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Interview With MLB 09: The Show Online Producer Jason Villa

10:33 AM - January 23, 2009 by RaychelSnr

Operation Sports had a chance to talk with MLB 09: The Show online producer Jason Villa while out in San Diego this week. We asked him about some of the nagging online issues, and what gamers should expect from The Show online this year.

Operation Sports: So what has been done this year to deal with some of the nagging online issues: online lag, frame-rate drops and so forth.

Jason Villa: On the gameplay side, what we tried to focus on was just tuning up the experience. So any frame-rate issues you would have seen last year, any hitches with the batter, any release points with the pitcher, we tried to shore those up and tried to make it as close to the offline experience as possible. Obviously there is inherent lag, so there is plenty of trouble doing that, but you're going to get a pretty true experience on the online gameplay side.

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Member Comments

# 21 EnigmaNemesis @ 01/23/09 07:01 PM

Sounds hopeful.

I really do hope Online is fixed, and is as smooth as MVP 05 was on the PC, as well as 2K7 on the 360.

# 22 thudias @ 01/23/09 07:03 PM

Looking good..Thanks Chase.

# 23 evenflow20 @ 01/23/09 07:20 PM

I've played over 150 games online in 08, had had a thoroughly enjoyable time in at least 90% of the games. I never found lag to be that big of an issue. Any fixes that they can make to the frame rate are bonus. Glad to here starters cant come in in relief any more. I'm curious to see if they have made any changes to the 1st inning quit rule. Nothing like hitting a 2 run homer in the top of the first and having your opponent quit on you.

# 24 Skyboxer @ 01/23/09 11:52 PM

Last year we were told the online was improved etc.. and well it wasn't that stable at all. So I'm not too confident it will be great or even better this year. I can use the same connection on my 360 and have virtually no lag but throw in The Show and it's a stop motion film most of the time. Not acceptable IMO. I'm really really pumped for the game and will buy it regardless as I do play tons more offline than on but it will still be a disappointment if online isn't improved drastically.

# 25 Senor_Herbatron @ 01/24/09 01:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nemesis04


	To be honest, I am really more concerned about lag than frame rate. The game is still playable at a slower frame rate, not the case when lag is concerned!

Agreed. Hopefully you'll get more time to pose these questions to the developers at the Community day. I really want to know if we'll be able to use the "pitcher's view" online.

These answers brought me down from my Cloud 9.

# 26 Senor_Herbatron @ 01/24/09 01:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skyboxer


	Last year we were told the online was improved etc.. and well it wasn't that stable at all. So I'm not too confident it will be great or even better this year. I can use the same connection on my 360 and have virtually no lag but throw in The Show and it's a stop motion film most of the time. Not acceptable IMO. I'm really really pumped for the game and will buy it regardless as I do play tons more offline than on but it will still be a disappointment if online isn't improved drastically.

I agree. Only difference is I play a lot more online. Last year's game was manageable at times but it was really hit or miss. Other games have mastered the art of online gaming. I can play a game of Madden, NHL 09, COD, etc.... and there isn't a problem with lag.

All I want is the online part of the game to exceed my expectations.

# 27 nathan118 @ 01/24/09 02:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teebee


	He said bringing in starters from the pen has been removed Mr over reaction I'd give you a 1 of 10 on your latest comment if i could

And I quote:

"You can bring in starters from your bullpen, which we removed this year for online games because people would just bring in starter after starter in the past."

Which is it...you can bring in starters....or it was removed? Sorry if the poorly worded sentence in the interview was confusing. Thank you so much for the 1 out of 10.

# 28 nemesis04 @ 01/24/09 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nathan118


	And I quote: "You can bring in starters from your bullpen, which we removed this year for online games because people would just bring in starter after starter in the past." Which is it...you can bring in starters....or it was removed? Sorry if the poorly worded sentence in the interview was confusing. Thank you so much for the 1 out of 10.

From reading it, we had the ability to do this but in 09 we will not. I am not really agreeing with the decision. They are trying to put the users on rails to make sure baseball etiquette is followed. I understand their intention but all this does is frustrate the people who play the game properly.

There were times in our league where your starter went down in the first inning. We had a rule where you could use your 4th or 5th man in those special situations. Now that has been taken away.

# 29 Hoos @ 01/24/09 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrownsFan72


	I sit and hope...and wonder if it is really fixed.

