MLB 14: The Show Fact Sheet What's Hot/Not

Feature Article

Submitted on: 02/26/2014 by Caley Roark

Shortly after breaking down the first wave of information regarding MLB 14: The Show, we were treated with the game’s entire fact sheet. Here’s a quick look at the highs and lows of Sony’s latest press release.

What’s Hot

More Changes to Road to the Show: As long as these pan out, RttS should become the best career mode in sports gaming. I was struck by how differently (and fun) it played last year; the additions of a “showcase” and revamped advancement system have me super-excited for what’s to come.

Year-to-Year Saves: Again, I think this is going to be revolutionary. I plan on getting the PS3 version, playing until May, hopefully “trading up” to the PS4, and perhaps even purchasing a Vita to play on the road. My franchise should carry across all systems and into next year--I think this could well become a standard feature for all sports games moving forward.

Quick Counts/Shortened Games: This is personal, but the ability to speed up games without losing too much content or presentation will enable me to more practically play an entire season. If my math is correct, I should be able to crank through a series in the time that it would have taken me to play a single game in the past. I know this change won’t be for everyone; in fact I imagine there will be times I want to take in the full game experience at a slower pace. But having the option there will be great for busy family guys like myself.

Various Improvements to Franchise Mode: Franchise Mode is very deep in The Show, but at times it feels a little dry. Plus, some of the features removed for the sake of streamlining were missed (setting prices, promotions, etc). I hope the multitude of improvements, including the “Assistant GM” help to spruce up a solid mode.

What’s Not

Player Lock: I never use this in other games (Madden) and I can’t think of many times when I want to lock on a player outside of Road to the Show mode.

Stubs: I am a bit skeptical about all kinds of in-game currency, and I’m not sure its necessary. However, I do remember loving Madden Cards back in the day, so maybe this new system will be appealing in the long run.

Online Features: I very much welcome the addition of online franchises and the ability to manage via computer, I just hope that the core online gameplay has been refined and that the online play is actually smooth.

Left-Handed Infielders: Was this a requested feature? Are they testing to see if we read the whole list?

Again, just like the initial press release, any information on the new “Show” only serves to get me more excited for its release this spring.

What features listed have you most excited?

MLB 14 The Show Videos

Member Comments

# 21 MrOldboy @ 02/26/14 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HustlinOwl


	oh no doubt, but 13 was not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I can see the headaches if primarily an offline gamer and trying to make switch to online, but thats the case with all games.

If you had two people on wired connections the lag was almost imperceptible. If one person had wifi it was playable, even with both on wifi it was playable, as long as the people weren't in different countries. Most people playing online in The Show use wired connections, at least most that I encountered in DD. It's pretty easy to tell once you've seen all the scenarios.

If the net code was improved at all from last year won't be huge, just because it was pretty good in 13. There is a point where you just can't overcome the physical delay that is caused by an internet connection. You can have some predictive stuff in the net code, but even the best online games suffer some lag.

# 22 aa2ba @ 02/26/14 03:52 PM

Looking forward to creating my Tracy McGrady Sugar Land Skeeter RTTS until the OS rosters are released!!

# 23 bwiggy33 @ 02/26/14 04:20 PM

For some of the people that are unhappy about Left handed infielders, they won't be included in any of the SCEA created players (draft picks), so it's really not that big of a deal. It may have taken some time away from other things but I can't imagine it taking an absurd amount of time to really impact something ground breaking for this game. I know for me the big thing is that they won't be having IF draft picks in franchise that are lefties. That would tick me off to no end.

Anyway definitely a fair list. Quick counts, player lock, and left handed infielders are stuff I will never use but there's many people out there who wanted quick counts and player lock so I totally understand them including that in the game. In fact I think those are two very big additions for the majority of the population. I don't play much RTTS at all so first person experiences are not what I enjoy. I'm also a huge sim guy so playing with quick counts is isn't something I dig at all, but I have the time to actually play full games. It's a different story for people who have families and what not going on.

For me what I was looking for in the fact sheet was exactly what Nemesis pointed out in his post. The PS4 only animations, fly ins, and then some of the improvements on both systems like CPU plate logic and whatever else. That to me is what is going to freshen up this game. It's such a fantastic game but I was starting to get to the point where I was bored of seeing the same animations, presentation, etc. The PS4 version is going to help keep me interested for a while and the best part about it is it will only be improved upon each year with the abilities of the PS4.

Also I can't stress this enough. For people who haven't played Next Gen yet, you will find out that what games can do with animations and physics is worth the upgrade alone. People look at these screenshots and nit pick little graphics things, which is fair because that's human nature. However, will you really notice the littlest details while playing? Probably not unless it's a close up view on replay. The animations and physics will make people forget about any of those little things that are slightly off. Even playing FIFA 14 (which is basically a port) has completely blown me away with gameplay. I can only imagine what better developers and more development time can do.

# 24 jcmreds @ 02/26/14 07:45 PM

I'm really looking forward to player lock. Not having to build my player up from scratch is a cool option to have.

# 25 Bengals1 @ 02/26/14 08:43 PM

Does anyone know if you can own all of the teams in a season?

