MLB 2K9 News Post

Major League Baseball 2K9 Hands-On Preview

10:51 AM - February 16, 2009 by Steve_OS

I have played quite a bit of our beta copy of Major League Baseball 2K9, so I will give my impressions of what I have seen so far. Just keep in mind, some of the issues I have witnessed will not be in the final retail version, according to the developers of the game.

Some Unanswered Questions

The biggest question has to be the frame rate and the A.I. swinging at anything remotely close to the strike zone. After multiple games, I can definitely tell you there are some issues with the frame rate, but those issues are not consistently popping up. For example, here are some instances where I have seen hiccups in animations one time, and then a few innings later, seen the exact type of play and not seen any hiccups.

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Game: Major League Baseball 2K9Reader Score: 6/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 38 - View All

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Member Comments

# 21 jeffy777 @ 02/16/09 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miamimarlins1


	The silence from 2k is what has me concerned. This idea of CPU not taking strikes has been floating around since they first released the videos. If this was truly not an issue you would think they would come and say so. Or at the very least Ron at 2k would have addressed the board

Yeah, I just read over there that Ron is going to be gone for the next two weeks. I thought that was kind of weird timing

# 22 spankdatazz22 @ 02/16/09 12:34 PM

Thx for the preview Steve (and the vids over the weekend). Everything sounds great; main disappointments are the lack of a customizable outfield camera and the cpu swinging at balls in the strike zone. Both are disappointing but neither are dealbreakers for me; the rest of the game looks/sounds too good to pass up. Still, would've been nice if they had sliders to allow people to tweak to their desire. Even with adjustments I'm sure there's no way VC will be able to make everyone happy. Hell, even with sliders there are going to be people that complain. Either way, really looking forward to the game. Think it's best people don't overreact to every piece of information that gets released; this is just a preview. Just a week ago many were proclaiming doom and gloom because of the lack of media. After Friday's info dump that perception took a 180

# 23 bigfnjoe96 @ 02/16/09 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miamimarlins1


	The silence from 2k is what has me concerned. This idea of CPU not taking strikes has been floating around since they first released the videos. If this was truly not an issue you would think they would come and say so. Or at the very least Ron at 2k would have addressed the board

Too be fair videos hit the airwaves on Friday. There was a 2K Dev Chat over @ 2K late in the afternoon & I'm not sure if the question was asked as probably people weren't seeing the issue until late Friday.

Let's see if we can get some info this week before killing 2K for not responding

# 24 ShowTyme15 @ 02/16/09 01:11 PM

I agree with one of Steve;s gripes in the fact that one of the videos we saw A Yankee player hit a Homerun in Coors Field and the ball bounced on the ground and went through the wall I can't stand that cause obviously it's unrealistic but 2k has improved. I know that in previous games (even 2k8) The ball used to go through the ground as well and what I mean by this in the video the ball bounced off the ground which is what it does in real life last year I was playing Homerun Derby at the Nationals new park and I hit a ball to that grass hill in Center field and the ball just went through the ground like it did through the wall so at least that part has been fixed I am content with that. Another thing I noticed that was not there in the past was when a player hit a homer and the ball landed on an aisle the ball would just disapear but now it also bounces off the steps which is good too.

I do have a question about the real time atmosphere. My question is do the fans or vendor people walk up and down the aisle? I though I read that somewhere or was that the on teh Show I can't remember?

# 25 Eddie1967 @ 02/16/09 01:14 PM

"On the other end of things, I have been able to generate walks for my team. If you are patient, you will see walks. In addition, the hit variety has got to be seen to be believed. Even though I have not actually captured most of the various hits, I have witnessed seeing-eye singles, bloop singles, slow grounders, dribblers, line drives just over the leaping infielders, as well as foul balls off the batter's foot".

This statement above is really good news for those that have noticed the lack of hit variety in the videos.

# 26 The Living Legend @ 02/16/09 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Openroad_7


	I haven't seen anyone bring up the outfielder throwing, seems they get rid of the ball to quick, no momentum that requires them to stop. As soon as they catch the ball, they are throwing it into the infield, looks like runners can be forced out at 2nd base on singles to shallow leftfield.

Yes this worries me as well as the AI aking strikes. One of the videos i think the highlight one the guy caught the ball with no moving forward momentum at all, and was able to pick the tag up at 3rd, not saying its impossible, just makes baserunning not realistic cause you know there is no momentum and guy can throw the same no matter if there running away. Maybe it will be different but from the videos i didnt notice it. who knows.

# 27 Danny305miA @ 02/16/09 01:16 PM

First of Steve, in behalf of all the people waiting for this game to come out, thank you for all that you have done to make the waiting process easier on us. This was a great Preview and very insightful. Now i know in one of your ealier post you said not to ask request and I'm not sure if you've changed your mind on that but i decided to give it a shot. I would love it if you would give us a good video of either the Marlins vs Yankees or Marlins vs Red Sox since this is the year that they actually play each other. Thank you and i appreciate everything Steve. Go Fish

# 28 ShowTyme15 @ 02/16/09 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigfnjoe96


	Too be fair videos hit the airwaves on Friday. There was a 2K Dev Chat over @ 2K late in the afternoon & I'm not sure if the question was asked as probably people weren't seeing the issue until late Friday. Let's see if we can get some info this week before killing 2K for not responding

I do believe this question was asked and answered. If I remember correctly the developer said that all the videos we are seeing ARE beta and he said that in the final version teh CPU will be more patient at the plate he also said they had sliders you could change to make the CPU more patient if you aren't happy with it out of the box.

