OS MLB 09 Part 4 Impressions - rudyjuly2's Blog

rudyjuly2's Blog

OS MLB 09 Part 4 Impressions

Posted on February 1, 2009 at 01:34 AM.

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Guys are back and a ton more. This will be only a one post entry (as of 1:30 am EST on Sunday) as I will have to do part 5 tomorrow. But no posting more info during the Superbowl!

Community Leader Answers

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Jim (#472 on managing rosters in season mode)
Oh, yeah. It was completely different because of the 40 man roster and all the teams players being on ONE page, not three. It was a little cumbersome for me as I just wasn't used to it.

Trax, you're like me, right? If a player gets injured you send him down and bring up his actual replacement (real time, daily)???? If so, no you can't MANUALLY put him on the DL.
You have to do it the same way as last year, put him in the minors, but you go to the CPU Team Control page to do this.

You can do the same manipulation that we roster accuracy nuts did last year, the only problem is my work around didn't work as they had to change the code/programming, etc., however the roster lineup AUTO FIX works really well. I must have tested six teams and was happy with how it adjusted the rosters. You can still manually change all the team rosters if you want if you're unhappy with what the CPU did.

Jim (#474 on how updated the rosters were)
The rosters were pretty accurate. But, I with a lot of the teams just to check things out and they looked good. I noticed Ronny Cedeno still on the Cubs. As they were listening to some of the things we were telling them, I'm gonna bet they will be update to the date that the game is FINISHED and ready to ship off for approval by Sony/MLB, etc.

Jim (#476 on whether we will have to tinker with sliders or if default will be better)
Nemesis and I both felt that, out of the box, there's a heck of a lot of less use for the sliders. Remember, the sliders were used last year to try to correct the doubles down the line that weren't, the balls in the gaps that seemed to be always caught/cut off, etc. and these issues are absolutely fixed this year. It's still going to be an individual gamer thing to tweak the game, but yes.

I'm sure when the game is out somebody will be posting "It's too easy to hit on LEGEND", lol.

I'm going to exaggerate a little here, but the breaking balls can cause your knees to buckle and you just have a controller in your hand. That's the kind of stuff that impressed us most.

Jim (#479)
This was an interesting coding/programing explanation (this is for you guys who say "how hard can it be.....how come they don't add this or that).

You remember the problem where the outfielder would stop and the catcher would run out to RF and pick up the ball? What was happening is lthat there was, I'll try to explain this as best I can, one teensy-weensy spot in the outfield that triggered the field to do a turn around. You wouldn't see it, but the catcher was actually running towards the backstop (in the coding) and trying to pick up the ball. We saw him running to the OF, but that's not what he was doing when the programmers looked at it. He was running towards the backstop after the ball.

They had to do hours trying to find this one little pin point spot in the field that was causing this. Every centimeter of the game has some kind of coding that effects other stuff. It was amazing to watch one programmer sitting in front of 5 monitors with 2 controllers reconstruct things.

Thought I'd pass that along.

Jim (#481 on being the MVP so far of info)
Aw, hell no. The other guys are on a long plane ride and you'll be amazed at the stuff they'll lay on you. All the franchise stuff that I haven't a clue about because I don't play years of franchise, more on the sliders, etc. I'm just touching the surface and I'm the only one that isn't flying at 30,000 feet right now.

Jim (#484 on the Legend free agents and if the cpu will sign them in franchise)
Not in FRANCHISE mode. They are there in the default FA list, I think 80 of them. Before you start your FRANCHISE you can go ahead and assign them to different teams if you want, all of them if you want, spread them around. Once you go to FRANCHISE these oldtimers disappear, replaced by 80 fake players that you can create (plus the Manny Ramirez, Adam Dunn free agents).

Jim (#487 on the Community Leaders)
True dat. I'm probably the weakest link really, but a handsome weakest link. I don't think I heard Knight and Pared shut up the entire time I was there. Now Nemesis was like a man in a trance in front of the monitor. We had to throw chairs at him to get his attention.

