MLB 11 The Show News Post

MLB 11 The Show Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here

07:03 PM - February 22, 2011 by Pared

The MLB 11 The Show demo is available now. It weighs in at roughly 3 GB and features the Texas Rangers vs. the San Francisco Giants, in a 4 inning World Series rematch.

Please post your impressions here.

DO NOT post that you are downloading the demo, what % the download is at, the fact that you are starting to install it, etc.

IMPRESSIONS ONLY please.

Game: MLB 11 The ShowReader Score: 8.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3Votes for game: 57 - View All

MLB 11 The Show Videos

Member Comments

# 221 Foo4Everlong @ 02/23/11 04:14 AM

Analog:
I have to say, since leaving the 2K series back in 2009 and strictly playing The Show full time, I have been sorta looking for that somethin' somethin' that was missin' from The Show, well it's back!!!! The analog scheme is where it's at! The only thing I miss is making different motions with the right stick for each specific pitch instead of just straight all the time, but still it's not that big of a deal. I really like the white lines at the top of the pitch meter used for the edge of the strike zone. U can use the arrows of each pitch to figure out how much the ball will come close to the strike zone, say if u wanted to backdoor a pitch and so on. And just like 2K8 I picked up on pitching fairly quickly and batting took a while to get use to. I really enjoyed the fielding aspect basically cuz it puts the entire experience in your hands . If you make a mistake, then it's your mistake not the computer's. My first game, pretty close to one of my first play's, someone from the Giant's hit the ball to Beltre at third, I then threw a horrible throw over Moreland's head, then the ball bounces into shallow right field, then with Cruz I launch the ball over Andrus's head into shallow left field. Two errors in one play. But nonetheless it felt completely like my fault, not some computer version of errors. As angry as I was for making those errors, I was thrilled at the realness or that it made me have to be more focused at what I was doing.

Presentation:
As usual SCEA nailed just about everything. Every year they take it up a notch. I loved the late day to night transition. As well as the clouds that continued from day to night. Very cool to see. The clear evening skies were getting very old. I'm so looking forward to getting the full game and seeing the dynamic weather in full effect. AT&T Park looked amazing and I'm sure all the other stadiums are going to look just as good, if not better. I'm big into the rosters and the stances, and I thought some of the stances were well done. The faces as usual were dead on, and the player models were definitely improved. Much more life-like. And from what I have heard from those who attended the community day it sounds like not much was added to the player edits/accessory area, which bums me out cuz I also enjoy editting players. Hopefully next year we'll get all new equiptment and so on as the players wear different things now-a-days. Like Evo shields for shins and elbows instead of those old plastic shin guards. It would be cool to have them in The Show.

The one thing that bummed me out greatly was the blurred out fans behind homeplate. Obviously when the backstop screen is in front of the fans being blurred out it's not as big a deal, but in SF where there is that opening between the two screens the blurred fans really stick out like a sore thumb. I know, to each his own, but it sorta bothers me. It was also there last year, so I wonder why it's stil there. I was hoping that it would have been corrected by this year. From what I remember it wasn't there in 2009. I'm wondering if the devs thought we'd miss it? Maybe those who played at the community day could let us know if they noticed it then. Anyways, not a deal breaker by far! Thanks SCEA for another great job! March 8th can't get here quick enough, but the demo will satisfy our hunger in the meantime! Thanks again! Later

# 222 econoodle @ 02/23/11 04:31 AM

more stuff:

+ loving the pre game warm up pitches.
wonder if you can use starting pitcher music for that, seperate from pre game music.

- lack of fanfare on HRs

# 223 berenjena @ 02/23/11 04:32 AM

with some patient and use of my brain, I got to play with the whole Giant staff and bullpen as well as the whole Rangers Bullpen and Starters.

NEW Pitching animations (wind ups) are over the top! a lot more fluid.

the following pitchers have a new Pitching wind up.

Giants.

Lincecum - new from the stretch.
Cain- new
Sanchez- new
Zito- new (looks perfect)
Wilson- New
Mota- new
Affelt- new
Romo- new

Haven't check Casilla yet.

Rangers.

Wilson- new
Rhodes- new
Lewis- new
Feliz- New

that's all I have seen so far for the Rangers.

Pat Burrel had his ridiculous batting stance fixed too.

Going with Zone batting, Analog pitching, and Classic fielding.

I love this game.

# 224 TallyBoi7 @ 02/23/11 05:00 AM

Just played my first game on the demo, and it was fun. This is honestly my first time really being able to sit down and play the show. The last baseball game I really played for a long time was MVP NCAA 06(very fun game) and MLB 2K7 or 2K8 on the 360. MLB the Show just feels very fluid and feels like baseball.

