MLB 10 News Post

The Show vs. 2K: MLB Grudge Match

12:30 PM - May 25, 2010 by RaychelSnr

In perhaps the most important study on superiority since the 2000 Presidential recount in Florida, OS Baseball Writers Christian McLeod and Caley Roark are here to compare both of this year's baseball titles to see which game stands above the other at the end of the year. While no animals were harmed in the process of this study, several controllers possibly met their demise as each writer compared and contrasted different aspects from each game to come out with a clear winner. Did MLB: The Show dominate in the minds of the writers or was a huge upset brewing? Read on to find out.

Read More - The Show vs. 2K: MLB Grudge Match

Game: MLB '10: The ShowReader Score: 9/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3Votes for game: 66 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 Yankees_CT @ 05/25/10 12:50 PM

"MLB 10: The Show is the closest virtual representation of any sport currently available on consoles."
Couldn't agree with this anymore, 09 kept me playing all year round and I am positive that 10 will not be any different. Hands down, my favorite sports game to date.

# 2 raidersbball20 @ 05/25/10 12:56 PM

I will back that up that MLB the show is the best. I think 2krealizes they have potential so next year they will tune things and it will be a great game. I am still not sold on the 2k pitching, I just don't like it

# 3 rudyjuly2 @ 05/25/10 01:11 PM

The biggest problem with the Show is a lack of innovation imo. I haven't even played the game (other than the demo) but having played the previous four versions I think I can make some pretty safe comparisions to MLB 2K10. The Show is much more polished, has much better animations and is a much better simulation of baseball. MLB 2K10 is a more arcade version with a ton of issues but is an absolute blast to play.

For someone who has played a lot of the Show the series has gotten old. I don't like meter pitching and classic gives great results but I'm now bored with it. Analog pitching is fantastic. The patch made it harder to hit your spots and while I'd like to have some sliders to tweak this aspect I definitely think the Show needs to steal this mechanic for next year.

I'm a huge proponent of camera angles in video games. Football, baseball, basketball, whatever. I'm OCD about options in this department. The Show fails miserably in the batting and pitching departments here. You can create every angle for all 30 stadiums in MLB 2K10 (http://kotaku.com/5519035/working-th...k-more-like-tv) but the Show basically gives you only one offset BTP view. That's terrible. I do prefer the default batting camera in MLB 2K10 over the Show's. C'mon SCEA! It shouldn't be hard to let us adjust the angle and zooms for those cameras.

I couldn't agree more about fielding. MLB 2K10 is terrible. It's an auto fielding game with no camera options and no freaking errors! I don't even have to say more. The slider for fielding errors in the Show is still broken imo. For manual fielders the slider affects the player's range and not the amount of bobbles. It does affect the number of bobbles for the cpu. But I guess I'm getting picky since it's still light years better than 2K10. 2K10 does have some nice double play breakups.

The commentary is great in 2K10. I think the Show could use an overhaul here - all of them should be replaced by a fresh crew.

Lastly, a big reason I can't go back to the Show is that the pitch speed is just too fast. I'm always having to turn down the pitch speed slider to 0 to get a chance at determining balls and strikes. The slider just doesn't work very well and often leaves me frustrated. The pitch speed for 2K10 is very adjustable and much better for my reflexes.

I would think someone who hasn't played either game would play both games and 95% of the time pick the Show. But for me the Show has grown stale and despite all the issues with MLB 2K10, it's a fun game. I don't think I'll get the replayability out of this game (I played 150 games of the Show 09, very doubtful to do that with MLB 2K10) but it's still easily my baseball game for this year.

A message to SCEA: your game does so many things right but you need to add some things to take another step forward. Add analog controls, more pitching/batting views and PLEASE give the pitch speed slider more weight so some of us older guys can be less frustrated. You will win some of us back. I'm completely open to buying either game next year but it will only be one game.

# 4 bigfnjoe96 @ 05/25/10 01:14 PM

It's great to see the "TODAY" feature that 2k has implemented in their sports titles being recognized for what it is. A feature that has changed Sports Gaming Presentation for the long haul. It is refreshing to see & hear info not only from the last game played, but analysis from the actual series before. Seeing stats of all types during the game. Simply Amazing..

Hopefully now that VC has implemented some stuff that is moving the Franchise forward, they will really need to focus on 3 things:

Game Play
Animations
Franchise Mode.

If they can nail these 3 aspects of the series in the 2k11 Dev. Cycle we will be in for fun times next year

# 5 Girondin @ 05/25/10 01:14 PM

Caley:
"I would love to see a career mode integrated into franchise mode, so I would not need to have two separate games going on. It would be pretty sweet to be playing as your franchise team only to get an alert that your player is in a big spot. You could then quick-switch to that game (like with real telecasts), play out the moment and then carry on with the team game."

Sign me in!

# 6 adembroski @ 05/25/10 01:34 PM

I have loved The Show thus far, but the lack of walks is really starting to nag me. I prefer the slow, realistic road to the show, personally, but when I haven't put a single point into BB/9 and I am still leading my team in fewest walks despite pitching the most innings, there's a problem... and sliders aren't fixing it.

MLB 11 really needs a revamp of the pitching system. While I've loved the meter system since it debuted with MVP (still my favorite baseball series of all time), it's showing its age in a big, big way.