Same approach I'm taking............Even after reading the interview, I'm still worried. There were a lot of references to "we tried"...........WE TRIED to tweak this and WE TRIED to tune that. Trying and doing are two different things in my book. I would feel much better or hopeful if his answers were of the "Yes, we WERE able to fix the online issues" variety.

I don't buy into the internet lag issue as a whole. While playing 08, I had miserable laggy games against a friend who is abut 50 miles from me and we both have Comcast cable connections that work flawlessly for any other games we play (mostly on XBox Live).

Peer to Peer connections would have been a good idea here. Maybe make it an option on how you want to connect, either peer to peer for a game against a specific friend or through their servers for a ranked game against a random person.

I guess we wont know for sure until release and we get our hands on the game.

The offline play for this game is unbelievable. I just wish they could deliver on the online side as well. If 09 ends up being a complete mess online like last year, I'll be extremely disappointed.

# 30 nathan118 @ 01/24/09 02:43 PM

Saw this in the Gamespy preview....has this been mentioned anywhere else?

"The biggest change in online play is the advent of flex scheduling, where gamers can play games out of order."

# 31 roolz @ 01/24/09 05:47 PM

Hopefully as long as the lag is 'minimal' the gameplay will shine through and give this game another gold star in its pocket

# 32 sooner111 @ 01/25/09 03:13 PM

A couple of cosmetic questions. Please tell me that The Texas Rangers road cap has the white "T" and not the red one from the mid 90'
s. Also the new alternate uni's this year are the Red outfits from the late 90's team. Has this been implemented in this year's game?

# 33 slimcranky @ 01/25/09 05:44 PM

Disabling the use of starters as relievers is the Greatest thing ever done.It;sjust a shame to you have to force sense into people`s minds.

# 34 Skyboxer @ 01/25/09 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slimcranky


	Disabling the use of starters as relievers is the Greatest thing ever done.It;sjust a shame to you have to force sense into people`s minds.

As stated before by others, this, while understanding why they did it, sucks. What happened during the times in the post season when you are down to a win or go home situation and you want to bring in a starter as relief. Yes it got abused but they are taking away from total realism by doing this.
Again I understand why they did it but sometimes the ends don't justify the means.

# 35 Knight165 @ 01/25/09 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skyboxer


	As stated before by others, this, while understanding why they did it, sucks. What happened during the times in the post season when you are down to a win or go home situation and you want to bring in a starter as relief. Yes it got abused but they are taking away from total realism by doing this. Again I understand why they did it but sometimes the ends don't justify the means.

Well you could just set up your rotation as 4 man and put the other starter in the pen.
He would then be available.
Not perfect...but it would help.

M.K.
Knight165

# 36 ChaseB @ 01/26/09 01:02 AM

I doubt leagues would have the same restrictions in terms of not bringing in starters, but I could be wrong.

# 37 Artman22 @ 01/26/09 01:09 AM

I'm really not too excited after reading that. I play games everyday on xbox live and some have almost no lag. It just does not seem like they fixed the lag from reading this interview. It's really sad to because i love running leagues and if the lag isn't fixed then i'm going to be very disapointed. ONLINE IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!

# 38 Skyboxer @ 01/26/09 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knight165


	Well you could just set up your rotation as 4 man and put the other starter in the pen. He would then be available. Not perfect...but it would help. M.K. Knight165

Yep that's what I plan on doing. I just really like having a 5 man rotation for flexability reasons but you got to do what you got to do..

# 39 budro99 @ 01/27/09 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sooner111


	A couple of cosmetic questions. Please tell me that The Texas Rangers road cap has the white "T" and not the red one from the mid 90' s. Also the new alternate uni's this year are the Red outfits from the late 90's team. Has this been implemented in this year's game?

Sooner
the red "T" is to official road cap of the Rangers.... So I hope that it is in there. http://shop.mlb.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2626749&cp=1452369.1452920.707860

Also, I hope the red uni's are in there, but they are not from the 90's... there was never a red alternate in the 90's, only the red color scheme with red cap.

# 40 whammo11224 @ 01/28/09 02:04 AM

I was wondering why you didn't ask why a lot of people couldn't even get online with certain routers. You should've asked if rosters were also going to be made available on the web.

Thanks

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