Following the news on Steve Phillips last week I broached the question of what that meant for MLB 2K10. The commentary was probably the only redeeming quality from 2K9 and the duo of Gary Thorne and Phillips was made a big marketing point. After these developments it would appear that 2K would have no choice but to make a change. Still with only four months until release the opportunity to do so is limited and makes it a difficult task.

Owen Good at Kotaku (and also featured on Deadspin) has chimed in on the topic and agrees that he can’t stay in the game as the scandal is too significant to ignore.

Phillips is a recidivist philanderer, and the latest ESPN scandal is top-of-mind for baseball fans. If his only television appearance in 2010 is on a gaming console, it makes his dismissal more conspicuous by half, and it’s 2K’s problem to manage, not ESPN’s.

It would be one thing for Phillips to disappear out of the spotlight now but if he were to show up in 2K10 everything would come back to the surface. 2K would not even be able to advertise their commentary team. We’ll see if 2K is willing to respond to the situation as it would be really interesting to hear what their plan is at this point. If they do respond I’ll have another posting regarding that.

2K Sports may be scrambling after the recent news of Steve Phillips firing from ESPN and sex scandal. Phillips has admitted to an affair with a co-worker that ended up resulting in what has been described as “fatal attraction-like” behavior by the woman towards Phillips’ wife and family. He has since entered a treatment facility that deals with sex addiction.

From a public relations standpoint 2K cannot feature Phillips in the game. Phillips was one half of the commentary team in MLB 2K9 and presumably would be in that same role in 2K10. The commentary was one of the few positives that game had to offer and now could be in big jeopardy.

It is nearly November and at this point most of what will be in the final version of the game has been locked in. It is unknown if the commentary could be re-done at this point. If it is it certainly would not be up to the level of quality that was seen with 2K9 and would have potentially been in 2K10 with another year to add to the library.

There are no indications as to anything having to do with MLB 2K10 yet and it seems unlikely that 2K will make a statement on the issue anytime soon. The game will release the first week of March. Generally little to no news is made on the game before the new year outside of a possible cover athlete announcement.

Kotaku has posted up an article discussing the process behind putting in a new stadium for a game when said game comes out before the season even begins. MLB 10: The Show will be facing that dilemma with the opening of Target Field for the Minnesota Twins. Check out the full article here.

A new stadium takes up roughly 60 megabytes of space on a game disc, but building one takes nearly four months of work, according to Shawn Robles, the lead environment artist, and Jody Kelsey, the senior producer, for Sony’s MLB The Show franchise. Their studio began preparing for an in-game version of Target Field as soon as they knew it was being built – ground was broken in August 2007 – but the bulk of their construction will come in this game’s development cycle, as construction on the stadium nears completion.

This was an interesting subject last year with CitiField and Yankees Stadium as the development teams for MLB The Show and MLB 2K were forced to work off early sketches and dimensions and had to make some guesses as to aesthetics because the teams would not allow them to see the finished plans or product.

Of course all of this is is pointless when a company makes changes to stadiums just to increase ad placement such as was seen in MLB 2K9 with the increased height of the left field wall in Nationals Park and the addition of a billboard in the center field of Wrigley. Hopefully 2K Sports has learned from that blatant disregard for accuracy and for the disrespect shown towards consumers who expect it.

There is no doubt that the MLB The Show franchise has not only positively contributed to sales of the PS3, but maybe even more importantly it has brought additional prestige to the console. With 2K Sports only holding a third party exclusive MLB license that has left the door open for Microsoft to the produce their own. The prime opportunity could present itself when Project Natal releases next year.

As demonstrated first at E3, Natal is going to bring motion-controlled gaming to the 360 without the use of a controller. Instead a camera will capture the movements and translate them to the games.

How did the Wii acclimate gamers to motion controls? Through the use of Wii Sports. For something like Natal the same thinking would apply. The most accessible games for motion controls would be sports games because people are familiar with the movements involved and they can relate to taking over that individual perspective. Baseball certainly would seem to be a natural fit.

