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Review: MLB 2K10 – Where Are My Peanuts and Cracker Jacks?

Aaron Cappe — Mon, 31 May 2010 04:42:04 +0000

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I’m going to get something off my chest right out of the gate: I haven’t been a fan of baseball nor baseball videogames for the last decade or so. Watching the game can be downright boring, and playing a virtual representation seems to result in little more than timing mini-games and a few button presses.

Then along comes Visual Concepts’ MLB 2K10. For the first time since I last held aloft a piece of lumber, here’s a video game that actually made me feel like I was playing the game again. Everything feels crisp, clean, and connected – as if you are actually on the mound dueling with the batter, desperately trying to keep the sweat out of your eyes as you look down another full count with the bases loaded.

The presentation of the 2K10 is spot on, from the commercial bumpers during the telecast, to the voiceovers calling the shots during the games themselves. Having spent enough time running bases and trying to make double plays, I have yet to hear a repeat canned soundbite, which was a great surprise and welcome change from previous years’ entries. You get the best of both worlds from Visual Concepts’ setup – all of the stats and random personal facts that hardcore hardball fans crave, but enough of the “seen on TV” presentation that it flows wonderfully into you actually stepping into the batter’s box to see just how far you can crank that sliding fastball.

Your options for gameplay seems to have improved significantly as well. You can play any MLB game currently being played, or set up to be played on a specific day through MLB Today. It’s always fun to see if you can do a better job than the big boys at there own game (or feel as humbled as they do when things don’t exactly work out the way you wanted them to). Home Run Derby is included, and is pretty much exactly what it claims to be: hit homers, anything else is an out, get the most points. My Player is the heart of the game, and you’ll definitely find yourself spending the majority of time grinding away through this mode. You create a rookie phenom, pick your favourite franchise to be drafted into, and then set off to try to become an MLB legend.

Skill points are awarded just about every time you hit the field. Hit a single, and you get points for hitting. Make an assist, and you get points for fielding. Cross home plate with a run, and you get points for baserunning. Strike out the side, and you get points for pitching. You can see where this is going. There are special objectives and clutch situations which provide extra points: you might be called upon to record an out in under five pitches, or work a hit-and-run when standing on first. You take part only in the plays that your player is involved in, which allows you to zip through entire seasons while still playing nearly every game on the schedule.

However, all the action you see depends on the position you choose, of course. If you play a pitcher, you’re right in there with every toss from the mound, and you can even get called up to the majors after making a measly five starts in AA. If you assume the role of a catcher (my personal choice, as that was my position back in the day), you just take your at-bats and step into the field every now and then to try to pick off steals for second, or bunts for easy outs at first. Unless you’re completely committed to your role, you will get tired of seeing the same few animations repeated over and over. Still, the role-playing aspect is superb, and you’ll find yourself feeling a real team vibe.

My Player is not only addictive – you can actually see your player working their way up with each improvement you give to their stats, adding a very nice RPG element to an otherwise good sports game – but very unforgiving at the same time. Especially if you choose anything other than a pitching role. The game becomes very tedious trying to fill out the criteria for being called up the majors. Want a power hitter but not too interested in a Willie Mays Hays? Good luck, because you need to get your baserunning speed up to 65 before a call will come down from any GM for you. This system needs a little tweaking, but overall there’s a lot of potential for something great over the next season. As long as the balancing act is polished up for next years’ release, My Player has the potential for drawing you in and keeping you there for a long, long time.

Visually, the game is beautiful. Player models are spot on, and facial expressions are not only visible this time around, but actually reflect what’s going on during the game. Pitcher has the bases loaded? Not only will you see a reaction on the player model, but you will feel the intensity as your controller vibrates to show how much pressure you’re actually feeling. This definitely makes controlling your pitches more difficult, but adds to the realism of the game – you have to line up where you want your pitch to end up while you’re setting up, then have to lock in your context-sensitive pitch. If you make a messy stick-move, or enter it too fast or too slow, you could throw it in the dirt or into the umpire’s face. This really adds to the dynamic of the pitcher-batter duel, and draws you even further into the game, allowing you to glimpse what it would actually be like to be out there on your own.

