... oh yeah, it’s because 2K Sports is completely ripping off ESPN’s “This is SportsCenter” commercials (specifically, this one -- sorry for the awful video quality, but there’s no better version available).
Still, I got a chuckle or two out of the above video, which features San Francisco Giants phenom (and MLB 2K9 coverboy) Tim Lincecum getting pulled for a reliever. Apparently, this brief scene is the first in what will be a series of three skits promoting the game. I wonder if they’ll continue to copy ESPN, or if they’ll move on to someone else.
2K Sports’ Major League Baseball 2K9 will be out for the PS3, 360, Wii, PS2, and PSP in early March. Perhaps Visual Concepts, the developer, should just copy what Sony San Diego did with MLB 08: The Show -- they might have more success with a knockoff of a superior product.
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I would agree that 2K9 would benefit from copying 08 in every area except for controls. 2K8 added a genuine improvement and depth to 08 and previous baseball games' Mario Golf controls. Well, the pitching and fielding anyway, the hitting was two timing games instead of one which isn't much of an improvement considering how limited your hitting options were. Pitching lent a greater degree of skill and concentration over the overly simple square:curveball, x:fastball layout. Gesture pitching lends a unique feel to each pitcher, and individual pitch statistics make them even more unique. Fielding lends a bit more skill than 08, and certainly brings a degree of accuracy, which is something 08 sorely lacks. There were some issues with the pitching in 2K8, but considering it was the first implementation, it was fantastic, and improving on them will only lead to a richer baseball experience on the field. 08's dated controls provide SNES baseball with pretty graphics, and I suppose more sophisticated physics and stats integration, but that's not entertaining in itself, and is something that 2K8 boasts as well.
@Robbo_the_hood: If they tweak the analog pitching so you're not giving up home runs every other inning, even on Pro difficulty, then I'll be interested. Check out my review of MLB 2K8 to see some in-depth thoughts on that.
I love those SportsCenter commercials. This is my favorite (obviously), but it was pulled for obvious reasons :(
On topic, it would suck if the rest of the ads are ripoffs. It's pretty blatant what they're doing, and though it's a good concept, it could end up making people remember them as "that game that ripped off the SportsCenter commercials."
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Contest:
2:00 PM on 01.14.2009 | 
On topic, it would suck if the rest of the ads are ripoffs. It's pretty blatant what they're doing, and though it's a good concept, it could end up making people remember them as "that game that ripped off the SportsCenter commercials."