MLB 13 The Show Video - Dev Blog: Road To The Show

As for RTTS, the words that came to mind were refinement, fine tuning and awesome updates! The mode really is a whole new ballgame (pun intended) and is the most immersive I have felt in any sports game. Kirby_SCEA has done a great job on RTTS and he has tons more things lined up for the future. It blows my mind at the things we talked about and envisioning them into the next gen.

First thing you notice about RTTS is that it feels very personable. From the initial creation of your player, to gear, to batting/pitching styles. I love the way you can piece together just about any swing you can imagine. From stance, stride, swing, take pitch (strike/ball), to homerun swing, it just melds together nicely. Couple that with the already massive gear choices, the possibilities are great! So from the beginning, you feel that your player is YOUR player, if you know what I mean.

The on-field aspect is most-changed. You are sucked into the action when you are in the field or up-to-bat with a MLB 360º-ish camera pan. It is really well done. Once you are in that "vacuum", everything you hear is as if you are on the field, and everything is directional. So as you turn your head (look), the sound field will shift accordingly. You will hear umpires making their calls, coaches barking instructions, fans cheering (or booing), your teammates calling out game situations, vendors, PA announcer and music, and even planes and ambulances. When the ball is in play, it's no longer run to the ball marker, and let the CPU do the rest. The camera sticks to the ball, and you now have to track it. There is a ball location reticle similar to FPS, that changes from red to yellow to green, depending on your vicinity to the ball. The markers are still on the ground too, but I think they are off by default. A ball trail option has been added as well, to help better locate the ball on either offense or defense. To add to the immersion, there is now a manual catch option when fielding. It's really fun because it doesn't make fielding so undemanding. The great thing is that these aids are all optional, so you could easily turn them all off, and really get a challenge. One cool thing is that when you are in the field, you can actually press R1 to look at the scoreboard, a type of virtual "daydreaming" if you will, lol.

The batting camera is a thing of beauty, the way it follows the ball. It is similar to the new camera in HRD. It really gives you a good 1st person feel when you get ahold of one. You can still press L2 to switch to broadcast fielding view whenever the ball is in play. I campaigned for this camera in regular games, but it was a little to late. Things look good going forward though

The baserunning has been simplified and fool-proofed. It is simply up = advance, down = retreat. You can still stop in the basepath by pressing R2 (I think). Gone are the days of the crazy, confusion-inducing camera swings. You can now control where you look by pressing the shoulder button. While on the bases, L1 will look to the basecoach no matter where you are, so that you can pick up signs and whatnot. Icons for your teammates (blue) are also on the base indicator so you know where everyone is in relation to you (green). That coupled with the audio makes for a very fluid experience.

One of my favorite additions is the new SimCast screen, which tells you play by play what is happening while you are not in the play. You can even jump in and "view" the game from your player's vantage point at any time. Another cool thing is, if your team is on offense and you jump in to view the game, you will start off watching from the bench and then it will move to the on-deck circle when you are due up! One warning though, if you do jump in, you have to watch the whole half-inning before you can return to your normal viewing settings.

Stat tracking and personal achievements have been brought front and center too. It tracks all your career milestones on one screen, and makes mention of them during regular presentation moments (when you are not in the 1st person perspective.) And lastly, if you win an award, it will actually show you receiving that award during the next season!

Overall, RTTS received what I would call a major overhaul. It is even that much more fun and immersive. MLB 13, as a whole is the most fun version ever, by far. No really! LOL

There's more, I'm sure I forgot some stuff, but the overall theme for RTTS is that it truly is a different gameplay experience. As it should be.