienced with a button press hitting model. I don't think I'll ever use the analog fielding (never liked fielding meters to begin with), but as for the analog hitting and pitching I think I'm going to be in love.

I can see where people feel like the commentary is stale, but again I'm kind've the opposite -- I can't believe how much audio they have recorded for just about everything and anything that could and does happen in the game. Last night, the first time a guy on the Rangers came up, one of the announcers mentioned that the last time he put on a uniform in October it was a Giants uniform (he played for them last year). It was an unremarkable line of audio, but one they must've specifically recorded over the offseason. It is baseball, a game that many think is a slow (dull) game to begin with, and so we're never going to have use for a Gus Johnson type in this game, but I'm amazed at just how seamlessly they have updated the audio over the history of this game.

So I went from someone who had the game pre-ordered but was not looking forward to the demo, to someone who absolutely loves the demo and thinks March 8th can't get here soon enough. If anyone is up for a once a week league this year, I'd love to get in (as the Cards).

[Brando70]

Is classic hitting still included as an option?

[GTHobbes]

Is classic hitting still included as an option?

It is. I tooled around for a bit in the available options last night and I don't think they took out any options from previous years.

[GTHobbes]

Won't have to wait until March 8 to try out the custom camera after all, just have to jump through a few hoops. Saw this posted over at OS:

"Here is a quick 'How To' on enabling custom cameras in the MLB 11 The Show demo.

The only requirement is a second controller.

1) Pause the game and select Team Select.
2) Move controller 2 to the same team as controller 1.
3) Exit the Team Select screen.
4) The Cameras option is now available to select.
5) Select Cameras.
6) Move the Batting View or Pitching view to any of the 5 Custom cameras.
7) Press the Square button to Edit Camera.
Edit, Save and Enjoy.

Edit: You may now move the second controller back to CPU and return to playing single player with the custom camera."

[Aristo]

I can feel you pain in trying to figure out the two step hitting. You're right, 2K finally axed it becasue it was just not intuitive enough to pull off.

That said, we were able to avoid the two step issue by dropping the step influence to zero in the sliders before it was taken out. I would imagine there will be some ability to do so in the Show. That way, stepping early or late won't affect the ability to make contact.

[dbdynsty25]

I played my annual one game preview of the demo and I'm impressed with "some" of the new controls. I LOVE the pitching mechanic significantly more than 2Ks version...it seems to me it's more natural as far as a pitching motion goes so it didn't take me long to pick up on it and enjoy it. The hitting and fielding is another story...not a fan. I'm sure I'll stick with the classic controls for both of those things because they just don't make sense to me at all. Old school is better when it comes to those two aspects.

I could care less about commentary because 5 games into a 162 game season, they start to repeat and I turn off the announcers and listen to music/podcasts anyway. The rest of the presentation package is impressive...the camera configuration is a stroke of genius (long time coming in a baseball game since it's been in nearly every other game).

Now that I've played it, I'm good...time to delete it and wait for retail (thanks Lex!).

[Gurantsu]

I can feel you pain in trying to figure out the two step hitting. You're right, 2K finally axed it becasue it was just not intuitive enough to pull off.

That said, we were able to avoid the two step issue by dropping the step influence to zero in the sliders before it was taken out. I would imagine there will be some ability to do so in the Show. That way, stepping early or late won't affect the ability to make contact.

Yeah, I turned off the step influence in 2K. It just didn't feel right, and certainly didn't give me any sense of rythym, even when I got a good hit. The Shows version in the demo feels the same way, heck, even worse. Being able to turn it off would be a big plus for me. I'll still mess with the demo, but as it stands MLB is a no-buy for me at the moment. Who knows, maybe I'll figure it out and end up loving it!

The funny thing is it looks like another year will go by without the "must buy" feature for me. If they would put a one-pitch option in the manager mode it would be a no brainer for me, as I'd play the game more as a management sim. Its strange, because its in the RTTS, but not in regular manager mode. If that was there it would be a purchase, no question about it.

[Aristo]

I can feel you pain in trying to figure out the two step hitting. You're right, 2K finally axed it becasue it was just not intuitive enough to pull off.

That said, we were able to avoid the two step issue by dropping the step influence to zero in the sliders before it was taken out. I would imagine there will be some ability to do so in the Show. That way, stepping early or late won't affect the ability to make contact.

