Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

[brendanrfoley]

Re: Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

I'm sure he will be in hiding for the next couple of weeks. Well thats until he proves us wrong and talk about the issues.

What a short memory you have. Last April, IGN ran a "post-mortem" interview with Brinkman, where he discussed all of the game's issues. Pretty openly, as well. Here's the link if you don't believe me:

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/778/778491p1.html

[brendanrfoley]

Re: Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

See, I don't get that remark. What did they do wrong? They created a game they thought gamers would be interested in and that would sell. That's what companies do.

I rented the game and have been playing it for three days now. I have had zero framerate issues (standard TV is probably why) so I've been able to relax and enjoy the game for what it is. No, I won't be buying it after I return this rental copy. But that's only because it's not my cup of tea, and because there are a couple things that just don't work for me. But IMO there's nothing about the game - apart from the framerate issue - that 2k should have to answer or apologize for.

Baa, I have to agree. Heelfan, yourself, Blzer, and many other people in the impressions thread who are WILLING to look past the hit in graphics, all say the game PLAYS significantly better than last year.

Isn't that what's important?

[Jistic]

Re: Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

Isn't that what's important?

Nope. Most people are graphics/presentation whores, they just don't like to admit it. You can't evaluate gameplay till you play at least 20 games. But it's easy to make quick statements about surface issues after playing one or two games and just say, "it sucks".

[bigfnjoe96]

Re: Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

Nope. Most people are graphics/presentation whores, they just don't like to admit it. You can't evaluate gameplay till you play at least 20 games. But it's easy to make quick statements about surface issues after playing one or two games and just say, "it sucks".

... ... As I've said before I would've rather they had LOCKED this game @ a STEADY 30FPS then trying to get-it to 60 FPS. The difference is all in the eye of the person & to tell you the truth the change in FPS isn't this major thing that people keep saying it is.

For me graphical hit this game took doesn't bother me. The game still looks good on my HDTV. The Player Models look much better this year than they did last year. So again I'm not sure what all the fuss is about.

[Thadeus]

Re: Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

I agree, I think it's funny that some people play the game for 3 innings and say it sucks. It takes much longer than that to get a handle on the new pitching this year.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

See, I don't get that remark. What did they do wrong? They created a game they thought gamers would be interested in and that would sell. That's what companies do.

You can't honestly think that last year their goal was to improperly calculate the ERA. You can't honestly think that this year, they wanted to make a game in which the AI rarely if ever tried to attempt a stolen base. Or that John Miller would botch a great deal of the dialouge. You can't really believe that they wanted to have a system in which an Owner tells his GM to get rid of a player they just signed or that the league leader in strikeouts would be a guy with about 100 less then normal. Or that every time you went to view your pitching rotation it reset itself so that your #1 would automatically throw the next game even if he threw the last one.

Like I've said I enjoy the game and look forward to playing it, but there are still a lot of little things that are flat out wrong, whether on purpose or not is not for us to answer.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

Baa, I have to agree. Heelfan, yourself, Blzer, and many other people in the impressions thread who are WILLING to look past the hit in graphics, all say the game PLAYS significantly better than last year.

Isn't that what's important?

I agree it's what's most important, but not ALL that is important. Gameplay trumps all to me, but it isn't 100%...maybe 40%, 50% or 60%. Graphics, Presentation, Realistic Franchise, Extra's, Uniqueness, Fun-factor all make up other important aspects of the game.

To be clear one more time...this isn't a rant against the game itself. I like the game a lot. I really do. Being I get to play maybe one or two games every other day, I actually am excited to play it. I think it plays pretty damn smooth all around. Unlike last year, I feel like I am in control 99% of the time. Last year, it felt as if most of the time, I was just kind of helping the computer out.

All I am saying is that some things are just obviously wrong and that it would be nice to get a simple explanation of why. Maybe they just don't know better. Maybe they do not better and just couldn't get it right or maybe they knew better and just didn't care.

Last years IGN's MLB 2K7's Post Mortem was nice, but it was more of a "we didn't have time to get to this stuff and want to get to it next year", not a "we screwed this up and shipped the game anyway" kind of discussion. I think there is a big difference in what we didn't get to do then what we did knowingly wrong.

[brendanrfoley]

Re: Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

I think 2K8 'stings' because people expected so much. 2K7 was a giant leap forward for the franchise, and this is the year many expected the game to be on an 'even' playing field with the "other" game.

But lets take a step back for a moment. Here's a quick look at everything added to 2K8... better player models, new animations, more signature styles, new hitting engine, new pitching mechanic, new fielding mechanic, minor league teams, CPU lineup control, and card collecting feature. By all accounts, these new features work, and are fun. Many here say between the lines, 2K8 plays a much better game of hardball than 2K7. That's good.

So what suffered? Framerate (for which there is a patch coming), graphics, audio, and overall presentation. All of which combined really knock the game down a few pegs. But all these cosmetic issues were fixed (smooth framerate, last year's lighting/textures, and better crowd interaction), something tells me 2K8 would be racking up the 8.5's and 9.0's.

This tells me the gameplay is "right," which is most important. 2K has finally found the 'foundation' of its game to build upon.

As an aside, and it's the second time I'll use this phrase today, people have "short" memories. We forget it took Sony years to get The Show done 'right.' 2K8 is only in its second year with this current development team. Courtesy of Gamerankings (avg. reviewer scores)...

MLB 2002 (PS) 69.8%
MLB 2003 (PS) 76.4%
MLB 2004 (PS2) 64.2%
MLB 2005 (PS2) 79.0%
MLB 2006 (PS2) 80.0%
MLB 06: The Show (PS2) 83.1%
MLB 07: The Show (PS2) 81.7%
MLB 08: The Show (PS3) 84.4%

As we can see, it took 989/SCEA San Diego years to get things right. I'm willing to give 2K time to get their ducks in a row. Afterall, if it's mainly presentation issues... that's the 'easy' stuff to fix.