Jim (#488 on the TVs they were playing on)
Scott, gonna guess about 25" LCD computer monitors. Not exactly sure of the sizes.
You've got a Sony Bravia like me, so.........yummy.

Jim (#492 on the developers at SCEA)
I can't express enough how great these guys were. When we first walked in, Russell being very serious in tone, lol, we sat down at a big table and the devs walked in, very serious, a dozen or so of them. I had to draw down on Kolbe, but I digress. We knew then that this was a serious business for these guys. We were all very humble, but once we got into it and they put a muzzle on Pared so he woudn't bite, everything loosened up. JUST KIDDING Pared!

Several devs told us how important it was to have a bunch of serious gamers at OS (all you guys) that they could look to for feedback. Again, when you have a game developer looking over your shoulder when you're playing you know they are serious about their product.

Jim (#500)
Quote:
Originally Posted by theaub View Post
1) How much new commentary was added this year? Did you hear more city-specific phrases?

2) You noted that the stadium was more "dressed up" for the playoffs. Was there any of that fan promotion stuff (like the towel waving)?

3) Did you see any elite players going on waivers during a dynasty season?
1. Per Kolbe, a lot. We had five monitors going at once, so there were five different audios we were listening to at once, hard to concentrate on specifics.

2. I think Knight checked that.

3. Knight, later.

He had a long typed list and even some of my answers are on his list. He'll chime in late tonight, I'm sure. He's on a three week vacation.

Jim (#541-#543, 545)
You cannot choose to argue calls.

Behind the pitcher view the pitch stamina bar doesn't disappear, been fixed.

Yes, you can pick up on the pitched ball MUCH better this year and the difference in pitch types is quite obvious.

There is no DH or UTILITY position in the player editor.

Jim (#548-#555)
You cannot choose your stadium in FRANCHISE, I may have answered that awhile ago.

Did not see the pitcher look at first/second before pickoffs.

No create a team, or create stadiums. If you want though you could replace a team with all the old time players in the FA list and play a franchise.

Didn't see a coach pick up a ball.

I think Kolbe said 21 create a player slots?

You can't edit the coaches/managers.

Cannot step out of batters box before the pitch.

You can change lineups/pitching rotation for both teams in exhibition mode only, not franchise. Would have to use two controllers like last year.

Jim (#558 - #560, #568)
There is no rosen bag on the field.

The reason is programming. Right now you see the rosen bag in the pitchers hand at times and he throws it down. We were told that the rosen back HAS to be a "static" (embedded) article and actually part of the field that will NOT move. There is no way to program it so that the pitcher will walk behind the mound and pick it up. If they do have that animation there will still be a rosen bag showing on the field.

So that people don't post...."well why don't they......." remember there is already coding in the game that if something is changed it might mean changing absolutely everything that effects that code/program.

Catcher doesn't throw his mask.

If you put your personal music/jeers/cheers in the game, but then use a new roster, you lose the music/jeers/cheers as those are tied into the roster. A new roster means you have to put the stuff back in for each player. That makes sense. (you don't lose the stuff off your hard drive)

Weekly roster update and chants/jeers. It is my understanding, for those guys who do the weekly roster updates, that the chants/jeers are completely tied into the one roster you just added them to. That makes sense to me as a roster is a separate file. So if you download a weekly update you are NOT downloading the chants/cheers, just the roster update. You'd have to reinsert the audio to the new roster update.

Jim (#563)
Are there outfield errors? I had Soriano run a ball down and then drop it, so I'd say yes.

Jim (#565)
Ha, ha....okay...one mo time, lol. Here's how the lighting works. Let's take a Seattle night game. All 7pm games used to start with it DARK. Now when you go to the game, and being as it gets dark much later up north you will see the sun out, however, you will notice afternoon shadows in the stadium. It will get increasingly darker (thats' what happens when night comes , until the lights go on and you're playing the game at night.

Think real life. They covered it.

Jim (#572)
Hint....and they were laughing at this one...."You know one guy thinks the ball hitting off the wall is the same as a ball hitting off a player".....It doesn't work that way, we know that now.

