Today marked the 62nd anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s historic first Major League Baseball game with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Throughout the league, MLB teams honored Jackie in their own way, from a dedication at the new Citi Field to scholarship awards and Jumbotron retrospectives. And every single player in every game today wore #42, with no name on the back of his jersey.
It was a class move that involved the entire league. And yet, it didn’t carry over to either of the officially licensed baseball franchises, MLB 2K9 or MLB 09: The Show.
Considering these games (and every major sports game, for that matter) get continuous roster updates and patches throughout the season, is it really too much to ask that this carefully planned, well executed salute make it into the digital version of our favorite pastime?
Sports games have led the way in verisimilitude for quite some time. Madden brought in authentic rosters and 11-on-11 formations 20 years ago, and still adds a nifty trick or two each year to bring the game just a bit closer to reality. A few years ago, they linked in-game weather conditions to the actual field conditions in each stadium in realtime. This year’s NBA Live game features daily adjustments to player performance based on their real-life counterparts’ hot and cold streaks in realtime.
For all of EA’s attention to the little things, even very recent editions of Madden missed the occasional detail. Where were the Gene Upshaw memoriums in this year’s game? No, their lack of inclusion shouldn’t (and hopefully doesn’t) impact anybody’s enjoyment of the game overall, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect these seemingly minute details to come through in the games.
I really hope Sony’s MLB: The Show team can get around to a pink bat update in time for the Mothers’ Day games. Maybe they could even tie in a charity component with the Susan G. Komen foundation. That’s DLC that really adds value to a game, and makes us all feel like we’re a small part of something much bigger.
The Liquid Architecture blog 