MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

[Flaxseed Oil]

Re: Vetzballin.com: MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

not sure if anyone saw my post, with all of the arguing going on...


They have posted links in "better quality" if anyone wants to download them. I cant because I am at work, but I am assuming they are in HD.

[specialman]

Re: Vetzballin.com: MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

After watching a few innings, I'm loving the way the game is playing, though I do have a few issues:

- Through 6 innings of play, I've seen two 3-0 counts by the user to the cpu. Both times, the cpu swung on a 3-0 count. I didn't really care for that, they need to be a bit more patient waiting for the walk.
- As usual, the announcers hurt and will be turned off.
- The crowd, while better than last year, still needs a lot of work.
- I understand they needed to cut down on people in the crowd this year to make sure they got a constant 60 FPS, but it doesn't look like there's more than like a thousand people in the crowd. While it's understandable to get the 60 FPS, it's just something I noticed on foul balls.

A few other things:
- to me, the ball does NOT seem to slow down while it reaches the plate. Maybe it's just some of you guys "fabricating" things to not like about the game. Furthermore, you could always, ya know, make the pitch speed faster.
- Not sure what it is, but I also saw that flashing light a few times, not sure what it signifies.
- Not really too many hits, though 6 innings, it's 2-1, all 3 runs scored on home runs and really no small ball, but again, games vary, the next game the guy played might've had more small ball in it.

[stealyerface]

Re: Vetzballin.com: MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

Yank, you know the killer in all of this? Had the CPU left in Oki, and he had given up a 500 foot yak to Holliday, the same bridge-support dwellers would have made a comment on the best closer in baseball being ready to go, and the CPU not using him. It was a no-win situation either way. I, for one, LOVED the fact that the CPU had the logic in place to go to a favored matchup, Righty/Righty, and above that, to bring in a guy who, by all accounts, gives the team the best chance to get an out. Either way, there would have been a nasty comment, and the fact that he gave Pap's ball a ride shows that the closers are not infallible in the game. I want Mo to dominate when I go up against him, but I also want to be able to have Tek take him out if he falls in love with that cutter inside. Looking forward to the game, and perhaps seeing some online matchup between you and I for A.L. East bragging rights?

Grammar looked good by the way. Nice work.

SYF

[baa7]

Re: Vetzballin.com: MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

As for people that continue to blindly state that wasted resources went to the cards feature, please stop talking about something you know nothing about. There are teams of people that work on different things. If 2k didn't work on baseball cards they would still have the same number of people working on gameplay.

In other words, baseball cards or not, the game would have shipped exactly as it's going to ship when it's released except now it has a baseball card feature.

Which would you rather have? A game with zero new features or a game with at least one? It's beyond logical here.

Which brings up the logical next question: Why not put that "card" team to work on the "crowd sounds"? Or the "commentary"? Or the "somebody strangle the organ player" project? Looks like they could have also used a "Varitek's stuck in crab-mode again" programming fix-it team.

I'd rather have a game with new and exciting commentary, with a crowd that responds realistically to plays as they happen onfield, along with intelligent sound programming... where the organ actually stops playing long before the batter swings and misses the pitch.

You make it sound like it had to be one thing or no thing, when that's not the case at all. And you accuse others here of not knowing what they're talking about, or of being illogical?

[Pared]

Re: Vetzballin.com: MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

Or you can take it that either there is a button to call the fielder off or plain that it is a preview copy of the game that might be bugged in that manner. If it's the later i would be sure that it would be fixed by release date. So many complaints from a video.

You really should read the entire thread before posting. We covered this shortly thereafter.

I understand what we're discussing. I understand linguistics. I understand your condescending tone. No need to be like that, man.

I sincerely was not trying to be condescending. My apologies if you took it that way.

I was, however, simply pointing out that everyone here is discussing what they see in the video. What's the point in trying to make it seem any other way? They're not happy with what they see. Asking "how can people be unhappy with a game they haven't played" is the beginning of a circular argument. So why do it?

Everyone's impressions here are from a video. Making it seem otherwise is making a comment to try and belittle their POV.

It would be nice if we could simply focus on the videos and have a discussion on it without turning everything into a "vs." battle. Who cares? You're still going to get the game or not get it regardless of what anyone says, right?

[Pared]

Re: Vetzballin.com: MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

Which brings up the logical next question: Why not put that "card" team to work on the "crowd sounds"? Or the "commentary"? Or the "somebody strangle the organ player" project? Looks like they could have also used a "Varitek's stuck in crab-mode again" programming fix-it team.

C'mon baa... we know the answer to this. It's futile to even focus on it anymore.

There are "higher ups" who feel there must be "bullet points" and/or "features" that can sell a game every year and make it seem fresh. Unfortunately, it's these same things that ultimately take away from the refinement of the things you mentioned. There's nothing you can do.

