MLB 2K8 News Post

Major League Baseball 2K8 360 Impressions

01:24 AM - February 26, 2008 by Steve_OS

Matt Blumenthal had an opportunity to demo Major League Baseball 2K8 this afternoon. His official writeup of the event will be up later this week, but we wanted to get some quick thoughts up here for you guys.

This game looks beautiful, the player models have improved but the real leap is in the animations. The animations move silky smooth and there is no need to worry about herky jerky animations of the past anymore.
I'm impressed with how intuitive and fresh the analog controls are. The pitching takes a little time to get the hang of but the new mechanics add a whole new dimension to the pitching model.
The baseball cards feature is surprisingly cool, expect me to have more on that later on this week.
In-game saves are officially in the game this year.
Check swings don't seem to be a chore anymore. They are now accomplished by pulling back on the right analog stick - no more right trigger necessary.
Stadium-specific animations are in. The Yankee Roll Call was mentioned specifically.
There should be plenty of foul balls this year. I saw several in the few at-bats I played.
No spring training games this year.
I counted eight unlockable classic stadiums. I think more might be available by default as well.
No co-op play
You will have the option to make trades for CPU-controlled teams in franchise mode, but you won't be able to edit their rotations and lineups.
It was suggested to me that the demo is done and has been submitted. If that's the case, it's in Microsoft's hands now.
I will hit on a few of the big questions from the forum here.

Game: Major League Baseball 2K8Reader Score: 6/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS2 / PS3 / PSP / Wii / Xbox 360Votes for game: 74 - View All

Member Comments

# 1181 Lerxt @ 03/04/08 10:20 PM

So far, I am loving the fielding, the hitting, and the pitching,. I definitely see the framerate "issue", but it is so minor, I have to question whether the people in this thread are looking for things to be wrong with the game. Obviously, people's perceptions differ, but it just isn't that bad at all. And it DEFINITELY does not affect the onfield results.

So far, I am very happy.

# 1182 budsticky @ 03/04/08 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pierzynski 12


	Go play The Show then, bud. That's what alot of people keep harping on.

Can't play The Show. I don't have a PS3 and I'm not getting one for one game. Believe me, I'm not trying to start some stupid Show/2k flame war. I wish as much as anyone I liked this game..but I just don't. I'm just stating my opinions..take them for what they are. This is a 2k impressions thread after all, right?

# 1183 Bahnzo @ 03/04/08 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pierzynski 12


	Go play The Show then, bud. That's what alot of people keep harping on.

Thanks for quoting half of a page to make a cynical comment.

# 1184 CMH @ 03/04/08 10:37 PM

I'm not going to read this thread because I'm sure it's full of craziness.

This game so far plays a solid game of baseball.

Framerate issues? I seriously forgot about them while playing and never noticed. I can't stand lag at all and I never felt frustrated. The only issue that I didn't like was the load to get from batter walkup to the pitcher/batter screen. The screen holds and definitely loads up the game. But it just slows the process of playing the game down. Doesn't affect gameplay.

Lots of hit variety. You can't say otherwise.

The new pitching is great. There are three instances of trying to throw the perfect pitch. Throw any of it off by even a slight bit and you're not throwing a perfect pitch. As for those that complained about meatballs. Not seeing a problem. Gave up two homeruns in my first game on two good pitches that were not meatballs. Threw a few meatballs and guys swung and missed, fouled them off, and hit weak grounders along with a few base hits. So meatballs do not equal homeruns.

Graphics are good. Not sure why anyone thinks they are bad. Just as pretty as last year - at least on the players. The grass is definitely downgraded but that's all I really noticed.

Much improved over 2k7. Not even close when you think about it.

Lost my first game 12-3 on All-Star. Like I said, gave up only two homeruns on non-meatball pitches.

And that's it from me on this board until maybe next year. I don't want to be a part of the nonsense. Bye.

# 1185 Brophog @ 03/04/08 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DannyMac910


	The small text size is a HUGE game killer for me. I can't enjoy my franchise if I can't read it.

What TV are you playing on?

# 1186 Motown @ 03/04/08 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pierzynski 12


	Go play The Show then, bud. That's what alot of people keep harping on.

Damn dude, do you ever QUIT??? I sat here & read a couple nice impressions of the game & then you gotta ****it up...damn that gets old!

He's just stating an opinion...thats it!

# 1187 Tomba @ 03/04/08 10:50 PM

Mods, you should make a separate "ps3 impressions" section for this game. I'm hearin and readin alot of 360 cache stuff and it's just leaves me to believe the ps3 version isn't good

# 1188 TheTruth916 @ 03/04/08 10:51 PM

Can some one explain to me how to send people up and down in the farm system? because I can't send anyone down with out being over the roster limit.

