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MLB 2K8 News Post

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
# 1501 dtigers63 @ 03/06/08 03:28 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Knight165
I got this one for the 360.
I wouldn't want to soil my PS3 with anything except Jesus in a box
...yeah...the framerate was pretty friggin' bad....
I haven't got back to a game with 2K8 yet...I've been busy with something else....but I'll get another game at least in tonight.
2K has a nice base with this game...it just needs a few more facets polished IMO.
I need more time with the new gameplay mechanics(I am terrible to begin with )....

M.K.
Knight165

Yeah I know what your up to and a lot of us thank you for it. I'll fire it up tonight and go straight to franchise and see about roster control, that and the minor league stadiums are what peeks my curiosity.
 
# 1502 casper007 @ 03/06/08 03:57 PM
Besides the framerate issue i love the game oh and also the little test i thought i needed glasses.
 
# 1503 MizzouRah @ 03/06/08 04:11 PM
Just had a great game vs the Cubbies at Wrigley.. you can hear sirens from police vehicles and horns from tractor trailers at times during the game... pretty neat.

Pie made a nice catch against the ivy against me that saved Chicago 2 runs.

I'm also seeing tons of hits all over the place, including doubles, triples, and so far the right amount of HR's. I do think the CPU pitches too many strikes, but I think a good slider set will fix up any little issues I'm seeing right now.

I also love the little chime and ticker report showing you who's warming up in the bullpen for the opposing team.
 
# 1504 CMH @ 03/06/08 04:18 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by metal134
Something that is really starting to worry me is that despite maxing out the CPU take sliders, they are still hacking at EVERYTHING in the strikezone.
Did you immediately bump it that high?

I would avoid that. I've never found a game to work well when a specific slider is bumped all the way up or down.

I wonder if those guys experiencing issues with the AI not throwing balls would try maybe 10-15 clicks up from the left instead of 0-5 clicks.

I bumped take balls and strikes so that they were 20 clicks off the right side of the slider and saw better results.
 
# 1505 bigfnjoe96 @ 03/06/08 04:55 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by YankeePride
Did you immediately bump it that high?

I would avoid that. I've never found a game to work well when a specific slider is bumped all the way up or down.

I wonder if those guys experiencing issues with the AI not throwing balls would try maybe 10-15 clicks up from the left instead of 0-5 clicks.

I bumped take balls and strikes so that they were 20 clicks off the right side of the slider and saw better results.
I think I have a good set from the All-Star setting. Will continue to test tonight, if I continue to see good results, I'll post them in the Slider Section.
 
# 1506 CMH @ 03/06/08 05:49 PM
Let us know.
 
# 1507 myghty @ 03/06/08 06:08 PM
Have you tried moving the pitch speed all the way to 0? The pitcher goes into his regular wind up only to release a ridiculously slow pitch that floats about 2 miles an hour, just like a Bugs Bunny cartoon.... I know, off-topic but it was pretty funny...
 
# 1508 bowlerguy92 @ 03/06/08 06:08 PM
Hmmmm, still seeing questionable CPU homers. 0-0 count and I throw a down and away (barely in the strike zone at all) fastball and Huff just TORCHES it. I'm talking just SMACKS it for a homer. Uh........is this normal behavior? SWEET, Hernandez just did the same thing to me only this pitch was even farther off the plate. What the hell is the deal? Sweet back to back homers!
 
# 1509 thornie @ 03/06/08 06:25 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by bowlerguy92
Hmmmm, still seeing questionable CPU homers. 0-0 count and I throw a down and away (barely in the strike zone at all) fastball and Huff just TORCHES it. I'm talking just SMACKS it for a homer. Uh........is this normal behavior? SWEET, Hernandez just did the same thing to me only this pitch was even farther off the plate. What the hell is the deal? Sweet back to back homers!
This happens to me on occasion... 9 times out of 10 its because I botch the release, or didn't put enough effort into the pitch.
 
