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Animations and graphics have been at a virtual standstill for years. TBH, I'm seeing animations that are very similar to MLB The Show that I played on my PSP. How long ago was that...lol}
The Show is reminding me of GameFreak more and more. Feeding on our nostalgia/fandom
We've seen this happening in front of our eyes for years now. It's a toxic monopoly they have over MLB rights coupled with the cash cow that is Diamond Dynasty aka a "Gacha" game. They can now cater to the people that have money and feel happiness over spending real life money on a virtual item.
This was bound to get more and more casual.
Guys, they still use some of the same animations that they used back in '07. Let's not kid ourselves here lol
I'm guessing youre new to the party. Welcome to The Show 21.
We've all said this for a while now. Game is too far gone at this point. Got guys throwing 103mph dotting the corner consistently even after 6-7 innings of fatigue lol
@tvsectog_xbl said in Lipstick on a pig:
....oh....and SDS, after watching above and reading all of those comments.... can you also answer the questions below?
SDS has three main audiences this time of year.
New Players
Returning Players
Parents.... who are financially responsible for the purchases
It seems that much of the the marketing hype focuses on gaining 'new' players, yet this isn't as helpful/meaningful for returning players. Many returning players are looking for different features, one being game stability, which new players might now know about.
As a returning player, below are the questions I hope that SDS answers, which are different than many new players. I don't expect them to answer the questions in a stream, yet some kind of statement, response or FAQ with more details would be greatly appreciated. If you have questions as well, go ahead and leave them here.
Engineering likely 'branched' the code. Did the bugs found in '21 get double-committed (or sync'd) into the '22 branch, or will we be starting all over and finding many of the same bugs again in '22 that were fixed in '21??
For example, the "collection duplicate bug" ..... is that fixed from the very beginning in '22, or are people going to flood support again getting this fixed if they make a mistake?SDS, do you know the root cause of the crashes/freezes in '21?? Memory leak? Have you run static-analysis against the code to find memory leaks?
Is the issue a timing issue? What specifically triggers the code to loop, and thus hang?Anymore information you can share about the root cause of the hangs, that we can look out as players that could help you debug the root cause (if you don't know what it is)?
Is the issue in the code that causes the hangs an issue in the game itself, or it's interaction with the OS (PlayStation OS, Xbox OS, etc.)??? Are the hangs seen more often if the users are on different platforms (ie - PS4 and Xbox Series X|S, PS5 to Xbox, etc)?
Is there anything we can do as users to prevent the hangs?? (Ie - Always plug in our consoles (if possible) instead of using WiFi? Close the MLBTS app after playing for x number of hours, etc? (Closing/Killing the app completely might help, if it is in fact a memory leak somewhere in the code.) Any recommendations that you (SDS) have that leads to less hangs?
Also, not looking for a marketing/sales answer that states ...."all the crashes from '21 are fixed in '22", which we all know is not true. Looking for actual, technical reasons, recommendations you may have to avoid game freezes and/or things that we can do to help and/or prevent crashes.
How many CFD (customer found defects) have been committed into '22?? What percentage of the code committed in '22 is new features versus CFD's?
What changes were made to your support team (increased headcount?), tools and or processes that will allow you to respond to issues faster in '22 than '21??
Subsequently, can you provide some metrics regarding your support team and also a breakdown of the cases you receive?
Ie....
30% of cases involve crashes
20% of cases involve chasing down players with inappropriate content
10% of cases are caused by backend, database issues
15% are caused by backend server issues related to load/performance/etc?X number of cases are handled by frontend support
Y number of cases requires backend engineering supportHow many cases were caused by bad code that was pushed (like a .12 release....that immediately required a .13 code update to go out)?
Some breakdown numbers would be great.
Oh...and another set of regression questions I'd like to see SDS Engineering answer....is for 18,19,20,21 .... what do their regression metrics look like? Are bug fixes for older releases not making it into their newer releases, or are their regression bugs trending down between releases??? Their answer would tell us a lot about the code quality, TBH, and would be great to know as well.
