With the World Series starting up tonight, we’d like to peer into the future a bit using the most authentic baseball simulation around, MLB 09 The Show. Utilizing the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in MLB 09 The Show, we simulated the 2009 World Series and the results were very interesting – especially if you’re from Pennsylvania. Here’s a look at the video highlights…

The series was full of ups and downs as the both clubs clawed it out to the very last pitch. The Phillies took an early 3-1 lead behind the strong pitching of Cliff Lee, but the Yanks came right back with clutch hitting by A-Rod, Jeter and Teixeira to push the series to a decisive Game 7. With the World Championship hanging in the balance, Chase Utley would become Philadelphia’s savior hammering a three-run homerun in the top of the 8th inning to seal an improbable 8-2 victory against the favored New York Yankees.

Here are some of the final stats…

Final Scores:

• Game 1: Phillies, 12-3
• Game 2: Yankees, 5-4 (10 innings)
• Game 3: Phillies, 6-1
• Game 4: Phillies, 6-3
• Game 5: Yankees, 9-1
• Game 6: Yankees, 6-1
• Game 7: Phillies, 8-2

Key Performers:

• Cliff Lee, pitcher, Philadelphia Phillies – 2-0, 12 K
• Chase Utley, second baseman, Philadelphia Phillies – 11/28, 4 HR, 8 RBI [MVP]
• Ryan Howard, first baseman, Philadelphia Phillies – 7/25, 2 HR
• Jimmy Rollins, shortstop, Philadelphia Phillies – 8/26, 3 SB

• A.J. Burnett, pitcher, NY Yankees – 2-0, 10 K
• Mark Teixeira, first baseman, NY Yankees – 7/23, 5 RBI, 1 HR
• Alex Rodriguez, third baseman, NY Yankees – 9/24, 8 RBI, 2 HR
• Derek Jeter, shortstop, NY Yankees – 8/26, 4 RBI, 1 HR

Hi everyone! My group has been working hard with partners at MLG’s Gamebattles to give competitive PlayStation gamers a better tournament experience. Last month it was secure registration and authentication between PSN and Gamebattles. Today we’re happy to officially introduce auto reporting — a function of sharing game data between the PlayStation Network and Gamebattles tournament and ladder systems.

It works like this: When you finish a match which was scheduled on select Gamebattles PlayStation arenas, Gamebattles will fetch the score and statistics for both teams (or players). For the player, this means it will be much easier and faster to play PS3 matches on Gamebattles and there will be fewer disputes based on user input errors. It will also allow PlayStation to highlight PS3 Gamebattles activity in real-time, both on the interweb and within connected PlayStation communities.

This feature has been enabled first for the MLB ’09 THE SHOW All Star Championship, which is live and open for free registration now. This will be the first of many PLAYSTATION 3 titles to support such data integration. Enjoy and stay tuned for more multiplayer goodness!

Hey there, it’s Jason from San Diego Studio. On behalf of Major League Gaming (MLG) and SCEA, the MLB 09 The Show dev team is extremely excited to publicly announce the MLB ‘09 The Show All-Star Championship. The promotions team has just unveiled the details to those attending FanFest and other All-Star Week activities at Busch Stadium in St. Louis (see Jeff’s video and images from the ballpark). What we know is that you can register now here to queue up for a single player ladder which begins on August 3. The top 128 players from the ladder will be seeded into a single elimination bracketed tournament which begins on September 1.

There are two highly important points that make this a no-brainer for MLB ‘09 The Show fans:

1. Prize package is massive — grand prize $10,000 cash and running up with $2,000 in Sony gear, and

2. My team has been working with SCEA, Foster City and MLG, New York to integrate game data on the backend, so participants will not have to report scores manually. This is the first time any tournament ladder on Gamebattles will offer such auto-reporting functions!

This is the first MLB The Show tournament of this size and everyone involved with the game is ecstatic about the opportunity. Don’t miss out on being among the first to be involved with The Show All-Star Championship.

Enjoy All-Star Week and don’t forget to sign up for the MLB ‘09 The Show All Star Championship ASAP!

As part of the Pros vs GI Joes program, PlayStation welcomed a St. Louis-based Army group in to compete in a little MLB 09 tournament against FanFest attendees. The winning soldier, Richy Kohler, took home a PS3, a copy of the game, and scored tickets to tonight’s MLB All-Star game.

But the best part was when Detroit Tigers All-Star pitcher Edwin Jackson showed up at the PlayStation Truck. He took on soldiers based in Kuwait in a 3-inning game via the PlayStation Network, which was definitely a memorable experience for all involved. Jackson then stuck around to take on Kohler in a friendly game (and won). I caught up with Jackson before he had to head off to practice, and he proved to be a real class act. Do me a favor and take a look at what he (and some of the soldiers) had to say:

I think we’ve all gotten accustomed to playing against our friends (and total strangers) online over the past few years, but it was really cool to see how meaningful that connection can be to people stationed so far from home.