This IS rocket science. I felt quite inadequate, lol.

Jim (#577)
In the player editor, let's see.....

For EACH player you can

add a homerun song/chant/whatever
a walkup for him
a few separate jeers
a few separate cheers

You don't even have to edit the song. The program will do it for you, HOWEVER, to save space on your PS3 hard drive you might want to put in very short clips. I'm sure some guys here will be coming up with all kinds of short clips. I plan on adding all the old High Heat shouts/cheers/jeers myself.

Chris_SCEA (#588 on whether you can get the rosen bag on the field)
I believe what he is saying is that we didn't have time to get to it this year. The graphics guys were a little busy this year. Right, Jim?

But....Yes, it can be done. Just about anything can be done, it just takes time, resources and coordination with various groups....

I think you may have been the one asking about "how much power of the PS3 we use..." There really is not a definitive way to answer that. I talked to the guys a little about this at dinner (and I am not really the guy to answer this, but since I'm here).

Think of it this way...in the first couple years of the PS2 developers were using "100%" of it's power...and then they got better at coding for it...optimized things, etc...fast forward to the later years on the PS2..God of War II for instance. That game looks amazing. There is no comparison between it and 1st or 2nd gen Ps2 games...both were using "100%" of its power probably, but early on they were only using a portion of its potential. The hardware itself obviously did not get more powerful, the devs just found ways to tap more out of it...do more things with the power they have...that is the very cool thing about the PS3 and the cell, and the SPUs....they are crazy powerful...and as we find more ways to optimize and harness that power, you will have rosen bags galore.

Hope that made sense....and of course, Patrick may post telling me I don't know what I am talking about, so take it for what its worth.

Bottom Line..Don't stop asking. Many of the things you ask for are on our lists as well.

Chris

Knight (#591)
Okay boys.
I'm back home in N.Y.
I'm going to take 45 minutes to shower,eat...say "hello" to the wife and pet the dog. So that will be 5 minutes...25 minutes...1 minute and 14 minutes.

Then I'll be on pretty much all night for you guys.
I have the answers to almost every question on the list. If I don't have the answer now...it's because the dev team member who I asked wasn't the guy working on that and the guy I needed to talk to was busy. It's very few and I will find out if I can.
The other thing is the sections we can't discuss until after SCEA releases it's information about it first. That one is a no-brainer.
If you're asking me something and I'm not answering....that's the reason. I really don't want to keep posting "I can't discuss that."
Be back soon.

Knight (#606)
efore I start....I gotta say.... major props to Russell.
Quite a few guys on the dev team told me that while they wanted to do this Community Event....it was Russell who fought and busted his a$$ to get it done. Major Atta Boy to Russell for that.
Thank you.

Brian is an absolute genius. I would have loved to listen to him talk about how he comes up with his formulas for attributes for both days....but he's on another level. I could only understand up until he said.."Hi, I'm Brian"....then it sounded like he was speaking in tongues (j/k Brian ...thanks for the insight!)

Pat....pretty much the same as Brian...Except it went like this..."Hi I'm Pat...I do the stadium work..you see here the spectral lighting ei394r0dk 94830sl484030 49303854030-29 8950202kdka0d[a4. 49fdk 09543 sdkaj/ l43lmfpd p94lwe0 and that's how we get the shadows at Safeco to bounce off the red tile. Thanks for coming."

Steve from sound....the only guy at SCEA to watch my vids There will be extra shirts in the care package for you buddy.

Lorne....my kindred spirit over there. He's got his space laid out just like I do(okay he's a little neater))....to do his roster work. Needed some more time with him. ..(maybe next time)
(Lorne...I was gonna kidnap one of your collectibles and put him up for ransom here on O.S...I would have tied him up and even put a little tiny duct tape over his mouth with a little note...HELP ME LORNE..PLEASE!)......but I don't think I can do time in a S.D. jail.....way too warm for me!)

