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[Musashi Wins!]

--How do I bat? I don't see any curser so umm, do I have any control over where I am swinging besides guessing the type of pitch? Also if you have no idea what type of pitch is coming should you not guess? Also, one time I was able to specifically guess which area of the box the pitch would come in, but I couldn't do it after that.

It might be useful to turn on the batters plate coverage in the settings, which is off by default. You'll notice that better hitters have more coverage, ie. a better area of achieving contact. The left stick will dictate where you are swinging, and that is why having the coverage shown can be useful. Generally speaking, you pick a zone to concentrate on.

You can guess the pitch type, and with the same button, choose a zone. A correct guess of type adds power. Zone obviously lets you sit on the pitch with your bat correctly placed. Guessing wrong with either gives a slight penalty, so whether or not you should guess is up to your strategy.

--How do I pitch? I think I might've figured it out by the end of a few innings. It's like Hot Shots Golf right? You pick a power with X between light yellow and dark red and then you press X again at the first pre-created line to judge accuracy. Is that right? Also when you choose the position it only gives you a second or so. After that can you not change where you are throwing to? PS. I like that the game tells me where to throw and what sort of throws to use since normally in baseball games I just throw fastballs straight down the middle and swing at every pitch. ^^;

One press to move the meter, one to stop it in the level of effort. Higher effort = beter pitch but more endurance loss (you can check your endurance and stats by hitting select.) You can set the pitching marker to not fade. The pitch goes where you have the controller when the pitcher releases the ball.

--How do you run? Do you have any control over runners when they are running? How do you steal a base while at bat?

L1 to advance, L2 to hold, R1 to return. Alternatively, the new system allows you to push the left (?) stick toward the runner, his marker blinks, and you can push the corresponding base on the d-pad. L2 before the pitch to steal, L1 / R1 to lead off or return. You may want to double check my controller memory here.

--How do you dive? When I'm a fielder I've discovered that R1 lets me jump up, but how do I dive horizontally?

L2? You can also set up these actions to use the sixaxis.

--Are there sliders or settings to make the game simple for someone who hasn't played a baseball game in forever and hasn't watched the sport in a decade?

Set it on rookie, or choose the vast amount of sliders and move them to your liking. Each explains it's function and they can be saved with your profile.

Read the short booklet inside the game, or make sure the tips are turned on! It will help!

 

[Drinky Crow]

both me and maf picked this game up -- it's a really, REALLY solid sim.

 

[WasabiKing]

both me and maf picked this game up -- it's a really, REALLY solid sim.

What, Drinky sighting! Well, Drinky's suggestions haven't failed me to date.

 

[Kittonwy]

both me and maf picked this game up -- it's a really, REALLY solid sim.

Drinky approved = teh awesome?

 

[mintylurb]

Ok, so I picked this up today to support the 60fps sports game movement and played a game and I have some questions as well as impressions.

The slowdown during close-ups is a bit sad, but during the actual gameplay segments the framerate maintains its smoothness and I love it. I've also seen some cool animations and I like that the announcers are calling me an idiot since I don't know how to play.

I thought I was the only one seeing this slowdown during closeups as just about everyone talked about the game running silky smooth 60fps. Besides the closeup slowdown I've also noticed few other things such as jerky camera, pitch slider, etc. Thankfully, I've yet to experience more serious issues such as the game freezing for 5 mins or not even loading during caching process.

 

[Bog]

Anybody wanna get nasty right now? I want to try this online gimmick out.

 

[GitarooMan]

Got it today, played on game on Veteran (in which the computer did a couple weird fielding things) and one on All-Star (no fielding weirdness). I'm very happy so far, the players look very port-up as expected, but it's great to have the 60fps, clean 720p action. Hitting and pitching feel great. Looking forward to starting a franchise.

 

[Smokey]

I rented this a few days ago and I was really overwhelmed. First I couldn't get the pitching system down. It also doesn't help that the PS3 doesn't have vibration so I didn't know when I was out of the strike zone or what. Plus all of the other little details; guess the pitch do this do that and i was screaming.



Maybe I'll rent it again and see if it will click.

 

[Kintaro]

I rented this a few days ago and I was really overwhelmed. First I couldn't get the pitching system down. It also doesn't help that the PS3 doesn't have vibration so I didn't know when I was out of the strike zone or what. Plus all of the other little details; guess the pitch do this do that and i was screaming.



