MLB 11 The Show News Post

MLB 11 The Show Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here

06:03 PM - February 22, 2011 by Pared

The MLB 11 The Show demo is available now. It weighs in at roughly 3 GB and features the Texas Rangers vs. the San Francisco Giants, in a 4 inning World Series rematch.

Please post your impressions here.

DO NOT post that you are downloading the demo, what % the download is at, the fact that you are starting to install it, etc.

IMPRESSIONS ONLY please.

Game: MLB 11 The ShowReader Score: 8.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3Votes for game: 57 - View All

MLB 11 The Show Videos

Member Comments

# 561 davewins @ 02/25/11 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gagnon39


	To say that hitting for me is hard would be quite the understatement. I just played a game where I switchted back and forth between the two teams in order to concentrate only on batting. The game went a full nine innings (again, with me only batting). The final, as you might guess was 1-0. I finally managed a scrifice fly in the top of the ninth with Texas. Here's the most frustrating thing and I'm sure its just because I'm not very good. I struck out a grand total of 28 times. 16 Times with San Francisco and 12 times with Texas. Although I still like analog hitting right now the main problem I'm finding with it is that, at least to me, the PCI seems to have a mind of its own from time to time. I started concentrating on where I was pushing the analog stick (up and to the left, center, or up and to the right) and then comparing that to what the swing analysis said. Here's a perfect example of why it seems out of whack at times. This was with a right-handed batter, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that I did not swing outside. I saw the pitch, reacted to it, and swing inside (up and to the left on the analog stick). I MIGHT have pushed slightly more "up" but there's no chance that I swung to the right in this situation. However, here's what the PCI gave me. I'm going to play this demo until the full game comes out and hope that I drop my strikeouts numbers dramatically. I want to use analog hitting but if I continue to struggle this much I may have to go back to classic or maybe try zone hitting. On a positive note, for whatever reason, I am picking up the ball better. I don't know if the default pitch speed has been reduced or what, but I'm laying off more bad pitches. Ironically, not the one I used in this example though.

I might be wrong but hear me out. I think what happened there was even though you pressed up and to the left the fact that you swung very early resulted in the PCI up and to the right. The pitch was a slider low and in. You mistakened it for a fastball up and away. It said "too early" on the PCI analysis. I think the PCI location is accurate depending upon not only where you move the right stick but also the timing of your swing. The earlier you swing the higher it will end up.

This is just my thinking. Russell can surely clear this up if he hasn't already.

# 562 Splitter77 @ 02/25/11 08:09 AM

after a couple days with the demo, I think this will be the first time since 06 that i dont get the new mlb game.

Just feels to much like mlb 10 to me.
Add that to the fact my main two gripes are still in this years game.
I figure I'll just keep mlb 10 because Im in years 2033 in my franchise and you cant transfer the files.

# 563 sink4ever @ 02/25/11 08:17 AM

Just hit a little bloop into center with CJ Wilson. The CF dove for it, missed it, but still managed to smother the ball and keep it in front of him. I could be wrong, but I think in '10 that's either caught or past the CF to the wall. So nice to see so many more possible outcomes on defense.

# 564 C_Bailey24 @ 02/25/11 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davewins


	I might be wrong but hear me out. I think what happened there was even though you pressed up and to the left the fact that you swung very early resulted in the PCI up and to the right. The pitch was a slider low and in. You mistakened it for a fastball up and away. It said "too early" on the PCI analysis. I think the PCI location is accurate depending upon not only where you move the right stick but also the timing of your swing. The earlier you swing the higher it will end up. This is just my thinking. Russell can surely clear this up if he hasn't already.

I see what you're saying but i'm with Gagnon on this one. Swing Analysis is supposed to help you understand what you did wrong and more times than not it just confuses you a little more. If the PCI is moved for us in Analog hitting that PCI should have been inside and over the top of where the pitch ended up. Think about when you watch a real game and a RHB swings over the top of a nasty down and in slider... where is his swing visually? At worst it's a level swing. You have to be blind to swing up and away at a down and in pitch.

# 565 Chef Matt @ 02/25/11 10:13 AM

Finally got to get a game in at 300am this morning after it finally finished downloading. My intital impressions are.

I love analog pitching.

I love analog fielding.

I love true zone hitting.

Thank you SCEA for the Catcher 5 cam. I can now finally see balls above and below the strike zone.

I've been waiting far too long for true zone hitting. I won't be using analog hitting at all.

Can't wait to play the full game!

# 566 ckarlic @ 02/25/11 10:36 AM

Decided to practice on my hitting last night using analog and I must say, dropping the hitting difficulty down to veteran has made me think about using analog for hitting in my franchise. I still struck out a ton but felt towards the 9th inning I was getting the hang of it. Veteran was still tough but wasn't as frustrating as All Star. I ended up hitting a 2 run walk off HR in the bottom of the 8th with Pablo Sandoval.

My advice to those having difficulty in hitting is to do what Nem and Russ have said...swallow your pride and drop down to to lower difficulty level.

Also, I set fielding to Auto but still control throwing and have cut down on my errors. They still happen but not as frequently.