Travis......next time I'm bringin' MY camera, big man. YOU'LL be doing the cryin'

Chris, Chris and Chris...eehhhh...you guys were working to hard. I'll find something on you though.

Kolbe....now if there was ever a guy who was from New York....but is B.S.'in everyone out there that he's a left coast boy...it's him.
"Kolbe...can I have ONE more editable player in the game please?"...You simply get this look like....yeah right...big smirk and a big fat NO...sarcastic as heck and the DEAD GIVEAWAY...he drives like a New Yorker....right down to yellin' at some poor old lady to get the *$&( out of the way after a 2 second pause at In and Out Burger. You my man there Kolbe...don't let them old bags get away with NOTHIN'!

It was a phenomenal experience.
They should put in a cover charge and give a short tour. Great way to make some bucks!

Knight (#612)
I'm just gonna go down the lists...may have been answered already...sorry for the dupe if it was.

Eye black...yes...glasses...8 kinds of shades.
I didn't get into the editor that much.
I know that sounds crazy for me...but I wanted to play(that sounds CRAZIER...but when you see it, you'll understand) and I had 15 pages of questions from you guys.

Baggy pants + stirrups? No...if you have stirrups it's the high socks

Red Sox unis correct? Yes.

Long sleeves at night issue? Corrected.

Do the Indians have the red bill on the batting helmet. No..all same color

Atlanta Blue Jersey? The did have one...I'm not sure if it's the one you wanted...

Warm up jackets? Yes

Stirrups?

More retro unis? Yes and one was butt ugly(no fault of SCEA's...) the White Sox Blue/w white stripe...like a prison uni!
Saw a nice Pirates retro.

Player wear specific team jersey in the all star game? No

Red gloves? Multi bats? No and the bats are solid..but I did see a white stripe on the black bat this year.

Braves alt road uni? Yes

Change colors of acc? No

A's uni's....MLB STYLE GUIDE(sorry)

82 Brewers unis? The look better to me

Choice on cleats? No

82 Braves unis? No

Mismatched colors on catcher equipment? Yes...it's the same now
Reds caps....right now it's the same as last year...but Chris is looking into it....let's hope?

I just want to point out something about the unis and the MLB guide.
I think it was Jason and Chris that told me that these guys are CONSTANTLY sending requests(PROBABLY OUR REQUESTS) to the MLB guide crew and they are getting knocked. It's not that these guys(SCEA) are just looking at the guide and saying..."no good"...they see that you are providing links/photos and are trying...but they are STRICTLY bound. I was told the fines are hefty.
I hope this helps guys understand what it is about the uni's(and I hope I was allowed to say what I just did......if not take out that little silver pen from M.I.B. and forget it)

Knight (#619)
Boxscore expanded? It's basically the same as last year. One guy asked specifically about number of pitches...there is the pitch track and it has the TOTAL breakdown for you. Accessible after the game. Never realized that...I'll be using this one!

Can you see opposing pitcher/batter ratings during game? Not exactly...but one EXCELLENT new addition...on the BP screen you can now hit square and it switches the next batter up(name) to his contact vs. LHP an RHP. Handy(I forget if you can get power up there too...sorry)

I'm sorry I didn't get more into stat tracking. I'm going to be honest...it was easy to get sidetracked. There was A LOT going on.

One thing I must say about the layout....they changed it and it's FANTASTIC.
They are really trying to streamline getting into the "depths" of the screens.
For instance....to get to the bullpen to replace a pitcher you had to pause...go into the bullpen on that menu...then warm up your pitcher. Then when you went to replace....same thing.
It's now tied to the directional pad in game.
Hit the up button....and the bullpen....infield/outfield depth/shift is displayed.Warm up your pitchers..
Now for the sweet part...when your pitcher is warm...hit the up button again and your pitchers are displayed at the bottom of the menu...highlight one and it brings up the option to sit him/put him in or double switch.

I talked to Brian and he and Kolbe have more streamlining of these menus being talked about. Love it.

Knight (#620)
Baggy pants are in. You can't select baggy pants and have the stirrup socks...it's tied into it's own set of pants.