Gamers who only have a 360 have been holding out hope that Microsoft would develop their own MLB licensed game. It may be that they haven’t done so because the prospect would be difficult to come in right away and compete. It takes a few years before a sports game can have all the features, modes, and enhanced gameplay that consumers have come to expect out of them. However creating a game that would be completely unique would help separate itself from the competition because it would be more about the experience than getting all the details right at first.

One problem with creating a baseball game specifically for Natal is that the userbase would be restricted. Not everyone with a 360 will have Natal and though no price has been set it is expected to be significant. So either the game would have to be functional without the motion controls also or it would be used primarily to drive people to make the purchase.

Of course they could also create a baseball game for Natal that doesn’t incorporate the MLB license, but taking advantage of that opportunity would make it much more attractive and could draw some people in. The Show has done that for the PS3 and surely MS has recognized there is value to be had in first party titles. Natal will certainly need intriguing games at launch and a licensed product would help in the perception of it as a legit platform.

Natal is currently expected to release sometime late in 2010 so there is still a ways to go before any specific plans are revealed. However my hunch is there will be various sports titles related to it and that one of those could be an MLB offering if not immediately then eventually.

With all that has been going on lately I haven’t had much chance to delve into The BIGS 2. This being the sequel to one of my favorite sports games of this generation I had high hopes. At the same time I somewhat expected it to not achieve those hopes because the original was such a surprise and it would only be building off of that. From the demo it was clear the game would remain similar enough but with several enhancements to the experience though a questionable change to the camera. Would that be enough to capture the magic that the original provided? Continue on for my thoughts and a handful of videos.

Just like the original The BIGS 2 plays in a sim fashion just with exaggerated nature. The gameplay is crisp and the strategy involved is really smart. It is probably the most well constructed arcade-natured game I’ve ever played. That goes along with the sharp graphics that even outshine their own MLB 2K franchise.

Continuing from the demo is my dislike of the new zoomed in camera. It seems like most people feel the same way about it. Because the action is so fast paced the camera darts from one position to the next and you lose sense of what is actually happening. There was even one instance where I was playing the field and reacted to a ball hit sharply down the baseline that for a second I wasn’t sure whether it was the 1B line or the 3B line. It just seems like you miss a lot of the action because the camera is moving so quickly.

I really like how the injuries affect ratings. When a player gets injured you can see his stars being lost in the specific ratings categories. This adds another element of strategy. Maybe you’ll get thrown out trying to steal but it could be worth it to damage the second baseman for example. You can also try to hit the opposing pitcher while he is at the plate and hurt his effectiveness on the mound.

Providing players with “Legendary” tags proves another good strategic addition. It makes for exciting moments making those plays and as a hitter it is smart to try and avoid any of those legendary players with your hits. I also like how certain players provide boosts to your team depending on the situation. That helps to enhance the feeling that the game is representative of their real life skills. The “Wheelhouse” also works well strategically since you get a boost for pitching into it, but as a hitter can really take advantage if you get ahold of a pitch through the wheelhouse.

The new addition that I am not fond of is the Big Slam, which is essentially an automatic Grand Slam. As the pitcher you don’t even have any control over this. After the first pitch the CPU throws the next three which are almost assured to lead to the Grand Slam. I don’t understand the thinking behind putting this in since the rest of the game provides choices and control over the strategy. You do have to really work up to that though to earn a Big Slam and bypass other options along the way.

Become A Legend mode seems pretty similar to the one in the original. It is task based only this time starting out in the Mexican league. Create-A-Player faces are somewhat disturbing, half of them looked like aliens. I like that there are more celebrations and accessories to personalize your player with. We’ll see as I get farther into the mode how much it has been improved.

The mini-games are creative though I’m not sure I could say they are that much fun. The Power mini-game situates you at an odd angle. You’re off to the side instead of on the plate so the ball comes in awkwardly. I got accustomed to it but fail to see how that would help my skills playing the game regularly. The Contact mini-game is very frustrating and it feels improbable that I’ll ever beat Chipper Jones. Make sure you choose a right handed hitter otherwise it is disorienting the way the balls disperse from the same area in both directions. I’ve yet to beat Chipper so I haven’t even gotten to try out the Glove or Speed games. Again, the Contact game would not make anyone better at playing The BIGS regularly…if anything it might make them worse at the plate.

