MLB 09 The Show Community Preview Requests
by 
As mentioned previously I wanted to give everyone a chance to get some requests down for things you would like to hear about coming out of the MLB 09 The Show Community Preview.
The preview takes place at the end of next week. No pictures or video of the game will be allowed but most of what we encounter when playing the game is expected to be open for discussion. For those who haven’t read through some of my impressions out of community events I tend to look at the game with a relatively clean slate and then report back on my general thoughts, likes, and dislikes. I also attempt to gather as much information as I can to present. I don’t so much hunt for potential problems or attempt to investigate whether something has been fixed from the previous year. For MLB 09 I expect to concentrate mainly on general gameplay and Road to the Show and won’t spend much time with franchise mode. This will be the final version of the game so any feedback provided would only be considered for a potential patch or for the following year.
So feel free to post in the comments anything you’d like some opinions on or would like to have clarified. While I can’t guarantee I will be able to get answers to everything I do read all the comments so I can have that information to refer to while at the event. I’ll be working on write-ups and answering questions after, may be able to host a live blog while in the room, have plans for a post-event podcast, and will be using my Twitter throughout to update on what is happening during my time there.
January 22, 2009 at 12:45 am
More road to the show info.
January 22, 2009 at 12:49 am
you said you would ask about the authentic stadium sounds like cow bells in Tampa, tomahawk chop in Atlanta and the drum guy at progressive field etc
January 22, 2009 at 12:50 am
Ya Pasta, can u post the top players for each position after the preview.
January 22, 2009 at 12:53 am
1- Can we break up double plays this year?
2- Is there more assessories for the players this year.(eye black, sunglasses,bat colors,bat tape) stuff like that
3- How the progressive light changing looks.
Thanks for upcomin preview…..
January 22, 2009 at 11:46 pm
i sa ichiro with sunglasses
January 22, 2009 at 11:46 pm
i saw ichiro with sunglasses
February 2, 2009 at 4:15 am
in one of the videos i saw of mlb 09, i think i saw pedroia with the eye black, not sure though.
January 22, 2009 at 12:55 am
Have they added collisions this year? Can you rate the new AI on a scale of 1 to 10?
January 22, 2009 at 12:57 am
I was wondering if anything has been changed with regards to baserunning in Road to the Show. Specifically, speeding up the process so we don't have to wait forever while teammates bat. Also, is there any talk of adding a create-a-team mode?
January 22, 2009 at 1:00 am
YES!!!! That would be real nice….
January 22, 2009 at 1:11 am
Hey, I was wondering if the "Guess Pitch" feature is still in the game? Last time I played MLB the Show was for the 2006 season I think. I used to love guessing correctly and getting those clutch hits.
January 22, 2009 at 1:14 am
A few requests pasta:
1) Has CitiField been corrected (Dark Green padding on walls, not bright blue like in the videos/screens, and orange foul polls, not yellow)
2) "Throw Urgency" — do infielders seem to take their time randomly when fielding, thus resulting in an "infield single" or botched double play
and last but not least, probably the biggest issue from last year:
Position Players stamina non existent in Franchise Mode, resulting in tired players. You should not have to bench the top players on your team every 3 games to keep them rested. Most top players play about 150-160 games throughout the entire season. This absolutely killed Franchise mode last year, and they need to at least give you a Fielder Fatigue slider, or the option to turn Position Player stamina on and off
January 22, 2009 at 3:03 pm
I agree with this 100%!! The stamina issue was very annoying. There are certain guys who are "every game" players – like Derrek Lee – and their stamina shouldn't be the same as a catcher or bench player. I shouldn't have to sit D Lee once a week or more because his stamina is at next to nothing.
January 22, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I would like follow-up on the throwing as well. I hated the fact that the infielders would read the label on the ball before throwing to a base.
January 22, 2009 at 1:16 am
Did the improve the lag in multiplayer?
January 22, 2009 at 1:22 am
can you see if the minor leagues are better upgraded for this year?
January 22, 2009 at 1:28 am
Good stuff so far…most seem like reasonable stuff I could get through.