No editing salaries. MLBPA ...same with lengths...but they worked on getting the lengths right.

Nemesis (#627 on warming up pitchers)
The menu comes up by hitting up on the d-pad this year. You can do bullpen, defense etc. Once you pick your pitchers and they are warm you can put them in the game from that pop up menu.

Knight (#632)
Has diving catches by the OF'ers been improved? BIG yes. I saw some awesome new animations.

Can we throw ball around after strikeout? I don't think so....

Doubles?(this question was actually much longer).....WAY MORE. Down the line lasers.....splitting the gap hard shots...splitting the gap long shots...long shots down the line....balls hit over the OF'ers heads..I'd say MUCH BETTER (I know you heard this already, but I like hearing it myself! )

Will coaches pick up and throw foul balls? No

Can I hear more about the new routes the OF'ers take? This one I thought would be a simple..."yeah they changed the routes" answer...until I asked Brian about it. Whew! This guy is FOCUSED on getting the AI routines right. The sheer amount of work he has put into this is absolutely amazing. Watching him run his routines on his work station and then listening to him explain how he would go to games...watch games...read books all just to see how he could get all of this correct is mind boggling.
Add to that the animations that Chris and his team are constantly adding and tweaking to make that A.I. look and do the right thing and it's really nice.
...an aside on this...it all looks and feels(when you are fielding) very natural and smooth as glass.
I'm totally impressed with this.

OF'ers...will they bypass the cut off and throw to bases more? This has been worked on. I couldn't get enough hits(I'm terrible) to check this out...maybe the others can chime in...

High throws to first...toned down? I still get some when I field...so that's on me some...but I saw less throwing errors to first, for sure.

Wild pitches/passed balls...toned down? There are still a good amount. Maybe a bit too much perhaps. There is a new animation where the catcher smothers the ball(I think it's new) right at the plate. That does cut down on players advancing as much as last year from what I saw. We started to discuss this after we left(at the hotel). Maybe Kolbe can check on this?

Manual sliding? No...assisted and auto like last year.

When you play D...is there more of a sense of urgency to get rid of the ball? Yes. Fielding got a NICE work over. The DP's are nice. The throws in the DP's are excellent.
Seeing the CPU go the short way to get the third out and being able to do it yourself...is excellent. I was playing Jim and forgot there was two outs...he had a man on first. Grounder to my 2B and I hit the triangle to start what I thought would be a DP. Last year that would have been 1st and 2nd with 2 outs. I got the man ...inning over.

Can you cut off the ball mid air? No (and I know you mean if you are throwing home to try and get the runner...you know you're not getting him and see the batter taking second...you would "yell" for a cut off and try and get him there or at least stop him from advancing)

Did they adjust the depth that OF'ers start at? Yes...it seems so. I forgot to ask...but I remember thinking it just looked different from last year.

CPU bullpens? Can we see pitchers warming up? No...but the CPU will do mound visits to "warn" you that a RP might be on the way!

Does the opposing manager come to the mound more? Yes

Knight (#636 on his overall opinion of '09)
I'll tell you this. MLB'08 probably hasn't been out of my PS3 for a full day since the release date last year. It won't be back in anymore.
I almost(yeah right!) wish I didn't see this. Not being able to dive into it today for 12 hours has me a little strung out.

I didn't get into either checking out the rosters specifically or checking out the editor(except to check on options for guys) too much. I just had too much to do with the question list.

Knight (#659 - big franchise news)
Franchise.
You guys have seen the blog....but holy crap. Thing of beauty!

Let me get one thing out of the way...the travel part. Unchanged and I hate it too......I agree, there should be no way your MLB squad should be taking a bus. Like Pedro Feliciano says in the game "it's embarrassing" . I forgot to ask Kolbe about this though. I apologize.
Maybe they can work on this next year.(that's ME saying this)...we can ask them.