A few aspects of gameplay feel off though. At the default slider settings, everything in the field is too frantic when you’re out there, which comes as a bit of a shock when compared to the duel between pitchers and batters. Speed isn’t so extreme that you can’t make plays, but ball and player movements have been accelerated so that catches and throws often look unrealistic. Weird animations make this effect worse. It’s just about impossible to steal a base with anyone but the best runners in the MLB. You have to get off to a perfect jump: go a split-second early, you get picked off. A split-second late, and you’re gunned down by a throw that always seems to be dead. It’s immensely frustrating, particularly when you’re doing baserunning drills early on with a My Player prospect.

But these problems pale in comparison to issues with online multiplayer. The games are lag-filled, and seemingly impossible to get into, and if you do manage it, expect your opponent to quit out on you at the earliest opportunity.

MLB 2K10 is a very good baseball game but still needs to be refined in a number of areas, which keeps it from knocking the ball out of the park. Even still, the franchise has certainly taken a huge leap forward and sets the stage for next year’s game to make a legitimate run for the title.

Graphics: 4/5

Gameplay: 4/5

Sound: 4/5

Replay: 4/5

Cabbie Richards: The Man Without Fear In The Press Room

Jeremy Singer — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:16:16 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

Exhibit A: a hefty roly-polly fellow in baggy jeans and a t-shirt, a fitted cap flipped backwards, a microphone in hand and a childish 1000 watt smile.

This is the uniform for one of Canada’s leading sports personalities. Hard to believe?

Meet Cabral “Cabbie” Richards, The Score Network’s animated icon, who has sent a loud message out to the media industry: traditional reporting isn’t always successful, and that his new-school style of interviewing can trump those old-school classroom methods.

In his interviews with star athletes on The Score’s Cabbie on the Street, it’s always a challenge to pint-point exactly the recipe for his success. But narrowing it down, there’s one key ingredient that differentiates the 31-year-old from Cambridge, Ontario, from the rest.

Exhibit B: his swagger.

Case in show, his interview with NBA commissioner David Stern at his press conference:

Surrounded by layers of thirsty sports reporters ready to lunge at Stern with questions relating to the league’s recent referee scandal or the pressing collective bargaining agreement in 2011, Richards scoots in and playfully asks the ‘el capitano’ of the organization… if he wins his bets in his fantasy basketball pools because of his knowledge of the players in the league.

Staying away from the typical post game interviews, Richards says he enjoys the guerrilla-style approach- keeping the scene light, animated, unpredicted, and delivering pure sports entertainment.

“I think the traditional forms of reporting are boring, and I think that most people would kind of follow that standard,” Richards tells andPOP. “When people come home, they just want to watch TV, be entertained and relaxed. I like to entertain and show humorous sides.”

His swagger can be described as his ability to go up casually to the best of the best, and put them on the spot with such simple and entertaining questions.

Part of his past repertoire includes Richards asking players at the 2008 NBA All-Star Game if they would agree to be his best man at his ‘fictional’ wedding. Or telling Wayne Gretzky that he’s about to launch a fake campaign to get Gretzky’s face on the currency in Canada- and asking the NHL legend whether he would rather the 50 or 100 dollar bill.

But that ability to confidently amuse didn’t just hit him suddenly one day on the job.

In fact, it goes way back before his days as an intern at The Score, or as a student at Ryerson University’s Radio & Television program. Technically, it all started back at Galt Collegiate Institute. Richards landed the lead role in the school play as the man eating plant in the “Little Shop Of Horrors”- which then sparked his career as a drama junkie.

That was the first time ever Cabral Richards worked an audience.

“Ever since then, I’ve always had a desire to make people laugh,” says Richards. “I love to entertain, so I guess it’s not a surprise that I was the class clown in school.”

And learning the face of rejection as an intern at The Score also helped. Originally assigned as a script writer, Richards was then offered to do five minute segments of interviews with the general public. It was just him and a camera crew in the middle of downtown Toronto, pestering total strangers about the topic of the day.

That was the authentic “Cabbie on the Street.”

“I wasn’t the entertaining guy right off the bat,” recalls Richards as we chat in a taxi, heading back to his office. “I was pretty quiet, but I got experience and began getting more comfortable. You have to remember that in the beginning, it was all just approaching random people on the street to interview, so I got used to getting shutdown multiple times. But I’ve learned to brush it off immediately and keep pushing.

