No framerate fix for PS3 MLB 2K8
March 24, 2008 by pastapadre
Earlier today 2K Sports sent out a press release regarding the patches that are being worked on for MLB 2K8. Amusingly it was the very same statement word for word that was given to Game Informer and discussed here 10 days ago. I wonder if that means the “shortly” it will supposedly be available relates to now or when it was originally communicated. As I eluded to when breaking down the statement, 2K was ignoring the PS3 consumers and not addressing the framerate issues while doing so on the 360 side.
Loot-Ninja contacted 2K and received specific confirmation that there is no framerate fix coming for the PS3. The only issues that will be addressed in patches are the framerate for the 360 and the Padres’ roster glitch for both systems. There are no other changes to be expected out of these patches and no others currently in the works.
Last year with 2K7 it took over four months after the 360 received a patch before the PS3 got the same one. You can also include 2K8’s demo in the discussion as they kept it from certification long enough that it wouldn’t be out prior to release. So in a way it isn’t a surprise that 2K has shown little to no concern for that group of consumers based on those previous actions.
It’s almost as if they’ve conceded the PS3 to MLB 08: The Show. Sales wise it’s understandable as VGChartz has The Show outselling it 2-1. I’d imagine that number will only be even greater next year after being treated as second class customers (that’s if 2K is still around to produce a 2K9).
No mention regarding the overwhelming online lag, although an improved framerate could contribute to a better experience. It is unlikely though that would be the sole culprit and I wouldn’t expect performance to all of the sudden be adequate. It also appears that there are no plans to add sliders back into leagues which was a feature inexplicably removed this year.
It is also reasonable to be cautious as to whether the patch will actually fix the framerate to begin with. The “temporary fix” (which involves turning off advertised features of the game) seems to help but by no means gets the game to run at 60fps. This was an issue with the game that was visible from the outset and 2K was well aware of it, yet the game was still released in that state. There have even been cases of patches not fixing issues they were meant to. Most recently trouble came from Take Two’s own Bully patch which was intended to improve framerate (among other things) but has resulted in reports of it not working or even causing more problems.
So it makes sense to hold off judgment until the patch actually arrives and can be evaluated for effectiveness. If it comes and does get the game to run consistently smooth that would be great. That is of no consequence to PS3 owners however who have no potential fix to look forward to.
I talked to a mod at 2K and he said they are probly putting more player portraits in the game on the opening day update…
hopefully hes not lying… this game has a lot of potential they just need to fix some things with updates… im not liking the sliders they have so i change them and not be able to get any wild cards… i dont like that really
I don’t own a PS3 (or own the game for 360… yet), but that is crap, lol. “We’ll sell you a broken game and then refuse to fix it for you while at the same time, we’ll fix the problem for the other system.” Wow. 2K on the ball again…
I have lost all trust in 2K…. I USED to be a huge 2K fan, now I could care less if they ever make another game…. We were told in interviews with Ben Brinkman that the PS3 version would get fair treatment this year, and that it would run at 60fps; bs…. I really don’t think there will be a 2K9 anything from 2K sports…
Im hoping MVP comes back and takes 2K… but if they do they will probly take the 2K baseball engine im guessing which will make it basically MLB 2K9
pretty much a slap in the face.
also there should be outrage within the ps3 commuinty over this and happiness that nba 2k9 and mlb 2k9 will never happen thanks to a undertaking by Ea in June
Thanks for nothing 2K.
That would suck if there was no 2k9…Because NBA 2K is by far the best basketball game and I own both but I play 2K way more and back in the playstation 1 and early ps2 days I was a NBA Live guy over ESPN/2K but from 2k6 on its been 2K for me (In terms of basketball).
I Can live with an okay baseball game (Which is not as bad as it sounds I mean I dont even get framerate issues anymore?)As long as I get to keep NBA 2K.
Sounds like 2K is admitting defeat on the PS3. The Show blows it out of the water and they’re just acknowledging the fact.
Wish I would have bought The Show. I don’t really hate the game, but I’m sick of all their crap.
I know EA puts little effort into maximizing the capabilities of the PS3 when releasing multi-platform titles, so I doubt things will get any better in the future.
