2K not renewing MLB

[zitothebrave]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/01/06/2k-will-not-renew-mlb-license-for-2014?abthid=52cb3e31eba74cf00c000046

One can only hope EA or someone else good picks it up. Otherwise no MLB for anyone but PS4 owners.

[The Chosen One]

They probably won't renew exclusivity but they will still make a game.

Hopefully this means MVP Baseball is back!

[zitothebrave]

They probably won't renew exclusivity but they will still make a game.

Hopefully this means MVP Baseball is back!

According to the link they took down their 2K baseball site and what not. 2K13 was dismal. Horrible game and I have a hunch they lost money on it. They seem to be pakcing it in and focusing heavily on NBA and their WWE title. Need to throw a ton of money into Rockstar, as it's their big money maker.

[The Chosen One]

Which is a shame because NFL 2k series was actually pretty solid. I only played MLB 2k6 and nothing since then. I miss MVP Baseball.

[zitothebrave]

I played 2K10 or something last. And it sucked. 2K13 is apparently horrible.

I don't remember the NFL games. I preferred Madden but they need more competition.

[The Chosen One]

Haven't played madden in a few years. Their game is almost the same thing every year since NFL 2k went out. Would beinterested to see how 2K Team would handle a next-gen Football game since Madden is the only competition.

[zitothebrave]

Hopefully they make a college game. Madden sucked since like 06 or something.

[CyYoung31]

Which is a shame because NFL 2k series was actually pretty solid. I only played MLB 2k6 and nothing since then. I miss MVP Baseball.

That was when Sega made them under the Sega Sports brand. Not the same company.

[The Chosen One]

They were bought out weren't they? So it should be the same "company".

[zitothebrave]

They were bought out weren't they? So it should be the same "company".

Not necessarily. when they were bought out they may have had different runners, different coders, idea mean, etc. Rare for example when they were kinda part of Nintendo vs kinda part of Microsoft are totally different companies.

[pfiggy]

EA sucks donkey nutz, see Tiger Woods 2014, what a pfriggin' abortion that is.

[CyYoung31]

Not necessarily. when they were bought out they may have had different runners, different coders, idea mean, etc. Rare for example when they were kinda part of Nintendo vs kinda part of Microsoft are totally different companies.

This.

[The Chosen One]

EA sucks donkey nutz, see Tiger Woods 2014, what a pfriggin' abortion that is.

Which system? I have it on PS3... it's like crack.

[Hawk]

Microsoft apparently owns the franchise rights for 3DO's High Heat Baseball series (one of the best all time, IMO) -- would love to see them develop something, although it probably wouldn't be cross-platform.

I agree with others, the 2K series blew incredibly hard. I hated all of that "Welcome to the Perfect Club" marketing bull**** -- just give me a game with accurate rosters, solid basic gameplay (I'm not a mode whore) and a legitimate franchise/GM mode.

[zitothebrave]

The gameplay was my biggest gripe with 2K. I couldn't get into the enough enough to make it worth my while to check out the other modes. Last one I got I played for a week. Sat on it for 3 then traded it in.

Honestly Microsoft if they can make high heat don't ened to cross platform it. Only Nintendo would be without a baseball game since Sony has The Show. Which for like 4 years has been the only option if you wanted to play a MLB game that didn't make you want to punch toddlers.

That's kind of why I want EA back into the mix. Sure when their power goes unchecked it's bad (Madden) but with some healthy competition they make some great game s(FIFA)

FIFA aside from this past version pretty much always is regarded as the best sports game. And a chunk people still consider MVP 05 the best baseball game ever.

On a more serious question, why haven't the consoles of today captured the whimsy and love we had for old school games? If you look at what many people consider some of the best sports games they're of the 16 and 8 bit generation (Madden 96, NHL 94, Tecmo Superbowl, Punchout, NBA Jam, Baseball Starz, RBI Baseball, etc.) how have they not captured that standing power of those games.

Part of me wonders if a better strategy for these games from a gamers perspective is to release a game like Madden then not make the next one until 2 years from that day maybe 3 when there's been development time for real changes. And in the interim release roster updates via purchasing DLC. Maybe push out some small ones for free to the people who bought it then do an annual or bi-annual depending on sport, update. It won't happen though until they start losing money on sports games.

[weso1]

Maybe EA can take their old baseball engine and HD it up. They really had a great baseball game. If EA does make a game I wonder if it makes it more likely MLB the Show will put their next game on the PS3? Going to be hard for the Show to compete if they only have it on the PS4 and EA is selling on PS3/PS4/360/One

[pfiggy]

Which system? I have it on PS3... it's like crack.

Xbox 360, crap, after every online match you gotta reset your clubs. When it pfirst came out all you could see was your opponents teeing off, then they patched it, so now you can follow the flight of the ball at least. But that patch made other stuff cease to work, sigh....Now of course they are off making Xbox one schidt......won't even be a golf game next year.

[The Chosen One]

DOn't have that problem with PS3. PS3 is great.