On to my impression...since this was my first time playing, I was blown awy(even on my SD TV). The presentation is nice(although, as everyone else has said, commentary is kinda boring). Analog batting was something that I was used to but I had a lot of check swings...I mean A LOT. I even hit a couple of balls into the field of play with a check swing. Just something I've gotta get used to.

One thing I noticed, as I stuggled pitching, whenever my pitcher was in a jam, my catcher would throw the ball to either the shortstop or 2nd baseman without me teling him to do so...frustrating.

Analog fielding is very challenging for me...my throws are slightly off. I even tossed one into the Rangers' dugout leading to another run. Again, more than likely something I have to get used to and work at.

I'm pretty impressed with the game but I'm definitely gonna practice on this demo.

# 225 Cubfan @ 02/23/11 05:30 AM

1: Eric Karros adds alot to the announcing. Having him talk back and forth with Matt is nice to see.

2: The day to night transicion is freaking awesome. Great work by the artists at SCEA.

3: Analog pitching is diffrent and challenging. Still need to practice more with it.

Overall good demo it makes the wait for March 8th harder.

# 226 rudyjuly2 @ 02/23/11 07:02 AM

Personally I was disappointed with the demo. The videos we've seen looked better than the demo. I wish they would have shown a game in the full sun because that's when the lighting looks really good.

Analog hitting is just too hard for me with the fast pitch speed. Unfortunately the pitch speed slider isn't very responsive so this game ends up frustrating for me. I don't have time to work the pitcher to take walks if I want any chance to pull a fastball. Analog hitting just makes that more frustrating for me. For many that like the pitch speed this is a non issue but this area really hurts my enjoyment of the game.

I thought there were too many wild pitches with analog pitching but the consistency slider really helps that out. The analog pitching was OK for me but I think the misses need to be more random. I don't like the fact that you don't have to really aim the ball if you don't want to and can just move your stick to put it where you want (even though you get punished for that on HOF which I would never use).

I liked the Analog fielding (used veteran). I threw some in the dirt and made an error but I thought it felt pretty darn good. I still don't like some of the forced animations when throwing. Twice my SS went into a lazy animation on the way to throwing to first when he should have been rushing because it was a fast batter. The guy was safe once. Maybe I didn't preload the throw right and it was user error. I don't know.

I thought the audio quality was poor but that may just be a demo issue due to size. The overall atmosphere was lacking because of it though.

I guess I was expecting a little more than what I saw. It's still the Show and I'm sure the guys who loved it last year will love it again.

# 227 bonannogiovanni @ 02/23/11 07:47 AM

Guys, one thing I don'd understand. In the control section it says that both guess pitch and influence ball are done R2+L. Now I'm confused, what should I do to guess pitch low and influence a fly ball?

Overall I'm really really digging analog controls, very well implemented, especially fielding where it puts you in control of your throw.

# 228 Tommyklaid @ 02/23/11 08:27 AM

I found an ERROR on the demo and wanted to bring it to attention....

- broadcast view (while pitching) "on the backstop" RIGHT side I see this: SFGIGANTS.COM

***obviously it's a misspelling!

The left side is right - shouldn't it be SFGIANTS, not SFGIGANTS?

{I just wanted to bring it to the attention of the DEVS - they may already know this OR this may ONLY be a mistake in the demo ONLY...just wanted to give them a heads up.}

That's all!

# 229 nmycon @ 02/23/11 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bonannogiovanni


	Guys, one thing I don'd understand. In the control section it says that both guess pitch and influence ball are done R2+L. Now I'm confused, what should I do to guess pitch low and influence a fly ball? Overall I'm really really digging analog controls, very well implemented, especially fielding where it puts you in control of your throw.

guess pitch is done with the left analog stick, influence with the right

so left stick down (guess low), and right stick up (influence fly ball)

# 230 kg54mvp1 @ 02/23/11 09:01 AM

I am really liking the feel of the game. It feels so much smoother with the analog controls. The pitching and fielding is great but I am having trouble with batting. I keep getting ready to wind up, but cant pay attention to the pitch, I just swing. This happened to me in 2k10. I feel that the normal controls might be better for me or I just need to work on it more.

# 231 MLB Bob @ 02/23/11 09:13 AM

Oddly I get a ton of balks and Ive only used the meter itching....but I like that. My pitcher has to come set before I start chucking..nice element added..I had like 6 balks in one game becuase Im use to hurrying..this will slow me down in a good way

As well I feel I can make at bats last longer with the new swing type that is a defensive swing..I love the new added stategy..

