MLB 09: The Show Megathread - Full 1080p at 60FPS!

Jan 29, 2009
7,187
MLB 09: The Show is a baseball simulation video game produced by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Portable systems.[1] It belongs to the longest-running officially licensed Major League Baseball game series on the PlayStation systems. MLB 09: The Show is the fourth edition of the MLB: The Show series.[1]

The game is a baseball simulation in which, depending on the gameplay mode, the player controls one or all of the players on a Major League Baseball team or some select Minor League Baseball teams. Depending on the gameplay mode, the player may control a team for a single game, season, or franchise, and can also create a player and control his career.

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New and updated features

MLB 09: The Show improved and added many features to the previous 08 edition.[3] The franchise and career modes were improved with Road to the Show 3.0, which updated popular mode with an all-new steal and lead-off system, and more interaction with the player's coaches; Franchise 2.0 added several new features to its career mode including salary arbitration, waiver transactions, September call-ups, and the 40-man roster. Also receiving an update was the game's online league play, including flex scheduling to allow players to play out-of-order games, and Roster Vault option to allow gamers can create their own custom rosters and upload them online for other gamers to use. The game also allowed gamers to store their favorite songs to their PlayStation 3 and assign them to be played at various points in the game, including a batter's walk-up animation. Players may also create custom taunts.[3]

Among the in-game improvements included "Hotshot Fielding", which allowed more dynamic fielder reactions and animations, as well as improved bare-handed flips, "Progressive Batting Performance", in which player abilities improve or regress depending on how the gamer plays. With "Multi-Branch Fielding", players could now take full control of fielders and break out of any animation in the process, while "Adaptive Pitching Intelligence" (API) allowed catchers to call the game based on individual strengths and weaknesses of each pitcher and analyze tendencies of batters. The game also accurately graphically reflected the pitch being thrown on the pitcher's hand, and included 17 different pitch types including five fastball variations (four-seamer, two-seamer, cutter, splitter, sinker), five breaking pitches (10-4 curve, 12-6 curve, slider, slurve, screwball), four change-ups (straight, circle change-up, palmball, forkball), and three specialty pitches (knuckle, knuckle-curve, and the gyro). The "Pitch Command System" (PCS) affected a pitchers' abilities to throw a specific pitch change depending on how often the pitcher throws it. Umpire personalities have been tweaked further as well.[3]

The game also featured pitch analysis, a breakdown of all the pitches thrown during the current game being played, which allowed gamers to be able to sort a pitcher by LHB or RHB, pitch type and result. This feature is also available for batters, and the batter analysis allowed for a breakdown of how a batter had performed based on LHP or RHP, Pitch Type, and result. SportsConnect Online User Tracking (SCOUT) allowed gamers to set their game preferences, store them on the server, and then allowed the system to look for a Quick Match with an opponent that fits their criteria.[3]

The game also featured live MLB updates in-game, as well as SportsConnect Headline News.
 
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After all the great acclaim 08 got ... I never bought it ... :( I will however be purchasing this year ... who here will be grabbing this?

I may not grab release day , maybe within first month of release, just depends.
 
MLB The Show ‘08 is revered amongst PlayStation 3 owners for not only providing the best baseball game on the console, but also for its excellent tech credentials, including support for native 1080p - a somewhat rare commodity on the current generation of gaming systems. The excellent news is that the brand new MLB The Show ‘09 improves upon the original in all respects.
First of all, MLB The Show ‘09 is running at 60 frames per second at native 720p with 2xMSAA, unchanged from its predecessor. The character modeling and the texture details seem more or less on the same level with ‘08 as well, but close-in some improvements are evident: check out these shots of the players.

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MLB ‘08 (left) vs MLB ‘09 (right). The overall look is similar, but close-up details reveal that the new version has an edge in terms of detail especially evident on the helmet shots. Click on the thumbnails for full 720p resolution.

The most significant change however, is the crowd rendering, as it’s much more diverse now with visible improvements on the level of detail. This is a great addition to ‘09, since its predecessor already had some of the best crowd graphics in any sports title, but its one shortcoming was the person duplication which becomes painfully obvious at times.

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More MLB ‘08 vs ‘09 comparison shots, this time of the crowd graphics. State-of-the-art in ‘08, but massively improved in the new version.

The one real irritation with the crowd graphics on MLB ‘08 concerned alpha-blending issues with the wire net in front of the audience. It wasn’t particularly well-done, but again, this has been hugely improved in the new ‘09 version. This sort of thing is difficult to show in an internet video, but we’ve had a stab any way via the wonder of YouTube HD. Check out the before (’08) and after (’09) comparison here.
The biggest improvement to the game comes from MLB 09’s native 1080p support. The game runs at an uncompromised 1920×1080 native resolution with no AA. In this respect, it’s identical to the ‘08 game, but the key difference is that unlike the last game, MLB ‘09 displays a full 60 frames per second on the 1080p setting vs the 30fps of its predecessor. The ‘08 1080p mode had few other losses on visual effects such as depth of field, which is retained and improved in both 720p and 1080p modes on the new game.

