MLB 14 The Show: Why You Should Pick Up The Vita Version

Feature Article

Submitted on: 04/30/2014 by Dustin Toms

Is the handheld version worth your time and money?

The daily grind of a baseball player is much less enticing than most believe. The constant repetition of doing the same thing every day; the bus rides that last hours upon hours; the crazy and zany promotions in a Minor League Baseball stadium. These are just a few of the obstacles one must work through before suiting up for The Show.

But that daily grind in real life is nothing compared to the daily grind one must endure when it comes to console gaming. SCEA has been attempting to successfully recreate a virtual world where you can experience all of these instances and more: MLB The Show’s Road to the Show game mode. It’s a challenge to be able to sit down and play 162 games, let alone do it all in your living room on a consistent basis. However, the game has changed: SCEA has introduced cross-platform saveing to help gamers continue their storied success between a consolse and a handheld. It’s a true gamer’s dream, and something that takes what is nothing less than a port and turns it into a worth-while purchase for the baseball gamer on the go.

That’s why MLB 14: The Show for the PS Vita is worth your money, even if you’re planning on purchasing the PS3 and/or PS4 version. The grind of a real baseball player may be different than your grind in RTTS, but the thoughts are the same – you want to do as much as you possibly can in the allotted amount of time you are given. The Vita allows you to play a few games right before bed, simulated or not. It let’s you take your career to work so you can shuffle around stats and attributes. Then once you get home, feel free to launch the next game on your PS3.

MLB 14: The Show on the PS Vita is an almost-exact port of the PS3 version, which earned a solid review for the umpteenth time at Operation Sports. The great gameplay is there in all of the right places: pitching, hitting, fielding. The graphics are even on par with the home console’s version, but are slightly behind due to the limits of the handheld system (this will all change on May 6). But the point of this version of the game isn’t because of the damn-near identicalness of the two different systems, it’s the ability to save your career and franchise on the Vita and continuing it on a home console.

If you’ve been battling back-and-forth about picking up The Show for the Vita, you should simply stop and go pick it up now. You’ll use it much more than you think – I can attest to that fact. Cross-saves within The Show should only be the beginning. Assuming Madden NFL and NBA 2K ever want to serious effort into the handheld market, this should definitely be on their radar.

What are your thoughts about cross-saving between platforms?

MLB 14 The Show Videos

Member Comments

# 1 GlennN @ 04/30/14 11:52 AM

Heck, I am playing a ton of The Show 14 on my Vita and I don't even own a PS3. I just wish we got the current Madden and any hockey game on the Vita!

# 2 MikeRoss @ 04/30/14 11:53 AM

I just went through your exact thought process this past Saturday and finally picked up the Vita version. Partly because I can't wait til May 6th to play The Show, but primarily because the cross-save aspect is awesome.

The one thing I am still curious about is how well PS4 Remote Play will work for the game. If Remote Play is available for the game and it works well enough, it might eliminate the need to pick up the Vita version for some people.

# 3 Inhocmark @ 04/30/14 01:14 PM

Using remote play mostly with FIFA and I can tell you pretty much that if you're not on the same network with your two devices and in a nearish proximity then your results will likely be spotty/non existent.

Playing within a floor of my PS4 (its in the basement) is not an issue. Go to the upper level and I get screen tearing and warnings about the connection.

I can't imagine that it works all that well off network. If you really want The Show on the Go, then buying a copy might be the only way to go. I did it last year and you give up a wee bit playing on the VITA but its not all bad.

# 4 mcmax3000 @ 04/30/14 02:22 PM

I've been really close to pulling the trigger on a Vita for The Show for a while now. It's even more tempting right now since I just found out that I'll still be working part time through the summer while I'm in school.

The only big thing stopping me is the memory card pricing. When I'll be spending $200 for the system, and like $40 for the game, I don't want to add a bunch more on top of that.

# 5 mcmax3000 @ 04/30/14 02:29 PM

Just looked around, and apparently in Canada, at least online, the Vita is basically impossible to find right now. I can't find a single retailer that has any options other than the Borderlands 2 bundle that's not out for a couple more weeks.

# 6 JLattire @ 04/30/14 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcmax3000


	I've been really close to pulling the trigger on a Vita for The Show for a while now. It's even more tempting right now since I just found out that I'll still be working part time through the summer while I'm in school. The only big thing stopping me is the memory card pricing. When I'll be spending $200 for the system, and like $40 for the game, I don't want to add a bunch more on top of that.

I recommend purchasing a Vita. It seems like a lot of money, but if you can find a memory card on sale that helps a ton. I bought a 32gb card from Gamestop for $50 in December. And if you have PS+ you can a good amount of games for free to play. One of my favorite features is remote play. Almost every time I'm watching a game on TV I'll remote play NBA 2K of FIFA on my Vita and sim through some games. When the game is over I'll switch over to my PS4 and continue from where I left off.

# 7 mcmax3000 @ 04/30/14 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JLattire


	I recommend purchasing a Vita. It seems like a lot of money, but if you can find a memory card on sale that helps a ton. I bought a 32gb card from Gamestop for $50 in December. And if you have PS+ you can a good amount of games for free to play. One of my favorite features is remote play. Almost every time I'm watching a game on TV I'll remote play NBA 2K of FIFA on my Vita and sim through some games. When the game is over I'll switch over to my PS4 and continue from where I left off.