[gobucks]

Re: Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

The CPU NOT stealing AT-ALL is a major gameplay issue to me. Hell its 2008 here..the game has ratings progression, progressive fatigue etc.. but something as simple as CPU stealing is NOT there....I am really at a loss of words on that one..its pure idiodic.

All the rest...I can live with with no problems.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

I think 2K8 'stings' because people expected so much. 2K7 was a giant leap forward for the franchise, and this is the year many expected the game to be on an 'even' playing field with the "other" game.

I think we're looking at this two different ways. I'm not concerend with the direction this game is going in the next year. I think the game will be fine. I'm concerned only with things that are obviously broken, which in most cases, worked before or have been broken in the past that hamper the current game. In most cases, these are little things, but are obvious things that takes away from the current game. These things frustate me becasue they used to work.

As the OS review stated...one step forward, two steps back...when it probably should just be two steps forward.

[brendanrfoley]

Re: Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

As the OS review stated...one step forward, two steps back...when it probably should just be two steps forward.

This reminds me a little bit of an NFL team pulling itself out of last place. Let me explain...

The 2000 Patriots were 5-11. Just terrible.
The 2001 Patriots surprised... when 11-5, and won the Superbowl.
The 2002 Patriots, now with a tougher schedule, came back to earth and went 9-7.
The 2003 Patriots, now with a 'mature' team, dominate and go 14-2. Another Superbowl.

This is a trend we see a lot in the NFL (minus the SuperBowls). Bad teams will surprise one year, fall back to earth the next, then develop into what they 'should' be.

MLB 2K6 was the 2000 Patriots... just a mess.
MLB 2K7 was the 2001 Patriots... a much improved surprise, but full of potential problems.
MLB 2K8 was the 2002 Patriots... not bad, but fell short of expectations. The 'shine' wore off.
MLB 2K9... we can only hope!

[Zackdawg]

Re: Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

You can't honestly think that last year their goal was to improperly calculate the ERA. You can't honestly think that this year, they wanted to make a game in which the AI rarely if ever tried to attempt a stolen base. Or that John Miller would botch a great deal of the dialouge. You can't really believe that they wanted to have a system in which an Owner tells his GM to get rid of a player they just signed or that the league leader in strikeouts would be a guy with about 100 less then normal. Or that every time you went to view your pitching rotation it reset itself so that your #1 would automatically throw the next game even if he threw the last one.

Like I've said I enjoy the game and look forward to playing it, but there are still a lot of little things that are flat out wrong, whether on purpose or not is not for us to answer.

Well said. The truth is that 2k deliberately rushed an incomplete product out of the door and expects us to advance them $60 a copy while they finish it. And given their previous history (such as the still unfixed franchise bug in 2k7), there is a good chance that many of the problems will still remain when the hype starts up for 2k9.

Worse, serious sports gamers will be part of the problem. We'll salivate over the screencaps they release for 2k9 and insist that this is going to be the year when they finally get it right.

Count me out. After being burned on the franchise bug last year (after devoting months of gamplay to the franchise) and the company never addressing the issue, I refuse to buy any sports game until at least a month after release and only after a rental to ensure that the game is polished, stable and delivers what it said it would deliver. I have no duty to pay for a company's incomplete products and I have no duty to fund Brinkman's "three-year development cycle."

Call me when they get it right (and that goes for Madden too <g>).

[NEWYORICAN]

Re: Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

Well said. The truth is that 2k deliberately rushed an incomplete product out of the door and expects us to advance them $60 a copy while they finish it. And given their previous history (such as the still unfixed franchise bug in 2k7), there is a good chance that many of the problems will still remain when the hype starts up for 2k9.

Worse, serious sports gamers will be part of the problem. We'll salivate over the screencaps they release for 2k9 and insist that this is going to be the year when they finally get it right.

Count me out. After being burned on the franchise bug last year (after devoting months of gamplay to the franchise) and the company never addressing the issue, I refuse to buy any sports game until at least a month after release and only after a rental to ensure that the game is polished, stable and delivers what it said it would deliver. I have no duty to pay for a company's incomplete products and I have no duty to fund Brinkman's "three-year development cycle."

Call me when they get it right (and that goes for Madden too <g>).

I agree too!...very well said.

[baa7]

Re: Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

You can't honestly think that last year their goal was to improperly calculate the ERA. You can't honestly think that this year, they wanted to make a game in which the AI rarely if ever tried to attempt a stolen base. Or that John Miller would botch a great deal of the dialouge. You can't really believe that they wanted to have a system in which an Owner tells his GM to get rid of a player they just signed or that the league leader in strikeouts would be a guy with about 100 less then normal. Or that every time you went to view your pitching rotation it reset itself so that your #1 would automatically throw the next game even if he threw the last one.

Those are called bugs and glitches. They occur in any game. How does their putting out a game with glitches, lead to your statement: "Maybe a little public humiliation would do some good?"

Nor can one take them to task for putting out a game in which the gameplay isn't up to some gamers' personal standards. Has EA apologized for Madden at any time in the past decade?

[Metsui]

Re: Will there be any kind of follow up with Brinkman?

I agree, I think it's funny that some people play the game for 3 innings and say it sucks. It takes much longer than that to get a handle on the new pitching this year.

I agree. I've had the game since it dropped and have played maybe a dozen games total. I didn't win one until last night on PRO. I played 4 of my 12 games last night and won 3 of the 4. And the loss was close (6-3 I think). The more I play this game the better it gets.