Of course everyone loves the Home Run Pinball. This time there are a few new locations and it can be played online.

The rosters are very outdated and not just in player movement but in what players are included on the rosters. I went to the bullpen with the Mariners only to find there was no David Aardsma. 2K has promised roster updates but they’ve been abandoning support of most titles without ever fulfilling promises like that. Hopefully since The BIGS 2 is more highly regarded and better selling they will provide updates.

One annoyance is that the game asks you to choose your save device at the start-up every single time. Not sure why it can’t just remember that I want to autosave to the hard drive.

I still need to get into the online play more. I really enjoyed the online co-op in the original even though it was limited to facing the CPU. This time around you can also go up against two users.

The BIGS 2 remains 2K’s best baseball offering in every way. It is remarkable that this game can be so polished and well thought out while the others are in disarray. This could very well end up being the baseball title I get the most enjoyment out of this year.

As I have been doing with the latest releases the first thing I compare on a new game is the performance differences on the 360 when running the game from the disc vs installed to the hard drive. Once again it’s important to reiterate that loading time is not the only benefit of installing to the hard drive. The console runs quiet and cool because it isn’t working constantly reading off the disc. Continue on for the results with The BIGS 2.

Install time- 10:11 (the longest I’ve seen so far)
Install size- 6.8 GB (the largest I’ve seen so far)

Loading Times
Boot to menu screen- Disc 32 seconds vs HDD 23 seconds (9 seconds)
Load to game of “Play Ball”- Disc 23 seconds vs HDD 15 seconds (8 seconds)
Load out of “Play Ball” back to menu- Disc 4 seconds vs HDD 3 seconds (1 second)
Load to “Home Run Pinball”- Disc 15 seconds vs HDD 10 seconds (5 seconds)
Load to mini game- Disc 17 seconds vs HDD 12 seconds (5 seconds)

These are some pretty solid differences. While the loading didn’t seem extreme from the disc there is a clear advantage when playing it off the hard drive. Over time those seconds can really add up.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit in on a conference call with The BIGS 2 producer Rob Nelson along with being able to send in a few questions beforehand. Given that the original BIGS remains one of my favorite sports games this generation and with the demo out and well received I’m really looking forward to it. What I was most hoping to get out of the call was an idea of additional elements of strategy and details on the online co-op mode.

Given how well The BIGS was received it was discussed how they worked on the game and what their goals were with it. While they’ve attempted to improve on everything and provide a new experience they wanted to keep the core feeling familiar. So the controls are largely the same which means people don’t have to learn the game again. The BIGS series is all about accentuating the big moments and was likened to watching a highlight reel but at the same time it remains grounded in the sport.

That is the thing about The BIGS… it plays a good game of baseball. It was tongue in cheek when I said it two years ago but in many ways it is actually more sim than 2K’s sim franchise. There are the over the top moments but there is still a great deal of baseball strategy involved. It looks like that will be the case yet again. For The BIGS 2 even the player models have been scaled back a bit in order to provide a somewhat more realistic feel.

I really like the sound of the power-up system. Certain MLB players will have power-ups which were given to them based on their real life play. Some examples are Derek Jeter receiving an attribute boost when his team is losing, David Ortiz hitting home runs that can’t be robbed, and Joe Mauer providing an attribute boost to his pitchers. This adds another element of strategy by utilizing or attempting to avoid players in certain situations as well as in the career mode offering another consideration for what player to “steal”.

The career mode has been improved and expanded on. Even though it was relatively thin and at sometimes frustrating based on the specific tasks in the original it was genuinely fun. Maybe most because as you progressed you opened up new accessories and customization for your player.  This time around instead of just one year it is the full career. The storyline is that your guy from The BIGS suffered a catostrophic injury and has been sent to the Mexican league to rehabilitate. He has to work his way back up to the majors. There will be more variation in the challenges and more customization options such as home run celebrations, walk-ups, stances, tattoos, bats, and other accessories. Again this mode is only done as a position player, a career can’t be done as a pitcher.