Maybe I'll rent it again and see if it will click.

Reading the instructions helps. =)

 

[calder]

I wasn't going to go out to the mall today (hangover FTL) but I really want to pick this game up. Is the online issue fixed or at least going to be soon? I see a few ppl on my friends list playing it and I don't want to be left behind... on the other hand it's a mind boggling 5 degrees Celsius outside and I'm pretty happy just laying on the couch rewatching 30 Rock. Help me GAF!

 

[Musashi Wins!]

I rented this a few days ago and I was really overwhelmed. First I couldn't get the pitching system down. It also doesn't help that the PS3 doesn't have vibration so I didn't know when I was out of the strike zone or what. Plus all of the other little details; guess the pitch do this do that and i was screaming.



Maybe I'll rent it again and see if it will click.

Turn on the strike zone marker and pitch indicator in the settings next time you play. Then imagine you are playing hot shots or shadow hearts, haha.

 

[hukasmokincaterpillar]

For folks having connection and "Traffic Delay" problems online, I found this on the official forum. If you're behind a router there's a couple ports you may need to forward- 3478, 3479, and 3658. If you're still having trouble try adding 10070 through 10080.

This seemed to fix my disconnections when I tried to host. Still can't get my mic to work but I had a couple games that weren't too laggy.

 

[WasabiKing]

I wasn't going to go out to the mall today (hangover FTL) but I really want to pick this game up. Is the online issue fixed or at least going to be soon? I see a few ppl on my friends list playing it and I don't want to be left behind... on the other hand it's a mind boggling 5 degrees Celsius outside and I'm pretty happy just laying on the couch rewatching 30 Rock. Help me GAF!

Gatorade. Learn it. Live it. Love it.

 

[Dez]

I wasn't going to go out to the mall today (hangover FTL) but I really want to pick this game up. Is the online issue fixed or at least going to be soon? I see a few ppl on my friends list playing it and I don't want to be left behind... on the other hand it's a mind boggling 5 degrees Celsius outside and I'm pretty happy just laying on the couch rewatching 30 Rock. Help me GAF!

Don't buy it! I want the Jays for the gaf league

 

[deadbeef]

Man, this game gets better the more I play it. Very fun. The batting is really responsive and feels really intuitive - I find it pretty easy to check my swing at the last second without really having to think too hard about it.

Is there going to be a GAF league?

 

[calder]

Gatorade. Learn it. Live it. Love it.

I normally have a sports drink in my fridge for when I get home after a night drinking for that exact reason but I didn't last night. I got home all hammered, was dying of thirst but fell asleep without having so much as a glass of water then woke up at 6am with my legs cramping and my mouth tasting like a bile soaked cotton swab. ****ing dehydration gets me every time.

Anyway, I did go to grab the game and they (HMV) didn't have it. I was not up to going to a real game store as the HMV is the only thing without 5 minutes. Tomorrow I'll go pick it up, the comments in this thread convinced me.

 

[WasabiKing]

I just played my first game on rookie, boy has baseball changed since MLB for NES. :lol

Took me a while (and several restarts) to learn the pitching system, and it rocks. Granted it was exhibition, but man, it was awesome. 2-1 victory, with two homers, one against me, and one by me... The homers seemed so anti-climatic, but then again, it was only the first two homers I've seen.

I'm shocked that they have the farm teams in game, as well as their actual names.

Couple of irks:
Doesn't seem my USB keyboard works
When a grounder goes fair or foul, you can't always tell right off the bat
No love for Chad Gaudin stamina... will probably change after time in a roster update (homer complaint, I know)

Great pick up, even better that I traded in Spiderman 3 and some old game for it. We'll see in a few days if it's worth the price of admission.

 

[mintylurb]

I just played my first game on rookie, boy has baseball changed since MLB for NES. :lol

Took me a while (and several restarts) to learn the pitching system, and it rocks. Granted it was exhibition, but man, it was awesome. 2-1 victory, with two homers, one against me, and one by me... The homers seemed so anti-climatic, but then again, it was only the first two homers I've seen.

-snip-

Great pick up, even better that I traded in Spiderman 3 and some old game for it. We'll see in a few days if it's worth the price of admission.

Keep practicing. After I kick bad_boy's butt, you're next!

 

[Remy]

Is there going to be a GAF league?

Forming right now, in fact.

So I realized that this is the first baseball game I've owned since (I think) Super Challenge Baseball for the 2600.

