[F1N1SH1M]

In the case of MLB 09 they are not doing a good job of slamming the door on cheating. This is a link to the game history of the number 1 ranked player. [http://mlb09ps3html-prod.sc.online.scea.com/MLB09/game/game_player_results_web.php?AccountName=tinour2muc h] If you notice his game playing time vs. his opponents its 1 inning and done for most of his games. A great majority of the players in the top 100 share these types of games because they are creating zombie accounts and giving free wins to their fellow cheater punks.

What is the purpose of creating these web sites to track online leaders and statistics if you let the cheating run rampant? The game has been out for 3 weeks and it is painfully obvious who the cheaters are if you check out the leaderboard and access the last page of zombie accounts. Input those accounts into the game history section, look at their common opponents and bingo you have most of your culprits. How much time and effort does it take to carry out this process and then proceed in freezing the accounts of these losers? Are they operating on FBI criminal investigation time or what?

I agree Madden is a joke and after last years debacle I wont even bother purchasing it next year. I dont understand how you could even have a national tournament based on that game. I watched a final on ESPN that took place in some resort town that featured two schmucks playing each other using the same team, the Cowboys. That game has turned into a disgrace and an embarrasment to sim sport gamers.

If MLB the Show could figure out a way to clamp down on these cheaters they would be able to garner more revenue by creating tournaments themselves. Hitting vs pitching is all it would come down to unlike in Madden that has teams filled with All-Pros (Cowboys) that cant be stopped unless Billy from the LD class is using them vs Dr. Madden Exploit who has the Lions.

Baseball is such a beautiful game that has had very minimal changes since its introduction to society. I love how Steve Stone (our new White Sox TV color analyst alongside Ken "Hawk" Harrelson) breaks down pitching to its simplicity. For example he has often mentioned the best way, that has not changed since baseballs inception, to get hitters out is high and tight or low and away no matter the hitter. Harrelson also talks about hitters "expanding their zone" or "zeroing in on a location". Im sure other announcers you all have listened to speak about these exact topics. Now to get back to my point, if you apply just those two simple concepts regarding hitters and pitchers and field the ball every player has a chance no matter the matchup. All you need is some pretty good hand eye coordination. Now if you are playing against a person with similar or greater skill than you in those areas I wouldnt recommend using the Orioles if they have the Red Sox.

In a tournament atmosphere one of the few things that could be counted as an exploit that would have to be eliminated is speed pitching (not giving the batter a sufficient amount of time to prepare for the next pitch) because that heavily favors the pitcher especially if they are using a pitcher who throws very hard. Two televisions or monitors back-to-back would take care of opponents seeing pitch location. Other than that there may be a thing here or there I may be missing but I can see a show tournament surpassing madden even though you dont have the XBOX community although reading some responses to an article written on this site regarding titles that sell consoles that may not be a problem. Until then I will continue to enjoy The Show 09 playing against my buddies and some of the relatively few sim players online along with the RTTS and Franchise mode.