MLB 2K9 News Post

Major League Baseball 2K9 Developer Diary: Gameplay

06:44 AM - February 10, 2009 by bronco92

MLB 2K9 Gameplay Producer, Jonathan Rivera, drops by today to blog about some of the new AI improvements and enhancements you'll find in this year's version of 2K baseball.

Quote:


	"Signature style is something that we�ve been doing quite a while now across our sports titles, and we expanded on that this year even more for MLB 2K9 with over 300 new signature animations. When we announced that Tim Lincecum was going to be our cover athlete, we were all pretty excited to have a Cy Young winner represent our game, but even more than that it was going to be a great opportunity to really nail his signature delivery."

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Member Comments

# 61 SoxFan01605 @ 02/10/09 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Padgoi


	Just to put this point out there again so people realize that this is a bit more significant than the daytime-nighttime transition in terms of gameplay: 2. Am I the only one who is truly concerned about the pitching description? He says they removed the meatballs (which is good) and that if you mess up the gesture now, it will result in fastballs being straighter and slower and curveballs not curving as much. This concerns me greatly because it SOUNDS like a meatball, just with a different description. Instead of having a straight ball right down the middle, a fastball will be straighter and slower - that sounds like a glorified meatball . And a curveball won't curve as much - ALSO sounds like a glorified meatball. I'd be happy if he said, "if you mess up the gesture and release too early, the pitch will sail high and the pitch won't have as much bite. Likewise, if you hold the gesture too long, the pitch will be in the dirt." But he didn't say that. He said the pitch won't have as much bite, which in essence means it will be more hittable. Again, to me, this isn't real baseball. If I'm pitching and I mess up my gesture (delivery), the pitch is definitely not going to have as much bite, that's true. But there's a DAMN good chance that pitch won't be near the strike zone either! Once again, he doesn't mention a THING about strikes being difficult to throw or working the count (as the pitcher) or pitches being balls if the gesture is wrong, just that the pitch won't have as much bite, which sounds like bad gestures will once again result in pitches over the plate and smashed. Does this not concern anyone else or did I miss something?

Dude, it's only been 4 posts since you last posted this on the same page...lol. There is no need to repost just because you think others are discussing something "less important."

To answer your concern, no I'm not worried. What he said was correct. If you don't release a fastball properly, you'll get less speed and a straighter pitch. If you don't release a curveball properly, it won't break as much. The "meatball" thing is different. No matter what the pitch was, if you missed the release it would come down the pipe as an 80MPH lob. It was pretty much it's own pitch type...lol.

I'm not saying they couldn't have screwed it up (as the location of these "misses" will be very important), I'm just saying it's silly to react without playing the game. It seems to me that they've got the right idea here...we'll see how it's implemented

Anyway..lol. As for the rest of the article, I do like the loads of options they feature for hitting, pitching, fielding, and running. I like the fact that you can choose 2K8's pitching mechanic, and that their is an option to use zone hitting with buttons for those who prefer it.

I do share people's concern, however, about the step-influence. They've mentioned so many options for hitting and specifically mentioned you could use the mechanics from 2K8 for pitching, yet not even a cursory mention of the step-influence. That's a bit of a red flag to me.

I've said countless times that if you add zone hitting to a tweaked version of last years step-influenced based swing stick system, you've got the most complete hitting mechanic ever made...period. It would be the standard if done right. Hopefully, as BFJ mentioned, it might be an option still. I'm hoping they address it soon.

