MLB The Show
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Written by Scott Hemphill
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Thursday, 19 April 2007 |
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IGN has the first video of MLB 07 The Show for PS3. Go check
it out HERE. I know this site, 1up, Gamespot, Time Magazine, IGN, and EGM have been quick to voice how "unimpressed" we are with the PS3 launch. Well, if this MLB 07 The Show PS3 video is any indication of the "Next Gen Graphics Horsepower" of the PS3... ...um.... It will be a LONG TIME before many people jump to PS3 just for a more realistic baseball game than MLB 2K7 360. I can't help but think that the PS3 player models and animation look so much like a slightly more detailed version of The Show on PS2. The animation, uniforms, player models all look very "late current gen". This looks like a cleaned up port direct from PS2 with more polygons. Its nowhere near the visual quality of MLB 2K7 on either next gen system. Now- don't get me wrong, visuals aren't everything. I'm very critical of the veritable Home Run Derby that we call MLB 2K7 gameplay, but you'd think that Sony- having the most time with their own development kits, PS3 proprietary hardware, and all of their first party dev tools... ...could make a baseball game for PS3 that looks WAY better than what is shown in that video. In the sake of fairness, I figured "hey, that streaming video from IGN might not do it justice". So, I logged onto IGN with my insider account and downloaded the hi-def version. Well...same thing. These guys look like last gen mannequins and the stadiums, uniforms, shading and animation seems to be missing so much of the detail of the 2K baseball game. Again, "The Show" has been a great PLAYING baseball game for 2 years now, but if this is the graphic treatment that a first-party Sony PS3 title gets on their $600 graphics workhorse machine... ..then Sony might need sent down to the minors. Quietcool72
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 26 April 2007 )
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Written by Rudy Dyck
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Saturday, 17 March 2007 |
 The Show ’06 on the PS2 was the greatest baseball game I have ever played. I thought MVP ’05 was a very, very good title on the PS2 but its graphics, presentation and some issues I had with the ease of pitching and the pitcher-batter interface could have been improved. The Show ’07 for the PS2 has improved in many subtle areas over ’06 as well as regressed in one major area but is still a great game.
PRESENTATION
The first thing you have to mention when you talk about the show is the tremendous presentation. The three-man booth is maybe the best announcing group in all of sports video game history. Matt Vasgersian as the play-by-play announcer does a fantastic job once again. Dave Campbell and Rex Hudler provide the color commentary and you will hear some of the same comments from game to game but they still have plenty of variety. It feels as though the announcing team is actually commentating on a real game as opposed to a video game production. The presentation from the announcing booth, to the overlays, replays, and panoramic stadium shots is second to none.
GRAPHICS & AUDIO
The player models and general graphics are great for a PS2 game. I have no issue with the actual graphics, which appear nearly identical to the ’06 version. However, there are serious issues with the frame rate this year. The ’06 version ran at a silky smooth 60 frames per second and the ’07 version simply does not. Its noticeable and a disappointment. This kind of stuttering can be found in many PS2 games but since it did not appear in the Show ’06 it is a large negative that I must mention. You do get used to it after a few games and it no longer bothers me so I would not consider this to be a game killer. I believe this is due to the fact they tweaked the camera angles. The medium (default) camera is better this year as it focuses on centering the ball a bit better and the high camera is more useable as well.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 17 March 2007 )
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Written by Craig Gonzalez
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Tuesday, 27 February 2007 |
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MLB 2K7 and MLB The Show have both been released today. So head down to your local establishment and pick them up. After you get some time in with the games, be sure to give us your opinions in our forums. MLB 2K7 forum
MLB The Show forum
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 27 February 2007 )
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Written by Craig Gonzalez
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Friday, 09 February 2007 |
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OperationSports.com has an interview with MLB The Show Senior Designer, Eddie Cramm, up on their site. He dives into what we can expect to see with the PS3 version of The Show as far as what got left out and what. It's a very good read. "Operation Sports: Does the PS3 version also have Manage Only mode? Eddy Cramm: Yes, Manage Only Mode, or as we affectionately call it, “MOM” will make the jump to the PS3. We can’t just forget about MOM. Operation Sports: Have there been any improvements made to the pitcher fatigue/confidence/substitution engine? Eddy Cramm: One of the key focus points this year in general was the overall balance of the game. We are fortunate that we are building on a pretty strong gameplay foundation, and because of it, it allows us to focus more on these balance and polish issues. The pitcher fatigue and confidence has been a very big focal point. Not just is the durability of starting pitchers, but in the difference between short relievers, long relievers and closers. Substitutions go hand in hand with the fatigue. As the fatigue becomes more accurate, so does the substitution logic. As for confidence, one of our new features this year creates realism with confidence that hasn’t existed before in a baseball game. A pitcher’s confidence isn’t a blanket that covers all aspects of his game. It is possible that a pitcher loses confidence in his curveball and starts to rely on his fastball too much. That lack of confidence could be from him being unable to locate the pitch, getting the pitch hammered, or because he just isn’t throwing it enough to be comfortable with it. All of these aspects exist in our new Pitch Command System. Your confidence grows as you have success with a specific pitch. This system not only rewards you for good pitching and penalizes you for poor performance, it also keeps you using all your pitches. Never again will you be able to go 8 innings without throwing that slider and then decide to break it out and paint the corner with it. Substitution logic is also tied to confidence. The A.I. will do a very accurate job of knowing when it is time to take a pitcher out that is getting lit up like a Christmas tree. Operation Sports: Is there going to be any sort of dynamic lighting? Are the shadows going to move across the field as they do in real life as the game progresses? Eddy Cramm: This is one of the features that will make its debut on the PS3. Dynamic lighting and self-shadowing are both on the plate for the first title. Operation Sports: Will the sliders have more of an impact on the gameplay this year? Eddy Cramm: Most definitely! We’ve been getting a lot of requests to add more sliders to the options…and we did. Now you’ll be able to tune the game even more to your liking with dozens of these. We’ve broken down the sliders to include every aspect of the game like pitching, batting, fielding and base running, so now the game tuning is in the consumer’s hands. Operation Sports: Will there be more "Hit Variety" for all difficulty levels this year? Eddy Cramm: This is probably my favorite improvement to this year’s game. Although last year’s title played very well and got a lot of great feedback, I still felt that the game resulted in a lot of “hit it hard, or don’t hit it at all” game play. As a result of this, it felt like the only way a pitcher could feel like he has success is with the strike out. But what about the Maddux’s of the world? What about the ground ball pitchers? How do we represent THEIR effectiveness? This year that has all changed. We have improved ball reactions to more truly depict what would happen on the field. Now if you swing ahead of that change up on the outside edge, instead of missing, you will probably roll over the ball and bounce out weakly to the left side. Now that the system reacts better to the ball/bat impact, you can fight pitches off and try to work deep into the counts. But personally, my favorite thing is what it does for the pitcher. I can now feel that I beat a batter by making him my pitch. I can try to induce that ground ball for the double play. I can jam him. I can dominate a game without ever striking someone out." READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 25 February 2007 )
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