MVP NCAA Baseball 07

[NewsCopy]

It's only the second year since Electronic Arts made the leap to college baseball (a not-so-unfortunate consequence in the dated game of "who can get the exclusive on a sports license first"), but it doesn't look to be stopping EA Vancouver's determination in bringing ongoing innovation to the plate. We recently had the opportunity to see the game in a near-finished form, with some folks from EA on-hand to show off the game's most prominent innovation, Rock and Fire Pitching. In company talk, it's intended to "forever change the way you deliver that blistering pitch across the plate." And granted, the technique certainly felt smooth. Partly, it's comprised by the simple pitching format we've come to know and love. For every face button, a pitch (with R1 tucked away for change-ups). A grid hovering over home plate decodes the batter's hot and cold spots. Even a tap of the L3 button gets you pitching advice from two-time All-American Kyle Peterson (who shares the commentary booth with top ESPN announcer Mike Patrick), much in the vain of Madden. All pretty familiar business, really. So where does this proposed innovation come into play? It's all in delivery, friends. Rock and Fire Pitching graduates the task into full analog precision, having you position your pitch with, as well as go through the motions of winding up and delivering the ball using Sony's trademark sticks. With Load and Fire Batting and Precision Throwing receiving the same kind of treatment last year, pitching becomes kind of the final all-analog style of play to join the bunch It all boils down to a test in multi-tasking and execution, every time you throw a pitch. Positioning, first off, is solely dedicated to the left analog stick, requiring you to steer and hold it towards the tile of your choice. Meanwhile, the right analog stick dedicates itself to delivery. It involves no swelling meters to time, nor oscillating gauges. Rather, a diagram appears in the bottom right, depicting a ball at the top (your destination, of sorts), as well as the ball you're controlling, set somewhere in the middle. By tiling back the analog stick, you can cock back the ball in motion and prepare for delivery. The execution therein lies in your ability to match up with the 'destination ball' by thrusting the analog stick forward in a fluid motion. A fastball requires a reasonably vertical follow-through, while curveballs, understandably, call for more of a hook persuasion of the nub, rendering your final pitch either left or right of vertical. Veer your thumb too far off target and, naturally, your pitch won't land perfectly where you intended it to in the catcher's mitt. Or if you somehow manage to curve your analog stick in the exact opposite direction of where intended, and well, you can expect a wild throw and a scrambling catcher to deal with your mistakes. The rest of the story Kyle Sutton

[Kal]

IGN.com has the release date for EA Sports NCAA Mvp 07 set for
February 6th.

Two reasons why this is odd to me.

1)NCAA March Madness was just released even though the college baskeball season is halfway over. If they took this long with the basketball game then the baseball game should follow in the same fashion. (even though NCAA football is released prior to the start of the season)

2) There is literally no mention of this game on the EA sports website with the exception of the forums. I've done a google search and by the hardest came upon the ign site with the date. Since I cannot find anything official from EA, I'm gonna hold my breath on that Feb 6th release date.

Bottom line: I don't see the game hitting shelves in less than 3 weeks because there has been absolutely no promotion for it. My best guess is that you will find the release date being pushed back to somewhere between the 1st and 6th of march.

Also according to IGN, this year's game will include origional fight songs.

That's good news but I've yet to hear anything about more realistic arenas (like Tigue Moore), better create a park feature, additional unis, more teams, or the ability to schedule your opponents. These all have to be incorporated into the game in order for this franchise of EA to really take off.

Last year's game was a rush job due to the fact that EA was not planning on making NCAA MVP 06 game until they failed to capture the MLB license. Then it became a mad rush to put a baseball game on store shelves that year, no matter how bad it was. Hopefully EA has been toiling away night and day on this year's game to get it on par with the rest of their NCAA titles.

[rhineaux]

IGN.com has the release date for EA Sports NCAA Mvp 07 set for
February 6th.

Two reasons why this is odd to me.

1)NCAA March Madness was just released even though the college baskeball season is halfway over. If they took this long with the basketball game then the baseball game should follow in the same fashion. (even though NCAA football is released prior to the start of the season)

2) There is literally no mention of this game on the EA sports website with the exception of the forums. I've done a google search and by the hardest came upon the ign site with the date. Since I cannot find anything official from EA, I'm gonna hold my breath on that Feb 6th release date.

Bottom line: I don't see the game hitting shelves in less than 3 weeks because there has been absolutely no promotion for it. My best guess is that you will find the release date being pushed back to somewhere between the 1st and 6th of march.

Also according to IGN, this year's game will include origional fight songs.

That's good news but I've yet to hear anything about more realistic arenas (like Tigue Moore), better create a park feature, additional unis, more teams, or the ability to schedule your opponents. These all have to be incorporated into the game in order for this franchise of EA to really take off.

