MLB 14 The Show News Post

MLB 14 The Show: Online Play a Swing and a Miss at Launch

12:47 PM - April 4, 2014 by RaychelSnr

MLB 14 The Show had a lot riding on a smooth online experience for users this year, with several new online experiences in the offing giving baseball gamers a chance to have connected experiences like never before.

The problem with that is The Show series has consistently in the past been plagued with online server issues and this year seems to be no exception. A quick perusal through Twitter looking for people's comments on the online functionality yields few, if any, positive comments and reports.

Pasta Padre posted a report on his experiences experiences with regards to online play, with quite unflattering results. His experiences do seem to be the norm within the community though:

Quote:


	"That was an hour spent playing a game to its completion with no apparent problems during or after and it was time wasted. In fact the �Franchise Events� page, which lists pretty much everything going on in the league, is riddled with those messages about the games not processing."

Sports gamers have now witnessed two otherwise stellar games hampered with online issues over the past six months -- with NBA 2K14 having major issues with it's online servers and in-game functionality around the 2013 holiday season and now MLB 14 The Show introducing major new efforts with regards to online play which, at least at launch, do not fully function.

This raises questions on why several titles have chosen to focus on online functionality only to have that functionality be non-functional when the game launches -- thus hampering a major selling point of the title. While it is likely The Show will have its online issues fixed sooner rather than later, you have to wonder if the future where online connectivity is emphasized is truly any better than the days where simply putting the disk in and playing local offline games was the norm.

What have your experiences with MLB 14 The Show online been like on PS3?

Game: MLB 14 The ShowReader Score: 8.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS Vita / PS3 / PS4Votes for game: 12 - View All

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Member Comments

# 41 allgames @ 04/13/14 08:52 PM

Nomo17K thank you for your detailed breakdown, that's some really enlightening info, makes sense. The ball almost NEVER seems to actually go in a fielders glove when catching the ball. The hits in replay almost never actually come off the bat and it's just so frustrating when you are called safe/out and the opposite actually happens.

Cardinalbird, you have to realize you're commenting without playing and the difference between previous years and this one are dramatic. I really hope this is all sorted out soon. If it is sorted out I may be interested in getting a PS4 and MLB 14, if not I'll just stick with this...

Otherwise this is as usual a spectacular game.

# 42 nomo17k @ 04/13/14 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allgames


	Nomo17K thank you for your detailed breakdown, that's some really enlightening info, makes sense. The ball almost NEVER seems to actually go in a fielders glove when catching the ball. The hits in replay almost never actually come off the bat and it's just so frustrating when you are called safe/out and the opposite actually happens. Cardinalbird, you have to realize you're commenting without playing and the difference between previous years and this one are dramatic. I really hope this is all sorted out soon. If it is sorted out I may be interested in getting a PS4 and MLB 14, if not I'll just stick with this... Otherwise this is as usual a spectacular game.

I actually think cardinalbird5 understands what's going on. He is often very observant that way. And I agree that the new implementation (in MLB 14), if all things are well sorted out, will provide much less frustrating gaming experiences online.

I am in general all for the change, but given the current state (which is very poor, I'm sorry to say), I don't know how much improvement we should expect this year.

I think it is a very good and reasonable thing that the game now tries to remove network induced lags from pitching and hitting, since timing in that part of game is so very critical for success. That way, we won't be hearing as much "lag-induced cheese" and also we don't have to worry as much about poor connections with guys playing from a far country for example. I've made a few friends playing out of Japan, and even though their home internet is usually much faster than what's available in the U.S., there has usually been some lag because of the distance. It's kind of similar when I play guys from the East Coast (I'm on the West Coast). This won't be as much as issue with the new implementation.

So, once the kinks get ironed out, I think it will be much better overall. Just hoping the devs have ample time to work on all the issues, since this might actually determine the way online runs for the next couple years.

# 43 allgames @ 04/13/14 10:28 PM

The other thing I've noticed happening more this year than previous is check swings. I have often pressed hard for a full swing only to have the batter check giving me a strike. Of course it's worked out the other way where I mean to swing and it only checks saving me from a bad swing and miss at a pitch out of the zone. I would rather it be accurate though..

# 44 nomo17k @ 04/13/14 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allgames


	The other thing I've noticed happening more this year than previous is check swings. I have often pressed hard for a full swing only to have the batter check giving me a strike. Of course it's worked out the other way where I mean to swing and it only checks saving me from a bad swing and miss at a pitch out of the zone. I would rather it be accurate though..

Yeah, check swing online is really off, meaning it's too easy to check this year.

# 45 cardinalbird5 @ 04/13/14 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allgames


	Nomo17K thank you for your detailed breakdown, that's some really enlightening info, makes sense. The ball almost NEVER seems to actually go in a fielders glove when catching the ball. The hits in replay almost never actually come off the bat and it's just so frustrating when you are called safe/out and the opposite actually happens. Cardinalbird, you have to realize you're commenting without playing and the difference between previous years and this one are dramatic. I really hope this is all sorted out soon. If it is sorted out I may be interested in getting a PS4 and MLB 14, if not I'll just stick with this... Otherwise this is as usual a spectacular game.

Yeah you're right. I was just speculating based off what I have seen so far. I really think SCEA listens to the forums on TSN, because I mentioned numerous times that Professional Baseball Spirits handles their online very well with how they do their pitching/hitting interface.

I am just unsure why the fielding/baserunning is so messed up. I just hope the PS4 isn't like this.

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