As to online we won't be able to play it but I'll definitely be asking about what has been done there to help improve the performance.
January 22, 2009 at 1:45 am
My questions mainly concern Online. Stability, New additions, abilty to use custom rosters in unranked games? Also has fielding been improved? Also stealing use to be easy even with non speedster players. I can't remember how many times guys were able to steal second with David Oritz with ease because I couldn't get the ball there fast enough or my catcher would always throw it off target.
January 22, 2009 at 1:46 am
Could you see about the problem second basemen had with fielding balls up the middle. Sometimes the would just run over the ball without breaking animation at all the reach down and make an attempt at fielding it. This cost me a game several times. I really hope it's corrected this year. Thanks
January 22, 2009 at 1:54 am
Are there any new stadiums this year other than Yankee and Citi? New minor league or Spring Training stadiums? What about Classic old time stadiums?
Can they make the Hall of Fame players unlocked right off the bat? I hate not having access to all the features.
January 22, 2009 at 2:16 am
the soundtrack?
January 22, 2009 at 2:20 am
This continues to be the best sports franchise on any console period. I hope they make the Yankees the 98 across the board that they deserve.
January 22, 2009 at 2:45 am
will stadiums with retractable roofs open and close. Will there be an option to have the roof opened or closed during season games?
January 22, 2009 at 3:18 am
Pasta, can you check and see if Ryan Braun and Rickie Weeks have real-life stances in 09? They were pretty bad in 08….
January 22, 2009 at 3:33 am
Hit distribution and variety is important. Does it seem like their are more doubles this year?
January 22, 2009 at 1:16 pm
check out yesterdays video to see your answer for this…
January 22, 2009 at 3:50 am
Can you find out if, during night games (in the summer months), if the players wear long sleeve undershirts. Players don't wear those during the season and it kinda urks me when they wear it in the game.
Also, if you can, can you find out if they glitch where the CPU randomly changes your lineup after you make a trade in Franchise/Season is gone? Its incredibly annoying.
Also, can you find out when the demo is coming out?
January 22, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I hope that if they can address what the fans wear, they BETTER fix how the players dress according to weather!
January 22, 2009 at 3:57 am
I probably missed this, but can you select your jersey before franchise games? I hated the random throwbacks twice a week at times, and once in 2 or 3 months at other times.
January 22, 2009 at 5:32 am
If possible ask about the roster AI within franchise and trading in general. With all the additions have they taken steps to assure everything works as realistically as possible? Are young players and top prospects valued highly within the game?
January 22, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I would like to know this, too. I think it was annoying to a lot of us that there was no proactive trade activity by the AI in franchise mode. Hopefully this has been fixed for 09 so that CPU controlled teams will make trades amongst each other and make offers to you.
January 22, 2009 at 5:49 am
Any changes to controls? Does the game control any differently? SixAxis? Is it easier to read pitches out of the pitchers hand? Any improvements to scouting prospects and other front office things?
January 22, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Are the rosters going to be set locked?—-what happens if manny,abreu,and everyone else is not signed by then?…Also in franchise mode will there be winter meetings and can you schedule meeting with the free agents? Thanks Pasta
January 22, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Rosters for baseball games are generally locked by January 15th. Not much of a problem anymore though since we always get a release date update and weekly updates after that.
January 22, 2009 at 1:14 pm
1) WILL WE BE ABLE TO INSTALL GAME ONTO HDD?
2) WILL THERE BE A HR DERBY LIKE THE PSP VERSION??
3) HAVE THE STEALING CONTROLS BEEN ADDRESSED???
January 22, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Can you ask about the number of games we can play in Franchise mode? Last year, I think our only option was 162 game seasons. It'd be nice to select the number of games per season in franchise mode.
January 22, 2009 at 1:19 pm
I would like to know more about whats new with the Road to the Show mode. Last year, no matter how good my stats were I felt like it took way too long to get to the big leagues.
January 22, 2009 at 2:00 pm
As far as in-game presentation… do you remember the graphic overlays that were in the demo last year, Pasta? They would come up in between batters mostly and show cool different stats leaders like batting average with RISP, batting average in day games, wins, steals, triples, etc… I was pretty disappointed that wasn't part of the presentation in franchise games. Is this going to make it into 09?