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Depth of field effects didn’t make it into the 1080p mode of MLB ‘08. The good news is that the new game retains this feature at full HD in the new game. 720p shots are on top, 1080p on the bottom. Click through for the full resolution ’screens’.

Additionally, MLB 09’s 1080p has full screen blur effect as well. The blur is usually bad when it’s used as poor man’s AA solution, but in a sports game that runs at true 1080p, it actually gives you a wonderful feel of realism. It really adds to the atmosphere and the game looks much more life-like than it does on 720p.
Overall, MLB The Show ‘09 has seen a great improvement over last year, which is particularly impressive considering how the first game was already the best looking baseball title out there, maybe even the best looking sports release ever. With this new edition, the best just got even better.
 
6 inning demo was generous ... not being able to change my pitcher in the 6th wasnt ... 0-0 went to 5-0 them real quick ... :(
 
Here are the rankings for each team in MLB 09 The Show. Listed are the overall, batting, pitching, and defense categories. These aren’t ratings exactly but they do display how the teams are situated in each area along with the overall strength to expect out of them. Keep in mind that these may change with the release day roster update. Continue on to view the full lists.

Overall
1: Boston Red Sox
2: New York Yankees
3: Chicago Cubs
4: Philadelphia Phillies
5: New York Mets
6: Los Angeles Angels
7: Tampa Bay Rays
8: Detroit Tigers
9: Minnesota Twins
10: Cincinnati Reds
11: Atlanta Braves
12: Los Angeles Dodgers
13: Colorado Rockies
14: Arizona Diamondbacks
15: Cleveland Indians
16: Toronto Blue Jays
17: Milwaukee Brewers
18: Houston Astros
19: Texas Rangers
20: Kansas City Royals
21: Chicago White Sox
22: San Francisco Giants
23: St. Louis Cardinals
24: Seattle Mariners
25: Florida Marlins
26: Oakland As
27: San Diego Padres
28: Washington Nationals
29: Baltimore Orioles
30: Pittsburgh Pirates

Batting
1: New York Yankees
2: Chicago Cubs
3: Cleveland Indians
4: Boston Red Sox
5: Philadelphia Phillies
6: Texas Rangers
7: Milwaukee Brewers
8: Chicago White Sox
9: Detroit Tigers
10: Tampa Bay Rays
11: Colorado Rockies
12: St. Louis Cardinals
13: Los Angeles Angels
14: Cincinnati Reds
15: Arizona Diamondbacks
16: New York Mets
17: Atlanta Braves
18: Kansas City Royals
19: Florida Marlins
20: Washington Nationals
21: Los Angeles Dodgers
22: San Diego Padres
23: Minnesota Twins
24: Houston Astros
25: Toronto Blue Jays
26: Oakland As
27: Seattle Mariners
28: San Francisco Giants
29: Pittsburgh Pirates
30: Baltimore Orioles

Pitching
1: Boston Red Sox
2: New York Yankees
3: Chicago Cubs
4: Tampa Bay Rays
5: Los Angeles Angels
6: New York Mets
7: Colorado Rockies
8: Toronto Blue Jays
9: Cincinnati Reds
10: Philadelphia Phillies
11: San Francisco Giants
12: Houston Astros
13: Atlanta Braves
14: Minnesota Twins
15: Los Angeles Dodgers
16: Cleveland Indians
17: Seattle Mariners
18: Detroit Tigers
19: Arizona Diamondbacks
20: Oakland As
21: Kansas City Royals
22: Florida Marlins
23: St. Louis Cardinals
24: Chicago White Sox
25: Milwaukee Brewers
26: Texas Rangers
27: San Diego Padres
28: Pittsburgh Pirates
29: Baltimore Orioles
30: Washington Nationals

Defense
1: Boston Red Sox
2: Toronto Blue Jays
3: Philadelphia Phillies
4: New York Mets
5: Seattle Mariners
6: Detroit Tigers
7: Los Angeles Dodgers
8: Tampa Bay Rays
9: New York Yankees
10: Chicago Cubs
11: Los Angeles Angels
12: Atlanta Braves
13: Minnesota Twins
14: Baltimore Orioles
15: Houston Astros
16: St. Louis Cardinals
17: Texas Rangers
18: San Diego Padres
19: Oakland As
20: Colorado Rockies
21: Cleveland Indians
22: Washington Nationals
23: San Francisco Giants
24: Kansas City Royals
25: Milwaukee Brewers
26: Pittsburgh Pirates
27: Cincinnati Reds
28: Chicago White Sox
29: Arizona Diamondbacks
30: Florida Marlins