Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

[capa]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

Didn't like the video. For all the touting about the changes to the atmosphere and living environment, I am either not seeing it or it is not done well.

Dugout animations all canned and the same no matter what happens on field. The players throwing their heads back and raising arms over the head gets old quickly, and looks totally out of context for most of the situations.

There is no celebration of any sort on the game winning hit. In fact, the camera seems to go into never never land pointed at the dugout rail as one player seems to skateboard by.

Even the on field stuff is suspect. People have been talking about hitters swinging at everything that is a strike...'nuff said. I don't know...the players just don't seem to have the right animations based on the play in front of them....especially the outfielders.

Overall, I think the game is headed in the right direction, but it is evident that there are some pretty major fixes that will be required to reign in the hardcore gamers and sim-type crowd. Franchise mode may save this title, but the on field stuff...not loving it.

C

[tmac55]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

Ok so Branyan did not celebrate that much but the dugout did a little and the fact the crowd was standing the whole bottom of the 9th, tells me that the game is improving heavily over last year's.

Wait and see how that one plays out in different scenarios like a walk off or another park or player. This is by no means a make or break situation as most people should appreciate VC's efforts in one year.

See what happens in different scenarios

[kGinGreen]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

Didn't like the video. For all the touting about the changes to the atmosphere and living environment, I am either not seeing it or it is not done well.

Dugout animations all canned and the same no matter what happens on field. The players throwing their heads back and raising arms over the head gets old quickly, and looks totally out of context for most of the situations.

There is no celebration of any sort on the game winning hit. In fact, the camera seems to go into never never land pointed at the dugout rail as one player seems to skateboard by.

Even the on field stuff is suspect. People have been talking about hitters swinging at everything that is a strike...'nuff said. I don't know...the players just don't seem to have the right animations based on the play in front of them....especially the outfielders.

Overall, I think the game is headed in the right direction, but it is evident that there are some pretty major fixes that will be required to reign in the hardcore gamers and sim-type crowd. Franchise mode may save this title, but the on field stuff...not loving it.

C

I kind of liked it actually and am going to have to disagree. I can see the direction tis game is going with the tv style broadcast and i love it. I like how the crowd is standing and how everything transpires for the most part from the subbed runner to the crowd reaction to the dugout and the commentary. Yeah can be done better and the reactions are a little bit canned still and underwhelming somewhat but it was only a single. This is a great video imo because it really captures what this game is trying to do. B+

[DaveDQ]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

It's the final lap now. We've seen the videos, the demo will arrive next week and then March 3rd will be here.

I'll still break out my cigar and pour me a glass of my favorite whiskey to celebrate the occasion.

[kGinGreen]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

I like how phillips comments throughout. The commentary is awesome. You can tell substitutions are being made which is great and phillips comments whether its a good move or not. From right at the beginning he talks about teh defensive sub that doesnt make sense because it seems to be for offensive purposes. That is so awesome. Its a tie game and he's saying the A's are hoping to get out of this inning and score the next, which obviously doesnt happen here. To then commenting on the pinch runner who comes in. Then commenting on the bunt not being good getting the lead runner. Then with 1 out and a runner on first he talks about how they must be hoping for a double play. This really shows off how awesome the commentary is. It's definately to the situation and like a real 9th inning.

The only issues are the game winning animations and comments are kind of canned and underwhelming..

[stealyerface]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

It's the final lap now. We've seen the videos, the demo will arrive next week and then March 3rd will be here.

I'll still break out my cigar and pour me a glass of my favorite whiskey to celebrate the occasion.

I am not allowed to smoke cigars in the house, but I will second that glass or two of Jamie, and a long night on March 3rd!

syf

[bigfnjoe96]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

[capa]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

I kind of liked it actually and am going to have to disagree. I can see the direction tis game is going with the tv style broadcast and i love it. I like how the crowd is standing and how everything transpires for the most part from the subbed runner to the crowd reaction to the dugout and the commentary. Yeah can be done better and the reactions are a little bit canned still and underwhelming somewhat but it was only a single. This is a great video imo because it really captures what this game is trying to do. B+

I understand what you are saying, and I do like some of the camera angles. But nothing screamed game-winning hit in that video to me. It fell flat in my opinion. It seemed like an obvious situation where they would have shown players running from dugout to home plate, or at least show the runner scoring and celebrating. Something. But all we saw was the runner slowly walking back to the dugout. It was disappointing in my view.

I do like the commentary and tv broadcast angles...I just don't see the on field animations looking realistic based on the situation. Also, who did they mo-cap for players walking??? Brutal...

