MLB 13 The Show News Post

MLB 13 The Show - Beginner Mode Impressions

01:13 PM - December 14, 2012 by thaSLAB

Kotaku's Owen Good has posted his hands-on impressions of Beginner Mode in MLB 13 The Show. After reading his article, let us know what you think about the mode.

Quote:


	... Beginner Mode grew out of developers' desire to chip away at The Show's intimidating reputation, not only to newcomers, but also to veterans who found some aspect of it difficult. This typically is hitting, an art that requires a ton of patience, something a video game experience rarely fosters. With Beginner Mode turned on, you'll play a nine-inning game regularly. The pitchers' and hitters' behavior will be different depending on how far along you are in your progress. I was handed the controller to play Detroit versus the New York Yankees, switching sides between innings to hit against C.C. Sabathia (announced Thursday as The Shows second cover candidate, joining Washington's Bryce Harper) and Justin Verlander. You can apply Beginner Mode to any matchup involving any two teams.

Game: MLB 13 The ShowReader Score: 9/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS Vita / PS3Votes for game: 36 - View All

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Member Comments

# 41 m1ke_nyc @ 12/15/12 02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bahnzo


	How much simpler does it need to be? Like I've said, there's already modes to address hitting and pitching. If that isn't enough to help you hit and pitch, then I'm pretty sad for the rest. This is a baseball game. Baseball is pretty friggin simple. If you have to dumb things down to the common denominator, then I give up. Hitting something with a stick is simple. If you can't figure that out, then I don't know what to say.

Alot of casual baseball gamers will just pick up the sticks and swing at everything you throw at them. They have no sense of timing and no type of eye to notice a pitch. This mode supposedly helps with something like that. Baseball is not as simple as pick up a stick and hit a ball.

# 42 Unit303 @ 12/15/12 02:14 AM

Here is an idea for you all: More new players come to The Show, mostly because of new grass and stuff

, and the fact there is no other baseball game perpetuates this. These players need something to learn from because they are new and the devs HAVE NOT made the game stupidly easy and will not in the future.

This means the noobs will like the game if they can get a handle on it. This means increased REVENUE for the franchise as a whole. This means 3D grass in PS4, and whatever else needs to be done?, and we all sing Christmas songs to each other and love everyone.

# 43 MLB Bob @ 12/15/12 02:26 AM

I really hate this time of year. I love baseball and the new info but enviable drone of altimatiums and "if this is in they are incompitent" and "if this was put in it must have taken away from this other thing I really love" I wish I didnt have to walk through the sewer to read the actual news, updates, real features in the game.

I have been playing a long time and look forward to this, the beginner mode I'll try just to see if there is anything I need to learn and see if it actually suggests a proper level for me..see if my ego matches the appropriate level.

I just hope the way people go about voicing their opinions don't hinder The Dev team from coming here, its always suggested and usually ignored and they give us more every year.

We take those for granted we dont think will change, hate see this place with out the contribution from the Dev team.

# 44 authentic @ 12/15/12 02:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unit303


	Here is an idea for you all: More new players come to The Show, mostly because of new grass and stuff, and the fact there is no other baseball game perpetuates this. These players need something to learn from because they are new and the devs HAVE NOT made the game stupidly easy and will not in the future. This means the noobs will like the game if they can get a handle on it. This means increased REVENUE for the franchise as a whole. This means 3D grass in PS4, and whatever else needs to be done?, and we all sing Christmas songs to each other and love everyone.

This not only nails it right on the head, but also needs to be understood in these forums. This mode was not meant for people who have played the game since 07. This mode was for people who struggled last year, or am on the edge about this years game because they think it's too hard.

We're supposedly still getting our revamped franchise mode, a playoff mode and a couple other nice additions. Why make this sound like it's a deal breaker? It's a mode that maybe 5% of OS will use. However, it's a mode that 100% of newcomers to this series will most likely try.

I played college baseball, baseball is not a simple game by any means. It's not a pick up and play game like basketball or football. Hitting takes more hand eye coordination than shooting a basketball or passing a football. Hitting in sports games is probably one of the more complicated things to do when the CPU AI is strong, which it is in this game.

# 45 Russell_SCEA @ 12/15/12 02:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bahnzo


	That's already in the game, it's called Rookie Difficulty. Just don't see this being necessary. Resources that could've been used elsewhere to improve the game.