# 7 HustlinOwl @ 05/25/10 01:38 PM

let the flame war begin, why is this only posted in The Show forum?

# 8 rudyjuly2 @ 05/25/10 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HustlinOwl


	let the flame war begin, why is this only posted in The Show forum?

I kind of wondered that myself. I really belongs in the Baseball (Other) forum due to comparisons typically aren't allowed in specific forums. But the traffic is much higher here.

# 9 DJ @ 05/25/10 02:26 PM

Rudy, you and I have talked a bunch about baseball games this year and going back a few, we have similar playstyles. You bring up a lot of good points about 2K10 and I agree with pretty much all of them, especially the camera angles and "fun" factor.

I will say that the pitch speed in MLB 10 does seem toned down from 09. I still zeroed out the Pitch Speed slider and I can get a better read on pitches this year than last year.

Maybe it's because I'm a new PS3 owner, but I'm really digging The Show more than ever this year. I like the real-time presentation they've added in and the new Broadcast cam that you can use for fielding/batting is pretty sweet.

# 10 Braves Fan @ 05/25/10 02:35 PM

Imo the more you play the better you get with pitch speed at default. I struggled with it for the longest time and dropped it to 0 because of that but I've recently gone back to default and I'm having no problems whatsoever. I think this is a case really where practice makes perfect. The more you play the better you are going to get.

I'm not going to get into the 2k vs Show debates because I really don't think the mods want that here but I will say I love the Show and it hasn't gotten old for me at all. I think it keeps getting better and better. The one thing I would like to see improved is the announcing, I think that could use some work.

# 11 DJ @ 05/25/10 02:43 PM

Oh and forgot to mention, I really enjoyed the article. Very fair and balanced comparison of the two games.

# 12 texbuk84 @ 05/25/10 02:51 PM

The show is the closes thing to visual representation of the mlb period!

# 13 SwinginAs12 @ 05/25/10 02:58 PM

look out MLB 10 the show, here comes NHL 11...

# 14 rudyjuly2 @ 05/25/10 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Braves Fan


	Imo the more you play the better you get with pitch speed at default. I struggled with it for the longest time and dropped it to 0 because of that but I've recently gone back to default and I'm having no problems whatsoever. I think this is a case really where practice makes perfect. The more you play the better you are going to get.

Practice doesn't make perfect. I've played hundreds of games with the Show and I have always averaged less than half a walk a game because the pitch speed is too fast for me. I'm simply not going to get better. I've accepted that. It's a VERY easy and small fix for SCEA that has a huge impact on my enjoyment of the game. Just give your pitch speed slider more weight for those of us that want to slow it down (put your sliders back to a 20 point system too).

# 15 Braves Fan @ 05/25/10 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rudyjuly2


	Practice doesn't make perfect. I've played hundreds of games with the Show and I have always averaged less than half a walk a game because the pitch speed is too fast for me. I'm simply not going to get better. I've accepted that. It's a VERY easy and small fix for SCEA that has a huge impact on my enjoyment of the game. Just give your pitch speed slider more weight for those of us that want to slow it down (put your sliders back to a 20 point system too).

Then use some of the other features like guess pitch to help you.

You can improve at recognizing pitches, I know because I have.

# 16 rudyjuly2 @ 05/25/10 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Braves Fan


	Then use some of the other features like guess pitch to help you. You can improve at recognizing pitches, I know because I have.

Guess pitch is a gimic and completely unrealistic. Nobody can sit there and guess a pitch and know 100% certain when a pitcher throws it. The fact that hitter and pitcher ratings don't matter at all means it's a gimic. I don't even want to debate that.

My point is that there are quite a few people that think the pitch speed is too fast. There isn't a simpler fix out there than making the pitch speed slider work better. If they don't want to that's fine. I just won't buy the Show anymore. I'm tired of having to deal with that issue.

# 17 ryan36 @ 05/25/10 10:20 PM

I thought 2k sucked? Even post patch? That's all I see...it's great for arcade, but immersion sucks.

I guess for me, if franchise/dynasty is broken, that makes a game real hard to play.

# 18 DJ @ 05/25/10 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rudyjuly2


	Guess pitch is a gimic and completely unrealistic. Nobody can sit there and guess a pitch and know 100% certain when a pitcher throws it. The fact that hitter and pitcher ratings don't matter at all means it's a gimic. I don't even want to debate that. My point is that there are quite a few people that think the pitch speed is too fast. There isn't a simpler fix out there than making the pitch speed slider work better. If they don't want to that's fine. I just won't buy the Show anymore. I'm tired of having to deal with that issue.

It's weird, I think playing 2K has helped my timing in The Show. It may be placebo, but I feel like pitch speed in 10 is slower than 09. In 09 even with the slider zeroed I would struggle with timing. In 10, I'm reading pitches a lot better.

# 19 dodgerblue @ 05/26/10 01:30 AM

Good review, pretty spot on imo. The show is the more realistic and solid game of the two, but mlb2k10 is more innovative. Both games are fun, but unless you dedicate a lot of time (and I mean a lot) to the show, I don't think you can succeed at it and it gets frustrating. The easier levels should be easy and the difficult levels difficult and the sliders should impact the game more than they do.

# 20 HustlinOwl @ 05/26/10 07:52 AM

pitch speed too fast in the show? I have it at 8!!

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