Thanks for taking the time guys. I know everyone is busy right before release. What was the number one priority when designing this year's game?

It’s very hard to call one thing a priority. We have team members that work on front end, gameplay, online, audio, graphics, etc, etc. You can ask 10 different people what the number one priority is and you might get 10 different answers which is fantastic because people are dedicated to improving what they are specifically working on. But our decisions of what new features or improvements we design are always focused on making things more realistic and a better gameplay experience.

Personally, some of the things that I feel are the biggest advancements from last year to this year are in the graphics and lighting. No one was unhappy with the look of our game last year, but a lot of hard work was done this year to really push the look of our stadiums and players to a new level of realism. Line them up side-by-side and see for yourself.

So even if it was perceived to be good before, we know we can continue to do more and get better and better. That goes across all areas of the game whether we are talking about gameplay/animations, audio, graphics, etc, our priority is to design some new features (such as training in RTTS and the new Legend difficulty level) but all within the scope of making every aspect of the game better than the year before.

I know the team is filled with baseball geeks, which I consider a huge boon to the design, but is realism still the overall goal? Or do you try to blend playability with being a true to life sim? And how challenging is that?

Realism is our number one goal. We don’t feel like we have to compromise one for the other. We have always felt there’s a way to create solid playability and keep it real. There’s a fine line when it comes to how something looks vs. how something feels. It’s not an easy task but we’re dedicated to giving our consumer both and I’m proud to say that I think we have accomplished that.

The Show, while considered an elite level sports title and arguably the best in the business, did have its share of shortcomings. A personal peeve was the lack of doubles. For example, if you hit a line drive over the third base bag it would result in a single way too often. Has this been fixed? If so, what was done to solve this problem?

We built a new “route to ball” system for our outfielders. Now when a ball is hit down the line and in the gap, the OF’ers will attack the ball at appropriate angles and use new rounding animations that reflect real life momentum. In the past, OF’ers would take direct routes to the ball, which would unrealistically get them to the ball quicker and take away steps from the base runner. The base runners path has become a bit more realistic as well. Last year it was too wide. It’s perfect now. Because the OF’ers now behaves realistically, our runners will get doubles and triple when they are supposed to.

Last year, in Road to the Show mode, a player's position in the organization seemed to be largely based on ratings, not statistics. So if I had a closer promoted to the majors, and I pitched lights out for two months, I might still start the next season in the minors. Has the promotion/relegation A.I. been improved in this regard?

Yes, we’ve done some things to improve this logic. Your stats were factored in last year, but there were a number of other things “under the hood” that also affected whether you stayed on a certain league or not. Attributes are still going to be very important as your player will have a hard time succeeding if his attributes are much lower than everyone else in that league, but stats are factored in to your movement/playing time.

Speaking of AI, what strides have been made, in a general sense, to the computer manager, GM, and fielding AI?

Very large changes (you can call them strides if you like) have been made in all areas of roster and team management. These changes are both on and off the field. The off field changes (more of the roster management side) include but are not limited to: Trades, Free Agent pickups, Draft logic, a whole new contract offer + arbitration + renewal system, Rule 5 Drafts, etc. As you can imagine adding all of these features require new and improved AI logic to handle team decisions. The system we’ve created feels very organic and seems to allow for many different management styles and Franchise outcomes.

As far as the fielding AI, there have been major changes. Not necessarily changing the foundation because that was already solid. But we used that foundation to expand on a few areas. We have a new tag system that allows our infielders and catchers to set up based on where the ball is coming in from. Whether it be a play at third and the ball is coming in from the right field corner, a play at the plate, a pick off or a steal, we have specific set ups and tags that go with it. You will see a range of over 50 different tags in our game and that doesn’t even include our catcher. The system is real smart and helps prevent players from standing inside each other like you’ve seen in the past. We also redid all of our first base set up and catch animations.

There are over 100 ways our first base man will catch/miss the ball, all based on the situation of each specific play. It not only looks more realistic but again, the system was written to prevent runners from running through your first baseman. Our bunt defense is especially tight. The way the players cover bases on sacrifice bunts and react on drag bunts has completely changed. This again is designed to behave more like real life and eliminate any hole that maybe last year were easily exposed. Our default positioning in the field has changed to be more of what the average straight up defense looks like in real life. CPU players will also adjust to the batter’s strength and weaknesses.

Our base runners have new slide animations for all the bases including home plate where we have real time post slide reactions based on the situation. The base runners also now have a concept of what base they are trying for out of the box. They know from the start if they are trying to stretch a single in to a double, pull up at the bag or round the base based on where he hits the ball. This will affect the rout he takes. Not only that but they also know when they should take chances and when they should be less aggressive. If there are two outs, and the situation dictates, they will be more aggressive going for a double, from first to third with one out or trying to score with two outs. They also know when they should not take chances. You will see the third base coach reflect that as you watch him direct traffic.

We also created a new “hot shot catch and miss” system. In the past, if you hit the ball on the screws, and it was near an infielder, more times than not, it would end up in the leather. Now, with our new system, based on fielding ability and reaction time, your fielder will use a “hot shot” catch or miss, reflecting the hit. You will now be rewarded for smoking hard ground balls to the right or left of the third baseman and not feel cheated that every player looked like Brooks Robinson. Don’t worry, this is very well balanced and will make perfect sense once you play the game. All that being said, and with hundreds of new gameplay animation surprises, everything we have done to this game is with the intentions of making it as real as possible but NEVER losing the feel of the game from the controls stand point.