MLB 2K9 - Five Important Steps Towards Rebuilding

[mwjr]

The pitching and hitting interfaces are far more advanced than The Show.I like both games, but I feel like The Show gets too much of a pass on its antiquated hitting and pitching interfaces.Of course they make up for this by delivering a more authentic baseball experience than MLB2k.

I don't mind the Show's INterfaces at all. For me, it's all about the gameplay, and, in my opinion, the 2K series has been falling behind the Show each and every year.

My perfect game:
> The Show's Career Mode and GM/Franchise Mode
> 2K's Pitching Interface (with some tweaking)
> A combination of the Show's traditional hitting interface and 2K's swing stick (I like the old fashioned way, but I see the merit in the Swing Stick), with The Show's "Guess the Pitch Feature" (again, all with some tweaking)
> 2K8's Base-running interface

And most importantly...
> High Heat's gameplay. Plain and simple, no one's ever been able to come close to it, IMO.

[Crash Davis]

Re: MLB 2K9 - Five Important Steps Towards Rebuilding

As Much as The Show has DOMINATED 2k in almost every aspect, I gotta say I love the menu's from 2k7 that whole set up was great.
My Ideal combo of the 2 would be

The Shows pitching meter, stadiums, fielding, hitting RESULTS
and 2K's Lighting, menu's, awards, and a tweaked hitting stick.

but thats just me

[wsu_gb23]

As Much as The Show has DOMINATED 2k in almost every aspect, I gotta say I love the menu's from 2k7 that whole set up was great.
My Ideal combo of the 2 would be

The Shows pitching meter, stadiums, fielding, hitting RESULTS
and 2K's Lighting, menu's, awards, and a tweaked hitting stick.

but thats just me

that's kinda funny that the one positive you get from MLB 2K is their menu....haha....

[Exceller1]

THE Hitter got a hit.then you have to (every time),hit the R1 Button on the PS3 system to cycle the base choice back to firstbase,to stop at firstbase for a single is weird and MUST!!!,BE FIXED THIS YEAR!!!!.No other baseball game has or will had EVER HAD Such a Feature.(LAME,GLITCH).NEEDS TO BE Fixed.DO YOU HERE THAT 2K!!!.Fix it PLEASE.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: MLB 2K9 - Five Important Steps Towards Rebuilding

Just get back to the basics and make a baseball game that is next gen worthy. That is all we ask!!

I think this is a simple yet to the point feeling we all share.

[7stringking]

Whaetever your feelings on MLB2k8/The SHOW, I think we can all agree that competition and having a CHOICE is great(even if that choice is somewhat lessened with The Show only available on PS3)..

Wink, Wink

[FocusYoMindOnDis]

Re: MLB 2K9 - Five Important Steps Towards Rebuilding

He resigned for family reasons, the same way the Ty Willingham plans to "resign" at the end of the season. Now lets see if this game wcan be betteer, than its counterparts.

[baa7]

Re: MLB 2K9 - Five Important Steps Towards Rebuilding

The pitching and hitting interfaces are far more advanced than The Show.

How can a hitting system where you don't have to have to aim the bat (and can't, even if you wanted) be considered advanced? That's not advanced; that's ridiculously arcade. If you're meaning the swing stick and step-influence programming, yes, I agree -- those were terrific improvements to video baseball gaming. But the timing-only hitting was complete rubbish.

[7stringking]

The hitting system(swing stick/step) is what I am talking about.Most people don't realise the aiming aspect you get with batters eye.

[baa7]

Re: MLB 2K9 - Five Important Steps Towards Rebuilding

Most people don't realise the aiming aspect you get with batters eye.

There is no aiming mechanism in 2K8. The developers even came out and stated that. It's pure timing-only, nothing more.

[BlyGilmore]

I think the most fundamentally flawed aspect of MLB 2k8 and other games for a while now has been hitting.

There's just no incentive to work the count, try and pick out pitches, take a realistic approach to the plate or anything along those lines. Most people just go up there trying to hit almost every single pitch and are still able to score 4+ runs a game doing so.