Here’s the cool part of making the best baseball game out there: You’re invited to the MLB All-Star Game, and all the related festivities. Just in my day or so here in Missouri, it’s very clear that St. Louis is a Baseball Town; everyone’s decked out in Cardinal Red, and fans are flooding the All-Star events such as FanFest, where you can find PlayStation on full display. We’ve got dozens of hi-def Bravia stations for players to go one-on-one with each other in MLB 09: The Show (oftentimes for prizes), but even better, we’re putting this Baseball Town’s extensive knowledge of the sport to good use.

Around the FanFest area at America’s Center, you’ll find kiosks set up with Buzz! Quiz TV (near the Chevy, Sharp, and Reebok “bases”). We’ve set up a special set of baseball quizzes, and the top scores are competing for a PS3 with a copy of MLB 09: The Show. If you’re in the area (through Tuesday), I highly recommend that you drop by and take a crack at it (after studying your baseball trivia first, natch).

So what does this have to do with you if you’re *not* in St. Louis this week? Well, through the power of Buzz! Quiz TV, you can play the same Play Around the Bases quiz, either through Buzz! Quiz TV on your PS3, or right on the web.

Here’s a link to the “Around the Bases” MyBuzzQuiz.

Think you got them all right? Hit us up with the correct answers to the *last* 3 questions with an @reply on Twitter. Randomly, one participant will win whatever schwag I pick up at the All-Star Game :-)

Continuing with the All-Star Festivities, today we’re going to hold a cool exhibition, where US troops stationed overseas will compete with soldiers back here in St. Louis in some MLB 09: The Show. Who knows, maybe some All-Stars will show up in person?

More on that tomorrow…

Now that the 33rd and final players have been selected (congratulations Inge and Victorino), MLB 09 The Show has simulated the 2009 MLB All-Star Game. The prediction: The National League All-Stars will win for the first time this century, 5-2.

The most authentic baseball simulation available, MLB 09 The Show’s ultra-realistic AI doesn’t predict a slugfest. Rather, MVP Tim Lincecum sets the tone by throwing two scoreless innings to start the game, striking out four batters. The game is predicted to include a number of spectacular plays, including a towering solo home run from the Yankees‘ Mark Teixeira in the 4th inning, and a key play in the 7th where the Blue Jays’ Aaron Hill is thrown out at the plate on a perfect throw from Ryan Braun. A combined bullpen effort of four strikeouts from the Padres’ Heath Bell and the Mets’ Francisco Rodriguez helps seal the win for the National League, who hadn’t won an All-Star game in its last 12 attempts.

MLB 09 The Show is the top-rated baseball game available. Is it accurate? You’ll find out this Tuesday!

If you’re a baseball fan, you don’t want to miss Opening Day on PlayStation. From Road To The Show to Franchise Mode to Online Leagues, there is something for everyone in MLB 09 The Show. Regardless of which PlayStation is your platform of choice, the MLB franchise dubbed “best sports game of the year” for the last two seasons hits PS3, PS2 and PSP today in the bid for a three-peat. So get yourself some peanuts and Cracker Jack and take yourself out to the ballgame.

But if tutorials, trailers and a downloadable demo didn’t clinch it for you, here is a peek at what reviewers are saying:

• PlayStation Universe
• Binge Gamer
• GameZone
• G4

Welcome to the show – now PLAY BALL!

Have you ever hit a home run to win a game or made a diving catch in the field and wanted to make a movie to show off to everyone? In MLB 09 The Show, it’s possible and very simple. Here’s how it works.

In the game, select a replay you would like to record as a movie. You can either use the regular instant replay or our replay vault (As a side note, replay vault allows you to go back to any inning or player at any time to get the exact play you want). Now that you have selected the specific replay you want to record, you can get started. On the replay screen, you will notice a notification in the upper left-hand corner that lets you know that pressing the L3 button is for recording/stopping the movie. This is important because the user must press the L3 button to start the recording process, then again to stop recording. All replay menu controls are usable like fast forwarding and rewinding your replay to get the exact shot you are looking for. You can also zoom in and out, and move the cursor and camera around to get the proper focus and angles in your movie. This will help you to find the perfect play or spot in a particular play that you wish to record. You can record as many movies, of the same replay, as you like. There is no limit, other than your hard drive of course. All movies are saved out as MP4s, and depending on your hard drive size, you can record numerous movies to showcase to everyone.

Now once you have finished recording your movie, it will be automatically saved to the XMB. You can then go to the XMB to see your newly recorded movie. It is that simple (note: you must be back out of the game and in the XMB to actually view the movie…sorry, can’t view them while still in a game). Once in the XMB, look under the Video section to see your newly created movie folder. The initial folder will show the title MLB 09 The Show – enter it to view your created movies. Your new movie will have a file name of the exact play, date and time of recording and length of recording. From the XMB bar, you can copy this movie onto a Memory Stick or USB drive and take it to your PC to further edit, or post to any website for your friends viewing.

With the addition of saving interactive replays as movies for MLB 09 The Show, you now have the ability to showcase your great plays or not so great plays into movies. It is a very easy way to let your friends know what type of player you are. So have fun and enjoy making movies of your gameplay in this new feature for MLB 09 The Show. We appreciate your feedback and know that your ideas help to make the game the best it can possibly be. Thanks for your time and we hope you enjoy MLB 09 The Show and making movies!

