My only complaint about last years game was that you couldn't really tell if a pitch was going to be a ball or strike. I rarely walked--- which made for some unrealistic stats.

Same here.

I've only played the demo a few times, but it does seem a bit easier to read ball vs. strike at the plate so far. On top of that, it appears that they also were able to increase the hitter's bat speed, so you can now wait a bit longer to take hacks and still make solid contact. Last year, it seemed like I was going opposite field on a ton of my hits, but I was able to pull several of them in the demo. The first time I played the demo, I was also way out in front on a lot of pitches, even fastballs, because I was so used to having to swing so early last year.

I'm quite impressed so far. The hit variety seems vastly improved and it is nice to finally be able to hit fly balls over the head of outfielders.

MLB 09 The Show - Sounds of the Show
Posted by Andrew Bracken // Senior Sound Designer
The following is an important public service announcement for all PlayStation baseball fans: THE PS3 PRE-RELEASE DOWNLOADABLE DEMO FOR MLB 09 THE SHOW IS NOW AVAILABLE ON PSN. If you are a baseball fan, you are strongly advised to drop everything and initiate the download. We now return you to the regularly scheduled programming.

Hey Everybody, this is Andrew Bracken from Sony’s San Diego Studios and MLB to talk about our audio features and additions for MLB 09 The Show. This year we have added a new set of features called Sounds of the Show, featuring a voice recorder that lets you become part of the crowd, as well as a music editor.

The Custom Chants and Yells feature allows you to record your own voice and hear it in the game, either as a fan yelling from the crowd or as a simulated crowd chant. All you need is a microphone or headset for the PS3 and you can go to town. You can use all sorts of mics such as ones from Rock Band, the PlayStation Eye, and bluetooth headsets, among others. These yells and chants can be added to any player in the Personalize tab, either as cheers or jeers, depending on whether the player is playing at home or away.

We have been having a lot of fun with it and we’re sure you guys will, too. So warm up those vocal chords and get ready to yell. But please try and be nice…unless you’re playing against the Yankees.






On the music side of things, last year we introduced My MLB Music which allows you to add your own songs to the MLB playlist. As you may have heard, this year we have added the ability to add your own music to players’ batter walk ups, home run celebrations, and relief pitcher entrances.

One thing we really felt was important was to not only allow you to be able to add your own music to the game, but also to let you choose what part of the song you wanted to hear. A lot of great songs have long intros and if you put those into games, you might never get to hear the part of the song that you really want to hear. So we developed the Music Editor that lets you add up to three marker points to each song to get the music to start exactly where you want it to in game. Like the custom chants and yells, you can then attach it to it to any player you want in the Personalize tab in the Edit Player or Create Player screen. The music editor is not only in the PS3 game but also the PSP as well.

I am definitely enjoying having my created player come up to bat while the chorus for Culture Club’s “Karma Chameleon” is pumping out of the stadiums speakers….er…wait - did I say Culture Club? I meant Metallica.





We have also added a new audio option for the game called music mode. Music mode turns off the announcers and plays your music continuously through gameplay. You can also choose how you want to hear the music - through the PA speakers like you are at the stadium, or without reverb and play your music normally. One way I have been playing lately is with the announcers for the first few innings and the last, but turning on music mode for the middle innings to change up the audio experience.

One last thing - this year we have added support for AAC files for PS3, in addition to mp3 and wav, so you won’t need to change your music import settings on your PS3.

Thanks and we’re hoping you crank up the volume while playing MLB 09 The Show and have as much fun with these new features as we are.

Wow. That is amazing, and not something I would have expected.

some more impressions:



- like how the pitcher now gets a jacket when running the bases

- demo defaults to catcher view when pitching ... I like pitcher view so had to change this

- still issues with collision detection (catcher walking through parts of the batter when throwing the ball back to the pitcher)



has anyone seen pitch track in this years game yet?
EDIT: finally saw a swing track animation

I'll tell ya I hate baseball for the most part. Or at least don't care about it much. But games like this really are an amazing piece of work. I mean jesus this game(demo) is SLICK.

I can't wait. I'll be asking the wife for this for my birthday.

Played through the demo tonight. It was too much the same as '08 for me. Is it better? Sure, I guess. I can read all the improvements. But I didn't experience them enough to drop another $60 on it when I can still play '08. Will the '08 rosters still update?

Sure you could.

the new Road to the Show will be worth the price of admission alone.

the player animations are incredible as well... a major improvement.

My fielder did the jump throw, pretty cool.

I don't have enough free time to play a mode like that. I'd likely just start a regular season and sim 1/3 of the games anyway to make it through.

Man can't wait for this. Took me two seasons to get my left fielder to the bigs but man it was sweet when the White Sox finally called him up.

Demo looked and played great IMO. Really excited about the new features.

i see...

Well, its your call. At least give the full game a rental and see everything the game has to offer for yourself. The demo can only show ya so much.

If Sony doesn't let you keep getting roster updates for '08, I'm sure I'll eventually buy it or trade for it sometime down the line. I just won't be spending $60 on release day like I did last year.

Wow, very insightful. I guess you just have more hand / eye coordination than I do

Ha, sorry. I didn't really know how to explain. I don't do anything special, I just play 08 all the time. I had a hard time with it in the beginning, but I've really mastered it since.

It's not that MVP 05 was the best game ever, it's that it was the last PC baseball game released. The game continues to maintain its legacy due to the fact that there is a large community out there continuing to make improvements to the game, and keep it up to date, including the addition of new stadiums that didn't exist when the game came out.

PC gaming allows for a level of realism that can't be touched on a console: the ability to mod. That ability is just so limited on consoles. I'm sorry, but I just love being able to see the real ads in stadiums, they look so much better than the repetitive ones used in the games when they are released. I understand why the gaming companies have to do it, but the ability to fix this is what PC gaming is all about.

But MVP '05 is going to finally have a challenger for the throne: MLB 2K9 is being released on PC. If it ends up being as modable as MVP '05 turned out to be, you'll see MVP fade into the sunset. It was a great game, but the PC market for baseball tends to go where the modders go. We modded High Heat, then moved to MVP, and now I can us heading to MLB.

Yeah but if MLB 2k9 is anything like 2k8 was, updated ads or not, it won't hold a candle to The Show.

I know I'm dating myself here, but back in the day on the PC, Front Page Sports Baseball had a tiny red/green indicator on the ball when it left the pitchers hand. Red = ball, green = strike. If you blinked or didn't pay very close attention, you missed it.

I'd like to see The Show incorporate this... or at least have an option because I'm lucky to actually play 25% of the games in a season.

I remember that game, definitely wouldn't be a horrible idea. One thing I definitely do alot in The Show, is check swing. Try that more often and you may find yourself walking a bit more.

has anyone gone back to playing 08 after downloading this demo and had issues
I can't get past the "press start button" screen on 08
it locks up and I cannot even access the XMB

don't know if this is related to the 09 demo since I haven't played 08 in awhile

anyone?

EDIT: after doing some research online it looks like this was a major issue with the game
odd as I have had the game since launch and didn't have any issues
however I did get a replacement for my current router (same brand/model) and maybe that is causing the issue
I read the only work around is to disable network connection
this is fine if it works as I don't plan on playing 08 online but will be an issue if the same problem is present in 09

had to change the Primary DSN # on my Belkin router to not match the Default Router #.... now all is good

It still works, it just takes a while, it will try to look for a network connection and then let you play.

http://www.digitalfoundry.org/blog/?p=407