# 1189 cocobee @ 03/04/08 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tomba321


	Mods, you should make a separate "ps3 impressions" section for this game. I'm hearin and readin alot of 360 cache stuff and it's just leaves me to believe the ps3 version isn't good

I agree, how hard is it to make a PS3 impressions thread. I have to scroll through pages of 360 impressions when I just want to know how does it play on the PS3? and get PS3 specific impressions.

# 1190 Motown @ 03/04/08 10:59 PM

PS3 Qs, Are yall gettin' the frt drop w/ the 40, 60, and 80? i see where some are not havin' problems...i just don't know which one of the afore mentioned. thanks

How's the HR Derby fellaz?

# 1191 Naednek @ 03/04/08 11:11 PM

Well, my choice was limited to this since I only have an xbox 360, and I thought I'd give my impressions

This is my first baseball game playing in HD. Graphically it's a nice step up from the graphics I'm used to from the xbox series of baseball games. However, there are somethings that need to be worked on, mainly the field. It just looks like mesh, it looks like someone just spread a can of green paint across the field, it doesn't look right. Player animation is spot on. I did a double player where my shortstop threw the ball behind his back to the 2nd baseman and got the guy out before throwing the ball to 1st while in mid air. I didn't notice it at first, but after seeing the instant replay I couldn't believe what I just saw. I love it when it's windy, you can see the wind ruffle the players jersey and see the flags blow in the background. Wind also plays in the ball projectory, so that's cool. The Aerial camera mode is nice, and it also reduces the framerate issue which I will get into later. The sound effects sound nice to me, however the crowd needs to be worked on, they don't really react to big plays much.

As far as presentation goes, it does a fine job, I think the Show does it better. It feels like a baseball game and plays like it, so that's always good :P

As far as gameplay goes. I've played one full game and messed around with a few innings to get familiar with the controls. It's not something you can just jump into and play. It's has a learning curve, especially if you haven't played the series in a few years. Once you get the pitching controls down, the game really shines. Striking out batters is something you now earn, it's much more difficult. Batting is a work in progress for me, I'm able to hit, but I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing, and how I'm doing it. In my only full game I was playing as the Mets and beat the Royals 9-3. Even though I scored 9pts I'm not comfortable with the batting game.

I played on rookie, so I can't give you an accurate count on the AI, right now my priorities is to get used to the controls.

Now the framerate issue. It's there, it's not too bad, it's mainly evident in cutscenes, and sometimes during flyballs. However by switching to the aerial camera mode that greatly reduced that. I wouldn't let the framerate issue stop people from buying it, it doesn't really affect the game. I think it happens most when it's trying to load up replays, I think it's trying to access data, and with everything going on, it can't handle processing it.

Anyways, I'm gonna play another game, I had a blast my first game, and hopefully I'll get better

# 1192 ericdrum @ 03/04/08 11:11 PM

When pitching what do I need to control to not put so much effort into the pitch? My pitchers are wearing out a bit too fast.

# 1193 RunN1st @ 03/04/08 11:13 PM

Ok, guys. I picked it it up for the PS3 this evening since they had a used one at Gamestop...

I think that the PS3 accidentally got burned from the Wii version. This game hurts to look at... It's beyond atrocious.

That's all I have to say. I really feel for anyone that purchased this as a new game.

Good luck!

# 1194 cocobee @ 03/04/08 11:16 PM

Has anyone made custom ingame music ditties for players or stadiums? If so, how is it ingame? Does it really add to the atmosphere? If you have a ps3, did u just put your music on a flash drive and put it on the HD?

# 1195 ghostrider76 @ 03/04/08 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cocobee


	Has anyone made custom ingame music ditties for players or stadiums? If so, how is it ingame? Does it really add to the atmosphere? If you have a ps3, did u just put your music on a flash drive and put it on the HD?

The only custom player music I put in so far was for Konerko - "Harvester of Sorrow" by Metallica. And it transitions over very nicely

# 1196 SportsorDeath @ 03/04/08 11:19 PM

I just got the game (Xbox 360 version) a couple hours ago. Despite reading 60 pages + of impressions that were largely unfavorable today, I still had to go buy it just because I am such a sucker for baseball games. I figured even if I wasn't blown away by it, I would at least love the hitting and fielding.

Anyway, I have only been able to play one game so far, but here are my impressions:

-I really like the new pitching system. For some reason, I was able to grasp it very quickly. I went into the tutorial for maybe two minutes and was on my way. I threw only 4 or 5 meatballs the entire game, and while all of them were punished, not one of them left the yard. In fact, neither team went deep in the game.

