2011 Baseball Video Games are Here
by short on Mar 9, 2011 2:38 PM PST
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The two major MLB video game franchises have just been released this week. Perennial ratings leader "MLB 11 The Show" for PS3 is sitting at 92.7% on Gamerankings while "MLB 2k11" has yet to receive enough reviews, but Strategy Informer gave it a 9.2.
I picked up MLB 2k11 yesterday and can report that My Player Djustin Smoakley is working his way to the majors at good pace.
I've only used the My Player and Quick Game feature so far, so can't give a full review. But I can report that the animations and models do seem to be improved. The players look less freaky overall, and move somewhat more naturally. The pitching controls are as good as ever. Hitting is more satisfying now, with the unintentional walk being a real possibility against AI pitchers. I'm an impatient batter, but I was thrown plenty of pitches outside the zone, and even a couple that were borderline, but called balls by the new, imperfect umpires.
Base stealing is still difficult to figure. On Xbox you have to hold right trigger for...an amount of time. Then you get a short controller shake to let you know you've triggered the steal and your runner takes off. This makes stealing a huge gamble since you just can't be sure when your guy is going to go. You can't wait for a pitcher's first move as that will be too late. This leads to getting caught in a run down frequently.
Fielding is better, and according to reviews they've emphasized the differences in range between fielders to let the best players shine. The throw meter, which gives a bigger "green zone" for better fielders giving them greater accuracy, is elegant and intuitive to use.
In sum, I'm enjoying the game and can't wait to get back and help Djustin toil away in the minors as he works his way to the bigs. Soon I'll start a season with the M's and see if they can't beat the odds and make the playoffs. Hey, laughter can be cruel, you know.
I'm on Xbox LIVE with the gamertag Br3wtality if anyone wants to friend me and start a league.
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If anyone's looking to buy The Show,
This weird place is selling it for way cheap. With tax, it’s $39. It’s only through tomorrow, though, I think.
I ordered from here earlier today.
Hope it goes through.
Should be fine.
It’s a tad shady, but probably worth the risk. And if it takes forever, I have my rental copy from Gamefly to keep me warm!
by Teej on Mar 10, 2011 12:11 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Modell's is a reuptable brick and mortar store. HOWEVER:
Their online customer service is next to nonexistent. They canceled an order of two hats I made through them and have yet to refund 29.99 to me, while I’ve spoken to robot after robot and even did their make-a-human-actually-see-this-message-workaround and still nothing 6 business days later.
Unless you have a store you can go in and complain in person near you I’d be a little weary of shopping online through them again.
(In full disclosure I did purchase a pair of shoes through them prior to this and that entire transaction went off without a hitch.)
by SgtSasquatch on Mar 10, 2011 11:42 AM PST up reply actions
Yeeeeup. They just canceled my order.
And the orders of many other people, from what I can see on Twitter. Sucks. Oh well, I’ll just buy it from GameFly for $44 or whatever. It was worth a try. What a shit company, though, if this is a common issue.
They canceled mine too.
But then sent me an email saying they got more back in stock so they let me reorder it at the same price. I should be getting it next week.
I'm picking up The Show sometime this month.
I drained more hours into the ’10 version than I care to admit.
I'm playing my annual waiting game waiting for The Show to arrive.
They don’t sell it in the UK so for the past five years I’ve ordered it from a Canadian website. I had confirmation it was posted last week but I’ve got no idea when it will show up.
I hope it arrives soon, it’s such a fantastic franchise. The Show was the reason I opted for a PS3 rather than an XBox all those years ago.
I bought the show the first day it came out
and it is safe to say I haven’t been too productive since. That game is leaps and bounds ahead of any other sports game for any platform. Although beginning my mariners franchise is a little depressing when I look at all the ratings.
Finally a game that will walk you again.
MVP 2005 would walk you, but I haven’t seen a game since that would (MVP 2005 would walk you a bit too often – I once drew 23 consecutive walks off Kevin Brown in that game (but he had a no-hitter going, so the AI manager wouldn’t pull him) – I had to swing to foul off a 2-strike pitch exactly once in that whole sequence (I still remember it was Gregg Zaun who swung the bat).
I like using semi-colons; they make me feel smart.
Are the hits less scripted this year then?
