MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

[inkcil]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

And I think they will be able to pay a reasonable amount for a non-exclusive license and have more room in their budget to flesh the game out to NBA 2K11 levels.

After so many years of putting out a product many levels below the NBA 2k standard, do you think this team really has that type of talent?

[JayhawkerStL]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

Any chance we can get a separate PS3 Demo impressions thread? Because it seems like that console has some issues that I don't see on the 360.

It seems 2K has once again chosen to do a cheap import of their game to the PS3 because they don't think they can justify the expense. regardless of why, how it runs on the PS3 is of no importance to most of the people that are considering the game. And if they are considering it for the PS3, they deserve to have a rundown of the issues found on the PS3.

There doesn't seem to be a very efficient separation of who is playing what in this impressions thread.

[JayhawkerStL]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

After so many years of putting out a product many levels below the NBA 2k standard, do you think this team really has that type of talent?

Since VC spent many years improving the NBA game to the point it is now, of course I think they can do the same for baseball.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

And CMH, you hit the nail on the head. The difference is I was kind of aware of these things already. A lot of people on here said that "2K10 just needed to add errors and injuries and it would be a fine playing game." That's a bit true, but it's also an ugly playing game. There are just weird things behind the mechanics of 2K games that don't make a single bit of sense to me. It's that "rough around the edges" kind of atmosphere they always seem to plague baseball games with.

For starters, I really get and dig that people admire the hitting cam, I really do. But honestly, why oh why is this a default camera? I know that none of my friends ever touch any settings (maybe difficulty, but that's it), and it looks and plays like an eyesore out of the box. Strange unnecessary meters, very slow and floaty pitch speeds while the catcher snaps the ball back, and dreaded hitting camera angles. Again, some people like it... I despise it. With a passion, mind you. Can I see? Yeah, a little bit. Why is a third of the screen showing the dirt though? It's just an ugly looking camera is all, and it's the default. If it's a third option in the game, go for it and knock yourself out. But find something else that just seems more "standard" in the options. I don't know why this irks me, probably because I can't change it in the demo. Didn't help that last year I couldn't save my camera options though.

Secondly, things like walks, runners crossing home plate on home runs, and consistencies that won't change based on the situation. Why do they go from some animation and then start cutting corners and stopping on a dime and stuff? I know it's RTP, but can't they trigger the home run animation to have them just smoothly start going back to their bench afterward? It makes little sense to me.

And the thing you said about the batting stances is spot on. I could live with it if we have one hundred generic stances to choose from like SCEA finally put in last year, but we don't. The generic stances were always a head-scratcher, too... who on earth bats like 90% of these generic stances? Where do they come from? I just don't get it. They don't exist anywhere in the baseball world, and they wouldn't even fundamentally be natural or advantageous at the plate.

Then there's the sounds. I know they used to have bat explosions in the past, but somehow I kind of feel that's just still kind of there in a way. They go to baseball games, right? They watch them on TV? Why do some of these sounds exist? They've existed for as long as we've complained about them, that has not changed at all. As far as sounds go, what's up with the umpire? Do they just throw this stuff in to be funny? Again, it just doesn't sound good. I don't know where they come up with half of these things, and since I can't adjust audio levels in the demo it comes off as comical. And well, jumbotrons still have the issue of not filling up the black area. Uhh... just fill up the black area I guess? I'm really not sure how to put it, but for three years it's been like this and it's tough to look past.

Ugh, and then I only wish they had a more accessible hitting mechanic. I mean I dedicated a YouTube video to its problems. I know people say check swings are in the game, but honestly like defensive swinging they feel like premeditated controls you have to use. The classic controls don't help because 1) there's no ability to swing "normally" (it automatically suggests a swing type for you from the list, probably base on the player) and 2) there isn't any kind of aiming, just directing your hit. And last year was simply unplayable with hitting. I tell you, I've played baseball games for years. Everyone here has. And never ever in my life has there ever been such unresponsive swinging. No one else here claims that it existed in 2K10, but my goodness was it a fatal flaw. I'd pop in my disc every so often (which I still own), and say to myself "Hey, this game is fun!" And that's the absolute worst part about it... despite everything that troubles me in this game, it is a damn fun video game. There some fun factor I've always sought in the 2K series that I can't in any other baseball game, and I'm not just talking about The Show but games of the past as well. Sure they're fun, but they wouldn't grab me the same way if they had these nagging issues. So anyway, I tell myself that it's fun but then I get re-reminded that I can't hit the damn ball because my player swings half a second late! And again, remember... it's not TV lag, fellas, I've been gaming for years and playing another baseball game right beside it with completely normal response. 2K10 didn't have it, and it became unplayable that way.

