Yesterday, 2K Sports sent us a preview build of MLB 2K9 and I've been playing it pretty much ever since. If you've got questions about the game, put them in the comments below and I'll do my best to answer them. I can't promise I'll get to each and every question but I'll do my very best. Also note that this is not final code and there still might be some changes down the road.That said: Whaddya wanna know?
This is comforting:
Framerate is better than when I saw it a couple weeks ago. Still some hitches when the camera moves quickly but I'm hopeful.
And here is a list of his answers so far for easy access:
Wow that was quick. As a rule, I'm going to refrain from answering "Is it fun?" questions. That's what our review is for, and this is unfinished code anyway. Here's some answers for you for the first batch:
@J_Dodson - Manny is a free agent. (also: What's up Joe?)
@mattnyy - Lighting and graphics look good to me. Yankee stadium looks nice, I guess. Only noticeable difference, according to our resident baseball expert Shaun McInnis is the lack of black tarp on the seats in right center from the old stadium. Lots of blue everywhere! Crowd seems to move a lot, especially when foul balls come near.
@Chad334 - Haven't checked all of those players, but Soto's is correct. Haven't touched franchise mode yet. Will do that at some point.
@AustinOrgans - Haven't noticed head-tracking but I haven't looked hard either. I was jacking HRs yesterday on the default difficulty level. Seems like 2K either needs to tune things or I need to bump up the difficulty.
@Blitzburgh - Will get some screens up soon.
@rowdyroddyyates - I like what they've done with pitching so far. Easier than last year but challenging to get some specific pitches correct (breaking balls, for instance)
@ECoyle6 - In-game saves: YES. Great news. Swing animations are pretty good, though you can see pre-swing animations cycle if you stand in batter's box long enough.
@drterb - I'll have more on pitching in the next few days. It's really a two-step process on right analog stick. 1) Begin motion of specific pitch, cursor fills up with yellow circle. The longer you hold, the more power/break on pitch. 2) Finish pitch-specific motion and let go of stick. Easy! If you manage to fill up cursor perfectly (not easy to do), you get a "max" pitch that is really tough to hit.
Re: Pitch counts: They seem okay to me. OTOH I never get realistic pitch counts when I'm at bat. I swing at friggin' everything.
Haven't seen a CPU steal yet. Don't know about franchise mode yet. Hit variety is decent, especially if you mix in left stick to "aim" your hit.
LOVE Gary Thorne. Steve Phillips is meh.
@stix211 and others - Framerate is better than when I saw it a couple weeks ago. Still some hitches when the camera moves quickly but I'm hopeful.
Hitting is easier than last year. You don't have to time backswing at all, which you did last year and sucked IMO. Easier to make contact. In fact, I'm hoping they tweak it actually to ramp up the difficulty.
@kingobaid - Menu is very similar to NBA 2K9 in design.
@stix211 - Yes the ball does glow different colors when it crosses the plate. I believe the color corresponds to the pitch type.
@AustinOrgans - Fielders feel heavy? Only Prince Fielder. Haha. I made a joke. If you're talking about player momentum, they do move realistically, especially when changing direction. If you don't take the correct angle right away when chasing down a fly, it's tough to get there.
@mrsalsays and others - Homeruns look okay to me for the most part, though I did hit one at Minute Maid Park and, instead of bouncing right off a wall (behind the HR wall), it went right through it.
@trevanstand - Haven't seen a new WS celebration b/c I haven't won a WS yet...
And yes, I believe you can play any game on the schedule. Need to confirm that though.
Also regarding an earlier question--the CPU did try to steal on me today but I threa him out. Soto FTW!
@sammotheman - Lots of people asking about crowd noise. It seemed okay to me but I wasn't listening closely today. Will listen more tomorrow!
@mattnyy - Fielders do occasionally slow down when fielding for some reason, but it hasn't bugged me yet b/c it hasn't prevented me from getting to a ball.
@Chad334 - Defense seems pretty similar to last year. Right analog stick based and there's a throwing meter for fielders that you need to time correctly to get a good throw.
@sfochs - Like Gary Thorne a lot, Steve Phillips is okay. There is some repetition naturally but some of the comments (like re: Lou Pinella) are amusing.