I've been loving Road To The Show mode; the singular focus on just one player is really nice and beats playing 9 full innings for each game. (I do have a small gripe that at one point, I got traded up from the AAAs back to the MLB, had a non-game (actual game loaded but I didn't bat or do anything), then two weeks of games went by where I didn't play, and then I got dropped back down to the minors.

I also learned I can't bat worth shit on Veteran (yet), so for now I'm using Rookie.

The commentary really impresses me - it's very context aware, non-repetitive, and mostly non-annoying. Smackdown vs. Raw should take some lessons from this.

 

[Vargas]

I have checked all over the options and I can't for the live of me find an option to change the resolution to 1080i. Can anyone help?

 

[Dez]

I have checked all over the options and I can't for the live of me find an option to change the resolution to 1080i. Can anyone help?

You have to disable 720p in your XMB. I don't suggest doing it, the game does NOT run at 60FPS in 1080i mode.

 

[CastleBravo]

Anyone know if PS2 players can play against PS3 players or is it locked to playing against people with the same console? As you can probably guess, I have the PS2 version. Still looks great and plays great. I think it's the best baseball sim I've ever played.

 

[WasabiKing]

For those in franchise mode, can you sign extensions during the season/spring training? If not, that should be allowed.

 

[sportzhead]

Well after playing this game for some time, I can truly say, I really dislike it.

There are so many little problems I can't believe you guys can glance over. To me, the games atmosphere is boring. The crowd audio is great, but the bat ball sound effects are weak and hearing the player footsteps is silly. The graphics are not terrible, but the player models look down right silly. Every time I see a close up of Ichiro I always laugh. It seems like everybody has big heads.

Now to the reasons why I dislike this game. The infield animations are too much. I have never been so angry at a game because of stupid animation than this one. Just throw the damn ball to first base so I can get the out. Stop posing after you make a hard catch, stop double tapping the ball back into your glove before you throw it. Just stop wasting valuable seconds doing stupid shit and just throw the ball to the base.

Also, when a ball is hit on the ground through the infield and you make a run for it with your shortstop or 2nd baseman they just look at roll right by them. Bend over and pick it up man. I'm way to close to the ball to dive for it (I would just drive right over the ball.) so just bend down and scoop it up dude instead of watching it roll into the outfield for a base hit.

Another thing, what's up with the 5 to 30 second lockups during game play. Example, Pitcher throws the ball, ball gets half way to the plate, game completely locks up for 30 seconds, then all of a sudden unfreezes, the ball get to the catcher, and the game continues like nothing happened. This happens at least once a game. One time it was so long I was just about to turn the PS3 off when it suddenly unfroze itself.

Here is an example with pictures of the infield problems.

Right next to the ball

Decides to let it roll right on by.

Same play, the idiot Dodger base runner tries for second because I threw the ball to first.

Ortiz catches the ball with plenty of time to throw the base runner out at second.

But instead of throwing it right away, he decides to play grab ass with the ball and his glove before throwing it to second, (He tapped the ball into his glove two times before he threw it.) allowing the base runner enough time to get to second base.

 

[Kintaro]

I've seen where my infielder missed a ball once. Bout all I've seen of it though. As for the animations, after watching baseball on TV today...well, players do stupid shit. I saw a lot of it on TV, and I see the same animations in the game. Works for me.

I can see the issue with it, but if you want a Baseball "sim" then those things make it in. If they leave them out, people bitch about lack of animations, if they are in, people get upset because as a video game, it's supposed to do what you tell it to do. Tough spot to be in, but I'll take the animations 100% of the time.

Franchise: I started my Brewers franchise since I've got them in the online league, and I'm 0-3 to the Dodgers. =( I just could NOT produce any runs. All the games were very close. 2-1, 3-1, and 2-1. But man base hits were hard to come by. This was on All-Star. I had fun, but I was frustrated as my team couldn't produce while my pitching was pretty darn good.

 

[deadbeef]

Another thing, what's up with the 5 to 30 second lockups during game play. Example, Pitcher throws the ball, ball gets half way to the plate, game completely locks up for 30 seconds, then all of a sudden unfreezes, the ball get to the catcher, and the game continues like nothing happened. This happens at least once a game. One time it was so long I was just about to turn the PS3 off when it suddenly unfroze itself.

I've never had that problem at all - that sounds bad. Have you checked for fingerprints on the disc?

