MLB 12: The Show

[Swarley]

Release: March 6th 2012 - PS3 and PS Vita

 

[ryne candy]

Screenshots up at ESPN.com

http://espn.go.com/espn/thelife/vggallery?page=/photo/2011/1201/vg_mlb_3_110.jpg

edit: Shows new uni's from SD, Balt, Mia, and Toronto.

 

[Swarley]

If they give us basically the same thing we got last year... i won't be buying.

I remember last year around release time they said this year would have an overhaul to the franchise mode.

 

[Leftwich]

I remember last year around release time they said this year would have an overhaul to the franchise mode.

I'll believe it when i see it. I'm not trying to compare them to EASports or anything but other than the sticks for pitching and hitting, last year was the same thing as the year before.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Online play better revert to '10 form when it was perfect.

Hitting balance better return.

Fuck the analog sticks.

 

[The Buddha]

Online play better revert to '10 form when it was perfect.

Hitting balance better return.

Fuck the analog sticks.

If it is....will there be a return of The Sombrero?

 

[ryne candy]

• 14 new umpires with all new personalities

• Fielders will close their gloves on catches

• New cleats

from OS.com

edit: posted in comments section for pictures....yes, nothing exciting.

 

[Leftwich]

• 14 new umpires with all new personalities

• Fielders will close their gloves on catches

• New cleats

from OS.com

I'm sold.

 

[Brotha2ThaNight]

If it is....will there be a return of The Sombrero?

dream the dream...I am hoping so, there is nothing better than The Sombrero when the game is playable

:fuckyeah:

 

[dj_morton]

The biggest reason I bought a PS3 again this morning..The Show series..and GoW ofcourse.

I need to find a cheap copy of 11.

 

[killgod]

If it is....will there be a return of The Sombrero?

I'm retired from video game baseball, so won't be me. I also doubt online is any good, last year's mode was so fuckin bad.

It was the same quality as that fuckin LM site for Madden. Bug ridden shit lacking in just about everything.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

All they need to do is give us the statistical balance of '10 with the bugs of the online leagues smoothed out, and you have a nearly perfect online experience.

Of course, I have zero faith that they can get this done.

'09 & '11 were way to unbalanced in favor of pitching. '11 would have been an awesome dead ball era game.

 

[spiker]

Online needs a serious fine tuning. I'd love to be in the Sombrero again but I need a good reason to buy this game. I'm still playing MLB 10 and loving it.

 

[Sacrafice]

I don't know. They said the different aspects of the game (Franchise, gameplay, ect, ect) was always on a 2 year cycle. 12 was supposed to be the year for franchise. I expect some good changes, but no it's not gonna feel like a new game.

I thought '11 was the best so far. Most of my online games were lag free, I thought the balance was realistic to how the real game has changed to a more of a pitching dominated league, yet I was still able to get my league average well above .300. Offline I was able to get better than expected results with the Royals hovering right about .290 - .295 on Legend. Yeah, at first it was really hard to get used to the ball movement, but after some time with the game it got really easy.

I am going to buy it either way and hope a good league pops up, but I know it's not going to work with the "same" guys here because I bet 100 bucks most everyone will still complain about the same old shit and not allow themselves to get used to any changes that are made, but rather still rely on the way the game used to be. Baseball online is the only sports game that I can enjoy anymore, yet it's the most unpopular. Freaking sucks...

 

[ryne candy]

Updated Blog:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/12/08/batter-up-mlb-12-the-show-for-ps3-and-ps-vita/

 

[FirstTimer]

Some new info has come out recently. We are about two months from release.

Freddy Sanchez just got spiked.

That's right, the Giants second baseman took the flip, touched the bag, but before he could rifle the ball to first and turn two, he was taken down by a hard-sliding Matt Kemp.

Just another chapter in the Dodgers/Giants rivalry, but a great day to be a gamer as Sony has finally added not only player collisions, but collision awareness in "MLB 12: The Show."

Amazing news for anyone who has followed the franchise, as we're not just talking about canned animations at the plate or when a player is breaking up a double play. It's all around the field, complete with all new tag and sliding animations, making gamers feel like the action on the virtual diamond is more real than ever as you will no longer see the random player-through-player ghost-like animations that have plagued the series for years. And since cyber athletes will not only collide, but be aware of the potential collisions, players react in a much more realistic manner, sliding around tags from all angles, dropping the ball more often when going for the sweep tag, and even giving the occasional spike when necessary.

And while that's far from the biggest feature added to this year's game, it's one of those little things that just adds so much to the overall experience as Sony attempts to blur the lines between what's seen on TV and what you're controlling in "MLB 12: The Show." It's an experience that I had the chance to play recently during an afternoon in Sony's San Diego studio, and I have to say, I was blown away by how those lines are now more blurred than ever.


One of the biggest improvements "Show" fans will notice right away is the improved ball physics. In past games, there wasn't the amount of hit variety you'd expect from a baseball simulation, and that had to do mainly with the fact that the game's math was off. So this offseason, one of the more hard-core members of "The Show's" engineering team took up the challenge and rewrote the entire ball physics code based on the actual math for how a spinning object reacts when it strikes everything from the bat to the playing surface to one of the bases. The results? Incredible. The ball speed off the bat has now been increased to MLB levels, while the spin off each hit now comes into play more as you'll see grounders with topspin actually scoot through the infield faster for base hits. I even had one play where I launched a ball 400 feet toward the wall, and the computerized Matt Kemp jumped up to rob the home run, but as he hit the wall, the ball bounced off his glove and rebounded back onto the field. It was just one of those plays that made everyone in the room shout, with the producers smiling at each other knowing how much a moment like that rocks.

