MLB 2K9 Official Thread of 360 owners fingers crossed

[webdanzer]

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.

No, they have made it easier:

'The focus is still on the right stick, with each pitch in your pitcher's arsenal having a unique pattern to follow. Unlike in MLB 2K8, however, the timing is much easier. Last year's game featured an expanding and contracting onscreen ring in the strike zone, which determined both the effectiveness and the timing of your pitch. In MLB 2K9, the contracting ring has been removed, effectively removing the "timing" aspect of pitching and thus the rash of meatballs you would unwittingly throw in last year's game. Producers told us that pitching is still a challenge, but the game will focus more on the accuracy of your right stick movement than the timing of your release. Considering our intense dislike for last year's pitching system, this felt like an improvement to us, though obviously more time is required to see how the system plays out in the long run.
'

EDIT I'm going to be pissed all day now. Damn these 'OMFG! I have to actually do something to get pinpoint control of my pitch location?!?!!!' videogamers...

EDIT 2 F'in 'meatballs' ....I'll show those developers F'in meatballs. Rub 'em right in their faces I will....

[GameSeven]

With little doubt, 2K's fascination with meat pitches is the biggest disappointment with this game's pitcher/batter duel. With the possible exception of curves and sliders not breaking as expected, a bad miss on your timing window should *unquestionably* result in a pitch that misses the zone, not grooves the plate.

Hell, with the gesture based pitch selection, the timing window shouldn't relate to the break of the pitch at all, but the release point, high or low.

I know The Show has promised something of a revamped P-B duel. The jury will remain out on that until we get some details, but this is undoubtedly unfortunate for the 2K series IMHO.

[greggsand]

Anything that equals less "meatballs" the better. I can always play with the slider to make the AI a tougher hitter, but the fact that meatball equaled an instant HR nearly every time took the some of the fun out of it. In real games, sometimes a pitcher will groove one & the batter stills pops it up to shortstop.

[MizzouRah]

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.

Not a bad idea.

[toonarmy]

I read the hands-on. It looks as if this year's game will be an upgrade. Of course 2K Sports will probably let a lot of glitches get through as well. I am still having a ball with Power Pros on the Wii, so it's water off my back if this game does not pan out. Aside from the cartoonish graphics Power Pros is the best baseball game on a console I have ever played.

[bdoughty]

Just an FYI, the admin over at the 2ksports forum listed all the batting types, to clear things up from the article.


---------------------------------------------------------------

Let me clear it up. There are 3 ways to bat.

1) Default – Time your swing with the RSTICK by pressing BACK then UP. In this mode, the LSTICK influences your hit (Left=Left, Right=Right, Up=Flyball, Down=Groundball)

2) Zone Hitting - Time your swing with the RSTICK by pressing BACK then UP. In this mode the LSTICK moves the HITTING CURSOR that looks like a bat in order for you to hit the ball, you have to put the cursor in the same zone where the pitch is thrown. The zone hitting cursor also has a “sweet spot” where if the ball is lined up perfectly with that sweet spot, the player will get a boost to the hit.

3) Classic – Press A to Swing

----------------------------------------------------------


Guess I will have to get used to the R-stick if this is the only option for Zone Hitting.

[JackB1]

Just an FYI, the admin over at the 2ksports forum listed all the batting types, to clear things up from the article.


---------------------------------------------------------------

Let me clear it up. There are 3 ways to bat.

1) Default – Time your swing with the RSTICK by pressing BACK then UP. In this mode, the LSTICK influences your hit (Left=Left, Right=Right, Up=Flyball, Down=Groundball)

2) Zone Hitting - Time your swing with the RSTICK by pressing BACK then UP. In this mode the LSTICK moves the HITTING CURSOR that looks like a bat in order for you to hit the ball, you have to put the cursor in the same zone where the pitch is thrown. The zone hitting cursor also has a “sweet spot” where if the ball is lined up perfectly with that sweet spot, the player will get a boost to the hit.

3) Classic – Press A to Swing

----------------------------------------------------------


Guess I will have to get used to the R-stick if this is the only option for Zone Hitting.

#2 for me for sure!

Funny how it's called "Zone Hitting", but it sounds like cursor hitting

[JackB1]

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.

