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.

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Member Comments

# 361 Raskal @ 02/23/11 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcruise


	I see a lot of people happy about balks being in, but I do want to point one thing out that has already been confirmed from community day: The AI won't balk. It was put it primarily to combat quick pitching in online play, but it is for this reason that I'll be turning it off for my singleplayer games this year. Hopefully that can make it in next year, but there's definitely going to be some heavy coding involved to determine whether an AI balk could happen - and if I know SCEA SD, they won't settle for it just being a random event - they'd tie ratings into it somehow.

This is why I'm so happy about it balks being implemented. I'm an offline and online player. Since it deters quick pitching online that's great. But it also makes me train my brain not to quick pitch against the CPU either, so that when I play online I'm ready for the slower pace.

# 362 sbmnky @ 02/23/11 08:36 PM

Color me impressed! I was looking forward to analog everything and the SD team did not disappoint. Bravo to them for giving us many options for this demo - I don't recall having this much control over a demo in years past.

I've played about 7 'games' and only one as the Giants and got shellacked - I think is because I have a moral compass that gets all switched around when I play as the Giants!

Most of my games have been playing as Texas.

Some quick thoughts:

Pitching: I love that I can control the speed of my pitch with the RS. I've had much more control is setting up my punch out pitch and I'm seeing batters chase more balls out of the zone. I'll definitely mess around with the accuracy once the retail version drops - I still feel like I have a ton of control playing on HoF and that my misses aren't missing badly enough.

Batting: It is going to take some getting used to, but when I finally established a good camera to hit from (similar to Blzer's - gotta love the slightly off-set camera!) I started to get into a good rhythm timing the ball and recognizing pitches. I'm still striking out too much, but that's cause I suck!

Fielding: This is the best implementation, imo. I played a game on Veteran and had to bump it up to AS. AS is tough and I can't wait to bump it up even further. It's gonna take some time before I stop jamming the RS to the base I want to throw to - I usually do this on hot smashes when I have more time to make an easier throw. I'm starting to get a feel for this and I love that I control the speed and accuracy (to some degree) of my throws. It took me a couple attempts to dive with R2 - I was so used to using the RS for dive in years past. The ability to stop a throw is great. Kinsler ranged into the 3-4 hole to get a ball in short RF and I jammed the stick to 1st and the circle indicated it was going to be offline, so I reestablished my throw and barely got the runner - I think Sandoval was running. That's awesome!

As always, I'll turn the commentary off - I usually get distracted by what they say and I take it personally!

I'll be 100% analog this year. The new cams are awesome and custom cams is ingenious!

This game feels fresh and new. I can't wait to play the full version in a couple weeks.

# 363 JermaineDye05 @ 02/23/11 08:51 PM

Wow. Definitely a learning curve with the analog controls.

Positives and Negatives for the DEMO (I feel I should point this out, because this is merely a demo. I don't expect the final product to be identical to this):

Positives: You're in control

-In my first inning I gave up 9 runs, walking about 6 people. I also had the funniest bad throw ever. It was a lob that just sailed way over the first baseman's head. I literally laughed out loud because of how horrible it was. I really like how everything is now our own doing.

-Player models look much sharper too.

Negatives:

-Someone mentioned this earlier, but there was a glitch with the bases loaded when a pitch bounced in the dirt to Posey and then he got up, but I couldn't move him or Lincecum. I just had to wait until it timed out. No runners advanced thankfully.

-Also mentioned before: The crowd behind homeplate was pretty blurry.

-With exception to the player models it LOOKED like MLB 10.

-Baserunners still don't have numbers in the running window.

Remember this was only a DEMO, so I figure the bugs and the visual issues will be fixed once the final copy is released. I don't know about the numbers on baserunners, but that's hardly a gamebreaker and like last year, really not that noticeable unless you're looking for it.

Really thankful SCEA released a demo. I think the demo wasn't so much meant to show us how good the game looks. I think it's mostly to give us a feel for the analog controls for when the game eventually drops. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a long way to go before they're ready to play a full 9 innings with analog controls.

I will definitely be buying the game when it comes out, though there really was never a chance of me not buying it.