I simmed a season in franchise quite a few times to check certain aspects. Right off the bat....NO CRAZY WAIVER MOVES. I did not see a bona fide MLB regular getting put through waivers. Lower tier guys...that probably got called up to replace a player because of injury?...yes. A lot of the times they made it back down and that makes sense...they weren't really worth picking up.(that's why the CPU took him up instead of a guy with options).
It seems like the CPU will go for a guy with options first(if he "fits" into the managers needs).
The option year will be for one full year. So if you have a guy with 2 options left...you can shuttle him up and down for the year and still have one left. A guy with 1 left(when in the minors) can be used that year once you bring him up.
It's when guy has 0 options left...that you must expose him to the waiver wire and hence the chance to lose him to another squad. I should be shot for this...but I can't remember if you can pull the player back or not. I don't think so though.

There are no waiver trades(meaning after the trade deadline)(perhaps next year!)...but there is in addition to the 40 man roster the playoff eligible roster. For a player to be eligible for the playoff roster, he must be either on the 25 man active roster or the DL by September 1st(REMEMBER!). If a player gets injured after the deadline OR during the playoffs...you can replace him with a member that is on the 40 man roster(thereby still playoff eligible)

September callups are automatic to your 40 man roster(remember to set them on the 31st)

The off season got a major and AWESOME overhaul. Once you get used to it...it makes sense. Everything is off the schedule now. You simply pick an off season day(if you go a week ahead of the date....things will happen in the rest of the league! be careful!) and choose it. A menu comes up showing the things available to do.
Certain days have stars on them. You can highlight them to see what the significance of that date is(last day to sign your possible FA's for instance) ...so you don't forget.
That reminds me of something else I forgot to ask Kolbe...if we can save from day to day...but I think we can...I'm almost sure of it.(please give a heads up Kolbe! )
You have a 15 day window from the W.S. to re-sign your FA exclusively(like in real life)
The off season is also where you will assign your June draft signings(if you want)
When they are drafted in June...they are put on an "inactive" roster for "safe keeping" until you can see how you want to make your moves.
If you let a Type A free agent go...and another club signs him...you will receive comp picks(in the June draft). These are sandwich picks that you would get in between the rounds. There are 5 rounds...but if you have sandwich picks you could get more than 5 players(if you make all the picks)
The off season FA signing period looks good. There were a couple of guys left on there I thought should go...but 1. I didn't sign anyone(I simmed through it and was just looking at things), so if I did...it could have made a difference to that.
There were FA's MLB guys after the period...but only one that I REALLY thought should have been signed.
I was told that the CPU MIGHT sign FA's during the season from the FA list. I didn't see it..but I was told it was possible!

more after a quick break!

Nemesis (#662)
Legend

I must say that I walked away very impressed with the amount of work that went into this level. The game gives you a great sense of which teams you will have an up hill battle against as opposed to the ones you feel can be taken early on in the game. Strategy, strategy, strategy.......did I mention strategy? As we know, baseball is a thinking mans game. Sure you have to hit, throw, catch and run but knowing what to do before actually performing these tasks is often the difference between success and failure. This is no different here in the show, I will admit I was a little nonchalant at first with some of my decision making and the CPU thoroughly exploited and punished me for it. Of course this was at the expense of numerous developers standing behind me watching but it was all good!

In some sort of way I view pitching and hitting like a poker game. Each side is trying to figure the other without tipping their hand as to what they have or don't have. It is very important not to establish patterns when pitching or hitting on this level. For example if you are pitching and had success against a batter the first time don't expect to follow the same routine the next time. Strong hitters adjust very quickly and before you know it your pitcher is hanging his head down because he just got torched. Pitcher confidence is important in keeping things together. Use your mound visits to settle down pitchers or to stall while your reliever is trying to get ready. One thing I learned early was to be proactive with your bullpen. They cannot be an after thought as far as getting warm because things can fall apart extremely fast later in the game.

Then there is the other side, the hitting. If you swing at junk, the CPU pitcher will oblige and continue to throw junk until you can prove you have the eye and willpower to lay off. It is more important than ever to try to get to those hitter's counts. This is where the hitter is rewarded with golden opportunities for the extra base hits. To note, there are some great extra base hits in this game. The variety of PULLED hits will impress! Play the bases smart, The cpu does not mess around and will make you pay for being greedy. The cpu will also come up gunning from the outfield to home so you have been warned!

