Do they read the boards?

I work for a software company, and I know that our customer forums are where we get most of our ideas for future releases and builds. Its also a place where we catch a lot of bugs, but that being said, we always have our people on the boards responding to posts...similar to what Marcus Heinsholn (sp?) does with the OOTP boards.

Do you guys think 2K Sports developers or product managers actually read these boards and take into account what we ask for? And if so, how realistic is it that they actually try and impliment some of our ideas.

BUT...just incase, I am going to make some suggestions for next seasons game, since they are probably in alpha right about now, and still have plenty of time to impliment stuff.

1) Body types. I cant stress this enough. Giambi doesnt weigh 165 lbs. Neither does Ortiz. Give these guys their actual body types.

2) Before adding little things like sweat on the caps, and stuff that will take super-zoomed in replays on a huge tv to notice, how about we set up the animations/camera angles to be more lifelike.

The batters should have several different swings and approaches to the ball. Pitchers need to have different pre-pitch statures, instead of standing there, half crouched with a tilted head...as they have done since World Series 2k2.

3) Make the parks feel bigger. they look big, sure...but the ball moves too quickly through them. You dont see a lot of singles to the center field wall in real life, cause it takes more than a flick of the wrist for the centerfielder to get the ball in.

4) Lose the crazy camera angles.

Nothing is worse than the camera following the batter when I have no idea where the ball went.

I also dont want to be behind a net when I choose broadcast style presentation. Some things do NOT need to be simulated.

5) Last but not least...lets give this game some real broadcast-feel to it. The audio presentation of the show, along with various cut scenes for walkoffs and world series victories are what make that game so pretty.

With next-gen graphics, that really should not be an issue.

Thanks. feel free to post more guys, but lets try and stick to stuff that will actually make the gaming experience better...rather than stuff like "make fans run on the field" or "have real brawls" etc.

I think it is the general consensus of the people on these boards that as of late there has been absolutely no interaction between the developement team and the customers on these boards. Since they did their Q&A session last year, we have heard absolutely nothing from them. They had the huge glitch with the 360 version last year and there was nothing but a very general update from one of the forum admins. You think that they would have made some sort of public apology or even recognition of the problem, but they didn't.

I think the product speaks for it self. There was never a high demend on these boards for a First Person Mode. There was never a demand whatsoever that I can recall for Slam Zone or something of that nature. These things were added anyway. There was a high demand for more player unique attributes (swing, stances, windups, etc.) that were left out year after year.

It was as if the development team had their own agenda that had nothing to do with the demand from the customers. Its really a pretty bad way to run a business. It was a "Lets not give the customer what it wants" attitude. The other big problem was pretty obvious and that was the fact that the people who made this game in the past knew little to nothing about the ins and outs of baseball. You could tell that the people who made this game were more of the casual fan type than they were of the "baseball guy" type. Because of this, I don't think the game ever was able to develop a rel baseball feel. The game always seems robotic and stiff, where as when you watch a MLB player, the first thing you notice is how smooth, easy and effortless everything is.

I think this new guy from MVP (Brinkman) will help. I thought MVP was a solid product. If it lacked anything, it was in the graphics area. The animation transfers were smooth and realistic. The swings looked like real swings, and players had that smooth, easy and effortless feel to them. Was it perfect? Not at all, but I think a collaboration of the two series will lead to a great game.

As for making a list of upgrades, I'm all for it, but it sounds like Brinkman already has announced his agenda for this years game with a philosophy of "Keep It Simple and get back to basics."

U guys both nailed it. I agree with both of u. Baseball is one of my favorite sports and i was so upset when i had mlb2k6 as my only option last year. I think Brinkman from mvp will surprise us. I hope that does not come back and bite me..

Short answer: No.

Long answer: No f-ing way.

To add to your list:

6) I would really like them (or any baseball game) to implement some sort of defensive controls. I think games have progressed to the point where we should have to do more than just run to the spot where the ball is going to go to make a catch. (Basically make it similar to catching a football in a football game).

7) Fix the pitching fatigue system. It doesn't resemble the real effects that happen to a pitcher as he tires. Seeing a guy go from 95 to the low to mid 80's is rediculous. Add some randomness to the pitching system as a whole. Some times things come easy to a pitcher, sometimes they don't. Sometimes Maddux can hit every spot, sometimes he misses half of his pitches. Sometime Verlander's fastball tops out at 100, sometimes it tops out at 96. Sometimes Zito's curveball is unhittable, sometimes it gets crushed everytime he throws it. This should be implemented either by some kind of "hidden" rating system or just plain randomization or by making the controls harder to navigate. But some times it just should be harder to make an pitcher execute his pitches than others. Every fastball that Greg Maddux throws is not the same. Sometimes it tails back 6" and sometimes it closer to a foot. When he is on his game, he'll be much more conistant, but he still may miss 10 or 20% of the time. When he's off, he may miss 50% of the time. Same with Zito, when he is on, his curve is almost always down and out of the zone, but when he is off he hangs a majority of them. (the better pitchers should be less effected than the mediocre guys. Santana on a bad game may give up 4 or 5 runs, but Joe Blanton on a bad day may give up 7 or 8).