No, they have made it easier:

'The focus is still on the right stick, with each pitch in your pitcher's arsenal having a unique pattern to follow. Unlike in MLB 2K8, however, the timing is much easier. Last year's game featured an expanding and contracting onscreen ring in the strike zone, which determined both the effectiveness and the timing of your pitch. In MLB 2K9, the contracting ring has been removed, effectively removing the "timing" aspect of pitching and thus the rash of meatballs you would unwittingly throw in last year's game. Producers told us that pitching is still a challenge, but the game will focus more on the accuracy of your right stick movement than the timing of your release. Considering our intense dislike for last year's pitching system, this felt like an improvement to us, though obviously more time is required to see how the system plays out in the long run.
'

EDIT I'm going to be pissed all day now. Damn these 'OMFG! I have to actually do something to get pinpoint control of my pitch location?!?!!!' videogamers...

EDIT 2 F'in 'meatballs' ....I'll show those developers F'in meatballs. Rub 'em right in their faces I will....

That really sucks. Why not give people options instead of dumbing it down? Even with last year's system, I was able to hit spots pretty easily.
Sounds like pitching will be no challenge this year. Hopefull I can adjust the control slider and the speed of the meter to make it harder to pinpoint your pitches.

[bdoughty]

IGN Hands On

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/948/948394p1.html


IGN got a couple new screens

http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/142/ ... mgs_1.html

[bdoughty]

Despite the fact that the build was 90 percent complete, there were still some issues to be ironed out before opening day on March 2. For starters, the team on-hand for our demo said that 60 frames per second was very important to this year's game; a notion that brought me back to EA Sports' classic MVP series on Xbox. Sadly, it appeared that only the standard batter/pitcher camera angle was able to hold a smooth 60 frames per second, with pans of the field during a hit and shots of the crowd sending the framerate plunging.


Maybe by very important they meant, by the second patch, a couple months after the game has been released.

Most of the IGN hands on is the same as Gamespot. Online is mentioned but they were not able to play it.

[sportdan30]

Screen shots look nice. Hope the 50 plus mph winds on the jerseys have been severely toned down. I'm cautiously optimistic, but the lack of 60 fps with the fielding is definitely a concern.

[MizzouRah]

Screens look nice... can't wait to see some actual gameplay.

[MizzouRah]

Screens look nice... can't wait to see some actual game play.

Now the mechanic works like this: Make one move with the right stick and a circle fills, when it reaches its max you make the second motion with the stick. Complete those two steps (you can opt to add the third step through the menus) and your pitch should be spot-on. The difficulty of pitching raises as you progress through a game and your pitcher becomes fatigued. Of course, composure is also a factor so you'll need make sure that your setup man has the fortitude to face Ryan Howard with a man on second and third with nobody out in the eighth inning.

A third? VERY interesting...

Rather than having to perfectly time your step with the pitch and then the all-important swing, players can now simply hold down on the right analog and swing when the time is right without fear of looking like a lumberjack chopping wood. This made it much easier to tee off on balls with the big boys of the lineup. That is, once I got the timing down.

This sounds great to me.

Other aesthetic differences from MLB 2K8 include a new base throwing meter that is functionally the same as last year (meaning it's still governed by the right stick) and pitches that are identifiable thanks to a flash of color as they cross the plate.

Love the color to determine pitches.. MVP had this.

The change starts with a new duo in the booth in Gary Thorne and Steve Phillips. Almost as important is the fact that their comments will now be able to cut off when something exciting happens in the game, then pickup where they left off once things calm down. It might seem small, but the feature helped keep the two commentators from droning on needlessly.

Interesting..

2K Share feature that some might remember from NBA 2K9. It lets you give other gamers things like your settings, created players and roster settings.

Glad that's in...

MLB 2K9 has some features that baseball nuts will surely appreciate (like the ability to save in the middle of any game)

YES!!!

Actually.. I took a lot away from that article......

[JackB1]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but pitching and hitting sound identical to last years game. The only exception is that you can disable the 3rd step in the pitching sequence.

[MizzouRah]

I didn't play 2k8 beyond a handful of games, but was hitting the same? I thought it was hitstick 2.0 or something.. but was similar to 2k7's.

[macsomjrr]

Other aesthetic differences from MLB 2K8 include a new base throwing meter that is functionally the same as last year (meaning it's still governed by the right stick) and pitches that are identifiable thanks to a flash of color as they cross the plate.

