MLB 12 The Show Features 14 New Umpires With All New Personalities and Other Tidbits

[tessl]

Re: MLB 12 The Show Features 14 New Umpires With All New Personalities and Other Tidb

great...franchise falls short every year due to various bugs and issues but look, we get new cleats!

Every year we have the same debate.

I believe SCEA has reached the conclusion the majority of people who purchase this game are what I would characterize as short attention span players of the game. They want to be able to dress up their player with nice accessories, play a game once in a while, and they are happy. Now we have a new mode which allows people to use a new controller, that will sell a lot of copies of the game. That's all good because it allows the company to make a profit and the game to continue to exist.

Folks like me who play manage mode in a franchise are evidently a small slice of the pie and our complaints are noted but not addressed. I would suggest it wouldn't take a ton of programmer hours to fix manage mode and tweak franchise but just as baseball is a business, so is selling video games. The company focuses on those things which they believe give them the most return on investment, and that's the short attention span stuff. That's not intended as an insult to those who play the game differently, I recognize most people would be bored playing years into the game in a franchise, managing all the games.

[tabarnes19_SDS]

Re: MLB 12 The Show Features 14 New Umpires With All New Personalities and Other Tidb

Every year we have the same debate.

I believe SCEA has reached the conclusion the majority of people who purchase this game are what I would characterize as short attention span players of the game. They want to be able to dress up their player with nice accessories, play a game once in a while, and they are happy. Now we have a new mode which allows people to use a new controller, that will sell a lot of copies of the game. That's all good because it allows the company to make a profit and the game to continue to exist.

Folks like me who play manage mode in a franchise are evidently a small slice of the pie and our complaints are noted but not addressed. I would suggest it wouldn't take a ton of programmer hours to fix manage mode and tweak franchise but just as baseball is a business, so is selling video games. The company focuses on those things which they believe give them the most return on investment, and that's the short attention span stuff. That's not intended as an insult to those who play the game differently, I recognize most people would be bored playing years into the game in a franchise, managing all the games.

I really don't think that is fair to say since you are not a programmer. I have pointed out some shortcomings in franchise, but to be honest it is just about the deepest franchise mode out there. Tweaks are made to it every year, I am one, who does NOT want a complete rewrite of the mode. A few tweaks here or there to tighten the mode up.

As far as some things not being added, from pm's with Kolbe a few years ago, stats were a memory issue with a SCEA standard that is used. Because after so many seasons the size of the saves would be huge.

And I believe that it has been stated that MOM was just an 'easter egg' type thing Kolbe threw in. I don't think it was ever intended to be a actual back of the box mode.

I am sure they will touch franchise this year, but why would they promote ALL the features in the first press release in December?

[nomo17k]

Re: MLB 12 The Show Features 14 New Umpires With All New Personalities and Other Tidb

As far as some things not being added, from pm's with Kolbe a few years ago, stats were a memory issue with a SCEA standard that is used. Because after so many seasons the size of the saves would be huge.

This is a bit disappointing to hear (though you say it was a few years ago). I guess there's always both pros and cons with console vs. PC games... With today's standards, 22MB is like really tiny though. That's like 5 MP3 files right there.

So year-by-year stats like baseball-reference.com probably won't be happening soon.

It is always better if more stuff are improved (of course!!), but I'd be happy if we have a way of importing/dumping all the stats (even attribute ratings) into some form (excel, ascii, etc.) with which we can do our own archiving. (almost wrote one myself for MLB10)

[tabarnes19_SDS]

Re: MLB 12 The Show Features 14 New Umpires With All New Personalities and Other Tidb

This is a bit disappointing to hear (though you say it was a few years ago). I guess there's always both pros and cons with console vs. PC games... With today's standards, 22MB is like really tiny though. That's like 5 MP3 files right there.

So year-by-year stats like baseball-reference.com probably won't be happening soon.

It is always better if more stuff are improved (of course!!), but I'd be happy if we have a way of importing/dumping all the stats (even attribute ratings) into some form (excel, ascii, etc.) with which we can do our own archiving. (almost wrote one myself for MLB10)

This was in 2008 that he said that...so don't take that as an impossible thing. I am still hopeful that more will be included...

[tessl]

Re: MLB 12 The Show Features 14 New Umpires With All New Personalities and Other Tidb

I really don't think that is fair to say since you are not a programmer. I have pointed out some shortcomings in franchise, but to be honest it is just about the deepest franchise mode out there. Tweaks are made to it every year, I am one, who does NOT want a complete rewrite of the mode. A few tweaks here or there to tighten the mode up.

As far as some things not being added, from pm's with Kolbe a few years ago, stats were a memory issue with a SCEA standard that is used. Because after so many seasons the size of the saves would be huge.

And I believe that it has been stated that MOM was just an 'easter egg' type thing Kolbe threw in. I don't think it was ever intended to be a actual back of the box mode.

I am sure they will touch franchise this year, but why would they promote ALL the features in the first press release in December?

