ESPN Major League Baseball 2k5 screens

W

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
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I see the game got the triple-pass rendering once-over. Uniforms look sick. Look at the detail on 2nd base (the actual base). There's some footage at espnvideogames as well--you can catch a quick glimpse of the new batter/pitcher interface--definitely intriguing. Working scoreboards are in I hear as well.
 
Tim Hudson just looks RIGHT in that Braves uni. God Bless You, John Schuerholz. Now sign that boy to an extension.
 
Last years version was so.... *shudders*
Hope they've redone a lot. Also if priced at 20 bucks, all will be forgiven.
 
This is made by KUSH Games for Visual Concepts. VC gave it to KUSH this year, so it should be a very solid game all around. KUSH made ESPN NHL 2K5, one of the best hockey games ever made...
 
I think the graphics are technically the best, but the modeling is suspect, and the swing animation is atrocious.

However, gameplay that is realistic matters to me the most and it delivers that in spades.
 
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Just seeing video game Wells in Red Sox colors feels weird, can't imagine what its going to be like come the season.

Who's the top guy supposed to be? Renteria I'm guessing? Not too bad if so.

Very plasticy smooth but it looks better than any baseball game from last year. ESPN fell off the pace in gameplay last year, hopefully they get it back on track and deliver the quality Sega used to be known for this time around.
 
Uh, is this considered good-looking? I played a baseball game on DC once and I don`t think it looked much worse than this.

Found a shot of WSB2K1 on DC.

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Hardly any worse.
 
Hmm, interest rising. On Command Baserunning seems like a nice idea. Much better than that first person stuff. I'm glad they've taken MVP's use of the right stick for slides too.
 
Read this in the IGN preview:

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/579/579171p1.html

The big change is the addition of the Slam Zone. Before each pitch, you guess location. Unless you turn the option off, you must always guess a location, because not moving the Thumbstick "guesses" down the middle. But don't worry, there is no risk at all for guessing wrong. Should you guess correctly, spot on to the location, or if the pitcher totally hangs a ball, you enter Slam Zone.

This puts you into a cinematic view focusing in on the ball leaving the pitcher's hand. As it travels in slow motion, you tap the appropriate button furiously to fill your power meter and hit the power swing button when the "swing" icon flashes on screen. The result is almost always a home run. Granted, it's a cinematic feast, but it does feel a bit like a gimmick in its current state.

As it stands, a few months from release, Slam Zone is a little too easy to achieve and seems far too easy to rock homers with. However, there's plenty of time for tweaking and since this was the only major complaint from the three editors playing and loving MLB 2K5, I imagine Kush and VC are taking the issue seriously.

The real problem, as far as my short experience has shown, is that pitch guessing has no risk. If you guess low and inside and the pitch is high and away, there's no penalty for the batter. Add to this the fact that pitcher's can bow to pressure, but hitters only have to worry about confidence (which also affects pitcher's). Home run hitting is always a touchy balance and my main concern is that there's too much in the hitter's favor right now. And since the Sox managed to score 17 on the Yanks through many a long ball, there's still some tweaking needed to be done. Fortunately there's time. And, of course, if it does end up being too easy to abuse, Slam Zone can be turned off in the options.
Click to expand...

If this is correct what garbage. Usually strike zones are split into 9 sections. This means you have a one in nine chance of always smacking a home run.
 
shantyman said:
It is a shit idea, but at least you can turn it off.

The gameplay was so good last year, why don't they refine that instead of adding crap like this?
Click to expand...

It's retarded as hell, but they're probably just trying to appeal to the arcadey "casual" crowd or at least what they think that crowd wants (e.g. EA's NHL "heartbeat' breakaway slo-mo feature). I've kind of avoided baseball games the past few years, so it'll take something really good to get me back into things, my sports gaming time is just far too occupied w/ Winning Eleven otherwise.
 
The confidence meter and 1st person were totally lame in last years game, I hope both are gone. Or at least fixed. Confidence, however it's measured, probably shouldn't be calculated in a predictable, simplistic manner in which it ruins performance every time something bad occurs and vice versa. 1st person pitching was great, but I hated it in the field or batting. Generally speaking, this game needs a graphical upgrade to complement the most accurate engine in the genre. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the update (also hope it's 20 bucks!).
 
holy crap.. that base running video was HOT...

as far as the "Slam Zone".. I like it for certain power hitters. Manny, Big Poppy, Sammy. Those are guys that really do guess on where they think the ball is going and just wait for it to come in their wheelhouse.. but there needs to be some sort of punishment for guessing wrong..

Say you guess down and away and its high and inside.. even if you move the cursor to the ball and hit is perfectly the best you could do is pop it foul... make an animation like they are flailing to adjust to the pitch and just foul it off to stay alive.

There also needs to be a way to not guess while still leaving the mode on.
 
The Slam Zone sounds dumb without balancing it with any type of penalty. I'm really digging the On Command Baserunning though. This is an area that all baseball games have been lacking in. I imagine people will go online and abuse the crap out of it though. If it's $20 it's so bought.
 
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