@joemaker21 - Player models are decent--Jason Giambi has his porn stache which is awesome.
@joemaker21 - Bat sounds, like crowd sounds, I didn't really notice much. I'm sure they're fine but I'll try and give them attention tomorrow.
@J_Dodson - Manny is a free agent. (also: What's up Joe?)
@mattnyy - Lighting and graphics look good to me. Yankee stadium looks nice, I guess. Only noticeable difference, according to our resident baseball expert Shaun McInnis is the lack of black tarp on the seats in right center from the old stadium. Lots of blue everywhere! Crowd seems to move a lot, especially when foul balls come near.
@Chad334 - Haven't checked all of those players, but Soto's is correct. Haven't touched franchise mode yet. Will do that at some point.
@AustinOrgans - Haven't noticed head-tracking but I haven't looked hard either. I was jacking HRs yesterday on the default difficulty level. Seems like 2K either needs to tune things or I need to bump up the difficulty.
@Blitzburgh - Will get some screens up soon.
@rowdyroddyyates - I like what they've done with pitching so far. Easier than last year but challenging to get some specific pitches correct (breaking balls, for instance)
@ECoyle6 - In-game saves: YES. Great news. Swing animations are pretty good, though you can see pre-swing animations cycle if you stand in batter's box long enough.
@drterb - I'll have more on pitching in the next few days. It's really a two-step process on right analog stick. 1) Begin motion of specific pitch, cursor fills up with yellow circle. The longer you hold, the more power/break on pitch. 2) Finish pitch-specific motion and let go of stick. Easy! If you manage to fill up cursor perfectly (not easy to do), you get a "max" pitch that is really tough to hit.
Re: Pitch counts: They seem okay to me. OTOH I never get realistic pitch counts when I'm at bat. I swing at friggin' everything.
Haven't seen a CPU steal yet. Don't know about franchise mode yet. Hit variety is decent, especially if you mix in left stick to "aim" your hit.
LOVE Gary Thorne. Steve Phillips is meh.
@stix211 and others - Framerate is better than when I saw it a couple weeks ago. Still some hitches when the camera moves quickly but I'm hopeful.
Hitting is easier than last year. You don't have to time backswing at all, which you did last year and sucked IMO. Easier to make contact. In fact, I'm hoping they tweak it actually to ramp up the difficulty.
@kingobaid - Menu is very similar to NBA 2K9 in design.
@stix211 - Yes the ball does glow different colors when it crosses the plate. I believe the color corresponds to the pitch type.
@AustinOrgans - Fielders feel heavy? Only Prince Fielder. Haha. I made a joke. If you're talking about player momentum, they do move realistically, especially when changing direction. If you don't take the correct angle right away when chasing down a fly, it's tough to get there.
@mrsalsays and others - Homeruns look okay to me for the most part, though I did hit one at Minute Maid Park and, instead of bouncing right off a wall (behind the HR wall), it went right through it.
@trevanstand - Haven't seen a new WS celebration b/c I haven't won a WS yet...
And yes, I believe you can play any game on the schedule. Need to confirm that though.Also regarding an earlier question--the CPU did try to steal on me today but I threa him out. Soto FTW!
@sammotheman - Lots of people asking about crowd noise. It seemed okay to me but I wasn't listening closely today. Will listen more tomorrow!
@mattnyy - Fielders do occasionally slow down when fielding for some reason, but it hasn't bugged me yet b/c it hasn't prevented me from getting to a ball.
@Chad334 - Defense seems pretty similar to last year. Right analog stick based and there's a throwing meter for fielders that you need to time correctly to get a good throw.
@sfochs - Like Gary Thorne a lot, Steve Phillips is okay. There is some repetition naturally but some of the comments (like re: Lou Pinella) are amusing.
@joemaker21 - Player models are decent--Jason Giambi has his porn stache which is awesome.
@joemaker21 - Bat sounds, like crowd sounds, I didn't really notice much. I'm sure they're fine but I'll try and give them attention tomorrow.
Post a question or view them here:
Keep in mind he's playing on the default difficulty and it doesn't sound like he's messed with any of the hitting/pitching settings yet.
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