Love the color to determine pitches.. MVP had this.

MVP had the color change as the ball left the pitchers hand. This has the color changing as the ball crosses the plate. The difference being you won't be told the pitch type until after you've already started swinging.

[JackB1]

I didn't play 2k8 beyond a handful of games, but was hitting the same? I thought it was hitstick 2.0 or something.. but was similar to 2k7's.

I had last year's game and hitting sound identical to me. Except for the color thing and th eability to hit with just one button press.

I went back and played some last night and the pitching system is great. It's a shame they had to mess with it.

[bdoughty]

Gamespy preview

http://ps3.gamespy.com/playstation-3/ma ... Sid=948747

Like last year, 2K Sports is boasting a framerate of 60 frames per second for its lead baseball sim. Also like last year, MLB 2K9 didn't back up that promise -- at least in the demo we saw. As the camera panned across the field before the first game started the view was rather choppy, the playing field lacked the texture we would expect from a new baseball title, and facial renderings weren't extremely accurate. However, there's still over a month to go before the game is released, and our guests seemed surprised by the poor framerate in the demo they brought over.

[dbdynsty25]

Gamespy preview

http://ps3.gamespy.com/playstation-3/ma ... Sid=948747

Like last year, 2K Sports is boasting a framerate of 60 frames per second for its lead baseball sim. Also like last year, MLB 2K9 didn't back up that promise -- at least in the demo we saw. As the camera panned across the field before the first game started the view was rather choppy, the playing field lacked the texture we would expect from a new baseball title, and facial renderings weren't extremely accurate. However, there's still over a month to go before the game is released, and our guests seemed surprised by the poor framerate in the demo they brought over.

My turd-dar is going berserk right now. But I'll get the game anyway.

[Slumberland]

"Another change we liked revolved around the men in blue, the ones who usually sport a pot belly and a quick temper. Nobody goes to a baseball game to watch the umpires, and MLB 2K9 looks to feature a more uniform strike zone than before. This should be a nice change, as it's rather frustrating to throw a pitch that looks like a strike and have it called a ball simply because a particular umpire has his own unique strike zone to memorize."

People don't really want a baseball game, do they. At least people who write previews for major gaming sites.

[JackB1]

As the camera panned across the field before the first game started the view was rather choppy

this sounds vaguely familiar

unbelievable.

[webdanzer]

People don't really want a baseball game, do they. At least people who write previews for major gaming sites.

I have to cut them some slack. I mean, the fact that they are throwing balls is evidence of severe central nervous system disorders...

[MizzouRah]

Other aesthetic differences from MLB 2K8 include a new base throwing meter that is functionally the same as last year (meaning it's still governed by the right stick) and pitches that are identifiable thanks to a flash of color as they cross the plate.

Love the color to determine pitches.. MVP had this.

MVP had the color change as the ball left the pitchers hand. This has the color changing as the ball crosses the plate. The difference being you won't be told the pitch type until after you've already started swinging.

Which I like better.. I shouldn't be able to tell the pitch type when a pitcher releases the ball.. but early in a game it would help to know what pitches are being thrown at me.

[bdoughty]

http://www.operationsports.com/forums/2 ... 2039126816

Just so you guys know, optimization is at the tail end of the to-do list. It only makes sense to get everything into the game and THEN do FPS optimization. Showing the game to IGN, Gamespot, et al was a formality of showing off our focus and direction with the game this year. In no way does it represent the final product.

When you pick this game up off the shelves, it will be running 60. Wait a month and you'll see for yourselves.



For that dudes sake I hope he is right. Sounds a bit off too me. General business practice would be to take a game with a smooth framerate in for previews, especially one that has had this issue the past few years.

[Diablo25]

http://www.operationsports.com/forums/2 ... 2039126816

Just so you guys know, optimization is at the tail end of the to-do list. It only makes sense to get everything into the game and THEN do FPS optimization. Showing the game to IGN, Gamespot, et al was a formality of showing off our focus and direction with the game this year. In no way does it represent the final product.

When you pick this game up off the shelves, it will be running 60. Wait a month and you'll see for yourselves.



For that dudes sake I hope he is right. Sounds a bit off too me. General business practice would be to take a game with a smooth framerate in for previews, especially one that has had this issue the past few years.

I saw that post over at OS and was gonna post it over here. Like you said BD, I hope this is the case.