# 364 andrewochs615 @ 02/23/11 09:05 PM

after either striking out or grounding out every at bat and throwing my control i switched to timing hitting. Im going to wait until the hit tutorial video is out and til the game comes out to use batting practice mode to get analog hitting. I mean i didn't expect much since i can barley hit well the old way on rookie with very favorable sliders lol

# 365 blackpuppy @ 02/23/11 09:09 PM

I thought there was supposed to be cursor batting in this version? Is it in the demo?

# 366 enyc718 @ 02/23/11 09:13 PM

I only played 1 inning and boy was my pitching horrible with the analog! BUT, I enjoyed it. It gives pitching a different feel. Just like many other things in life, just have to get used to it. I got a couple of hits, again I only played 1 inning. NOW, fielding is what really got me. I caught myself pressing circle, and triangle many times. Game flowed pretty good. I'm definetly copping this game on the 8th. I'm sure a couple of patches after release day and this game should be near perfection. Love it!

# 367 Ronstr @ 02/23/11 09:14 PM

Positives:
- Day to night transition, the sunset looks great!
- Eric Karros and Matt D's conversation, it made the game seem more realistic.
- Analog pitching, the motion is very fluid.
- The little things, helmet name tags, custom cameras

Negatives:
- Ananlog batting, couldn't get the timing down at all
- Analog throwing, it's probably because I'm still used to buttons, I threw the ball to home a couple times when I intended to throw to second. It also couldn't really connect with the running motion, I tried a running throw from about 60 feet from 1st to home and I got stuck in the wind up and a run scored.
- Background graphics, crowd looks like PS2 graphics (but it's probably because it's a demo)
- Tim Lincecum's hair, it looked like Timmy used a bit too much hair gel on his hair.

# 368 analogdan @ 02/23/11 09:27 PM

Honestly, not sure how I feel about it.

The crowd right behind home plate looks abysmal. Why couldn't they provide good textures for the crowd you see 90% of the game?

There are still no numbers on the backs of players who are running the bases in the upper right hand corner.

The textures of buildings off in the distance are extremely poor. If the game devs are going to focus on the buildings behind the stadium at the start of the game, why not spend time making them look at least mediocre? Why put the most poorly rendered building in the middle of the center of focus when introducing a stadium?

The back of Nelson Cruz's neck looks like a twisted piece of clay. Tim Lincecum's hair looks like a spiky piece of plastic. Ian Kinsler's helmet sticks way too far out from his forehead. Josh Hamilton's batting stance doesn't look natural or realistic.

Personally, I'm just not that happy with the update so far. Analog controls are ok, but there's a pretty steep learning curve (at least for me).

Anyway, I'm on the fence about buying. We'll see. I'll probably rent first.

# 369 Skyboxer @ 02/23/11 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by analogdan


	Honestly, not sure how I feel about it. The crowd right behind home plate looks abysmal. Why couldn't they provide good textures for the crowd you see 90% of the game? There are still no numbers on the backs of players who are running the bases in the upper right hand corner. The textures of buildings off in the distance are extremely poor. If the game devs are going to focus on the buildings behind the stadium at the start of the game, why not spend time making them look at least mediocre? Why put the most poorly rendered building in the middle of the center of focus when introducing a stadium? The back of Nelson Cruz's neck looks like a twisted piece of clay. Tim Lincecum's hair looks like a spiky piece of plastic. Ian Kinsler's helmet sticks way too far out from his forehead. Josh Hamilton's batting stance doesn't look natural or realistic. Personally, I'm just not that happy with the update so far. Analog controls are ok, but there's a pretty steep learning curve (at least for me). Anyway, I'm on the fence about buying. We'll see. I'll probably rent first.

Yeah you should just pass this years game.....

# 370 Socalbias @ 02/23/11 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackpuppy


	I thought there was supposed to be cursor batting in this version? Is it in the demo?

Their is one if you go to game settings, but it is more of an oval shape that you use when your using classic hitting controls.

# 371 BleacherCreature @ 02/23/11 09:58 PM

I like the new analog controls.
Hitting is hard but I would rather have it that way than have the game turn into a sunday league softball game.
It's pretty satisfying making solid contact for a decent hit, which I haven't had too many of. I had 1 hit in my first game, 3 in my second and 3 in my third but one of my hits in game 3 was a leadoff double on the first pitch, which has been my only extra base hit and actually the only time I've had anyone on second base.
Throwing isn't too horrible (yet). Only one error on an overthrow to first but I got the guy out when he tried going to second.

