Hands-on at Gamespot

[Darkstaring2000]

http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/sports/majorleaguebaseball2k8/news.html?sid=6186004&om_act=convert&om_clk=gumballs&tag=gumballs;subtitle;0

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: Hands-on at Gamespot

Thanks for the linK!

[Garrett67]

Re: Hands-on at Gamespot

Good find, thanks sir!

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: Hands-on at Gamespot

When the ring is inside the green circle, you let go of the analog stick altogether and let it return to center. This indicates your release timing, and the closer you are to the center, the better off you'll be. Your release timing will be very obvious in the pitch. If you release early, the pitch will go high; release late and your ball might go in the dirt.

Getting this three-step process down takes some practice, and you can expect be tossing some meatballs (or, indeed, beaning some batters in the dome as you work on the timing).

In the batter's box, the 2K8 development team has done away with the contact and power-swing concepts. Instead, analog batting is strictly based on timing. That said, you'll have some control over ball placement when at bat by moving the analog stick to the right or left during your swing.

Very interesting!

[guboogi]

Re: Hands-on at Gamespot

Card system sounds kinda neat. I believe this is the most detailed explanation of it we've gotten thus far.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: Hands-on at Gamespot

Card system sounds kinda neat. I believe this is the most detailed explanation of it we've gotten thus far.

Yeah, I was just about to comment on that. Sounds really cool!

[HokieB]

Re: Hands-on at Gamespot

Tons of new pics!

Looks like the got rid of the underline under "Phillies" on their uniforms. Good sign that they corrected a minor error like that.

[SPTO]

Re: Hands-on at Gamespot

Hmm man....I'm so going to have to use the tutorial before I jump into a franchise. The hitting sounds good though

[ninjamonkey]

Re: Hands-on at Gamespot

So we can influence whether we push or pull a ball, but not if we hit it on the ground or in the air?

[SFGiantsPBA]

Re: Hands-on at Gamespot

In all, MLB 2K8 still has a few rough edges. The frame rate is still a bit unreliable, and we noticed a few weird gameplay glitches (such as artificial-intelligence outfielders refusing to throw the ball), but, in a preview build like this, these are the kinds of things that get cleaned up before the game ships out to retail. The game is still on track for a March 4 release, with a downloadable demo on the way soon.

[Damanjinx]

Re: Hands-on at Gamespot

In all, MLB 2K8 still has a few rough edges. The frame rate is still a bit unreliable, and we noticed a few weird gameplay glitches (such as artificial-intelligence outfielders refusing to throw the ball), but, in a preview build like this, these are the kinds of things that get cleaned up before the game ships out to retail. The game is still on track for a March 4 release, with a downloadable demo on the way soon.

Yea this is going to be the make it or brake it for me. If its jumping around in framerate i defintly am not going to tolerate it this year.

[Artman22]

Re: Hands-on at Gamespot

I guess this explains why IGN's videos looked like they had bad frame rate problems. It was not the video it was the actual game cause gamespot said the same thing, but it's good to know that they said these things will not be there in the final version. I hope this gets taken cared of before they release the game..

[govermentuser85]

Re: Hands-on at Gamespot

Wasnt to hyped for the game. But this hands on really made me wanna play it. Good thing its only a couple weeks away.

[sask3m]

Re: Hands-on at Gamespot

"One other aspect of MLB 2K8’s pitching worth mentioning is the umpire specific game calling. Pitchers may have to throw out ‘feelers’ in the early innings in order to ascertain how the umpire is calling the game. Once the umpire’s tendencies are known, the pitcher can become more aggressive in painting these corners in later innings".

hopefully this will translate into a smaller strikezone as well on occasion making walks a part of the game.

[RedLine]

Re: Hands-on at Gamespot

I'm glad we are getting some new information.

I read the Sportsgamer article linked to Gamespot and it had some good detail on all the new mechanics.

But here's something new I have not seen mentioned before about batting. We knew it would be timing-based, but they say the batter's eye will work differently.

"As in last year’s game, the batter has a ‘batter’s eye’ circle about the diameter of three baseballs. The batter must direct this circle with the left analog stick during his swing in order to make proper contact with the ball. Aiming too low will result in pop flys and too high will result in ground balls; all pretty much what you would expect."


Last year, the placement of the batter's eye was only for guessing the pitch. Now they say it will influence the aim of the swing. If this is true, that would make the batting interface even more interesting.

Overall the game looks to be shaping up nicely. Looking forward to the demo like so many others.