Yeah, I turned off the step influence in 2K. It just didn't feel right, and certainly didn't give me any sense of rythym, even when I got a good hit. The Shows version in the demo feels the same way, heck, even worse. Being able to turn it off would be a big plus for me. I'll still mess with the demo, but as it stands MLB is a no-buy for me at the moment. Who knows, maybe I'll figure it out and end up loving it!

The funny thing is it looks like another year will go by without the "must buy" feature for me. If they would put a one-pitch option in the manager mode it would be a no brainer for me, as I'd play the game more as a management sim. Its strange, because its in the RTTS, but not in regular manager mode. If that was there it would be a purchase, no question about it.

to be honest, I don't even like the one pitch mode in text sims anymore. With Diamond Mind, I wold go into pitch-by-pitch whenever I had baserunners. It's just not realistic any other way. You approach changes based on what happens. You might decide to steal on a 2-0 count. You won't have to sacrifice after a wild pitch. Or maybe a guy goes to third, and now you want a sac fly over a single.

I would love a graphical sim like Baseball Pro, and it is really the only way I'm interested in online play. But console games lack a ton of what is needed to actually pull it off. A super solid web presence, with the ability to sort files and stats is needed to make a sim worth the effort.

I really prefer having gestures for pitching, but since 2K ditched the three step mechanic from 2K8, it really doesn't make much of a difference, as it is too easy to locate. That third step, where you held the until the meter collapsed to the tight level was very similar to what the Show is doing with their meter. It allowed for under and over throwing.

I am really curious how the analog controls will go over. 2K overreacted to cries of it being too difficult, and made it too easy. At least The Show has a solid button set-up to go back to. But analog provides a deeper experience, so I am wondering if folks will be able to go back if they don't work right. Some of the impressions are that that throwing with a fielders is not accurate enough. But even that should be able to be fixed with sliders.

But 2K11 gets the sim part right, along with its franchise mode, the PC version might be the BBPro game many have waited for. But that is a really big if.

[JRod]

My demo downloaded in about an hour and a half, not too bad for PSN.

After playing it, I may give a skip to this years version.

I really like the analog pitching and fielding. But the batting is just plain terrible. 2K tried this "take a step then swing" crap years ago, and dumped it because no one liked it. I feel super detached from the batting, can't hit a thing, and it's like a random influence. For Pete's sake, there is a line between realism and playability that you have to be careful about crossing. Sony jumped right over it!

I've only played 3 games (the final 2 switching teams so I could only bat), so I'll mess with it some more. But with people updating rosters online so far I'm thinking of saving my $60. I played 2K a lot more last year anyway, plus I won't have to start my RTTS guy over again.

Commentary actually got worse. Karros does sound like he is in a different booth when speaking. The dialog just sounds canned. Still, having sliders to turn down individual announcers is nice.

Sadly not impressed at all so far.

Pretty much disagree with this. I think it's closer to MVP 05 where it takes out the perfection of button pressing and makes it more timing based. You still have to aim with the left stick but it's no longer confined to pressing a button and having to be perfect. That's how I felt last year. Plus it was always too easy to check you're swing.

I think the batting method is a good improvement. On all-star, I hit better in one 4-inning game than I did after 30 games last year. Maybe it's because I don't try to locate pitches. If it's in the zone, I swing. If it's around the corners and depending on the swing counts, I think about it. I get fooled on pitches but that's how it should be. So let's say the count is 2-0 and I see one in the middle, I swing. It should have been that way last year, but the game put too much emphasis on the cursor. I think they give you more of an ability to fight off pitches when you don't locate right but the timing can slap the ball away.

For me it's more intuitive and I say that hating the MVP rock-n-swing.

[matthewk]

When I sit down to play, I WANT to spend a good hour and a half playing a baseball game, knowing I can save at any time. I love on the "slower" pace setting that pitchers walk off the mound between pitches, and that hitters take a step out of the box and go through their rituals between pitches (I also LOVE being able to call time out this year by pressing down on the d-pad -- so cool!). I want to play a baseball game that looks just like one I'd watch on tv, and no game other than NBA2k11, maybe, does that better than The Show.

This is the complete opposite of what I am looking for. When I play a game nowadays, I want it to be fun. Spending over an hour on a single game of videogame baseball is not fun, no matter how realistic it is. At that point I'd rather just sit back and watch an actual game on TV.

A lot of games have gotten real good at mimicing what we see on TV, but as a result they've become less fun to play, at least IMO.

[Danimal]

Interesting. Only took me a little over 30 minutes to download the demo last night. YMMV I suppose.

