MLB 2K9 News Post

Major League Baseball 2K9 Video: Cardinals @ Cubs Bottom 1st

06:04 AM - February 13, 2009 by Steve_OS

Here is the other Major League Baseball 2K9 video, I promised you guys. Please don't post any questions or requests, just stay on topic. More videos will be posted later.

Game: Major League Baseball 2K9Reader Score: 6/10 - Vote Now
Platform: Xbox 360 / PS3Votes for game: 35 - View All

Member Comments

# 1 jeffy777 @ 02/13/09 06:06 AM

Thank you Steve

I think my PC/browser may not like the flash player because at first it looked hitchy in some spots, but if I rewind and watch the same spot again it's smooth with no hiccups. So in this case, it's not the video itself that is hitchy (or the game). It seems to be something on my end or the player. I always pause and let the whole thing download before watching too.

# 2 SoxFan01605 @ 02/13/09 06:59 AM

Well, I've noticed a lot of repetative animations in the crowd and dugout, but that's a minor gripe. While they masked uplicate coloring and body types fairly well, the animations still sync up close by too often. The crowd still looks good overall, mind you, just an observation. Probably not something most will notice during the flow of a game anyway.

The dugout seemed stuck in a looping clapping animation, but aside from when it was focused on it during the lineup overview, I doubt it will be directly visible for that long very often, so it shouldn't prove too distracting.

My concern is (and this might sound funny) that the gameplay looks like it has the same feel as it always has. That might be a positive for many here, but I hope I can find improved core gameplay within that construct at least. Tough to tell is all.

The hit variety seemed good enough given the small sample, but the bat sound still really bugs me. That's another thing that effects the "feel" for me (it makes the hitting feel more forced, and less fluid...if that makes any sense). I know that may sound odd to plenty of people, but I know what I'm saying at least

...lol. The feel of the gameplay is very important to me. Obviously hard to truly gauge from just watching it, so I'm not making any definitive judgements or anything. Just something that I'm thinking about

.

The commentary and presentation still looks/sounds quite good to me, so that's another plus. There seems to be a good flow to Thorne and Phillips overall, so that's good. Obviously, it could end up repetative, but it should be at the very least a d*mn good start, IMO.

The plyer models still look good to me mostly (except the exaggerrated elbow arc...but that's really nit-picking

), and the rest of the graphics will be good enough if all else is working.

The biggest plus for me so far is that, despite it being an early build, it seems to run fairly smoothly. There are a few hiccups and some transitional gaffs, but overall it looks solid enough. Hopefully it's even better come release

# 3 wayne23 @ 02/13/09 07:02 AM

Originally Posted by jeffy777:
Thank you Steve

I think my PC/browser may not like the flash player because at first it looked hitchy in some spots, but if I rewind and watch the same spot again it's smooth with no hiccups. So in this case, it's not the video itself that is hitchy (or the game). It seems to be something on my end or the player. I always pause and let the whole thing download before watching too.

Thanks Steve. Everything looks great.

Jeff I think you may be onto something. I just did the same thing you did and everything seemed alot smoother. Man there is just so much going on in the ballpark...really immersive.

# 4 Lordcledus @ 02/13/09 07:02 AM

I'm very impressed. Gameplay looked smooth, presentation has gotten a LOT better, and the game looks great appearance wise. Could be a very solid year for 2K9.

# 5 ExtremeGamer @ 02/13/09 07:04 AM

Looks good to me, maybe us 360 owners will actually have something this year!

# 6 jeffy777 @ 02/13/09 07:06 AM

Originally Posted by wayne23:
Jeff I think you may be onto something. I just did the same thing you did and everything seemed alot smoother. Man there is just so much going on in the ballpark...really immersive.

Glad I'm not the only one. For a second I thought maybe something was wrong with my computer or something.

Everything is much smoother when I rewind and play the choppy spots again. Looks really good

# 7 The Bimmer @ 02/13/09 07:08 AM

This could change after i rent it, but so far its a...

# 8 King Gro23 @ 02/13/09 07:30 AM

looks good to me, I feel it. I think the stuff he did at 2nd to turn the double play was right except his head was looking toward home i believe. I seen No hiccups really in the bottom half of 1. I did notice in one of the beta screens, some sliders seem juiced resulting in unnatural look maybe

# 9 metsfan75 @ 02/13/09 08:03 AM

every thing looks really great the only thing that i saw that was weird i thought there was supposed to be 300 new signature styles but i didnt see anything diffrent with the stances

# 10 rock85 @ 02/13/09 08:33 AM

Originally Posted by baa7:
Not IMO. Still the same imbalance of flyballs and hard-hit balls to the OF, with only the occasional hard-hit groundball. Everything is scorched in 2K baseball and it has to do with the high player ratings. Lower Power and Contact ratings and you start to see the proper balance and mixture of groundballs and softly hit balls. The new vids here seem to indicate that VC spent their time on the graphics, presentation, menus and adding modes, and not this. That said, the game looks a lot better and I'm looking forward to renting it, LOL.

baa we seen TWO video's of gameplay can we at least see some more vids/play the game before we pass judgement on hit variety

# 11 jeffy777 @ 02/13/09 08:53 AM

Originally Posted by baa7:
Those are my initial impressions nonetheless. The other thing I'm not seeing are fouls and nubbers and rollers that go foul. I saw one foul ball, but other than that every ball that made contact with the bat was put into play

There were two fouls, one in each video. The first one was a weak grounder down the first base line at the beginning of the first vid.

