The Blog for the Sports Gamer

As reported at 1UP, 2k Sports has announced that there would be a patch for the very troubled MLB 2k6. What I particularly like, however, are the temp “solutions” for the stability problems in the 360 version:

Gamers can either remove or disable the Xbox 360’s HDD or load three different Xbox 360 games to their title screen, and then load MLB 2k6.

Yeah, that’s an acceptable fix while people who bought the game wait an indeterminant amount of time for a patch that may or may not work. Really. I mean it. Why would I be sarcastic about something like that?

At this point I don’t think the number of truly stable, reasonably bug-free 2k Sports releases in the past three to four years even require me to use two hands. This has moved beyond the realm of being a Q&A issue. No Q&A department misses the number of egregious bugs and problems found across the board in 2k Sports games. This is a publishing and process problem. There’s no other conclusion to draw. 2k Sports is simply not allotting enough time to fix the bugs in their games.

I mean have we ever had the draft class export feature work out of the box from NCAA Hoops to NBA? How many times can NHL possibly get away with having game-crashing roster management bugs in it? (I don’t know if 2k6 had this problem or not. I gave up on NHL a couple editions ago.) And does anyone really believe MLB’s developers or testers think it’s normal for a base-runner to just run over 3rd base and keep going? Come on. A Q&A department loaded with second graders doesn’t miss that, let alone a group of trained professionals.

I guarantee you there’s a list of problems for each of these games that ends up on the desk of a manager in a nice windowed office somewhere. Probably a senior VP. After all, aren’t these guys always some form of senior VP? Anyway, this guy, gal, king prawn, or whomever then looks it over and says, “Ship it. We’ve got a quota to fill!” Is there any other conclusion to draw?

Certainly not one I’ll buy into.

It’s gotten to the point where I’m pretty much done buying 2k Sports games until I’m either satisfied in its stability via a rental or until I read enough on the Internet that I’m convinced it’s not a bug-infested mess that’s sure to induce the kind of migraine I usually have reserved for when the wife finds out there’s a Charmed marathon on TNT - all weekend long.

Well, looks like my hope (statement) that Baseball Mogul handled the Lahman Database well was a bit premature. It’s not that it’s bad. Again, OOTP has Lahman issues, too. But Mogul doesn’t handle the Deadball Era worth a damn. I’ll have to look and see if there are era settings like in OOTP but if you just import say the 1909 season, you’re going to see guys hitting 30+ homers. That’s um, not right. I don’t think this is a huge detriment to the game but if you do want to start a long term career using the Lahman DB you can expect the early baseball stats to look a tad funky. I think the reason is that the sim engine sees that a guy like George Sisler has an 80 something power and translates than into 2006 rather than knowing it’s the early 1900s.

I’ll get some PureSim 2005 Gold thoughts up later.

Oh, and Happy Easter. We’ve already had our early morning Easter Egg Hunt inside the house. It sounds corny, but man I really love doing stuff like that with Ashley.

First off, I submitted my review of MLB 2K6 today and it should be up at Gameshark on Monday. I’ve been tooling around with PureSim 2005 Gold and Baseball Mogul 2007. If you read the Mogul 2007 preview, I wasn’t too thrilled with that build but to the game’s credit it’s much better in the final version. It uses the Lahman Database (but don’t let the PR fool you into thinking it’s an exclsuive deal, it’s not. OOTP 2006 will use it, too) and so I simmed the 1927 season and the Yanks met the Pirates in the World Series, just like real life. Cool. The Pirates won a 7 game series! I have no problem at all with that even though that Yankee team is considered by many as the best to ever take the field. I’d have a problem if the Babe hit .245 with 25 homers and the Yanks finished 4th in the division. The older versions of OOTP didn’t fare too well when using the Lahman DB, it was a bit too random for my taste, so I was surprised to see Mogul do well in this initial test.

The big difference though in this version of Mogul is that there is a pitch by pitch mode. You can select the pitch well as the location and as the hitter you can do the same (guess pitch and location.) You get a pretty Spartan graphic presenation of a pitcher and a hitter, and this is where I think this mode falls a tad short. I’d like to see the entire field, not just the pitcher and hitter. If the batter swings you have no idea what happened by looking at the graphic, which is just silly. You need to look over at the left and read the text. I’d love to see an old MicroLeague Baseball style presentation where you could call the pitches but you’d also see every player on the field. It doesn’t need to be full on 3D, even a basic 2D style would work. But you can’t just have the PBI. You need more for this to be truly effective.

Mogul’s biggest hurdle remains its interface which hasn’t changed much since the late 90s. Still, this is a big improvement over previous editions and you can tell they are really trying to make it better in order to compete with OOTP and PureSim. It’s not in their class yet, but it’s no longer a total afterthought, either.

I also have an ornery rooster living across the street from me. It wakes everyone up around 7:30. I may have to take action. I’ll still keep the rooster rather than hearing shattering glass, helicopters, and ultra deep bass from car stereos that vibrare the windows in the den — but this rooster is about to get the Cold Mountain treatment.

