05:25 AM - March 1, 2011 by Rdogg1026
The MLB 2K11 demo is available now. Add it to your download queue right here.
Please play a few games and post your impressions here.
*UPDATE: PS3 demo is available now.
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MLB 2K11 News Post
05:25 AM - March 1, 2011 by Rdogg1026The MLB 2K11 demo is available now. Add it to your download queue right here.
Please play a few games and post your impressions here.
*UPDATE: PS3 demo is available now.
Major League Baseball 2K11 Videos
Member Comments
# 161
School Yard Pro @ 03/01/11 04:39 PM
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I just had Sandoval catch a pop up with his bare hands
# 162
School Yard Pro @ 03/01/11 04:41 PM
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It would be nice to have that option online.
Also there should be a penalty for those constantly rage quit out of games.
After not buying a baseball video game in the past 3 or 4 years I must say that I am pleased with 2k's game. I played the show demo yesterday and after playing 2k's today i would say that 2k isnt far away from being on the same level as the show. That said here are a few pluses and minuses with 2k11
Pluses
+ball coming off the bat felt good
+fielding feels very organic, no weird sliding motions
+sky and field look great
Negatives
-after the ball is hit I found it hard to see where the ball was. Especially pop ups and fly balls.
-shadows are too dark pixely. I know that's a minor gripe but I expected better.
After seriously considering selling all of my 360 stuff to get a ps3 and the show I will now be reconsidering. 2k has closed the gap, thats for sure.
Pluses
+ball coming off the bat felt good
+fielding feels very organic, no weird sliding motions
+sky and field look great
Negatives
-after the ball is hit I found it hard to see where the ball was. Especially pop ups and fly balls.
-shadows are too dark pixely. I know that's a minor gripe but I expected better.
After seriously considering selling all of my 360 stuff to get a ps3 and the show I will now be reconsidering. 2k has closed the gap, thats for sure.
Man, I can't get over how good this variable strike zone feels. So much better for working the count, and it certainly makes pitching more challenging as well.
Just beat out a chopper with Andrus. That felt great as well
Just beat out a chopper with Andrus. That felt great as well
Only have one thing to say after playing this. Its hard to understand how a company who made arguably one of if not the best sports game ever in NBA2k11 can put this out. I know it is another development team but I don't see how they get away with it every season for baseball.
# 166
DirtyJerz32 @ 03/01/11 04:53 PM
I'm really liking all the negative comments from some people. Not giving an impression of what you thought of the game, but just having negative comments.
Anyway, I can't wait to get home tonight and play again. Hopefully the PS3 demo will be out by that time so I can play both. Either way I'll be picking this up. Can't wait to play MLB Today again. I loved that feature last year even though the gameplay had some issues.
Anyway, I can't wait to get home tonight and play again. Hopefully the PS3 demo will be out by that time so I can play both. Either way I'll be picking this up. Can't wait to play MLB Today again. I loved that feature last year even though the gameplay had some issues.
Not a fan. Nothing has changed. The pitching mechanic is ludicrous, the hitting is terrible (what is the point of using the RS when you can just hold back then push forward as the ball comes in?). I saw instances where the OF would field a routine single then hold the ball. While attempting to take another base to see if the OF would throw the ball into the IF, the screen goes black and my next hitter walks to the plate?
Not to mention that my base runners run on fly balls with less than two outs. Just basic baseball logic is not implemented properly. I understand it is only a demo but 2K should realize the demo is a tool to try and sell the game. All it did was ruin any chance that I would make a purchase.
All of the items I have read with improved visuals. Yeah, not seeing it. The lighting is still way off and why is the scenery outside the stadium so blurry? I understand it is to create depth perception but wow.
The presentation was decent but why use the same music as NBA 2K11? How about something original? MLB 2K7 was the best 2K game for the current generation of consoles. Not sure what happened....
Not to mention that my base runners run on fly balls with less than two outs. Just basic baseball logic is not implemented properly. I understand it is only a demo but 2K should realize the demo is a tool to try and sell the game. All it did was ruin any chance that I would make a purchase.
