MLB: 10 The Show -- First Look

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:36 pm

I saw a really cool animation. I'm playing with the Yanks against Philly. Jeter check swings and puts the ball in play. Jeter barely beats the throw to the bag. Howard is about to throw the ball to the Pitcher thinking it was an out.

When the ump calls him safe he immediately turns around and has a WTF moment with the Ump. Classic !

Jackdog · Post by **Jackdog** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:51 pm

Classic Parks are ready to go boys. The Polo Grounds is the s***.

matthewk · Post by **matthewk** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:56 pm

Just played a full game in Miller Park on a clear day. They did change the shadows from '09 for the progressive lighting, but it's not what I first thought. For '09 they must have just picked a time of day, probably later in ther afternoon for the lighting. In '10 the shadows move across the field. BY the 9th inning I finally began to see some of the window lighting coming through and shining in foul territory on the first base side. It's still not what I'd like, since the entire day game has the batter and pitcher in the shade. Now I have to go to a day game to what it's like in real life

After that game I played a few innings at Target Field. Wow what a difference. The lighting looks great in a stadium that's not half covered in shade all game. I'll be playing my season either as the Twins or as teh Brewers in a different park.

I take back my cranky comments about this game. It's a keeper

matthewk · Post by **matthewk** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:56 pm

JackDog wrote:Classic Parks are ready to go boys. The Polo Grounds is the s***.

Now I need a code!

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 9:35 pm

I just simmed a season to see stats and they were pretty good. Nothing out of the ordinary. My Phils made the playoffs. I played game 1 of the NLDS in Col. and they beat me in a very entertaining game 5-1. The real time lighting was very cool. One inning it was very nice and sunny but a few innings became dark with cloud cover (it was an early game).

Other playoff teams were...
LAD vs. StL
MN vs. BOS
NYY vs. SEA

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 9:35 pm

Saw another cool animation, don't remember it in MLB 09. My batter fouls a pitch off home plate and the ball bounces up and catches the ump in the face mask. Ump goes down on all fours.

grtwhtsk · Post by **grtwhtsk** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 9:37 pm

matthewk wrote:
JackDog wrote:Classic Parks are ready to go boys. The Polo Grounds is the s***.
Now I need a code!

Same here!

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 9:37 pm

Rodster wrote:Saw another cool animation, don't remember it in MLB 09. My batter fouls a pitch off home plate and the ball bounces up and catches the ump in the face mask. Ump goes down on all fours.

I saw another one...ump took a foul tip off the leg. He winced in pain, turned around to "shake it off"

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:43 am

JackDog wrote:Classic Parks are ready to go boys. The Polo Grounds is the s***.

As is Sportsman's Park! Wow, is it ever sweet looking.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 3:32 am

One feature that I think it's an improvement over 09 is the pick off department. By holding L2 and tapping the desired icon, I think it keeps players more honest and just feels like you have more control over how you attempt to catch a guy stealing.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 9:10 am

10spro wrote:One feature that I think it's an improvement over 09 is the pick off department. By holding L2 and tapping the desired icon, I think it keeps players more honest and just feels like you have more control over how you attempt to catch a guy stealing.

Yeah I like that feature a lot. Helps with a guy like Pettite on the mound.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 9:52 am

Rodster wrote:
10spro wrote:One feature that I think it's an improvement over 09 is the pick off department. By holding L2 and tapping the desired icon, I think it keeps players more honest and just feels like you have more control over how you attempt to catch a guy stealing.
Yeah I like that feature a lot. Helps with a guy like Pettite on the mound.

I tried a quick pick-off at second base and threw it into center field. I don't think that ever happened last year.

I am seeing a better variety of errors so far this year.

lexbur · Post by **lexbur** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 9:55 am

The fireworks over the pinwheels at US Cellular Field in Chicago every time the Sox homer look cool, but I've been seeing them way too much the past couple nights.

I've lost 8-6 and 14-5. If this keeps up I might drop down to Veteran for pitching.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:01 am

lexbur wrote:The fireworks over the pinwheels at US Cellular Field in Chicago every time the Sox homer look cool, but I've been seeing them way too much the past couple nights.

I've lost 8-6 and 14-5. If this keeps up I might drop down to Veteran for pitching.

Last year I believed that the CPU had too much power and hit too many home runs. That was one slider I did adjust, CPU power.

I have not played enough games this year to see if that is the case again, but I certainly know what you are talking about.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:14 am

lexbur wrote:The fireworks over the pinwheels at US Cellular Field in Chicago every time the Sox homer look cool, but I've been seeing them way too much the past couple nights.

I've lost 8-6 and 14-5. If this keeps up I might drop down to Veteran for pitching.

I think I may bump up my hitting to All-Star and my pitching will stay at Veteran. I'm averaging a home run a game. Not that I'm complaining. Last year on Veteran, I was hitting a home every three to four games.