Will '22 support 120fps, specifically 4k@120?? Everything that I have seen so far leads me to believe that '22 will still only support 60fps, even though both Sony and Microsoft have released features that would easily allow the game to get 120fps. Since Sony and Microsoft have both issued patches to bring 120fps support to games....what is the holdup for why you are not implementing the fix?? I know why you didn't want to include it in '21, yet the same reason isn't valid for why it is not in '22. It seems there is not a good technical reason why 120fps should not be in '22....so please enable 4k@120fps in '22.....as I know it can easily be done, and you know that, too.
Anyway, for returning players the answers to questions like above are more interesting than just the regular marketing slides that will say "'22 is incredible". Returning players want to know that the game will be more stable and also have some, real, techological advancement (4k@120fps), not just marketing hyped slides.Oh...and as a parent buying deciding whether to buy the game or not for my kids, I also want to know the answers of above. '20 and '21 are very similar....and frankly, without the game having 4k@120fps ....I'm having a hard time justifying getting '22, which has a cascading effect of additional lost sales. If I don't get it for myself and my kids, I talk with other parents and they won't get it for their kids, they talk to other parents, etc. In addition, the last couple of years I have bought copies of the game for 5 to 10 other people (not including my kid's friends). I'm not the only parent that makes this calculation every year (same calculation we use to determine which system to buy for our kids, be it a PS5 or Xbox).....and with Covid likely coming to an end later this year....there will be many more options of what to spend $$ on this year. Thus, if I decide to buy The Show '22, I at least want to make sure it has the features I want (4k@120) along with metrics and answers to questions that show it will be a stable game this year ....otherwise I am far less inclined to buy it this year TBH.
Absent real questions like above being answered, it will be harder to convince me to buy '22. I don't want the same game as prior years (that have a lot of bugs in them), I want a better, more stable product, and so far what I have seen hasn't convinced me this is the case in regard to '22. Additionally, I am the only one thinking this way. I know multiple streamers who are setting up second accounts to play other games, because they are concerned about just being dependent on MLBTS, especially since it is so buggy. The streamers are concerned about their revenue streams being dependent on a buggy game, as it makes it harder for them to make content. Hopefully, SDS engineering ( and not SDS marketing) will answer these questions honestly, to put us all at a little more ease in regard to '22.
Can SDS Engineering comment on the off-PCI homers? Personally, I think the issue is not really an issue, yet rather an offset/timing bug between the hitting engine code and the display code. I think sometimes that code that displays the hitting location displays slightly incorrectly in relation to the actual hitting engine code. The display code of the hitting feedback would be single-threaded code, dependent on the actual hitting engine code. I am tired of listening to people complain that "this was an off-PCI home run", when in reality it probably was not, yet rather just that their is a bug in the hitting feedback display code that makes it look worse than it is. Some comment from SDS engineering regarding if there is a disconnect between the actual hitting engine code and the feedback display code would be great. Maybe something that says "....The hitting display feedback is not always 100% correct, and sometimes displays off-PCI home runs, that are in-fact, actual home runs, yet just don't always display correctly. We are aware of the issue and it is a bug, yet rest assured, off-PCI home runs are actual home-runs and it is just a bug in our hitting feedback code." Some statement like this would be much appreciated.
Content filters to limit inappropriate content......did they receive significant updates in '22?? Seemed like their were no inappropriate content filters that actually worked in '21. Hopefully, this code was fixed in '22 (<cough, cough>).
(Coincidentally, just some basic database scans on the backend that looked for offending words would be great ..... and could be done in an automated manner. User puts offending words for their team name from the app on their Playstation, Xbox or Switch device). Scan runs once a night on the backend looking for offending items....and removes any it finds by just doing a substitution and replace of the offending content. In addition, if the backend scan finds anything offensive...it automatically keeps track of how many times the user put some offensive content in the game....and after three strikes (scans) that identify offensive material....their account gets suspended for x amount of days. After 6 strikes .... they get suspended for a week, 9 strikes ..... 2 weeks, etc. This is an area in the code that needs significant improvement.
