I've always really wanted to play The Show. It's up there with Gungrave and Vampire Hunter D as games I walked past a lot or saw in magazines and for some reason thought "I should play that".

I also don't know anything at all about the sport of baseball and hope this game will teach me.

If you want to play a baseball game that is the franchise to get. For me I always felt like it had a steep but far learning curve. Curious as to why you are interested in the game but know nothing about baseball. I say wait till its on sale for like $40 and then pick it up.

I hadn't played a baseball game since High Heat Baseball 2003 until I picked up MLB 11: The Show last year used for like 13 bucks. I dove head first into it and put like 30 hours on it. One of the most enjoyable video game experiences I've had in some time. I would highly suggest trying at least one game in the series out.

Playing the demo of the 06 or 07 PSP version was a major contributing factor to me watching baseball again. I used to watch it every weekend and then I didn't see a game for about a decade. Now I could watch/listen to two or three games a day. The great thing about baseball is that it's not very exciting and is on all the time. You can have it on in the background while you do something else, kind of like a podcast. Once the season begins you'll be able to watch one free game a day on the MLB website, so you could learn about baseball strategy with that. At least try the demo. If they have one of those 60 minute trials instead of a demo then get a previous years demo. My understanding is that pitching had a pretty big change in 11 or 12 but batting has been pretty much the same for a while, so the old ones should give you a feel for what the new one is like.

These games are awesome. If you think it looks fun with it, then you'll definitely like it.

It's the most consistently excellent sports series around.

if you want to play Video game baseball, this is the way to play it.

Debatable. It's definitely up there with NBA 2K and Fifa.

Anyway, I've been thinking of buying the game myself. Buy it and let me know how it is, ha

Yeah, I don't enjoy basketball or soccer/football in the slightest so I have no experience other than a few times. They seem well made but I've always found The Show to be all around excellent.

Thanks duders! Man. Sounds like everyone is pretty up on this series. I'll check the PS store next chance to see if there's a demo, which I think there probably is. That said, I feel this game would have a long learning curve, so maybe I should just take a chance and get it when it goes on sale.

@nightriff: Well the first is that the graphics honestly look amazing, and it just seems like the perfect game to play on a couch with a big screen tv. Second, I've been playing PC a lot recently but looking for a reason to use my PS3 and lie down rather than sit up. Finally, I just really want to understand baseball more and I feel sports games are super good at that (experience with NHL and NFL games says so at least).

I would recommend it, however to someone who doesn't know baseball the game can be hard and very unforgiving. I've been playing the game since '09 and I still have difficulties hitting, in fact I still play on the rookie setting and I am constantly tweaking sliders (pitching isn't quite as hard). That being said, I still love it, and it is probably all around the best sports franchise I've ever played.

@geraltitude: The big thing about baseball that takes some work to understand is the game theory between pitching vs hitting. Knowing what pitches to use in what situation or knowing what pitch to expect when hitting is the key to the sport. I'm not sure the game explains it, or explains what each type of pitch even looks like.

If you don't follow Baseball at all just pick up one of the previous games. While each game does get a little bit better the improvements are minimal and the main reason to get the newer version is the updated rosters. You can probably get MLB 12 for dirt cheap right now and even MLB 11 is pretty similar.

You know this is something that irks me about all sports games. I really wish there was a General Education Mode in NHL/NBA/MLB/FIFA/whatever. A mode where the concepts of the sport, when to attack, when to defend, when certain defensive plays are used, why you wouldn't want to try X when the opposing team is doing Y, and all the nitty-gritty you're talking about can be explained. Maybe the PS4 and the Share Button will give rise to some game gurus who can fill the void...

@hunkulese I don't know why that didn't occur to me but that's a perfect idea.

Its a game you can make as easy or hard as you want it, they have so many different ways to play now i find myself just switching it up from time to time for the hell of it. Long as you understand the basics of baseball you will be fine, the new beginner mode is supposed to be really slick.

I completely agree. I picked up MLB 12 for the Vita last week for $8. I don't care about real baseball (I probably couldn't even name five current players), but I enjoy a game every once and a while and that was about the right price. Of course, if you do care about real baseball the updated rosters and stuff might mean something to you.

MLB 2k is better.

I can't really agree with that. MLB 12 for the vita is the one version that is pretty substandard. If you want to know what the fuss about the show is you should get the PS3 version from the last couple years or this years Vita version.

@hunkulese:

Oh, sorry for the bad advice then. The game seems fine to me, but like I said, I don't really care very much about baseball. Maybe I'll check out the PS3 version of MLB 12 if I can get it for less than $10.

It's not horrible but it's missing a lot of what people love about the console versions and has some framerate problems. MLB 13 on the Vita is a lot closer to the PS3 version but it's still a much better game on the console.

@geraltitude: If you want a baseball game, then yeah, definitely the right choice. Although the series hasn't made any huge leaps for the past couple years since the console generation is in its late-cycle (I'm actually skipping this season and restarting a franchise from last year's), it's still an impressive game.

Like most sim sports games, though, it could be a steep learning curve, especially with batting. If you have the time, try checking out the forums over at operationsports.com. The people over there are fairly helpful, and it will give you a better understanding of the strategy involved with the game.

@wjb hey duder! Thanks so much for suggesting that site.

Been reading some of the features they have (not only for MLB) - tons of really great guides for sports noobs. I'm going to recommend this site to those friends I have who mostly play sports games, I'm sure they'll love it.

Reading their review of MLB13 takes me back to the magazine days of video game reviews, where everyone went so in-depth on every aspect of the game, really broke it down and compared it to previous games/other series. This doesn't seem to happen much on GB, IGN, PLGN or GS. It's a great format for games I think. Anyways, long way to say thanks.

@geraltitude: No problem, man! I fell down that rabbit hole a few years ago when I was Google searching tips for the game, and threads in Operation Sports were always the first results. That community is dedicated. If I needed "realistic" sliders, there was always a few to choose from, and the custom rosters where they edit every single minor league player for every team is just crazy sick (the default minor league players are generic since they aren't a part of the MLBPA). I think Knight165 and the rest have already started on this year's version for opening day later this month -- if you care about that sort of thing.

Like I said, I'm skipping this year so I haven't visited the site in a while, but that community made the game so much more enjoyable and easier to understand for the past few years.

I'd say, especially if you're new to the series, that it's worth paying the extra money to get this year's game as opposed to going with a previous year's game.

They really improved hitting this year, opening up the timing window for getting a good hit. In previous years, hitting has been incredibly frustrating at times, so that one change is worth choosing 13, even more so if you're new to the franchise.