What a difference between Carpenter and Penny. Last night, I only got to play a few innings but Carp was cruising through three and locating his pitches remarkedbly well. The night before, Penny was all over strike zone, and his fastball was the only pitch that had any effectiveness. I was struggling through the early innings and fooling no one at the plate. Pitching might not be as intuitive as 2K10, but there's no denying how deep the pitching is with regards to the ratings.

fletcher21 · Post by **fletcher21** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:05 am

Has anyone played a game at Target Field yet? Either as the Twins or against them? I am interested to hear thoughts on the stadium. It's gonna be nice to get out to some outdoor games this year, assuming tickets aren't too hard to find.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:03 pm

Man, I remember when this game used to be easy. That difficulty overhaul that happened between '08 and '09 is still in place... thankfully, I guess? Last year left me caught in between All-Star and HOF, and it might be the same situation this year, but at least now I can mix and match my pitching and hitting difficulties as needed. I'm running a quick 14 game Mets season on straight HOF just to see where that leaves me, but I'm getting knocked around a bit. Conversely, many swings that make 'perfect' contact on even meatballs are going unrewarded, which is frustrating. If there's one thing about baseball games that bugs me, it's that the conditions for success can be so vague sometimes. Things happen and there's little causal explanation. Just numbers crunching somewhere in the deep. Nail the pitching meter and it drifts over the plate to get whacked. Miss the meter and get away with it. That's baseball, I guess, but I want those moments to be the exception, not the norm. Tough to balance sim and arcade, I guess.

The fielding is really cool so far, now that they've finally gotten the throw meter working. I have to think about how much to put on a given throw, and the soft tosses seem very realistic. It's starting to get that MVP 2005 feel... more fluid, with a lot more risk/reward.

Now send me my stadium codes, Amazon. WTF. I'm feeling punished for going with them right now.

matthewk · Post by **matthewk** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:08 pm

fletcher21 wrote:Has anyone played a game at Target Field yet? Either as the Twins or against them? I am interested to hear thoughts on the stadium. It's gonna be nice to get out to some outdoor games this year, assuming tickets aren't too hard to find.

The park looks very cool. It has character. Not a lot of foul territory. It has a very open feel to it, which I like when playing MLB '10. There were a couple of areas I need to take a closer loko at. There was one section out in right center field that looked like it had a brick overhang. Hard to figure out where it would be a HR, kinda like the Astros left field wal that has that weird HR line. It is not a cookie cutter park at all, which is a good thing.

I may just have to make the 5 hour drive west and take a game in there this summer.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:27 pm

The CPU controlled Twins player hit a ball that went off that right cement over hang in right field. At first I thought it was a home run, but it ended up being a triple. Pretty neat collision detection.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:36 pm

I really love the ability to throw warm up pitches as a reviler. With the different angles and speeds of the meter it's invaluable. One of those things until it was put in you didn't know you needed.

I've not had the CPU successfully steal a base on me yet and I am bouncing around playing exhibition games, for whatever reason it is easier for me to pick up on the crowd noise when a runner goes. Still I'd like to see them steal one, I had Soto throw out 3 guys while playing the Yankees.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:44 pm

10spro wrote:
Sport73 wrote:Gamestop didn't give me a code with my pre-order or when I picked it up... WTF?
They're sneaky. I had to personally asked for it and the sales chic then said 'Oh yeah'. Then she went on saying that she only had one code and that I was lucky as the other pre-orders would be out of luck.

Now, I recall putting down the code and it accept it. However I didn't check if the classic stadiums were loaded.

I didn't get a code either at Gamestop and had to ask for one. They didn't have any, but the dude called another store and got one for me. It worked last night. The good news is that the "trade Madden 10 get $40 towards Madden 11" came up as just normal $40 credit along with a 10% Edge Card boost. I was able to apply all that credit to The Show except for $5 on Madden 11. So I essentially traded Madden 10 for $44...not bad.

Love the game so far. I feel it is a significant upgrade for a yearly title this far into a system life cycle.

AJColossal · Post by **AJColossal** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 1:31 pm

And another cool thing about the bullpen is that you can leave a guy in warming up and not worry about fatigue. How many times in baseball games have you left a guy in the bullpen a little too long, only to bring him in to lowered (or zero) stamina? This just doesn't happen in real life, but it happens in games all the time. Glad to see 10 addressed this.

Cool game I played as the Orioles against the Jays. Losing 5-0 in the ninth, I had the bases loaded against JC Romero, who's laboring now, but going for the shutout. His pitch count was around 115.

I single to bring home a run with the score now 5-1 with 2 outs. Immediately Gaston goes to the pen, almost to say "we tried to get him the shutout, but let's seal the deal here". Flew out in the next at bat to end the game.

Thought that was a really good bit of AI that played out in a very realistic way.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 1:43 pm

I didn't know about the bullpen lack of warm up fatigue. I love that new addition!

RallyMonkey · Post by **RallyMonkey** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 1:44 pm

And another cool thing about the bullpen is that you can leave a guy in warming up and not worry about fatigue. How many times in baseball games have you left a guy in the bullpen a little too long, only to bring him in to lowered (or zero) stamina? This just doesn't happen in real life, but it happens in games all the time. Glad to see 10 addressed this.

This is a huge change. I can't remember how many times in the past i had a guy warming up "just in case". My current pitcher gets out of the inning and my two choices were a) leave the reliever warming during our at bats and likely see him fatigued when i want him ready in the next inning or b) sit him down and then when i get him back up in the following inning he's "cold" and i'm fighting to survive until he's ready.

AJColossal · Post by **AJColossal** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 1:58 pm

sportdan30 wrote:I didn't know about the bullpen lack of warm up fatigue. I love that new addition!

I'm not sure that there is completely no bullpen fatigue, but there seemed to be very little or none when I left a pitcher in for a few innings. In last year's game, there would have been a noticeable decline on the bar.

Either way, a definite improvement.