MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

I am curious about online play. Any details on how Online Franchise will work? How is it not having to fill 162 games and still play in a league?

Also, I realize you might not have been able to tell during community day, but what about lag? Did they discuss/explain what things were done this year to improve upon this issue? This is the only issue I see with the game and last year I admired their recognition of the issue and attempts to fix it. Anything you can share on what was done for this game would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

As Knight said, Nem will have a pretty extensive write-up and information will be in there about the online League options. They are pretty darn cool is all I am going to say.

As far as online performance and latency, we are not able to test it in house. Without getting into too much detail, because I am sure Kolbe would not want me spilling the beans about the technical fixes, but lets just say every year they will improve.

I do know they re-written from the standard Sony SDK on how it handles online, etc specifically to work for The Show and only The Show, so that should help since it is not just a generic tool used for all games.

Until there is a budget for dedicated servers, we will always deal with the peer to peer issues, but it sounds a lot like there was some nice strides for improvement.

I also talked with him about possibly having an app to download that we could run dedicated servers on the PS3, like Warhawk, and he did seem open to it. The only scary part is now that the PS3 has been cracked, they would be worried about people getting into the app and then figuring things out to do nasty things to their servers.

But there should be some good improvements judging by the sounds of the technical side of things.

[Spaced Ace]

Re: MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

Have there been any improvements made to the balls to strikes ratio? Is it easier to draw more walks if you have a good eye at the plate? Thanks for any info.

[ahr19]

Re: MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

Nemesis will have a write up on online.
I'm speaking outside of the actual connectivity here....because that's impossible to tell....but the setup of online leagues is going to be AWESOME this year.

After Nem does his write up...I will tack on something that quite a few of us have been asking for ...for quite some time.

M.K.
Knight165

Thanks. I live for the online leagues so this makes me happy. Can't wait to hear about details. All that next is to see about lag.

As Knight said, Nem will have a pretty extensive write-up and information will be in there about the online League options. They are pretty darn cool is all I am going to say.

As far as online performance and latency, we are not able to test it in house. Without getting into too much detail, because I am sure Kolbe would not want me spilling the beans about the technical fixes, but lets just say every year they will improve.

I do know they re-written from the standard Sony SDK on how it handles online, etc specifically to work for The Show and only The Show, so that should help since it is not just a generic tool used for all games.

Until there is a budget for dedicated servers, we will always deal with the peer to peer issues, but it sounds a lot like there was some nice strides for improvement.

I also talked with him about possibly having an app to download that we could run dedicated servers on the PS3, like Warhawk, and he did seem open to it. The only scary part is now that the PS3 has been cracked, they would be worried about people getting into the app and then figuring things out to do nasty things to their servers.

But there should be some good improvements judging by the sounds of the technical side of things.

Great info so far. Looking forward to hearing the specific details. I'll be waiting for it.

[econoodle]

Re: MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

Have there been any improvements made to the balls to strikes ratio? Is it easier to draw more walks if you have a good eye at the plate? Thanks for any info.

Maybe its only me, but having custom batting cameras should help immensely with getting a bunch of walks as u can set the camera in a position to read pitch location better as it crosses the plate.

I am still having a killer time trying to gauge the low pitch over the middle.

[Stikskillz]

Re: MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

Is it easier to pull back bunts when the batter can see the pitch is going to be a ball? In MLB 10 this was difficult to do and always ended up being a called strike, even when the pitch was an obvious ball. Online players would take advantage of this and throw balls in obvious bunting situations making it almost pointless to attempt a sacrifice because the bat could not be pulled back in time. Most of the time in this situation you are forced to try and drag bunt with a pitcher or any batter to not tip your hand. Drag bunting also helps you to wait longer to make sure the pitch is in or near the the strike zone so the bunt can be attempted. However, it could also be very ineffective with batters with low bunting ratings.

I hope it has been addressed because it will force pitchers to put the ball in the strike zone. Batters will be able to pull back and take the pitch easily and put the pitcher in a position where he won't want to walk the batter and be forced to get the out. This will add even more realism to the small ball portion of the game which can often times be critical and the difference between a win and a loss.

All in all, this fix is a win win. If any of you CD guys know the answer on this that would be great!

Thank you!

[aces01]

Re: MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

Two quick questions I have after reading some of these responses.

1. Now that there is balking in the game, is there a way to turn the option off? I like the added realism, but I'm sure sometimes I will just be trying to get through games. I feel like that could add a significant amount of time to every game if I have to pause in between pitches.

2. What are your impressions on every team having it's own custom camera angles. I though this was a really cool feature they added, but it seems like it hasn't been talked about much. Does it give each stadium a different feel?

[nemesis04]

Re: MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

Two quick questions I have after reading some of these responses.