This trickles down into other areas. While your pitchers can barely get into the 7th inning, computer pitchers can throw 10 innings unless you knock them around beforehand. Strategy behind when to send the runner is completely void - if you have a fast guy you send him on the first pitch because you're swinging from the heals after that.

The only game I can think of in the past several years where you could work the count, and it was advantageous to do so, was High Heat. MVP Baseball was close to that point with the colored ball system.

[StormJH1]

I owned 2k7, but thought that it was basically unplayable. The only reason I kept it were the stunning visuals. Yet, when you have to essentially cue the batter to swing BEFORE the pitch leaves the pitcher's hand, it becomes pretty obvious that you're not going to be able to differentiate between balls and strikes.

I played the 2k8 demo and knew right away that I wouldn't be buying this game. Not only was the new pitching mechanic clunky and unforgiving, but the framerate drops were HORRIBLE, the game had actually regressed visually, and batting and fielding still weren't any fun.

I'm sick of getting my hopes up for a 2k baseball game only to find out that nothing has changed. 2k is to baseball gaming what EA has become to basketball gaming. 360 users are simply stuck without any better option. I'd rather play last-gen MLB Power Pros or PS2's MLB The Show '08 than 2k8.

[StormJH1]

Also, the author's comment about "poor hit detection" misses the primary point...if all you're doing is playing a swing stick timing game...how do you really know you swung above or below a pitch anyway? It's not like the game lets you determine WHERE you swing the bat!

[baa7]

Re: MLB 2K9 - Five Important Steps Towards Rebuilding

Also, the author's comment about "poor hit detection" misses the primary point...if all you're doing is playing a swing stick timing game...how do you really know you swung above or below a pitch anyway? It's not like the game lets you determine WHERE you swing the bat!

When the pitch is in the dirt and you swing, you're swinging over top of the ball. Vice versa with pitches above the belt/letters.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: MLB 2K9 - Five Important Steps Towards Rebuilding

There's just no incentive to work the count, try and pick out pitches, take a realistic approach to the plate or anything along those lines. Most people just go up there trying to hit almost every single pitch and are still able to score 4+ runs a game doing so.

I agree 100%.

This is where the games needs to take a look at what other sports games are doing as far as the AI adjusting on the fly. In the NBA series, the computer will somewhat adapt to your offense/defense and I believe the same for football. Looking specifically at NBA 2K. If you throw the ball to the big man in the post a few times in a row and he's scoring at will, the computer will start to double team him. If a player gets hot, the defense will tighten on a player until he cools down or someone else heats up.

To apply that to baseball, if the user hitter is swinging at every pitch, the AI should adapt and purposely start throwing pitches out of the zone until the hitter changes. If the hitter takes until he gets a strike the first time through the lineup, the pitcher should have a pretty good feeling that he can start pumping first pitch strikes over the middle of the plate until they adjust.

And on the other side of the matchup. If you are a pitcher and can't locate anything, you should expect the AI to be much more patient. They shouldn't be swinging at a 2-0 curveball in the dirt after you just walked the bases loaded. And if you are pumping 85% strikes and they are just looking, they should be expected to be a little more aggressive early in the count.

In this series, the AI seems to have no memory. The outcome of the last pitch seems to have no impact on the next one.

When you get a hitter to chase a fastball up in the zone, 9/10 times, the next pitch is going to be that high or higher. If a guy chases a curve in the dirt, you'll try and bury the next one until he shows he can lay off.

If a hitter is late on the fastball, you're not going to do him a favor and throw him an offspeed pitch, your just speeding up his bat. If a hitters is late on a fastball, you throw him another one. If he's on it or early, then you break out the other stuff. Same if he's ahead of the breaking stuff.

There just seems to be not point to the pitches thrown in this game. Pitchers don't pitch at all with a purpose and the pitch selection seems to be totally random (both pitch type and location). There is no chess match, instead it's more a game of coin toss.

Stat's and ratings are nice, but pitch sequences are more about feel than they are about stats. The last pitch will tell you more than a scouting report. If a hitter is supposed to struggle against a curveball, but hit your last one 425 feet foul, that should tell you that he's on your curve.