The other problems you describe, I haven't really noticed, but I'm not a hardcore baseball game fan, so that's not that surprising.

 

[Matrix]

Havent had that pause or any freezes after or during a pitch :\

 

[backbreaker65]

Sports: you can solve your throwing problems by pre-loading your throws, while the ball is in motion, and your player selected, you can press the base you want to throw to. If you just tap it, they will double tap the ball because their is no urgency. Now if you press, they come out firing the ball right away.

I don't have no problems with the game because I've been playing the series for a while. I know what to expect and I take proper angles on ground balls ect.

 

[Dez]

I agree with some of the complaints that sportzhead mentioned.. the infielders double clutch (sometimes triple clutch) way too often, and I do hate that the ball just rolls by them when it's a foot away. At least show an animation for the guy trying to get the ball. There are a bunch of other problems that I can't put my finger on though.. playing against the computer on HOF leaves me sour though. With default sliders on HOF difficulty, I get way too many hits (but still can't manage to manufacture runs), but when I try to change the sliders, it leaves me with basically the same amount of hits, except instead, they're all singles. I also find striking out the opposition to be a little too difficult. I guess I could fix that with sliders though.

 

[sportzhead]

Thank for the pre-load tip gluv65. I feel they (the CPU) should know when to use the elaborate animations, and when to use a quick, get the job done animation. There are just so many little things that grind my gears in this game. I didn't mention them because I feel they are problems I could try to fix using sliders. But the infield and freezing problems are game killers for me.

The freezing problem is horrible. I'm surprised you guys haven't experienced it yet. I've noticed once it freezes, if you look at the PS3, the green HDD light is lit. I also had a player on second try to steal third. He wasn't even close to making it. Who tries to steal third nowadays?

 

[Kintaro]

Thank for the pre-load tip gluv65. I feel they (the CPU) should know when to use the elaborate animations, and when to use a quick, get the job done animation. There are just so many little things that grind my gears in this game. I didn't mention them because I feel they are problems I could try to fix using sliders. But the infield and freezing problems are game killers for me.

The freezing problem is horrible. I'm surprised you guys haven't experienced it yet. I've noticed once it freezes, if you look at the PS3, the green HDD light is lit. I also had a player on second try to steal third. He wasn't even close to making it. Who tries to steal third nowadays?

Sadly, not many. Pussies. =(

 

[hukasmokincaterpillar]

The freezing problem is horrible. I'm surprised you guys haven't experienced it yet. I've noticed once it freezes, if you look at the PS3, the green HDD light is lit.

Haven't had this happen once to be honest, and I'm sure I'd notice. The framerate has been butter smooth during play. The infield stuff is mostly about the angles you take in my experience (I agree they should add some kind of flailing animation though).

Sorry you're not digging the game though. Plays great right out of the box for me, haven't had to adjust a single slider yet.

 

[Shawnwhann]

The freezing problem is horrible. I'm surprised you guys haven't experienced it yet. I've noticed once it freezes, if you look at the PS3, the green HDD light is lit. I also had a player on second try to steal third. He wasn't even close to making it. Who tries to steal third nowadays?

After 20 games, I haven't seen this freezing problem yet. Maybe you have a bad copy?

 

[Mrbob]

Sportzhead do you have 20GB PS3? The cache is smaller, so maybe that is why you are getting pauses.

I just played my first game, and saw some interesting things. First off, I saw a home run animation (whats up 1up?). Ball hits were going everywhere across the field. I caught a ball running near a wall, and the outfielder braced himself by putting his hands up against the wall. I hit a ball to 2nd base to set up a double play, the 2nd baseman threw underhand to the SS for the double play but the SS dropped the ball attempting to make a relay throw. At first it was an error but then the ump changed his mind and said the SS held onto the ball long enough to be called an out at 2nd. Ton of variety shown in the game in the little playtime I've seen.

 

[Kintaro]

Oh yeah. Highlight of my gameplay so far. I robbed a homerun! Was AWESOME! :lol I was pumped for a good five minutes after.

 

[_Angelus_]

Like all baseball games,I'm sure this one is gonna have some flaws that will piss me off-thanks for the info sportzhead. I want the game but not for 60 bucks.

 

[deadbeef]

Oh yeah. Highlight of my gameplay so far. I robbed a homerun! Was AWESOME! :lol I was pumped for a good five minutes after.

Nice! I wish you could save replays - I've had some good plays that I wish I could see again.