[Metaphysicist]

MVP was so superior to MLB2K...., it's hard to fathom. I played multiple iterations of 2K, starting with my ownership of the very first one on the Dreamcast (I remember they used to have a demo kiosk at Turner Field, to boot... ah, MEMORIES), and they were all terrible. Terrible pitching, terrible hitting, terrible graphics. Just turrible.

In terms of football games, it was the complete reverse. NFL2K was far superior to Madden, both in the gameplay and the franchise simming modes. So, of course, we got to keep neither of the good ones. At least NBA2K got to stick around.

These days, MLB the Show is better than MVP ever was (in many ways, it is the spiritual successor), but it would have been nice to see what MVP could have become over the years. At this point, though, I wouldn't trust EA to develop their way out of a paper sack, so I don't hold much hope for them relaunching that brand to it's former glory.

[The Chosen One]

Interesting. I never gave The Show a chance but now that Meta has mentioned it being better than MVP, I'm watching gameplay from 2013 and the trailer for 2014 and I'm astounded at the level of detail in the game.

Small stuff, such as the catcher giving signs, readjusting his feet and clapping his mitt before the pitch. Or the pitcher, turning and looking around at the crowd after he throws a pitch. Or whenever you hit a foul ball near the umpire or third/first base coaches and they jump out of the way and turn and look at the ball. The hitter stepping into the box before and after pitches instead of standing there with the same stance the entire duration. The animations from the fielders when the ball is in play, the movements look natural and not robotic like old baseball games used to look.

I never cared about the old Sony playstation games that had Chipper and Andruw on the cover back in hte day. I think it was from 989 sports but even Triple Play was better than that game.

EDIT: They even have Freeman's hand follow through during his swing. HAHAHAHA

[zitothebrave]

Took The Show some time to get to it's status, it wasn't until after it's PS3 move.

I do disagree with Meta, I would like to see what EA can do with it. EA gets a crap rep because Madden hasn't done crap in years, but NHL and FIFA are quality franchises. Where EA is fighting for market they make quality games. I can't vouch too heavily on their non-sports games since I play so few of them. Though I wish they didn't buy out Bioware. Maybe the stories were bound to slip but there's a noticable gap between EA Mass Effect and Dragon Age and Bioware's.

[Krgrecw]

So what has 2k been doing?


http://rbigame.mlb.com/rbigame/home.jsp


Just hope the mobile version is decent and they enable airplay

[Metaphysicist]

Took The Show some time to get to it's status, it wasn't until after it's PS3 move.

??

The Show has always been a PS exclusive, and only had one iteration before the PS3 came out.




I do disagree with Meta, I would like to see what EA can do with it. EA gets a crap rep because Madden hasn't done crap in years, but NHL and FIFA are quality franchises. Where EA is fighting for market they make quality games. I can't vouch too heavily on their non-sports games since I play so few of them. Though I wish they didn't buy out Bioware. Maybe the stories were bound to slip but there's a noticable gap between EA Mass Effect and Dragon Age and Bioware's.

Meh, EA is no longer a respectable development company. They have some good teams in place that can manage their existing brands (and they have acquired a lot of studios), but they can't innovate for **** any more. In fact, they actively suppress innovation in the studios they acquire. Their whole company policy at this point is just about gouging consumers and turning existing brands (often the acquired brands) into cash cows. Since they would have to re-build MVP from the ground up, I have no faith in them making a good product. Look how horribly they bungled the new SimCity by focusing on anti-consumer policies instead of game quality. That's about the level of competency I would expect from EA at this point.

EA has seen how profitable micro-transaction mobile games like Tapped Out and the Sims are, and so they are focusing their "innovation" in that direction. If they made a new MVP, I'd reckon you'd only get the American League, and you could "unlock" the National League for a fee.

[Gary82]

Interesting. I never gave The Show a chance but now that Meta has mentioned it being better than MVP, I'm watching gameplay from 2013 and the trailer for 2014 and I'm astounded at the level of detail in the game.

Small stuff, such as the catcher giving signs, readjusting his feet and clapping his mitt before the pitch. Or the pitcher, turning and looking around at the crowd after he throws a pitch. Or whenever you hit a foul ball near the umpire or third/first base coaches and they jump out of the way and turn and look at the ball. The hitter stepping into the box before and after pitches instead of standing there with the same stance the entire duration. The animations from the fielders when the ball is in play, the movements look natural and not robotic like old baseball games used to look.

I never cared about the old Sony playstation games that had Chipper and Andruw on the cover back in hte day. I think it was from 989 sports but even Triple Play was better than that game.

EDIT: They even have Freeman's hand follow through during his swing. HAHAHAHA

I had the World Series Baseball games (that became 2K) back in the day. World Series Baseball II had McGriff on the cover and WSB 98 had Chipper. They were pretty good games for the time.

[CyYoung31]

RBI Baseball is coming back this year. Anyone think MLB is capable of making a decent baseball game? If it's good, I'll probably pick it up since I'm still playing a heavily modded version of MVP 2005 on my PC. Would be nice to play a truly up to date baseball game that's good for a change.