Originally Posted by baa7:
-- which is another example of how the gameplay in 2K has been for years. Batters come up to the plate, and there's no extended battle with the pitcher. AB's are one-and-done for every batter. They swing, put the ball into play, and are either out or end up on base.

It all depends on who's playing. The person playing in the video was swinging at almost everything, but when I play 2K7 I work the count and get some good battles with the pitcher, and the same is true when I'm pitching.

From what I've seen, hit variety in 2K9 is dependent upon pitch location and the quality of the contact made, so that's a good thing. Doesn't seem as random as in years past.

# 12 Blzer @ 02/13/09 08:55 AM

Ten seconds into the video and I already have a big gripe about no-doubter foul balls having cut scenes, especially ones where you can't see the ball. It takes away from the TV atmosphere is all.

However, thirty-five seconds in, I do notice the little delay in the camera after contact, which is very nice!

Steve, would you say this is breakpoint pitching? Meaning you pick the location of where your pitch will begin moving, and end up in a different location than you set?

# 13 rudyjuly2 @ 02/13/09 08:58 AM

I thought the video looked good on the main page although I'd like to see a PS3 video. I'm assuming you can turn off the ball trails and throwing meter displays on all the players?

# 14 spankdatazz22 @ 02/13/09 09:00 AM

That behind the pitcher view is all types of hot. Really like the real time atmosphere and the various camera angles/tv style presentation they're using; how the camera's zooming appropriately. Crowds look amazing compared to the sparseness of last year's crowds. Looking like a great step up from 2K8. Interested to see how overcast/night/indoor games look; was too washed out in 2K8

# 15 Blzer @ 02/13/09 09:01 AM

Originally Posted by metsfan75:
every thing looks really great the only thing that i saw that was weird i thought there was supposed to be 300 new signature styles but i didnt see anything diffrent with the stances

I think 300 added signature stances.

I really feel like VC couldn't revamp the entire game this time around, which is why you have the same swings out of the box and nearly the exact same audio as well (except for commentary). A lot of animations are simply the same. They managed to squeeze in some more signature stances, but really not too many more batting animations after that, except for ones that they may have had to rework for programming reasons or what have you.

By the way, one small "real-time" disappointment is it seems as though the game "pauses" during replays. Well, not that it pauses, but it won't resume with the batter call-ups and stuff. It seems as though the batter has to wait for the replay to finish, then you'll get the PA and crowd audio as well as a cut scene of him stepping in. I wish that sometimes we would hear that stuff faintly during replay as he's already going through his motions in the box or something.

# 16 Flaxseed Oil @ 02/13/09 09:06 AM

My impressions:

I think the bat sounds a lot better...it's just way too loud, but it is CLEARLY a different sound.

The player faces looked like doo doo. Rick Ankeil looked like a 17 year old asian woman. Derek Lee looked like he had been decomposing for 3 weeks.

The new ball circle thing when you are pitching is HUGE and bright and i dont like that. I'll probably stick with the old pitching controls when I rent it.

The lighting is much better this year, and oh-my-god the commentary is so much better without Joe and Jon.

The animations looked good, and I liked the angles of the camera...though I wish you could pitch from last year's camera (you probably can, I just havnt seen it).

The crowd looks better. The field looks WAY better.

# 17 bryan_05 @ 02/13/09 09:11 AM

Pujols did not scorch his flyout. The GIDP seemed ok to me. Lee & Soriano can scorch any pitch. Sample size my friend.

# 18 jeffy777 @ 02/13/09 09:12 AM

Originally Posted by Flaxseed Oil:
I liked the angles of the camera...though I wish you could pitch from last year's camera (you probably can, I just havnt seen it).

Yes, in the screenshots yesterday it showed that you will have full control over the batting and pitching cameras. So you don't need to worry about a certain preset view being there because you can manually change the camera's angle, height, and even move it from side to side.

# 19 pjv31_OS @ 02/13/09 09:20 AM

Originally Posted by The Bimmer:
This could change after i rent it, but so far its a...

You can give it a review score after watching 1 inning of gameplay? Interesting.

# 20 Jackdog @ 02/13/09 09:38 AM

Originally Posted by rudyjuly2:
I thought the video looked good on the main page although I'd like to see a PS3 video. I'm assuming you can turn off the ball trails and throwing meter displays on all the players?

As a PS3 owner I agree. I hope you can turn off the ball trails as well.

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