Great comments so far. I'm going to quote a bunch and add my own stuff at the end.
I don't think it'd be hard to have the best of both worlds. Zone aim your swing with the left thumbstick, but then instead of pressing a button to swing, use the swing stick. But here's where it gets interesting. Keep the swing stick mechanic where you can roll the right thumbstick to the left or right to try to pull/push the ball. I think it would be awesome to get an outside pitch to a right-handed batter and have to push right on the left thumbstick AND pull back the right thumbstick and roll it over to the right side to try to shoot the ball into right field. And if you want to get REALLY crazy, have the speed of the thumbstick movements affect bat speed for a power/contact type dynamic. Of course, leave a button-push for the pure zone hitters.
Agreed. And if it pisses people off, just add an "All Strikes" mode. If they did it for the online mode, why can't they do it for offline?
I like the idea of having a "zone of accuracy" (as I call it) that's bigger for wild pitchers and small for pinpoint pitchers. Even if you execute a "perfect" pitch, it will end up anywhere in your gray circle area. If you leave on breakpoint, keep the total control pitching, and turn off the strike zones, I bet we'll start seeing ourselves regularly walking 3-5 guys a game.
This. What's wrong with standing on the shoulders of giants? I would suggest, though, that they actually play MVP NCAA 2006. I loved MVP 2005, but NCAA was without a doubt the most challenging baseball game I've ever played. Pitching was still slightly too easy (although nowhere near as easy as 2005), but the hitting was extremely challenging, and each base hit was VERY rewarding. When you hit a home run, you REALLY earned it.
I'm glad someone else played this game. Furthermore, their check swing mechanic felt completely right. I couldn't have been more disappointed that they discontinued the NCAA series. If there was an MVP NCAA 2008, I'd probably be in year 20 of a franchise by now.
Agreed. The sound is horrible, and I don't like the music. Baseball is a game with dozens of great, old-time songs. Why not have a phonograph recording of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" play in the menu? Or "Centerfield"? Or "Talking Baseball"? Or "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request"? "Glory Days"? "Cheap Seats"? Even some baseball-era instrumental music would be more appropriate. Get the soundtrack for Ken Burns' Baseball, if you have to.
No kidding. Not all pitchers throw 4-5 pitches. In fact, most throw only 2 "good" pitches, and then have a third or MAYBE a fourth to keep hitters off-balance.
I have just a couple more comments of my own:
Fix the oversight where you had to have exactly 25 guys on all your rosters. It was ridiculous that I had to sign a new player if someone on my MLB team went down and I had to call up someone from AAA or AA. Completely ridiculous. I'd also like to see realistic player management in regards to the Rule V draft, the amateur draft, and the 40-man roster, at the very LEAST. The rules really aren't hard to understand, which is why it boggles my mind that realistic roster management is the exception rather than the rule.
Make the baserunning like MVP 2005/NCAA 2006. I don't care how much improved the baserunning mechanic was from 2K7 to 2K8. It was still horrible, and unintuitive. Just use the MVP model, for God's sake. It was as close to perfection as possible.
Slow down the pitch speed so we can actually tell the difference between balls and strikes. I don't understand why 2K thinks that fast pitching = harder difficulty. CHANGING speeds is what makes hitting difficult. I had no problem making contact in the 2K series, even with the "pitch speed" and "change speeds" sliders cranked up, because everything came in like a 100-mph fastball. Yet pitchers in High Heat and MVP NCAA 2006 were consistently able to strike me out by changing speeds and location. Look at the CPU pitching in those games. PLEASE.