All of the items I have read with improved visuals. Yeah, not seeing it. The lighting is still way off and why is the scenery outside the stadium so blurry? I understand it is to create depth perception but wow.
The presentation was decent but why use the same music as NBA 2K11? How about something original? MLB 2K7 was the best 2K game for the current generation of consoles. Not sure what happened....
Is there a way to change difficulty or something? I've seen a handful of posts saying it is tougher to pitch yet with Sanchez (who has below average control at best) I had 19 out of 19 pitches for strikes...and this was trying to paint the edges - not just throwing down the middle...and the few pitches that were slightly outside the zone were swung at by the CPU - no patience at all...
Those of you that have walked people: Do you follow the catcher's choice 100% of the time? If so I could see a walk or two occurring only because they ask for pitches outside of the zone sometimes...otherwise I don't see how it happens...
Those of you that have walked people: Do you follow the catcher's choice 100% of the time? If so I could see a walk or two occurring only because they ask for pitches outside of the zone sometimes...otherwise I don't see how it happens...
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Well, I will be playing the demo later tonight (PS3) when it is released. My feeling on your comment is, get the PS3, and you can have both as an option.
I already have the Show on pre order (it's a forgone conclusion for me), but if the demo of 2k11 is as good as everyone is saying (okay, as I read more, I see the demo isn't THAT great, but I will still give it a spin tonight), and the first couple of weeks reviews (of the actual game) don't expose all the BS that a 2k game usually has, I may end up going out and getting it by the end of March as well.
# 170
SoxFan01605 @ 03/01/11 05:13 PM
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As for my early thoughts (kinda long-go figure
):
Spoiler
Good:
-The lighting and color depth have added enough on their own to boost the graphics considerably for me. Also, when playing the game on an HDTV (rather than just watching youtube videos) I can notice the difference in the models. The stocky leg thing is kind of still there, but seems to be more an issue with how the uniforms fit. Skinny guys have smaller builds, etc. Looks much better .
-Pitching was always a strong point control-scheme wise and that's still great. The variable calls hit me a few times and that, coupled with a bigger gap between the control of a Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito make the overall experience more rewarding. It still felt a bit easy, but I'm not worried about that (changed difficulty and sliders in full game can easily solve that).
-Hitting felt better and FINALLY has a better sense of feel for the hit types. It's something that had bothered me with 2K all along-that the hitting felt kind of weightless-like you were playing with a broomstick rather than a bat. This has been greatly improved IMO. It still has moments where it all feels too "light" but it's more infrequent and not as distracting for me.
-Fielding just looked and felt better overall. More weight to the movements and smoother animation. I haven't seen errors yet, but I've only played a handful of games (and given that they aren't full games to boot, it's not unreasonable).
-Animations in general seemed smoother (though some of the same culprits from previous iterations still exist). -The reactionary animations add a lot to the flow and immersion of the game as do some of the little things like seeing the bat drop after a hit, etc. 2K is starting to do a much better job on some of the details and it's nice to see.
Not so Good:
Pitches still have a floating sensation for the user. The FB doesn't arc as much, but it doesn't have the right pop to it.
-Too much going on on-screen-I agree with Swaldo on the flashing pop-ups. Not a huge deal, but it's a lot going on and distracts from the baseball aspect and screams "ARCADE!!!" at me. I'm hoping that the PC version will be able to resolve some of this via mods.
-Some of the same animation problems still exist. The walking still gets robotic and weird. It looks like they did something to it (it's less frequent), but it now shifts from a normal looking animation to that old robotic one...it's just odd.
In fact, I've noticed it's doing this in a few circumstances (odd transition from older look to smoother look) It's like an overlay of sorts. Like the newer, smoother, animations are resting atop the old, herky-jerky ones rather than the old ones simply being gone. I don't know if I'm explaining that well, but it's just odd.
-Also there is some odd transitions in the animations still. Sometimes they look silky smooth and others it's like they skipped a frame. It might be a small framerate thing people have already mentioned or might be a goof with the animation. This is the type of visual thing that might simply be demo build related though, so we'll see.