I gave up My Player on 2k10 when it decided I would hit a slump and every single ball I hit was right at a defender. My average dropped from .290 to .200 in less than two weeks.
Yes, we have a coupon.
by Crystal for DH on Mar 10, 2011 11:06 AM PST reply actions
Yes and no
They claim that nothing is scripted…that the game is a sim. However, they also claim that players can be affected by streaks occurring with their real-world counterparts. So I’d be concerned about the same problem showing up in this year’s version.
Is MLB 2k11 the best option for xbox?
I assume The Show is for ps3 only
MLB 2k11 is the only MLB game on Xbox
Whether buying it is better than just not playing baseball on the Xbox has been an open question with previous versions, I hear.
Whoa
Game consoles are connected to the internet now? When did this happen?!
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
Well, actually, SegaNet was available on the Saturn, too.
And both the Genesis and SNES had some primative networked play (though you could argue if they were truly “internet”-based)
Damn I miss the Dreamcast.
by Rachmaninoff on Mar 10, 2011 9:03 PM PST up reply actions
Er, Netlink was the name for the Saturn service, my mistake.
But nobody in the US cared about the Saturn, it would seem, so there you go!
by Rachmaninoff on Mar 10, 2011 9:04 PM PST up reply actions
Yay!
If only people had cared about the sweet 2D games it had, and Bernie Stolar hadn’t decided not to sell RPGs in the US…it would have been a big success. Too bad flashy 3D from the competition and poor 3rd-party support doomed it…and by extension, gave the Dreamcast almost no chance to succeed (financially).
by Rachmaninoff on Mar 12, 2011 1:49 PM PST up reply actions
Yes, yes it was
I don’t ever use game consoles and am never exposed to them and tend to ignore news about them so it never really occurred to me that they would be connected to the internet now, although I guess that makes sense
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
It's kind of annoying to me that they've turned this direction
The single player modes have generally turned to shit as a result. It only bothers me as my interest level in gaming doesn’t extend to becoming adept enough to compete online.
Games such as Call of Duty are fun solo, I’m pretty certain if I went online it would be similar to me playing N64 GoldenEye against a noob, they’d get pissed off and quit after about two minutes when they realized they could move about 3 feet before being blown up.
This is a huge issue with games now.
Too many of them focus on the online play so much that the single player really suffers. And I for one do not have the kind of free time it requires to be able to compete against people who play eight hours a day.
"This space for rent"
This is why I'm so enamored of The Show
The developers put so much effort into the single-player experience that the online play suffers. And I couldn’t give less of a fuck, because I have zero interest in playing video games online, with the exception of a few games of FIFA every year with a buddy of mine.
The industry trend toward multiplayer is probably financially wise for the companies, since it gives customers an incentive to not sell their games and thereby depresses the used-games market while also increasing DLC opportunities. But it’s not for me. I don’t like having other people depend on me for something so trivial. I want to fire up a game, then maybe pause it for a half-hour to read something or make a sandwich. I’m not going to a team meeting for a video game.
The single-player portions of games nowadays are often so short that I almost purely rent. I play every game that looks fun to me, and I get a kick out of most of them, but The Show and FIFA are the only games I buy anymore. Most games I play for a week or two then I’m on to the next one. Call of Duty is a great example of a game that’s really fun in single player, but the experience is so short that it’s hard to justify a $60 purchase if you’re not going to play online. And while I’ll gladly acknowledge that Call of Duty games are usually very well-made online games, I just don’t care. It’s not fun for me regardless. Video games are my haven from other humans.
by Teej on Mar 17, 2011 12:22 AM PDT up reply actions 2 recs
There's also The Bigs, though it's not a sim by an means
I don’t think they’ve put out a new version since 2009, and it’s super arcadey with homers that knock down signs and pitchers literally throwing fireballs, but I’ve always found those games to be a lot of fun.
But yeah, if you’re looking for a game of real baseball, 2K is your only option until their exclusivity deal runs out after next season.
I think I've heard that 2K is planning not to pursue another deal with MLB
Hopefully someone competent gets the deal this time.
Oh yeah, 2K is mailing it in
One of the top executives said at some point last year after a bad earnings report that the MLB 2K series was one of the reasons the company performed below expectations. They can’t wait for it to end. It appears that they overpaid, perhaps in a rush to respond to EA’s NFL deal?
