With the MLB 2K franchise back under the roof of Visual Concepts, a lot remains on the plate for what improvements are coming in the new season. 2K Sports sits us down in an interview with the dirt on everything from gameplay to graphics. The session features Producer Ben Bishop, Gameplay Designer Jonathan Rivera, Gameplay Designer Sean Bailey and our moderator Chase from Access Communications.

What was the biggest obstacle you faced in developing 2K10?

Ben: I think the toughest thing for us was trying to come back from 2K9 and really get going with 2K10 and a full development cycle. With 2K9 it was a little bit shortened and so it was tough for us to do what we wanted to do. With 2K10 we felt that we had everything ready to go and more under our control so we were happy to have a full cycle and do what we wanted to do. I think the biggest thing for us was hitting the ground running from 2K9 and make 2K10 the best game possible.

How do you figure out how to make the game feel different year after year, outside of roster variation?

Ben: That’s a big thing for us and all of our titles; we really try to sit down after each game completes and figure out what were some areas we were not able to do with the previous game, areas that we weren’t able to tackle that we wanted to. It’s certainly really important to us to listen to what the consumers have to say; we read message boards and the reviews. We want to know what people liked and didn’t like; a lot of times there’s specific areas that we need to target for the next game. There’s always things we want to do but we don’t have time to that come up in our discussions for the next year.

How much of 2K9 was used in 2K10? Was the game rebuilt from the ground up for the new release?

Sean: We completely rewrote everything from fielding, hitting, pitching, the physics and the AI, swapped out all the animations -- there were 200 animations for infielders alone. We had a lot of work ahead of us because I don’t think any of us were happy with last year and shouldn’t have been. Rather than just trying to touch up last year, we just made sure the new game included fixes that frustrated people as well as the new written game. Everything from the ground up is all new and improved.

Do you use input of regular gamers of what to change for future games or do you only rely on professional reviews? If the former how do you determine what to change?

Sean: We take it all in; we won’t exclude anyone. If someone is a gamer, if someone likes sports games, we have to listen. We do browse the boards and use polls and surveys; we talk to people on the outside, we play other games. Friends, professional reviewers -- anyone that can buy a video game, we’re going to listen to; anyone who likes sports we’re going to listen to. As far as determining what to change, that really comes down to the bang for the buck. It starts with gameplay and finding a balance between fun factor and the sim side, but we listen to all feedback.

How did you come to the decision to put Evan Longoria on the cover this year? Do you vote? What has been the process in the past? Have any players ever campaigned themselves to you trying to get on the cover?

Ben: That’s kind of a fun question. It’s something we do in conjunction with our marketing team. One of the biggest things for us we found in recent years is to find someone who is a great player and a gamer and interested in the development process. A guy like Longoria is a young up and comer and one of the stars in MLB but he’s also a big time gamer and really interested in what went into making the game. The pitcher hitter battle got input from that interaction.

Clearly there are some other contenders in the space. What separates MLB 2K10 from other baseball games out on the market?

Sean: There are a lot of things that separate MLB 2K10 from the market. The battle at the plate experience and the realism of pitching and hitting are the obvious ones. But it's also the smaller things like the My Career mode, so you know how far away you are or what you have to do; you never know when you might be called to the majors. Pitch or swing analyzer: they show what you’re doing right or wrong in a major way. The battle at the plate is definitely the strongest point though.

How has the Visual Concepts expertise with the NBA and NHL franchise assisted with the development of MLB series? Will MLB have the same sort of dynamic commentary that NBA 2K10 does?

Ben: I think it’s huge having NHL, NBA and MLB done in house at Visual Concepts has been great in terms of sharing resources. We want you to have a common thread whether the interface or just just the My Player mode. We do have an MLB Today feature like in NBA 2K10.

Who is this year's highest rated player? Do any factors such as post-season glory go into determining or is it just previous years' numbers?

Jonathan: The highest rated player is Albert Puljos. It’s all really stat based. We take the stats from the last two years and have a weight system based on the most recent year that we use there. It’s also based on common perception of the player as well.