Another big gameplay improvement comes in the form of the new "Pulse Pitching" dynamic. If you're not a fan of last year's analog pitching, you can go back to the old-school buttons, only with a new level of intensity that really helps up the challenge of pinpointing pitches. Basically, after selecting your pitch and location, you'll need to hit X to pitch the ball (same as classic pitching). Only now, there is a giant pulsating X on the screen in the location of your pitch, and you need to time your button press when the X is at its smallest point in order to throw the ball accurately. The more you're off, the bigger the X will be when you throw the ball, making your pitch wild, or even worse, hanging right over the plate for someone like Albert Pujols to crush over the fence. I was a fan of the analog pitching last year, but I have to say, after about four games of switching back and forth between the analog and the pulse, I ended up playing the rest of the games with the pulse pitching and I don't think I'll go back to the analog once the game ships. It just feels right to me.

But don't think this year is all about the mound as a new way to hit has also been added to the game, even if it's strictly for the hard-core. Sony calls it "Zone Analog Batting," and it combines what gamers loved about the old way to hit with the newer analog approach, as gamers manipulate the right stick to control stride and swing timing, while at the same time using the left stick to control where the batter swings in the zone. So if you see a slider breaking outside, you'd pull back on the right stick to stride, the push forward on the right stick to swing while moving the left stick to your right in order to make contact with the ball. "The Show's" producers say this is the kind of depth the game's community has been begging for when it comes to hitting, and there is one gameplay designer who swears this is the best way to play if you want a pressure-packed, more realistic turn at the plate, but for me, it was a bit too much to handle and I ended up switching back to pure analog controls without the zone. Maybe I'm just getting old, but man, I had a rough time at the plate trying to adjust to using both sticks at once.

And while the gameplay improvements is what will interest "The Show's" hard-core community most, there are a couple of huge new features and technological advancements that will also be of interest to gamers. First and foremost, "MLB 12" will be shipping, not only for the PlayStation 3, but for Sony's new handheld gaming device, the Vita. And the game looks absolutely stunning on the system's eye-popping screen. Everything gamers want in "The Show" is now coming to handheld, complete with Exhibition, Season, Franchise, Road to the Show, and Home Run Derby. You can challenge other gamers online, and even better, you can share save files between your PS3 and Vita games. That means you can start your season at home on your PlayStation 3, play for a couple of weeks, then save your file to the PlayStation cloud, and resume your season on the Vita as you take your game on the road. Sure, that means you need to buy the game for each platform, but for people who commute on the train or are heading out on vacation, this will be an ideal way to stay connected to their favorite franchise. Only downer is the fact that you can't save mid-game on one platform and pick right up on the other. In order to save to the cloud, it needs to be between games, not between innings.

nother feature that Sony is going to be pushing hard this season is the inclusion of full Move support in "The Show." Last year, you could hook up the Move and use its motion controls during the Home Run Derby, but this year you can actually hit, pitch, catch, run and throw -- making the Move an integral part of your "MLB 12" session, if you have enough room in your house, that is. And the room is important as you're taking full swings with the move while at bat, and the harder you swing, the harder you'll hit the ball. Same goes for pitching, as you actually get in your windup and throw the ball, timing the release of the Move's button in order to release your pitch, with arm speed factoring into how fast you throw.

To be honest, I thought this was going to be terrible, but I actually had a lot of fun playing through a couple of innings with the motion controls. I hit a home run with my second batter, and I felt way more satisfaction here than I did when I hit a home run minutes earlier using the analog controls. Maybe the Move tricked me into thinking I actually hit the home run, not Brandon Belt, but whatever the case, I started grinning like a Major Leaguer who just went yard. I also had a surprisingly good time pitching, although that definitely had more of a learning curve to it. It also made my elbow hurt after a couple of innings (no joke), so I think I might just stick to batting.

There's just so much added to "MLB 12: The Show," the only way I could do it justice is a breakdown some of the stats:

500+ new presentation animations

300+ new fielding, throwing and baserunning animations

150+ new batting stances

75+ new pitching animations

14 new umpires complete with their own personalities

2 new training techniques in Road to the Show (baserunning, fielding), as you're now a Double-A starter who is the most touted prospect on the team

Add to that the addition of Season and Franchise mode in co-op, new pitcher confidence logic, and franchise improvements that include new contract logic, improved trade logic and an all-new free-agent signing process, and you have the baseball game "Show" fans have been waiting for.

 

[chazmaniandevil]

that sounds amazing. can't wait for release

 

[SHOGUN]

When are they going to update Franchise Mode?

:kanye:

 

[FirstTimer]

When are they going to update Franchise Mode?

:kanye:

bama:

Read what I posted all the way through.

 

[FirstTimer]

Soundtrack released

“Gold on the Ceiling”
Performed by The Black Keys

“Zed and Two Naughts”
Performed by The Mars Volta

“New Lands”
Performed by Justice

“Into the Sun”
Performed by The Parlor Mob

“Devil Is a Lady”
Performed by The Chain Gang of 1974

“No Love”
Performed by Hooray for Earth

“Learn My Lesson”
Performed by The Sheepdogs

“Struck Dumb”
Performed by The Futureheads

“U Got the Look”
Performed by JEFF the Brotherhood

“She’s Enough”
Performed by Atmosphere