SCEA today released a new look at what to expect out of the improvements to graphics and lighting in MLB 15: The Show. The subject has been discussed previously, including at length in various live streams, but here is presented in more concise form. With the game just a few days out the only real question mark is whether it will perform acceptably online.
After four years of mobile releases the iOOTP series, which now carries the MLB license just like its older brother Out of the Park Baseball, has been rebranded as MLB Manager 2015. The game released today for iOS devices (buy through iTunes here) and is also out for Android (grab it through Google Play). The usual $5 price tag is attached. Read more
Sony today released System Update 2.50 for the PlayStation 4. The update includes a feature that was announced for the console at its initial reveal – Suspend/Resume. It comes at a perfect time for those who will be picking up MLB 15: The Show next week as that game will definitely benefit from the ability to walk away from games in progress.
Supported by nearly all of your PS4 games, you can jump in and out of your games with just the press of the PS button. Quickly switch from Rest Mode to powered-up so you can pick up where you left off.
It’s not just The Show of course that requires a lengthy time commitment. Whether it be Madden or NBA 2K most sports games can benefit from what provides essentially for in-game saves. To test it out I went ahead and advanced to the 6th inning in a game of MLB 14 and paused it, put the console into “Rest Mode”, and returned later to the game right where I had left off after only a few seconds of loading.
The only concerns of utilizing the feature are related to things like power outages, where the game’s progress would be lost, or disconnections from the server when that is required to save at the end. If playing the CPU in an Online Franchise in Madden, or playing any of the online-connected modes in NBA 2K like MyCareer or MyGM, there’s going to be a risk that they lose the connection while sitting around for a long time.
The update also includes the ability to backup hard drives to USB drives, more social tools, ability to delete Trophies, 60fps Share Play and more!
Given that anticipation for a new football game has been especially high in recent months, with Joe Montana Football 16 expected later this year and Mutant Football League coming at some point down the line, it’s interesting to evaluate the market for such games. There have been so few unlicensed sports games to emerge over the last decade as companies have avoided the risk with development costs rising and consumers demanding all products meet a quality threshold which necessitates those costs.
With over 3700 respondents in the poll posted last week the results put into perspective just how any unlicensed sports game has an uphill battle compared to the licensed titles. Consumers will buy, or strongly consider, licensed games based on the leagues alone while unlicensed games have to prove their worth to even get any consideration. Read more
Sony has released the 30 team-specific Dynamic Themes for MLB 15: The Show on PlayStation 4. There’s also a theme offered for the game in general. They’re being sold for $3.49 each.
These aren’t as active as some other themes I’ve seen – though the ballparks do have animated video screens, flags waving in the wind, and the baseball which rotates – and I expected more baseball-related sound effects but they do look pretty sharp. $3.49 is a fairly hefty price for a theme yet some fans of the teams will undoubtedly be interested in them.
Keep in mind the dynamic dashboard themes are included in the Anniversary Edition of MLB 15: The Show. So if you’re getting that – and it’s a pretty good deal considering it offers essentially $32 of value for just $10 over the price of the normal version of the game – don’t buy any themes now as they’ll all come with your copy next week. Those who pre-ordered the Anniversary Edition digitally on PSN should be able to download them for free now.
While MLB: The Show is known for many positive things the soundtracks each edition has offered have never been among them. Not only have the song choices been questionable but the number of them were limited to sometimes as few as 10.
Last generation on PS3 that could be worked around because of the ability to add custom music. It’s not a possibility on PS4 however so users are stuck with whatever is built into the game. Here are 10 tracks (there were 13 last year) that are found in MLB 15: The Show:
A Taste of Silver – Until the Ribbon Breaks
Attack – Conway
Everything is Wrong – Interpol
Freedom – Lack of Afro (feat. Jack Tyson-Charles)
Fresh Static Snow – Porter Robinson
Ingredients – Still Water Giants
Love the Lie – Zodiac Death Valley
Nothin Left – Death from Above 1979
Rent I Pay – Spoon
Skye Right – Harry Fraud (feat. Sharks)
Some of you may remember coverage on a startup called Overdog in 2013. The service was originally envisioned as a way to play online games against professional athletes with a community to be built around that interest.
Since then Overdog has evolved more towards the latter part of that mission though there is still an element of having an opportunity to play online with “influencers”. Primarily it has become a general matchmaking service which brings together gamers with similar interests to play online, rather than the traditional way of getting stuck with people at random. Think of it almost as creating a dating profile but here it’s for finding suitable, and theoretically more compatible, online opponents or teammates.
Each user chooses from interests related to gaming, movies, television, music, sports, and more. The service will then attempt to match people up with others who share similar interests. This of course could be a big deal for sports games where the preference may be to play with or against fans of specific teams. The Overdog app launched on Xbox One earlier this month and is expected to expand to other platforms in the near future.
EA Sports has released a look at the TPC Sawgrass course in Rory McIlroy PGA Tour. Five screenshots have gone out – check them out in the FB album here – along with a video that compares how it looks in McIlroy (and on the new systems) vs Tiger Woods 14 (which of course was on the last generation of consoles).