MLB 15 The Show News Post

MLB 15 The Show Gameplay Stream Details - Archive Available Now, If You Missed It

04:56 PM - February 5, 2015 by Steve_OS

The MLB 15 The Show gameplay stream is starting in a few minutes. You can click the "Spoiler Show" button below to watch it here at OS, or open a new browser and watch it. For those of you that miss out, we'll update this post with the archive when it is available on Twitch.

Some bullet points (Thanks jyoung!)

Graphics

Dynamic shadows in each stadium that will change over the course of the season
Colors will also change based on the amount of sun exposure
Grass and dirt colors are more accurate for each stadium
There are way more skin tones (they used to only have 13), which means you'll get much more realistic skin on dark-toned players

Gameplay

Directional hitting lets you influence where the ball will go, even in "timing only" mode
Dynamic pitch breaks make each pitch type easier to recognize and closer to how the ball acts in real life
Quick counts will start you in the middle of an at-bat more frequently. Pitchers will always start on a 1-1 count
Manual cutoffs are triggered by the L1 button and will help keep singles with a runner in scoring position from turning into cheap doubles
Outfielders have more curved, indirect routes, and will no longer just take straight paths to the ball. This should help reduce the number of undeserved doubles and triples
Infielders will follow the ball better and cover bases more realistically
There were no changes to umpires
The new MLB challenge system is in place for close plays at bases
Lots of new catching, tagging, and throwing animations were captured; they are unique to each base
Baserunners will slow up now and dynamically change their run speed based on where the ball is hit
There is more of a separation this year between fast and and slow runners
Expect less warping and no more sudden, unrealistic speed boosts in all fielding animations
You can use analog swings with timing hitting now
Meter pitching is more sensitive and has more risk/reward. Missing your mark has more of a penalty, hitting your mark has more of a benefit
Fielding and throwing sliders are now separated into different slider categories for infield/outfield

Next week: There will be a video blog for licensed equipment and the universal rewards system.
In the future: More twitch broadcasts are coming. A "presentation" stream will be next.

UPDATE: If you missed the stream, you can watch the archive here or click the "Spoiler Show" button below.

Spoiler

As gameplay is being shown, let us know what you think!

Game: MLB 15 The ShowReader Score: 9/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS Vita / PS3 / PS4Votes for game: 31 - View All

MLB 15 The Show Videos

Member Comments

# 221 HypoLuxa13 @ 02/06/15 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dolenz


	Well, I knew there would be people nitpicking the stream and I wasn't wrong. The bottom line as I see it is anything can be improved with unlimited resources, both in developers and hardware. Unfortunately no company has the unlimited developers and the PS4 is not as powerful as some want to believe. So, decisions have to be made, priorities have to be set. The developers priority list may not match my priority list. My priority list may not match your priority list. As a pretty avid gamer and visitor to more traditional gaming sites I can tell you that almost across the board peoples expectations of how much better the PS4 (and Xbox One) would be have been a little high. I can't count how often I have seen gamers complain about developers being lazy because they can't seem to hit 1080P and 60 fps for every game. Many, many games are sacrificing 60 fps and targeting 30 fps in favor of upgrading the graphics. Even Naughty Dog, the developer of some of the best looking PS games has recently stated that 60fps in Uncharted 4 may not happen. The game The Evil Within actually used letterboxing, supposedly to increase the cinematic quality in the game, but most believe it was to not tax the system. Ramone mentioned that it took them many years to get the game looking as good as it did on the PS3 and that it would take them years to get the PS4 version as good as it can get. I believe him. I also believe that if you want better AI or uniforms that have more realistic textures or flap in the wind then something else is going to have to be sacrificed because at the end of the day the PS4, while more powerful than the PS3 is still not running top of the line hardware and still has limitations.