Added this year due to popular demand is a 162 game season mode. Now I’m not sure how many people playing The BIGS have the patience to run through a full season. However it will be a streamlined mode in that outside of trades there isn’t much else to worry about. Don’t have to deal with injuries or contracts.

Along with the season mode there are a couple other additions that help to separate this offering from the original. The legendary ratings for fielders and the “wheelhouse”. Both of these contribute to new strategy. You’ll want to avoid hitting towards those legendary fielders for sure. With the “wheelhouse” a batter will be more successful in that zone but there is incentive for pitchers to challenge them. If they get it by them in the “wheelhouse” there is a larger turbo increase.

There are several new mini-games and all can be played cooperatively offline. Those include games for speed, fielding, and contact hitting. Of course the Home Run Pinball is back with a few new venues. That also can be played co-op now both offline and online.

Though it didn’t seem to get credit for it anywhere but on my site, the co-op online play was really enjoyable and smartly done. The two users alternate from inning to inning as the pitcher or first fielder and then alternate at the plate when batting. It didn’t work exactly as advertised though since there was only two users vs the CPU. This time around they say it will be either the two vs CPU or two users against two users.

In other online news the lobby system was worked on after it had been deemed too confusing. It should be much simpler to create and challenge in the different online modes. There is also more stat tracking being done and there will be roster updates.

After playing the demo there is little doubt that The BIGS 2 will be better than the original. Outside of the closer camera which a lot of people including myself dislike, the game has added new strategical elements and expanded on the modes being offered. However it won’t be a surprise this time and the low expectations of the first is part of why everyone liked it so much. So it’ll be interesting to see if it feels like it provides the same or more value. Regardless after two terrible 2K baseball offerings earlier this year The BIGS 2 looks like it will deliver.

The demo for The BIGS 2 was released yesterday for the 360. No word on when it will be reaching the PS3 but within the next couple Thursdays would be likely. The demo features a three inning game between the AL and NL All-Stars as well as Home Run Pinball in the Vegas venue.

Coming off The BIGS, one of my favorite sports games of this generation, hopes are high for the sequel. Just some initial impressions from the short time playing it so far the first being the ingenious strategical elements are still prevalent. I really appreciate how you can go at the games, and each individual pitch, so many different ways and nothing about it is frustrating unlike other arcade style games. The “Legendary” tag is a nice addition giving those fielders special abilities which I saw right away when the NL catcher jumped high into the air and onto the dugout to attempt to catch a foul ball. What I liked is they don’t always make those catches but they have a shot at them. The one thing I’m not really a fan of is the zoomed in camera which is just too tight in on the action. Since it follows the ball, which is thrown at laser speed, it is difficult to track what is happening and you miss some of the impact of all the action that is taking place.

Continue on to view the two videos I’ve captured thus far showing off the HR Pinball and a three inning game. Leave your impressions of the demo or videos in the comments!

A new trailer is out for The BIGS 2 that focuses on the mini-games. Home Run Pinball was very popular with the original The BIGS so that prominently returns with a few new venues such as Las Vegas and Tokyo. There are numerous other mini-games that have been created this time around and they are also quite un-traditional. They’ll be used to train your player in the career mode but look like they could be a lot of fun even as standalone mini-games.

Continue on to check out the video and leave your thoughts in the comments.

While only some of the features have been revealed for The BIGS 2 there is now confirmation that it will include online play for up to four players. There are no details on how that will be structured as of yet.

The BIGS was one of the first games to introduce online co-op. It didn’t actually work in the way 2K advertised which was two users vs two users. Instead though what it ended up being was two users going up against the CPU which was still surprisingly fun and fresh.

Who the two users controlled alternated each inning. In one inning it would be the pitcher and in the next it would be the first fielder after the ball was put into play. Offensively it alternated from batter to batter, with the other user controlling the lead baserunner if one was on.

It worked really well but would’ve been better if it had allowed for playing two other users like they had stated it would. So hopefully that is what the “online with up to four players” will mean this time. Four different users connecting into the game and going two on two.