Andrew asked me to post my review of this season's two baseball video game offerings, MLB 2K10 and MLB 10: The Show. But before I do so, I would like to explain a bit about why there are only two such offerings, when several years prior we had several different games to choose from.
After the 2005 MLB season, 2K sports won the exclusive rights to continue as the only 3rd party game developer to continue selling the only officially licensed MLB video game. This deal was similar to the one that EA Sports signed with the NFL several years ago to give them the exclusive rights to produce the only officially licensed NFL video game, Madden Football. This deal created very little controversy amongst gamers, as Madden was already the gold standard amongst football video games and was not going to be ousted from that position. However, 2K Sports' deal with MLB had far greater consequences.
2K Sports' agreement prevented all 3rd party game developers, including EA Sports, from continuing to develop and market further titles from the highly successful MVP Baseball series. This was particularly disappointing, as their last release in the series, MVP Baseball 2005, was considered at the time and is still considered by some to be the greatest baseball video game ever produced. EA Sports would be forced to change their focus to college baseball and produced a few relatively unsuccessful college baseball games. This deal was also particularly disappointing because unlike the NFL-Madden deal, 2K Sports had yet to produce a baseball video game that was anywhere near as good as the games released under the MVP Baseball title, leaving baseball video game fans to wonder when and if they would see another great baseball game anytime soon.
What we didn't realize immediately was that the deal only prohibited 3rd party developers from developing and marketing officially licensed MLB games. Game console developers (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, etc.) were still entitled to develop officially licensed MLB games for their specific consoles. Sony, which had acquired sports video game developer 989 Sports, would therefore be allowed to continue developing and designing licensed baseball games exclusively for their Playstation 2, Playstation 3, and PSP systems. This left owners of Sony game consoles with a choice between games from the 2K Sports series or the Sony series, known as "The Show." Owners of Microsoft systems (Xbox and Xbox 360) and Nintendo systems (Gamecube and Wii) only had one option, which was the 2K Sports series.
For a couple of years, I was a part of the latter of those two groups. Beginning with MLB 2K7, 2K Sports had promised to redevelop their baseball series and I have to say, their commitment looked to be genuine based on my gameplay experience. I actually found the game to be quite enjoyable to play and believed that 2K Sports was on their way to developing a very good baseball series. I was quite excited to see what next year's offering would have in store for me. My excitement was met with some disappointment, as MLB 2K8 failed to improve upon the prior year's title, which glitchy gameplay and frame rate issues.
Coming into the 2009 Season, I had been fortunate enough to expand my entertainment system to include a Playstation 3, thus leaving me with a choice for the upcoming season. I had heard good things about Sony's series, which I had yet to try, so I anxiously awaited the release of the two games. Upon trying both games, it was clear that Sony had developed a superior game to that of 2K Sports. 2K had attempted to improve upon the gameplay experience with MLB 2K9, yet I found the experience to be particularly unrealistic and I found it to be graphically and visually inferior to Sony's product. MLB 09: The Show was a realistic baseball experience and the closest in gameplay to EA Sports' MVP Baseball 2005. I found myself hooked on the game and couldn't get enough of it.
One year later, I come to find out that MLB 2K10 was offering one million dollars to the first person to pitch a perfect game. I had pitched perfect games and no hitters with previous games and therefore figured it was worth it to at least take a look at 2K10 before once again going with MLB The Show. My initial impressions of MLB 2K10 were that of an improved game but one that still had a ways to go if it wanted to catch up to Sony's product from the previous year. And once I got my hands on this year's version of MLB 10: The Show, my decision was simple. The almost impossible chance of winning a million dollars was not worth my own 60 dollars spent at Game Stop. MLB The Show was once again the winner. Even had 2K Sports put out a great product, I probably would have purchased both games, because MLB 10: The Show would still be too much fun not to own.
Stay tuned for my next post where I will offer a more detailed review of MLB 10: The Show and I explain why MLB 2K10 doesn't yet stack up to it.
Friday, March 5, 2010
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Great post, Ben. And I definitely agree with your conclusion. When I bought my PS3 in July 2008 the first game I bought was MLB 08: The Show. Amazing game. I can't say it beats All Star Baseball '99 for N64 (featuring Larry Walker on the cover and John Sterling & Michael Kay doing PxP and color commentary) but it surely is the best of the last decade, even better than the 2K series.
ReplyDeleteI skipped MLB 09: The Show (Pedroiah sucks) but I am going to buy MLB 10 because, as you say, it has the better graphics. And lets be honest...all we really care about is how lifelike these games are. I want the pickoff moves to look natural and convincing. I want to notice the accuracy of the signage at Yankee Stadium. And I don't want any glitches.
So Ben is absolutely right. If you are into baseball games, The Show is the way to go.
The All Star Baseball series for N64 was great. The 2000 and 2001 versions were even better (both featuring Jeter on the cover). And the early versions of it for PS2 were also pretty good.
ReplyDeleteIf you've never played MVP Baseball 2005, make it a point to do so. It was really that good.
And I believe (correct me if I'm wrong), that EA's series before it was called MVP Baseball was Triple Play which was also a really good series. So was World Series Baseball for Sega Genesis which really seemed like the first game to get the players and the stadiums to look somewhat real.
ReplyDeleteI actually learned how baseball was played on the original Nintendo playing RBI Baseball (a great game considering how long ago that was) and Bases Loaded (not as good as RBI, but still a good game). So when people say that you can't learn anything from video games, I immediately tell them they are wrong.
It also proves that while technology has improved and the games have gotten somewhat better, I'm not sure they've actually improved even close to the rate of that technology. Meaning, I think that some of the older video games set the bar really high and I'm not sure that the newer models are that much better than the older ones.
You are correct, Triple Play was the predecessor to MVP Baseball (and before Triple Play it was Tony LaRussa). Unlike 2K Sports, when Triple Play was failing, EA scrapped the franchise and rebuilt the game from the bottom up, improving it annually.
ReplyDeleteWhat's funny is that World Series Baseball is actually in the lineage of the 2K Sports series, as several years ago it was produced by SEGA and called World Series Baseball 2K__.