Overall though, I'm impressed with what I've seen so far. I like the detail they've described and look forward to see how it all comes together...and of course, at the level of smoothness it all comes together

...lol. Seriously though, the game looks like it's shaping up nicely

# 62 bigfnjoe96 @ 02/10/09 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trevytrev11


	I'm not too concerned. The don't say the ball will go straight down the middle, just straighter. I take this as a 2 seamer won't run in as much or a cutter won't cut as much. I believe it will still be thrown towards your desired location, just not as a high quality as a pitch. I'm also thinking instead of a 94 MPH fastball it will be 90MPH, not a 75MPH BP fastball down the middle. As far as curveballs. Pitchers usually mess up one of two ways. They don't get the bite on their pitch and the pitch flattens out and hangs up in the zone. Of they just miss their location. It sounds like they are going with #1, but I'm guessing location will be off as well. In both cases, we don't know how the location of the pitch will be impacted by a bad gesture, just the quality of the pitch (slower, flatter pitches). Hopefully, they don't all miss location towards the center of the zone and instead miss in the direction they were intended.

Trev, I think your right in reference to location. Remember no matter where your location was if you missed your gesture & got a MEATBALL it was down the middle all the time. It sounds like even if you miss your gesture the pitch location stays them. The only thing that changes is the velocity/break on the pitch..

This for me is more realistic, then having the pitch go to random areas around the plate...

I still wish they would bring back the Variable Pitching Slider

# 63 Trevytrev11 @ 02/10/09 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigfnjoe96


	This for me is more realistic, then having the pitch go to random areas around the plate...

Seems like they could easily tie this bit into where your motion ends compared to the end point of the required motion...and I think they kind of did this last year as I noticed while playing last night.

On my changeup motion, I would notice that the recap of my previous motion almost always had my down motion (change was up then down) going to the left. Everytime I missed a changeup with my pitcher, it was always to that same side (never over the middle)...so if they keep this as is and just drop the meatballs (which they have), I think the pitching system will be fine...it was my favorite part of 2K8.

Now as far as missing up or down, with the timing of the release now being out in the new method, I'm not sure. Easy with the 2K8 method because it would soley be based on if you were later or early with the release.

# 64 JBucc @ 02/10/09 02:55 PM

I'm not too sure how I feel about the pitching system either. Everything is tied into your motion now, which was for me the hardest part. The release timing was easy. When they showed you the little diagram of your motion after a pitch mine were almost always completely screwy. Now I'm worried that even a little bit off in your motion will mean a bad pitch. I guess it doesn't matter much since you cans till use last year's style.

# 65 Blzer @ 02/10/09 03:10 PM

Anyway I know that I was bickering about the lighting earlier, but let's just hope that this still holds true:

Quote:


	2K HD/Real-Time Atmosphere – An all-new Virtual Director brings in-game broadcasts to life in real-time with smart camera placement, angles, and cuts. Real-Time Atmosphere adds to the presentation package by bringing nuances to life throughout the duration of a game. Lighting, umpires, ball boys and coaches all move and progress naturally and seamlessly for a true-to-life ballpark experience.

We'll see.

# 66 The Living Legend @ 02/10/09 03:25 PM

VC must of known about the move way early and had maybe a cycle and a half to work on the game.... cause i just cant see how they could done all this in once cycle... i guess when we see video, will see if all these attepts are just half assed.

# 67 krazzed @ 02/10/09 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Padgoi


	I just wish one of the developers would confirm that messing up a gesture will result in flatter pitches thrown near the "desired" location. All they really say is meatballs are out, but they still don't stress location when referencing an inaccurate gesture. Honestly, I want to throw balls when my gesture is off. I want to walk guys unintentionally. I want to have to work the corners. I want to be punished when throwing a heater down broadway that the cpu hitter was looking for (and not always resulting in a homer). I want to see 3 consecutive singles leading to a run and not having to rely on the long ball for all offensive outbursts. I want to see small ball. I want to see stolen bases and hit 'n runs. I want to see screamers down the line. I want to see teams averaging 8 - 10 hits per game and not 15. Sure, I'd love to see streakers and hear popcorn vendors, but to me, gameplay comes first.

Sounds like you should be watching a game on TV. LOL In all seriousness I agree with you, that would be great to see, having teams that aren't necessarily a great team playing small ball and doing what they can to have a chance to win the game.

