MLB 2K10 News Post

Major League Baseball 2K10 Interview (ESPN)

09:03 PM - January 26, 2010 by Steve_OS

ESPN's Jon Robinson has posted an interview with Ben Bishop, Producer of Major League Baseball 2K10.

Quote:


	John: "MLB 2K9 was pretty much panned across the board. What did you think of the final product when it shipped and how did the failure of last year's game help shape the direction of '2K10?'" Ben: "MLB 2K9 was certainly a challenging project for us because of the fact that we switched developers and the game came to us (Visual Concepts) a little later than we expected and it was a new code base. There was a big period of adjustment as we just tried to get our heads wrapped around what was there and what we could do in the time that we had. In a lot of ways, there were things that we just had to leave on the table and know that we had to get the game ready by a certain period of time, and we really feel that with '2K10' we were able to go back and get to all these things that were left on the table and start fresh with a code base that we were now familiar with. When you look at it, '2K10' is a lot of what we wanted '2K9' to be, but we just weren't ready to get it there. The game has really evolved a lot this year, everything from the visuals to the gameplay mechanics to being able to add things like My Player, as that was certainly a big weakness for us last year, not being able to play through a player's career. I really think we've turned things around this year and now we can continue to move in the direction we want for the series."

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Member Comments

# 41 Knight165 @ 01/27/10 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JT30


	I'm sorry but I have to disagree.. one thing that sets major leaguers apart from all other levels, even AAA, is the ability to keep fouling off pitches they can't handle. You might even go as far to say they have this ability to tire out a pitcher. That might be a little too much, but I know for a fact there are plenty of major league ball players who have the ability to foul off borderline pitches they know they rather not put in play.

While I wholeheartedly agree....not every player can...as a matter of fact...I'd say it's just a few who really can do this with any regularity.
So....we'll have to see how this is implemented as to what advantage each player will translate to the USER in the AB.
If it's the same for everyone across the board......it might now work out so well.
To me...it's just like the power swing.....I do not like it. It doesn't belong in the(any) game IMO.

M.K.
Knight165

# 42 JT30 @ 01/27/10 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knight165


	While I wholeheartedly agree....not every player can...as a matter of fact...I'd say it's just a few who really can do this with any regularity. So....we'll have to see how this is implemented as to what advantage each player will translate to the USER in the AB. If it's the same for everyone across the board......it might now work out so well. To me...it's just like the power swing.....I do not like it. It doesn't belong in the(any) game IMO. M.K. Knight165

Oh I know.. I am afraid that in this game, it might be abused and too many batters will easily fight off pitches with regularity.

My point was that "protecting the plate" is certainly not some broadcast lingo.

# 43 hitstreak13 @ 01/27/10 01:02 AM

I was extremely dissapointed with Bishop's response in regards to franchise. Supersim is the biggest addition this year? Wow, I was hoping for something much more than that. Although I am aware of the new 40-man roster, Type A and B FA, etc. this just didn't cut it for me. Oh well, can't really complain too much as their first order of business needed to be the gameplay itself.

# 44 PVarck31 @ 01/27/10 01:02 AM

I will weigh in on the defensive swing debate. This will be another point of view from a former college player.

When I was down in the count, and a pitch was borderline ball/strike but was not a pitch I could do anything with, I would take a "sloppy" hack at it. Literally trying to foul it off, so I could get a better pitch. Now sometimes it would work and sometimes I would slap a littler flair over the first baseman's head.

How this will translate into the game, I am not sure. It seems to me it would be to hard to use the defensive swing as a last second bail out. And intentionally using it as a predetermined thought is not something that would be considered "sim."

# 45 Knight165 @ 01/27/10 01:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JT30


	Oh I know.. I am afraid that in this game, it might be abused and too many batters will easily fight off pitches with regularity. My point was that "protecting the plate" is certainly not some broadcast lingo.

Yep...and I meant to say...a few guys on each team(not just a few out of the 750 in the league.

M.K.
Knight165

# 46 JT30 @ 01/27/10 01:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjv31


	I will weigh in on the defensive swing debate. This will be another point of view from a former college player. When I was down in the count, and a pitch was borderline ball/strike but was not a pitch I could do anything with, I would take a "sloppy" hack at it. Literally trying to foul it off, so I could get a better pitch. Now sometimes it would work and sometimes I would slap a littler flair over the first baseman's head. How this will translate into the game, I am not sure. It seems to me it would be to hard to use the defensive swing as a last second bail out. And intentionally using it as a predetermined thought is not something that would be considered "sim."

Agree 100%. I was gonna mention, just like you did, that good batters have the ability to slap at pitches they cant handle, that might be borderline strikes. How it's going to work in this game, who knows, but good batters certainly can foul off pitches on purpose.

# 47 Artman22 @ 01/27/10 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knight165


	Yep...and I meant to say...a few guys on each team(not just a few out of the 750 in the league. M.K. Knight165

I agree with you on that. I'm sure it's mainly the real hitters.

# 48 JT30 @ 01/27/10 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scottdau


	I agree JT that is the big fear there is always the cheese factors. I hope it is not a gimmick, but it actually works and is hard to do with every player.

