Assuming MLB 14 The Show releases on the first Tuesday of March, as the series has since 2008, then we're five weeks from its anticipated launch and we have to go to freaking Taiwan for our first look at gameplay video. The game hasn't even gotten an official release date. Sony, you owe baseball fans some news. Now.
In the west, all we've seen so far is the same comparison shot of Fenway Park's scoreboard that we've seen since November. Whenever I inquire, if I'm told anything, I'm told that news is coming "soon."
Well, when we're about two weeks from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, we're running out on the time for "soon" to be meaningful. Especially now when we've got four shakycam videos from an expo in the Far East offering the first look at the menus, Online Franchise and gameplay.
Operation Sports uploaded these vids from a reader today, along with the author's notes of a change to the fielding and batting cameras, more responsive fielding, different baserunning animations and "presentation almost the same!" which it has been for several years (it's the weakest attribute of an otherwise excellent series).
Earlier this week OS noted that MLB 07 The Show, the first edition of the series on PlayStation 3, launched May 15, 2007, following the PS2's traditional release (then on the last Tuesday in February 2007). Is Sony being mum because the entire series is delayed? Because one version is coming out later than another? I don't know; I ask repeatedly and get no answers. I can't subpoena this shit.
I guess we'll find out only when The Show feels like enlightening us. But it's very off-putting that one of sports video gaming's best and most trusted series, this year facing zero competition, can't even give longtime fans a five-week heads up to start saving for the annual purchase.
MLB 14 The Show Features Online Franchise - New Screenshots and Videos From Taiwan [Operation Sports]