Last year's game was a rush job due to the fact that EA was not planning on making NCAA MVP 06 game until they failed to capture the MLB license. Then it became a mad rush to put a baseball game on store shelves that year, no matter how bad it was. Hopefully EA has been toiling away night and day on this year's game to get it on par with the rest of their NCAA titles.

Do you think the reason they push back the NCAA Basketball until now is because they don't want Madden sales to suffer. They charge a lot for Madden and want all the sales to be devoted with that, and not have parents buying the $40 NCAA BB game instead of the $60 Madden game.

also, they might push back the NCAA Basketball game because nobody relaly pays much attention, at least around here, to college basketball until both football seasons are over. They wait to release it until football is winding down and conference basketball games are amping up for the March Madness and road to the Final Four.

Last year's baseball game was ok, only because it was college baseball. Otherwise, it was bad compared to other EA games. It should be improved a lot this year, and if it is, then I will probably wait and buy next year's becasue that one should be substantially improved.

[Kal]

It should be improved a lot this year, and if it is, then I will probably wait and buy next year's becasue that one should be substantially improved.

Interesting point and alot of people will do the exact same thing as you will.

The only problem with that is that EA is not going to give up the MLB license hunt. These things are done by multi year contracts. My guess would be that those contracts are on a 3 - 5 year basis.

EA will eventually be back in the MLB gaming industry by obtaining the next licensing period contract. If and when they do obtain it, they are going to look at the sales for NCAA baseball.

If the sales are steadily getting better each year, then they may continue producing both games (like NBA LIVE and the March Madness Series; or Madden series and NCAA football series). However if many people express the same theory as you and wait to buy next year's game..... Well, there might not be a NCAA MVP 08 to buy. Year to year sales will be the sole determining factor on whether or not EA continues to produce this game. I'm going to buy it and encourage college baseball fans everywhere to as well.
This way EA will continue putting out newer and better versions every year.

Not to mention that buying the game in a small way will help the university in royalties. LOL.

I totally understand your point but if EA sports stops producing the NCAA baseball game, they probably won't pick it up ever again. Not to mention that if other gaming companies look at the game and see that college baseball failed under EA (they are the world's leading producer and seller of sports games) then they will also be very reluctant to try and produce a game too. Its a double edged sword. This gaming franchise is in its infancy. We as the consumers are going to have to nurture it along with sales if we want to see it eventually stand on its own two feet.

The good news is that if you still own a PS2 or an original XBOX, the games are being sold between 20 and 30 dollars. About half the price of the next generation consoles. So buy the game for the older gaming platforms while the franchise is nurtured. Then once the prices of the next gen consoles comes down in the next few years you can pay top dollar for the really awesome version of MVP - NCAA baseball 2010!!

[rhineaux]

Interesting point and alot of people will do the exact same thing as you will.

The only problem with that is that EA is not going to give up the MLB license hunt. These things are done by multi year contracts. My guess would be that those contracts are on a 3 - 5 year basis.

EA will eventually be back in the MLB gaming industry by obtaining the next licensing period contract. If and when they do obtain it, they are going to look at the sales for NCAA baseball.

If the sales are steadily getting better each year, then they may continue producing both games (like NBA LIVE and the March Madness Series; or Madden series and NCAA football series). However if many people express the same theory as you and wait to buy next year's game..... Well, there might not be a NCAA MVP 08 to buy. Year to year sales will be the sole determining factor on whether or not EA continues to produce this game. I'm going to buy it and encourage college baseball fans everywhere to as well.
This way EA will continue putting out newer and better versions every year.

Not to mention that buying the game in a small way will help the university in royalties. LOL.

I totally understand your point but if EA sports stops producing the NCAA baseball game, they probably won't pick it up ever again. Not to mention that if other gaming companies look at the game and see that college baseball failed under EA (they are the world's leading producer and seller of sports games) then they will also be very reluctant to try and produce a game too. Its a double edged sword. This gaming franchise is in its infancy. We as the consumers are going to have to nurture it along with sales if we want to see it eventually stand on its own two feet.

The good news is that if you still own a PS2 or an original XBOX, the games are being sold between 20 and 30 dollars. About half the price of the next generation consoles. So buy the game for the older gaming platforms while the franchise is nurtured. Then once the prices of the next gen consoles comes down in the next few years you can pay top dollar for the really awesome version of MVP - NCAA baseball 2010!!

i understand wha tyou are saying as well, the problem with NCAA Baseball is that college baseball isn't very popular in many areas other than the Southeast, some parts of Texas, Sothern Cali., and maybe in the midwest a little. I was worried last year how they were gonna keep up the sales. And, I concluded that they probably wouldn't put much effort into this game becasue they wouldn't have much interest outside of the areas mentioned above. I do expect, though, if they do advertise it and push it, then they will sell the hell out of it in those areas. I remember last year, at Best buy, they couldn't keep it on the shelves.