There are some other issues I've run into, but I feel comfortable in chalking those up to either it being a demo or it being difficulty level related and easily solvable (adjustable difficulty, sliders, etc) in the full game.
Other observations:
-Have yet to see a single miscue in the field, but given that some are saying they've seen quite a bit, I'm not concerned. If anything, I'm impressed that they aren't forcing it to show off the additions.
-I love the concept of different fielders getting the indicator at different times based on ratings, but I'm hoping it's better in the full build. There is still occurrence of "suction" when you're close to making the catch.
That's no biggie (it smooths out animations) but for a guy like Pat Burrell who gets his indicator at the last possible second, it seems to render the new system somewhat moot at times. I've had several instances where I couldn't see a fielding circle but found where I needed to be as I got sucked into the early stages of a catch animation.
Overall, I liked it. It's a bit arcadey, but that's the style, I guess. MVP had that going on too, but it still played well, so that's not a knock. It's not far and away different than 2K10, but it seems my issues with that game have largely been addressed. I'll need some time with the full game so I can make adjustments, but 2K11 is off to a good start for me. The good news is, that my issues with the demo were mostly minor and the good far outweighs the bad thus far.
Let me also add this to summarize (and add a bit of a disclaimer...lol): I came away from the 2K9 and 2K10 demo mostly positive as well as I could notice the improvements in each game (and I'm willing to bet I was feeling pretty good after playing 2K10's demo-if it weren't for bugs and nagging issues, that game would have been pretty darn good IMO), but problems crept up over time and made it hard to enjoy them. So, we'll see how that plays out over time with 2K11, but after the first run-through with this demo, I stopped critiquing and simply lost track just playing the game.
During that time, I didn't get distracted by the flaws because I was simply having fun. With the other two, I found more issues as I kept playing. So far, with 2K11, I got more into it as I kept playing (which I would imagine would only increase with more options to be able to tune). I know for fans of the series that might not be new, but for me, that's the first time in years I've been able to say that about a 2K baseball game and, while it's too early to say for sure, that's a very good sign IMO.
-The lighting and color depth have added enough on their own to boost the graphics considerably for me. Also, when playing the game on an HDTV (rather than just watching youtube videos) I can notice the difference in the models. The stocky leg thing is kind of still there, but seems to be more an issue with how the uniforms fit. Skinny guys have smaller builds, etc. Looks much better .
-Pitching was always a strong point control-scheme wise and that's still great. The variable calls hit me a few times and that, coupled with a bigger gap between the control of a Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito make the overall experience more rewarding. It still felt a bit easy, but I'm not worried about that (changed difficulty and sliders in full game can easily solve that).
-Hitting felt better and FINALLY has a better sense of feel for the hit types. It's something that had bothered me with 2K all along-that the hitting felt kind of weightless-like you were playing with a broomstick rather than a bat. This has been greatly improved IMO. It still has moments where it all feels too "light" but it's more infrequent and not as distracting for me.
-Fielding just looked and felt better overall. More weight to the movements and smoother animation. I haven't seen errors yet, but I've only played a handful of games (and given that they aren't full games to boot, it's not unreasonable).
-Animations in general seemed smoother (though some of the same culprits from previous iterations still exist). -The reactionary animations add a lot to the flow and immersion of the game as do some of the little things like seeing the bat drop after a hit, etc. 2K is starting to do a much better job on some of the details and it's nice to see.
Not so Good:
Pitches still have a floating sensation for the user. The FB doesn't arc as much, but it doesn't have the right pop to it.
-Too much going on on-screen-I agree with Swaldo on the flashing pop-ups. Not a huge deal, but it's a lot going on and distracts from the baseball aspect and screams "ARCADE!!!" at me. I'm hoping that the PC version will be able to resolve some of this via mods.
-Some of the same animation problems still exist. The walking still gets robotic and weird. It looks like they did something to it (it's less frequent), but it now shifts from a normal looking animation to that old robotic one...it's just odd.
In fact, I've noticed it's doing this in a few circumstances (odd transition from older look to smoother look) It's like an overlay of sorts. Like the newer, smoother, animations are resting atop the old, herky-jerky ones rather than the old ones simply being gone. I don't know if I'm explaining that well, but it's just odd.