# 29 DaveDQ @ 02/16/09 01:19 PM

I'll be surprised if the switch the CPU swinging at all strikes. This game has always had this issue. I was able to semi-fix it last year but it still needed work.

# 30 The Living Legend @ 02/16/09 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShowTyme15


	I do believe this question was asked and answered. If I remember correctly the developer said that all the videos we are seeing ARE beta and he said that in the final version teh CPU will be more patient at the plate he also said they had sliders you could change to make the CPU more patient if you aren't happy with it out of the box.

I do remember reading somewhere about that part i have bolded but not the second part. Well if its true that is good news.

# 31 ShowTyme15 @ 02/16/09 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Living Legend


	I do remember reading somewhere about that part i have bolded but not the second part. Well if its true that is good news.

The second part I'm not 100% sure I'll have to go back and find that answer again but I do believe that he said something along those lines.

# 32 brendanrfoley @ 02/16/09 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike360


	How convenient..

He mentioned last week he has corporate training seminars. It was planned (to silence you conspiracy theorists)!

# 33 MizzouRah @ 02/16/09 01:42 PM

Thanks once again Steve!

Can't wait to play a few innings myself...

# 34 phillyfan23 @ 02/16/09 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShowTyme15


	Here's an answer for the people wondering about the arm strength of players. (Taken from the Q&A at 2ksports) Q: Will the players throwing arm's be toned down in the retail version? A: Yes, they are toned down a bit in final version, but if you are not happy with them there is a slider for fielders throwing power you can adjust. I don't know if this next question answers much but here you go. Q: For the Cpu AI I see that you have put strike tendency, so I am sure you can tweak that so you can get realsitic pitch counts and walks. My concern is for USER pitching. I did not see the balls/strikes sliders for user pitching and I am concerned that the pitch meter will be dependent mostly on user skill. how's zone hitting implemented?? Thanks for your time A: We have pitching sliders that will make pitching more difficult, it really depends on where you are aiming and how well you execute your pitch as to whether throw a ball or a strike, if you aim to a specific spot in the strike zone and nail the gesture and fill the pitch meter then why would anyone expect to throw a ball, we are a sim game but it is a video game, which punishing the user for doing something wright doesn't seem like something a majority of user's would like. Basically it's a transparent bat shaped cursor which you aim where the ball goes, so you swing with the right stick and aim your bat with the left stick.

I asked that question starting from the bolded part and this was just a question on user pitching. The A.I pitching does have strike tendency slider to make it easeir to draw walks. But it doesn't have take strike tendency slider in batting to make it more patient.

So when i said good pitch counts, I meant when the cpu was pitching .....

hope that clarifies

# 35 The Bimmer @ 02/16/09 01:58 PM

Thanks Steve for the preview. The issues in your write-up with 2k9 are the issues that would stop me from making a purchase. Graphics are not a priority for me, but fluid motion and realism is. If we add in a questionable A.I. well..... I get the feeling 2k will strikeout swinging this year instead of looking like last year which is a good thing for baseball fans

# 36 jeffy777 @ 02/16/09 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brendanrfoley


	He mentioned last week he has corporate training seminars. It was planned (to silence you conspiracy theorists)!

Just extremely bad timing though don't you think? They have one guy at the 2K forum who provides official info about the game and he's going to be gone for 2 weeks right before the game is released. There's no conspiracy needed. It's just horrible timing, that's all.

# 37 fistofrage @ 02/16/09 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phillyfan23


	I asked that question starting from the bolded part and this was just a question on user pitching. The A.I pitching does have strike tendency slider to make it easeir to draw walks. But it doesn't have take strike tendency slider in batting to make it more patient. So when i said good pitch counts, I meant when the cpu was pitching ..... hope that clarifies

The thing I hate about his quote was that yeah the game is a sim, but its still a video game. So you can't punish the use for doing something right. This means entirely not a sim. If everything is based on timing, its a hand/eye coordination video game, the exact opposite of a sim.

This is where 2k College hoops gets it right. If you choose sim instead of arcade in the menu, you can have a perfect release on a 3pt shot, doesn't mean you'll make it though.

Why would baseball and strike zones be different. A pitcher can release the ball to the best of his ability and miss the strike zone, it happens all day long.

Thanks, that quote saved me $60. 2k needs to just hang it up.

# 38 Knight165 @ 02/16/09 02:10 PM

Damn.

I was worried about the animations.
I wasn't sure considering guys were saying it might have been the capture from the vids...but I know Steve knows what he's talking about.
I will still buy the game(I've got every BB game through the passages of TIME!

)...I'm hoping that like a couple of guys alluded to...it might be lessened in the final version.
Still looks very rough...but it's moving in the right direction IMO.
I hope I can convince the dev's to add a Manage Only Mode(then I could actually forgive some hiccups in the animations!) for future versions as I think the next couple of versions might REALLY be on track.

M.K.
Knight165

# 39 King Gro23 @ 02/16/09 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miamimarlins1


	The silence from 2k is what has me concerned. This idea of CPU not taking strikes has been floating around since they first released the videos. If this was truly not an issue you would think they would come and say so. Or at the very least Ron at 2k would have addressed the board

Videos came out 3 days ago dude?

# 40 Danny305miA @ 02/16/09 02:22 PM

First of Steve, in behalf of all us waiting for March 3 to arrive here, thank you for all the updates and for making the waiting process easier. Now i know you said in an earlier post that you weren't taking request but since i don;t know if you changed that i decided to take a shot and ask you anyway. I was wondering if you could do a video featuring the Marlins vs Yankees or the Marlins vs Red Sox since this is the year that they actually play each other in the regular season. I wouls realy appreciate it and thank you.

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