January 22, 2009 at 3:05 pm
How about weather? I've seen a lot from SCEA about the dynamic lighting, which is cool, but will there be actual rain delays, rain outs, even snow on occasion? That would really add to the realism!!
January 22, 2009 at 6:47 pm
I agree. As much as I love The Show 08, it was somewhat confusing that SCEA didn't add any type of weather elements other than wind. Even clouds would have been nice.
January 22, 2009 at 6:48 pm
I agree. As much as I love The Show 08, it was somewhat confusing that SCEA didn't add any type of weather elements other than wind. Even clouds would have been nice.
I would also like to know if the flags in the stadiums blow the same direction as the wind….
January 22, 2009 at 3:13 pm
How about "Create a Team" function?
January 22, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Pasta to add something to my list ask about the ability to use 40 man rosters online.
January 22, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Lots of good questions.
I'm curious to see if they added any new sliders and if they did a better job within the game of explaining what some of the sliders mean/do. Most of them are obvious like power, hit quality, errors but some left you scratching your head. There should be a little text box when you roll over the slider that indicates what it will effect.
Have they improved/simplified the baserunning controls? On a deep fly ball with runners on first and third, it is incredibly difficult to get the runner from third home on the sac fly without the runner at first going for second. In short, it was dificult to highlight just one runner. This was done much more effectively in MLB2k7.
January 22, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Some people might be intimidated by all the new off-season tasks. Is there a CPU assist feature?
January 22, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Will their be any weather? Rainouts/Delays
January 22, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Pasta can you ask them to address the fact that there are some uniform inaccuracies.
the bill of the ATL braves hat is red, the mets home uniform, and can you find out if you will ba able to play all games in franchise mode, and not just the games of the teams you choose in the beginning.
January 22, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Are the contracts going to be accurate this year?
January 22, 2009 at 6:49 pm
How about Create-A-Player options….Any new attire or accessory options…
January 22, 2009 at 7:19 pm
hey pasta can u see how many new/revamped stances and how many new/revamped pitching windups there are.
January 22, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Hi pasta I would like to know if base stealing is more difficult when playing as I could routinely steal bases at will with quick runners. A base stealing speed slider would probably help this. Thanks.
January 22, 2009 at 8:00 pm
is there going to be a season mode? i mean like where you can chose the number of games played,like 30 or 40 ect? it would also be nice to have a season mode with the minor league teams also.
January 22, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Pasta do you know where I can buy new undies becuase I just shat my pants over this game..lol
January 23, 2009 at 1:28 am
Can you find out when the demo hits the Playstation Store?
January 23, 2009 at 1:56 am
can you find out if Colby Rasmus is in the game?
January 23, 2009 at 2:21 am
I would like to know more about RTTS. Is there a sim feature like there was 2 years ago? Is it easier to increase your ratings than last years? The task idea was a good idea but it didn't allow you to improve your player as quick as you would like. Will the task be more simplified and get harder as you get better or will it be like last years where it didn't matter if you were starting or sitting on the bench you had the same task? Thank you for your inside info.
January 23, 2009 at 2:29 am
One other question. Will you have the option of selecting your uniform in any game mode?
January 23, 2009 at 5:37 am
Can you see what drills there are for the RTTS 3.0? Batting cages, running bases, infield drills, ect. If you have the time, one pitcher and one hitter, otherwise, just a hitter.
January 23, 2009 at 12:31 pm
I would also like to know this.
January 26, 2009 at 12:04 am
I would like to know if you can change the legth of a season
January 26, 2009 at 1:45 am
Does Turner Field finally look like a PS3 game. Turner Field has looked awful for years.
January 26, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I want to know about Turner Field also. Braves are my team and the stadium is terrible. I would also like to know if there is more hit variety.
January 26, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Obviously the Braves are my team too. So I'd also like to know this.
January 27, 2009 at 9:58 pm
ya turner field has looked awful
January 27, 2009 at 11:24 pm
I really don't understand why their field looks so bad to all the others. It's a really nice field in person.