It’s too bad, I really liked NBA2k and NHL2k.
glad 2 hear they’re updating portraits. Soriano and Abreau both have their Nationals and Phillies hats on! Pasta, do U know if they will be fixing the HR Derby (Duel-mode)?? My 360 freezes everytime when I do a 2player Duel…
There’s two things at work here I think:
1) 2K is looking at what it would cost to patch vs. what the potential gain is, and has said, it’s not worth it. I’ve no doubt things are exceedly tight over there right now while things work themselves out regarding ownership
2) The bigger issue seems to be that after all this time publishers still can’t figure out the PS3 technology. Not only do the games often suffer from worse frame rates etc when ported from the 360, but even big publishers like Ubisoft seem to be confounded - Rainbow Six online for the PS3 doesn’t seem to work either. Not a PS3 owner, but if I was, I’d be pretty tired of the 2nd class citizen routine publishers use
CrimsonVoodoo wrote:
I don’t know if it’s a matter of “can’t figure out” as much as “don’t have the time/resources” to commit to maximizing what the PS3 can do. System exclusive games like Ratchet, Uncharted, Resistance all look terrific and run silky smooth without any hiccups (even online with games like Motor Storm and Warhawk). In those instances, the developers resources and attention are fully committed to exploring the capabilities of the system. Hopefully with games like MGS4, Haze and Killzone 2, we’ll see the untapped power of the PS3 even further realized.
Fortunately, I own both systems, so I’ll generally pick up the 360 version of the port, assuming (as is generally the case) that the 360 version has fewer hiccups. At the same time, it is damn frustrating knowing I have a PS3 sitting there that isn’t being utilized even close to its maximum capability.
CrimsonVoodoo wrote:
As an owner of both, I agree with the assessment that the PS3 is like the ugly step-sister. Fortunately, that ugly step-sister has the best baseball game on the market
Pasta I have a question that might sound stupid because above you said there are only 2 patches in the works, but i can’t believe that they wouldn’t fix this problem with a patch… Will there be a patch to fix the freeze problems when playing in franchise mode? Example: Once you play about 15 games it won’t let you play past the next date and you have to start all over. Also they better put more player portraits in the game. It’s ridiculous to see Jacoby Ellsbury not in the game. Get Reggie Willits in there too 2K, you lazy mofos. Thanks for the updates Pasta, much appreciated.
Not really surprised by this…2K has baseball exclusivity on the 360 with MLB 2K8. If they are at all concerned about either version of the game they are going to work on the 360 version. I don’t know the exact sales figures for 2k8 across both platforms…but seeing as though the 360 has sold more units than the ps3…and those ppl who don’t own both systems and are baseball fans are stuck with the shoddy 2k8 gameplay, they would choose to try to appease their biggest market.
Bottom Line: If you own both systems and appreciate a good game of baseball, get The Show. If you only own a ps3…and bought 2k8, trade it in and get The Show. It seems that 2k8 isn’t going to sink any more money into a game that is getting dominated by MLB 08 on the ps3.
Craig wrote:
I’d say it’s more like the PS3 is a just as attractive, but way-too-bitchy-so-no-one-pays-attention-to-her sister.
I own the PS3 version,and after hearing this, I will not own after today, 2k can kiss off now, I wasted $65 on this game now.
If I owned a copy of the PS3 version I would seriously consider writing 2K and requesting a refund for a broken game. They have acknowledged that it is broken by offering patches to fix the issues.
Poor customer service equals a decrease in consumer confidence.
I own both the PS3 and 360. I downloaded the demo for the PS3 and it was unplayable due to the horrible framerate….
Ryan wrote:
I’ve heard that this problem is the result of people leaving their guitar plugged into the game while playing MLB2K8. If you have a guitar, try unplugging it and see what happens. If you don’t, then I don’t have any other suggestions.
number one ps3 sucks anyway 360 for life. number 2. microsoft needs to get smart and hook up the blu ray cause hd-dvd aint in these days. number3. how it came down to this with 2k is just EA ish these days with mlb 2k8 with last year so fluent and good. this is just madden 08 of baseball right now. people need to get their stuff in order.
O’rly wrote:
It’s a tough situation for Microsoft on the Blu-ray front. The Blu-ray Disc Association is spearheaded and funded largely by Sony, so Microsoft would have to license the proprietary technology from Sony to build any sort of 360-based add-on.
Additionally, Aaron Greenberg (X360 group product manager) said that Microsoft will not pursue X360 Blu-ray compatibility. These comments came just this month– making it unlikely that Microsoft changes stance any time in the near future.
Also, drop the “PS3 sucks X360 for life” bullshit. Pasta runs a clean ship around here and no one wants to deal with such blatant fanboy-ism.
Patch for the 360 is being tested, and expect it in the upcoming days.
I own a 360, and not a PS3. This news makes me happy. I could care less if PS3 gets the update. I don’t get into these system battles. If I want a PS3, I’ll go buy one. I have more than enough money to support two systems. I just won’t because PS3 has no exclusive games I want. As to the 2k conceding to the Show on PS3, you may be right. Baseball is not a big seller anyway. Nobody’s buying a next gen system this week because baseball is here. Far as I know COD4 averages the most players/games played online daily. Thats a system seller. So when GTA drops, do you think 2k cares about baseball fixes? They’ll be making big $$$ on both systems, and you the gamer, won’t even be playing baseball anymore, you’ll be playing GTA off and online.
