Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap?

[treyraq]

Re: Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap

Plain and simple--some people won't be happy until there are new announcers.
Although it's not high on MY list, I can't necessarily blame them.

However, thank SCEA for at least doing what they did with what they had to work with. I'm looking forward to the new 'specific' commentary.
How could anyone not be?

[JoeRyan33]

Re: Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap

Baseball more than any other sport prides itself on the connection between the commentator and the fan. So, yeah, it's a big part of the game and something they do need to work on. I'd love to see a whole new team, and have the commentary pulled closer to what 2K did with theirs.

I didn't expect a massive change, and don't think we're going to see one until Sony releases a new Playstation 4. I just hope the Vita doesn't become a handcuff to development in the next year or two.

I haven't bought the game the last two years, but there's enough to have me looking forward to buying on release day.

[Drew127]

Re: Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap

I agree that there is no way this game can make a "significant leap" at this point, it's not technically possible. I think that given the constraints, SCEA has done a stellar job. The game this year looks extremely polished and I'm very excited about it.

When a system is nearing the end of it's lifecycle, isn't that where games should be (especially sports games that are released each season)? They should be polished, because obviously by the end of the lifecycle the graphical capabilities have been maxed out.

[jinc1019]

Re: Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap

Ok, so I'm DEFINITELY buying this day 1 ; they could release a roster update and I'd still buy it.

What I'm wondering is (I know we don't have the game)... I'm wondering how you think the hype/ promotion of the title is?

I love the new ball physics, and that alone warrants a purchase. I know they added a bunch of commentary but in the gameplay vids the sounds still sounds dull - with tons of dead air.

I feel like if they had just REVAMPED the commentary (I know they've said they won't and I understand why), coupled with new ball physics that NOBODY ever could say "stale" again.

I know we don't have access to the game yet, but in general, this game doesn't look much different from last year's game. In my opinion, this franchise is amazing, but it has proven that you should only buy the game every OTHER year, not every year, because there simply is not enough improvement from one development cycle.

[bkrich83]

Re: Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap

I think that the commentary is really important... and actually the audio in general. The crowd still sounds too quiet

I can see that. I think it's a big deal presentation wise for a lot of people.


Me personally. I don't care about the commentary. I turn it off in pretty much every sports game I play.

[dallas0112]

Re: Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap

I'm sorry, in my opinion commentary doesn't matter. I turn it off anyway. The immersion gets better with commentary off, just put in your sounds and it's good.

[Bahnzo]

Re: Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap

Baseball more than any other sport prides itself on the connection between the commentator and the fan. So, yeah, it's a big part of the game and something they do need to work on.

I think this is a good point. Baseball is (IMO) the only sport you can really enjoy listening to on the radio. The commentary, whether on the radio or in a game is pretty important. For some more than others.

But any sports game has pretty *bleh* commentary. You're always going to have repeated lines and disjointed comments in the game that have nothing to do with the play. Some games are better than others, but they all have issues.

The main issues I have with The Show is that a lot of commentary sounds like some bored guy reading off a cue card. The problem is they have *A lot* of this and replacing it all would be a Herculean task I'm sure. Also, what I find annoying is when guys get into a commentary thread, and when action happens on the field, they ignore it to continue talking about some guys new car or something equally inane. They need to break out and call that double down the line.

[nomo17k]

Re: Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap

...

The main issues I have with The Show is that a lot of commentary sounds like some bored guy reading off a cue card. The problem is they have *A lot* of this and replacing it all would be a Herculean task I'm sure. Also, what I find annoying is when guys get into a commentary thread, and when action happens on the field, they ignore it to continue talking about some guys new car or something equally inane. They need to break out and call that double down the line.

Partly for this reason I actually never minded Rex Hudler because of his enthusiasm... entirely a different character from the other two who are kinda reserved. Call me a masochist for loving to endure Rex's relentless sarcasm, but hey I'm looking for a good BDSM club in my neighborhood......

You can never have enough commentary variation in video game. Basically the devs need to replace EVERYTHING every year, which could be done given enough resources but isn't realistic due to various concerns.