It's so frustrating hitting into a double play. :-/

 

[Matrix]

Sportzhead do you have 20GB PS3? The cache is smaller, so maybe that is why you are getting pauses.

I have a 20GB and have had none of those issues he's having,so it cant be the cache.

 

[sportzhead]

Mrbob it's a 60GB version. Was just over at OS reading the forums and there are guys there having the same problem.

 

[Matrix]

It's got to be bad copies,doesnt make any sense *shrug*

 

[nasero]

I have a 60gb PS3 and the first few hours of the game I was getting pauses. Two days later and I haven't had any since.

 

[TheMissingLink]

Thank for the pre-load tip gluv65. I feel they (the CPU) should know when to use the elaborate animations, and when to use a quick, get the job done animation. There are just so many little things that grind my gears in this game. I didn't mention them because I feel they are problems I could try to fix using sliders. But the infield and freezing problems are game killers for me.

The freezing problem is horrible. I'm surprised you guys haven't experienced it yet. I've noticed once it freezes, if you look at the PS3, the green HDD light is lit. I also had a player on second try to steal third. He wasn't even close to making it. Who tries to steal third nowadays?

I was at the Mariners v Padres game today and Ichiro attempted to steal 3rd.

He was thrown out

----------------------------------------------

I have not had any freezes whatsoever and I've played maybe 15 games.

The animations can be frustrating, at times, but they're really fantastic. I have hardly any gripes.

Really, it's really truly hard for me to find fault with this game. As a sports game, it does soooo many things right.

 

[sportzhead]

I was at the Mariners v Padres game today and Ichiro attempted to steal 3rd.

He was thrown out

I had Ichiro try to steal third also. Maybe it's a bug with Ichiro. I seriously do not like these long animations. Had a guy get a triple on me because the CF wouldn't throw the ball fast enough. He just took his sweet time getting the ball out of his hand. I will say the double play animations are insane, there or so many of them too.

 

[Matrix]

I had Ichiro try to steal third also. Maybe it's a bug with Ichiro. I seriously do not like these long animations. Had a guy get a triple on me because the CF wouldn't throw the ball fast enough. He just took his sweet time getting the ball out of his hand. I will say the double play animations are insane, there or so many of them too.

He said he was "at" the real life game,cant be a bug

Ichiro was caught stealing 3rd today.

 

[Firestreak]

Thank for the pre-load tip gluv65. I feel they (the CPU) should know when to use the elaborate animations, and when to use a quick, get the job done animation. There are just so many little things that grind my gears in this game. I didn't mention them because I feel they are problems I could try to fix using sliders. But the infield and freezing problems are game killers for me.

The freezing problem is horrible. I'm surprised you guys haven't experienced it yet. I've noticed once it freezes, if you look at the PS3, the green HDD light is lit. I also had a player on second try to steal third. He wasn't even close to making it. Who tries to steal third nowadays?

I'm getting freezes too occasionally. 60 Gig too.

What really sucks is I got a freeze in the middle of a ****ing pitch. I was playing Closing Pitcher so it ****ing ruined the whole game. Was only Spring Training but still.

 

[Mrbob]

Mrbob it's a 60GB version. Was just over at OS reading the forums and there are guys there having the same problem.

Weird.

Did you delete the game install and try to reinstall the game cache? Maybe something went wrong when it originally tried to install on the hdd.

 

[sportzhead]

He said he was "at" the real life game,cant be a bug

Ichiro was caught stealing 3rd today.

Misread that one. Maybe The Show is too real. Ichiro is fast, but not that fast.

 

[Matrix]

Misread that one. Maybe The Show is too real. Ichiro is fast, but not that fast.

Around the majors today...

Ryan Freel
Vernon Wells
Eric Byrnes
Kenny Lofton

all caught stealing 3rd in todays games.

Nook Logan and Fred Lewis stole 3rd today

Attempting to steal 3rd happens more than you think.

 

[sportzhead]

Alright, I'm about fed up with this game. I had a love, hate thing going with it, but now it's just hate. The animation thing is just ridiculous. You cannot always pre-load your throws, and even when you do, they sometimes still do a silly long animation. But after swinging and missing at so many balls I felt I should of made contact with, I had to check out the replay to see what was going on. And sure enough the ball was going right through the bat. And I'll back up my statement with pictures.

Ball clearly goes right through the bat.

 

[Dez]

:lol