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MLB has updated some of their mobile games
Coinciding with the start of the season MLBAM has released updates to some titles in their suite of baseball games for mobile devices.
MLB Perfect Inning (iOS – Android) is a free-to-play game built on the team-building model with a Season Mode and slate of games to play based on that day’s real-life schedule. New in MLB Perfect Inning 16 are Black Edition players, enhanced graphics, Coach and Manager System, and career missions.
MLB.com Home Run Derby (iOS)Â is a free-to-play game and now features the new format for the Derby of bracket-style timed rounds. Also new is Petco Park where the All-Star Game takes place this season. The game has not been updated yet to Home Run Derby 16 on Android.
RBI Baseball 16 (iOS – Android) sells for $5 and is said to offer more balanced gameplay due to revamped defensive AI, improved batting engine and reworked pitching strategy.
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Where are you spending your time in MLB The Show 16 Diamond Dynasty?
Last year Diamond Dynasty was turned into one of the more compelling team-building modes in all of sports gaming even surprising with a Community Award here for the category. In MLB The Show 16 the experience has been expanded upon with the addition of two brand new ways to play. There’s Battle Royale which features a draft and then three inning games online with increasing rewards at stake, and Conquest which is single-player and incorporates building a fan base while conquering the territories of the other clubs in the league.
Some interesting results were found in a poll posted to Twitter last week, so I wanted to assess the community further to see if the same trend is found from a larger sample size. 65% of the respondents in the earlier poll expressed that they were spending the majority of their time in Diamond Dynasty, a mode that was built primarily with facing online competitors in mind, playing against the CPU rather than head-to-head online.
Vote in the poll below and leave your thoughts in the comments. What area of MLB The Show 16’s Diamond Dynasty are you investing the most time into so far?
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The Line Drive for April 3
The Line Drive is a weekly collection of news, links, deal alerts, and updates that didn’t necessarily warrant their own postings.
♦EA Sports UFC 2 can still be ordered from Amazon for $40 on PS4 or XB1.
♦This is the last week Amazon Prime members can get 20% off MLB The Show 16.
♦Review: MLB The Show 16 builds on areas of strength.
♦Screenshots from never-before-seen perspectives taken in MLB The Show 16.
♦New episode of the Press Row Podcast is focused on MLB 16 impressions and VR.
♦New pack available in MLB The Show 16 for a limited time features ST standouts.
♦Review: Draft Day Sports Pro Basketball 2016.
♦Details on the 25 new legends that have debuted in MLB The Show 16.
♦Six historic stadiums make their series return in MLB The Show 16.
♦Details on the latest patch including updated rosters for Out of the Park Baseball 17.
♦Psyonix previewed the April update for Rocket League that includes Hoops.
♦Blu-ray releases this week headlined by Star Wars: The Force Awakens. -
Inside Edge is in effect for the Opening Day games in MLB The Show 16
One of the new features this year in MLB The Show 16 is Inside Edge which provides daily ratings adjustments. Based on that particular day’s matchups and/or trends a player could see certain ratings temporarily boosted or dropped when using “Daily Rosters” in Play Now and with Diamond Dynasty including the Battle Royale and Conquest modes.
Inside Edge is already influencing many players currently based off Opening Day projections. It’s intriguing to see what stats are being cited as the reasoning for the changes, and while a lot of them make sense it’s clear there are some issues that need to be ironed out. Read more
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Press Row Podcast: Opening Day
With the release of several sports games this month the start to the 2016 campaign is here! Former host Rich Grisham returns in this episode of the Press Row Podcast for an early impressions discussion on MLB The Show 16 that covers new features in Diamond Dynasty, Road to the Show, Franchise and more!
It’s also the start of something potentially big with the shipping of Virtual Reality headsets getting underway. The conversation transitions into thoughts on VR, whether sports games will play a role in its success, and what it could mean for the industry as a whole.
Check out the podcast through iTunes for iOS, on Android with the Stitcher app, or with Pocket Casts on iOS, Android, and Windows. Subscribe and review to help support the show! You can also listen with the streaming player below.
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Review of MLB The Show 16
There are always few surprises with MLB The Show. Consumers can trust they’re going to get terrific gameplay and visuals with consistent offline modes and commentary that have arguably started to fall behind the times.
Last year though Diamond Dynasty rose up to become a favorite of many and even pulled off an upset win for the Community Award of Best Team-Building Mode. That coincided with the first satisfactory online experience in series’ history. Diamond Dynasty received the most upgrades in MLB The Show 16 and the new Battle Royale way to play is sure to become a big hit.
MLB The Show 16 is a great game, but that’s more due to the series already having been great, than necessarily what has been done with it this year. Strengths have been reinforced but deficiencies mostly unaddressed. Check out the full review over at Sporting News!
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The basketball mode for Rocket League will be arriving soon
Earlier this month Psyonix announced a basketball mode was in the works for Rocket League but didn’t offer any clarification for when it would release outside of “later this year.” Now the developer has revealed that the new mode called Dunk House will be free and available to all with the game on PS4/XB1/PC in April. Based on their past announcement-to-delivery time frames it could be just a week or two away now.
Rocket League was built off soccer fundamentals with cars taking the place of human players. However the phenomenal post-release support has included all sorts of different ways to play the game including a hockey variation that was included free back in December. The physics of the puck necessitated playing off the walls more than in the air and now with basketball the air-game will likely be made more crucial than ever.
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MLB The Show 16 Diamond Dynasty Videos
The servers for MLB The Show 16 were not activated until the game released. With online-related features now accessible I’ll be going through them over the next couple days. Diamond Dynasty this year has new types of cards, the ability to play against friends, daily Inside Edge ratings adjustments, and two completely new ways to play.
Check out the videos recorded so far from Diamond Dynasty, with the first 25 man roster draft and game in Battle Royale, first game played in Conquest, the opening of each available pack type, and a clutch comeback in the first regular DD game. Because online functionality did not come on until this late the posting of the full review is being targeted for tomorrow. Read more
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