MLB 2K9 Official Thread of 360 owners fingers crossed

[bdoughty]

Zone batting for me, High Heat style. I like my pitching an fielding metered, preferably using buttons. If 2K9 is playable online, they really need to let users play with whatever setup they want. Why limit the options online?

[Rodster]

I prefer zone hitting because it's automatic as the computer calculates everything for you. With cursor hitting you have to place the bats sweet spot where you think the ball is going to be in the strike zone. In reality cursor hitting tends to be more realistic because if you were at the plate trying to hit the ball you would lower or raise the bats trajectory including moving your body either into or away from the pitch.

Like I said I prefer the lazy way out as I suck at cursor hitting so it's zone hitting FTW.

[pigpen81]

Zone batting for me, High Heat style. I like my pitching an fielding metered, preferably using buttons. If 2K9 is playable online, they really need to let users play with whatever setup they want. Why limit the options online?

Funny...I don't remember you loving zone hitting/High Heat when you were touting the ASB series along with Baseball Guru back in the old OS days.

As long as the hitting physics are fixed for MLB2K this year...I will be happy. It had no rhyme or reason last year.

[bdoughty]

Yea I really just hated baseball season as it brought out the worst in everyone.

* I remember old guru getting really pissed at my ASB police stuff and calling me out. My Christmas card to Cookusu at OS will always be my favorite. It was Trip Hawkins wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, with his kids as the next years HH graphics team. Finally a crew that could draw within the lines.

[Pete]

I never played ASB and cannot remember if I played a game using cursor hitting, but isn't cursor hitting and zone hitting essentially the same except for a visual aid for cursor hitting? (Does that sentence make sense?)

With zone hitting you are moving the left or right stick to where the pitch is coming in. Your success having something to do with how and where you move the stick to. Cursor hitting, maybe with the cursor starting over the plate, your success depends on seeing the pitch, moving the cursor to where the pitch is coming in and, with both instances, hitting a button as the timing of the swing.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I do not see too much of a difference, just the visual aid.

[Gangrel]

It's sort of the same, but not really.

Think of Zone Hitting as a square covering the batter's POV to the pitcher. Depending on how granual the box is, it affects how many "zones" are in the box.

Think back to the digital controller days. There would be 9 zones, each corresponding to the directions you could point the pad in.

Nowadays, with analog sticks, it's probably possible to have a square with many more divisions in it, enhancing the contact results, etc.

So, if i see a pitch coming high and outside, I can push the stick that way to make contact with the ball.



With cursor hitting, you have infinitely more swong possibilities, as the sweet spot of the bat would be wherever the cursor is. However, to me I always felt this interface is more "chasing the ball with a cursor" then reacting to the pitch as it's thrown.

Usually in cursor hitting you can place the cursor anywhere, and it stays there. So, if you're guessing outside and putt he cursor way out on the edge, and the pitch comes inside instead, you need to drag the cursor back inside, and that always felt unnatural to me......


Maybe it's just because I needed a differnt way of thinking if I was using a cursor, but I always disliked it.

I actually liked the idea of the Swing Stick, and am glad they are keeping it. I agree the physics need to be greatly improved though. Those boys have some might big wrists with the way I always saw homers from low, outside sliders and change ups!

[JackB1]

Web...I agree completely with what you said...

hitting is based on TIMING and LOCATION.

MVP's system was all about timing. If you timed it right and it was a strike,
you wouldn't miss the ball. Not realistic.

ASB's system was about timing AND location. It was possible to get the timing right and miss. Very realistic.

HH - "zone hitting" is almost a hybrid of the two, but not quite. You have to get the timing right AND pick one of 8 locations. Problem is that the system decides for you if you hit the ball squarely, under it or over it.

I prefer to have as much control as possible over hitting and your timing AND location should dictate where and the type of hit results.

[MizzouRah]

I'm a fan of the swing stick and I hope they improve on it some more this year.

[JackB1]

I'm a fan of the swing stick and I hope they improve on it some more this year.

What improvements would you make?

[MizzouRah]

I'm a fan of the swing stick and I hope they improve on it some more this year.

What improvements would you make?

Imagine if the R thumbstick was tied to the bat. (think if it as the shot stick in NHL 09) I'm not just talking just pull back and push forward to swing, but precisely tied to the bat.. no matter what direction you moved the stick, the bat would follow.

So your batter is up to bat and pulling the stick back would also pull the bat back.. in real time.. not just when the pitcher is about to pitch. So, forward and to the right would (rt handed batter would hit the ball opposite field, forward and to the left would pull the ball, etc...

Pulling the stick back and forth while in practice would literally move the bat back and forward. Power would be a multiplier of where the ball was hit on the bat, the point at which the bat hit the ball and the ratings of the player at bat.

[Gangrel]

That is what they attempted to do last year, mostly. If I swung out to the right, and the pitch was outside (on a right handed hitter) my chance of good contact was far greater then if I pulled the stick to the left.

As for Jack's comments about making contact, yes, a zone or swing interface leads to some "computer calculations", but if someone created a completely free "analog zone hitting" that would solve that.

I'd just want it to be fast enough to move the aiming point when I move the stick, whereas I always found cursers "lagging".....

[macsomjrr]

I've never personally been a fan of the swing stick in action but in theory I think it could be a great way to play baseball games. Cursor batting is the ultimate experience in my opinion. Usually it take weeks of practice to get halfway decent but once it all finally clicks there is nothing like it. 2K4 was a fantastic example of cursor batting done right.

[MizzouRah]

My point is they need to tie the bat directly to the stick, each little movement of the stick, also moves the bat... not just when it's time to swing.. pull the stick back, just a bit and the bat comes back just a bit. Push it to the left and you tuck your arms in, to the right and you hands go out over the plate. You could do this whenever you wanted to once you get into the batter's box.

