MLB 11 The Show Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here

[misterkrabz]

Is it me or is this game getting stale? Judging from the demo it's still a great game, but I really don't see the over all improvements. For the life of me I can't unsderstand why we can't get an on screen stats box for the pitcher and hitter. And why do I have to hit pause to position my fielders? I don't want to fumble around, pause the game, dig into the menus to find the defensive positioning and then modify it...those controls should be mapped to the buttons for quick and easy access...with all the on screen real estate give me some stats please. Baseball is all about stats, yet you have to dig to see/find them. In one of the upper corners show me the position of my fielders. Half the time I don't even know who is batting, whose on first, who's on deck, who's hot, who's not, because I'm not sitting through the batter walk up and I'm not going to pause the game to find out. It's a waste of time. There are so many little and simple things they could do to really make this game more engaging and less stale. Sadly analog controls doesn't do it for me. They're note bad, but for me it's not a selling point.

With that being said, if they improve the online lag and online leagues it will be enough for me to purchase the game. I will actually be happy with that. But I sure would like it if they made things like stats and positioning fielders more accessible.

[sroz39]

Wanted to play a bunch of games before I posted some thoughts. Played 8 or 9 (can't really remember) so I'm comfortable giving an opinion on the main things this demo was meant to showcase which is the analog controls and Karros.

Pitching: I have a love/hate relationship with this aspect and it can turn from pitch to pitch lol. Truthfully, I think its a great addition and well implemented. The faults lie on the user's (mine) end. Sometimes it feels like I went left and the cursor actually goes right and vice versa. At first, I was getting upset with the game. I made a point to start paying attention to where the thumbstick ends up and sure enough, it was not the game's fault. Surprise surprise :P

One other thing that I forgot about in the early going that was really accentuating my misses was how quickly I transitioned from down to up on the right stick. This ties directly into effort/effectiveness of the pitch and I realized my transition was rather quick. I slowed it down and even when I missed, I wasn't missing my spot by as much as I was in the early going. This control scheme is a keeper.

Analog Fielding: I can understand why some people are having problems with this but I can happily report I am not. At all. I actually have my throwing difficulty at HOF and I'm starting to miss some "perfect" throws but nothing that pulls anyone off a bag or anything like that. The only thing I'm still searching for some consistency in is hitting the cutoff man without making him move every now and then but its been very pleasant to use the analog throwing.

I remember some people that wrote previews for the game mentioned that this analog throwing has thrown off some of the transitional animations from fielding to throwing. If any of you are having problems with this, just remember to pre-load your throws. This has always been the case, even with the button throwing, but its even more crucial now to keep everything looking very fluid in the field. Like I said, I'm really enjoying these new controls as well.

Analog Hitting: I went into this with an open mind, knowing that I really enjoy the Skill Stick in NHL, the pitching in 2K baseball etc. Thing is, I REALLY love Zone Hitting in The Show series. I knew I was gonna struggle because I struggled with 2K's analog hitting, from its most difficult versions of it in the beginning to its easiest versions in their more recent games. But I struggled mightily with the analog hitting in this game, swinging at bad pitches but really struggling with the directing of the right stick to hit inside and outside pitches.

I think if SCEA introduces an option to control the PCI with the Left Stick and just swinging with the Right Stick next year, I'll be fully on board. It may seem more complicated but for me, it's more complicated to throw the Right Stick at the direction of the pitch as it's coming at you. I've been conditioned over 4 generations of consoles (starting with the World Series games on the Genesis) that my left thumb controls WHERE I'm swinging and my right thumb WHEN I'm swinging. Many of you may say to give it time and it'll come to me eventually but after the many games I played, I was showing zero improvement and it was just becoming an exercise in frustration. It's gonna take more than two weeks to erase two decades' worth of muscle memory lol.