The web page for EA NCAA Football 2007 is up at EA Sports. There are five screenshots up (four in plain view, you have to open and scroll to the fifth). The distant stadium shots look nice, the player models don’t do much to overwhelm, though. Hopefully they’ll look better when in motion, but certainly they’re not in the ballpark of the fake Madden glory images we were treated to a year ago that never materialized in the final product.

Here’s the feature list:

* All-New Momentum System—Capitalize on your window of opportunity as big plays, defensive stops, trick plays, and special teams keep you in a constant struggle for momentum.

* Back to School—Excel in the classroom to improve your overall character, and then balance your time wisely between studies, practice, and social events as you live the life of a Student Athlete.

* All-New Spring Game—Determine your depth chart in Dynasty Mode and decide whether to red-shirt incoming blue chip freshmen by evaluating their performances in the annual spring game.

* New Spring Drills—Hone your skills with 11 new and challenging mini-games focusing on all aspects of the game, including Rush the Quarterback, Passing Distance, and more.

* New Ways to Play—Utilize new gameplay mechanics like Jump the Snap, Slide Protection, Smart Routes, Defensive Hot Routes, and Precision Passing to gain every advantage over your rivals.

* All-New ESPN Integration—Get the latest sports news with real-time updates from ESPN Radio, and track all your latest Dynasty information via ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com.

Meh. There’s some interesting items here and I’m not as down on the Back to School concept as I think a lot of people are. The problem is it’s EA Sports. Their motto with new features the last few years has been, “If it’s in the name, it’s in name only.” So don’t expect that this stuff will work particularly well or have any actual depth to it.

I posted this at DSP the other day, but here’s the new feature list I’d rather see:

- Game Ready AI Model: No longer does a team trailing by 4 points in the fourth quarter switch from pass-happy O to 3-yards and a cloud of dust offense with delusional usage of timeouts.

- SimStat Authenticity Engine: No longer do simmed QB stats reach stratospheric levels, vitually locking out other position players from the Heisman race.

- All-Hands Mode: Receivers whose hands ratings exceed 80 denote the fact that they can actually catch a ball thrown right to them when they’re wide open.

- Long Passes = Difficult Mode: Throwing the long bomb is no longer an easier completion than an eight yard crossing route over the middle.

- Home Field Advantage That Makes Sense Engine: No longer does having the HFA go against you mean you can run three straight times from 2nd and short, late in the game while protecting a lead and end up fumbling every time.

- Enhanced Discipline Reward System: Whenver you’re forced to suspend your kicker for a game to avoid NCAA sanctions because he was late for Geology 101 you get an all-expenses paid trip to the home of an NCAA developer of your choice and are allowed to slap him, just once, hard across the face.

- Pain-Free Commentary Logic: Virtual Lee Corso is gunned down in the first week of the season and forever removed from the game

That’s probably a bit too much to ask, but a guy can dream.

Not sports related but #1 on my ‘gotta play’ list. There is a new 3 mission demo out.

Driving in this morning I was listening to the Mike and Mike show on ESPN Radio (I actually rather enjoy their schtick, at least when they’re not doing that dorky marriage madness stuff) and they aired (re-aired?) a recorded interview with John Madden, lamenting the notion that Brett Favre might retire. Said Madden, sincerely:

A league without Brett Favre is a Favreless league.

This is the kind of thing, that if you think too hard on it will cause a brain aneurysm.

UPDATE: As Bill most-accurately put it, I got Tayshaun’d on this story. It was Madden-impersonator Frank Caliendo that I heard this morning and not Madden. I’m blaming the shoddy reception leading into the recording for not having picked up on that. Yeah, that’s it. Anyway, you have to admit it sounds like something Madden would say.

On a sidenote: Is there any easy way to improve AM radio reception on a car? Despite being 20 minutes from downtown Indianapolis I get spotty reception at best near work and almost none where I live (a few miles north). There’s a lot of crossover with some other phantom station that I’m unable to identify so I don’t know if it’s just an issue of signal strength or if it’s competing signals.

Saw a link to this today and it looks…wow. Anyone try this? Mike?

Anyone know much about these new (and forthcoming) XM Radio XM2GO products? I was just lurking around the XM website and I have to admit a couple of these, the Pioneer Inno and Samsung Helix in particular, look pretty damn cool. An XM Radio and MP3 Player in one solution with PVR-like features for the XM stuff might be pretty damn cool… although they’re also pretty damn pricey.

If anyone’s got experience with these portable XM units or can point a good independent resource of reviews/information, please do shoot them my way. Thanks!

UPDATE: Just read a review of the Inno at Orbitcast and wow. Just wow.

OK so today is Ashley’s last day of preschool before her late Spring Break and afterward she’s going to a friend’s house. I have the house to myself til 6PM. Woo.

So I decide to dig into MLB 06 The Show beyond my basic first impression. Well, I hope you Show Guys can help me out because I see the same shit I saw last year cropping up again.