-Hit variety is fantastic, and the hit stick seems fine to me. Much improved from last year's game, imo.

-Fielding is excellent. The combo of using the stick to throw w/ meter, and just the overall feeling of control is real nice. I loved seeing so many throws to 1st go in the dirt.

-I played on the default difficulty (pro?), and my game was far different from the scoring fests a lot of you have had. No HR's (as I said before), and I got blanked 4-0.

Even though I got tooled, it was actually refreshing, especially considering I was expecting a high scoring game going in.

-The dreaded frame rate issue is very apparent to me. I cleared my cache in advance, did the update, turned off ball trail and any other extraneous crap (though for some reason the ticker stayed on even after I turned it off), yet the choppiness was on full display. Any time a ball was put in play it reared its head, sometimes worse than others. Honestly, I can live with it. It bothers me, but not to the point that renders the game unplayable-for me, at least. I do think it is somewhat inexcusable that the frame rate is this shoddy on a retail copy, but I have seen far worse things make it to a final copy of a game before.

I really hope that the framerate problem is somehow able to be addressed, because I really feel like there is an excellent baseball game here, or at worst, the makings of one. As someone who has both games now, I have to say that the Show is the much more polished product, and overall is just a better game. However, there isn't as wide of a gap between the two games as a lot of these impressions would lead one to believe. While the Show is polished, there are things in that game that annoy me greatly- things that I MUCH prefer in 2K8.

For anyone who has liked the 2K series in the past, I think 2K8 is a no brainer. It is hands down a better game of baseball than 2K7. It's just going to be a question of how much the framerate thing will bother you. Some say they haven't seen any problem, and while I don't know how that is possible, the level of annoyance will definitely differ.

# 1197 SportsorDeath @ 03/04/08 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericdrum


	When pitching what do I need to control to not put so much effort into the pitch? My pitchers are wearing out a bit too fast.

Your effort will be the first movement you make with the stick, so it would be down for gas, up for a change, etc. Hold it in that direction for less and you will have less effort on it. Basically, just watch the circle and make sure the outer part doesn't expand all the way out before you initiate the next movement.

# 1198 ericdrum @ 03/04/08 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim416


	Can anyone try the classic pitching and classic batting? Last year there was a slight delay from the time you pressed the swing button and the batter swung. Has that been tightened up. Not interested in the new system and would like to hear from someone on this.

I tried it only for one inning and it didn't seem to delay. I've only been using hit stick 2.0, but the button did feel pretty good and natural.

# 1199 DSheppard @ 03/04/08 11:23 PM

I wrote a huge post on another board, but ill keep myself to a couple bullet points here.

There are 3 things i wanted from 2k8 this year.

1. Gameplay up to snuff. Accomplished, hitting physics combined with pitching controls is a big step up.
2. Presentation improved with audio and such. Massive failure. Not only is what i wanted improved not better, but the graphics are significantly worse. The field textures are a joke compared to last year. A joke. Everything is lower res. Where are my cool cutscenes from 2k7? Most of them have disappeared. Really, i think this is ridiculous. Trade off graphics, resolution and presentation for a barely noticeable framerate improvement with the HDD off, and horrible frameate in the OF with it on. while pitching its fine but the improvement isnt worth the downgrades at all. Im a 360 only player who was very open to this game and i am very disappointed in this aspect. Some people need to be fired, honestly.
3. I wanted a compelling new feature like road to the show was. Just something thats "advanced" from games of 5 years ago. The pitching is close, but man... why dont we have fully realized homerun derbys, world series presentation and such. Minor leagues are nice but the stadiums aare often poorly done and as someone who can name the top 40 rangers prospects its hard to make anything from the pseudonyms.. i highly question how many prospects are actually represented.

ok im rambling.

i will sum it up and say the gameplay accomplished what i wanted which is huge, but i am significantly disappointed in many other aspects. Its not a terrible game thats a ripoff or anything, but 2k has failed in my opinion.

and for gods sake will they improve the ligting in night games? day games still look good with nice shadows and such, but night games look quite poor. Obviously you arnt going to have strong shadows on the ground in night games, but the lighting is just ugly.

# 1200 ericdrum @ 03/04/08 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SportsorDeath


	Your effort will be the first movement you make with the stick, so it would be down for gas, up for a change, etc. Hold it in that direction for less and you will have less effort on it. Basically, just watch the circle and make sure the outer part doesn't expand all the way out before you initiate the next movement.

Okay, so start the second motion sooner to take the mustard off it? I think I got it.

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