Another addition to the trades system is the interface itself. We’ve revamped the trade screen to bring you more detailed information about the players involved and the likelihood of the trade offer being accepted. All of this is aimed at providing more information to help you make sound moves. Here’s a look at this feature on PS Vita. As we’ve said from the start, MLB 12 The Show on PS Vita will utilize all of the core gameplay features found in the PS3 version, and this is no different here!

I know there’s a lot of interest out there about our PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita integration this year so I wanted to make sure I touched on our Cross-Platform Saves functionality. This feature allows you to take your Franchise, Season, and Road to The Show save files up to the cloud where you can then access those files from either your PS3 or PS Vita. You are limited to one file per mode per PSN user account, which can be overwritten as many times as you’d like.

Moving on to other areas of change, we’ve gone back through the player generation logic to bring you more realistic skill sets for the CPU generated players. You will now see more authentic pitch repertoires, with velocities to match, and less overall balanced players (more speedsters, good hitting/average, below average fielding, etc.).

After addressing the player generation issues, we dove into the team lineups and how they slot players. We’ve come up with a more accurate system that better mimics real Major League lineups. This enhancement is carried throughout all of our season-based modes, including Franchise, Season, and Road to The Show. Once again, here’s what this feature will look like on your PS Vita screen!

After we addressed the important player logic issues, we looked at areas of the user interface to further improve your Franchise experience. The Franchise home menu has been enhanced, bringing you more team and league content, including…adding in your next game information, displaying the current standings, and showing you the current league leaders for batting and pitching. These additions aren’t limited to the Major League ball club, and are also accessible to your Triple-A and Double-A teams.

One last interface area we expanded upon was the player card. We’ve revamped the display to bring you more content in a sleeker package. The player card is also now available during games. You can access a player’s card in any game screen that allows you to highlight that player.

As you can see a lot of focus has been placed on improving the Franchise mode experience this year, enhancements that can be found on both PS3 and PS Vita! Don’t forget, MLB 12 The Show for PS3 and PS Vita will be hitting store shelves in just a few weeks on March 6th. Be sure to keep an eye on the PlayStation Blog and TheShowNation.com for more information in the coming days and weeks on this year’s game.

Welcome to The Show!

Not only do we summarize your at bats, but the system also evaluates several things during each at bat to determine areas you excel in or fall short in. For batters, we evaluate your swing timing, contact quality, plate discipline, pitch recognition, and finally your overall at bat results. This data is tracked for your most recent 100 plate appearances and is displayed in the locker room screen, under the Player Performance Evaluator tab.

For pitchers, we keep track of your strikes versus balls thrown, percentage of first pitch strikes, percentage you work ahead in the count, a breakdown of your pitch type tendencies, and finally your overall batter’s faced results. The same holds true with batters in that the data is tracked for your most recent 100 batters faced.

After we’ve tracked enough data to establish your play style tendencies, we then determine the areas you need to improve on and trigger the training session that best suits that area. The training modes have been overhauled for batting and pitching this year to now focus on specific areas for each. The new batting training modes include timing training, contact training, discipline training, recognition training, and good at bat training. The new pitching training modes include knockout training, pitch location training, pitch type training, and sim game training.

Each of these trainings have their own specific purpose. For instance, in timing training your goal is to hit the ball fair with well-timed swings – swings that are too early or too late will count against you. For pitch type training, you will be told what pitch to throw and given a target for the location. Hitting the target with a different pitch or missing the target will not reward you. Each of these trainings also have levels of difficulty ranging from 1 to 5. In Road to The Show, you’ll start at level 1 and once you achieve the target success for that level, you’ll unlock the next level. Each level brings a new set of challenges so for example, level 1 timing training will require you to have 7 successes, whereas level 4 will require 10.

We’re very excited about this year’s new Performance Evaluator and training mode additions and hope you are as well. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to pre-order your copy MLB 11 The Show on PS3 to get 30 days FREE MLB.TV! We were able to get a few test codes to check out last year’s games and this really is a cool app. Follow your favorite team home or away on your PS3 with MLB.TV.

Welcome to The Show!