(sarcasm)Oh, please, all they'd need to do to get all of the physics and textures we want would just be to have put in a separate Nvidia PhysX processor in. So elementary and cheap to do. Or even just overclock the existing hardware to "one point twenty one jiga-watts" (/sarcasm)

# 222 ped3328 @ 02/06/15 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spitoon


	I watched the whole video last night. I didn't think I would be able to sit through it all, but it was somewhat fascinating. I don't think most people can really appreciate what it takes to achieve something like this. Seeing that goes a long way to explaining why its not easy to 'just' change something. Everything hinges on something else, when you change one thing, you might have no idea what impacts it will have on other aspects of the game. Great job SCEA. To be this open and transparent with us is fantastic. One thing I didn't directly see was if there was anything done with hits down the lines? I think the changes to ball physics and fielder speed/routes (and baserunner speed) might take care of this, but it always bothers me how most balls ripped down the lines end up being singles.

Because outfielders are too darn fast. With separate sliders for infielders and outfielders, it will hopefully be more realistic.

# 223 Factzzz @ 02/06/15 11:30 AM

It looks like Justin Upton doesn't have a beard (although his batting stance is terrible), last year he did, which gives hope that SCEA went back and looked at players hair and beard and took away some of the beards that were unneeded.

So hopefully guys like Adam Jones, Mark Trumbo, and Colby Rasmus don't have full beards, and guys like Gerrit Cole have beards.

# 224 HozAndMoose @ 02/06/15 11:50 AM

Id pay 60 bucks just for a better Award winner formula. Been playing RTTS recently and Kershaw just won Cy Young (18-7, 2.49 ERA, 234 SO). Strasburg finished 2nd in MVP voting (16-8 with a 1.63 ERA and 275 SO). Wasnt even top 3 for Cy Young.

# 225 ajblithe20 @ 02/06/15 11:59 AM

Watched parts of the stream again, and I think all the new equipment is really going to make this game look fresh and better. It seems like a really small thing to want a better looking batter's shin guard in the game, but having all this new equipment at once makes the game look more realistic. Looks less like a video game and more like the real thing now

# 226 bronxbombers21325 @ 02/06/15 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ped3328


	Because outfielders are too darn fast. With separate sliders for infielders and outfielders, it will hopefully be more realistic.

This has me really excited. Infielder speed can stand to be turned down a little, as I feel they are able to get to balls that should get through. But outfielder speed needs to be turned all the way down in my opinion, to make it realistic. This should solve the problem I had last year, where I would turn fielding speed all the way down, and anything not hit directly to an infielder would get through.

# 227 ryanmc564 @ 02/06/15 12:11 PM

For what has been shown so far the lighting and shadows are a nice improvement. The new animation in my opinion are very noticeable and look a lot smoother than the older animation that are still in the game. Overall nice improvements as usual that you can expect from scea year after year.

Now, as always everyone has their complaints about certain areas of the game and they all have the right to express their complaints, I have gripes about the game too, and I think we all can agree on is that we complain because we want the best most realistic baseball game imaginable, and there is nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately, it is unrealistic to expect a annually release game to make huge leaps from year after year. Every year SCEA and all the other sport game developers have to tweak and make adjustment to everything in the game and that all takes a lot of time and resources. Consequently not everything can get a complete overhaul year after year.

So I ask this question, would you prefer if sports game quit putting out a new game a year that has little tweaks here and there with subtle improve changes and go to a every other year release that gives the developer more time to make huge improvements over the previous game and just release a roster and schedule update for the off year? by doing so that gives them 2 development cycles to work on all aspects of the game without having to worry about meeting a yearly deadline. I for one wouldn't mind that at all. chances are this will never happen but its a way that they can make huge improvements to many areas instead of a few here and there year after year.

# 228 ChrisHansen59 @ 02/06/15 12:13 PM

I would guess that new body types will come when the PS3 version becomes obsolete. The skeletons are relatively the same and they don't have time to work on two different skeletal types between cycles.

# 229 rjackson @ 02/06/15 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clarke99


	It is natural for people to stand behind their purchases but so far truth is, PS4 is not far from PS3, not yet anyways. (yes I have both) One thing this thread and other feedback from other outlets is that MLB 15 is not looking as great as it normally does. It's early but normally there isn't this much disappointment and backlash, all the brown nosers here can say what they will but there is reason for legitimate concern. The game will always be serviceable, but it has always been a step above, those days maybe coming to an end...