# 68 kumala @ 02/10/09 04:31 PM

enough about hearing what they did, I want to see the game in action and I mean actual gameplay footage, not just cutscenes but of someone playing the game. I am looking forward to the zone hitting feature, and if its anything like powerpro baseball them I'm gonna be jacked up for this game.

# 69 JoshCA916 @ 02/10/09 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knight165


	Ummm...yep. ....http://www.timeanddate.com/worldcloc...&afl=-13&day=1 M.K. Knight165

well then you have never been to a giants game in april, san fransisco is still cold fog rolls in and it is pretty dark by a 7:15(7:05)pm start, it might not be midnight dark but its not really lit up like it can be in april in most other stadiums

# 70 Riotboy @ 02/10/09 04:39 PM

Sounds really, really good, but I'll have to play the demo first.

/2K8 made me forever buyer beware before dishing out $60

# 71 krazzed @ 02/10/09 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Padgoi


	From what I've been hearing, the "other" game is the best thing to hit (pun intended) since sliced bread. If the other game can incorporate these things into their game, so too can VC. No?

I wouldn't know because the only baseball game I've bought since 2K7 was 2K. But it should be possible since it seems VC has improved everything else in the game. Hopefully there's better hit variety than 2K8, which wasn't too terribly bad, but compared to real life wasn't great either.

# 72 buzzguy @ 02/10/09 05:20 PM

Sounds like 2K9 is shaping-up well! Looking forward to seeing the game in-action.

# 73 texbuk84 @ 02/10/09 06:20 PM

damn come on march 3rd

# 74 knighthawksfan @ 02/10/09 06:23 PM

I can't wait for this game to come out, I want to this game so bad I am such a huge sports fan in general. See ya'll on the baseball diamond

# 75 Blzer @ 02/10/09 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoshCA916


	well then you have never been to a giants game in april, san fransisco is still cold fog rolls in and it is pretty dark by a 7:15(7:05)pm start, it might not be midnight dark but its not really lit up like it can be in april in most other stadiums

Well I have, and I can say that while it's true that it's definitely not like it is in The Show demo (as I pointed out there that looks much more like a game captured in July), it shouldn't be so dark to begin with.

However, if say 2K believed that it does get dark then, then that's a sign of something else. Have they actually incorporated the time of year into account for time of day? If so, I'd consider that an improvement.

As for actual April lighting, here's a video on April 8, 2008 in the bottom of the 2nd inning and you can clearly see the light of the sky:

Molina's bomb

(if the link isn't working and you REALLY want to see, go to April 8th here and click on "Molina's two home runs")

The game started at 7:15. This time of day can't be any earlier than 7:30, which is indicative of how not dark it is at least at the beginning of a game.

Of course, I'm only making these comments just in case they did decide to add seasonal effects to the progressive lighting, but if so they did it incorrectly, which leads me to believe that they didn't (and I didn't think that they would have anyway), which leads me to believe that this is a static sky.

However I'm hoping that we'll get something else when this game is out. Progressive lighting is a huge thing for me.

# 76 whosgotcha @ 02/10/09 07:16 PM

This is good information. My interest in 2k9 has just grown.

# 77 Eddie1967 @ 02/10/09 07:26 PM

Great read, sounds like VC has really put everything into making this a fantastic game. Can't wait for March 3rd.

# 78 statum71 @ 02/10/09 08:23 PM

Man baseball has TWO good games. Too bad football can't be that way.

If it wasn't for The Show I'd be getting this for sure.

# 79 brendanrfoley @ 02/10/09 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blzer


	Also keep in mind of this screenshot: Remember that the guy playing IS indeed doing franchise mode, so he didn't set the time of day for this game. This must have been a 7:00 start, and at the first inning already being dark... tsk tsk.

Blzr,

Keep in mind 2K took that screen from an unfinished version of the game -- not the guy at ESPN behind the controls.

# 80 SPTO @ 02/10/09 09:31 PM

I don't feel like going through this entire thread so can anyone kindly tell me if there'll be timing (button) hitting in this year's game?

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