I've seen a lot of guys mention Catcher Cam 5 and I agree...to a point. I keep switching from Catcher Cam 3 to 4 to 5 lol. Reason being that even though 5 is great for picking up location, its almost too flat a view to pick up speed of a pitch and I find I get fastballs blown by me too often. Cam 3 fixes the depth problem but then it becomes tough to read break on balls thrown lower in the zone. I may have found a happy medium with Catcher Cam 4, but even then I catch myself cursing at the game when I strikeout. I may just have to come to grips with the fact that a pitcher is better than me at times

As for Eric Karros, maybe I'm playing a different game than some of you, but I LOVE that they brought him in. He has the ODD recycled line but its not EVERY line like some of you haters make it seem to be. There's definitely more interaction between the three, even if its obvious it wasn't recorded at the same time. Good enough for me, the commentary in this game is not on my negatives list by any stretch.

Not gonna rehash any of the other often-mentioned positives like the graphics, player models etc. Those are obvious. Instead, gonna focus on some of the negatives that bother ME specifically:

- really wish this game had some sort of "Hitter's Eye" like the MVP series. I already have to drop the Pitch Speed slider to help me out with recognizing pitches. I hope its on a "to do" list as an option for a future release.

- wish the runner at 2nd, on any of the Catcher views, had the Speed and Ability bars SOMEWHERE on the screen.

- Lincecum's hair...YIKES! Lol. Not a big deal just a "negative", I guess.

- crowd behind home plate. Doesn't bother me that much either, to be honest.

- the game definitely has a "been there, done that" feel to it in the grand scheme of things but how much of a negative can this really be to me if I would "go there" and "do that" over and over again. Nothing about this game is broken, I don't want change for the sake of change. Every year, I get a little bit more of what I want out of this game.

That's it for me. I'm going back to my RTTS in '10 because the demo has done all I want from a demo. I got a taste of the analog controls and look forward to using 2 of the 3 full time. I got a sneak peek at a fraction of what Eric Karros brings to the presentation and I'm happy that he makes it BETTER, imo. I will wait for the 8th and eagerly dive into the full game when it drops on that day.

[CabreraMVP]

What do you mean, stats? Like HR and RBI? or Contact and Power? You can just hit select and see it in a second.

I'm hoping they changed Miguel Cabrera's stance. Because Andres Torres from SF has the same stance as Cabrera had last year. They don't have similar stances at all.

[brinks]

I'll wait until the retail version to judge the graphics and lighting. I do like the new player models and the animations seem smoother. Last year the base running and fielding animations were quite choppy.

The option for the analog pitching and hitting is terrific. Although, it feels less sim. However, still very fun. I anticipate using both in franchise.

The analog fielding doesn't add much in my mind. It's not natural and doesn't add anything to make it better than the button system.

If the issues with trade and FA logic are fixed in franchise, this looks like a winner and legitimate upgrade from 2010.

[Scooter3]

What did I get myself into?
It's going to take about 29 hours to download using my Verizon Wireless.
I don't think I will be able to keep my signal that long.

keeping fingers crossed
scooter...

[Tommyklaid]

Quote: Originally Posted by bcruise

I see a lot of people happy about balks being in, but I do want to point one thing out that has already been confirmed from community day: The AI won't balk. It was put it primarily to combat quick pitching in online play, but it is for this reason that I'll be turning it off for my singleplayer games this year. Hopefully that can make it in next year, but there's definitely going to be some heavy coding involved to determine whether an AI balk could happen - and if I know SCEA SD, they won't settle for it just being a random event - they'd tie ratings into it somehow.

Awww...bummer.

I guess I missed that on C.D. - ah well - it's a step in the right direction and I realize why they put it in. It doesn't happen often, but it'd be nice to incorporate the A.I. next year.

[B_rad13]

Can we use the classic controls in the demo?

[Skyboxer]

Quote: Originally Posted by Giants4Natic

Ok fellas, what camera do you use for hitting and pitching. I can't settle due to having many options. I like the graphics more when I pitch from catcher view but the trajectory of pitches are better in behind the pitcher cam What do you guys use for both

I use a slightly modified Minn broadcast cam for pitching and Catch Cam zoomed in for hitting right now.