Brown nosers? Really? Someone who has different life experiences and knowledge than you which create an opinion you do not agree with automatically means to categorize and label them - pejoratively nonetheless. We all have our own priorities and thoughts which when combined assist these people who actually listen to us on these boards. We all bring something to the table, I just wish that it was presented constructively more often.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelAngeloTMNT


	Gameplay is what makes or breaks a game.

This is completely true and extremely understated nowadays.

# 230 BrianFifaFan @ 02/06/15 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HypoLuxa13


	(sarcasm)Oh, please, all they'd need to do to get all of the physics and textures we want would just be to have put in a separate Nvidia PhysX processor in. So elementary and cheap to do. Or even just overclock the existing hardware to "one point twenty one jiga-watts" (/sarcasm)

Love it!

BTW, the Dayton Dragons are better!

# 231 bxphenom7 @ 02/06/15 01:27 PM

Well, the animations are definitely smoother and much more believable.

# 232 Blzer @ 02/06/15 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bxphenom7


	Well, the animations are definitely smoother and much more believable.

Outfielder running animations are far improved. I loved the sense of urgency on that one diving catch in center.

# 233 merchant1874 @ 02/06/15 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dolenz


	Well, I knew there would be people nitpicking the stream and I wasn't wrong. The bottom line as I see it is anything can be improved with unlimited resources, both in developers and hardware. Unfortunately no company has the unlimited developers and the PS4 is not as powerful as some want to believe. So, decisions have to be made, priorities have to be set. The developers priority list may not match my priority list. My priority list may not match your priority list. As a pretty avid gamer and visitor to more traditional gaming sites I can tell you that almost across the board peoples expectations of how much better the PS4 (and Xbox One) would be have been a little high. I can't count how often I have seen gamers complain about developers being lazy because they can't seem to hit 1080P and 60 fps for every game. Many, many games are sacrificing 60 fps and targeting 30 fps in favor of upgrading the graphics. Even Naughty Dog, the developer of some of the best looking PS games has recently stated that 60fps in Uncharted 4 may not happen. The game The Evil Within actually used letterboxing, supposedly to increase the cinematic quality in the game, but most believe it was to not tax the system. Ramone mentioned that it took them many years to get the game looking as good as it did on the PS3 and that it would take them years to get the PS4 version as good as it can get. I believe him. I also believe that if you want better AI or uniforms that have more realistic textures or flap in the wind then something else is going to have to be sacrificed because at the end of the day the PS4, while more powerful than the PS3 is still not running top of the line hardware and still has limitations.

Some good points.

Although we are only 14 months into the PS4 era. Its not unreasonable to expect major improvement in the years ahead.

# 234 Splitter77 @ 02/06/15 02:14 PM

thank you scea.
just watched the twitch feed.
you added seeing the flight of the ball off the bat in behind the pitcher camera.
love it!!!

# 235 Russell_SCEA @ 02/06/15 02:15 PM

FYI for Year-2-year saves all of the MLB players will have their new unique skin tones. They won't bring over the old ones.

# 236 HustlinOwl @ 02/06/15 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russell_SCEA


	FYI for Year-2-year saves all of the MLB players will have their new unique skin tones. They won't bring over the old ones.

so youre saying y2y saves may include roster transfer (OSFM) as well????

# 237 HozAndMoose @ 02/06/15 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HustlinOwl


	so youre saying y2y saves may include roster transfer (OSFM) as well????

I really hope he likes the post.

# 238 OffensiveIndifferenc @ 02/06/15 02:43 PM

How is it that baserunners running thru first base still don't always touch the bag?? It happens when the runner is already out and coasting, but there's not one player who doesn't still touch down on the bag when running or jogging thru.

# 239 nemesis04 @ 02/06/15 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blzer


	By the way, anybody miss the PiP baserunning window?

I was wondering when someone was going to mention that. That is one change I am bummed about. Leaves you a little blind to what is going on.

# 240 HozAndMoose @ 02/06/15 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nemesis04


	I was wondering when someone was going to mention that. That is one change I am bummed about. Leaves you a little blind to what is going on.

Well people cant complain about the numbers and equipment not showing up in it now though.

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