MLB 2K12 News Post

MLB 2K12 Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here

06:46 AM - February 28, 2012 by Steve_OS

The MLB 2K12 demo is available now. Play a few games and post your impressions here.

Read the full press release below.

2K Sports Announces Major League Baseball 2K12 Demo
Now Available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and PlayStation Network

Features Texas Rangers against St. Louis Cardinals in
rematch of 2011 World Series

New York, NY – February 28, 2012 – 2K Sports today announced that a free demo of Major League Baseball® 2K12 is now available on the Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation®Network for PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system.

The demo allows players to relive 2011’s thrilling, back-and-forth World Series and play three innings as the Texas Rangers or St. Louis Cardinals. In addition, it showcases many of MLB 2K12’s improved features, including the dynamic tendencies system that adjusts pitcher and batter ratings as the game unfolds; a revamped throwing system; and a new hit distribution system with more varied and realistic hit types.

This year’s edition of MLB 2K will allow players to experience the authenticity and excitement of a real baseball game, and also a chance to win $1,000,000. The Perfect Game Challenge returns for the third consecutive year with MLB 2K12, and is bigger than ever. The new format will utilize a dynamic leaderboard that ranks the top eight perfect games thrown. At the end of the competition, the top eight competitors will face each other in a live $1 million tournament.

MLB 2K12 is rated E for everyone by the ESRB and will be available March 6, 2012 for Xbox 360, PlayStation®3, Wii™ system, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, Nintendo DS™ and Windows PC.

Major League Baseball 2K12 screenshot gallery - Click to view

Game: Major League Baseball 2K12 Reader Score: 6.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 12 - View All

Major League Baseball 2K12 Videos

Member Comments

# 41 Hajmyis @ 02/28/12 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skyboxer


	I was able to easily check swing with the analog batting but no luck witht the classic swinging. Going to play a few more games... Really really wish theyd release full game demos so we could look at a least some of the managerial decisions the CPU would make.

How you check swing, I haven't been able to do

# 42 Super Glock @ 02/28/12 08:43 PM

PS3 here and I see immediate improvements. I not going to go into it right now besides the fact the graphics are very much improved. The PS3 version last year was dreadful! Anyways first day buy and back to playing.

# 43 ckarlic @ 02/28/12 08:44 PM

Played a quick game and I think the game is pretty good. Smoother than I expected. Looks good to me.
Going to try to give the demo a few more run throughs.

# 44 MFin04 @ 02/28/12 08:54 PM

"Really really wish theyd release full game demos so we could look at a least some of the managerial decisions the CPU would make."

I've seen a lot of pinch running for slow runners...and one scenario they had the pitcher up after the pinch run for a slow runner (tying run) and didn't pinch hit for him, but sacrificed the runner over...thought that was smart to not waste the pinch hitter.

# 45 econoodle @ 02/28/12 09:04 PM

more thoughts from the gaming room:

-lighting improved, no doubt. no doubt.
-overlays have a nice blast of color added in, which is nice
-2k set it too fast play it seems, so i cant comment on presentation much, but even a slight e will be fine by me.
-seems a bit slower to me, again i could be wrong, anyone else feel that way?
-never cared much about the old gloves, i know people hated the lool, but ill be darned if they aint improved.
-the pacing is second to none
-the ball still has that weird loft like its on a string, so thats a big no-no.
-unis look slightly better
-Love that u can check pitch track using the d-pad to check all sorts of stuff like:

last pitch sequence
first pitch locations
result pitch out locations
result hits locations
pitches to lefties, righties, curveballs sliders, yada yada

-the spinning rating indicator addition is the bomb.

- on a slow roller to third beltran instead of running thru the bag, rounded first and because of that was thrown out. BIG BIG no-no 2k!

very happy, but most of the stuff i had a problem with in 12, cant be seen from the demo

more thoughts to come.

# 46 JustinVerlander35 @ 02/28/12 09:05 PM

I have played about 12 games or so, and this demo has assured me I am not going to buy it.

Still running into problems with fielding. Here are a few examples:

A runner was stealing on me, and Mike Napoli threw wild over Kinsler's head. The ball flew into centerfield and Josh Hamilton felt the need to run right past the ball and into the infield. None of my fielders made an attempt to run after the ball that was just laying in centerfield. Both runners scored and I just re-started the demo.

Second problem I have faced is sometimes the fielding AI gets very lazy. A groundball was hit to David Freese. Not a line-smash, just your run-of-the mill roll over on a breaking pitch groundball. Freese takes one step and just stops. Lets it roll past him and it barley broke the outfield grass.

Also have had problem with base running as well.

Game feels like it is running very slow. Don't know if it is just because it's a demo or there will be framerate issues again.