8) Add life to the players. Bobbing up and down and back and forth isn't a sign someone is breathing, it's a sign they are drunk. When a pitcher comes set on the mound, he should be pretty damn still except for the air entering and exiting his body.

9) Speaking of pitchers, pay attention to their set position. I can't really think of anyone who comes set the way they do in the game with their hands so far out in front of their body. Most pitchers keep their hands in so that they can get them up faster so they can get on top of the ball and get the ball to the plate faster.

10) Chill out on the collisions with the fence. A normal person can walk into a fence or another player without falling into a brief coma. I expect someone who sprints into a fence or another player to hit the ground hard and stay down a while. I also expect a person who grazes it to go about their business as if nothing ever happened.

11) Less organ music and more crowd involvement. Most of the parks these days have moved away from the organ to computers for stadium sound. And usually when something is played throughout the stadium, the crowd participates by clapping or stomping or yelling "Charge!".

12) Make players automatically sprint. The player shouldn't be told to run hard on a slow roller to third. He wants that hit as much as anyone else and should be sprinting. If you must add a sprint button, make it for all players.

13) Old School Uni's shouldn't mean Old School Gear. When a team has a throwback game, they don't bust out the old equipment and hitters still wear helmets, wristbands, batting gloves, their normal gloves and spikes. They need to find a way to seperate a game with historical players between a game with current players using historical uniforms.

14) Come up with several years worth of schedules. I can't remember if this was a problem on this game last year (usually because I was stuck with a 10 game season following my first), but mix up the scheudle so I'm not stuck playing the same interleague schedule and not stuck finishing my season against the same opponenet every year. Also mix up the location of the All Star game (Make a generic All Star Logo that can be updated with the year and make it so that it can be added to any stadium if they are too host an All Star Game).

15) Make injuries realistic. No more broken eye sockets for players that weren't involved in a play. I don't want my outfield to get injured on a pop up to the catcher. Broken anything should only result from a collision/dive or getting hit by a ball.

16) Let players be able to recover from errors. If a guy takes a rocket off the chest that bounces right in front of him, he should be able to recover, pick up the ball and have a chance at throwing out an average runner.

17) Realistic double play animations. No cartwheels or summersaults. A second baseman usually does the same thing on a routine turnevery time. They will either come across the bag toward third. Some go away from the bag toward right field and some play of the back of the bag (toward left). The only thing that would change it is if the throw pulls them off of the bag or therunner was going to take them out and then you'll see them jump. They practice the same throw over and over so that they can become quicker.

18) More throwing errors from outfielders. The top rightfielders won't be able to accurately throw the ball to third even half of the time. Throws should go wide to either side or even sail over the head of the fielders on occasion.

19) Like someone said-make the fields feel bigger (especially in the outfield). There are tons of flairs that go past the infield but don't make it to the infield. I've yet to see a game accurately show these hits. Either the hits don't exist or the games make it far too easy for the Infielders to go back and get the ball. Balls to the gaps are almost always doubles or triples.

20) Recognition of special events by the announcers and the crowd and the players. If there is a no-hitter, the crowd should get a little louder with every out and give the pitcher an ovation if it is broken up late in the game. If a guy hits a game winning HR, it would be great if the announcers got excited, the crowd got extremely loud and the players mobbed the hitter at the plate for a minute. If a guy hits two or three HR's in a game, he should get a curtain call. If a guy breaks a record he should be recognized and it should be given some special recognition.

21) Crowds should be affected by the teams record, their opponent, their market and their stadium. If the Tigers have a mediocre year, their attendance will fall sharply. If the Yankee's or Red Sox have a mediocre year, they will still come close to selling out all of their games. When the A's play the Royals, they are lucky to draw 20,000, but if they are playing the Red Sox, they almost always sell out. If you look at teams that move to a new stadium, they usually have a dramatic spike in their attendance for the first few years (even if they are a horrible team). Yankee's-Red Sox, Giants-Dodgers-those types of games should always be sold out and louder than normal.

The 'sprint' sytem is fine Trev,in fact it is great.It allows for fast runners(and good buton mashers)to score some infield hits.