MLB 2K9 News Post

Major League Baseball 2K9 Developer Diary: Gameplay

07:44 AM - February 10, 2009 by bronco92

MLB 2K9 Gameplay Producer, Jonathan Rivera, drops by today to blog about some of the new AI improvements and enhancements you'll find in this year's version of 2K baseball.

Quote:


	"Signature style is something that we�ve been doing quite a while now across our sports titles, and we expanded on that this year even more for MLB 2K9 with over 300 new signature animations. When we announced that Tim Lincecum was going to be our cover athlete, we were all pretty excited to have a Cy Young winner represent our game, but even more than that it was going to be a great opportunity to really nail his signature delivery."

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# 21 boomhauertjs @ 02/10/09 11:21 AM

I have a concern with the RTA. Will it make the gametime go extra long showing all of these scenes? I don't want to spend over an hour playing a game because I have to watch the batboy carry the bat back to the dugout. Hopefully, there will be a "fast" game option.

# 22 Trevytrev11 @ 02/10/09 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by totalownership


	My biggest concern with the game is hit variety. Hopefully it's not just the same 3 or 4 type of hits all the time. I've been playing MLB 09 demo and they got it down over there. I'm hoping against hope that 2K has mixed it up as well.

Really! Forget direction (left to right) and just think of trajectory off the bat, there are so many different ways the ball comes off the bat that video games (haven't played Sony's game in years) are missing.

With the bat's surface being round, the ball can come off the bat at any one of the 180 degree's of the bat, but most are never seen.

It's as if 95% of everything in the infield is hit at routine speed. Rarely do you have to charge a ball or move more than a step or two in either direction. There are no high choppers where a fielder must rush to beat a speedy runner and I don't recall many hot shots where I didn't have plenty of time to react. Balls hit down the lines never were hit hard enough to roll to the corner and rarely resulted in doubles.

I've busted out 2K8 for the last few nights and in three games I have not seen one ball hit back to a pitcher. And I don't recall ever seeing one where I phyically had to move my pitcher to get the ball. Ususally it's just a hot shot back up the middle that the computer either decides he gets or doesn't get.

The same goes for the outfielders. Most flyballs were either home runs or routine fly balls. There weren't a lot of double to gaps or line drives hit over outfielders heads. Most balls hit in the air could be tracked down. And it was rare that a flyball even came close to falling inbetween the IF and OF, which is a common occurance.

You would think that that with 180 degree's (or close to it) of surface area available on the bat, 90 degree's of fair territory (and I assume close to 180% or more or less of total hitting territory) plus about a 40 MPH range of velocities you would rarely see the same hit twice due to the randomness of the physics.

# 23 brendanrfoley @ 02/10/09 11:31 AM

Trevy... there is a lack of balls to the gap in 2K8.

I like the game, I think most people realize that by now. But hit variety is one of its biggest weaknesses. I'm more excited about improved hit variety than the removal of meatballs.

# 24 BigH2k6 @ 02/10/09 12:08 PM

Gameplay sounds good so far. I will miss the option to cue your runner with the buttons though. I guess it'll take time to get used to the right stick running.

# 25 Trevytrev11 @ 02/10/09 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by totalownership


	You got it. Take that into consideration with the spin of the ball and the surface texture and you get way more possibilities than 2K has ever dreamed of. I'm seeing alot with the Show man. Only thing I don't see much of, now that I'm thinking of it, is balls breaking in the air. You know where it may start out hit left of the short stop but breaks far right of him when it drops. I don't think I've seen that in any game though. At least not as drastic as in real life.

Even if you throw out rotation, you would think that 180 different possible angles of trajectory x 90 angles of fair balls x 40MPH variation of pitch speed would result in about 650K different fair balls hit types.

As far as balls breaking in the air, I assume your reffering to balls hooking or slicing similar to golf. MVP had this and if I recall it was done pretty well. If you were a lefty and hit a ball to left center, often times it would slice toward the left fould line a bit and if you'd pull one down the line, it would sometimes hook foul.
(It was never done backwards where you pull a ball and have it hook towards the opposite field).

# 26 DJ @ 02/10/09 12:31 PM

Well, it sounds promising and the removal of the Meatball is a big plus.

I understand their decision on removing the step; it'd be nice if there was a way to put that back in with a slider adjustment for those of us that do use it.

I will certainly give the game a rental and see what the finished product looks like. If it's decent, I'll probably run with it AND The Show on PS2.