I am actually wondering if you decide to use the defensive swing, is it 100% guaranteed contact? That would be horrible.. I am also wondering, if you can indeed miss, maybe it will do a check swing? I doubt it. Who knows, but I wish they didn't take out the check swing... really puts a damper on the whole pitch/bat struggle

# 49 Blzer @ 01/27/10 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcxiv


	Cause i think he has an agenda. (just my opinion) None of us know how it really works yet. We have to see it work. Batters do try to foul off pitches that are strikes, but in their cold zone. it happens all the time, but only great hitters can do it consistently.

Great players don't swing at pitches that they don't want to hit. I'm not a "great player", but I play with the exact same mindset.

Quote:


	We just need to see it for ourselves to see how it works.

Until then, we're sitting here waiting... waiting...

It has been a few weeks with articles and interviews, and yet still no gameplay videos. We have nothing to go on, so talk we must.

# 50 Blzer @ 01/27/10 01:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcxiv


	I dont think thats true at all. I think, that certain players that are great have trouble with certain pitches and they will foul them off until the pitcher makes a mistake or he makes a mistake. Like i said, not everyone can do it, but alot can, you will see them take half effort hacks at them as well. LOL, maybe i should twitter Longoria or a pro player and ask them about this.

Are we talking about two strike counts, or non two strike counts? In a non two strike count, I'm more than likely not swinging at a pitch that's in a "cold zone" of mine. In a two strike count, I've obviously expanded my vision to the entire strike zone, but I still don't look beyond that.

That being said, I've taken some strike three calls in my day where I wasn't particularly proud of the umpire's ability to show off that he can punch a fist better than he can see a ball crossing over the plate (or not, for that matter).

# 51 MukaMuka @ 01/27/10 02:01 AM

um, I hate the 2k series batting view. it's already so far away from the hitter and now they are moving it even farther back (just check out the screenshots here on OS). even World Series Baseball on sega Genesis had better batting cams. and i hope this touted "batting eye" is not just for the benefit of user controlled batting, it better be for the CPU too, if I load up the demo of this game and the CPU is first pitch hitting again i won't even bother to rent this game.

# 52 jerm21 @ 01/27/10 09:39 AM

Anyone else notice in the Upton sliding into homeplate picture, is that the Yankees dugout clapping while the umpire is calling Upton safe? those dugout animations are

# 53 nemesis04 @ 01/27/10 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerm21


	Anyone else notice in the Upton sliding into homeplate picture, is that the Yankees dugout clapping while the umpire is calling Upton safe? those dugout animations are

I can't tell if they are clapping or throwing their hands up because the ball got loose. 2k has their blur machine on full throttle so you really can't see too well.

# 54 bigfnjoe96 @ 01/27/10 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerm21


	Anyone else notice in the Upton sliding into homeplate picture, is that the Yankees dugout clapping while the umpire is calling Upton safe? those dugout animations are

I've seen many dugout's do this thinking the player was out, only to see the ump call the runner safe, due to ball being dis-lodge during the collision. I know 2k deserves a lot of the criticism it's gotten, but this-1 is a little over the top IMO

# 55 nemesis04 @ 01/27/10 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dorismary


	Totally disagree with both of you on that as I remember many players grown up doing this regulary on close pitches ALOT in a row but they would swing late on close pitches till they got their pitch or walked. Anouncers would always mention this as alot of guys on KC / STL did this maybe a Howser /White Rat thing but Im pretty sure it was a taught skill back in the day. Still not cool no check swing does that include button swing ? Must have been something bad for them to leave a function like that .

Standing at the plate and playing a video are two very different scenarios. It is not necessary to put the responsibility on the user to decide when he needs to do a defensive swing. We are playing with MLB players who have tons of attributes in the game to determine the outcome of this type of situation. Our goal is to make contact and if you have a player who has a good plate vision attribute you still have the ability to have some great foul ball battles to stay alive at the plate using a contact swing.

This defensive swing feature sounds like it should be a mini game to me. Where your sole purpose is to fight off pitches and stay alive in the count.

# 56 brendanrfoley @ 01/27/10 10:50 AM

I didn't see it in the thread (I may have missed it), but this interview confirms 2K10 is 60fps. Good news.

# 57 Trevytrev11 @ 01/27/10 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigfnjoe96


	I've seen many dugout's do this thinking the player was out, only to see the ump call the runner safe, due to ball being dis-lodge during the collision. I know 2k deserves a lot of the criticism it's gotten, but this-1 is a little over the top IMO

Yeah, but I think the original post was a response to this happening last year. You drop a bomb and the guys in your dug out are face-palming and the other teams bullpen is standing and clapping. While I agree that what you says happens...I'm 99.9% sure this is not that.

# 58 brendanrfoley @ 01/27/10 11:20 AM

I can't even tell what players in the Yankees dugout are doing it that screen; they're a blurry mess.

# 59 DaveDQ @ 01/27/10 11:53 AM

I'm really looking forward to seeing the game play. These article aren't exactly rich with content, but you get the impression from Ben Bishop that they care about the product and are trying to correct things.

I'm looking forward to it. These names that keep popping up that are getting interviewed are veteran VC guys. I trust things will shape up.

# 60 nemesis04 @ 01/27/10 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brendanrfoley


	I didn't see it in the thread (I may have missed it), but this interview confirms 2K10 is 60fps. Good news.

Quote:


	We still have some more time for polishing and tuning, but getting the frame rate to 60 frames per second is key.

That quote from the interview does not seem like a lock to me. That tells me it is not there yet.

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