“I take all the rough first times, and use it as not only experience but also confidence and I build on it.”

But after he got promoted to interviewing star athletes, Richards says he truly felt like he was validated in the business following his interview with MLB star pitcher Pedro Martinez. “We were competing with each other over who could throw the hardest with their weak hand. I threw 30 miles/hour, he threw 60,” Richards says laughing. “Everything just seemed to click at that point.”

Watching Richards work now definitely has you questioning your 20/20 vision. In fact, you might be inclined to double check if you really saw, what you just saw. He strips away all ice-breaker tension, no matter how high-status or stubborn the person is, and leaves viewers in total disbelief.

For example, how do you muster up the mentality to go up to legendary Hip/Hop rapper Jay-Z at the 2009 NBA All-Star Game, and ask the basketball fanatic if he hopes to somehow get some playing-time in today’s event?

Or present Michael Jordan at his charity golf tournament with a “thank you for being amazing” card- followed by a bear hug.

The knack of improvising and constantly allowing himself to be the butt of the joke may be part of it, but Richards says there’s definitely some hidden techniques behind his behavior.

“I always try to make people laugh,” says Richards. “The first time I meet these people, I definitely get a little nervous, but once I get through the initial smile, I’m way more comfortable. I guess the main goal is to make sure that those guys enjoy themselves and keep it entertaining.”

The most recent example of that success is his nice reel of jokes with Los Angeles Lakers global basketball star Kobe Bryant.

“He’s different,” says Bryant in the Globe and Mail in regard to Richards. “We play off one another; we have fun. It’s a break from the ordinary. He’s funny as hell. I look forward to him visiting in LA or when I come here. It’s always fun.”

As the taxi comes to a halt in front of The Score building, Richards gets out and hospitably nods me to follow. We walk briskly to the entrance, and enthusiastically, I scurry onto the sidewalk to keep up the pace. Carrying a camera-supply bag along-side is his producer and long time friend, Dave Krikst. Krikst has been working side-by-side with Richards since he began his days producing at the Score in 2005. One brainstorms the ideas, the other delivers. Together they remain to be an impressive duo. But Krikst keeps the answer simple when asked about Richards’s success in interviews.

“We call it going into this little head space,” says Krikst. “He just zones out and goes to work. If a guy like him can present those ideas the way he does it, it works out really well, he’s amazing at it. He’s always funny, loud. Of all my friends, he’s the most loyal.”

When Richards walks into the office, he takes over the place like Fat Albert meeting the gang at the schoolyard playground. Immediately, he’s going room-to-room, cubicle-to-cubicle, making sure to slap a high-five and a compliment to employees no matter their position in the company. The guy is like the Bees-Kneez. He does it with today’s most premiere athletes on-screen; and also with the co-worker in the stiff suit, buried in stress at his desk, off-screen.

But despite his success, Richards still thinks that he’s just a regular-joe, hard at work. “You gotta realize that there’s a lot of other people that are funnier and better out there,” admits Richards. “So knowing that, I just always strive to work that much harder and keep my job.”

“Gotta get my ‘Kevin Garnett’ on,” he says with a grin, in reference to the NBA’s hustle and hard-working former defensive player of the year.

True, but hundreds of other sports reporters across North America are hard at work too. So what separates Richards from the rest of the media community?

We’re going to keep it simple. Let’s leave it as his swagger. That’s it.

The BIGS 2 Screenshots

andPOP Staff — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:13:13 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

Check out some images from 2K Sports upcoming game, The BIGS 2.

[Show as slideshow]

The Big Leagues just got BIGGER! Available on all major video game consoles, The BIGS 2 allows fans to experience heroic gameplay, legendary game modes and incredible player models. Elevating The BIGS 2 to new heights are bigger power-ups, amazing visual effects, and an all new Become a Legend mode. Featuring exciting player animations and pick-up-and-play controls, The BIGS 2 is scheduled to be available on July 7, 2009 for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION 3 and PlayStation 2 computer entertainment systems, PSP system, and Wii home video game system from Nintendo.