Pitching and hitting are not enough, you need some solid "D" in the field. You can definitely see the work that went into the fielding. The routes that you and the CPU players take are a thing of beauty. Balls that are hit over your head and the ones that split the outfielders need to be collected quickly and sent to your cut off men to gun down those aggressive cpu runners. The CPU will push it on the base paths and will capitalize when you try to throw home from the outfield with other runners on base. One thing I would like to mention is many complained that the fielder would run by the ball without making any attempts. There are now animations that show the fielder reaching for the ball. You still will miss them if you try that route but it looks good when you miss now.The hot corner is definitely on fire his year. Balls will get smoked down the third base line this year and while your third baseman is picking himself and his jock off the dirt, you have a runner on second, so guard those lines. Especially late in the game!

Just when you think you could not come any closer to the real MLB, the SCEA team has brought us even closer to the action. The AI grew a set in the off season so be ready!

Nemesis (#669)
I beat legend once and it was against the Braves, sorry!

Yanks 1 9 0
Braves 0 3 0

Lowe vs. Burnett

Knight (#674)
Okay...back...

Arbitration....You can offer your guy arbitration and when you do...you are given a time frame to sign him by.

Trades...they seem to have been toned down this year. But it's probably due to improving the programming in this area. In speaking with the devs about this and progression....with the new franchise options...they reworked this area.
I didn't put anyone on the trade block and I think I only got offered 3 trades in two seasons. The other times it was 2 or 1. I was told that if I wanted to get more.....using the trade block would help(sounds obvious...but I'm sure people will forget)
Also.....use the trade block to see what other teams are looking for.
As far as balanced trades, I didn't see anything crazy...but to be honest, I didn't look that much. I didn't want to get into posting specific trades as they are VERY subjective IMO.

Progression. I spoke to a dev about this specifically and am pleased with what I was told...very pleased.
Position....starting attributes and other factors will make a big difference in how a player develops. For instance a CF with speed will be more inclined to gain contact and contact related attributes rather than power. The nice thing is I was told it's not in concrete...you COULD get a guy who looks like he might be a CF...but start to bud and become a power guy. Not the norm anymore but possible.
Also as far as potential...this has been tweaked. While an A potential guy will most likely become a star...he may bust(almost impossible last year)...and you could get a C guy turn into a hidden gem. It's possible this year. There is also no set curve to progression.....there are many and they are variable. I've been told you'll really have to watch your players this year.

The manage roster screens are different this year. All in one. Now when viewing the roster...it's no longer split into each level...you will see all your pitchers..all your RP...all your closers and so on. No more switching from box to box to box to try and make moves. Simply highlight the player and the options on what to do come up on a menu. Very slick.
It does take some getting used to..but everything is laid out there for you.

I mentioned that on opening day there is bunting and logos. They are also there for the playoffs. It's great to see...and every stadium has gotten worked on...they all have great improvements.

There is a lot more commentary added this year....and while it was tough to hear in the room(six sets going at once with plenty of hootin' and hollerin'!)....the audio guy has also told me that there is tons of new specific commentary. Game to game...team to team....

I have more...but I need to find out a few things....
...I'll take a break...

Knight (#678 on Legend mode and the devs trying to beat the Top 5 while Nem beat the Braves)

HA! They reminded him of that too!

Here is all you need to know about LEGEND mode.
It made ME want to play games to try and beat it. It was white knuckle and frustrating(in a good way I guess!) all at once.
But for me...it was ever so humbling.
I "tapped out" quite a bit.

Knight (#681)
Tell you what...
There are going to be quite a few households that looked like the SCEA offices in regards to Legend mode.

If you get anywhere near a tight win...you will get an audience and the pressure is ten fold!
Right nem?