[censored] you went all in with putting SDS on a hot seat, I like it. Unfortunately SDS is not the only gaming company to abuse the GACHA/Loot Box element. The fact that they used Randy Johnson being in the game as an advertisement, is exactly what I'm scared of for the video game industry.
They may be scottfree legally since technically, you dont have to spend any money to get any of the players. There's no clear pay wall after the initial $60-$70 investment. Theit focus on DD just sucks for the rest of us MLB video game fans.
Real Life Example: The mother of my kid shelled out $100 worth of stubs just so my kid can buy the Tatis Jr Live Series card in the market lolol. Considering she's definitely not the only mom/nongamer to do this, SDS and the rest of the companies aren't changing their profit model any time soon.
This game desperately needs a revamp or a Blizzard-level debacle to shake things up. The VERY repetitive animations and gameplay are unacceptable at this day and age. The day to day gameplay is already repetitive, I mean, it's baseball for God's sake. But to have the same diving, throwing, fielding animations is just plain lazy. Makes playing the game a bore once you realize it.
Yeah It will more than likely be copy and paste...Why mess with a "winning" formula 
DD gives them the opportunity to focus on profit rather than innovation.
TO SDS:
Just get a bunch of minor leaguer's who need more money as it is...and get them in MoCap suits ASAP. We need to see more dazzling plays, more silly swings, more DADDY HACKS, more unconventional dives in the outfield. DD does not need more development. It's fine for now. Go Focus on the gameplay.
@chuckclc_psn said in The Graphics Don't Usually Bother Me...:
I am sure a lot of people saw KevinGohD's video yesterday or a couple days ago. Playing MLB 12 The Show. That was 2 consoles and almost 10 years ago yet the graphics look very similar to today. TBH though there isnt much improvements that can be made. They were way ahead of their time back then. I never even played the show until 15, but all I remember is people telling me how great it looks and how its the best Baseball game ever. I was still modding MVP baseball on PC lol.
It's less about the graphics and more about player animations and gameplay for me
These are all separate from how nice the game looks in a screenshot.
@king_dome30_psn said in The online play is garbage:
When good user input is constantly punished and bad user input is constantly rewarded, it makes for terrible online play.
That, and attributes that don't matter.
And gameplay so stale that I dont know how anyone plays 9 whole innings watching the same plays happen over and over again. And then one random home run...then back to the monotonous plays over and over.
@donttuchmethaar_xbl said in MLB The Show 22 Trailer thoughts:
@nxtdoc_psn said in MLB The Show 22 Trailer thoughts:
I believe we should be seeing larger graphical leaps, and Jersey animations in The Show. These Jerseys fit, and reacts stiffly. Nearly the exact same way as the Show 13 on PS3. Cmon now. Have some pride SDS. Especially now that you're fully Mulit-Platform.
They're still having to accommodate for last gen consoles. The switch is more of a different story but the One and the 4 is still being used as the core code for the X and the 5.
When those aren't supported anymore, you'll see a difference.
I think it's more than hardware differences. There are plenty of games out there that have progressed in the graphics/gameplay standpoint.
When I'm playing The Show21 on my PS4 (2021), there are multiple times where I get literal flashbacks of playing The Show on my PSP(Over 10 years ago)
Just for the heck of it, I went and looked up MLB 07 The Show gameplay on PSP. The "Early Swing" animation is EXACTLY the same on The Show 21....
@savefarris_psn said in Like if you think the games is just going to be copy and paste + 90 bucks for roster updates?:
@jaycruise21_psn said in Like if you think the games is just going to be copy and paste + 90 bucks for roster updates?:
Yeah It will more than likely be copy and paste...Why mess with a "winning" formula
DD gives them the opportunity to focus on profit rather than innovation.