C

[kGinGreen]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

The 2nd baseman the ai was a little slow on that quick out trying to tag the runner at 2nd as well. The ai is a little questionable at times but i still love it. You can tell what 2k is really trying to do here and it's awesome. Maybe a year away from ironing some things but still. This is going to be one hell of a game. I agree with you that some of the animations are underwhelming and the game winning stuff was kind of canned. But everything else was fabulous.

[brendanrfoley]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

This is clearly video of an unfinished product. I still think the game looks great overall and look forward to playing it in just under two weeks!

[lnin0]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

Is this still from the beta? I am impressed and looking forward to this one. I hope online play is solid because that is where I will be.

All the real time stuff and ultra realistic AI is nice to have but the majority of the time I'll be quick playing vs human AI so not as much of a game breaker to me. It is hard to expect any game - shooter, racer, whatever - to have AI comparable to a humans. There are a massive ton of situations in baseball let alone giving every person in the stadium real time behavior. I would never expect human like logic 100% of the time. If baseball logic was so easy then everyone would be a manager or at least in agreement with every choice a manager makes.

[Knight165]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

#2 The centerfielder did throw the ball in on the game winning single. He quickly threw it to the cutoff man. He had no shot to throw Ichiro out from Centerfield. He did the only thing he could. By the time the cutoff man got the ball, the game was over...

Bro..
No way...no how...
The CF'er was 30 feet from the cut-off man.
If that was the only thing he could do..GET OUT OF BASEBALL.
Sorry...but that ball has to be thrown home.
Watch the video again.

M.K.
Knight165

[tmac55]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

Bro..
No way...no how...
The CF'er was 30 feet from the cut-off man.
If that was the only thing he could do..GET OUT OF BASEBALL.
Sorry...but that ball has to be thrown home.
Watch the video again.

M.K.
Knight165

I think you should reconsider your opinion. I mean we all see the game differently but I coach High School Baseball and in no circumstances would I ever call my CF out for not attempting to get the guy out when he clearly had no chance. I have seen major leaguers hold on to it or even throw it in to the infield. Each CF reads the game differently and I have to be honest with ya, he had no chance and it's not even worth the throw, especially with Ichiro on the bases.

[BigL]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

The walk off celebration stunk but I didnt see anything terribly off with that video. The AI is stealing 2nd which is a big positive.

Anybody notice that the blowing dirt is a little overexaggerated in the game? lol

[Blzer]

Re: Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: A's @ Mariners (Bottom 9)

Bro..
No way...no how...
The CF'er was 30 feet from the cut-off man.
If that was the only thing he could do..GET OUT OF BASEBALL.
Sorry...but that ball has to be thrown home.
Watch the video again.

M.K.
Knight165

Man, there was no chance. Granted, many players would still do it just out of doing it (still knowing that, unless the runners falls flat on his face or misses home plate, that he won't be caught), but that's why sometimes you just see a player not even go for that deep fly ball with the game winning run on third and less than two outs. They're just like... "Well, even if I catch it there's not a snowball's chance in doing anything with it." I bet the pitcher gets pissed because he could have lowered his ERA about 0.01, but there's no real gratitude in risking potential injury trying.

And yes, any play that you're involved in is putting yourself at risk for injury. You wonder why the catcher doesn't just throw the ball down on ball four while someone is stealing? They're also risking putting the ball (a live ball, mind you) in the outfield, but that's besides the point.

Ultimately I know what you're getting at though, and I attribute it to the game's programming. I bet it didn't program the fact that it's a "do-or-die" situation, and they cut off the ball to prevent the runner from going to second base. Little did the CPU know that the run crossing the plate ended the game.

At any rate, we can blame the CPU cutting it off, not the CPU throwing to the cutoff. He was throwing home, and they allowed it to be cut off. If you've played a 2K baseball game before, you know that you cut-off throws on the fly, where you first press the base you're throwing it to and press the L-trigger to cut it off, unlike The Show which has a designated button for throwing it to your cutoff. So essentially, he was throwing it home, but again, I think it was just a game design flaw for not recognizing the situation.

EDIT: Forgive the statements made in the last paragraph in italics. My memory on the play was fuzzy and I thought I distinctively remembered the player throwing it into the middle of the infield with it being cut off. Perhaps that was another video. Anyway, I'm keeping it up there because I just wanted to point to the fact that in past games you would throw to a base and then assign the cut-off man to take action should you wish. Either way, re-watching the video still shows that no sane player (even if not putting themselves at risk for injury) would have made that throw home. It simply wasn't close enough.