We’ll begin by discussing player creation. This year’s PS3 Create Player system has received some new accessory additions, giving you even more options to customize. You can now select a variety of color settings to nearly every part of your player’s gear. Among many other options, you can customize three areas of your glove with different colors, set both the barrel and handle colors of your bat, and customize your shoe colors. We’ve also added a field to the General tab that will allow you to determine whether or not your player was born in the U.S. This will determine which roster you would appear on if your player were to be selected for the All-Star Futures Game.

After finishing up your player’s look and deciding whether to enter the draft or select your team, you’ll notice on entry of the mode that your season begins right at the start of the Double-A season. You will no longer start out in Spring Training and have to square off against MLB-caliber players. We’ve changed this flow to better mimic the real world, and to make an invite to Spring Training something that’s earned. Plus, to give you a good head start right out of the gate, we’re giving you some training points to help you get through your initial advancement goal set.

Now that you’re in the mode, you should take note of some new options this year that will certainly change how you experience games. The new Game Watch and Game Completion options will certainly change how you play RTTS games, as they’ll now give you the ability to determine how much of the game you want to view. Set your Game Watch option to All Pitches if you want to see every pitch of the entire game; All Fielding if you only want to see your at-bats and be a part of every fielding play; Result Play if you want to expedite your games to see only the final pitch of an at-bat while on either offense or defense; or Classic if you prefer the old style and only want to see plays involving your player.

Game Completion is similar to Game Watch, however it only takes affect after you’ve been removed from a game. So if you’re a starting pitcher, this option will let you see what your bullpen does with the runners they inherited from you. This option has similar settings as Game Watch, so you can set it to All Pitches, Result Play, or Off. When any of these options are set, and you’re on the bench waiting for your next opportunity, you’ll also notice a new custom view from the dugout.

We’re very excited about these new options as they really add to that feeling of suspense as to whether the ball will be hit your way or not. Now, more than before, you’ll need to be on your toes in the field.

Among other options to note, we brought back the classic L1/R1 baserunning controls for you old-schoolers. The RTTS Baserunning option will default to New, but if you prefer the single button press style controls, be sure to change it to Classic. We’ve also added in the ability to take pregame batting practice when you’re in the starting lineup for that game. You can step into the cage and take ten swings to help get your timing down before game-time. You won’t receive any training points or attribute improvements, but this will definitely help get you into a nice rhythm. To ensure you participate in batting practice, set the Pre-Game Batting Practice option to On. Lastly, we’ve added a new Mound Warm-Up feature that will give relievers a chance to throw eight warm-up pitches on the mound, after coming out of the bullpen. Just like pregame batting practice, you won’t receive any training points for this, but it does give you the chance to get a good rhythm before facing live hitters.

Moving on to other new game features, one area of focus for us this year was to emphasize fundamental baseball. As a result, we came up with two new systems that are sure to reinforce the notion of “team first.” First we created a new mistake-tracking system that keeps tabs on what you do during a game, and will penalize you for not playing smart baseball. If you do things like throw to the wrong base, forget to cover your base on a force out, or get caught stealing with the pitcher batting to end of the inning, you will receive training point penalties. To combat the “me first” motto a lot of RTTS players have taken when on the basepaths, we’ve created a new Green Light system. When you first start out with a club, you’ll have the Green Light. From there, it’s up to you how you handle it. If you’re a slow runner, and you take the risk of stealing and get caught, there’s a good chance your manager will take away your green light. Continue to steal without it and you risk getting benched for a game or even losing your spot in the lineup. Once the green light is removed, you’ll have to improve your speed and baserunning ability to a level that satisfies your manager in order to regain it.

For you stat-heads, we’ve created a new career stat-tracking system that keeps tabs on your stats versus every team. We aren’t tracking every stat, only the top-level stats. For position players, we track total games played, average, at-bats, hits, home runs, runs batted in, walks, and strikeouts. For pitchers, we track your games played, won-loss record, ERA, innings pitched, hits allowed, home runs allowed, walks allowed, and strikeouts. You can view these stats at any time during the game, or in the front end. When in a game, access your career stats by pressing the select button. The in-game display has even more detailed stats than the front end, as you’ll get a breakdown of your stats versus every pitcher or batter on the opponent’s roster. The front end will display only your total stats versus each team in your current league.