You've never actually run a business, have you? Without innovation, there is no profit.
Economics major, worked in mortgage companies and small businesses my whole life.
There's a difference between actual innovation and picking the low hanging fruit that is the Gacha system.
@savefarris_psn said in Lack of competition = Lack of innovation:
Anyone who says SDS doesn't have competition doesn't know how competition works.
I'm actually curious, enlighten us with what you mean.
Competition as far as having to make money to meet their margins, then yeah of course they have to make money.
Competition in regards to supply/demand? Theres no other companies making a product that will supply and meet the demands of a gamer/baseball fan.
The core gameplay needs an overhaul. I'm only posting on here cuz I'm bored at work, but yeah.
I'm probably not buying again until there's clear improvements in gameplay. The copy/paste every year is the reason why I left COD however many years ago.
@jake98833_psn said in The high off speed pitches:
@tomivory23_psn said in The high off speed pitches:
@jake98833_psn said in The high off speed pitches:
@tomivory23_psn said in The high off speed pitches:
@jake98833_psn said in The high off speed pitches:
I can't time high curves and changeups consistently but I can hit high fastballs consistently are timing windows quicker for offspeed pitches up in the zone
Isnt it funny that the two pitches you never throw up high in the zone are the most difficult to hit in a realistic baseball game? Three if u count the sinker
Honestly if it's not fixed in 22 I'll just buy God of War and wait for a mid season sale
Your stronger than me. Last purchase was '19. Done with the moving goal posts lol. I just hop on 19 when I need my baseball fix
It's really hard for me to throw in the towel on this series it's really the only decent sports game left but they have done gameplay/presentation so much better in other games especially on PS3
It's disappointing to say the least 
Tired of the tired excuses..My opinion, this is a $40 game. Not a AAA $60-$70 game.
At least in NBA2k the animations and gameplay are much more exciting. Seeing the same swings, animations, and overall gameplay over and over is a bore. Especially in high octane moments,(which are not many), the game(virtual fans) and announcers are almost lifeless.
It makes the hard grind through 9 innings to win a game by 1 run, very boring.
@schwizzle_nizzle said in This game better be improved for 22!:
It won't. I was watching Kevingohd play some old The Show games and it is literally the same freaking game now, just with better graphics. Pretty pathetic.
It's crazy...There's still animations being used from 15 years ago 
BRO player animations are exactly the same. SMH. It's fine, SDS is working on widening their audience to Xbox and Switch. So they have to focus on that for awhile. I'll continue playing The Show 21 to get my quick fix of MLB gaming when I get the itch.
Thanks SDS for releasing footage.A nice try showing close-ups of the animations with edits to make it seem new and fresh.
@sshack72_xbl said in First pitcher not named ohtani that you homered with.:
Warren Spahn
My 7yr old hit one off of me with Warren Spahn. -__- and yes I was actually trying. Is the kid good or Warren Spahn #glitched 
@tvsectog_xbl said in MLB The Show 22 Trailer thoughts:
Not impressed. Looks the exact same as ‘21. Lipstick on a pig.
If SDS compiled the code with the 120fps patch from both Sony and Microsoft…that would be a huge win, and I would instantly purchase. Sony and Microsoft did the heavy lifting for SDS with the patch…and all SDS needs to do is check a box that allows the code to compile with the 120fps patch…and SDS can’t even do that? Doesn’t give me a lot of confidence in SDS, TBH.
120fps and the Negro Leagues…or I am not interested in ‘22 at all. I already have ‘22 based on what I’ve seen so far… and it’s called ‘21!
Ooohhhh Negro Leagues. That would be pretty sick and get a lot more fans to buy the game.
"Here comes the PITCHER, Mike Trout"
When I send up a pinch hitter for my pitcher. They announce the player's name as if he's the pitcher.
The fact that an audio cue is wrong, in a next gen game. 