It's actually very very necessary this new feature isn't really for anyone on this site. We do extensive post morterms with all types of groups of gamers and one of the most consistent thing we've heard the past three years is the game isn't very accessible. Especially when it comes to hitting.

Making rookie easier (which we have done two years straight) isnt' the answer it's just an easier difficulty setting. That's not the issue people are having hence why we designed a new mode to help ease (those who need it) into the hitting portion of the game.

The purpose of beginner mode is to teach someone how to hit by starting out with squaring up on a fast ball down the middle of the plate and gradually working into fast ball placement. Eventually working into pitch recognition ball recognition and pitcher tendencies. Making the game easier accomplishes none of these issues.

Now your comment about the resources you really have no idea what you are talking about here. It's December we choose to talk about specific things during this time and this year it's beginner mode. The design and art work needed for feature completion is minimal when compared to the work that was done to franchise and RTTS. That's not even taking into account the other features and improvements that haven't been announced yet.

# 46 Russell_SCEA @ 12/15/12 02:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bahnzo


	Reading the article, I still don't get the reason behind this. Even the author doubts it's inclusion. From his description, it sounds to me like handholding combined with the batting practice mode that's already in the game. In fact, I hope it doesn't actually replace it and remove the batting/pitching practice modes that already exist. In short, I don't think there was really a need for this. You need help with hitting? Then goto batting practice and work it out there. This sounds more like some marketing weenie dictating what gets put into a game rather than sound judgement.

Beginner mode was not designed for veterans of the series who know how to play the game. It was created for two sets of people those who have never played and those who struggle mightily making solid contact hitting the ball and/or recognizing pitch types.

All the batting practice modes are still there but not very many people want to open a game and jump right into batting practice because they aren't that good. The vast majority of games don't want to do this they want to jump right into the meat and potatoes and play.

Beginner mode allows a user to do this, they get the play a normal 9 inning game and be eased into the hitting aspect while at the same time having fun. By the time a user graduates out of beginner mode we've (hopefully) taught them a thing or two about pitch recognition, balls/strike recognition and patience at the plate. The batting practice modes don't do this, hence the need for another approach.

# 47 seanjeezy @ 12/15/12 03:06 AM

Hey Russell, do pitches have more dramatic movement this year so they are easier to pick up, or is this solved by widening the timing window? For those of us who prefer not to use guess pitch, will there ever be a hitter's eye type mechanic where we can pick up the seams and spin of the ball out of the pitcher's hand? Also, have there been any changes to velocity ranges and/or movement types? Still waiting to hear what is the maximum speed possible for a batted ball

# 48 Russell_SCEA @ 12/15/12 03:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seanjeezy


	Hey Russell, do pitches have more dramatic movement this year so they are easier to pick up, or is this solved by widening the timing window? For those of us who prefer not to use guess pitch, will there ever be a hitter's eye type mechanic where we can pick up the seams and spin of the ball out of the pitcher's hand? Also, have there been any changes to velocity ranges and/or movement types? Still waiting to hear what is the maximum speed possible for a batted ball

The timing window across the board has been widened a decent amount. This change alone has really opened the game up offensively and we have tweaked other areas to help compensate for this so the game doesn't turn into MLB Jam. I don't know if you will need a hitter's eye mechanic. Having you be able to see the ball spin is something we've thought about for the past year it's just that ball is really really small as is. If we did do something like that it might be gimmicky but who knows maybe we will prototype something like that if people continue to struggle this year.

Movement types not this year the hitting was already hard enough and we didn't want to introduce anything that could make it harder but next year is a different story. Jeff (a.i. programmer who gave everyone the new ball physics) already has an idea for this area of the game. We aren't doing it this year but next is a different story.

# 49 Unit303 @ 12/15/12 04:55 AM

Well, Russell, I really hope you guys are tuning it or I guess we just bump up the difficulty or pitch speed correct? and that is how it should be.

Will not be a problem. I should be able to play on Legend with my skill and see decent games so I much welcome this. Also, my last post, those grass comments were a joke just saying, don't want anybody taking that literally, we know people are not insane with this kind of stuff... except people like me and maybe a few of the designers.