Knight (#683 on playing all the games on the schedule)
Okay...you can play any game on the schedule...but only one up to that time(that's what I was told...I didn't try to play a 1 PM and a 7 PM)....so if you play YOUR game that day....the others will be simmed in the background and that's what you'll see on the scoreboards.

Nemesis (#684 on intense Legend mode)
Lol, that was intense. Luckily no one took Kolbe's advice of tapping the back of my chair like a heart beating. The controller was doing that enough.

Nemesis (#685 on beating Braves on Legend)
True but they were not the worst team. I chose my #2 starter and their #1 starter. They played tough.

Played the Phillies was down 7-2 came back to tie 7-7 only to lose 8-7.

Pissed away a 5-0 lead to Cleveland in the bottom of the 8th. Those damn throws in the dirt that the first baseman could not scoop up!

Nem commented that A-Rod's stance is a little different (#686)

Nemesis (#689 on variety of scores on Legend)
Yes, sometimes you could have the hit parade going and sometimes you would be clawing for hits.

Nemesis (#692)
I saw a lot of new cut scenes added this year. Also the mascots were tastefully done and added to the overall experience.

Nemesis (#696 on the number of foul tips this year)
I only saw 2 or 3 times where they were lengthy. Most of the time the were believable.

Knight (#702 on how the ball looks and if you can see the stitching)
STITCHING

Hey nem...you still got Vasgersian in your head?!

Where the heck is Pared?...he has no life like the rest of us....where could he be?

Knight (#708)

Quote:
Originally Posted by bodhiball View Post
wonderful guys,

Any word on Playoff Atmosphere? Louder crowds, more specific commentary? Playoff-Specific presentation?

Yes-yes-yes...and yes.

Nemesis (#713 on if Turner Field still looks terrible)
As far as specifics I cannot help you but I will tell you the lighting breathes new life into a lot of these stadiums. We had 08 and 09 running side by side and it was impressive.

Nemesis (#716)
There is a cool cut scene where it appears the catcher took a foul to the grapes and is down on the ground trying to compose himself. The ump will walk the ball out to the pitcher to give the catcher time.

Nemesis (#717)

Quote:
Originally Posted by bodhiball View Post
Did they add the "impact" of a batted ball or the pop of the mitt into the dual shock controller this year?

Did not notice any controller feedback for those situations.

Knight (#719)
No ticker(I WILL get my sports ticker for franchise games, right Kolbe?! ) this year...
But the launch paper is cool
It has info on your MLB club...your AAA and AA clubs also(GREAT to keep up on your minor league guys!) plus a LEAGUE wide paper to update you on events in the league.

dorismary...you can play any game on the schedule...but I'm pretty sure not ALL games on the schedule.
Sorry.

Knight (#721 on whether nicknames were added and if they announce both first and last names of created players)

Yes...and I'm pretty sure yes.

Nemesis (#724 on Rob_NYY's disappointment of only a small tweak to A-Rod animation)
From only being there 2 days I was amazed at how much fixing and tweaking they accomplished and the game we were playing was not the most current. I know this is a passion for you but you are way too jammed up about this. Lets just see how it plays out.

Knight (#727)
Brian is a super guy......really, really nice.
It's not just that he's unbelievably intelligent, but the way he is working it into his AI..... This game is covered as far as that goes. His ideas and implementation is IMPRESSIVE.

Knight (#730 on spring training stadiums)
5 new ones. Much more realistic too.

They are
Mackenzie in Winter Haven
Sunsito in Peoria
Date Palm in Scottsdale
American Greens in Tampa
Moonstone in I have no idea, I can't read my notes

Minor league stadiums(new)
Franco Park
Main St. Field
Majestic Greens
Riverboat
Green Valley

You can also use Classic Yankee(last years) and Shea for exhibition(Shea without the construction)

Nemesis (#742)
I learned that what appears like simple add ons could cause havoc with the rest of the game and sometimes needs to be removed or done at a later time!

Knight (#758)
One thing......Kolbe has told me that the long sleeves are weather dependent(unless you always have him w/long sleeves I believe) in the night games...so you have your wish on that count!