I played a good 100 games before I got good at hitting last year. It takes a while to get your timing locked in, but once you do the game is just so much fun.

Sadly, it looks like I won't be getting this til the weekend.

Fallout would probably be the only game I have comparatively played a "whole season" of. Even if you play 40 or so games then you've likely gotten more play out of it than most games these days. Look at it this way and it makes it easier to buy these games.

Picked this up today and just finished my first game. Here's some quick thoughts.

The analog pitching, hitting and fielding takes a bit to get used to. I turned off analog hitting... I feel it requires way too much time to get used to. I went through 4 innings and got K'd 9 times and the ball never left the infield. So I turned it off, I'm just not up to the challenge right now.

Analog pitching is great. It adds just a small dynamic but makes pitching that much more realistic. I love it.

Analog fielding works well enough but I don't see the benefit of it compared to the old style. Yes, I know now you control your own errors but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

Other then that, expect a lot of the same... it looks better, there are more animations and the presentation is slightly different but you'll get the feeling right away that you've played the game before... because you have. But I love this game and for some reason I never get tired of it.

The only negative I got so far is loading times. They're horrendous.

I'm also planning on getting MOVE now as some point. The home run derby must be a blast with it.

My code arrived, but no email confirmation the game has shipped. If I get anxious and get the game at Kmart, wonder if I'll lose my free mlb.tv code. I'm good until Friday, but if its not here by Friday, its going to be hard not to pick it up at Kmart with the free $15.

CAG is reporting that newegg.com is sending out $25 off a $50 purchase codes for first purchases. I signed up with them tonight hoping to get a code. They have the Show for $50, so I'd get it from there and return my preorder to Best Buy. I doubt I get that lucky to have the code.

I doubt the code would be void if you returned it.

I played one game with my Tigers in spring training... my short review: freaking loved it! I had to adjust some sliders so I could actually hit, but once I got the hang of it I was having a blast.

I'm enjoying this so far, especially the pitching. The only part that I'm struggling with is the analog fielding. It can be a pain when the perspective shifts and you end up throwing it to the wrong base. I'm sure I'll get a handle on it after a few more games.

IGN's 8.0 Review

you can change the camera views in Options. Plus, just change it to buttons anyway... its better.

8.0? Is that the worst rating this game has received? Isn't it normally in the 9's?

Here's the IGN ratings for past versions (PS3 unless identified otherwise):

'10: 8.9

'09: 8.7
'09 (PS2): 7.3
'09 (PSP): 7.5

'08: 8.7
'08 (PS2): 8.0
'08 (PSP): 8.2


'07: 7.7
'07 (PS2): 8.5
'07 (PSP): 7.9

'06 (PS2): 8.0
'06 (PSP): 8.3

(stolen from CAG who stole it from BR.com)

decent deal at Target next week if you happen to be in the market for one of these other 7 games:

Buy one get one 50% off (these 8)

Just Dance 2 -$39.99
Zumba -$39.99
Kirby's Epic Yarn -$39.99
Sonic Colors -$39.99
Dance Central -$49.99
Dead Space 2 -$59.99
Bulletstorm -$59.99
MLB 11: The Show -$59.99

I think IGN just saved me a few dollars. I knew if I waited until today I could survive the yearly temptation.

Re: RTTS

But all that said, this is still the same ol' mode as the past few years. To call it stale would be an insult to week-old bread. Time to reboot this thing already.

Like others have mentioned, so far I'm using analog pitching and fielding, but old school batting. The fielding has cost me two games so far, unfortunately.

One big downer for me: the load times are now in the "you've got to be KIDDING me" range, and the amount of time it takes to save a season or RTTS has seemingly doubled from last year.

For all of you still sitting on the fence, you can get the game from Modell's for $36 shipped.
Use promo code MOD4TEN39
http://www.modells.com/product/index...1&clickid=cart

Damnit!

I wonder since this will be the first time I've even played this franchise that I will be blown away regardless of the drop in quality.

Does Amazon give refunds for opened games

You could place your order and return the unopened copy though.

And 2K11 is $32.99 shipped.

Hmm. Is it time to jump ship for something different this year? At least I won't be dealing with the same RTTS bugs. They'll be entirely new bugs.

I wish there was more than one review on metacritic for the game.

I believe the code is only good through 3/10 by the way.

I wouldn't read too much into how the scores track over the years. Standards change, and what was fresh in one year isn't so much later on. What's happening is there isn't as much innovation as they would like. As with any review, you have to read what is said about it instead of getting fixated on the numbers, and he says that much of the game is improved, if not significantly. The only real negative was the broadcast crew.

Unless there are major bugs, I doubt the game has actually dropped in overall quality.

...but I want to play the game while I wait for the other order to arrive (it'll take a week, Amazon's copy is arriving tomorrow)

I'll keep that in mind.

You open the copy from Amazon and start playing and return the other one to Amazon when it comes in. Amazon doesn't know which copy is which.

I noticed something that I am glad they changed. Last year your pitcher could take a line drive to the face and he would just reach down and grab the ball like it was nothing. Well let's just say that he isn't picking the ball up when he takes one to the face THIS year.

I don't like that you can't use the right stick to look around while on base in RTTS anymore.

Also, for some reason none of my own tracks, which do come up in the jukebox and during loads, aren't showing for my player's HR, walkup and other events as choices.

And yes, load times suck this year.

Done and done! Thanks for the heads up! Now, about that league......