Is MLB 08: The Show living up to its billing?  I took a browse around both the OperationSports and MaddenMania forums for what users impressions of the game are.  Here are some of the more detailed bits.

Chodite: "I just finished my first game.

Bluejays (CPU) @ Orioles (me)

Final score:
Bluejays - 12
Orioles - 6

Difficulty: All Star (no sliders touched)

A freakin hit fest on All Star difficulty. Toronto had 17 hits. Baltimore had 12.

Pros:
- Oriole Park @ Camden Yards was beautiful. Best ever. Back drop was just about dead on.

- Graphics look slightly more polished than in the demo

- Gameplay is just solid. Pitcher vs batter feel is perfect

- Good hit variety and defensive plays. I watched the Bluejays' first baseman fall to his right to make a play on a sharp grounder, fall on his butt and make the throw to 1B from his butt to the pitcher covering the base (see below for one issue on hit variety though)

- Commentary = best in any sports game, ever. Little things blew my mind here. Example - I bring in Chad Bradford and I'm pitching to Greg Zaun. Dave Campbell says, "That's one advantage to being a switch hitter when going against a submarine pitcher like this." The commentary was always fresh and the little things being said continued to blow my mind

- Good CPU management. Dustin McGowan was up to 97 pitches and with no outs in the 8th, gave up back to back leadoff singles when the manager called in for a reliever.

- Awesome presentation. The game just oozes TV quality presentation. You could see that from the demo, but during a 9 inning game - you see even more. I love the rewinds too, when a batter hits a HR and that HR is shown during his next AB

Cons:

- Too many hits! I guess I'll either bump the difficulty up to HOF or tweak some sliders. But then again, it was only one game. My next game might end up being 1-0.

- I saw more than a fair share of singles up the middle. Some went right through the pitcher. If I had to guess, I'd say there were about 6 total singles right up the middle. Though the rest of the hits was a nice variation. Some gappers, doubles, one ball was line to the first basemen who dove to his right only to have the ball bounce off the tip of his glove.

- The players look skinny in a lot of cut scenes. Not a biggie. Just something I noticed.


Can't think of many more negative things to say. The game is almost perfect. I really enjoyed my first game, even with all the hits.

Edit: Oooh I just heard A Tribe Called Quest's "Award Tour" over the PA after my game ended! Nice music selection all around.

For Screenshots/Videos click here"

art1bk: "For those asking about bat boys. There are none in this game. For the poster talking about the graphics in this game. They look very sick. Day games look better because of the lighting. 1080p or I run the game at 30fps while 720p is smooth as butter. Having a blast with this game. The game is not perfect but its great. Everybody who likes baseball has to try this game. Its classic!!!!"

Dspezzano: "I've been playing RTTS mode mostly and have been seeing some weird things. I'm still in spring training as a 3B with the Cubs.

- I have yet to been given a sign. No steals, no hit and runs, no bunts. I'm batting in the 8 hole and this morning I am up with runners on 1st and 2nd with no one out and we are down by 1. I was thinking I would get the bunt sign..nope.

- Another 9th inning head scratcher, we are down 1 and I am up with a runner on first and 2 outs. I double so we have 2nd and 3rd and the manager lets the pitcher hit. At least the commentators were smart enough to notice the blunder.

- I am manning 3rd and i see a little message play for the bunt so I do. Bunt is popped up on the first base side, no way i can get to it. But the pitcher and the catcher just go stand there and let it drop between them.

- Fielding is still pointless you don't get any training points for it so I don't get why I need it.

- Same goes for base running, whats the point.

I haven't played enough single games to notice any weird managerial logic but I was hoping for more from RTTS 2.0. Still a great game, just guess my expectations were too high for this mode.."

hoosier4974: "Just finished my first game:

Whitesox (me) 1 run, 8 hits, 1 error
Cubs (cpu) 0 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors

It was Buehrle vs Zambrano at Wrigley. The game was scoreless until the top of ninth when Konerko dropped a 368' missle in the left field basket for the inning run.

Some observations after 1 game:

1) The perceived speed of the incoming pitch while batting or pitching seems noticeably slower than the demo. Anybody else get that feeling??

2) The two catch indicator options under display settings seem like they are not working right. I can only get it to where have nothing at all on the screen other than the ball shadow (no catch region or catch location icon at all) or both. It would appear that you should be able to switch them off independent of each other but it's not working that way. I tried several different combinations during my first game and was everything or nothing at all

3) It plays an awesome game of baseball. I was a little put off by the high amount of weak hits on both sides but I'll try some of the slider settings that you guys have been discussing in this thread.

4) An observation in the replay vault. Nothing major but something I noticed. Atlease on Wrigley's centerfield scoreboard, when your'e watch a replay through the vault feature, the scoreboard will show the count at 0 and 0 with no outs. This does not match up with the actual count that was in place just before the play you are watching. I watched a Dye strikeout video and he was supposed to have a 2 and 2 count oh him but in the video replay it was 0 and 0. Like I said, nothing major, just an observation.

5) The fielding and occasional throwing issues is probably my biggest gripes with the game. Just doesn't feel responsive at times especially when certain animations kick in and you can't move your player to finish off a play. I can overlook these for now as it doesn't happen a lot......just hope they improve this in 09!!!

I'm going to play a new game at 720p and see if that helps with the aforementioned graphics issue while playing at Wrigley with the 1080i setting on my PS3. Heck I might even break down and fire up a game at Fenway and see what 1080i looks like there in the full game compared to the demo. More to follow.............

Overall, I really enjoy this game. It's going to be hard to beat as far as gameplay and immersivness."