What we know about MLB 2K11 so far......
I thought it would be helpful to have one compiled list of everything we know about 2K11 so far, in terms of what's new and what's been improved, especially for people that just want a quick overview. I went through everything that's been released thus far and picked out anything that was original. I found a few details that I had forgotten, so I hope this is helpful to you as well. I'll update this list as new stuff is released. Please let me know if I missed anything and I'll add it in......
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Completely revamped fielding system
- MLB 2K10 had a big flaw when it came to fielding: No errors......That has been fixed.
- Fielder ratings now play a big part in the gameplay: "Last year, it didn't really matter what a fielder's rating was. Everyone basically made the same plays. But this year everything is based on the fielding rating.....We didn't want to fix fielding by just determining instantly whether someone was going to catch the ball or not. We want to make it half ratings and half your doing."
- Improved Throwing Meters: the throwing meter has a green zone and a red zone, the size of each depends on the fielders throw accuracy. Throwing Meter accuracy will now have a much greater impact on the quality of your throws and errors. "A throw in the red isn't automatic failure - if he's a good fielder, the inaccuracy will be less pronounced."
- "Fielding balls in the air is similarly ratings-dependent. On a fly ball or pop-up, youll see a large white circle; the ball will end up somewhere within it. A small yellow circle will come up as the ball is falling to Earth, and it gradually shrinks to let you know exactly where the ball will land. For a good fielder, the yellow circle will come up quickly after the white one. So with a defender like Carl Crawford, youll be able to get into position to make the catch well before the ball comes down. But if you have, say, Adam Dunn in the outfield, pulling down a fly ball is going to be an adventure."
- "Baseball video games typically auto-steer fielders to the flight of the ball for a short moment as the game transitions from the hitting view to the overhead fielding view. That break on the ball has been shortened considerably in MLB 2K11."
- New Fielding Animations.....(See Animation section below for details)
- Improved Fielding AI
Pitching
- Pitching is now more challenging in terms of accuracy: "In MLB 2K10, it was way too easy to pitch with pinpoint accuracy -- even with sub-par hurlers -- once you got good enough. Visual Concepts has introduced variance for missed analog-stick gestures, so even if your gesture is off in a particular manner each time, you wont be able to easily predict the behavior of the pitch: it might break more or less. Real pitchers cant simply aim a pitch at a particular spot and get it there every time, and even MLB 2K pros wont have that luxury anymore."*
- "Pitching I found was less automatic as well, and there seemed to be a greater difference in your pitch location and effectiveness if you didn't hit the max-pitch circle in the pitching mechanism, introduced last year."
- "Now if you continuously miss a pitch, you will not be able to know where it will wind up, just like in real life, if you miss badly, the pitch may end up anywhere in the zone."
- Variable Strike Zones
- "There's now a stat for how many pitches a batter averages on a plate appearance. Basically, 2K11 knows if a batter tends to extend an at-bat by taking a lot of pitches (or fouling a lot of them off). If balanced right, this little detail could add an extra layer of realism to the pitcher-batter duels."
- New Pitch Introduced - Split-Finger Changeup, thanks to Roy Halladay's suggestion.
- The Pitch Count is now accessible at all times via the pause menu
- "One of the improvements he (Halladay) suggested was to have the batters hot and cold zones displayed throughout the entire at-bat, rather than only for the first pitch. The reasoning behind this was that Halladay and Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz memorize every hitters hot and cold zone before each start and they pitch to the hitters weaknesses, so players should get that benefit when playing 2K11 as well. "
Hitting
- New Hit Type: Chopper.... "and we shot all new animations for speedsters leaving the batter's box and trying to beat out the play at first."
- "The ball physics have been rewritten so that its reactions to dirt, grass and brick are all new. The the ball can fade in different directions and it isn't always the difference of a single pixel for a strike or a ball."*
- "At the plate, in single-player mode as a hitter, a new camera angle replaces the cut from the batting view to the field. Now the camera follows the flight of the ball to the outfield, from home plate instead of trailing behind it. You base runners were off camera and managed from the HUD in the old mode anyway. It's an enhancement consistent with the broadcast presentation tuning that, as we noted earlier, features park specific camera angles that mimic those of real life games on TV."
Baserunning
- "Runners caught between bases can hold *the two triggers rather than tap a single direction so that they can *make the call when to run at the right moment."
General
- Injuries are back in
- MLB 2K11 will feature a new broadcast-style presentation in which the angles of the center field camera view will change for all 30 major league ballparks, mimicking real-life broadcasts.
- If the view is too problematic, or if you prefer to pitch from the catcher's perspective (facing the incoming pitch), you can lock the default camera angle to a single setting, or make your home park's camera setting uniform across every game you play.
- When viewing lineups/rosters, players on hot/cold streaks are labeled with icons, making management easier.
Graphics
- New Player Models: "Player body types have also received a complete overhaul."
- "Along with all these body types, we made sure that the players kept the right shape as the camera moved further away from them and they become smaller on the screen. This way, when the camera pans out to see your player run the bases, hell maintain his shape rather then popping back to an average size body, as was the case in 2K10."
- Better Player Faces
- Improved Uniforms/Jerseys: "Uniforms have been reworked to better represent authentic MLB uniforms. We added details, such as name plates and the Cool Base pin holes, which helped us achieve higher realism. Folds and wrinkles in the jersey also move more smoothly and accurately, animating with each of the players movements."