I have auto running turned on. (Just want to test something.) Jason LaRue up to bat and hits a rocket over the bag at first; the ump has to get out of the way (nice touch). It rattles around in the corner and LaRue is digging into seco…no, wait, he stops at first. This was my #1 bitch from last year and it looks like it hasn’t been addressed. A ball into the corner like that is a double 100% of the time (well, unless the runner falls down.) I only see doubles on gappers, just like last year. LaRue is no speed demon but it shouldn’t matter. In baseball, that’ s a double.

Same inning. Encarnacion on first, pitcher Eric Milton batting. I lay down a nice bunt down the first base line and Pedro runs over and picks it up and throws to…second!? Runner is ridiculously safe. I know Pedro is a goober but how often do you ever see that?

Again, to me, this is just routine stuff that should not happen in a supposed “great” baseball game. Other games, older games, have done this right so why not this one? Why can’t a ball hit directly over the bag be an almost automatic double? Why can’t the game know to throw to first on a SAC bunt? I feel like the Grinch’s long lost Uncle who still hates those friggin’ Whos, but damn man…it’s the safe stuff from ‘05.

So you guys help me. What do I do to fix this? Can it be fixed? Or do I really need to build a PC with Windows 98 SE so I can play High Heat? I can’t have pitchers throwing to second on a SAC.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060412-6585.html

I could comment on this, but what’s the point, right?

God, but you have to love Deadspin. These guys get all the good stories, like this one about Chris Berman’s innate ability to pick up a complete stranger at a bar by just touching her on the arm and saying, “You’re with me, Leather.”

There’s also a follow-up corroboration of Berman’s “dating” MO here.

What was it that Orthodox priest in Seinfeld called Kramer? The Kevorka? Berman must be the Kevorka. Amazing.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I still hate Berman and everything he stands for (the guy is married, to boot). If I saw him at a crosswalk I’d run his ass down, then back over him a couple times while repeatedly making that, “whoop” sound. Then later, as I sit in my jail cell, I suspect that just maybe I’ll get a gift basket from Tom Jackson for having set him free.

Just a quick heads up that reviews for Oblivion and The Godfather (both PC) are up at various websites via the sidebar.

I had to share this. People have asked me for more specifics as to the general sloppiness of MLB 2K6. I still see weird shit every time I play this game. One game I might see bizarro-world sub AI, specifically pitching subs and PH subs. One game I may see a box score error — my personal fav being when the Cubbie lead off man popped up to 1B and was credited in the box with a base hit. Last night though I saw a real doozie and it typifies my beef with this game. I rarely see runners advancing from 1st to 3rd or 2nd to home on base hits. I’ve tweaked some sliders and it has made things a bit better but it’s still totally flakey. I’m cool with adding gameplay sliders but I’m sick to death of the default settings for so many games being out to lunch. Why not make the defaults as close to the real thing as you can? In what world can Ken Griffey Jr. throw the ball to home plate on 2 hops from the CF warning track with laser-like precision 100% of the time? Well, in the world of MLB 2K6 he can. Every time.

But I am getting off point.

Last night I’m playing the Reds against the Rockies and Paul Wilson is getting pummeled in the first. (See it’s not totally unrealistic.) Anyway, a Rockie is on 2nd and a base hit goes into RF. The sluggish fielding being what it is, Kearns gets a predictably late jump on the ball. The runner in this case should not only score but he should score standing up w/o a throw. When I finally get the ball into 2nd, I see the runner has stayed on 3rd. Totally baffled I fire up the sloppy replay system (it’s sloppy because you have to rewind the tape instead of it being ready from the start. I mean come on..)

What I saw was just brilliant. The runner rounds 3rd base and should clearly score. Instead, the runner continues to run….literally past third base, through the 3rd base coach box…and almost to the dugout. Realizing that he’s making Jim Marshall look like a super genius, he stops, heads back to 3rd base and dives head first to the bag. SAFE! Nice slide! Of course I never even threw the ball to 3rd. My 2nd baseman still had it in his hand, watching the Rockie runner and I assume laughing hysterically.

This is what I am talking about. It’s the sloppiest baseball release since High Heat 2001, which ended up being a great game after Team .366 patched it. If not for those patches High Heat would have been an afterthought, to me at least. Living in the era of console-itis, the odds of 2K and Kush actually fixing their games via a download is about the same as me winning a Pulitzer for the Gamer’s Tome (as deserving as I may be!)

(Title stolen from Tivo). So, why do the judges like Elliott so much? He was totally out of tune on Somebody to Love and didn’t even follow the arrangement, but he’s a ‘joy to listen to?’ WTF. Queen night was pretty much a disaster. I thought Paris did well, but they don’t seem to like her at all. I’m just flummoxed by those people. Not that it matters, but it makes for good conversation.

Bill PM’ed me and said I should review the 360 version of MLB. I said why waste my time. Oh wait, I get paid to do reviews, my bad. Anyway I see IGN has given their thoughts and they lowered the grade vs the regular Xbox. This one is a turd and yet again we see another reason why exclusive contracts are for the birds. At least we have MLB 06 the Show. The irony here is that now that there are limited choices, it makes it easy for me NOT to buy MLB2K6, because we know it’s a turd.

Other TV to watch: Have you seen King of Cars? Interesting show.

Good stuff. Really good stuff.