Maybe since i am critical of Sony they capped my download speed

Seriously everything I download off the service takes forever.

[Diablo25]

Alright, I must apologize. I take back a LOT of what I said with regards to the game play. Even though, I wasn't very specific before, but I did comment that it felt very much like '10.

By the way, I sped the game up by changing to fast play and it seems to be even quicker than last year. I can see getting in a game within 35 minutes easily on fast pace.

Good to hear on the fast play. Thanks for the impressions.
I'm at 94% on my download so I'll be striking out in about 5 minutes

The PSN gods will see this and it will take you 5 hours to download the other 5%.

No doubt! Well, I did get it downloaded and I had fun playing a few games. The analog pitching is fun. Surprisingly I was good at analog hitting. The lighting and player models do look better. Overall, it looks like a solid game. I will agree that the gameplay remains nearly the same and that leads to the 'same old same old' syndrome.

[Brando70]

When I sit down to play, I WANT to spend a good hour and a half playing a baseball game, knowing I can save at any time. I love on the "slower" pace setting that pitchers walk off the mound between pitches, and that hitters take a step out of the box and go through their rituals between pitches (I also LOVE being able to call time out this year by pressing down on the d-pad -- so cool!). I want to play a baseball game that looks just like one I'd watch on tv, and no game other than NBA2k11, maybe, does that better than The Show.

This is the complete opposite of what I am looking for. When I play a game nowadays, I want it to be fun. Spending over an hour on a single game of videogame baseball is not fun, no matter how realistic it is. At that point I'd rather just sit back and watch an actual game on TV.

A lot of games have gotten real good at mimicing what we see on TV, but as a result they've become less fun to play, at least IMO.

I have to agree. The longer the season is for an actual sport, the faster I want to get through a game of it. Last year with MLB I stayed in Fast Mode and then occasionally switched to broadcast for key games.

[Pete]

Download took forever for me also.

Really like the analog pitching. Will be more difficult to paint corners this year. In one game I played, in the first two innings I threw 34 pitches and gave up only two hits.

Was not a fan of the analog hitting in MLB2K so not sure if I will use it in this game. I will give it a chance. Seems pretty straight forward. Pull right stick back when the pitcher releases the ball and time the forward push of the stick; move the left stick to the zone to get better contact. Pretty simple and seemed to work well.

Always liked the analog fielding in MVP and this seems to be just like it. Hopefully will feel like throwing errors are my fault instead of just random. Turned a perfect 5-4-3 DP that felt great.

Can't wait to get the full copy and tweak all of the cameras and move the pitching meter.

Put me in the camp that enjoys the long baseball game. I play when I have the time, not to fill the time.

[Leadfoot5]

Really enjoyed the demo, especially the new analog controls. Just wish the fans would sit the heck down behind home plate!!!

[Badgun]

I can feel you pain in trying to figure out the two step hitting. You're right, 2K finally axed it becasue it was just not intuitive enough to pull off.

That said, we were able to avoid the two step issue by dropping the step influence to zero in the sliders before it was taken out. I would imagine there will be some ability to do so in the Show. That way, stepping early or late won't affect the ability to make contact.

Exactly what I did. I liked the pitching enough to stick with it, but immediately changed the fielding to button throwing and changed the hitting to timing.

[AJColossal]

It was what I expected. If you're bored of the series, this probably won't sway you because after the novelty of the analog controls, there isn't much new in terms of the overall feel of the game. If you're a fan, then you're probably excited about the continued refinement of the game.

Like many of you, I have mixed feelings about the analog controls. I think there's a lot of potential with the pitching, as it probably has the best overall feel when compared to hitting and fielding.

Fielding, I'm not sure what exactly I'm doing yet, so I'm going to reserve judgement. There are definitely more errors going on, and they seem to be recorded correctly, which wasn't always the case before.

Defensively, there were some intersting things going on with the OFers with dropped balls. One was dropped outright for an error. LOL. Thought it happened too infrequently before, and here it happens in my first demo.

There was also a play where an OF was racing to a gap to catch a flyball and it bounced off his glove. I thought that was pretty cool, because that was always an automatic out as long as you can get to it, but in real life, that play is not always made. Since there was so much ground t cover, it wasn't ruled an error, which I also thought was cool.

As for the analog hitting, I don't think I'll be going that route. Part of the problem is that it just didnt feel rewarding. Just felt too clunky. The other part of the problem is that the button pressing just works perfectly for me, so why bother learing a whole new system?