Many are forgetting this is year 2 of a 3 year "project," similar to MVP 2004. I don't see people still playing MVP04... they're playing MVP05. There's a reason for that....

[Altimus]

Re: Vetzballin.com: MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

I'm really trying to figure out what The Show has to do with this video? Can anyone answer this?

Knock it of with the The Show comments as all it leads to trouble.

[specialman]

Re: Vetzballin.com: MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

Which brings up the logical next question: Why not put that "card" team to work on the "crowd sounds"? Or the "commentary"? Or the "somebody strangle the organ player" project? Looks like they could have also used a "Varitek's stuck in crab-mode again" programming fix-it team.

I'd rather have a game with new and exciting commentary, with a crowd that responds realistically to plays as they happen onfield, along with intelligent sound programming... where the organ actually stops playing long before the batter swings and misses the pitch.

You make it sound like it had to be one thing or no thing, when that's not the case at all. And you accuse others here of not knowing what they're talking about, or of being illogical?

No offense baa, but I see you nit-picking MLB 2k8, but how about the lack of manual fielding in MLB 08? My point is, don't come in here bashing 2k8 and professing MLB 08 as the unholy trinity when both games have their good points and bad points. Yes, maybe they should've focused a bit more on the glaring issues you pointed out, however, as Pared said, this is year 2, and Brinkman said this year was focused on gameplay and next year will finish it up and focus on the presentation. Do I think it's fair to charge gamers $60 for an unfinished product? Of course not, but I guess it's understandable, they need money to pay for their costs and overhead.

I'm really trying to figure out what The Show has to do with this video? Can anyone answer this?

Knock it of with the The Show comments as all it leads to trouble.

'Bout time one of the moderators said something about it. It really brings down the quality of topics on OS.

[Rebel10]

Re: Vetzballin.com: MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

Many are forgetting this is year 2 of a 3 year "project," similar to MVP 2004. I don't see people still playing MVP04... they're playing MVP05. There's a reason for that....

Just to be fair, MVP was a three year project from MVP 2003, and MVP 2003 was a great base to build the series from. MLK 2K6 and MLB 2K7 were not a good base to build the series from, they had fundamental flaws in gameplay that had to really redone and rebuilt. The core gameplay of MVP 2003 and MVP 2004 had some flaws, but was a good core gameplay that they could then use to focus on the rest of the game... the engine was strong. I do not think that the MLB 2K engine is strong, I think that it's weak and should be redone... but there just isn't enough time in a year to redo it.

I'm still probably going to get MLB 2K8, well, I will definitely get it because I need a baseball game and only have a 360... but there really have to be a lot of significant improvements to 2K7 to make it a worthwhile purchase.

I'm not going to make my final decision until I have the game, but after some mixed previews and some disapointing videos, I am feeling some deja vu with last year... which really disapointed me.

[specialman]

Re: Vetzballin.com: MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

Just to be fair, MVP was a three year project from MVP 2003, and MVP 2003 was a great base to build the series from. MLK 2K6 and MLB 2K7 were not a good base to build the series from, they had fundamental flaws in gameplay that had to really redone and rebuilt. The core gameplay of MVP 2003 and MVP 2004 had some flaws, but was a good core gameplay that they could then use to focus on the rest of the game... the engine was strong. I do not think that the MLB 2K engine is strong, I think that it's weak and should be redone... but there just isn't enough time in a year to redo it.

I'm still probably going to get MLB 2K8, well, I will definitely get it because I need a baseball game and only have a 360... but there really have to be a lot of significant improvements to 2K7 to make it a worthwhile purchase.

I'm not going to make my final decision until I have the game, but after some mixed previews and some disapointing videos, I am feeling some deja vu with last year... which really disapointed me.

Perhaps some insight? How do you not think this is a strong base to build off? Seems fine to me.

[CMH]

Re: Vetzballin.com: MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

Which brings up the logical next question: Why not put that "card" team to work on the "crowd sounds"? Or the "commentary"? Or the "somebody strangle the organ player" project? Looks like they could have also used a "Varitek's stuck in crab-mode again" programming fix-it team.

I'd rather have a game with new and exciting commentary, with a crowd that responds realistically to plays as they happen onfield, along with intelligent sound programming... where the organ actually stops playing long before the batter swings and misses the pitch.

You make it sound like it had to be one thing or no thing, when that's not the case at all. And you accuse others here of not knowing what they're talking about, or of being illogical?

baa, I'm not calling others illogical. I'm saying it's a logical decision for 2k to have baseball cards in there. It would make no sense, financially, to not have them in there.

Trust me, I agree that perhaps they should have used the resources to improve the crowd. I'm 100% behind you on that. But, for whatever reason, probably higher ups (as Pared suggested and KushGamer has mentioned before) wanted a new feature that could sell copies. So, a team has to be sent to do just that.