Hopefully the demand for exclusivity is low enough that MLB decides that granting the rights to just one third party would make them less money than giving every company the right to buy the license. Perhaps unlikely, but definitely possible.
I have to imagine EA will go after that licensing deal.
Whether they can re-create the magic of MVP is hard to know, considering how long they’ve been out of the game and it will be made by all new people, but I’d love to see them get a chance. I’ve become a total Show whore, but competition is always good. Particularly for the 360-only folks.
2K publishes Power Pros, doesn't it?
Or, at least they put out a couple over the course of their ownership of the third-party license.
I was so tired of 2K's games that last year I bought a PS3 for The Show.
Best decision I’ve ever made gaming wise. The Show 11 this year is the stuff of magic, and I’m already starting to be able to work the count and take walks. Last year it took me much longer to be able to do it. The first few games with the stick felt a bit clunky, but now that I’m used to it, I wouldn’t think of switching back to buttons. 2K’s attempt at analog control last year was just weird, but The Show nails it this year.
Road to the Show is actually worth playing this year, too. The reward system is much better.
And the graphics…so beautiful. Easily the prettiest looking sports game I’ve ever played…the players movement is just so lifelike. Everything about this game is absolutely fantastic. If you have a PS3, or were thinking of getting a PS3, this game is the game to get.
As someone completely uninterested in the actual gameplay aspect of MLB 2K11
Is the franchise mode itself worth the purchase price? I tend to be the build-n-sim type with my baseball games but I don’t want to buy something that will be too cumbersome or too easy to deal with on a daily basis.
For franchise mode I've always liked Baseball Mogul.
It’s not without its flaws but for a straight forward game that focuses on the franchise mode I’ve always enjoyed it.
No matter where you go, there you are.
I love Baseball Mogul but I need something to play while I'm on the elliptical machine at home.
Right now I’m still playing MVP Baseball 2005 because it’s the last sim feature that I actually like.
Baseball Mogul is awesome
And it sounds like BBM 2K12 is going to be a pretty decent improvement
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
It's supposed to include WAR!
No matter where you go, there you are.
And a legitimate system for allowing pitchers to play the field and position players to pitch!
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
If the game eliminates pitchers getting 15 month injuries on their day off I'd be a really happy camper.
No matter where you go, there you are.
Is it just me, or do baseball video games have significant difficulty with build-n-sim play?
I feel like my teams that were “good on paper” would always underperform in the sim games, but my sort of middling teams would play rather well. I don’t have hard data to back this up, but is it anyone else’s experience? Because for me it seems to be true across several different games.
I didn’t make crappy teams. Except for Griffey’s N64 baseball (part 1), and I could still destroy.
by Two Rs and Two Ls on Mar 11, 2011 2:55 AM PST up reply actions
It seems to be a problem for most sports sims.
Madden is notorious for this as well. At one point I was drafting guys based on who had the funniest names and I was still putting up 14-2 seasons but the moment I put a star player on the team, he puts up the worst numbers of his career.
"Fielding is better, and according to reviews they've emphasized the differences in range between fielders to let the best players shine."
Lame. I loved being able to stick horrible-fielding sluggers into shortstop in 2k10 and have it not really matter as much since their bat would make up for the 1 or 2 extra hits they’d allow.
by Shmelix Shmernandez on Mar 12, 2011 4:54 PM PST reply actions
Last night while playing The Show,
I was the Rays playing in an NL park, so I had to put Manny in the outfield. He hit two homers and STILL nearly cost me the game, giving up three “triples” with his grotesque inability to catch a baseball. It was maddening and still very comforting.
Defensive substitutions?
Or did you have Johnny Damon in center?
I write for Stumptown Footy, SB Nation's Portland Timbers blog.
by thehemogoblin on Mar 13, 2011 1:23 AM PST up reply actions
He was hitting a homer nearly every time he came to bat!
I had to put up with it. But yeah, it was eye-opening. I need to stay in AL parks.
Anybody have slider settings they like for The Show?
I like the game a lot overall, but I notice in particular that CPU pitchers are way too good at throwing strikes in my Road to the Show, making it almost impossible to draw a walk.
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