There was a few pluses though! Sometimes the computer AI did play great defense. Furcal robbed me a few times of base hit.

Some of the stances have been fix and look more fluid through the whole swing.

Graphics are still pretty bad, but looked a bit more refined.

I don't know if it was me but it was hard to hit homers.

Some of the new presentation is OUTSTANDING!

# 47 RedRooster @ 02/28/12 09:29 PM

I've played about 5 games of 2K10 ever since I bought and played 2K7 a fair bit. So I haven't been keeping up with the 2K series much.
This demo was actually quite impressive to me. The ball off bat, the positioning and flow of the fielders during a play, heck I can't even decide whether I like pitching or batting more(when in past years pitching was easily more fun for me). I saw some really cool animations with a shot up the middle that Kinsler just got a glove on to knock it down then underhand the ball to second for the force. And the new throwing meter and swing analyzer take me back to MVP, two really cool ideas.
The crowd animations are good, the ballpark looks good enough to me. The only thing I can't get over is the rigid animations. When the ball is in play, its not bad at all, but man there's just no ambience at all in between. The players faces are good, but they just look like zombies with those dead eyes and unbendable wrists. I honestly think if 2K could get better animations, this game would end up just feeling like a full baseball experience. I bet the career stuff is awesome too, off the field is always good with 2K.

If they would've been at this point in gameplay back in 2K7 with its graphics, and kept improving from that point, I can't imagine how amazing the game would be now. Unfortunately, it'll be another year or two at most before its the baseball experience I'm looking for.

# 48 hitstreak13 @ 02/28/12 09:31 PM

As a PS3 owner, I am very pleased with the demo. I had a blast chasing down fly balls, pitching, and even hitting (minus the default camera). This will definitely be a 1st day purchase for me. If franchise is fixed from last year, this will be a better game than 2k7 IMO. Fantastic job 2k!

# 49 Randiesel75 @ 02/28/12 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skyboxer


	I was able to easily check swing with the analog batting but no luck witht the classic swinging. Going to play a few more games... Really really wish theyd release full game demos so we could look at a least some of the managerial decisions the CPU would make.

Agreed. Even if just 2 teams limited to a 3 inning game with full access to the game.

# 50 DetroitStyle @ 02/28/12 09:39 PM

Alright, since they didn't have a PC demo I fired up my PS3 to give it a try. Here are my impressions:

Pros:
- Check swinging is back! This includes classic (one button) and total control. In order to check swing in classic you have to DOUBLE TAP the swing button. On the PS3 this is "X" and I believe "A" on the 360. This worked last year on the PC but it always counted as a strike. This year it works properly.

- Animations definitely look more refined and fluid. The herky-jerkiness from last year is all but gone. You'll see more proper animations as well such a infielder not rifling the ball back to the pitcher when he is two feet away. Also, the animations are sped up in the outfield so it doesn't take a year and a half to get the ball into the infield from a gap shot. It's a quick grab-and-throw.

- The graphics seem largely unchanged but I do notice more update faces and maybe some better lighting and shadows. Models are largely unchanged but I do see different body types which is more or less the same as last year.

- 2K12 requires new strategy with the new pitching additions. It's very much welcomed addition and brings a lot of fun when pitching. I'm also seeing a lot of hit variety and it seems more natural off the bat this year.

- AI seems smarter out of the box. The CPU won't try to stretch as many hits this year, and the fielders seem to make the right decisions.

Cons:
- I had terrible, and I mean TERRIBLE framerate and lag issues on the PS3. It might be my ps3 it might be because it's a demo. But every hit either from me or the cpu resulted in a FPS drop and it's even worse on foul balls. Actually the framerate is terrible in every aspect. I expect none of this will occur though in the final version, especially on the PC.

- Where AI improved it also remained the same. It seems pitchers still intentionally walk batters mid way through a count. They had a 1 ball 2 strike count on me and decided to IW me anyway. Didn't make a whole lot of sense. As well, roughing up a pitcher for a few runs early causes the bullpen to get loose. There was a large problem with manager AI regarding pitching decisions and I'm seeing some of the same things from last year occurring. What's worse is that they claimed to have fixed them. But alas, it is a demo.

- This going to feel extremely familiar. It's said a few times on here that if you hated 2K11 last year, you're not going to enjoy 2K12 and vice versa. Although with the improvements I highly recommend at least a rental to give it a try.
----

Remember, it's only a demo. To compact it for everyone to download they needed to strip some features (commentary) and most likely add in lower resolution textures. Also, it's probably a VERY early build thus my framerate issues. But overall, it does seem more refined but it is just an upgrade from last years version. All the changes are in the code and won't be immediately visible until you've played a few games. I would recommend giving it a try but you're not going to be blown away by some new feature or new presentation aspect.