It seems this year if there's a ball in the dirt your catcher can kick the thing all over the home plate area. It happened to me with Posey. The ball bounced and he went to pick it up but kicked it up the third base line. The runner wasn't going to advance until that happened. Could be an issue in critical situations though.

Liking what I see overall right now though.
I'm sure I'll be more into it when the snow melts and it actually looks like it could be baseball season.

# 372 BobSacamano @ 02/23/11 10:00 PM

First, let's get the bad out of the way first, not because the bad is more prevalent but because I think this is stuff that can be explained/fixed:

- I have seen two posters mention guys swinging and hitting pitches that bounced to the plate. One posted a video of it as well. I think it's a glitch since it just happened to me. I was batting, the pitch hit at about the edge of the grass and skipped into the catcher's mitt. I didn't swing and the pitch was called a ball, but it was just barely low. Even Matt said something about the pitch being close. Obviously the pitch was more than just barely low, it hit several feet in front of the plate.

- I'm not sure I "get" analog throwing. The CPU hit a tapper to my pitcher. I flicked the right stick very lightly towards first base, so essentially using as little power as I could. My guy did lob the ball to first, but it sailed over my 1B's head. I was only a few steps from the 1B. I thought the less power you put on the throw, the more accurate it would be. Is that wrong?

- This was complained about a bunch in the past, and I could have sworn I read that it was fixed: CPU hits a tapper back towards the pitcher. My catcher stays in place and my pitcher runs after the ball. The problem is that the ball was a much easier play for the catcher (it was probably a quarter of the way to the mound), and as a result the runner was safe. There was a runner on first base at the time so the catcher didn't have to stay home for any particular reason.

Okay, now the positives:

+ For those of you who say that the analog controls don't breathe fresh air into the series... I don't know what to tell you. I've played this game every year since '06 and this is the first time the game has truly felt "new." Does anyone remember last year's game? There were some new presentation elements but the game was functionally the same as '09. That's not the case this year. The analog controls truly are a new and welcome experience.

+ Speaking of... I love the analog controls. I love that they more closely approximate the actual physical motions made by the players. I picked up on analog hitting really quickly and I think it's because it's so intuitive. Just rock and fire with the player's natural motion. It's really that simple. Pitching is a blast, and I feel like I really work for those strikes. I'm a little iffy on analog fielding because of the issue I mentioned earlier. Also, the throw indicator is a little busy. I would rather have something simple and easy to read on the fly.

+ I've already seen some better fielding animations. An outfielder chased down a line drive in the gap in a MUCH more natural-looking stride, rather than doing that weird "gliding-with-glove-behind-body" catch outfielders used to do quite often. On the negative side, outfielders still do that weird slapping catch on easy fly balls. I'm not sure how to describe it but they basically swat at the ball rather than catch it.

+ Leading and stealing feels much better already. I took a lead and didn't get picked off (hey, new pick-off camera angles, BTW)! And then, even better, I stole second and Posey's throw was so far offline it sailed into CF. Very nice!

All in all I'm not regretting the $60 pre-order, not one iota.

+ The game looks gorgeous. That goes without saying.

# 373 bukktown @ 02/23/11 10:05 PM

Bob Sacamano! Awesome name!

I haven't had a game past 4 innings. Anybody who has gone to extra innings how long does it take to get to dark sky.

# 374 Agathos @ 02/23/11 10:06 PM

Tried again tonight. This time I switched teams and played both pitchers. I was terrible last time, but did a lot better this time. No walks, nine strikeouts, and I was able to paint the corner a few times. I have yet to throw a strike or draw a swing with Timmy's curveball, though.

Oddly, Timmy's changeup got hammered whenever I threw it (and yes it was low in the zone), but I was able to use C.J. Wilson's to destroy the Giants lineup. I thought Timmy had one of the better changeups out there, but now I know better.

I've given up on analog fielding, but that was never for me. I play so much RTTS as a pitcher that I'm still surprised when I find myself controlling a position player to field something. Then I push the right stick around at random and bad things happen.

