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MLB 15: The Show details and features, more on Feb 5

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2015...-worldwide-gameplay-reveal-feb-5th/#sf7171553

MLB 15 The Show New Details, Worldwide Gameplay Reveal Feb. 5th

Posted by Ramone Russell on Jan 29, 2015 // Community Manager, SCEA San Diego Studios

Spring is just around the corner and that means life is about to get a whole lot better. Baseball fans across the world relish the return of America’s great pastime along with the return of peanuts, Yasiel Puig, Matt Vasgersian, and of course, MLB 15: The Show. As many of you are excited for the new MLB season to begin, the team here in San Diego is just as excited to show you everything we’ve been working on for MLB 15 The Show.

Take a look at some of the features we’re particularly proud of below. Be sure to head over to The Show Nation to see the full feature list.

Year-to-Year Saves
(PS4, PS3, PS Vita)


Users who purchased MLB 14 The Show will be able to continue their Franchise and Road to the Show progress in MLB 15 The Show with the Year-to-Year Saves feature. Saves between the two versions will be forward-compatible, meaning you don’t have to worry about starting your Franchise or Road to The Show seasons over!

Gameplay Improvements
(PS4 & PS3 Only)


Advanced AI logic results in outfielders taking more realistic routes to the ball
Upgraded motion system allows for dynamic speed matching from run to catch to throw
User controlled cut offs
All new slide and tag system
New speed paradigm for fielders and base runners
Enhanced ball physics for pop ups, fly balls, and shots into the gap
Dynamic pitch breaks: allows for more realistic pitch recognition when batting
Simplified Analog swing controls
Dynamic Difficulty 2.0
New situational base covering intelligence allows for new animations to play when a player has time or is in a hurry to get to his base
More than 70 new situational third out fielding animations
New Input Type option for hitting
We’ve separated swing input as a separate option

Licensed Equipment
(PS4 & PS3 Only)


For the first time ever MLB The Show will include licensed equipment from some of the most recognizable brands in baseball. Earn as you play to enhance your RTTS or Diamond Dynasty players and partner with iconic brands by bringing sponsorships to your Franchise team!
(Equipment on PS3 version is not seen during gameplay.)

Universal Rewards
(PS4 & PS3 Only)

In the last couple years we added the Universal Profile, which tracks your playstyle tendencies and passively rewards you with XP and Stubs while you play. This year, in addition to XP and Stubs, you will earn new Items usable throughout different game modes:

Virtual Baseball cards to be collected and easily assembled into a competitive Diamond Dynasty team
Licensed Bats, Gloves, Batting Gloves, and Cleats that enhance your Road to the Show or Diamond Dynasty player’s ability
Brand Sponsorships for your Franchise team that spice up your in-game interface and earn your team some extra income
Collect entire teams to unlock iconic MLB alumni players from each MLB team

Graphical Improvements
(PS4 Only)


Real-time seasonal sun and shadows
Player Skin tone realism. More variations of skin tones with gloss and specular improvements
Revamped night lighting
More accurate and photorealistic rendering system
PS4 gets 10 more Minor League stadiums

Directional Hitting Interface
(PS3, PS4, VITA)


Featured for the first time in MLB 15 The Show is the new Directional Hitting interface, which allows you to influence the direction of your hits in real-time while you swing. Using the L-Stick, you can attempt to influence fly balls, ground balls, pushed hits, pulled hits, or any of those in combination. The most success will be had by swinging at pitches that are conducive to the hit direction you are aiming for. Outside pitches are better for hitting to the opposite field, while inside pitches are best for pulling. If no direction is pressed with the L-Stick, it’s just like using the old Timing Hitting interface. Like never before, Directional Hitting allows you to play into each hitter’s strengths and utilize the strategies of proper situational hitting.

Franchise Mode Refresh
(PS4, PS3, PS Vita)


With the addition of General Manager Contracts, you now have to consider Ownership Expectations when running your team, and your performance will determine the job offers that come your way. Building a championship-caliber team is more fun and dynamic than ever before, with the new Performance-based Player Progression, as well as much improved Trade and Contract logic. Partner up with Brand Sponsors, giving your broadcast elements an official sponsor and earn some extra dough to spend on your team.

Players and teams get Personality: Aesthetics and Emotion
(PS4 & PS3 Only)


Players on the field get improvements to show their individuality. (Necklaces, Tilted caps, etc..) Real-time situational/emotional AI scenes (dugouts, crowd, etc..) have also been added, and more Team and Player celebrations.

Diamond Dynasty Distilled
(PS4 & PS3 Only)


Diamond Dynasty is melted down to its core. Now driven by just a handful of systems, it is much more accessible and less daunting to manage. Driven heavily by a new collection based management system, everyone is building a Diamond Dynasty team just by playing any mode in MLB The Show.