# 51 swaldo @ 02/28/12 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SportsGamingBlake


	I was 'overusing' my slider in the first inning, and the blue backdrop of the pitch turned red, which means i should mix up my pitch selection. for the other 2 innings (rest of the game), i didnt throw a single slider...maybe one. but the backdrop remained red for the rest of the game. its it supposed to go back to blue after mixing pitches a bit, correct?

Depends if its one of your primary pitches. My forkball and fastball went red and the fastball came back to green fast but the forkball didn't. The explanation is simple - if the fork is thrown 10% of the time (in real life) according to inside edge and I throw it 10 times in 30 pitches (30%) it will take awhile to get it back.

# 52 sjp2469 @ 02/28/12 09:41 PM

I was playing my first inning and piece of cheese that can whistle ran across the field. Did this happen to anyone else?????

# 53 The Bimmer @ 02/28/12 09:43 PM

Thought it was great. If you liked last years game you will like this years. First thing I noticed was that the graphics are big time improved on the PS3.

Second thing is the game did play smoother, and the third thing is I can pretty much plug in all of my settings from last year and be ready to play within 5 mins.

The new overlays are nice also. I like seeing those pitching stats popping up letting me know what I am doing out there (on the mound). Once the commentary blends in this game will be getting a serious workout during the MLB Today season mode.

# 54 nemesis04 @ 02/28/12 09:58 PM

I only played a few games but I was expecting more with the new ball physics to be honest. Ground balls start out ok but after a few bounces they basically stop bouncing and just glide along the grass and just keep going.

# 55 Doormat @ 02/28/12 10:05 PM

Managed to play 2 games in about 30 minutes. First game I got rocked in the 3rd inning after 2 straight shut out innings to give up 5 runs, I left about 2 runners on base and striked out 3 times I believe.. I called it a warm up.
Second game I won 1-0 thanks to a homer by Michael Young.

Pros -
New batting stances, most of them look great as well as the swings and follow through (David F. for example, a fly ball from him looks like the same swing I saw him do in his walk off of game 6)
New animations on field, looks and feels smoother throwing to first
Pitching motions look fantastic, well done 2K
I feel like a DOMINATING pitcher now, last year I barely striked out anyone every 2 innings, now I can mix up my pitches carefully and strike out someone like Beltre

Cons -
Really does feel like the same game from last year besides the roster update and what I listed above
I hit a line drive to right field, the ball did NOT bounce at all after a fly ball hitting the wall, literally just rolled on the ground
A few batting stances don't match... Berkman's for example looks like Matt Holliday's.

All in all I'm kinda impressed, I WILL be picking this up sometime next week if I have the money.

# 56 MLBGeek @ 02/28/12 10:08 PM

Im honestly not impressed. I have never really played a 2k baseball game that feels authetic after I've played The Show. 2k makes an amazing NBA game which I feel/felt same way about when there was competition. There is something about most plays that take me outside of playing a sports sim and almost feel arcade-ish. That being said: there's nothing wrong with that. However, if you are like me and are going to keep your MLB game in the system for 250-365 days til the next years release you probably are going to want MLB 12 The Show. I will probably pick up both just because I am a baseball addict. I WILL give MLB 2K12 another shot with the full release for sure. I do understand that alot was removed from this game for the sake of the demo.

# 57 pistolpete @ 02/28/12 10:09 PM

I know in the full copy you can change them, but I hated the camera angles. I've been playing tons of 2k11 lately and I just couldn't get past the default camera angles.

# 58 Skyboxer @ 02/28/12 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hajmyis


	How you check swing, I haven't been able to do

Pull back on the rs

# 59 nbman @ 02/28/12 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeeWhiz


	the pace of the game is too fast in my opinion. the ball isn't even thrown into the infield and the announcer is announcing the next batter. it feels rushed.

the faster pace of game is a selling point for me! I only played one game and kept looking for framerate drops but didn't see any with a 360 slim. I never play more than one season, so i'm looking forward to the MLB today season mode this year.

# 60 queensbomber @ 02/28/12 10:22 PM

After playing the demo I can say that Im glad its not my only choice.
I admit it plays a little better than last year but for some reason pitching wasnt as fun as it has been in years prior.
Infielders seem to move with lightning speed and outfielders chug along until after the ball is caught.
I havent seen one line out to an infielder which is awesome and have seen some nice shots to the gaps.
I personally cannot stand the horrid fielding/baserunning camera when up at bat. I hate it!!!!!
Graphically the player models do look a bit smoother but still look plastic and those fielding gloves still look awful. The game still has this flat 2D look but then again 2K did say that graphics werent in the budget this year.
If I was an xbox owner and this was my only choice then I'd purchase and play it for what it is, a decent offering.
But I know this will not be on my list this year for a second year in a row.

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