# 375 Rules @ 02/23/11 10:26 PM

Another day, new impressions:

Yesterday = not really impressed
Today = very impressed

Yesterday = thought the new controls were good.
Today = LOVE the new controls

Yesterday = felt the demo lacked in the atmosphere department
Today = turned on my surround sound which must have been off

Yesterday = lost all of my games.
Today = lost all of my games

Yesterday = thought the demo was a tweaked version of MLB 10.
Today= layed off the drugs and alcohol. What was I thinking? Huge difference the more I clock in..........ALL FOR THE BETTER!

Can't wait for the full version and to finally see other game scores in progress going on in my franchise. Hopefully this time it will be OFTEN!

# 376 Jorski @ 02/23/11 10:34 PM

Impressions:

Analog pitching: I think this is pretty awesome. There is definitely more skill involved using the analog controls vs. using the pitching meter and selecting a pitch location. I wasn't sure about the analog controls at first, but I was able to pitch quite easily starting out. If you get in a hurry, things wont go your way. I use the 'pitcher' camera, just like I did in '10.

Analog hitting: This will take some getting used to, as I can't seem to time the pitches correctly. I tried using catcher 5 for the camera, and I had trouble recognizing when a pitch was a high strike vs. high ball, so I switched back to the wide view and didn't have any trouble. I will say that with catcher 5 for the camera, I was able to recognize balls down in the zone much better then I could with the wide camera. I think with more practice I can get better with analog hitting.

Analog fielding: Again, I think this will take practice to get the hang of, but I think its pretty neat. I did have a throwing error while trying to turn a double play, and a couple of potential errors at first on a couple of throws. Im not really sure why they occurred (the ring wasn't red when I threw the ball, however, it was a quick tap). That may just be part of the learning curve.

Graphics: Im sure this is just because its an early build, but there were some odds and ends that didn't look as good as they did in '10. Specifically, Lincecum looks like he used butter for shampoo before the game. Im sure these will be fixed for the final build.

Commentary: I dont know about this; EK is OK, I guess. Im one of those people that plays with the commentary muted most of the time, so I might not be the best to comment on this. I will say that the audio seems to be low quality (Im using a Tritton headset), but it makes sense that they would use lower quality in the demo.

Really, over the 4 innings you get to play, the game play is excellent. The analog controls make things much more involved; it seems like pitching mistakes are truly mistakes on the part of the user vs. a chance thing determined by the computer, and I like that. Honestly, when I started playing, I was like 'holy crap this is awesome'.

Im taking a test on the 8th and then getting The Show.

# 377 WeimaBrewer @ 02/23/11 10:38 PM

I honestly can not see the difference in lighting/graphics. To me it looks like a carbon copy of 10. I don't know if it's just the demo version, but what from little gameplay I've seen on the internet the lighting and graphics look incredible. The demo doesn't seem to have that "pop".

I love the pitching mechanic, however, I'm getting rocked by every batter I face. I can't hit worth a crap, but that's to be expected. I absolutely love the new camera options. C.J. Wilson is pitching like Nolan Ryan and Lincecum pitches like Derrick Turnbow.

# 378 Splitter77 @ 02/23/11 10:39 PM

as beautiful as this game is, not being able to see the flight of the ball leave the bat in the behind the pitcher views in this game absolutely kills it for me.

Not sure if Im the only one who feels that way, but it seems as though it would be an easy fix. And for those that said it was in there if you dont use broadcast fielding view, youre wrong. Its not in there in any of the fielding views.

I just hate not knowing what direction the ball is going after i make contact.

# 379 Solid-Hock @ 02/23/11 10:48 PM

Analog pitching is great. Nothing more tense than having a 3-2 count with bases loaded, because I actually throw balls now.

I'm having the same problem in this game that I do with Tiger Woods, my follow through is awful.

# 380 sroz39 @ 02/23/11 11:09 PM

Wanted to play a bunch of games before I posted some thoughts. Played 8 or 9 (can't really remember) so I'm comfortable giving an opinion on the main things this demo was meant to showcase which is the analog controls and Karros.