# 27 Stroehms @ 02/10/09 12:49 PM

Wow. Can't wait

# 28 The Living Legend @ 02/10/09 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baa7


	I guess I don't understand why people are so accepting of this. I'll try to be very clear: 2K8 introduced an innovative hitting system unparalled in baseball games. But it goes beyond that. There are few stick movement features in video sports games that mimic the actual physical activity it's attempting to copy, to the degree 2K8's swing stick mimics hitting a baseball. The closest comparison I can think of is the way the RB running is mapped to the R stick in 2K football. So imagine if there had been an NFL 2K6, but VC decided to go back to the way running was in 2K4. Football gamers would have hit the roof. With last year's system, you approached hitting the way an MLB player does (minus the aiming of course). The key component was the pulling back on the stick, which emulated the leg lift/timing mechanism hitter's use as the pitch approaches. That timing mechanism is 50% of hitting. And it's never been included in a baseball game. We had the perfect system, and now it's gone. That's like Michaelangelo carving the statue of David, and then taking a chain saw hacking the thing in two.

I agree with you to an extent. I liked the hitting system, though i think to the vast majority it didnt fly to well, maybe more people found it to hard hit. Removing it completely and not making it a option is rediculous and never should of happen, maybe im wrong.

# 29 brendanrfoley @ 02/10/09 01:04 PM

Trevy, did you ever play High Heat?

The game cheated a bit, in the sense it never modeled the bat to ball collision. But it did use a bevy of stats and ratings to calculate quality and direction of hit based on pitch type, location, speed, swing timing, so on and so forth.

There were choppers to charge, slow rollers, shots down the line, hooking and slicing liners, etc. The game truly was (and still is) something special. It did so much right that both Visual Concepts and SCEA are still trying to perfect.

# 30 Stroehms @ 02/10/09 01:08 PM

Love the new stealing controls. Just flat out awesome!

# 31 Fiddy @ 02/10/09 01:09 PM

hmm i hope this doesn't disappoint again.. looks promising!!

# 32 brendanrfoley @ 02/10/09 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stroehmerbasebal


	Love the new stealing controls. Just flat out awesome!

The whole mechanic is brilliant. Tap the L trigger to lead, hold to wait to take off, release to run. I have hopes it will imitate the waiting game a good base runner has with the pitcher.. looking for the first sign of movement to take off.

I am increasingly worried about directional sliding, however.

# 33 ronnyballgame @ 02/10/09 01:27 PM

This game is SO Money! I cannot wait until March 3rd, I believe we are going to get a worthy game that we will play longer than a few weeks! I am excited!

# 34 porkchop @ 02/10/09 01:27 PM

Eh... sounds good, but all the jazz they were blowing out their butt trumpets sounded great this time last year too. Color me super skeptical on this one. Sure I guess I'll buy it but that doesn't mean I necessarily have to like it. If I feel it's as bad as 2k8 was then I'll probably get a PS3 for the Show. I mean... if the game's a flop like 2k8 it's only $60 wasted which isn't that huge a deal, but the thought of paying over $500 just to play video game baseball without making the Kermit face does kind of make me a little upset to think about.

# 35 brendanrfoley @ 02/10/09 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baa7


	Put it this way: One of the mods on the 2K forum brilliantly pointed out that removing the step influence feature reduces the swing stick to a glorified button hitting system. Think about it. There's really no difference.

I never looked at it that way. I don't disagree with it, but I won't be upset if there is greater hit variety in 2K9. I liked the Hit Stick in 2K8 because it offered improved hit variety due to the timing mechanism. If we see choppers, liners, bloops and blast with the tweaked hitting model... I won't need the hit stick.

It is too bad Visual Concepts didn't keep it, however. It's always nice to have options.

# 36 BadKermit @ 02/10/09 01:46 PM

They're really saying everything I want to hear. I sure hope it all comes together as well as it sounds like it is.

# 37 Cardot @ 02/10/09 01:46 PM

As a casual baseball fan, I have a question on "Influencing" hits. I have wondered this with other baseball games as well.....But when would you press down for a grounder?

# 38 Radja @ 02/10/09 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stlstudios189


	I will wait and see before I buy but, this is looking great

same with me. i eventually came to really enjoy 2k8 after the patch, but will not be burned for $60 day one again. OS impressions will have a great influence on my decision this year.

# 39 BadKermit @ 02/10/09 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cardot


	As a casual baseball fan, I have a question on "Influencing" hits. I have wondered this with other baseball games as well.....But when would you press down for a grounder?

If you have a slap hitter up with no one out and a runner on second base, you might want to try to hit a ground ball to the right side of the infield to move the runner to third with one out.

# 40 myghty @ 02/10/09 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baa7


	Put it this way: One of the mods on the 2K forum brilliantly pointed out that removing the step influence feature reduces the swing stick to a glorified button hitting system. Think about it. There's really no difference: Push the stick up when the pitch arrives = push a button when the pitch arrives. The difference -- the thing that set swing stick hitting apart from button hitting -- is the leg kick/timing mechanism component. And now that's gone. Now the batter in 2K stands at the plate, and you simply push a particular control to activate the swing animation... which is EXACTLY the same way The Show's button hitting system operates.

I totally agree with you. They shouldn't have removed the old way of batting which gave experts more of a challenge when batting. This is one of the few games that felt really, really good when you hit a HR. Made me feel like I earned it when I timed it perfectly. Oh well, still intrigued by the game.

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