Major League Baseball 2K10 Gameplay Video (Mets @ Cubs)

[nyisles16]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K10 Gameplay Video (Mets @ Cubs)

Well, they did get Olie down pat!!

[BigBlue]

Here are the positives I saw in the video:

- Something I've always wanted is for the pitcher to come set after I select the pitch type (ala The Show). It's finally in! Select the pitch type, pitcher comes set and will freeze until you begin the gesture. Great for when runners are on base.

- I love the new base runners windows. Hated last year's stick figures!

- I did not see one Pepsi / State Farm ad. Did 2K lose those sponsorships? I did see a bunch of generic advertising (Foenix Airlines? Bright Shield Insurance?).

I'll hold off on my negative thoughts until I see more gameplay videos. I had a hard time viewing this video because it came in very choppy for me.

BigBlue

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K10 Gameplay Video (Mets @ Cubs)

I thought it looked great. Just want a playable baseball game, and it looks at least playable.

[kgisbeast]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K10 Gameplay Video (Mets @ Cubs)

The game looked very playable to me. You can tell they put some work into it. I do not obsess over the graphics as I am more interested in game play.

A couple observations:

Pro:

-Really liked that hit by Byrd when he reached and went the other way. Was that the product of a defensive swing?

-Like the variability with the batter strike zone sizes. That is one thing I would like to see implemented in the Show.

-I like how the batters take their time getting set in the batter's box before the pitch. They are not immediately set in their stance.

-The mix of pitches from the CPU pitcher was good and he even gave up a walk. Nice to see!

Cons for me:

-I am not a fan of the hitter's eye. It shows up way too often. I know the easy fix is to turn it off.

-Not understanding the throwing animations. The throws that the fielders are getting off are not reflective in their throwing animation. Also the arcs are really exaggerated too much like a rainbow.

-I am concerned that they took away the adjustable camera for hitting as that view is the only one we have seen. I keep wanting to peek up over the strike zone.

It is just one inning of play so we really need a full game to see the overall game AI but I did not think things were too far off like last year.

I'm with you as far as gameplay. One thing that concerns me a bit though is from Reinor's blog I averaged it out in all the games he played. He threw a total of 853 pitches in 80.3 innings. Thats a little over 10 pitches an inning. HAlf of his games were also 9 innnings plus. Its definately an improvement over last year when i was seeing 3 and 4 pitch innings at times and 30-40 pitch counts after 6 innings. But still looks like it could use some work. How are they are achieving this and whether it is realistic is another. This is one area the show really nails is the batter pitcher duels.

As far as human batter vs cpu pitcher I was watching the bat to see if he was swinging and missing. Last year if anything was near the strike zone it was really easy to make contact which made the cpu pitch counts low as well. It seemed pretty balanced to me. He swung late and early and missed a few times. He fouled off a couple pitches. He swung through a a couple times. The cpu pitch variety looked better. It wasn't on par as far as the other game but seemed fairly balanced with the pitching.

^^^^At least I hope this is the case. They said they worked on this stuff. IF there is just way too much contact again the gameplay is going to really suffer. If the AI is screwy it's going to suffer. Seeing 2 of the 3 cpue batters ground out on 3 pitches and then the pitcher take balls and strikes wasn't overly confidence inducing.

That opposite field hit where it bounces up off the infield grass was nice

The fielding and baserunning stuff does seem to speed up unrealistically at times and doesn't seem toned correctly. Sometimes it looked nice. Other times it would suddenly speed up. Maybe it was the way he was using the throwing guage thing and was just maxing it out too quick a few times. This was a problem last year as well.

The graphics look improved and cloth physics. The colors really pop. The game is just colorful and not too drab to me. The overlays are much better. Some of the textures are kind of bland though. This could just be due to it being a multiplat and the hardware they are dealing with.

[DickDalewood]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K10 Gameplay Video (Mets @ Cubs)

The game looked very playable to me. You can tell they put some work into it. I do not obsess over the graphics as I am more interested in game play.

A couple observations:

Pro:

-Really liked that hit by Byrd when he reached and went the other way. Was that the product of a defensive swing?

-Like the variability with the batter strike zone sizes. That is one thing I would like to see implemented in the Show.

-I like how the batters take their time getting set in the batter's box before the pitch. They are not immediately set in their stance.

-The mix of pitches from the CPU pitcher was good and he even gave up a walk. Nice to see!

Cons for me:

-I am not a fan of the hitter's eye. It shows up way too often. I know the easy fix is to turn it off.

-Not understanding the throwing animations. The throws that the fielders are getting off are not reflective in their throwing animation. Also the arcs are really exaggerated too much like a rainbow.

-I am concerned that they took away the adjustable camera for hitting as that view is the only one we have seen. I keep wanting to peek up over the strike zone.

It is just one inning of play so we really need a full game to see the overall game AI but I did not think things were too far off like last year.

These are from the new myplayer insight... if this batting view is available in regular games, then thank god... because I HATE that new view:

[JayhawkerStL]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K10 Gameplay Video (Mets @ Cubs)

I used the long away camera in last year's game. It doesn't look as nice, but it provided a better view of the pitch, which made reading balls and strikes easier. Obviously, if it is too easy, I will switch back to a closer view.

But that view was awesome in online play, because for the first time in any online baseball game, you could see the pitch before deciding to swing or take. 2K9 deserved a lot more credit for that than they got. And I will be sorely disappointed if this year's version loses that due to lag.

