The Blog for the Sports Gamer

Glen and I were invited to sit in on a conference call for MLB 2K8. I have no idea how many people were on this call, but I know that Bill Abner was on there (check out the question about scoring from second about one hour in) and some people from Operation Sports were there too.

You can pretend to be a member of the press sitting in on this conference call as we’ve received special dispensation from 2K Sports to rebroadcast the conference call pretty much as we heard it. Now you can experience the excitement of a press conference call! We have to apologize for the audio quality of the interview…unfortunately that was the way it was when we listened live. Be forewarned, the entire call is about an hour…so Bill Harris, put this on your waterproof MP3 player for your swim.

Enough suspense, download the edited version by clicking here.

For those that prefer to skip the interview here are the highlights:

• The big focus this year seems to be on the trading cards on the Xbox 360 version and the PS3 The developers really wanted to recreate the days of our youth with this. Maybe it will be insanely addictive, but right now I am a little skeptical. I think it’s one of those ’you gotta play it to enjoy it’ things.
• We were told on the interview that many of the issues we had with last year’s game are fixed: specifically, the PS3 version will run smoother and Bill Abner’s pet peeve about a runner not being able to score from 2nd will be fixed. In Ben Brinkman’s words, “you will love this game.” Can’t wait to see if Abner will like it.
•  You will be able to play in the minor leagues, with 18 Minor league stadiums available.
• The Wii version will not be as hardcore an experience as on the PS3 or 360. No online or DLC will be available on the Wii. The latest Nintendo Power has a lot of info on this game. Also the trading cards are not on the Wii version.
• No new Play by Play was recorded this year, but Ben says they had a lot of unused audio from previous recording sessions, so it will be new to us.
• Thanks to Operation Sports we know that players uniforms wont’ be as ‘windy’ as they were last year. Phew. Now I can buy the game. Sorry OpSports guys — that’s why I got tired of the forums and the ’send in a question” stuff….seriously this are the issues that people have?
• Oh and make sure you listen to all the exciting talk about custom soundtracks.
• A lot of work was put into motion capture and getting the animations right.
• Japanese players that are not yet in the major leagues are not allowed to be in the game per MLBPA rules until they’ve actually played an official game, which is why there’s an opening week roster update.
• You’ll be able to human control 4 teams in franchise mode.
• The Wii version will NOT have online play or downloadable content.
• The demo is currently in ‘certification’ so hopefully we’ll see it before the game comes out.
• Don’t judge the game by the trailer. Apparently there’s more than one bat sound (okay OpSports, that was a legit question lol).
• Sorry PS3 fans, DualShock isn’t supported (yet).
• There was some discussion about the right stick pitching and swinging modes. I’m very curious to see how this plays out. I got the feeling from the call that there is a learning curve and it is a skill to get this right. I hope it is a skill and not an exercise in frustration.

So as far as conference calls go, we did get some good information. I’ve been through worse ones. As I said, my biggest concern is that Mr. Brinkman agreed with many of the issues with the prior year’s game and promises to have fixed them. It’s just funny that the issues aren’t acknowledged until after the product life cycle. Even a “yup we know, we tried to get that in but couldn’t” acknowledgement would suffice in some ways to me.  As Glen said to me after the conference, when we are told that there is such a tight schedule on the game and 1/2 of that time is spent on ‘player cards’…you get a little worried. But hey, you can only talk about wall climbs so often I guess.

Am I more hyped about the game than I was before the call? I guess I have to say yes, because before the call I didn’t have any interest at all — I was focused on The Show (PS count the number of times mention of The Show is avoided. LOL).  Between the Nintendo Power preview and this call, I’m definitely in the ‘curious’ category.

I’d love to read and hear your thoughts on the call and what you thought of it — leave comments below or post in our luscious forums!