-Also there is some odd transitions in the animations still. Sometimes they look silky smooth and others it's like they skipped a frame. It might be a small framerate thing people have already mentioned or might be a goof with the animation. This is the type of visual thing that might simply be demo build related though, so we'll see.
There are some other issues I've run into, but I feel comfortable in chalking those up to either it being a demo or it being difficulty level related and easily solvable (adjustable difficulty, sliders, etc) in the full game.
Other observations:
-Have yet to see a single miscue in the field, but given that some are saying they've seen quite a bit, I'm not concerned. If anything, I'm impressed that they aren't forcing it to show off the additions.
-I love the concept of different fielders getting the indicator at different times based on ratings, but I'm hoping it's better in the full build. There is still occurrence of "suction" when you're close to making the catch.
That's no biggie (it smooths out animations) but for a guy like Pat Burrell who gets his indicator at the last possible second, it seems to render the new system somewhat moot at times. I've had several instances where I couldn't see a fielding circle but found where I needed to be as I got sucked into the early stages of a catch animation.
Overall, I liked it. It's a bit arcadey, but that's the style, I guess. MVP had that going on too, but it still played well, so that's not a knock. It's not far and away different than 2K10, but it seems my issues with that game have largely been addressed. I'll need some time with the full game so I can make adjustments, but 2K11 is off to a good start for me. The good news is, that my issues with the demo were mostly minor and the good far outweighs the bad thus far.
Let me also add this to summarize (and add a bit of a disclaimer...lol): I came away from the 2K9 and 2K10 demo mostly positive as well as I could notice the improvements in each game (and I'm willing to bet I was feeling pretty good after playing 2K10's demo-if it weren't for bugs and nagging issues, that game would have been pretty darn good IMO), but problems crept up over time and made it hard to enjoy them. So, we'll see how that plays out over time with 2K11, but after the first run-through with this demo, I stopped critiquing and simply lost track just playing the game.
During that time, I didn't get distracted by the flaws because I was simply having fun. With the other two, I found more issues as I kept playing. So far, with 2K11, I got more into it as I kept playing (which I would imagine would only increase with more options to be able to tune). I know for fans of the series that might not be new, but for me, that's the first time in years I've been able to say that about a 2K baseball game and, while it's too early to say for sure, that's a very good sign IMO.
# 171
School Yard Pro @ 03/01/11 05:22 PM
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I agree. With the standard being set with MLB The Show I figured 2k would set the bar pretty high with this year's release. Yes, there have been improvements across the board, but visually and technically it still pales in comparison (which is ridiculous to me)
I'll still purchase 2k11 and will have tons of fun with it. I quite enjoyed 2k10. Its just that I expected better.
I played one game in the demo just now. Bear in mind with my impressions that I haven't played a baseball game in years; only one I've ever owned is Major League Baseball for the Sega Game Gear, lol.
I thoroughly enjoy the pitching mechanic, and I found it reasonably challenging. Using Sanchez of the Giants, in three innings I allowed four hits and one run. I did get better as the game went on, the top of the order for the Rangers had me concerned in the first inning, getting three of the hits and with Nelson Cruz getting an RBI double.
I didn't quite get the hang of the fielding, though I see what the idea is. I played the throwing meter quite conservatively most of the time, which resulted in some lazy throws. Playing around with it, I did get it into the red one time on a play at first from a grounder fielded by the pitcher in the infield, and the first baseman had to go up high for it; still got the out though.
On the AI's side of the fielding, I did see them throw one error on a play at first, where the first baseman had to come off the bag to get a ball and as a result I reached base safely on an error.
The one thing that has always frustrated me with baseball games, however, is that I can't hit the ball to save my life. I'm not overly familiar with the game, and as such I struggle to identify pitches and end up swinging wildly at everything. I ask to those more familiar with the MLB2K games, does the full game typically include a batting tutorial or assist feature? Is there a way where I could just have the computer handle the batting altogether? I think I would enjoy the full game just with the pitching, fielding, and franchise mode portions (assuming 2K has a good franchise mode for this game, I'll need to look into that), but if I can't ever score a run let alone get on base that would obviously limit the appeal of the game to me, lol.