And I could honestly forgive them of all these things, I really could... if they were just more involved with the community. This is the worst part about it. There are things in their own little 2K world where they feel most of these tactics are right and they've been around since 2K3, but they just boggle the game down hard. No sense of urgency on their end to mold their schedule, habits, or implementations around what the customer wants. Sure there are some things that work and I really appreciate them for doing it (small things like variable strike zones and zero-stitch commentary), but it's still completely on their end. There isn't really a tonal human entity we can feel from their lead designer, except when we read they called out SCEA for their right-stick pitching mechanic. Even EA had Ian Cummings on here for a while, I don't know. There are things in this game that, whether big or small, a sense of community and involvement would be terrific. I'm not even talking about OS, their main forum doesn't have it either. The best they have is Ronnie, and man oh man I don't know if I should blame him or not, but his posts and tweets are inaccurate 80% of the time.

And then there's that other bone I have to pick with them backhandedly admitting that their past games weren't worth their $60 price tags with all that was wrong with them, but oh now that they're corrected they are worth it... only to get another comparison the next year. I get it though, they are actually improving the game so I shouldn't really have an issue with this one. And it's not like this is the only game that has this kind of problem, so I guess this isn't the worst of the things. It's just that "developer/community" feedback, or lack thereof, that triggers this for me. I've seen developers admit to things that won't be in the game without being obligatory about it, but I just can't see this with 2K.

It's just become a chore working with 2K, and year after year I love to see what they have to offer but they really lack a sense of fine-tuning and correcting little things among the big things. They are good at going under-the-hood and you can see it in the most recent developer diary, but the visual and audio front we experience is very hard to look past that, behind the glamor, it is still a "2K baseball" game.

I say all of this, and yet I'm still playing the demo. Why? Because the game is fun. I popped it in all the time last year and to be honest, aside from being able to make contact with the ball (which is half of the game, no big deal) I would still play it. 2K10 (and 2K11 from the looks of things) certainly has that short-term appeal and I don't mind owning it if I play a game at a time, even if it's not franchise mode. But man, they really need to nab people for the long-haul. They want to turn things around and they're taking some of the right baby steps, but the bigger picture is the issue. No, I don't want them to can their game or switch developers. If it takes them two years to release the next game, so be it. I'm an avid fan of the games these guys put out, but they always irk me in some way that it just comes off as a chore to get to the reasons why you love the series. People are hailing it as the "one more year and it's golden" kind of series and I think VC would be capable of doing it better than any other company, but they just aren't. I really appreciate the upgrades they have made, but I think in the end all the blame goes on 2K for going through three different development teams before finally handing it off to VC.

Anyway, back to the demo. I'm having a blast with it despite the limitations, but man this game is just easy to pick on. I feel like I needed to actually write one of these out from the last few years of this game's releases.

I maybe be out of the norm, but I will take fun over anything else.

I don't need have a game that is deeper then life itself. I'm getting older and have no time to put in a deep, deep game anymore, I wanna pick and play and have FUN.

[Razorblade]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

Any chance we can get a separate PS3 Demo impressions thread? Because it seems like that console has some issues that I don't see on the 360.

It seems 2K has once again chosen to do a cheap import of their game to the PS3 because they don't think they can justify the expense. regardless of why, how it runs on the PS3 is of no importance to most of the people that are considering the game. And if they are considering it for the PS3, they deserve to have a rundown of the issues found on the PS3.

There doesn't seem to be a very efficient separation of who is playing what in this impressions thread.

I have not seen anything wrong with the ps3 version cause well that's what I have and the demo looks great and it's playing great...to me just from the demo everything about this demo is better than the full version of last years game...But yeah it would be great if we had a topic just for the ps3 users.

[inkcil]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

Any chance we can get a separate PS3 Demo impressions thread? Because it seems like that console has some issues that I don't see on the 360.