# 567 stealyerface @ 02/25/11 10:46 AM

Played three games last night. Do not have a 2nd controller, so I played the defaults that come with.

I love the Analog pitching. Going to be great fun, and my only concern would be that when you switch to that view, the left and right are turned around as well. It would make sense, but we all remember the hot/cold zones with the pitching view and inverted zones... I love the control, and I love that you can "work" the ball to a point with the release points, and moving the cursor to get that little extra control figured in there. I am under the impression that pitchers with a better accuracy/control rating will have more margin for error with the meter, and if so, that makes perfect sense.

Analog Batting is going to be the way I roll, but I will have to figure out the timing for the stride. It will certainly come with practice, but for now, I think i am striding to early and too late, and my guy is all out of sorts on the swing. I'll get it, and I like the fact that it is going to take some work. I have always shut off the Guess pitch and Guess location settings, but I see that by using them, the PCI is in the zone that you have guessed, so it actually makes sense to me as to why the PCI is where it is. When I do not use the GP/GL, and I swing at the ball, what determines where my PCI is, and would it make sense that if I choose to swing at an inside pitch, the directional movement of my R-stick would then move the PCI to the inside part of the plate. After checking the L-stick Click-down for the pitch info, I did notice that sometimes the PCI was just where ever it wanted to be, even though my swing was aimed in a different area. I would love to know how the PCI will be determined without the use of the Guess Location...

Analog Fielding is excellent. I played three games, had no errors, and actually threw two guys out at the plate in those three games. The key to this is a soft touch on the stick well before the ball makes it to the fielder. So on a ball to the shortstop, I just barely touch the stick to the right, and probably when the ball is half way between the batter and the fielder, I just give it a easy movement to the right. DO NOT BURY the stick to the end of the range of motion, just a slight touch to the 3 o'clock position, and the animations are silky smooth, and the throws are perfect. Like I said, I had no errors, no off line throws, and I never saw a red or a yellow indicator in all three games. Plus, and guys ought to be happy about this, I made two peg throws from the outfield and got the runners out at the plate. I did not like the Turbo-Tag by Posey, but I did love the the fact that the throws were not 1/2 way up the first base line. Analog Fielding is fantastic, and I am all-in for this mode.

Couple of impressions:
* The game speed seemed weird to me. It seemed like everything was compressed and too fast. Perhaps with sliders this gets regulated, but overall, it just seemed off.
* I heard the wacky "chirp" thing within the audio through the Surround System. I am sure it is inherent to the Demo, but it was not a killer..
* The pitching is going to really be a fun part of this game. I love the control, and again, with the slider set ups, I think we can dial this in to some very realistic values
* Angles to the balls in the outfield are going to be VERY important. I under-ran two balls by taking bad routes to the liners, and they went to the wall. This is going to be a great addition to the game by not being able to make bee-lines to the balls, and you had better know who you have in the outfield when you are tracking that ball. Very cool.

I will get some more Demo time in tonight, but so far, very high marks in my book.

~syf

# 568 ckarlic @ 02/25/11 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stealyerface


	* I heard the wacky "chirp" thing within the audio through the Surround System. I am sure it is inherent to the Demo, but it was not a killer.. ~syf

Yeah. Thought it was just me and my setup. I chalked it up to it being a demo.

# 569 aga11ah @ 02/25/11 11:08 AM

can't hit Lincecum to save my life. he doesn't give any good pitches to hit even on 3-0 or 3-1 counts. smh.. disgusting. the pitching is just like last year as far as the way the CPU pitches. really annoying. not gonna buy til it drops in price.

# 570 stealyerface @ 02/25/11 11:18 AM

Uh, typically if you do not get a good pitch to swing at on 3-0 or 3-1... you don't swing at it.

Cause guess what? Lincecum does not give Beltre or Hamilton a decent pitch to hit on either of those counts. One base is better than four. Especially to those two studs.

If you don't see one grooved on that count, take the walk.

~syf

# 571 bukktown @ 02/25/11 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PsychoBulk


	Ive seen the curveball land 10 ft short of the hitter and bounce on numerous occasions, too many really, but ive no doubt this wont be seen in the full game (i hope), this is a December build we are playing after all.

10 ft? Thats a baby bouncer! Try to bounce one halfway

# 572 Knight165 @ 02/25/11 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bukktown


	10 ft? Thats a baby bouncer! Try to bounce one halfway

I'm going to guess.....with the prevalence of these so far in the demo...that this is gone...and a product of an earlier build(I hope so!

). I don't even remember seeing one at the event.(although I was looking at other things outside actual gameplay most of the time)...maybe Nem..42... or EN can say more on this.

M.K.
Knight165

# 573 WAZ @ 02/25/11 11:46 AM

I think it's safe to say a lot of these glitches/issues will have been ironed out by the retail release. The demo is based on a build from December, and 2 months is A LOT of time (at least relative to the one-year sports cycle) to have been working on the game and making improvements since.