New Slide Step System
(PS4 & PS3 Only)


Perform a slide step while pitching to combat pitchers with a slow delivery to the plate, or runners who consistently get great jumps. This “game within a game” creates a risk/reward factor when performing a slide step. The pitcher will now have less control and slightly less velocity when a slide step is executed, but will be quicker to the plate. As a runner, you now have to worry about your opponent using a slide step when you are attempting a steal.

Legends
(PS4, PS3, PS Vita)


We partnered with the MLB Player’s Alumni Association to make a total of 30 Legends playable in MLB 15 The Show. Collect an entire MLB team, and you’ll unlock an iconic alumni player from that team. There’s one from each team, and though you’ll have to find or unlock the card to slot them into your Dynasty squad, you can simply opt in to utilizing the whole pool of Legends in your Franchise mode.

“Inside The Show” News Suite
(PS4, partial PS3)


Franchise, RTTS, and Season modes all feature a new suite of features centered on providing news updates from around the league. Inside The Show is a new radio broadcast that will be heard at the beginning of each new day and will discuss recent scores, notable performances, team news, milestones, records, standings, and more. In addition, the new League Updates panel, found in season based modes, gives the user a quick snapshot of updates from around the League so you don’t have to dig through multiple screens to get the basics.
As you can see, our goal this year was to build off the solid foundation of MLB 14 and expand on the game we love to make MLB 15 The Show the best baseball game ever made.

Presentation Improvements
(PS4)


Dynamic stat based presentations
Split screen functionality
Real-time situational/emotional AI scenes (dugouts, crowd, etc.)
All-new Jumbotron movies
More Team and Player celebrations

Play-by-Play, Commentary, and PA Improvements
(PS3 & PS4 Only)


Improved strike zone accuracy with new pitch locations for on-the-black calls and borderline balls & strikes
Improved hit call accuracy through new field zone locations and deeper parameter logic
Improved runner rounding base and runner scoring content for more exciting big-play calls
Improved deep fly ball logic that allows more diverse calls on potential home runs, and prevents the user from hearing calls that give away the play result before it occurs
Improved foul ball logic to allow for open-ended play-by-play on playable or nearly playable balls, prevents user from hearing calls that give away the result
New batter introductions and pitch result content for the new skip batter walkup system (speeds up gameplay, tightens play-by-play)
New system for handling safe result calls that includes proper acknowledgement of the runner’s slide type
New conversations with color commentary that remember and discuss the team’s recent record
New conversations with color commentary that highlight the impact of important double plays
New PA batter introductions and content for the new Home Run Derby format
New batter introductions that call out the three part stat line for Average, Home Runs, and RBI’s on the year
New create-a-player first and last names
New play by play and color commentary content for the manager challenge system
Over 1,700 new lines of play-by-play content
Over 1,400 new lines of color commentary

Instant Replay Challenge System
(PS4 & PS3 Only)


The MLB’s Instant Replay protocols are now in The Show. Certain plays give users an opportunity to challenge the outcome of a close play.

New Home Run Derby Format
(PS4, partial PS3)


Aligning Major League Baseball’s new Home Run Derby rules and progression

The Best Gets Better!

MLB 15 The Show included 31 more enhancements, new features and improvements!

1. More than 90 new personal batting stances
2. More than 120 batting stance re-captures
3. More than 50 new personal pitching motions
4. More than 120 pitching motion re-captures
5. More than 45 new signature HR swings
6. More than 900 new presentation animations
7. More than 700 new gameplay animations
8. Editable Contracts (Franchise mode)
9. Player contract interest improved (based on MLB service time) (Franchise mode)
10. Player salary guide (Franchise mode)
11. GM History records (Franchise mode)
12. Trade Finder (Franchise mode)
13. Vastly improved trade logic (Franchise mode)
14. New crowd placement logic to reduce fans sitting in "cheap" seats
15. New Quick Shifts feature and revamped Defensive Positioning screen
16. Quick Counts balancing adjustments (I.E. less 3-2 counts, pitchers start with 1-1 counts, etc.)
17. Four new brands for Fielding Gloves. Each brand has three different styles.
18. Four new brands for Bats. Each brand has three different styles.
19. Four new brands for Batting Gloves. Three brands have three styles and one brand has two styles.
20. Three new brands for Cleats. Each brand has three different styles.
21. Updated shin guard, new “Without foot guard” option added.
22. Updated batting helmet with no flaps to pay homage to Old Time players. (PS4 Only)
23. New Necklace accessory with Thin or Thick as options. (PS4 Only)
24. Wrist tape has now been separated into left and right wrists with a new “Long” wrist tape option added.
25. New “Extra Wide” wristband AND armband option added. (PS4 Only)
26. New Base runner Wrist Guard accessory added. (PS4 Only)
27. New “Stirrup Low” Pant Style option added. (PS4 Only)
28. Japanese and slap-hitter swing types now selectable (PS4 Only)
29. Left analog stick bunting influence
30. Hours of new custom stadium and ambiance music (over 40 new tracks)
31. RTTS camera improvements after the ball is in play

Worldwide Gameplay Reveal on Twitch

We’re also excited to announce the worldwide gameplay reveal of MLB 15 The Show on February 5th at 2:00PM pacific on Twitch. Tune in to the livestream via the San Diego Studio Twitch channel to get an exclusive look at MLB 15 and hear from our team on the features we’re most excited about for MLB 15. We can’t wait to show off what we’ve been working on and interact with our amazing fans!
MLB 15 The Show will be launching on March 31st for PS4, PS3 and PS Vita so stay tuned to our Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch pages for more info coming soon.
 