Now if they would only release the update…
2k Sports knows that anyone with a ps3 give a **** about this crappy game when ps3 has MLB 08 The Show… I bet they just took a look at the sales numbers and realized how badly they were on the ps3…. I mean, any baseball fan with a ps3 bought or will buy The Show…. the xbox 360, on the other hand… they game will sell because they don’t have any competition.
Since Pasta curiously hasn’t posted:
To kick off Major League Baseball 2K8 Opening Day Xbox LIVE Weekend, fans will have the unique opportunity to compete online against the developers of Major League Baseball® 2K8 on Friday, April 4 from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. EDT. Be on the lookout for the following development team Gamertags:
Gamertag
Name
MLB2K8Robert
Robert, Senior Producer
MLB2K8Jon
Jon, Associate Producer
MLB2K8Dan
Dan, Designer
MLB2K8Joe
Joe, Production Assistant
More details on registering for Major League Baseball® 2K8 Opening Day Xbox LIVE Weekend, and information regarding terms, conditions, and official rules will be available on March 26, 2008 through the official event page: http://www.xbox.com/openingday. Open registration will begin when the site goes live and will end at 11:59pm (EDT) on April 6, 2008. Xbox LIVE Gold members can also register for the weekend by downloading the free “Major League Baseball 2K8 Play & Win Registration” gamer picture from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
smokez4Dayz wrote:
I can say this. I bought a PS3 just to play The Show…I own the 360 as well and to only have one option, which that lone option is junk.
Baseball is a tough sport to emulate but, if done right, can be excellent. 360 owners are getting shafted in regards to 2K. I like 2K but their baseball title has regressed….
Thanks Pasta. Mine was plugged into the system so I’ll give it a try without it. Really appreciate the help.
CrimsonVoodoo wrote:
Its not curious, just not worthy of posting. Holding an online event when online is unplayable amuses me.
Da Birthday Boy wrote:
Lol you act like you know what you are talking about when it comes to this. Who is your source ? Is it Earl?
smokez4Dayz wrote:
I bought a PS3 for The Show and Blue Ray. If you really like baseball and have the money, you would too. The Show is a system seller and I wont be buying GTA. I have had a 360 for more than a year too. Let’s face it. With EA ready to take over 2k, 2k’s resources went into something other than their baseball game. So my money went to The Show, the most polished baseball sim yet. The biggest no brainer in a long time. This is the Holy Grail of baseball gaming, so far.
Its not curious, just not worthy of posting. Holding an online event when online is unplayable amuses me. - Pasta
Hey, it’s your website so you can dictate what’s “news” or not of course …
Just strikes me curious that a Prizes n’ Swag with chance to talk to developers weekend isn’t deemed “headline news”, but a “bad” review of a popular and well received baseball game is
Earl tells me everything that’s how I get all my information for dabirthdayboy.com, when the devs play online it will be fixed by then.
The biggest endorsement for The Show 08 this year, is by Team 2k Sports. By not properly fixing the issues in the PS3 version, they are essentially stating that even if they could allot the resources to fix 2k8, it would still come up way short of The Show, so what’s the point of fixing a weak arcade game.
Ideally for all baseball gamers, Major League Baseball should pull their exclusive license and give it to Sony, or better yet, not to have an exclusive license, so competition could bring out the creme of the crop. Oh, that’s right, it already exists in The Show!
Game, Set, Match!
Lets make something clear here. The people who do not have framerate issues with 2k8 must be playing it on 480 resolution because anything higher than that and you definitely have lag. I have played both the PS3 and 360 versions and the 360 is better than the PS3 with lag, but still weak in 720 and 1080. 720 is playable though but not 1080.
In the future, people need to post what resolution they play at. People playing it on a standard defintion TV need not post at all, since this is the 21st Century.
I downloaded the demo for both ps3 and 360 and the mlb2k8 for 360 had worse framerate. 1080i. ps3 720p it had a tiny bit less lag.
personally i couldn’t care less about 2k anymore since 2k8 sucks. what makes me the most mad is they didn’t even touch the commentary. pitching controls sucks in the demo as does hitting and framerate is unacceptable.
i have played 2k since the game right before 2k5. 2k6 was crap. 2k7 was better and when i first got it for 360 i thought i could play with it for a couple years as it was really cool i think. then i got the ps3 and 07 the show and now don’t like 2k7 anymore much. it’s still ok, but 07 the show is so much better i don’t play 2k anymore. if i do once in a while then.
tried 2k8 for 5 minutes and deleted the demo. i am so glad i didn’t buy it this year. 08 the show is still tons better then 2k8, but in some ways not as good as 07 the show. mainly the pitch speed and how the ball has no detail. i hate this so much i don’t even play 08 anymore. just 07 the show since it’s great. 08 the show didn’t touch the franchise sop I’ll stick with 07 probably more then 08, but I’ll mess with 08 once in a while. it’s a shame sony dropped the ball so hard for 08 the show in my opinion with a few things.
sony doesn’t need any mlb license since first party games can do anything they want. mlb should take it away from 2k and just not have any license. just let people make baseball games.
joe wrote:
The framerate on 2k8 360 at 720P is much better than the PS3 at 720P and of course the 360 at 1080. People should make the adjustment on their 360 to play it at 720P if they have a HDTV.