# 574 trammaker @ 02/25/11 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sroz39


	Went back on what I said I was gonna do (play 10 till 11 comes out) and played a few more games with Analog Hitting but down on Veteran. Yes, I was making more contact and striking out less. But it felt unnatural to do so. Because the mechanic is completely foreign to me to roll the right stick at the ball reacting to the pitch, I'm still way off when I hit but because of the forgiving nature on Veteran, I'm making contact on pitches I have no business doing so. A lot of you are saying that to aim the PCI with the left stick and stepping and swinging with the right stick would be too much to handle, but I couldn't disagree more. I do this already and find it very natural to do so. Kind of disappointed there is no option to bat this way. Another comment somewhere in this thread implied that to allow a left stick aim/right stick swing mechanic would somehow give the user too much control, turning it too arcadey. I just don't see the correlation. It would be identical to the zone hitting in the game already, except you use the right stick instead of the X button (or square). If anything, it makes it tougher with having to time the step as it adds a third element to the whole thing instead of just placing your swing and timing your swing that is at the heart of zone hitting. Part of the problem is that I find the analog sticks on the PS3 controller to be vastly inferior to the 360 controller's sticks, which is what I do 95% of my gaming with. Whereas the 360 analogs are indented, giving your thumb something to sit in, the PS3 controller sticks are rounded and an inconsistent texture. At times, I find my thumb slips right off the stick. This becomes an even bigger problem trying to react to a pitch and making a sudden movement to the right or left, for me anyways. Some of you are probably thinking "the analog pitching works the same way, he's not complaining about that?" Yes, its the same mechanic but delivered in a different, more deliberate way. When I'm aiming my pitch, I know beforehand how far left or right I need to push the right stick in a particular direction to hit my spot. I can prepare my thumb to make that movement and even compensate with the position of my thumb on the stick, ensuring it won't slip off. Hitting is a twitch reaction. Don't get me wrong, this game is all that and then some. I'm just very frustrated by the analog hitting and feel like if given the option to do so, I could more easily adapt to it if I could aim my swing with the left stick. Sent from my MB300 using Tapatalk

sroz39, your post sums up my reaction to the analog hitting perfectly. I find myself hoping against hope that left stick aiming can somehow be added back in as an option before the launch (fat chance, I know).

It makes no sense to say that adding the left stick back in in would make the game 'arcade-y'. As sroz points out, it would be EXACTLY like last year's hitting system, with the addition of the right-stick swing mechanism. It would make much more sense to me if the ratings determined what happens after you've aimed in the zone and then swung, rather than simply deciding for you whether you're going to miss high or low.

All in all, though, since this is an impressions thread, of COURSE the game looks fantastic and I'm gonna buy it. I mean, I wouldn't have just registered with OS if I wasn't a freak for this game

Analog pitching and fielding is great. I would just love to see more control given over the analog hitting.

# 575 Entiae @ 02/25/11 12:25 PM

Just tried out Timing Only and I really enjoyed it. I was more relaxed and simply had more fun. I also went back to button hitting in 2k so maybe analog hitting just isn't for me (I still use analog pitching and fielding though).

And while scrolling through the options I found Pitch Callout. I've never turned it off in previous editions of The Show but now I did and I LOVE it. It just makes the game look even better, IMO. To get a called strike looked much better without the graphics spoiling it.

I just know I'll spend a ridiculous amount of time playing this game this summer.

# 576 bukktown @ 02/25/11 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knight165


	I'm going to guess.....with the prevalence of these so far in the demo...that this is gone...and a product of an earlier build(I hope so! ). I don't even remember seeing one at the event.(although I was looking at other things outside actual gameplay most of the time)...maybe Nem..42... or EN can say more on this. M.K. Knight165

I have no doubt in my mind.

# 577 nunogomes @ 02/25/11 12:55 PM

I just wanted to say this:

MLB PowerPros STILL has the best hitting interface EVER!

That interface is STILL better than The Show�s our 2k�s interface by a LONG mile...

# 578 Pared @ 02/25/11 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nunogomes


	I just wanted to say this: MLB PowerPros STILL has the best hitting interface EVER! That interface is STILL better than The Show�s our 2k�s interface by a LONG mile...

Have you even played the demo?

If not, you shouldn't be posting here.

# 579 theaub @ 02/25/11 01:06 PM

In all fairness, Power Pros did have a pretty solid hitting interface (very similar to ASB). And their career mode was the bomb (only one where I could knock up a reporter and then dump her *** to go out with the team secretary aww yeah)

And to make this post somewhat on topic, I've had enough fun with this demo just testing out all the new camera angles. Still think I might switch back to button-based fielding though, since I find that I'm rather incompetent at moving the r-stick.

# 580 nunogomes @ 02/25/11 01:11 PM

Of course i played the demo! That�s EXACTLY why i said what i said!

The interface of MLB PowerPros was excellent! Being able to move the left stick PRECISELY where the ball is headed it�s, in my opinion, the best interface possible for batting in a baseball game!

The analog hitting in the Show 11 it�s a nice addition to the series, but (again, in my opinion) the PCI idea it�s much better implemented in MLB Powerpros...

anyway... sorry if my post annoyed you in some way that i can�t understand (why you doubted i played the demo is beyond me...)

EDIT: Sorry i forgot to quote! This is a response of Pared�s post, 1 post above the previous...

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