[Ckhoss29]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K10 Gameplay Video (Mets @ Cubs)

These are from the new myplayer insight... if this batting view is available in regular games, then thank god... because I HATE that new view:

The new view looks alot like what I used in MVP on the PC. I think you might like it if you give it a try. As for the other views yes I am used to them too from last years game glad that we probably will get a choice.

[capa]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K10 Gameplay Video (Mets @ Cubs)

There is something still just not right about the way the players swing the bat. And of course the aforementioned uniform numbers are just huge.

C

[CybrSlydr]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K10 Gameplay Video (Mets @ Cubs)

Personally, I'm VERY happy with what I see from this game.

I do share the concerns with the animation speeding up/down, but it looks to be a MUCH more playable version this time around.

PC might have a decent MLB game again!

For the record, I really like that new batting camera.

[Pro Bowler]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K10 Gameplay Video (Mets @ Cubs)

The posted pics look a lot better than the video. I can't really see much difference between this and 2K9 after watching the video. That's the batting view i used last year so that's fine for me.

The animations look nice but they are a little too fast. I don't see the big deal with the numbers. I think the camera view has more to do with the size. I did notice that every player stands the same distance from the plate. It looks like every batter really crowds the plate. Derek Lee had an open stance but his right foot was still in the same position as the rest.

I'm one of the few that liked 2K9 as far as playing a single game. The only problem i had was the aggressive CPU hitters. I will still need to play the demo and see how it feels before i can make any real comparisons to 2K9. As of right now they look pretty much the same imo outside a few overlays and batting view.

[WaddupCouzin]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K10 Gameplay Video (Mets @ Cubs)

I don't think the pick-off play looks that bad, sometimes you have to dive back into first base depending on your lead, but I do hope they have varied get back to the bag animations. Only having one type wouldn't be cool.

[Blzer]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K10 Gameplay Video (Mets @ Cubs)

There is something still just not right about the way the players swing the bat.

C

I can explain it, but just keep in mind this is from a hitting coach's perspective, so I don't want to be bashed or anything for the explanation that I'm about to give. I only want to explain what you're seeing, so this is purely instructional and observational, nothing more.

Well off the bat, the first issue is the video being down-converted from sixty frames per second when it was uploaded. Sometimes you're watching swings and it looks like you don't even see the bat go through the zone. That should be better ironed out when you watch it on your own TV.

The second issue is partly a swing issue that you'll see from baseball players in real life, but I think it's a bit exaggerated to the point that it doesn't quite seem physically possible. The issue is the wrist roll-over coming way too early in the swing. I think we're seeing it about during the contact point, which as most baseball players should understand is a huge no-no. A batter normally gets themselves "squared" to the pitcher by their pivot opening up their hips, so that way when they start their hands at the ball, the torque will open up their bat facing as well. For most of your swing, your bat will actually kind of stay along the same plane rather than getting a completely perfect arch-swing like Griffey's shoes show. And, at the point of contact, you should be well behind the ball (normally as a result of your weight being back). See here:






You can tell that his wrists yet haven't rolled over because his left wrist is still facing palm-up and his right wrist is palm-down. The normal "roll-over" point for a baseball player is when they extend the bat head out pointed toward the pitcher or the side of the field which they bat:




(notice this is when his wrists are finally rolling over, and palm facings are switching roles)


For one-handed swingers, this is also the earliest point they will let go with their top hand, because they don't want to have to roll over and carry through with their swing.

So in MLB 2K10 (and you can really see it in the Hitters video where Longoria doubles down the line), it seems the hip rotation moves independently with the hand movement. He'll get his pivot through, but not square up to the pitcher; then to get his arms around, you'll see that he rolls over around the point of contact and lets go of the bat shortly after that, then finish his hip opening when he follows through and lets go of the bat to run down the line.

Speaking of follow-throughs, that's the third issue. I don't really think I need to explain it, but they look awkward. They especially look bad on swings and misses when they do that helicopter thing. Not all of these hitters are Matt Williams, so I don't know why they're all doing it. It just looks weird is all.



So I just hope that it explains what's going on here. Again, take this as only a lesson from a hitting coach explaining some of the fundamentals of a swing, and how this is not only fundamentally incorrect, but almost physically impossible to separate body motion and flow with your hand gestures.


EDIT: Sorry if that Utley pic enlarges on you. I'll try and find a smaller picture to use.

[GhostWriter99]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K10 Gameplay Video (Mets @ Cubs)

As a x-box 360 only owner, I have no choice but to get the game. Well I guess I do have a choice but I need a Baseball game and this has to be it.

The video is ok I guess.

I really like the batters camera, I think this could allow more people to bring more high counts into a game. I loved the way Wrigley looked. I am not really too upset with the numbers but I can see what everyone is complaining about. I like the wildness of Oliver Perez, that will teach you patience because if you swing at those pitches you will get in trouble.

No too crazy about the quick inning in the top half. The fans didn't seem too realistic to me. Fielding seemed really fast. The "Play of the day" comment after the double play I did not like at all. A run scored and they acted like he did a good thing by hitting into a double play, I am not sure how easy that is to correct but still.

Overall I am not too dissapointed and am still on pace to getting the game the day of release (x-box 360 only owner). I am hoping more gameplay videos are coming so I can see some more to get a better idea of what to expect.

[rudyjuly2]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K10 Gameplay Video (Mets @ Cubs)

Holy crap Blzer! Nice breakdown. You always find a way to get technical lol.

[Pared]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K10 Gameplay Video (Mets @ Cubs)

Lots of potential there! The signature style is once again on top of its game.