Other than that -- cool new animations, continued improvement of hit variety, etc. Good to see they are constantly trying to update and improve stances and pitching motions.

I'm excited for the full release.

[vinny-b]

When I sit down to play, I WANT to spend a good hour and a half playing a baseball game, knowing I can save at any time. I love on the "slower" pace setting that pitchers walk off the mound between pitches, and that hitters take a step out of the box and go through their rituals between pitches (I also LOVE being able to call time out this year by pressing down on the d-pad -- so cool!). I want to play a baseball game that looks just like one I'd watch on tv, and no game other than NBA2k11, maybe, does that better than The Show.

This is the complete opposite of what I am looking for. When I play a game nowadays, I want it to be fun. Spending over an hour on a single game of videogame baseball is not fun, no matter how realistic it is. At that point I'd rather just sit back and watch an actual game on TV.

long as we're taking a vote, am definitely in the camp which GTHobbes outlined above. To me, this is the point of a baseball simulation.

[fanatic]

I usually avoid demos on games I consider to be "must buy's". However, the new controls have me curious.

I'm like some of you, in that I really prefer to finish my games in a short(er) amount of time. 45 mins or less is ideal for me.

If the fast play mode doesn't get me in that range, I may consider a mix of simming and intervening. From what I remember, you can go back and forth - this could help me feel like I'm getting more of my season in without losing total control.

[GTHobbes]

When I sit down to play, I WANT to spend a good hour and a half playing a baseball game, knowing I can save at any time. I love on the "slower" pace setting that pitchers walk off the mound between pitches, and that hitters take a step out of the box and go through their rituals between pitches (I also LOVE being able to call time out this year by pressing down on the d-pad -- so cool!). I want to play a baseball game that looks just like one I'd watch on tv, and no game other than NBA2k11, maybe, does that better than The Show.

This is the complete opposite of what I am looking for. When I play a game nowadays, I want it to be fun. Spending over an hour on a single game of videogame baseball is not fun, no matter how realistic it is. At that point I'd rather just sit back and watch an actual game on TV.

long as we're taking a vote, am definitely in the camp which GTHobbes outlined above. To me, this is the point of a baseball simulation.

Great thing is, these guys (SCEA) give us a choice rather than ramming either "fast play" or "slower pace" settings down our throat. To that end, I think the sheer number of choices we can make with options and settings is just awesome. Between all of the different choices in camera angles, hitting methods (zone, guess pitch, simple timing, etc.), control options (analog vs. button press), presentation options (cut scenes vs. RTP), I think it's pretty remarkable what SCEA has been able to do from the "adding options and never taking any away" standpoint over the past 5 years or so. For that (and allowing in-game saves), they should definitely be commended, IMO.

[Brando70]

It's not that I don't appreciate or enjoy the presentation. I definitely do. But I also enjoy progressing through franchise modes, and that's just impossible for me when it takes 60 minutes to get a game in for a sport like baseball.

The only thing I never liked about Fast Play was the lack of info when a batter came to the plate. I have to pause and see who I was facing. It would have been nice if a quick stat overlay appeared to the side or something.

It is really nice that we have that option in The Show, I just wish it was a little more customizable.

Cool to hear about outfielder errors. One of the only gripes I had about The Show was that there wasn't much difference in fielding by OFs beyond their speed.

[Gurantsu]

I also give credit for SCEA giving users options, there are a ton in there to tweak the game to play how you like it. So if I just can't get the hang of the hitting (I am getting a little better!) I can always go back to button pressing. Of course that brings me back to thinking if I even need this years version at all.

Of course, these kinds of choices are a good thing for a baseball game fan to have.

[JRod]

I also give credit for SCEA giving users options, there are a ton in there to tweak the game to play how you like it. So if I just can't get the hang of the hitting (I am getting a little better!) I can always go back to button pressing. Of course that brings me back to thinking if I even need this years version at all.

Of course, these kinds of choices are a good thing for a baseball game fan to have.

What cameras do you guys find helpful. I just can't get one that let's me see the ball and the strike zone better. I wish they'd make the strike zone smaller but that's just me. Because the difference between a great pitch is inches but it feels like feet. It would also make pitching harder to it the zone. Right now it's too easy to throw a strike and your misses are a strike.

It's not really a complaint of the game but this is just how baseball have always been. The only one I ever felt was small enough and hard to hit was High Heat.