1. Now that there is balking in the game, is there a way to turn the option off? I like the added realism, but I'm sure sometimes I will just be trying to get through games. I feel like that could add a significant amount of time to every game if I have to pause in between pitches.

Yes you can turn it off!

2. What are your impressions on every team having it's own custom camera angles. I though this was a really cool feature they added, but it seems like it hasn't been talked about much. Does it give each stadium a different feel?

Definitely a plus in the game as you feel you are playing somewhere different instead of the same camera view for each game. Some are similar though but overall a nice addition.

[nemesis04]

Re: MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

Have there been any improvements made to the balls to strikes ratio? Is it easier to draw more walks if you have a good eye at the plate? Thanks for any info.

Maybe its only me, but having custom batting cameras should help immensely with getting a bunch of walks as u can set the camera in a position to read pitch location better as it crosses the plate.

I am still having a killer time trying to gauge the low pitch over the middle.

I never really had a problem drawing walks to begin with so I might not be a fair judge if it is easier. I did feel I was able to get them more frequently so maybe it has been opened up a little. As econoodle said the plethora of camera angels will definitely help you combat this issue a little.

[nemesis04]

Re: MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

Is it easier to pull back bunts when the batter can see the pitch is going to be a ball? In MLB 10 this was difficult to do and always ended up being a called strike, even when the pitch was an obvious ball. Online players would take advantage of this and throw balls in obvious bunting situations making it almost pointless to attempt a sacrifice because the bat could not be pulled back in time. Most of the time in this situation you are forced to try and drag bunt with a pitcher or any batter to not tip your hand. Drag bunting also helps you to wait longer to make sure the pitch is in or near the the strike zone so the bunt can be attempted. However, it could also be very ineffective with batters with low bunting ratings.

I hope it has been addressed because it will force pitchers to put the ball in the strike zone. Batters will be able to pull back and take the pitch easily and put the pitcher in a position where he won't want to walk the batter and be forced to get the out. This will add even more realism to the small ball portion of the game which can often times be critical and the difference between a win and a loss.

All in all, this fix is a win win. If any of you CD guys know the answer on this that would be great!

Thank you!

To me it is still tough as I tried several times to pull back with not great success. The animation just does not snap back fast enough imo. Performing it with the analog control scheme helped a little but overall still tough.

[nemesis04]

Re: MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

Question is directed to nemesisOS since he got some run in the online gameplay aspect:

When entering a online gm Ranked/Exh, will users be able to see which Gameplay Controller setting (Analog or Classic)their opponent will use before & during online match? Example: I"m playing with analog, I throw 2 errors, or my pitching is less accurate, then decide I want to switch to classic controls midgame, will my opponent know and see onscreen I made the switch.

I need to get confirmation on something before I can really answer this as I thought if you challenged someone with a certain set-up it was locked. I will get back to you!

[Sheamazin]

Re: MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

Do you need to switch between each teams broadcast cam per stadium?

[nemesis04]

Re: MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

Do you need to switch between each teams broadcast cam per stadium?

It should default to each teams home stadium. If you want to change it you can.

[Sheamazin]

Re: MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

It should default to each teams home stadium. If you want to change it you can.

Thanks man!!!

[Crash Davis]

Re: MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

Did you guys notice if leading off would get u picked off 60% of the time? I know certain players with better base running attributes wont get picked off as often, but it seemed as though last year and I think 09 as well leading off was a dangerous thing to do almost always. Then sometimes the CPU would pitch out just because youre running to get you out, very frustrating! hardly anyone pitches out on the 4th pitch in the at bat! it felt really cheap. Worst part of all of this it would happen when I had pick offs set to OFF the slider all the way to the left....

[Kearnzo]

Re: MLB '11: The Show Community Day Gameplay Q&A

Did you guys notice if leading off would get u picked off 60% of the time? I know certain players with better base running attributes wont get picked off as often, but it seemed as though last year and I think 09 as well leading off was a dangerous thing to do almost always. Then sometimes the CPU would pitch out just because youre running to get you out, very frustrating! hardly anyone pitches out on the 4th pitch in the at bat! it felt really cheap. Worst part of all of this it would happen when I had pick offs set to OFF the slider all the way to the left....

I agree with this, however, I found good success stealing without a leadoff. Would like this to be fixed though. I never, ever took a leadoff, as I got picked off probably a handful of times in only my first few games, when in reality, it rarely happens.

Did anyone get any time in with classic pitching? I know it's a dead horse, and I hate to bring it up, but i'm hoping control is improved. I never felt confident that any of my pitches would go to the intended target, or even in the same area, even with guys like Cliff Lee on the mound. I almost wish we had an option similar to High Heat, where all we would do is pick the pitch, aim with the stick, and then hit X. From there, ratings and the situation would take over. I know most don't like the lack of control, but for me, it kept a good balance for realism, as you had to make smart pitches, but the ratings made a big difference as well.