Year to year saves was announced last year with MLB 14 and it's fantastic, I can finally carry over my RTTS player without starting from scratch.

And while 14 was a great product, it still had a lot of that cross-gen blemish in areas, particularly the terrible minor league stadiums (that one with the cars driving across the bridge LOL) and some field aspects like the shale/grass.

Hoping that this year is a big step up visually. And I don't play online, but for people who do it would be nice if the netcode is finally fixed (don't count on it though )
 

bigkrev

Member
Considering I was fearing the Vita version would be a "Legacy" version with nothing more than updated rosters (like EA does with FIFA on the system), glad to see some of the new stuff is also hitting the Vita version

Also glad to see that unlike last year, they are launching before the first game of the season (I understood the PS4 delay, but the PS3/Vita versions coming after the start of the season annoyed me to no end last year)
 

Flunkie

Banned
I usually buy The Show every other year, and I bought 13 on both Vita and PS3 so looks like this will be my year to get a season into RttS and then stop playing forever. Cool that 15 is only $20 on Vita.
 
I had guys like Stanton and Fernandez from the Marlins regressing like crazy. They would be a 95 or 96 and then start regressing from like age 27 which should be their prime. It was really annoying.

Ahhhh I see. I only play RTTS and didn't pay too much attention to the performance/age of the other guys on my team.

But yeah you're right 27 is way too soon to see that stat decline.
 
I wish the game would come out at the end of February. That gives Knights and his time a whole month to prepare opening day rosters for the minors.
 

Malo

Banned
And if only we had baseball or basketball game that was anywhere near as good online as Madden 15.
If only it were possible to do a sports game fusion.

Does MLB-Gaf still run an online league? If so, I might just buy a PS4 and pick this up.
 

v1lla21

Member
If only it were possible to do a sports game fusion.

Does MLB-Gaf still run an online league? If so, I might just buy a PS4 and pick this up.
Yeah there was a league last year which was extremely fun. Once I got eliminated I stopped checking and played with the guys FIFA for a while. I'm pretty sure they'll do it again this year.
 
Yeah there was a league last year which was extremely fun. Once I got eliminated I stopped checking and played with the guys FIFA for a while. I'm pretty sure they'll do it again this year.

I always got the impression that online was completely broken. You guys actually managed to play games?
 

BFIB

Member
Been buying this yearly since '07.Cannot wait.

I'm hoping we get that MLB '08 type jump here.
 

A-V-B

Member
All those gameplay upgrades are super keen. Finally gonna fix all those "pull out hair and go insane" fielding quirks.
 

Kayant

Member
Graphical Improvements
(PS4 Only)

Real-time seasonal sun and shadows
Player Skin tone realism. More variations of skin tones with gloss and specular improvements
Revamped night lighting
More accurate and photorealistic rendering system
PS4 gets 10 more Minor League stadiums

PBR?
 

BFIB

Member
Puig is on the cover so I have to buy it.

He's even doing this triples pose!

Puig-bat-flip-triple.gif
 

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
MLB 14 was garbage for PS4, so hopefully this improves things.

Can't see why they waste time on authentic licensing of equipment.
 
Those lighting improvements sound nice but I was hoping we'd see more field improvements. PS4 should be able to handle something like deformative shale that reacts better to interaction. Right now it feels like a static texture with some particles sprinkled on top.

MLB 14 was garbage for PS4, so hopefully this improves things.

Can't see why they waste time on authentic licensing of equipment.

Really? As an MLB player since 08 I thought it was a great release.
 

Lingitiz

Member
?
??

I thought MLB 14 on PS4 was great.

Played it for 100+ hours.

I thought it was solid too but definitely rough and rushed in a few areas. The frame-rate on player close-ups was inconsistent, among other things like the quality of certain player models (especially the hair). The load times were also pretty awful still. It played great on virtue of the past games being so good, but they can definitely push it further.
 

A-V-B

Member
Yeah, I skipped 14, actually. I know first years are always gonna be rough transition years. 15 for sure, though.
 
Real-time seasonal sun and shadows
PS4 gets 10 more Minor League stadiums
New crowd placement logic to reduce fans sitting in "cheap" seats


Fab
 

NickFire

Member
Alright, alright, alright. Definitely getting this day 1. I bought last years but couldn't really get into it being so late into the season.
 

Amir0x

Banned
Awwww yiss, some of these improvements sound great already

I am in it to win it

NEW CONTEST FOR PERFECT PITCHED GAME, I WILL WIN THIS TIME
 
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