I did enjoy my time with the demo though. I'd say that it's easily better than the Game Gear game I played fifteen years ago, lol.
I thoroughly enjoy the pitching mechanic, and I found it reasonably challenging. Using Sanchez of the Giants, in three innings I allowed four hits and one run. I did get better as the game went on, the top of the order for the Rangers had me concerned in the first inning, getting three of the hits and with Nelson Cruz getting an RBI double.
I didn't quite get the hang of the fielding, though I see what the idea is. I played the throwing meter quite conservatively most of the time, which resulted in some lazy throws. Playing around with it, I did get it into the red one time on a play at first from a grounder fielded by the pitcher in the infield, and the first baseman had to go up high for it; still got the out though.
On the AI's side of the fielding, I did see them throw one error on a play at first, where the first baseman had to come off the bag to get a ball and as a result I reached base safely on an error.
The one thing that has always frustrated me with baseball games, however, is that I can't hit the ball to save my life. I'm not overly familiar with the game, and as such I struggle to identify pitches and end up swinging wildly at everything. I ask to those more familiar with the MLB2K games, does the full game typically include a batting tutorial or assist feature? Is there a way where I could just have the computer handle the batting altogether? I think I would enjoy the full game just with the pitching, fielding, and franchise mode portions (assuming 2K has a good franchise mode for this game, I'll need to look into that), but if I can't ever score a run let alone get on base that would obviously limit the appeal of the game to me, lol.
I did enjoy my time with the demo though. I'd say that it's easily better than the Game Gear game I played fifteen years ago, lol.
I've seen a couple people mention the floaty or not-impactful-enough fastballs, and I would agree, but isn't it weird that the fastballs look so good and have zip coming in while hitting, but just don't have the same "oomph" when pitching? I would chalk it up to just the camera angle, but I don't know if that is the only factor.
# 174
SoxFan01605 @ 03/01/11 05:52 PM
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# 175
breakitdown @ 03/01/11 05:52 PM
Pitching I don't mind, the batting is terrible. Its just a real poor game all-round
# 176
RoyalBoyle78 @ 03/01/11 05:53 PM
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# 177
DickDalewood @ 03/01/11 05:59 PM
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# 178
GrandMaster B @ 03/01/11 06:02 PM
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Played two more games before work. Couple of things to add:
- through 5 games, been able to draw 6 walks. This is encouraging on default Pro difficulty. The last walk was my favourite, it was a four pitch walk on Sandoval with runners on 1st and 2nd and two away. I was thinking "if the A.I. is up to snuff, I will get nothing to hit". Sure enough, Webb tried to nibble the whole at-bat. Good to see.
- don't like that at times, on flyballs, the camera loses track of the player I'm controlling. It's only for a split second but it's distracting. Will reserve judgement till the final build.
- saw a great at bat when I was pitching with Sanchez to an A.I. Hamilton. Catcher kept calling for the Slurve down and away. First two pitches were borderline, A.I. took the first one and was way ahead of the second one as he swung and missed. Third pitch was a fastball high and out of the zone, Hamilton took. Fourth pitch, catcher called for the slurve again, same spot. Hamilton adjusted, waited till the ball got deeper in the zone and went the other way with it for a double in the corner. I got pwned but it played out great
One final thought, as I've been thinking about where this game might be going through next year and beyond. Many, including myself, have compared the demo to MVP 2005 and after thinking about this a little longer, this seems to resemble MVP 2004 more. I'm not even going to hold MLB 2K9 against the devs as they got the game dumped on them mid-cycle, but I find 2K10 to be like MVP 2003, where they lay the foundation for a bunch of their ideas. This year's game went in the direction of a lot of fine-tuning of those ideas which made for an enjoyable, if still flawed in spots, kind of game.