We’ve also done some polish on the overall game flow and information presented when in a game. This year, you can now access your stat-based advancement goals at any point during a game. To do so, press up on the D-Pad and you’ll see both your stat-based advancement goals as well as your current dynamic goal. We’ve also altered the flow for presenting dynamic goals when pitching. You’ll no longer be taken to the “presentation land” to get your goal screen. Now your goal will appear out of the score bar, and the game flow won’t be interrupted. If you missed the goal display, you can press up on the D-Pad at any point to check if you have a dynamic goal.

Not only have we included the new Catcher Calling the Game mode to RTTS, or the new Pitching/Fielding trainings (post coming soon), but also we’ve put a big emphasis on a lot of little things that have a big impact on the mode. As stated in a previous post, the All-Star Futures Game and Home Run Derby also find their way into RTTS. We’re very excited about this year’s offering, and hope you are as well. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I wish you all the best of luck on your Road To The Show.

When we set out at the beginning of the year, one area we knew needed to be addressed was the addition of the Home Run Derby. As we began to dive into the feature, we thought rather than just offering it as a stand-alone feature (which it is), why not include it into all season-based modes’ MLB All-Star Week festivities. Now when you’re playing in Season, Franchise or Road To The Show, you’ll have the opportunity to play in the Home Run Derby.

When playing the Home Run Derby, you have the choice to set which players are controlled by player 1, player 2, or the CPU – except in RTTS, where you only get to control your created player. You also will have fast-forwarding abilities, in case you want to skip the CPU-controlled player’s at bats.

After tackling the Home Run Derby addition, we thought why not go all-in and include the All-Star Futures Game as well. So, we’ve done just that. Now you get the full All-Star package. The All-Star Futures Game is available in both Franchise and Road To The Show – and just the same as the derby, in RTTS you will only have the opportunity to participate if your player was selected.

As you can see, we’ve paid a lot of attention to offering you as much of the MLB All-Star Week festivities as we can. These enhancements are available in all of our season-based modes, with the exception of the All-Star Futures Game, which is available in Franchise and Road To The Show only.

One of our goals going into this year was to finally enable the ability to mimic your real-life counterpart rosters when in Franchise mode. In order to do so, we had to allow all 30 teams to be set for user control. Before we could even dive into that, we had to change up how profiles and options work.

In the past, we’ve allowed you to create a total of four profiles. With this new 30-Player control, we had to open the profile system up to accommodate the potential for a full 30 players. One of the biggest reasons was to have the ability to support up to 30 different option sets. So now you have the ability to create 30 different profiles, and assign any or all of them to your selected teams. If you want only one team to use a custom option set, assign a profile to only that team, and all other selected teams will use the Global options set.

After crossing the options hurdle, another area we needed to expand on was our player injury system. In order for you to have that true-to-life roster, we saw the need to allow you to manage your player injuries. We now support a system that allows you to select which players should be injured, choosing their injury type and injury duration. You can also choose to remove players from the disabled list at any point, ensuring your roster can be kept in sync with the actual club roster. In order to use this feature, you need to first set the Injuries option to manual.

During our design phase, we realized one important roster control aspect we desperately needed to add — Class-A rosters. This year you will now have a Class-A team roster to work with, giving you even more wiggle room when making roster decisions. The Class-A team cannot be taken in game, but you can use it as another 15 roster spots for your organization.

Once we finished addressing the tools vital for you to support your rosters, we looked at polish features. We came up with a new email system in Franchise mode to provide you with one convenient place to keep tabs on your organization needs. This email system will provide with you updates in a variety of areas, including day-to-day operations, roster related information, Minor League player updates, and league transactions. You will have the ability to cater your inbox by selecting which areas you want to be notified of, and which you don’t.

One last area expanded upon was the waiver system we implemented last year. We’ve added real-time waiver periods. Now when a player is placed on waivers, teams will have 48 hours to place a claim on the player. After the 48-hour period, the claiming team with the highest waiver priority is awarded the player. Teams are now able pass players through revocable trade waivers and, if he clears, can trade that player after the July 31st trade deadline. Also, when a player is designated for assignment, teams will now have 10 days to decide whether to release him, trade him, or if he clears waivers, assign him to the minor leagues. As was the case last year, we have a transaction handbook that you can visit at any point to familiarize yourself with all of the rules.

As you can see a lot of focus has been placed on providing you with all the tools necessary to keep your Franchise roster up-to-date with its real-life counterpart. These enhancements aren’t limited to only Franchise mode, and the same 30-player control can be found in Season mode.