The ability to manage your own team without interference from the CPU has existed in baseball games for over a decade. It wouldn't require breakthrough code to program it, only a little time and a desire to make it happen.

SCEA simply doesn't feel enough people play that mode to worry about us so they ignore the requests. I'm past the point of expecting or even wishing it will change, it is simply reality.

[nomo17k]

Re: MLB 12 The Show Features 14 New Umpires With All New Personalities and Other Tidb

The ability to manage your own team without interference from the CPU has existed in baseball games for over a decade. It wouldn't require breakthrough code to program it, only a little time and a desire to make it happen.

SCEA simply doesn't feel enough people play that mode to worry about us so they ignore the requests. I'm past the point of expecting or even wishing it will change, it is simply reality.

Of course I'm not a dev so cannot say it for the Show specifically, but generally speaking just because some software has done it before doesn't mean similar things are "easy" to implement in another.

There's a reason the software devs are called "engineers" and that's because when they build things they need to design things ahead of time and then implement things to behave in intended manners... You are kinda out of luck if the design didn't include MOM... If you have a motorcycle, you cannot ask your local bicycle shop to turn the thing into a tricycle, just because it's done before, you know what I mean?? They need to be redesigned for the most part, even though tricycle definitely is much easier to manufacture.

Most likely the Show was initially only intended to be an (arcade) game with lots of real-time user interactions, which is quite different from other MOM type baseball games...

But the latter point may be true... if the amount of interests doesn't go beyond the critical point, the devs just cannot justify the effort to make it happen.

I don't know the history of how the MOM made it into the Show, but if it was just a small number of people pushing for it, then the fact that the devs even bothered to work on the mode actually shows how much they listen to customers. So they should at least be given credit for that...

[Russell_SCEA]

Re: MLB 12 The Show Features 14 New Umpires With All New Personalities and Other Tidb

Of course I'm not a dev so cannot say it for the Show specifically, but generally speaking just because some software has done it before doesn't mean similar things are "easy" to implement in another.

There's a reason the software devs are called "engineers" and that's because when they build things they need to design things ahead of time and then implement things to behave in intended manners... You are kinda out of luck if the design didn't include MOM... If you have a motorcycle, you cannot ask your local bicycle shop to turn the thing into a tricycle, just because it's done before, you know what I mean?? They need to be redesigned for the most part, even though tricycle definitely is much easier to manufacture.

Most likely the Show was initially only intended to be an (arcade) game with lots of real-time user interactions, which is quite different from other MOM type baseball games...

But the latter point may be true... if the amount of interests doesn't go beyond the critical point, the devs just cannot justify the effort to make it happen.

I don't know the history of how the MOM made it into the Show, but if it was just a small number of people pushing for it, then the fact that the devs even bothered to work on the mode actually shows how much they listen to customers. So they should at least be given credit for that...

There are about 10-20 people who play MOM, no exaggeration that's well less than 1% of the people who purchased the game.

[nomo17k]

Re: MLB 12 The Show Features 14 New Umpires With All New Personalities and Other Tidb

There are about 10-20 people who play MOM, no exaggeration that's well less than 1% of the people who purchased the game.

This just shows how really nice the devs are... Imagine a major game house adding a mode specifically for such a tiny group of people!!! And they actually have done it for you.

I'm one who belongs to even tinier group of people who actually enjoy watching CPU vs. CPU games... so if the regular gameplay wasn't as realistic, I'd be playing MOM instead of regular gameplay... I play other modes most of the time because it is possible to play realistic baseball with the Show (which I think is quite a feat with an arcade-like game; most of the time whole a lot of things go out of whack, which doesn't with the Show).

[Blzer]

Re: MLB 12 The Show Features 14 New Umpires With All New Personalities and Other Tidb

There are about 10-20 people who play MOM, no exaggeration that's well less than 1% of the people who purchased the game.

Ah, society's double-edged sword. I'm not saying this is the case for MOM, but typically there is the argument of "not doing something because nobody uses it," or whatever the generic statement is... when frankly, if one did something about it, more people would use it.

As a short example, it's like somebody creating a thread about a player because "nobody uses the roster thread," but really, nobody uses the roster thread because nobody posts in there. Works both ways.

MOM just might not be the mass-appealing mode that everybody is waiting on to be perfected, though. That being said, we appreciate how much it is that you give us already.

[Knight165]

Re: MLB 12 The Show Features 14 New Umpires With All New Personalities and Other Tidb

Ah, society's double-edged sword. I'm not saying this is the case for MOM, but typically there is the argument of "not doing something because nobody uses it," or whatever the generic statement is... when frankly, if one did something about it, more people would use it.

As a short example, it's like somebody creating a thread about a player because "nobody uses the roster thread," but really, nobody uses the roster thread because nobody posts in there. Works both ways.

MOM just might not be the mass-appealing mode that everybody is waiting on to be perfected, though. That being said, we appreciate how much it is that you give us already.

Hey....are you studying to be an attorney!?
At any rate...I like the argument!
Keep it up so they work on my Manage only Mode!!!

M.K.
Knight165