# 232 eddd @ 02/23/11 09:14 AM

I think Sony has really nailed it. The new pitching scheme is more fun than the pitch meter. I don't know if I will stick with the analog hitting. For me it takes a lot of practice to step, indentify the pitch and swing. I am finding that I am over thinking stepping (pulling back on the analog stick) and thus not able to concentrate on pitch selection. The graphics continue to be excellent. Although players will pass through each other. The analog throwing worked once I adjusted the slider. I was overthrowing just about every throw before adjusting the slider. I am so happy I purchased a PS3 two years ago just for this game. Last year's game is even great on my psp Go.

# 233 ggazoo @ 02/23/11 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ksig24


	Quick question....how long did it take to DL the demo? Anyone know of a way to check and see if my ports on my PS3 are open?

It took me about 2.5 hours last night. The demo is almost 3 GB (!), and the servers were probably busy with everyone downloading it.

# 234 Flaxseed Oil @ 02/23/11 09:21 AM

Game is fun but way harder this year. I had to drop the analog hitting down to veteran just to make contact. I've had 2 hits in 3 games.

# 235 bcruise @ 02/23/11 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cc23klaid


	I found an ERROR on the demo and wanted to bring it to attention.... - broadcast view (while pitching) "on the backstop" RIGHT side I see this: SFGIGANTS.COM **obviously it's a misspelling! The left side is right - shouldn't it be SFGIANTS, not SFGIGANTS?* {I just wanted to bring it to the attention of the DEVS - they may already know this OR this may ONLY be a mistake in the demo ONLY...just wanted to give them a heads up.} That's all!

I'm pretty sure that said "sfgigantes.com" which is, of course, the Giants' Spanish website. "sfgiants.com" is displayed on the other side of that ad board.

# 236 BeatArmy @ 02/23/11 09:41 AM

Just played two games. Took me about a game to start to get the analog pitching. I kinda like not having to use the L Stick at all and can place pitches with just the R stick but I play three games a night (I work nights and there ain't much to do at 3am!) so to use the stick for 600 pitches... we'll see.

Hitting is... well, hitting. Took me seven innings to get a hit. Whoever said Catcher 5 view is the **** is completely right. Takes some getting used to since it's real new but it's really **** for watching pitches break. Swung a few times at some high ones that look like normal pitches in a regular view.

Throwing with the analog takes some getting used to as well. You can't seem to pre-load a throw like you can with the button but that quick toss for a DP from second to short seems to go red pretty often.

Love the presentation as it looks pretty dreamy but the backdrop fans on the broadcast view is 480 in a 720 world. How does something like that get put into a demo that's as awaited as this?? The analysis window will look rather familiar to those of us with OOTP: the white and color view poppped right out at me as OOTP 11 white skin.

Pitcher warmup is a cool addition. We'll see about the analog stuff, though. I'm not sure I'm going to leave 09 yet, though. I'll rent it from BBuster for a weekend and see what I think of it then.

# 237 JMD @ 02/23/11 09:43 AM

I skipped MLB 10 and just continued to play 09. I really like the feel of this demo. And I'd like to thank the Dev's for leaving the option to play with Classic controls in the game. I'm an old dog and I don't learn new tricks, so I like the classic control scheme.

A couple things that have impressed me, fielders making diving catches and then doing a barrel roll. The crowd reaction is great. I had two outs on the opposing team, they had a guy on 3rd, the batter made contact, the crowd went Ooooooo, my shortstop made a play on the ball, I threw it home, the catcher made the tag for the 3rd out and the crowd erupted , it was excellent.

# 238 BravesBoy @ 02/23/11 09:50 AM

I love reading a lot of the comments where guys are saying that they hate/gonna pass on the game because of the new controls. That the new controls are to hard and they can't hit or they make to many errors when throwing haha, thats the whole point. You gotta practice, your not gonna pick this game up and win 10-0 the moment you play..

# 239 Shaffer26 @ 02/23/11 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BravesBoy


	I love reading a lot of the comments where guys are saying that they hate/gonna pass on the game because of the new controls. That the new controls are to hard and they can't hit or they make to many errors when throwing haha, thats the whole point. You gotta practice, your not gonna pick this game up and win 10-0 the moment you play..

Yes, they can practice with them or just switch them back to the old controls. Easy fix.

# 240 nemesis04 @ 02/23/11 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaffer26


	Yes, they can practice with them or just switch them back to the old controls. Easy fix.

Nah, its much easier to complain about them!

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