I figure we should have a running thread on the best baseball game out there since I know there are those of us who play it a ton.

Just picked up a copy on Friday and finally played some games last night. The controls are all analog based, from hitting to pitching to fielding. It's very jarring at first for us junkies who have had pitching and hitting controls ingrained into our brains all the way from the MVP Baseball days of the PS2.

I think the controls will take some getting used to, but are a welcome sign. Baseball games have needed a change of pace (forgive the pun) for a couple of years now, and these new controls breathe more life into the actual gameplay and make me want to master something new.

Haven't played it enough to know anymore such as any little improvements in franchise or the Road to the Show mode. But it's definitely a great game so far.

PS, they still have the Rangers wearing long blue socks with the red alternate jerseys...WTF.

It's a great game for sure. I really like the new controls. Hitting is harder to master (which is good) but you can still put up some runs. I really like the new controls for pitching. The graphics are sweet too. HR derby with the move controller is fun but I found its about timing and not how hard you swing. The amount of stats and details make it a very addicting game in season mode.

I really wish I had a PS so I could pick up the show just for the graphics. I picked up MLB2k11 on the XBox, but it doesn't come close to comparing.

Road to the Show is pretty fun, you can play only your player's appearances, which works pretty well in baseball.

I don't know about the newest version (I played the show 10), but if you play long enough (say into your 5th or 6th season as a major league starter) you start to see that the batting outcomes are limited. Watching a real game something weird seems to happen at least once a game. There isn't much weird that happens in The Show.

@Dwight

On Road to the Show, is it all in first person? The My Player mode on 2k11 is, and it pisses me off. I made the Rangers roster, and now I'm starting in left field, but it's still in first person.

Not sure Adam, I always play either franchise or online. I'm sorry you have to play the 2K series...honestly once you play The Show there is really no comparison, it's like the NBA 2K series vs NBA Live.

Yeah, I've seen YouTube videos and cried. It's not even close. The Show is at least 10x better. The actual game play on 2k11 is much improved, but the overall feel and graphics just aren't there.

it is mostly 3rd person. I think as a pitcher you can set the camera to 1st, but it defaults to 3rd. If I remember correctly, fielding and baserunning is all 3rd person

one issue I had with Road to the Show is how terrible your player is at first. They give you a set amount of points to spend AND cap the amount you can improve an area in creation mode.

Then you get points based on performance.

But instead of starting off as, say, a kid with a 100mph fastball, but not great control, you start off as a kid with an 88mph fastball and slightly better control (still terrible).

To top this all off your coaches give you certain areas to improve. If you don't meet their goals you get punished. Since you start off with 0 points in fielding (or close. Even if you spend some these stats are going to be less than the others, unless you want a 68mph fastball) every two weeks you have to improve the 4 different fielding attributes. This takes up almost all of your points, so you aren't improving in any areas that will actually yield better starts.

I ended up using the difficulty sliders to adjust it so my player could actually get a few batters out and get enough points to improve.

I think, ideally, instead of starting every prospect off equal with a pool of points they should have a few archetypes (e.g. fireballer, control freak, smash bro., speed demon) you can select from and use a pool of points to fine tune from there.

Dwight - I had similar problems on My Player for 2k11. I would pop 3/4 of the balls up to the catcher even if I timed a pitch perfectly and just did a contact swing. I moved the CPU pitching sliders down a little and it's somehow solved my problems. I guess the game figured that the pitches were slowed down enough that I could see it screwing me over and decided to let me hit. I'm currently in a modest 26 game hitting streak...

Only real problem with The Show 11 I've had is how sensitive the fielding is with the analog controls, when I do season/franchise mode I end up turning pitching and fielding back to the meter versions from '10 just because the amount of game I'll sit down and play through on those modes, though when I play it online all the controls are analog so..