Unfortunately in Canada, we don't get a lot of the great sales that you guys do in the US. I don't think I've ever seen Vita memory cards discounted up here.

A lot of the system bundles seem to come with 8GB, so I may end up pulling the trigger on one of those, and just using that (since The Show will be the main thing I use the system for, and I'll buy a retail copy of that) until I can find a deal of some sorts.

# 8 rkocjay @ 04/30/14 03:26 PM

i had the vita verison since day 1 just watching until may 6 for ps4 n then EPIC

# 9 Blublub @ 04/30/14 06:02 PM

If you're having problems finding one it's likely due at least in part to the shift to the new revised model. This is the one that ships with the Borderlands bundle. If you're a fan of the original OLED (like I am) then you probably want to hunt a bit more to score one of the originals before they are gone. Either way the Vita is a great piece of kit with some fantastic games - you can't go wrong.

# 10 PES3Paul @ 04/30/14 06:06 PM

But how do we know Sony will update the Vita version? I'm playing it, but I think I'm a version behind.

# 11 Iceman87GT @ 04/30/14 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcmax3000


	Just looked around, and apparently in Canada, at least online, the Vita is basically impossible to find right now. I can't find a single retailer that has any options other than the Borderlands 2 bundle that's not out for a couple more weeks.

The Borderlands 2 Bundle comes out next week (5/6), you could literally pick it up the same day that you pick up the Show for the PS4 (assuming you are planning on doing that). That is unless Canada is getting it later than the US, but I believe region determines release date.

# 12 Iceman87GT @ 04/30/14 07:52 PM

I've had the past 2 versions of the Show on the Vita, decided to wait on getting it this time around.

I will wait to see how much I enjoy the PS4 version, simply because I played the crap out of the Show on the Vita for the first 2 months and then started playing it sparingly, and haven't picked it up since the summer. I'm not sure I want to spend another $40 on a game that I wind up playing for 2 months and then fall out of playing, when I have 2 versions of the game that are largely the same.

If the quick pitch proves to be as enjoyable and as time-saving as I hope it is I'll grab it on the Vita and utilize the cross-save ability. Until then I'll stick with my Pitcher RTTS on 13, I prefer the ability to point right to where you want the ball to be rather than trying to use the analog to place it (I've got shaky fingers, though I think the new analogs on the DS4 may minimize that issue for me).

# 13 thiel82 @ 04/30/14 08:15 PM

I was skeptical on the Vita version initially (MLB 12), but ended up LOVING it. All three editions have ended up getting more play on my Vita than my console, and as a 31yr old male, I wouldn't have expected that. I don't ride a train to work, and don't travel a lot for work either (typically 1-3 plane trips a year), yet I love not only my MLB on Vita, but my Vita.

Might be the best 'console' I've ever purchased, and it is still yet to really discover its capability.

# 14 Inhocmark @ 04/30/14 10:31 PM

Going beyond sports games the Vita is getting excellent support from Sony with the PS+. The Indy games are fantastic and it is just all around a great gaming system. It will not replace a tablet or phone, but you will get higher quality games. Very happy with my purchase

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

# 15 zrtelford @ 05/01/14 01:24 AM

so to get this right. If I have both PS4 and vita version I can play the same season on both versions whenever I choose via a cloud save?

# 16 bcruise @ 05/01/14 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zrtelford


	so to get this right. If I have both PS4 and vita version I can play the same season on both versions whenever I choose via a cloud save?

Correct!

You could also play the PS4 version ON the Vita thanks to the remote play feature (this can be somewhat dependent on network latency though)

# 17 mcmax3000 @ 05/01/14 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iceman87GT


	The Borderlands 2 Bundle comes out next week (5/6), you could literally pick it up the same day that you pick up the Show for the PS4 (assuming you are planning on doing that). That is unless Canada is getting it later than the US, but I believe region determines release date.

One of the sites I was looking at up here when I posted that had it listed as the 13th, but when I look now, the ones I'm seeing seem to indicate next week, so that may have just been a mistake.

I am picking up The Show on PS4 next week, but I'll be getting that delivered to me (I pre-ordered from EB online before Sony hiked up their PS4 prices here in Canada, so I don't want to cancel), so I might go out on lunch today, and see if I can find one in stores, rather than having to make a trip on Tuesday (and then I can play The Show this weekend too).

# 18 Pezell04x @ 05/01/14 09:18 AM

So I basically picked up a Vita for The Show and man, I'm happy I did. I've had it since the April 1 release date and I'm already a couple seasons in my RTTS. The games move quick (I'm a SP) and the graphics are great for a handheld.

There are some things you'll need to realize. There's no replays on HRs, double plays, etc.

I'm really enjoying the Vita as a whole. I recently bought Chrono Trigger and the slew of PS Plus games have kept this system in my hands.

# 19 mcmax3000 @ 05/01/14 09:22 AM

Hmmmm... It looks like all the current bundles come with a 4GB memory card, and the Borderlands one comes with an 8GB card. Might be best to wait until next week in that case.

# 20 duc748s @ 05/01/14 01:30 PM

The 13th date you saw was for the Boarderlands 2 game for the Vita (game only, that's the release date). You could always pick up a Sony Accessory kit for ~$20US, it comes with a 4GB card, cloth, Screen Protector and soft case. I would really try and get one now with the OLED screen, the BL2 Vita has an LCD screen.

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