Major League Baskeball 2K9 Features List

[Lisa_Bonami]

One of the features that mentioned fielding leads me to believe that ACTUAL Player Ratings and Attributes will now finally play a role in what type of performances and animations get triggered out in the field??....I hope so. Im tired of seeing my 1B with a D rated Range and Glove keep coming up with these Don Mattingly esque lunging stabs in the hole over and over as if he was a 5 time Golden Glover!

Rejoice in order?

[Blzer]

Quote: Originally Posted by therizing02

"The catcher will call pitches based on the hitter's weakness" In a way this is good, but it could blow up in a hurry and be IMO a game killer. My point is that if I'm batting and I'm weak low and away will I be able to possibly make adjustments and will the CPU pitch the same to every batter all the time? Additionally, if I'm pitching will hitters adjust their approach from at bat to at bat?

Actually, this has been in the game since 2K6. And no, it's not a breaker at all, and instead is actually realistic.

Watch Jake Peavy on the mound. Watch that guy just absolutely take command of all of his hitters just by staying on the outer half of the plate. His 2-seamer always drops right back over the black, and he'll mix it up with a slider for people to fish for it when they expect that 2-seamer again. Simply fantastic command. This is replicated in the game.

Now, take Sidney Ponson or Barry Zito. These guys may have a target to locate and they may get it sometimes, but they leave their share of pitches over the plate, hanging, begging to be hit out.

The other thing that's great is that, whether it's a good or bad pitcher, missing off the plate means it's a ball, which means the potential for walks. This will also do be realistic if there are variable umpire strike zones, etc.

Anyway, I as I said, this has been around since 2K6. The 2K team is working with Inside Edge™ in using their advanced scouting reports. These things show what percentage of the time pitchers throw which pitches, where, and in which counts. It's very in-depth, and in the game we could "purchase" said reports with our incoming payroll as GM and use them in the game, so we still have an advantage in scouting. It was very deep and made 2K6 very fun (on Xbox, not 360).

I prefer it, actually.

[Blzer]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigfnjoe96

Example of Zone Hitting in 2k3. What I loved about this was the higher the difficulty the smaller the circle got. If we are getting a more updated version of this I will be http://s.xboxmovies.ign.com/xbox/vid...01-0001003.mov http://s.xboxmovies.ign.com/xbox/vid...01-0002002.mov

2K3 didn't have zone hitting.


EDIT: Just looked at the videos. That's cursor hitting.

[Pappy Knuckles]

I really want a baseball game, so I'm hoping this ends up being pretty decent. I liked 2K7 and went to The Show last year. I didn't play 2K8, but now that I"m 360 only it will be my only choice.

[Bahnzo]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pared

With VC developing the title everything you've thought of this baseball series can be thrown out the window.

The thing is...the series itself needs to be thrown out the window and rebuilt from the ground up. VC might have taken it over, but I have my doubts about turd polishing.

[Art1bk]

Quote: Originally Posted by Skyboxer

I disagree. In zone (Correct me if I'm wrong) if I aim low and in and swing...the swing is low and in. With The Show if I aim low and in the swing will be wherever the ball is. Even if you do not move the stick to aim swing (The swing then should remain in the middle) the swing animation still goes to where the ball is. I agree though that the coverage is way to big.

I completly agree with u on this. The show is not true zone hitting because the bat always makes contact with the ball no matter where u put the L stick. The only way u miss the pitch is if it's very high or way inside or outside which is unhitable. 2k4 had true zone hitting and it took some skills to get some hits. Not just pressing x.

[SoxFan01605]

Quote: Originally Posted by Art1bk

I completly agree with u on this. The show is not true zone hitting because the bat always makes contact with the ball no matter where u put the L stick. The only way u miss the pitch is if it's very high or way inside or outside which is unhitable. 2k4 had true zone hitting and it took some skills to get some hits. Not just pressing x.

Argreed. I loved the "true aim" (think that's the "official" name of 2K's zone) batting. It was actually, IMO, the best of the console choices at the time.

[Blzer]

I still recommend that people play Interplay Sports Baseball 2000. Aside from the fact that it was two-button swinging (I still don't appreciate that games have a power/contact toggle instead of just one), their zone hitting was, and still is, superior to most games' zone hitting to date. Yes, ESPN MLB was good... but for a PSX game, this game had quite the number of goodies, from zone hitting to authentic batting stances, home run collision detection, balks, fake throws, pitch track, attribute versus left-handed/right-handed pitching, and even when you're the Mariners during season mode, they move from The Kingdome to Safeco Field in the beginning of July.

I still own it and play it on my PS3 every so often. It had bland (actually, laughable) presentation, but wow was it my favorite PSX baseball game by a landslide.

[King Gro23]

Quote: Originally Posted by Blzer

Actually, this has been in the game since 2K6. And no, it's not a breaker at all, and instead is actually realistic. Watch Jake Peavy on the mound. Watch that guy just absolutely take command of all of his hitters just by staying on the outer half of the plate. His 2-seamer always drops right back over the black, and he'll mix it up with a slider for people to fish for it when they expect that 2-seamer again. Simply fantastic command. This is replicated in the game. Now, take Sidney Ponson or Barry Zito. These guys may have a target to locate and they may get it sometimes, but they leave their share of pitches over the plate, hanging, begging to be hit out. The other thing that's great is that, whether it's a good or bad pitcher, missing off the plate means it's a ball, which means the potential for walks. This will also do be realistic if there are variable umpire strike zones, etc. Anyway, I as I said, this has been around since 2K6. The 2K team is working with Inside Edge™ in using their advanced scouting reports. These things show what percentage of the time pitchers throw which pitches, where, and in which counts. It's very in-depth, and in the game we could "purchase" said reports with our incoming payroll as GM and use them in the game, so we still have an advantage in scouting. It was very deep and made 2K6 very fun (on Xbox, not 360). I prefer it, actually.

It will be breaker if they can't nail the pitcher/batter battle. Resulting in 1 -4 pitch AB's zero pitch counts, and the whole nine yards. Although if i study my weakness for the current batter im using I can just influence and zone hit or swing stick it where the balls pitched. The biggest thing i pray for is Ball/strikes and A better hitting camera

[Blzer]

That's why, like I said, it would be great if we could get those variable strike zones. And I actually didn't mean different umpires with different zones. Look at the later ASB games and how the strike zones sort of "fade" as they reach the border. These are spots where it's just going to go one way or the other (with some formula built inside, I'm sure). It will make us hesitant to swing at some of these pitches.

And remember, foul balls are a must. You really need to time it correctly to put a ball in play. Refer to MVP's color window for a better example of that (white is a miss, yellow is foul, light green is contact in play, dark green is good contact in play). This is one reason I hope they can do 60 FPS, because it will mean for more hit variety. Anyway, balls are fouled back (and "tipped" or "tapped" back as well) because of just getting over or under the ball. Again, I hope they can replicate this. They actually weren't too bad in 2K8, but there still weren't foul tips. Even Power Pros had that.