MLB 2K11 Developer Diary #2 - 2K10 vs 2K11 Side-by-Side Comparison

[Blzer]

Quote: Originally Posted by LastActionHero

And why does 2k always bashes the game they made last year. On what will they talk down about 11 when 12 rolls around next year? Doesn't really makes me believe them this time again...

I've tried to make this point many times before. Now I've just given up haha.

[JayhawkerStL]

Quote: Originally Posted by Blzer

I've tried to make this point many times before. Now I've just given up haha.

It's a red herring. We all know that they released their last three games with problems. We then demand that they admit this and fix it.

So the next year rolls around, they admit it and fix it, but we bash them for doing so. It's not enough that we complain about what they get wrong (which I support), but I don't get this idea that we need to complain about how they tell us what they fixed. It's just a backhanded way to bash the developers for having released a game with bugs last year.

We have list after list in this forum about what we didn't like about 2K10. I think it is really disingenuous to call the developers on admitting their mistakes.

[jeffy777]

I appreciate their honesty. I'd much rather them admit the problems rather than pretend like they never existed, which is what some other developers do and it's very annoying. This is a much better route because this way we know that the issues are actually being addressed rather than swept under the carpet. Instead of acting like all the previous games were perfect, they are showing us that they acknowledge the problems and are actively improving them. I have to tip my hat to VC for this. I wish all developers would be this honest, but it requires swallowing your pride and not everyone is willing to do that.

Hopefully, now that they've had a couple full years of development under their belt, they've worked through most of the big problems so that next year there will only be minor issues mentioned when they look back on 2K11. Again, I say hopefully......but I really think they are making good progress with this series.

[Blzer]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jayhawker

I think it is really disingenuous to call the developers on admitting their mistakes.

Quote: Originally Posted by jeffy777

I appreciate their honesty. I'd much rather them admit the problems rather than pretend like they never existed, which is what some other developers do and it's very annoying.

I understand what you're saying, but the issue is the timing. Last year for 2K10, before the game came out they made no admittance whatsoever about zombie faces, lack of errors and injuries, and whatever else may have plagued the game. Instead they avoid saying anything about these issues to make a fast buck. I'm sure this makes sense on their end, but instead they'll only admit these things later, after the game drops from $60 and the next iteration is announced.

I would prefer they were just brutally honest from the get-go. The only thing they did it for last year was check swings, and you can see how things can be caught on and implemented instantly if they let us know about the game's concerns before they release it.

[duke776]

Quote: Originally Posted by jeffy777

I appreciate their honesty. I'd much rather them admit the problems rather than pretend like they never existed, which is what some other developers do and it's very annoying. This is a much better route because this way we know that the issues are actually being addressed rather than swept under the carpet. Instead of acting like all the previous games were perfect, they are showing us that they acknowledge the problems and are actively improving them. I have to tip my hat to VC for this. I wish all developers would be this honest, but it requires swallowing your pride and not everyone is willing to do that.

That's basically how I look at it. I mean it sucks to have big issues that can suck the fun out of the game, but it sucks even more when they are ignored or not acknowleged IMO.

[JayhawkerStL]

Quote: Originally Posted by Blzer

I understand what you're saying, but the issue is the timing. Last year for 2K10, before the game came out they made no admittance whatsoever about zombie faces, lack of errors and injuries, and whatever else may have plagued the game. Instead they avoid saying anything about these issues to make a fast buck. I'm sure this makes sense on their end, but instead they'll only admit these things later, after the game drops from $60 and the next iteration is announced. I would prefer they were just brutally honest from the get-go. The only thing they did it for last year was check swings, and you can see how things can be caught on and implemented instantly if they let us know about the game's concerns before they release it.

But it's not true. They admitted last year they could not get errors in the game, becasue they couldn't add animations via a patch.

I never felt like they pretended that the problems didn't exist. I thought they were up front about what they were not fixing, and what they were.

[Segagendude]

Quote:

In the past, our players have sported a zombie-like, wide-eyed expression

They actually admit to this. Always nice to see a dev admit their past mistakes.....

Doesn't look too bad thus far.

[SoxFan01605]

Quote: Originally Posted by Blzer

I understand what you're saying, but the issue is the timing. Last year for 2K10, before the game came out they made no admittance whatsoever about zombie faces, lack of errors and injuries, and whatever else may have plagued the game. Instead they avoid saying anything about these issues to make a fast buck. I'm sure this makes sense on their end, but instead they'll only admit these things later, after the game drops from $60 and the next iteration is announced. I would prefer they were just brutally honest from the get-go. The only thing they did it for last year was check swings, and you can see how things can be caught on and implemented instantly if they let us know about the game's concerns before they release it.

I see what you're saying, and idealistically, I guess I would agree. I just think that's a somewhat unrealistic expectation though. Maybe "unfair" is too strong a term, but it seems at least "unbalanced" to pin something like that on 2K. Look at any game on this site (even the universally praised ones) and they ship with issues that you don't find out about until we all start griping about them. Nobody admits failures ahead of time...sometimes it's because it's not found until we find them and sometimes it's not worth mentioning. 2K did, at least, cop to some mistakes last year and explained why they could or couldn't get it patched...they were panned for that too though...lol. That's really about the most you can expect from any developer though (with maybe a few exceptions).

As for the problems themselves, the zombie faces wasn't unique to MLB 2K and certainly not to 2K10...there was really nothing to "admit." We all knew what we were getting as we saw the pics year after year. It's no different than when a more reputed developer touts a player model improvement over previous iterations as one of the big new things when it has been noticeable for several years.

It doesn't mean they've been selling to us falsely, it simply means that once they got it right, they say so and explain how/why it's better. It's simply more noticeable as an "issue" with a franchise like MLB 2K because it has had so many hiccups along the way and so many people don't trust them (understandably so, but that's not anything they can change overnight).

As for bigger problems like fielding, I could make similar comparisons to other developers, but it's hard to compare in generalities and specifics aren't allowed...lol. Needless to say this isn't a unique "issue" to VC. Again, the only difference is, because so many people are down on 2K baseball, they get called out for it while others don't.

I guess my feeling is that, at the end of it all, VC is doing the best thing they can do until they get some more credibility for their series: keep it simple, short, and focused on problem-solving. They don't get credit for it (and maybe, given the series' history, that's fair), but it's certainly better than the alternative (the overhype for a sub-par product and ignoring consumer complaints-i.e how it was approached before VC took back over).

Of course, none of that matter if 2K11 doesn't show improvement, but that's kind of the point also...these tactics only stand out to people because of MLB 2K's lack of success. It's kind of a backwards association IMO.