I took the past couple of hours getting impressions from our forum users of Major League Baseball 2k8 to get a feel for how the community is reacting to this game.  Check out some of the impressions I found:

BluenGold34: "Well I just downloaded the patch, turned off the ticker and ball trail, and moved to aerial cam, it made a pretty significant difference for me on the Framerate.

I love the new hit variety, and the hitting does seem much better this year. The aerial cam reminds me of one of the cams that was created for MVP 05 PC. I hit a bomb with DLee and it was cool as hell to watch it sail over the wall from that point of view.

I really think that if there wasn't such an emphasis on the framerate issues, people would be having a hella good time with this game."

UGA14: "My biggest gripe is why the hell do the players in the OF run into each other???? I stand under the ball or get there first and my other outfielder comes and takes me out. So far it's cost me 4 runs in my current game."

ehh: "This game is very, very good. I have no idea, maybe I got a different game than most other people - the framerate issue is the only thing I've seen so far that I don't like.

The hit variety is amazing, Swing Stick is very good (I'll actually use it this year unlike in 2K7), pitching is very fun but has a pretty steep learning curve, etc."

mogrod:  "Was is buttery smooth? No. But I hardly even noticed it while playing the game even after reading everything on here.

I liked how it played for the most part. Like everyone else has said, the new pitching controls take time to kind of get the hang of. I gave up 6 runs to the Marlins with Oswalt (4 in the 1st inning) but it was because a) me not understanding the controls fully and b) he got tired and I pushed him anyway resulting in some bad pitches. In between though, he was starting to be lights out. I like the difficulty of it because it makes it that much more rewarding when you K someone.

I used classic hitting and only scored a run on default sliders. Though, I'm not one to be judged on because I've kind of sucked at hitting the last couple of years on 2K.

I didn't think graphically it was that bad. Could it be better? Sure, but I can't complain.

Really, the only thing I can complan about was the post game. It was trying to go through all the replays and cutscenes, etc and it was like watching a dirty DVD, pausing every couple of seconds.

Overall, after one game mind you, I'm enjoying it and looking forward to delving into the franchise."

Maynard:  "the pitching this year is incredible and even though its early, i dont see people ever being able to fully master this in the sense that they will always make perfect pitches.......you always have to execute correctly and thats nearly impossible to do with the analog stick every single time

i didnt use the hit stick last year.....i didnt like the way it felt......i do like the feel this year and im enjoying it so far......im still getting used to seeing the pitches again so i kinda suck right now......i havnt figured out how to check swing......

i mentioned earlier that the contact swing ability wasnt working (where you push down to step and then just release the stick for a contact swing vs pushing up for a power swing)......i remember reading that they removed that from the game all together and that you always have to push up.......in the tips, they have swing stick 2.0 and another tip for swing stick......maybe they have an option to revert back to using the stick like last year cause that where i read that tip.......

im loving the fielding, and im totally in love with the pitching......the gameplay feels great so far, but its still early.......im on default all pro so im glad that sliders dont seem to need to be adjusted just yet

graphics are just as good as last year.....presentation is just about the same as last year.......it will take me a few days to determine if the gameplay is better"

BigWill33: "Well everything was on default, so I didn't mess with much. I forgot how much I hated breakpoint pitching lol. So I hard time spotting pitches for a bit. I really was missing with breaking balls, and had a few in the dirt and wild. Once I calmed down I was better. I walked 4 and struck out 5.

I still swing too much when batting. I am new to the swing stick like I said, and I step too early all the time. I love the wide array of hits and the ball off the bat now. It travels more realistically for sure.

I saw a double play broken up! I loved that, finally. I hate the pfp line again in the announcing, and the announcing in general and tiresome. I remembered to turn on surround sound and the sound is neat. Hearing the crowd say little things, or an airplane flying overhead is cool.

The pauses when coming up to bat (even when you skip cutsceenes) are annoying as all hell.

Game took forever to play, mostly because my first game and taking everything in, but there is not that much to take in.

I like that the catcher puts fingers down, but it takes forever for him to call the pitch then set up.

I felt like I had little control over the runners on the bases, and didn't really want to touch anything when they were out there as fear of f'n up.

Presentation is the same, and that is a letdown. The overlay cutsceene thingy pauses too, and it gets annoying.

Crowd looks worse by far, guess that is for framerate that sucks anyway.

No neat little things like on the show, beachballs, players doing baseball things between plays etc. Would like to see like a helmet come off when sliding or something.

Walkups are slow and pointless, you will be skipping over them in no time, but still suffering the slowdown.

I like that Dice K has his windup and that influences the pitcher interface. Makes using different pitchers fun and exiting a little.

The writing seems smaller on the lineup cards and everything else, not sure why, I have a 42 inch plasma, I should get some bigger writing.

I like the throwing, it adds a neat dimension to the game.

Um, I can't think of much more to say right now after one game, but it has that meh feel to it. Like I am far from being excited I have this game, and don't see it holding my interest to complete a season. I wish I had a ps3 for the show, but what are you gonna do? Alot of the things mentioned wrong with that game would bug me too, so neither are perfect by far.

I am just the kind of guy that needs something to keep coming back to a game, a niche or newness that drives me to want to play it non stop. This game lacks that from what I can tell so far."