Pitching: I have a love/hate relationship with this aspect and it can turn from pitch to pitch lol. Truthfully, I think its a great addition and well implemented. The faults lie on the user's (mine) end. Sometimes it feels like I went left and the cursor actually goes right and vice versa. At first, I was getting upset with the game. I made a point to start paying attention to where the thumbstick ends up and sure enough, it was not the game's fault. Surprise surprise :P

One other thing that I forgot about in the early going that was really accentuating my misses was how quickly I transitioned from down to up on the right stick. This ties directly into effort/effectiveness of the pitch and I realized my transition was rather quick. I slowed it down and even when I missed, I wasn't missing my spot by as much as I was in the early going. This control scheme is a keeper.

Analog Fielding: I can understand why some people are having problems with this but I can happily report I am not. At all. I actually have my throwing difficulty at HOF and I'm starting to miss some "perfect" throws but nothing that pulls anyone off a bag or anything like that. The only thing I'm still searching for some consistency in is hitting the cutoff man without making him move every now and then but its been very pleasant to use the analog throwing.

I remember some people that wrote previews for the game mentioned that this analog throwing has thrown off some of the transitional animations from fielding to throwing. If any of you are having problems with this, just remember to pre-load your throws. This has always been the case, even with the button throwing, but its even more crucial now to keep everything looking very fluid in the field. Like I said, I'm really enjoying these new controls as well.

Analog Hitting: I went into this with an open mind, knowing that I really enjoy the Skill Stick in NHL, the pitching in 2K baseball etc. Thing is, I REALLY love Zone Hitting in The Show series. I knew I was gonna struggle because I struggled with 2K's analog hitting, from its most difficult versions of it in the beginning to its easiest versions in their more recent games. But I struggled mightily with the analog hitting in this game, swinging at bad pitches but really struggling with the directing of the right stick to hit inside and outside pitches.

I think if SCEA introduces an option to control the PCI with the Left Stick and just swinging with the Right Stick next year, I'll be fully on board. It may seem more complicated but for me, it's more complicated to throw the Right Stick at the direction of the pitch as it's coming at you. I've been conditioned over 4 generations of consoles (starting with the World Series games on the Genesis) that my left thumb controls WHERE I'm swinging and my right thumb WHEN I'm swinging. Many of you may say to give it time and it'll come to me eventually but after the many games I played, I was showing zero improvement and it was just becoming an exercise in frustration. It's gonna take more than two weeks to erase two decades' worth of muscle memory lol.

I've seen a lot of guys mention Catcher Cam 5 and I agree...to a point. I keep switching from Catcher Cam 3 to 4 to 5 lol. Reason being that even though 5 is great for picking up location, its almost too flat a view to pick up speed of a pitch and I find I get fastballs blown by me too often. Cam 3 fixes the depth problem but then it becomes tough to read break on balls thrown lower in the zone. I may have found a happy medium with Catcher Cam 4, but even then I catch myself cursing at the game when I strikeout. I may just have to come to grips with the fact that a pitcher is better than me at times

As for Eric Karros, maybe I'm playing a different game than some of you, but I LOVE that they brought him in. He has the ODD recycled line but its not EVERY line like some of you haters make it seem to be. There's definitely more interaction between the three, even if its obvious it wasn't recorded at the same time. Good enough for me, the commentary in this game is not on my negatives list by any stretch.

Not gonna rehash any of the other often-mentioned positives like the graphics, player models etc. Those are obvious. Instead, gonna focus on some of the negatives that bother ME specifically:

- really wish this game had some sort of "Hitter's Eye" like the MVP series. I already have to drop the Pitch Speed slider to help me out with recognizing pitches. I hope its on a "to do" list as an option for a future release.

- wish the runner at 2nd, on any of the Catcher views, had the Speed and Ability bars SOMEWHERE on the screen.

- Lincecum's hair...YIKES! Lol. Not a big deal just a "negative", I guess.

- crowd behind home plate. Doesn't bother me that much either, to be honest.

- the game definitely has a "been there, done that" feel to it in the grand scheme of things but how much of a negative can this really be to me if I would "go there" and "do that" over and over again. Nothing about this game is broken, I don't want change for the sake of change. Every year, I get a little bit more of what I want out of this game.

That's it for me. I'm going back to my RTTS in '10 because the demo has done all I want from a demo. I got a taste of the analog controls and look forward to using 2 of the 3 full time. I got a sneak peek at a fraction of what Eric Karros brings to the presentation and I'm happy that he makes it BETTER, imo. I will wait for the 8th and eagerly dive into the full game when it drops on that day.

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