MLB 2K9

That is where MLB 2K9 comes into play. The folks at Visual Concepts had a an idea and ran with it, and it should be interesting to see where this goes down the line. MLB 2K9 baseball has "Real-time Presentation" rather than cut-scenes. This more or less means there are "real-time" cut-scenes, which means there are no canned pre-recorded clips that the game cuts away to during certain moments in a game. The action unfolds on the field without cutting between various moments and scenes.

What happens is, say a player hits a foul ball and has to turn around and go back to the batter's box and pick up his bat. Well, in the past you watched a cut-scene where this all went down, and maybe there were a few variations of this cut-scene, but still it was canned and what you saw was never going to change during the scene.

Now, it could all be potentially dynamic and live. If you hit a ball that ricochets off something, you could see it in the background of your view. All the movement and animation that took place behind the scenes in the play is still going on, and if you look, you will see all the players doing things in "real-time."

MLB 2K series is not quite at this level yet, but the potential is there. As of this year, you can certainly tell that the game is all in real-time, but it is sometimes for the wrong reasons (see: herky-jerky animations of a batter walking back to the dugout).

Baseball = The Perfect Case Study

Regardless, the real-time approach is certainly something that is worth seeing more of in the sports genre, assuming it can be perfected over the years. Because no matter how good or fresh a cut-scene is at first, there is only so many times you will want to watch it.

I know for me, personally, one of the biggest letdowns in sports-gaming each year is the lack of presentational upgrades. I get bored quicker with a game that has the same stale commentary or introductions every single year. I like to feel like I am playing something new each time I fire up a sports game. It is the little things that keep us coming back for more and increase replay value for games.

How many of us play NHL 09 and race through the cut-scenes online? Or have played Madden and just wanted to get to the next play because we got tired of seeing a player adjusting his fake face-mask? How about the first time you saw some of the fan shots in NCAA Football or NFL 2K on the Playstation 2 and Dreamcast? You were probably pretty amazed -- the first 50 times -- and then it became old news.

So with the 2010 line of games due out later this year, let us hope some other games follow in the footsteps of what is right with cut-scenes -- like The Show's attention to detail and multiple diverse cut-scenes for one occurrence. Or, on the other hand, developers go in the new direction and try something a bit more innovative and unique.