MLB 2K8 interview

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:18 pm

Wow...after playing this game after the Show, it's just bad. VERY BAD. The pitching is VERY good...but the rest...not so much. It's actually worse than last year.

Gangrel · Post by **Gangrel** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:45 pm

Well, I tried the "sign of Live" trick and it helps tremendously. Heck, even pitching and hitting seemed smoother.......

I have a question on hitting tho. Does your step influence if you hit fly balls or not? I seem to have a hard time getting the step timing down, and when I ever DO contact the ball, it's usually a fly ball to the outfield, so I'm getting very little hits.

I was wondering if the stepping had any effect on that, or the Nats hitters are just rated that bad... lol.

Also, I'm finding I'm getting hit HARD on sliders that seem to be prety low. I'm no baseball expert, but if a low slider is breaking away from a hitter, it doesn't seem likely they'd be able to golf it over the centre field fence..... which Pujols did TWICE in one game to me.

Maybe from the "behind the pitcher" cam the pitches look low, but in reality are belt high, but I don't think so.

macsomjrr · Post by **macsomjrr** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:12 am

Gangrel wrote:I have a question on hitting tho. Does your step influence if you hit fly balls or not? I seem to have a hard time getting the step timing down, and when I ever DO contact the ball, it's usually a fly ball to the outfield, so I'm getting very little hits.

I don't believe the step has any influence on whether you pop the ball up in the air or hit a grounder. I've been messing around with my timing using a bunch of different hitters ranging from Ortiz to Pierre and I'm not seeing anything yet that tells me if I'm going to smack a home-run or hit a screaming ground ball. It does seem that perfect contact with a power hitter will usually go up in the air.

Gangrel wrote:Also, I'm finding I'm getting hit HARD on sliders that seem to be prety low. I'm no baseball expert, but if a low slider is breaking away from a hitter, it doesn't seem likely they'd be able to golf it over the centre field fence..... which Pujols did TWICE in one game to me.

Pujols can hit anything anywhere he wants to. He has that low, crouching stance and the power to golf at pretty much any pitch thrown his way and take it deep. Are you sure that you're executing the pitches properly?

Oh, and I'd probably pitch around Pujols in the future:)

Gangrel · Post by **Gangrel** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:16 am

macsomjrr wrote:
Pujols can hit anything anywhere he wants to. He has that low, crouching stance and the power to golf at pretty much any pitch thrown his way and take it deep. Are you sure that you're executing the pitches properly?

Oh, and I'd probably pitch around Pujols in the future:)

Ya, part of me thought it might just be Pujols... but a few others have done the same "how did they hit that for a HR?" too. Granted, I'm sure some where bad pitches, but I've actually been averaging about 90 or so on my gestures..... so it makes me think I might just not be locating the pitches correctly, and assuming they break more (or less) and leaving the balls where I don't want to.

I wish there was a BP mode tho, as I could use the practice hitting. The HR derby is ok, but they only feed you meat balls.....

snaz16 · Post by **snaz16** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:44 am

The demo for the 360 can't be downloaded unless you have a Gold membership

Isn't the point of releasing a demo to give you a taste so if you like it,you buy it? Nice job 2k, between the posts in this thread,and lack of trying the demo,I'll just pass on your game this year. Maybe EA needs to absorb this project and get in on track...what a shame.

Gangrel · Post by **Gangrel** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:51 am

I thought the Gold Membership thing was a Microsoft rule.... That Gold members get the demos exlusively for a few days before silver members can download?

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:18 am

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yIdH8tl-RME

brinkman and ekber

Wilk5280 · Post by **Wilk5280** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:47 am

So I downloaded the demo and tried it out.

I see why they *cough* didn't get it out in time for release.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:48 am

PRBoom wrote:So I downloaded the demo and tried it out.

I see why they *cough* didn't get it out in time for release.

Yeah, it's fairly obvious. My rental lasted all of half a game...I couldn't wait to put the Show back in. There really is no comparison.

Jackdog · Post by **Jackdog** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 5:45 am

Inuyasha wrote:http://youtube.com/watch?v=yIdH8tl-RME

brinkman and ekber

Ben didn't talk about earning game cards at the expense of gameplay. What a stuttering mess on the PS3. I rented this game to see if I was missing something. The answer for me is no! Thank God for SECA.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:38 am

I'm liking the game, but what choice do I really have?

I think it's much better than last year's game and I hope they can patch the issue with VIP hogging the framerate.

TheGamer · Post by **TheGamer** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:07 am

well after logging out of my VIP, I'm able to switch back to 1080i and the game looks great. There is still a 1 - 2 second pause on the batter walk up, and the game still stutters during the post game recap. but no stuttering during the gameplay. I love the pitching and fielding, but I can't hit worth crap. out of 10 games I think I have 1 hit with Alfonso Soriano, and I have a serious problem scoring runs. other than that, I'm having a great time with this game.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:29 am

Finally got some time with the demo last night. Stuttering truly is annoying. Not sure why it took such a step back visually... last year's game had a few things going for it, most notably the visuals. Am I just remembering it wrong? This year's looks like a cross between 2K7 and MVP 2005. Pitching doesn't do it for me... it was still fairly easy to throw strikes, but between checking out the motion legend on the side, doing the motion, and watching that crazy circle thing, by the time the pitch is thrown I'm like 'oh, that's right... I'm playing a baseball game'. There's just something a bit too involved about it. Maybe if you dropped the circle bit and just had to map the motion to the actual windup and release, it would have kept the focus on the game itself. I don't know why there has to be all this voodoo to make pitches more inaccurate, just make them more inaccurate. MLB does this (though not enough with metered pitching) and I remember ESPN 2K4 was fairly good about that too, at least when your pitcher got tired.