It seems 2K has once again chosen to do a cheap import of their game to the PS3 because they don't think they can justify the expense. regardless of why, how it runs on the PS3 is of no importance to most of the people that are considering the game. And if they are considering it for the PS3, they deserve to have a rundown of the issues found on the PS3.

There doesn't seem to be a very efficient separation of who is playing what in this impressions thread.

I think the PS3 version looks and runs ok enough...2k7, 2k10 and now 2k11 (demo) all look decent enough on Ps3. But I know from years past (IMO) 360 always looked much much better.

[Blzer]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

I maybe be out of the norm, but I will take fun over anything else.

I don't need have a game that is deeper then life itself. I'm getting older and have no time to put in a deep, deep game anymore, I wanna pick and play and have FUN.

You and I are in total agreement here. The game is just fun. 2K has always had that about them, they resort to the video game aspect of the game itself rather than the sport of it. This is completely fine with me. Though sometimes there are things that get in the way that make me say, "Man, I'm having fun with this, so why are you sticking your ugly head out right here in [name issue here]?" Like I said, I would have played 2K10 twenty times as much if I could actually swing at the ball in the allotted time I would input to swing, but it just didn't happen.

I will keep looking back to this game because it's a very easy fix to pop in here and there. I just don't know if I can justify spending $60 on this baseball title anymore though. I actually cringe doing that for any video game, but for this one it's an easy target for me to say that with. This is an excellent $30 title though, probably the best money can buy. I'm not saying this game is worth $30, but it gets that kind of fix from me.

[nemesis04]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

I maybe be out of the norm, but I will take fun over anything else.

I don't need have a game that is deeper then life itself. I'm getting older and have no time to put in a deep, deep game anymore, I wanna pick and play and have FUN.

I think that is why 2k11 will appeal to many because it is baseball "lite"!

[adayinthelife]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

I think that is why 2k11 will appeal to many because it is baseball "lite"!

Potentially yes, I could see that. I'm not a huuuuuge baseball guy like some of the folks on here, but this game just doesn't cut it for me and I'm so happy the other option exists.

I really can't put my finger on it, but this game just feels awkward. Incredibly unresponsive in all aspects - I never feel like I'm fully in control.

I do like the lighting, stadium graphics and I also actually really like that batting view, but absolutely nothing else stood out to me as being good or polished in the slightest.

At the same time, it does seem to be extremely simple to pick up and play, which could help them sell copies, and hey, maybe that's what they were going for.

[bigfnjoe96]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

People who keep saying the User Pitching Camera makes the ball look floaty. That's been an issue when using the behind the Pitcher Camera for a while. If you use the behind the Hitter Pitching Camera, it's not an issue.

And to tell you the truth, it's not that bad in the DEMO.

[Jetsfan44]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

Can you change settings other than Total Control Batting and Pitching?

Also, why does it tell you what pitch the CPU is throwing? Can it be turned off and how?

Also, can human baserunning be changed to auto on the Retail version?

I have the PS3 version

Thx

[tvman]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

Can you change settings other than Total Control Batting and Pitching?

Also, why does it tell you what pitch the CPU is throwing? Can it be turned off and how?

Also, can human baserunning be changed to auto on the Retail version?

I have the PS3 version

Thx

Yes you can change that stuff. Press start, then i think it's the R stick that lets you go to options, there you'll see what you can and can't change.

[Blzer]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

Yes you can change that stuff. Press start, then i think it's the R stick that lets you go to options, there you'll see what you can and can't change.

The demo doesn't allow you to change any options except for your control type.

[tvman]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

The demo doesn't allow you to change any options except for your control type.

Your right, i misread his question.

He can turn off batters eye though!

[Picci]

Re: MLB 2K11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS3/360)

Impressions on PS3:

Game graphics are not as bad as what I've been reading. It does have the "jaggies" but not a game breaker. I definitely saw much more improvements from last year's version that others have said and identified. However, there's also still those nagging issues that others brought up which I saw is prevalent from years past. This unfortunately is a "red flag".

I actually enjoyed it, but there's one last area that still needs to be identified from the final product and that's the franchise Sim stats. Last year's game had a plethora of sim stat errors that were just not realistic, whether it was starting pitching or closer stat results. If this area shows improvements, or shows somewhat realistic, then I will definitely purchase.