I think 2K12 will be the "MVP 2005" for this series, where they flesh everything out, re-build Franchise mode, and everything comes together. Will it be perfect? Well no, because neither was MVP 2005. But thinking back, the similarities are uncanny. MVP 2003 and MLB 2K10, I played and enjoyed both but ultimately went back to play a different baseball game (The Show and WSB 2K3 respectively). I feel like with this year's games, it'll be more of a 50/50 split between the two, similar to me splitting my baseball playing between MVP 2004 and ESPN Baseball. And next year? I'm not going to make any bold predictions here, mainly because I don't see The Show suffering the same collapse that befell MLB 2K5 and I love playing The Show more than any other sports game. But I will say that this series' best days are ahead of them and kudos to the devs on a very promising demo.
- through 5 games, been able to draw 6 walks. This is encouraging on default Pro difficulty. The last walk was my favourite, it was a four pitch walk on Sandoval with runners on 1st and 2nd and two away. I was thinking "if the A.I. is up to snuff, I will get nothing to hit". Sure enough, Webb tried to nibble the whole at-bat. Good to see.
- don't like that at times, on flyballs, the camera loses track of the player I'm controlling. It's only for a split second but it's distracting. Will reserve judgement till the final build.
- saw a great at bat when I was pitching with Sanchez to an A.I. Hamilton. Catcher kept calling for the Slurve down and away. First two pitches were borderline, A.I. took the first one and was way ahead of the second one as he swung and missed. Third pitch was a fastball high and out of the zone, Hamilton took. Fourth pitch, catcher called for the slurve again, same spot. Hamilton adjusted, waited till the ball got deeper in the zone and went the other way with it for a double in the corner. I got pwned but it played out great
One final thought, as I've been thinking about where this game might be going through next year and beyond. Many, including myself, have compared the demo to MVP 2005 and after thinking about this a little longer, this seems to resemble MVP 2004 more. I'm not even going to hold MLB 2K9 against the devs as they got the game dumped on them mid-cycle, but I find 2K10 to be like MVP 2003, where they lay the foundation for a bunch of their ideas. This year's game went in the direction of a lot of fine-tuning of those ideas which made for an enjoyable, if still flawed in spots, kind of game.
I think 2K12 will be the "MVP 2005" for this series, where they flesh everything out, re-build Franchise mode, and everything comes together. Will it be perfect? Well no, because neither was MVP 2005. But thinking back, the similarities are uncanny. MVP 2003 and MLB 2K10, I played and enjoyed both but ultimately went back to play a different baseball game (The Show and WSB 2K3 respectively). I feel like with this year's games, it'll be more of a 50/50 split between the two, similar to me splitting my baseball playing between MVP 2004 and ESPN Baseball. And next year? I'm not going to make any bold predictions here, mainly because I don't see The Show suffering the same collapse that befell MLB 2K5 and I love playing The Show more than any other sports game. But I will say that this series' best days are ahead of them and kudos to the devs on a very promising demo.
Here are my Impressions
Pros
Pitching is good. I.e, I threw a slider with Brandon Webb, and it was very realistic. I could tell it was a perfect slider.
Fielding is much better. The fielding meter is great and when you throw in the red, the ball can go over the 1st baseman's head.
When I was playing, I heard the fans cheering.
It looks exactly like AT&T Park.
The hitting was also good. Seeing Josh Hamilton crush a fastball out of the park looked awesome.
Good Player Models
Cons
I have a little trouble timing the swings
The fielding meter doesn't leave room for error (Could be a pro for some or a con for others)
The animations are still relatively robotic.
A decent amount of floating pitches and pop-ups.
No Commentary!
Overall, this looks good.
Pros
Pitching is good. I.e, I threw a slider with Brandon Webb, and it was very realistic. I could tell it was a perfect slider.
Fielding is much better. The fielding meter is great and when you throw in the red, the ball can go over the 1st baseman's head.
When I was playing, I heard the fans cheering.
It looks exactly like AT&T Park.
The hitting was also good. Seeing Josh Hamilton crush a fastball out of the park looked awesome.
Good Player Models
Cons
I have a little trouble timing the swings
The fielding meter doesn't leave room for error (Could be a pro for some or a con for others)
The animations are still relatively robotic.
A decent amount of floating pitches and pop-ups.
No Commentary!
Overall, this looks good.
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