All I'm saying is that having a few guys doing that didn't affect the rest of the team. They all had their jobs.

KushGamer's job was to work on the hitting system. The guys working on cards didn't affect his work.

What would be worse is having 20 guys working on gameplay. It's almost impossible when you really think about it. The team has to be small. Very small.

Why crowds weren't fixed? Why is there a crab-like animation when approaching a pop-up? I don't know and I don't like it either.

[budsticky]

Re: Vetzballin.com: MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

I've gotta throw my 2 cents in here on these videos and the strangely entertaining responses/arguments that have followed:

-Why are people so upset about the card feature? Every preview I've read from those that have actually got to play a near final build of the game have been glowing over it. Mostly I hear that it's a lot cooler than you would expect and not some cheesy gimmick thrown in just to list a new feature. I can agree that better crowd noise and more work on presentation issues would have been nice too, but give them a break. Until you try it don't knock it. It sounds like it will be a great way to boost the multi-player replayability of this game.

-As for bringing in the closer in the 8th, I'm gonna have to wait for the full game to judge on that one. I won't let one video of a game lead me to believe the AI is "stupid." If you're playing a season and the AI does this two days in a row and starts to burn the closer out than yeah, it's a problem. If they do it with a 6 run lead in the 8th, than yeah, it's a problem. Watching one isolated and very close game will not lead me to judge the AI as incompetent. I agree it would be nice if the CPU recognized the game was an exhibition game and played it a little more conservatively, but on the other hand if you're playing the computer even for just a single game don't you want the most competitive game you can get? Don't you want the computer to play you as if it was an important game? Again, I'll wait and see how the relief usage plays out over a season before I judge this one.

-I do agree with a previous poster who was concerned about the CPU not taking on 3-0 pitches. It's my main problem with baseball games every year. The inability of the computer to properly work counts with guys who do so in real life. There are some guys in real life who are tough outs. They will foul off pitch after pitch once they get to two strikes. They won't bite at those pitches just off the plate. Then there are those hitters like Vlad Guerrero who will swing if the balls in the other batters box. I'd love to see this recreated in a baseball video game. Likewise, I would like to have it be hard for me to get it past the right guys when I'm pitching. Some baseball games seem to think it's a sin to have a walk, whether at the plate or on the mound. Most hitters will take on 3-0, even the good ones. So to see them swing twice was a little bit of a red flag for me. It did seem fairly easy to throw strikes on this video too, but I'm not sure what the difficulty was set to so I won't judge too much on that.

[Pared]

Re: Vetzballin.com: MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

Just to be fair, MVP was a three year project from MVP 2003, and MVP 2003 was a great base to build the series from. MLK 2K6 and MLB 2K7 were not a good base to build the series from, they had fundamental flaws in gameplay that had to really redone and rebuilt. The core gameplay of MVP 2003 and MVP 2004 had some flaws, but was a good core gameplay that they could then use to focus on the rest of the game... the engine was strong. I do not think that the MLB 2K engine is strong, I think that it's weak and should be redone... but there just isn't enough time in a year to redo it.

I'm still probably going to get MLB 2K8, well, I will definitely get it because I need a baseball game and only have a 360... but there really have to be a lot of significant improvements to 2K7 to make it a worthwhile purchase.

I'm not going to make my final decision until I have the game, but after some mixed previews and some disapointing videos, I am feeling some deja vu with last year... which really disapointed me.

You raise some good points... but if you go back and look how much better MVP2004 was over MVP 2003 then I think we're following a very similar route.

I personally enjoyed the heck out of MVP 2004... especially on the PC. MVP05 just took it to another level. If they really worked on the in-game logic and focused on the gameplay (which is what they have been saying all along) I think many a baseball gamer should be happy.

What's nice is there is at least some alternative, unlike football. Even if you have to get a PS3 and you're a 360 only guy... there IS an alternative for something this year.

I still wouldn't worry too much. I'm less than enthused with the videos but I know I had fun for a short while with 2k7. The franchise bugs and some gameplay quirks were my biggest peeves... as I'm sure it was the same for some others. I really think they addressed that this year.

And if you hated the commentary in 2k7, it can only be at least slightly better in 2k8, right? Try and be positive here. At the least you turn it off much like last year, similar to what someone else posted.

[ab713]

Re: Vetzballin.com: MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

Perhaps some insight? How do you not think this is a strong base to build off? Seems fine to me.

I think his point was that, with MVP 2003, EA started from scratch and built a solid gameplay foundation to move the series along towards MVP 2005. Even though 2k8 is the second year of a three year cycle, it is using code based off of at the very least 2K6, which was a terrible game. I'm pretty sure a lot of the code might even be older then that.

[PVarck31]

Re: Vetzballin.com: MLB 2K8 Game of The Week: Red Sox vs. Rockies

Kushgamer said they got rid of most of the old code and re-wrote it.