Following the Flock: My 2K Decision

[RaychelSnr]

Wil McCombs of Operation Sports has written an article discussing the impact the OS Community had on his decision in regards to purchasing Major League Baseball 2k8.

"The verdict is in on MLB 2K8, and unfortunately for 2K sports, the sole MLB title for Xbox 360 has not been cleared of all charges. Although I have not yet had the pleasure of taking this year’s edition of the MLB 2K series for a test drive, I have read numerous reviews (on this site and others), and more importantly, monitored the chatter here in our very own OS forums."

[allstar3970]

i have the game, and enjoy it despite its flaws.....most of the community's criticisms have validity in my opinion, its just a matter of how much these flaws bother you. To me, the pitching system (truly awesome and makes every pitch count) improved hitting, baseball card collecting and overall fun overcome those faults, though again, i see how others may disagree. I would suggest holding off on buying, but definitely rent it for a couple of days...( i dont think the demo on Live is enough of a sample to make a decision, i find this with most sports games)

[mrnickyb]

I'm a big Show fan and I also still love playing MVP '05. Last year's MLB 2k game stunk. Every other play was either a hr or a robbed hr. This year the gameplay is actually pretty good. People having trouble giving up hr's just aren't pitching well. The sliders have corrected the small gameplay problems such as AI pitchers not throwing enough balls or varying speeds/hitting corners. Also, the AI baserunning needed to be toned down because the AI was running itself out of innings trying to advance on wp's and pb's. The problems with the game are only with bugs and glitches, not gameplay. This is a shame and certainly warrants gamers being upset. If you don't pick it up make sure it is because of bug issues, not gameplay. Once you learn how to pitch and tweak the sliders the gameplay is quite good.

[Pared]

You're describing what many of us have been doing with football recently.

Come hell or high water... it's about time to start waiting for impressions of a game before running out and buying it day one.

[J.R. Locke]

Good points. It is the little things that make or break the game for each of us. Baseball I play mostly for fun, I like low scoring pitching duels and manufacturing runs. In football games the most important factor for me is to have complete roster control for all teams and a playbook editor/creator.

I held out on NCAA and Madden last year because they did not have the features I wanted and this site was of great help in saving me money!

[CFav]

Re: Following the Flock: My 2k Decision

You're describing what many of us have been doing with football recently.

Come hell or high water... it's about time to start waiting for impressions of a game before running out and buying it day one.

i agree 100%

[mgoblue]

Re: Following the Flock: My 2k Decision

You're describing what many of us have been doing with football recently.

Come hell or high water... it's about time to start waiting for impressions of a game before running out and buying it day one.

I don't buy Madden and am considering not buying NCAA this year...

The Show is the first baseball game I've owned in years.

Hockey and soccer have usually had one of the two series be good, so I always have one of those.

I got CH 2k8 and it didn't suck me in. Looks like my last basketball game for a while (2k is stale, and EA's 2 bball games suck).

I'm not as much of a sports gamer as I used to be, but when there's a quality game out there I play the hell out of it. NHL, Fifa, Skate all come to mind right now (along with The Show, that game's RTTS mode has single-handedly made me care about baseball videogames again).

[Shinyhubcaps]

Re: Following the Flock: My 2k Decision

Does anyone know when the MLB 2K8 demo was released for the Xbox 360? It came out for the PS3 the week after it was released in stores, while MLB 08 came out the week before the retail release. MLB 08 is the first baseball game I've owned since MVP 2005, and I have to say, the demo was bundled so nicely that it was hard to not check out this game. I did buy it first day, and it was a risk, but it did pay off. I think that Sony may have intentionally released the 2K8 demo later so that people would buy their product on launch day.

As an individual who plays mostly sports games, there are still others that I'd like to check into, but I haven't been around here long enough to know what people's impressions are like or if I could use said impressions in making my purchasing decisions. Demos are basically my number one form of impressions, but that leaves out so much as far as actual game modes.