# 26 Knight165 @ 02/26/14 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bengals1


	Does anyone know if you can own all of the teams in a season?

Do you mean control?
If so...yes.

M.K.
Knight165

# 27 Aggies7 @ 02/27/14 09:17 AM

Good read. I couldn't agree more except I am excited for the player lock. I probably won't use it all the time, but the feature intrigues me.

# 28 Blzer @ 02/27/14 12:04 PM

I'm confused by "left-handed infielders." By that, I mean does the game stop you from switching a lefty thrower to one of those positions, like second base? I haven't tried, so I'm not sure. Or does it mean you can't create/edit a lefty thrower and assign their primary/secondary positions to one of those positions?

I actually did do this once in World Series Baseball 2K3, and they had an animation tied in for the lefty turning the double-play at second base. It was pretty cool!

# 29 SoxFan01605 @ 02/27/14 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blzer


	I'm confused by "left-handed infielders." By that, I mean does the game stop you from switching a lefty thrower to one of those positions, like second base? I haven't tried, so I'm not sure. Or does it mean you can't create/edit a lefty thrower and assign their primary/secondary positions to one of those positions? I actually did do this once in World Series Baseball 2K3, and they had an animation tied in for the lefty turning the double-play at second base. It was pretty cool!

Up until now, the game would automatically switch the player's handedness to right if assigned one of those positions in the editor.

This also had the side effect of accidentally having players' handedness switched even if you just happened to cycle through the "illegal" positions when editing rosters-e.g. if you took your lefty RF and made him 1B, but cycled through 2B to get there, he would become a righty unless you manually went back and changed it.

# 30 Blzer @ 02/27/14 12:43 PM

What about switching them to those positions in-game?

# 31 BSchwartz07 @ 02/27/14 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blzer


	What about switching them to those positions in-game?

If you move a lefty to an IF position in game he'd become right handed while positioned there

# 32 LastActionHero @ 02/27/14 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nemesis04


	These top 2 to me make game play feel fresh: *Dynamic catch position indicator for fielding

Really curious about what they've done with this.

# 33 shaneomac @ 02/27/14 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LastActionHero


	Really curious about what they've done with this.

I was hoping to see something in the blog video about this but didn't notice anything. I'm sure they'll touch on it pretty soon.

# 34 nemesis04 @ 02/27/14 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LastActionHero


	Really curious about what they've done with this.

The ball location indicator which is that spinning baseball icon is no longer fixated to the exact location where the ball will land. Now it will take a moment to show up and it will keep moving so you have to continually adjust your fielder to make sure you are under the ball properly. It works really well in those suspense type home runs where the icon could show up before the warning track and you think you will make the catch but the icon will keep drifting back and before you know it the ball is just over the fence. It is definitely a nice change of pace ands some dimension to catching flys in the outfield.

# 35 SickDL @ 02/28/14 11:10 AM

So if you start a franchise on ps3 the save game will carry over once you get the game for ps4?

# 36 carli10 @ 02/28/14 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShowTyme15


	No one knows yet. It'll most likely be out sometime between May 6-27. Won't be the 31st as that is a Saturday. I don't think we'll find out an actual date until April.

Thank you I appreciate the help

# 37 tessl @ 02/28/14 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asu666


	Good list. I hope to see more GM options return, like setting prices and loans; however, the ability to generate quick counts could be huge for both speeding up games and generating realistic walk totals. I love the ability to carryover franchise saves too. I'll probably carry mine over just so I have the option to play them, even if I want to start over with accurate rosters each spring. I like the left-handed infielder addition too. As a south paw, it's nice to see my fellow lefties reflected in-game correctly.

We disagree on :

Ability to set prices for hot dogs and having to set promotions for 81 home games - it should be an option but not mandatory. I saw it as a nuisance. Quick counts I won't use much, would use it more if I could switch to it mid-game. There are zero lefthanded infielders other than 1b in MLB. For a game which tries to be an accurate sim this is an oddity. Fortunately it appears to be an option and the cpu won't be using lefthanded infielders.

We agree:
Ability to save franchise going forward is a major improvement.

Proving once again different people like and dislike different aspects of the game.

Other improvements for me - New fielding animations, new player search feature, ability to fire coaches mid season, and new player contract formula.

I'm waiting to see what new overall and potential formula consists of before deciding whether I like it.

# 38 SickDL @ 02/28/14 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Duke


	Yes that's correct

Thats pretty awesome. Didnt know that. Looks like im getting the ps3 version anyway.

# 39 Thomps07 @ 02/28/14 09:29 PM

The show is actually accurate in the left handed infielder thing. There are zero left handed throwing shortstops and 2nd baseman because it takes them longer to get rid of the ball. I can't think of any left handed 3rd baseman either. There also aren't any left handed catchers for the same reason for the throw to 3rd.

# 40 MrOldboy @ 02/28/14 11:37 PM

Its an extremely rare occurance in modern baseball, but it does happen.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/10835

It should only be allowed for substitutions though and not in the editor. I'm not sure, but I feel like Ramone said SCEA players will not be LH. But I also feel like its available in the editor???

Everyday LH infieders are just not a thing, they just aren't.

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