I also really liked the pitching in 2k8, one very big bright spot in that game.

[greggsand]

I also really liked the pitching in 2k8, one very big bright spot in that game.

Pitching & Fielding (meter) ruled. Hope they don't touch it.

[bdoughty]

I also really liked the pitching in 2k8, one very big bright spot in that game.

Pitching & Fielding (meter) ruled. Hope they don't touch it.

I do. I hope they allow for the meter to be used with buttons (along with R-stick) when fielding. For some reason I prefer the buttons in baseball games.

[Pete]

I really enjoyed the throwing for the fielding, the problem was prior to the throwing. Each fielder felt exactly the same.

Also, the CPU made way too many diving plays. You see maybe 1 or 2 in real life per game. In this game you saw 5 or 6, at least.

[GTHobbes]

I'm on my iPhone so I can't post a link, but gamespot has a hands-on preview with a couple of new screens. Someone over at OS has a link up.

[MizzouRah]

I'm on my iPhone so I can't post a link, but gamespot has a hands-on preview with a couple of new screens. Someone over at OS has a link up.

Thank you! Heading over there now...

[FatPitcher]

That is what they attempted to do last year, mostly. If I swung out to the right, and the pitch was outside (on a right handed hitter) my chance of good contact was far greater then if I pulled the stick to the left.

As for Jack's comments about making contact, yes, a zone or swing interface leads to some "computer calculations", but if someone created a completely free "analog zone hitting" that would solve that.

I'd just want it to be fast enough to move the aiming point when I move the stick, whereas I always found cursers "lagging".....

ESPN MLB had this, if I understand you correctly. I forget what it was called, trueaim or something. It was the default batting option. It was specifically designed to eliminate the problem with cursor positioning lag while at the same time relying on user input to determine outcomes instead of dice/ratings like High Heat's zone system.

Anyway, imagine an arrow connecting the center of the zone to the ball's location. To get the best contact, you had to push the direction of the arrow with the left stick. It didn't matter how far in that direction you pushed it, just how close you were to the right direction. The further away your "arrow" was from the ball's position on the correct "arrow", the worse the contact, although that penalty was reduced the closer the ball was to the middle of the strike zone.

It sounds complicated, and the calculations were indeed pretty complex, but the end result was that you just try to point in the direction of the ball and swing.

[bdoughty]

I'm on my iPhone so I can't post a link, but gamespot has a hands-on preview with a couple of new screens. Someone over at OS has a link up.

Thanks

Here is the linkage.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sports/ ... ot;title;1

[JackB1]

My point is they need to tie the bat directly to the stick, each little movement of the stick, also moves the bat... not just when it's time to swing.. pull the stick back, just a bit and the bat comes back just a bit. Push it to the left and you tuck your arms in, to the right and you hands go out over the plate. You could do this whenever you wanted to once you get into the batter's box.

I also really liked the pitching in 2k8, one very big bright spot in that game.

I would also like to see the left stick tied to your feet and the forward shift of weight and step. When hitting in real life, those are the 2 key movements you have to time properly. The weight shift and the swing.
You would need to use both sticks properly to hit the ball.

[GTHobbes]

I'm on my iPhone so I can't post a link, but gamespot has a hands-on preview with a couple of new screens. Someone over at OS has a link up.

Thanks

Here is the linkage.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sports/ ... ot;title;1

Thanks, bd. Hopefully they are able to make good on their aim to hit 60 fps.

[Slumberland]

"If it has been a while since you've played 2K Sports' MLB 2K series, don't be surprised if the first pitch you throw on the mound is a strike."

I keep re-reading that sentence and can't quite figure out what they mean by it. Do they mean to say that pitches are easier to control, and that's a good thing? If they've removed the timing circle without making the right stick input super-duper-ultra-discerning, I'm guessing it got a lot easier. That would sort of suck in my book.

Interesting about the new graphic engine. I still don't understand why the game looked great in 2k7 and awful in 2k8, but hey.

Two paragraphs about the trading cards in that preview. Necessary?

I hope it's good, just as a change of pace game from The Show. The fielding still promises to me more interactive than Sony's game.

[webdanzer]

"If it has been a while since you've played 2K Sports' MLB 2K series, don't be surprised if the first pitch you throw on the mound is a strike."

I keep re-reading that sentence and can't quite figure out what they mean by it. Do they mean to say that pitches are easier to control, and that's a good thing? If they've removed the timing circle without making the right stick input super-duper-ultra-discerning, I'm guessing it got a lot easier. That would sort of suck in my book.

Slumber, we're of one mind when it comes to this stuff. Look what I was posting on SGN pretty much the same time you made your post here:

'*&!%#%(&)^!%%&!%&#

The (*!^(^#)_ FIRST SENTENCE of the preview is enough to piss me off.

I'm never going to get a game that allows me to throw walks, am I? NEVER.

All they needed to do was to make the 'meatballs' simply balls. The nonsensical 'meatball' pitch as a result of ill-timed or incorrect user input may be the worst convention EVER in baseball gaming.'

[JackB1]

"If it has been a while since you've played 2K Sports' MLB 2K series, don't be surprised if the first pitch you throw on the mound is a strike."

I keep re-reading that sentence and can't quite figure out what they mean by it. Do they mean to say that pitches are easier to control, and that's a good thing? If they've removed the timing circle without making the right stick input super-duper-ultra-discerning, I'm guessing it got a lot easier. That would sort of suck in my book.

I think (and hope) that's a typo. I think they meant to say"isn't a strike".
That makes more sense. I hope they didn't change too much about the pitching system, because it was near perfect IMO. They just need a better tuning option so you can make it as hard as you want to throw strikes.