[baa7]

Re: Following the Flock: My 2k Decision

Am I being too hasty? Have I made a huge, monumental mistake? Time will tell, I suppose, I will be certain to let you know.

The obvious question here is: And how will you ever know you made a mistake, if you never try the game? Waiting for user reviews is wise. Writing off a game just because of something you read, makes no sense to me.

I suppose online communities can in some ways 'circumvent the corporate hype machine', if that's what the exercise even is. Myself, I start from the position that it's all spin and hype, and that I'm not going to fall for any of it. So every year I rent the game, try it out, and then decide if it's worth purchasing. Guess I'm just an old-fashioned, common-sense type of person. But that comes with age: I've got enough going on in my life that I don't need to rush out and purchase these games the day they're released.

[ExtremeGamer]

I don't get this article at all, a few paragraphs on why you didn't buy the game...uh, ok. Congrats? Can't wait to read the hard hitting article on why you didn't buy the Hannah Montana DS game.

Your article would have been locked if it was posted on the forums by the way

[baa7]

Re: Following the Flock: My 2k Decision

I don't get this article at all

It's a thesis on circumventing the corporate hype machine. But IMO, one allows themselves to be hyped by the corporate machine, not the other way around. And any intelligent and self-respecting person doesn't do that, bottomline.

[TJdaSportsGuy]

Re: Following the Flock: My 2k Decision

It's a thesis on circumventing the corporate hype machine. But IMO, one allows themselves to be hyped by the corporate machine, not the other way around. And any intelligent and self-respecting person doesn't do that, bottomline.

EG's not going to understand that reply. Too many big words.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Following the Flock: My 2k Decision

EG's not going to understand that reply. Too many big words.

Seriously?

That's the best you can do?

[allBthere]

Re: Following the Flock: My 2k Decision

It's a thesis on circumventing the corporate hype machine. But IMO, one allows themselves to be hyped by the corporate machine, not the other way around. And any intelligent and self-respecting person doesn't do that, bottomline.

Actually I think the article is more of a reflection of how society is increasingly self-aware. Most people see ads more as just a piece of media rather than something that will actually get them to buy something. Recently when EA's Moore spoke about his satisfaction with the Madden franchise, he pointed towards 'metacritic' - i thought that was interesting, but also quite clever. He wasn't saying that 'hey the ny times gave it 5 stars', it was pointing to the consolidation of many reviews and opinions to reveal multiple perspectives of the game still come away positive. - ( I don't think it even deserves it metacritic rating,but that's a diff topic.) you as the consumer, provided you are interested in a product - can go to great lengths to find out more about it without leaving getting off your ash. This is a reflection of that to me.

Anyway I did the same thing the article suggests w/ madden 08 and took a pass w/o even renting.

One thing I wish game journalists would lose is their language 'buzz word culture'. The term "sadly" is WAY overused, and when I see it, it actually pisses me off now. I guess it started a year or more ago, and continues to thrive. years ago there was "the house that microsoft built" ex. "the house that ________built". You would see that on every site almost daily. Now "sadly" is much worse - it's multiple sites, multiple times daily to the point where it is used by Forum posters! It isn't 'sad' dammit ...I wish every article would be edited automatically and 'sadly' would be replaced with the much more fitting 'too bad', or 'bit of a shame' or something more appropriate.

SPREAD THE WORD..."SADLY" NEEDS TO BE BURIED IN VIDEOGAME JOURNALISM FOREVER AND EVER! NEVER LET YOURSELF USE IT AGAIN! STOP THOSE AROUND YOU FROM DOING IT TOO! ...but, sadly, it will probably continue to be used until I rip my own face off.

ps. nice soap opera going on above .. ooooh i wonder what's going to happen next!?

[baa7]

Re: Following the Flock: My 2k Decision

Actually I think the article is more of a reflection of how society is increasingly self-aware.

Correct... which, in conjunction with discussion forums such as this one, leads to the possibility of circumventing the corporate hype machine!