- Hats and helmets have a closer fit to the players heads.
- Improved Lighting: "Stadiums, players and crowds now look like they exist in the same world without being blown out by oversaturation or contrast"
- New Crowd Models with more variety in closthing, size, and shape, as well as more accurate team colors, and rally towels in the Postseason.
More info and examples of improved Graphics
Animations
- "Animation is smoother across the board, with less popping in and out of certain states"
- New Fielding Animations: "Another change that looks to help fielding is the introduction of new animations. The increased variety, especially for bobbled balls, makes the game more fluid and realistic." ......."Rather than just saying, you're good or you're bad, now with the new animations, you might have a grounder ride up your glove and hit your body and it's up to you to still make the play. Or you might hit the throw meter in the red and throw a one-hopper to the first baseman and you're sitting there hoping he catches it. These new animations make you sweat out every play because now every ground ball is not just a clean catch and throw."
- "A number of player-specific animations also have been added - Sandoval's nutball at-bat ritual, where he enters the batter's box and then appears to charge out of it, is included. So is the crazy windup of the Astros' Samuel Gervacio - who shows the ball to the third-base dugout before each pitch, and has an arms-flailing follow-through."
- New General Animations: "On the note *of detail, some additions have been implemented to bring out the high *drama of the game. As a tense no-hitter progresses through the innings, *pitchers are going to show their tension or frustration, base coaches *are going to be shown coaching at the bases. Pitchers, like the Giants' *Tim Lincecum, show their traditional stance on the mound. Using hours of *captured footage of famous players doing their thing, 2K Sports aims *for an air of authenticity when you see a famed batter stepping out of *the box to dust off a shoe, or walking off the field when struck-out."
- "It's funny, though, because at work we have things that we call '2K11' plays. That's a play where everything that happened couldn't have been done in '2K10.' I just had a play where Ichiro hit a chopper (new hit type), and we shot all new animations for speedsters leaving the batter's box and trying to beat out the play at first. We also shot all new fielding animations where good fielders charge the ball and bare hand it, then wing it to first while falling down (while a bad fielder might need to get a better grip before they throw or double clutch)."
Dynamic Player Ratings
- Dynamic Player Rating system (DPRS for short) dynamically adjusts player ratings to represent recent performance.
- "For MLB Today, we use the real life results from the previous four weeks of play to drive the DPRS and determine rating adjustments. This means that, while playing MLB Today games, the players are adjusting based on their real world performance."
- "In Franchise and My Player modes, the DPRS uses the player results generated by playing or simulating games in your season."
- "In Franchise and My Player mode, we now get to see the results of players having breakout years, rookies playing beyond their years, seasoned vets finding their groove again and players faltering and playing poorly. These changes and updates happen automatically on a daily basis so the players in our franchise are playing like their stats suggest."
- "With Dynamic Player Ratings and MLB Today we can now play every streak and slump that develops in the MLB. No subjectivity, no hype, we are going to let each players performance do the talking."
- "Like last year, we show the batters power and contact rating versus the pitcher on the mound at the start of every at bat. This served as a great reminder of player ratings for both your own team and the opposing lineup. We now show the adjusted ratings for the batter instead of their base ratings. If the adjusted power or contact rating is up or down they will be colored GREEN or RED. We also added some callout text to let you know the batter is hot or cold."
Much more detail on Dynamic Player Ratings
AI/Management
- "As for player management, pitchers now will get a pitch-count range that CPU managers, especially those in the My Player career mode, will watch more closely. No more leaving in a dead-armed hurler whose stamina ran out before he reached the 100th pitch."
- "Situational pitching changes to create more advantageous matchups will also be more frequent"
- "When you're hitting, you will see in the HUD whether the history of this pitcher-vs-hitter matchup favors one side or the other, regardless of overall stats. The game will perform accordingly."
My Player:
- New My Player are achievements meant to better the team
- New Fielding Animations unlock as your player improves: "Last year, as you improved your player's defense in My Player, all it did was adjust the results on a dice roll. The animations all remained the same day after day no matter how good you got. But this year, as you improve your player, you're actually opening up new tiers of animations that will really show off how good you are."
Franchise:
- Improved player progression system: "We gutted our player progression system," adds Bailey. "Now we factor in a player's potential, their age, their position, their style of play. Look at Buster Posey. He's got 5-star potential, and right now he's at 4 stars in the game and trending up and we show it all to you right on the screen.This year, everything is right there in front of you. A lot of this stuff used to be under the hood, but now, it's right there for everyone to see."
- In-game injuries play a role this year: "Forget the days of a screen just randomly popping up and telling you a player is hurt. In "MLB 2K11" you will see your player get injured on the field (all new motion-captured animations), then it's up to you to manage how to play him. You can keep him in, but his ratings are going to take a hit, or you can decide whether you want to put him on the DL or just bench him and hope he's a fast healer. And while these decisions can be automated for anyone who doesn't want to tinker, for those gamers looking for that extra edge that putting someone on three 15-day DL lists can give them as opposed to one 60-day stint, the choice is yours on how to deal with everything from a freak injury or a flu to an older player dealing with chronic back pain as older players will break down if you play them too much during the season"
- Player ratings now rise and fall depending on how a player is playing during a rolling 30-day period (Hot and Cold Streaks actually temporaily affect player ratings......See Dynmaic Player Ratings above).
Sources