And to get you ready for the game’s release on Tuesday, here’s a nice chunk of MLB 09 The Show gameplay to drool over:

Online League Draft System:
While online leagues are fun, there’s nothing like hand picking the team of your team. And taking it one step further than Fantasy Sports, you can actually take your team on the field and play with them yourself.

The draft system rivals that of any fantasy sports system. It allows from 6-30 players to hold a FULL LIVE Draft, with the ability to set your draft day/time, pick timer/length, chat (and harass), view the Player Card/stats of available players, view the Player Card stats of other users in your league drafting. Another integral part of the draft system is the ability to set you draft queue. No matter how much planning you do, there’s always a chance you can’t physically be at your draft, or you may not be able to stay for the entire draft. That’s when the Draft Queue becomes essential. Simply queue up all the players you’d like to be on your team, place them in order of preference, turn off your PS3 system and walk away. The server will handle the rest. Not only will it put priority on the picks you have queued, but it will make certain you have a logical team…25 players, equally balanced between starters, relievers, infielders and outfielders.

Once the draft is over, set your lineup, have the commissioner activate the league and start playing your league games!

Online League Flex Schedule:
Finding opponents and playing games should be much easier this year. We’ve incorporated a Flex Schedule for all leagues (Draft or non-Draft leagues). No longer do you only get one series and opponent to play when you log into your league. Depending on the size and length of your league you can play ahead in the schedule. The Flex schedule is never smaller than 3 series/opponents, or never larger than 15 series/opponents (that’s right, 15!).

Not only are we offering the Flex Schedule, but we’re also offering a far easier Schedule Screen. The new online Season League Schedule screen has the same look and feel of the offline season schedule screen. We’ve added a Series countdown in schedule screen. This lets the league know when the current series expires and how much time they have before the Commissioner can resolve games. Get those games played!

We’ve also added a true League Lobby. Upon entering the League Office, you will automatically be given a seat in the League Lobby of that particular league. It’s called a persistent Lobby, and we’re very excited about it. Now you can hold a seat in a lobby, but navigate around the lobby. You’ll see a new Lobby Icon in the hot bar this year. It’s the text bubble with three dots. Once you see that blink, you know that chat is taking place in the lobby/game room you have a seat in.

There is also now the Draft Day and Time in My Leagues and League Office, which helps ensure league members won’t miss the draft.

Online Improvements:
Along with the major changes to The Show League system, we’ve made a number of general online improvements. Each year we listen to community feedback and do our best to address every issue. Since most of these are relatively self-explanatory, I figured the best thing to do would be to create a bullet point list:

• SportsCast Live now with Live Play-by-play audio while viewing a game (fka View Game Status)
• Set Lineups in Online Season Leagues (vs. RHP, LHP)
• Ping indicator in Team Select screen, before entering an online game
• New Legend skill level, requiring a user to reach 4500 points
• 4 options for Guess Pitch settings (Default, Classic 1/4, Classic 1/6, No Feedback)
• Addition of 30 sec for each extra inning
• Square to forfeit opponent instead of X (not allowing accidental forfeit)
• Ability to select a jersey in an online game
• Ability to mound visit
• Access to Quick menu (up on D-pad)
• Online steals addressed
• Quick pitch exploit addressed with a delay
• Allow both players to view the replay when one player enters replay mode via pause menu
• No pausing when ball is hit in play
• Persistent Chat – ability to maintain a seat and interaction in a game room, even after leaving. This is perfect for League Chat rooms
• Online Player Options in far more areas in the SportConnect Lobby. This is the pop-up that allows for a Challenge, Send IM, Invite to Buddy, SportCast Live, etc.

Lighting was a major focus for us this year, and we implemented a Global Lighting model. What does that mean? It means that objects are lit by their surroundings. It means that when players are in shadow, they can still get light from the sunlight hitting the dirt just beyond the shadow’s edge, or a bright wall behind them. It means that in stadiums, red floors cast red light on neighboring objects. It is another step towards that realism we all want in our baseball game.

How do we do all this? Well, I can’t give away our secrets, but I can give you an overview of our lighting model. There are several steps we take to make each image, and we make 60 of these images every second.

Starting with the stadium:

• We begin by tracing direct sunlight into the scene, with detailed shadows.
• We render a sky (without a sun), then use this sky to add the indirect sky light to the scene.
• We then trace the sunlight’s path as it bounces off the ground and stadium. When sunlight hits a surface, it takes on that surface color, bounces off, and lights objects around it. We add that indirect light into the scene.
• We do the same with the crowd (up to 50,000 people lit in place!)
• All of these steps are done in HDR (high dynamic range), and tone mapped into our final frame.

The players are handled in a similar way. They are lit by the sun, the sky, the stadium, and the ground around them. They also sample the environment to get reflections and gloss energy. The goal is to always make the player feel like he belongs to the world around him.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I’ll just let them speak for themselves. Scroll through the filmstrip images to see all the step-by-step (click on them to download full resolution). I hope you are as excited about this year’s lighting as we are, and have a blast with MLB 09 The Show!