# 50 nomo17k @ 12/15/12 05:35 AM

Honestly it's a nice thing to have.... don't know how good the mode really is for educating newcomers and how many of them end up using the mode... but it's good to have some sort of walk though.

People don't realize (or remember) how difficult hitting in this game is. I now play at AS/HoF levels and do fine, but when I started playing this game (MLB 10) I seriously thought how DARE the developers made hitting so difficult........ It was freaking impossible for me to hit above .100. Blown away by the pitch speed, the movement of breaking balls, etc.

I knew hitting was hard IRL back then already, but to do that on video game seemed too much I thought. If I weren't very invested in baseball to begin with, I honestly think I would have just given up. It seemed so impossible.

But now, I just love it. No baseball game captures the real feel of hitting baseball better than the Show does. Only the people who took the time to learn (like most of us in this forum) can appreciate that.

What's the point of blaming SCEA for giving some hands to impatient guys so that they can potentially discover the beauty of hitting that is the Show??

# 51 Unit303 @ 12/15/12 07:59 AM

That is going a little far dude. Let us be honest: this mode is for idiots and total gaming noobs but separate them.

# 52 Money99 @ 12/15/12 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bahnzo


	Beginner's mode...for whom? People in Yugoslavia who have no idea what baseball is? See the ball, hit the ball. What else do you need?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unit303


	That is going a little far dude. Let us be honest: this mode is for idiots and total gaming noobs but separate them.

How about young kids that want to play a 'real' looking baseball game and not one populated by Mario or Sonic?

# 53 LastActionHero @ 12/15/12 09:38 AM

What I like about this mode is that it can determine what difficulty you should put the game on based in your skills.
Perfect for all those gamers that immediately put the game on all-star because they are too proud.

# 54 Br_Mac16 @ 12/15/12 10:21 AM

I personally think this is a brilliant idea from the developers. I can't tell you how many times I've read about or talked to people who have just dropped the game after saying this "Man, this game is beautiful but it's WAY too hard".

To say that these folks are idiots in my opinion is completely wrong, they are just casual gamers who happen to like baseball.

Also, it is true that there is a practice mode but that practice mode does show a player how to work the count which is one of the most important things about hitting in the show. Also, in this new mode, the player will get to use each batter in a game situation and will get quick success as soon as they pick the game up. It will get more difficult for them but I believe people will stick with it much longer if they aren't thrown into 20 feet of water without knowing how to swim.

Just my .02

# 55 Woodweaver @ 12/15/12 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bahnzo


	Hah...actually I'm old enough to have grown up on "coach pitch" little league. Tee-ball is for ******* that get a trophy just for playing, thank you.

What?!?! You didn't start out in the MLB?!? :-)

# 56 davis420 @ 12/15/12 10:46 AM

I don't see a problem with having this in the game as long as it wasn't added while something else was removed. The Show has a great record of leaving things in the game even when they introduce new modes.

# 57 HustlinOwl @ 12/15/12 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Woodweaver


	What?!?! You didn't start out in the MLB?!? :-)

my 8 year old son loves baseball and while playing my old MLB10 he down right hates it because how hard it is to hit, now this is great for him continue to learn the game of baseball. I remember the days of bases loaded and only our two button NES.

# 58 tw33d988 @ 12/15/12 01:56 PM

hmmm, not sure about this mode? usually baseball fans like to grind it out at the plate. Thats whats makes hitting some satisfying.

@SportGamesNation

# 59 doubledeuceR6 @ 12/15/12 02:06 PM

I like the idea! I was a veteran of the 2k series and '11 was my introduction into The Show series and I struggled with hitting mightily and even went back to 2k for a couple weeks before coming back to the show and I haven't looked back.

The Show rewards you for being patient and selective at the plate something other baseball games I've played just don't do. So it was a bit of a shock to me at first and I nearly gave up on the game after just a few weeks.

I'm sure there are people like me who didn't come back to it so hopefully this mode will help them and give them the confidence they need to stick with it.

# 60 spike83 @ 12/15/12 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bahnzo


	Beginner's mode...for whom? People in Yugoslavia who have no idea what baseball is? See the ball, hit the ball. What else do you need?

Once Yugoslavia was referenced I stopped reading your post; it's a nation that no longer exists...

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