Game Review: MLB ’08 – The Show

andPOP Staff — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:30:46 +0000

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It’s time for another edition of The Show ladies and gentlemen. Sony Computer Entertainment presents MLB ’08: The Show for all you diehard baseball enthusiasts out there. Available for the PS2 and the PSP as well, this is the yearly addition to the PS3′s baseball series and with every new version comes new tweaks and features.

This is a virtual game of baseball. The bare bones of it all are all the same as the previous year’s titles, the same as the real major league and the same as all the times people got together to play America’s favourite pastime, it is in the end, baseball. The Show brings extras to the game that you otherwise couldn’t experience by playing a real game, however. First is the ability to play in the major leagues of course, but deeper still the game offers different modes of play. Modes such as “Road to the Show”, which is basically a career mode. You get awards and penalties for the way you play and eventually (hopefully) make it to the Hall of Fame. The “My MLB Music” option gives players the chance to make their own baseball soundtrack using MP3s.

The Show also provides you with one of the most detailed character creation modes I’ve ever witnessed in a sporting game. It has everything from nicknames, to crow’s feet, to your batting stance. The only thing missing is choosing your own blood type. Other options include “Headlines”, which automatically creates custom newspaper articles about how your team and others in the league are performing with specifics from the games previously played. Big additions to this year’s title are the batter and pitcher analyses. With these, you can figure out the best way to play against specific opponents and even predict their next moves. Franchise mode allows you to control all of the aspects of your team, such as contracts and rehab. You also have access to all the requirements in a baseball game: season mode, manager mode and two player series mode. Of course, you can hop online and check out the MLB ticker for the latest updates, check out the leaderboards, get emails, and play against someone half way around the world. The online option even updates the current team rosters. As with all the game modes, there is also an overabundance of options to tweak every aspect of the game to create your perfect baseball experience.

The game sounds amazing for a Baseball title, with a standard yet solid soundtrack including classics and new rock anthems. Players also have the option of using their own MP3′s to create a soundtrack to their likings. The sounds of cracking bats, cheering fans and whizzing balls all sound superbly realistic and along with the realistic custom-feeling commentary, which is specific for each stadium and player, you rarely hear the same comments twice.

MLB ’08: The Show looks great. From the first time you pop in the game to the World Series winning home run, every aspect of this title looks detailed and polished. When the stadium first loads up, the attention to detail in every little facet of what you see is amazing. They even have the crowd attendance available for you to see. Each stadium is the splitting image of the real location, and if you’ve been to the stadium in real life, you could attest to this. The player models are outstanding as each player looks startlingly like his real life counterpart. When they come up to bat, they even have little information bubbles about their careers, as if you were watching the game on TV. The players move and act realistically as well. If you were to mentally take away the shiny polygon count of a player and replace it with skin, you would feel like you’re watching a game live on TV. Menu setup and option control are all crisp and easy to navigate. When playing a game, it is easy to call up the analysis menus and make split second decisions.

Controlling The Show is similar to the 2007 version in many aspects. One of the biggest improvements comes from the batting and pitching analysis. With the click of a button you can see what the trend of that pitcher or batter is, how they hit against specific types of pitches, and even predict how they will act in the future. This new feature creates a whole new level of competitiveness online. Knowing that the opponent can see your trends, it becomes more of a mind game than ever before. Or it can be the leg up you need to beat a computer opponent. Besides a few little tweaks and a plethora of customization choices, The Show keeps it as simple or as intricate as you feel comfortable with. Along with the long list of features, a little extra window caught my eye. There is a tab in the main menu that doesn’t really provide any real addition to the game but rather, it explains all the new additions to the game itself. Players who want to see the difference don’t have to test the game out for hours or rummage through the manual. They can go straight to this menu and read about all the new aspects of MLB ’08.

Well, there you have it. Another baseball game, another updated roster and tweaked features. A welcome addition to any sports enthusiast’s library or that of the casual gamer who hasn’t picked up a baseball title in a few years. MLB ’08: The Show offers up what players want and have expected year after year. With new additions and the always welcome online option, this title will definitely hold you over until MLB ’09 or even MLB ’10 comes out.

Graphics: 4.0 / 5.0
Gameplay 4.0 / 5.0
Sound 4.0 / 5.0
Replay value 4.5 / 5.0