# 1510 bowlerguy92 @ 03/06/08 06:27 PM
The effort as as high as I can go without failing the pitch altogether and the release was spot on. Why when i'm pitching with Matsuzaka and someone is on base, my second gesture is completely ignored and it just blows by the release point and I fail the pitch every time? When no one is on base it recognizes the second gesture just fine. This is what's screwing me up and I don't know what to do about it.
 
# 1511 ChicagoChris @ 03/06/08 06:27 PM
I am really starting to dig this game. If i can find a way to get the pitching down. I need to find a way that i can tell that the CPU is throwing a ball. It really seems hard to see a ball coming.

I have seen some pitches come that i 100% lay off only to see them clip the zone and get called for a strike.

Is this a slider thing or a camera issue? Thoughts?
 
# 1512 Bat @ 03/06/08 06:41 PM
This game is ridiculously hard on All Star for me. I hit most my pitches and the computer absolutely crushes everything. I can't hit at all.. even on pro I don't score runs.

The computer infielders get to everything. I practically never see a ground ball get through the infield. Also I hit alot of deep fly balls that I except to be extra base hits only for the computer to run everything down..

On 5 games on All Star my era is 7.86.. Yet its too way too easy on Pro. I think I have scored 6 runs in those 5 games.
 
# 1513 bowlerguy92 @ 03/06/08 06:45 PM
Can anyone confirm my Matsuzaka issue?
 
# 1514 myghty @ 03/06/08 06:52 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChicagoChris
I am really starting to dig this game. If i can find a way to get the pitching down. I need to find a way that i can tell that the CPU is throwing a ball. It really seems hard to see a ball coming.

I have seen some pitches come that i 100% lay off only to see them clip the zone and get called for a strike.

Is this a slider thing or a camera issue? Thoughts?
Check the sliders forum. I feel your pain, when letting a pitch go that looks like its a ball then all of a sudden hit the corner line makes me go Agggghhh.... I've heard that setting the AI strikes thrown to 0 makes the CPU throw a realistic amount of balls.
 
# 1515 Hoos @ 03/06/08 06:53 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChicagoChris
Is this a slider thing or a camera issue? Thoughts?
Probably a combination of both. I'm having the same problem. Seemed to help some in reading pitches when I lowered the pitch speed for human.

Just play around with the different batting camera and zoom levels and see if that helps. I'll be doing that myself
 
# 1516 Tully @ 03/06/08 07:20 PM
The CPU is bad *** on this game. No need to mess with the sliders. You have to bring your A game to beat them. I see no AI issues. They take the extra base. They make the great plays. They know when they need a sac fly. Or when they need to bunt the runner over. They spray the ball all over the field. They pitch very smartly. The game is a challenge. What more can you ask for in a sports game.
 
# 1517 Mikocop @ 03/06/08 07:25 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bat9th
This game is ridiculously hard on All Star for me. I hit most my pitches and the computer absolutely crushes everything. I can't hit at all.. even on pro I don't score runs.

The computer infielders get to everything. I practically never see a ground ball get through the infield. Also I hit alot of deep fly balls that I except to be extra base hits only for the computer to run everything down..

On 5 games on All Star my era is 7.86.. Yet its too way too easy on Pro. I think I have scored 6 runs in those 5 games.
Lower the AI infield reaction and infield speed, this seems to help get those grounders through the infield.
 
# 1518 bowlerguy92 @ 03/06/08 07:28 PM
I absolutely CANNOT win on All-Star. I had a 5 run lead in the 9th and I blew it, used 3 pitchers still blew it. I have played 10 games on All-Star and every one of them has been blown wide open in the last 4 innings of the game. It's simply insane and I am not having it. Guess it's back to pro or putting it back on the shelf until sliders come out that make it playable for me on All-Star.
 
# 1519 Cubbies2166 @ 03/06/08 07:35 PM
Can anybody tell me about the base coaches this year? It bugged me last year how they would have high numbers and their number would change every game? Is it different this year?
 
# 1520 Bwnarrow3 @ 03/06/08 07:43 PM
I agree with the whole AI thing. Maybe it's not perfect, but it is way better than last year. Many sliders are left untouched.
 


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