Now I've played the Show for a year I can feel that listening to the same line doesn't really give me that "freshness" that people seem to want in a new game, but the devs cannot cater to repeaters every single year, you know what I mean? As a newcomer to the game, I was enjoying the commentary variation for a few months though... so from that perspective, things aren't as bad as us repeaters make them to be.

[etched Chaos]

Re: Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap

The problem for me with the Show's commentary and audio as a whole is that alot of it is lifeless and doesn't really compare to the rest of what is a stellar series. Another issue is that beyond the dead air, lifelessness and repeatable lines is that they don't suddenly interrupt a train of thought if something spectacular happens. In the NBA 2k series they'd be talking about something and if you do something spectacular they'll go nuts immediately and that always makes me grin, it actually keeps me playing.

Unfortunately the Show doesn't have any audio moments like that, ones that make me grin everytime because the commentators enthusiasm boils over and takes you with it. This is also coupled with the crowd audio, walkoff homeruns are woefully underplayed, both from the commentary and the crowd.

[Russell_SCEA]

Re: Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap

Partly for this reason I actually never minded Rex Hudler because of his enthusiasm... entirely a different character from the other two who are kinda reserved. Call me a masochist for loving to endure Rex's relentless sarcasm, but hey I'm looking for a good BDSM club in my neighborhood......

You can never have enough commentary variation in video game. Basically the devs need to replace EVERYTHING every year, which could be done given enough resources but isn't realistic due to various concerns.

Now I've played the Show for a year I can feel that listening to the same line doesn't really give me that "freshness" that people seem to want in a new game, but the devs cannot cater to repeaters every single year, you know what I mean? As a newcomer to the game, I was enjoying the commentary variation for a few months though... so from that perspective, things aren't as bad as us repeaters make them to be.

Pretty much impossible, now way you can take 6 years worth of Voice over sessions and do another 6 years worth in a couple of months. Even if Matt didn't have a day job it would be impossible.

[nomo17k]

Re: Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap

Pretty much impossible, now way you can take 6 years worth of Voice over sessions and do another 6 years worth in a couple of months. Even if Matt didn't have a day job it would be impossible.

Right... so that was what I tried to mean by my qualification about "enough resources"...

Theoretically, if you hire Matt V (or anyone else) full time for a 9 - 10 month or so just replacing commentary, you *could* do this, no? But of course that's an unreasonable effort and we therefore shouldn't expect such commentary "overhaul" every other year... I don't think we need that much effort *just* to get a fresh feel in commentary.


Still, I think people who are pointing out the "connection" might have a point in that the atmosphere in the game isn't as well reflected in commentary and crowd reaction yet. (Not saying about 12 though as I haven't played it).

But I feel that takes another level of effort on the devs' part for a new game.

[Unit303]

Re: Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap

I don't understand the need for perfect commentary. I think this year looks insane for how old the PS3 is.

[catch212]

Re: Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap

I don't understand the need for perfect commentary. I think this year looks insane for how old the PS3 is.

It has nothing to do with perfect commentary. It's just the fact that they're using recycled lines from 2008-09. We've heard these same lines for years now and they haven't changed.

For example:

Instead of saying "and he'll just to it to the bag himself" (or whatever the line is), you could say "and Berkman will make the play himself." Things like that would add much more life to the commentary.

[jkra0512]

Re: Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap

I don't understand the need for perfect commentary. I think this year looks insane for how old the PS3 is.

It's not so much "perfect" as the game needs "freshness." That's what happens when games all around The Show are upping the ante in regards to commentary, mostly 2K's games. (EA has a long way to go in this department in every single one of their games.)

Matty V. is great, but Soup needs to go, as he's a little outdated. Meanwhile, Karros adds little to nothing in the way of analysis, so he needs to go as well. I'm pretty sure with franchise being the winner of the "Let's Focus on You!" sweepstakes for next year, I'm sure the commentary will get its due.

[jlatz10]

Re: Conjecture: From what we've seen, will MLB 12 miss an opportunity for a huge leap

If the game was released on Feb. 29th, it would definitely not miss the opportunity for a leap.