The music video fans aimed directly at everyones' mid-sections are hoo-larious.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:30 am

Maybe you guys should try boiling your discs?

I am really sorry to hear about the 2k8 issues. I really liked 2k7 after the patch last year and thought this game would build on that. Oh well, EA will buy them and take this franchise to a new level of misery.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:34 am

TheGamer wrote:well after logging out of my VIP, I'm able to switch back to 1080i and the game looks great. There is still a 1 - 2 second pause on the batter walk up, and the game still stutters during the post game recap. but no stuttering during the gameplay. I love the pitching and fielding, but I can't hit worth crap. out of 10 games I think I have 1 hit with Alfonso Soriano, and I have a serious problem scoring runs. other than that, I'm having a great time with this game.

Yep, the logging out of your profile trick works like a charm!

TheGamer · Post by **TheGamer** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:55 am

well since the community was able to isolate the issue, it should be easy for 2k to put out a patch. which they've been pretty good at imo.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:26 am

TheGamer wrote:well since the community was able to isolate the issue, it should be easy for 2k to put out a patch. which they've been pretty good at imo.

Yeah, but what about the patch for suck?

I downloaded the demo last night and couldn't believe how terrible it was compared to the Show. I have it coming from Gamefly so I'll check out the full version. Even the final release of the Show is worlds better than the demo version so I'll at least give it a go. Outside of the pitching though, it all felt horribly generic.

TheGamer · Post by **TheGamer** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:02 pm

the game shouldn't have been released with the framerate issue, but kudos to 2k for letting us know they are working on it and trying to get a patch out as soon as possible.

http://2ksports.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163317

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:09 pm

TheGamer wrote:the game shouldn't have been released with the framerate issue, but kudos to 2k for letting us know they are working on it and trying to get a patch out as soon as possible.

http://2ksports.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163317

Are they fixing the PS3 frame rate issue as well, or are they half a**ing it?

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:35 pm

sportdan30 wrote:
TheGamer wrote:the game shouldn't have been released with the framerate issue, but kudos to 2k for letting us know they are working on it and trying to get a patch out as soon as possible.

http://2ksports.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163317
Are they fixing the PS3 frame rate issue as well, or are they half a**ing it?

Honestly Dan, I don't think this game will keep you away from The Show.

I'm liking it for what it is, but if I had a ps3, I'd be playing The Show.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:36 pm

Besides the frame rate issue (which is being fixed) what don't you guys like about the game? I tried some more of the demo and the game seems better than 2K7. Instead of saying..."it sucks" or its "worse than last years", how about being a little specific?

I can't really judge this game until I get the full release and mess with the sliders. The demo seems to be on an easy level. Making contact is way too easy and the AI throws 90% strikes. These both can be adjusted with sliders. I only have a 360, so I am going to hope I can make this game work. As long as it plays a solid game on the field, I will be happy. I don't see any "game killers" yet in the demo.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:46 pm

JackB1 wrote:Besides the frame rate issue (which is being fixed) what don't you guys like about the game? I tried some more of the demo and the game seems better than 2K7. Instead of saying..."it sucks" or its "worse than last years", how about being a little specific?

I can't really judge this game until I get the full release and mess with the sliders. The demo seems to be on an easy level. Making contact is way too easy and the AI throws 90% strikes. These both can be adjusted with sliders. I only have a 360, so I am going to hope I can make this game work. As long as it plays a solid game on the field, I will be happy. I don't see any "game killers" yet in the demo.

Those who say it "sucks" are mostly ps3 owners who are playing The Show. I've played The Show demo on my neighbor's ps3 and I'd agree that it's a better game... just not a $400 better game.

I do believe MLB 2k8 is much better than 2k7 - except for the graphics which for me, seem like they really took a giant step backwards. The logos on the jerseys look blurry to me and that's at 1080p. Hit selection alone is worth the purchase for me though. Pitching is the best in any game and the new throwing meter is excellent. I'm also loving the hit stick 2.0.

Overall it's a big improvement over MLB 2k7 and a framerate patch should get the game where I thought it would be.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:58 pm

Hey, I can't comment on 2K8 until I play it. The only thing that has been frustrating as a PS3 owner has been the frames per second issue that we experienced with Madden '08 and NHL '08. I read a comment over at OS from someone who said the frame rate really isn't that bad on the PS3 version of MLB 2K8. He also said that by signing out of his account, the frame rate was much better.

I'm almost certain I'll prefer The Show more, but I am very interested in the pitching and fielding in 2K8. I'm sure this will be something I wish was an option in The Show.

While there is competition between the two games, it doesn't make me more happier that one game is better than the other. I'd prefer two very good games, so we have a difficult choice to make. Also, if one of the games should fold, at least there would be another good baseball game to fall back on.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:00 pm

MizzouRah wrote:"Pitching is the best in any game..."

I don't know man... I like the idea (I suggested something like this on these forums way back in '04 or so) but it's so overwrought with diagrams and overlays, it doesn't really feel like you're pitching. Yeah, it breeds some inaccuracy, but I think there are probably better ways to get there.

Gangrel · Post by **Gangrel** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:13 pm

I have the day off tomorrow so hopefully I get more play time, but I'm finding I suck at hitting right now. I think it's due to the fact on default sliders, the CPU rarely throws ANY balls. As a test I took the first pitch for a few innings, and everyone one of them was a strike.

Thusly, I start swinging at EVERYthing thinkint i's a strike, and end up hittiing crummy pitches......

Aside from this, I like the game though. For me, it's all brand new as i didn't play 2k7, but I can see how the graphics are a bit bland.....

Also, does it appear to others that the players are lit differently then the stadium? It's like my players are in shadows, but the grass looks reasonably lit up?