I have to disagree with the pitch speed on The Show 08. It is perfect for high level experienced players, very realistic. I am assuming it is too fast for you. I believe you can turn it down in the sliders. I dont have an issue with pitch recognition when batting(seeing the seems). Are you are using the default Catcher view when batting?
The pitcher/batter interface in MLB 08 is the best. Very intuitive with realistic results. Ball/strike ratios and pitch counts are about as realistic as I have ever seen in a baseball sim. Bat control is great and pitch physics and pitch recognition time are very close to the realism of on-field action. The Check-swing action is outstanding and absolutely blows the almost non-existent 2k series Check-swing away.
The ability to have real pitcher/batter battles and deep pitch counts by fouling off tough pitches and check swinging is the best it has ever been in a baseball game. You cannot do that if you have a poor framerate game and if you have online lag. The Show 08 delivers on both accounts.
It just amazes me that there are a few people that have actually played The Show 08, that still just dont get it. To each their own, but c’mon people, this is one of the biggest no-brainers in baseball gaming we have had in a long time. Common sense just isnt so common anymore.
This game scales to your baseball experience, meaning it is easy to pick up and play if you are a Little Leaguer, yet it will test you at every step if you are a Professional, with all the elements and thought processes that Professionals look for and use.
I believe if people play 10 games of The Show 08, they will be enlightened and never look back. The demo is great but I still wasnt sold 100% until I got the full version. It didnt take long to realize how special this game is. The Show 08 PS3 really is THAT good and everyone that I respect their opinion on baseball, loves this game.
2k8 has some innovative arcade elements, but if you want real baseball and results, there is only one choice.
Sidewinder, yeah, I turn the pitch speed all the way down to 0 and it’s faster then 07 the show at its lowest 0 setting for their sliders. This to me is WAY to fast pitch speed in 08. remember this is just me. 07 the show slider for pitch speed at lowest setting is just fine, but any faster is to fast for me. i can hit with 08 the show, but i just prefer the lower speed.
Pitch battles are awesome in 08, however way way way to many fouls. I even took sliders to their lowest setting for contact, power, foul percentage type slider, all that and the cpu still fouls a ton of balls. It is soooooo stupid and sooooo unrealistic. It’s like 5-10 fouls per AB for the cpu. It just seems like it, even though that’s overstating the problem. I do like it when the cpu fouls a bunch of balls in one AB, but not for every AB or even half of them as that happens far too often. It really ticks me off actually.
I also hate how the ball is totally white with no detail what so ever. In 07 it wasn’t as white as in 08 and to me had more detail because of that. I hate the way the ball looks in 08 when pitching. I don’t hate, but dislike very much.
These 3 things really bug me so much I am not playing 08 as much as I’d really like to. Remember this is just my opinion about the ball detail, pitch speed and fouls. Other then these 3 things I love the game and it’s AWESOME!
I want to like MLB2k8 also, but how they didn’t touch the commentary ticks me off so much I wanna kick their arses. Curse em out and just go off on em they’re so pathetic. Framerate hurt my eyes actually so I didn’t play the demo more then 5 minutes or so. And I HATE hitting and pitching if it is not classic 1 button type. This is just me how I like baseball games. The graphics sucked in MLB2k8 compared to 08 the show. I did like them ok though.
One thing very very cool in MLB2k8 was when Manny in left field jumped to catch a ball off the wall it was more realistic then any other game that I have seen jump catches in when a player jumps to catch a ball. The animation just looked way cool.
I totally dislike the GUI in MLB2k8 too. The text isn’t as good and clean looking as other games and it’s too small text size in my opinion. Not to small to read it, but in general I like the text a tiny bit bigger.
I’ll try MLB2k8 again in a lower then 1080i res on 360 and even lower the rest to 480p on the ps3 and see how it plays.
Apparently “shortly” means a long ass time.
Da Birthday Boy wrote:
Da Birthday Boy wrote:
guess dabirthdayboy isnt the best source of info after all lol
Terrible! Bottomline, we are paying customers that are not getting a quality product. I have supported Sony through a number a playstation systems over the years. The PS2 never gave us so much trouble. What is going on? By the way, Go Mets!