- Aaron Luke and Kolbe Launchbaugh

Starting with the front-end aspects, the PS3 Create Player system has received some new additions that will allow you to customize even more aspects of your player. With the new Sounds Of The Show feature, we’ve been able to support audio customizations that will allow you to pick not only your batter walkup music, but also your reliever entry music and a home run celebration song. In addition to editing custom music, you can also create custom fan chants, cheers, and jeers to assign to your player (or any other player using the Edit Player feature). The player accessories have also seen upgrades to support a variety of new items including: wrist tape, batting gloves in pockets, glasses, eye black, baggy pants, and stirrup socks for your old schoolers. But the player customization doesn’t end with the Create Player process — we’ve also added in the ability to edit your player any time after creation. You won’t be able to edit his position or attributes, but you will have full reign on editing his appearance, accessories, and the all-important player number.

Once you’ve settled on your player’s look, you now have a choice – enter the draft and let your fate be decided by the powers that be, or for those OCD heads not willing to let fate decide, you will still have the ability to select your favorite team.

Another new, yet subtle addition sure to make an impact is RTTS specific fast-forwarding options. We’ve heard your calls and answered by giving you more control over the appearances you take part in. The new options include the ability to set how many fielding opportunities you take part in, with settings ranging from: All = same as before, you’ll take part in all fielding opportunities, Half = you will only participate in non-routine chances, or None = any fielding for your player will be skipped.

You will also be able to set what types of baserunning opportunities you’d like to participate in: All = you will participate in all baserunning opportunities for your player, Lead Runner = you will only be involved in situations where your player is the lead runner, or None = all your opportunities will be fast-forwarded.

Lastly, to allow you to control how much CPU teammate hitting you want to watch, we’ve given you the option to choose between the following settings: All = you will see all pitches of the at-bat, Half = half the at-bat will be fast-forwarded, and Quarter = three-quarters of the at-bat is fast-forwarded.

As some of you may have read in the first blog: Franchise Mode Enhancements, we’ve made several roster related additions this year, including 40-man rosters, Arbitration, Waivers, and more. These additions will also be a part of the Road To The Show experience. Your player will be subject to exposure to these elements, just as the real-life counterparts have to deal with. Now managing your contract negotiations will be even more important as a club may try to undercut you, offer you a contract to buy out some of your arbitration-eligible years, or even string you along until they are able to simply renew your contract.

Moving on to the gameplay portion, one of the big goals this year for the in game aspects was to provide the user with a more immersed experience by incorporating RTTS player-oriented presentations. Now when you win a big game, you’ll be able to see the team celebrations. The presentation aspects aren’t just focused on winning big games — we’ve created custom game intros for your player as well. So if you’re a shortstop starting on defense, you’ll see an intro of your player warming up on the infield. We’ve taken the presentations even further to revamp the in game goals so that it too is presentation based. You’ll now see your goal, or situation, but you’ll also get player specific stats relevant to the situation you are in.

The gameplay experience itself has also seen one major new addition. The baserunning controls have been customized to use the left analog stick to control all your runner movements. No longer is baserunning as simple as a single button press. Now you will have to maintain his movement by pressing on the analog stick in the direction you’re heading (or retreating). If you’re in the old mind frame of looking for the CPU to take over your runner at a certain point, you’ll keep looking, as that won’t happen now. If you’re on first and the CPU attempts a pick off, you are responsible for getting him back. On a ball hit in play, your runner will be left out to dry if you’re not paying attention and sending him yourself.

To round out the gameplay experience, we’ve also made improvements to the training points you receive. The stats in the past were a little too simple and needed more depth. This year, we’ve included conditions to certain stats so that getting 1 hit in 1 at-bat is worth more points than getting 1 hit over multiple at-bats. This is especially important for a pitcher in that working deeper in the game will reward you higher points than before. The training area has received a major improvement above just the points you’re awarded; we’ve created an all-new training mode for batting and base stealing. I’m not going to divulge much on the topic here, as Eddy Cramm (Senior Designer) will be elaborating on this in a blog post to come soon.

As you can see, Road To The Show in MLB 09 promises to be a different experience than before with both major additions and minor subtleties to round out the mode. Thanks for your time and good luck with your Road To The Show.