Improved AI By: Anthony Yampol | Friday August 14 2009 Hey Hockey Fans,
I enjoyed reading the feedback from the first few insights by Abe and myself. I am back now to explain what is new with AI. One of the compliments our hockey series always gets is that it feels organic. You don’t get that “scripted” feel when playing it. However, it has often seemed too chaotic at the same time; too many players would end up in the same spot, d-men were too worried about attacking the puck carrier rather than staying in position. So this year our biggest goal was to keep that natural feel while also giving players better assignments on the ice at all times. Whether it is on the puck, off the puck, on offense or defense, everything you see AI players do will be much smarter this year.
Positioning away from the puck
One of the biggest requests I see on message boards is to improve AI positioning off the puck: where players should go, which direction they should be facing. As NHL 2K10’s commentator Drew Remenda loves to say, players need to have their “head on a swivel” to be successful. We worked extremely hard to have players go to the right spots on the ice. You will see smarter AI teammates during odd-man rushes, as well as on the forecheck, backcheck, penalty kill and powerplay. In general, you will see players avoiding each other a lot better than in the past, and facing the right way to be open for a pass.
AI Defensemen are much smarter when it comes to clogging up lanes and picking off passes. This year they will use the defensive pro stick to block a passing lane. If you try passing through that lane, they will attempt to deflect it away or intercept the puck. If it is a 5th or 6th d-man out there you will get the pass through more often, but it is still a significant risk. Since the AI is so much better at blocking lanes, they rely less on body checks, and a lot more on good stick work and solid positioning. I know this is something many of you will be happy with, because there was too much hitting by the AI in NHL 2K9.
Decision making with the puck
In hockey, when you have the puck, there are always options. Skate, pass, shoot, dump, wait for teammates to get open, or get checked (poke check, stick lift, body check, etc.). In NHL 2K10, the CPU players now use all these options appropriately. Give them free entry to your blue line, and they will take it via skating or passing. If not, they will dump it or pass back to regroup if that is the best option. And don’t celebrate if the AI dumps it in on you; this year they will chase the puck, and they will be hungry for it along the boards. This increases the amount of board play that occurs. Pinning has been tuned as well, and your teammates come to help you a lot more when trapped on the boards.
When carrying the puck, the AI players don’t just look to stick to the book every time either. If there is open space, the AI puck carrier will try and find it if it helps develop a scoring chance. If you give an inch, they will take a mile, and you will pay.
AI players now know where they should shoot from when utilizing any given strategy. They may pass the puck around longer now instead of just shooting the first second they see a glimpse of a shooting lane. Sometimes it is better to be patient and wait for a teammate to screen the goalie and then shoot. AI players also take more realistic one-timers from the right spots on the ice. You will see CPU players skate across the blue line now to look for that shooting lane.
Keep in mind that ratings will come in to play heavily. Sure we made players smarter when making decisions, but players with lower awareness ratings will make more bad passes, take low percentage shots, or hold onto the puck for too long.
Strategies
Over the years in our beloved hockey series, Offensive Strategies got lost in translation. They generally ended up feeling the same, with too many players clustered in the slot. You can choose from 5 styles of play in the offensive zone, all available in 5-on-5 and 5-on-4 situations.
The “Triangle” works like a charm. Work the puck in the corners, behind the net and the slot on one side of the ice, cycle quickly and smoothly to try and open up some ice for a scoring chance. It is a thing of beauty, seeing our incidental contact feature work with this strategy to free up open ice in and between the circles. I am not saying you are allowed to body check opponents to free up the slot, because that is an interference penalty for sure, but if you are cycling and staying in your lane and an opponent tries to squeeze through you (the puck carrier) and your teammate, it’ll work as a legal pick just like in real life.
“Positional” is the most basic strategy. Your right wing and left wing will generally stay on their side of the ice, with the center causing havoc around the net and the high slot. Get the puck deep with a wing and the center should be right in front of the net, and the other wing should be ready for a pass behind the net or by the bottom of the opposite circle, depending on what lanes the defense clogs up.
“Overload” is my favorite strategy in the game. Load up 3 forwards on one side of the goalie, cycle it around for a little bit, and fool the defense into letting your opposite side point man come in back door. Every time I see this happen in the game I get excited. It is quite risky; you better make sure the skater that passes to that d-man is good, because if it misses that could be an odd-man rush the other way.
“Umbrella” is a strategy that you commonly see used on the power play in the NHL. The goal here is to work the puck up high with three players, while two forwards move in the slot to distract the goalie. Wait for that perfect moment when the goalie is screened, and a shooting lane is open, and blast the puck toward the net. Anything can happen. Even though this is meant mainly as a strategy on the powerplay, it is still available to you during even strength.
“Wings Offside” is another strategy that NHL teams like to use 5 on 4. Edit your lines to set up a skater on the offside wing (lefty on the right side, or righty on the left side) and work up and down the half wall looking to pass or sneak a shot on net. Again, this is available even during 5 on 5.
If you want to have different styles of play for each line, you can set that up in the menu.
Defensive Strategies, Back Check, Fore Check, Breakouts, and Penalty Kills have all been completely redone, as well. The options remain similar to last year, but they actually play a lot better, as they have all been re-done from scratch. I assure you that when you play this game, you will constantly be changing strategies based on the opponent you play against if you really want to take full advantage of the system.
You will also have a new option to set your “Attack” level for each line. You can choose from “Stay Back”, “Cautioned”, “Balanced”, “Aggressive”, and “All Out”. On Stay Back and Cautioned, your d-men will not be joining the rush. On Aggressive and All Out, your d-men will pinch more, your forwards will tend to leave the defensive zone early, and your players will be more aggressive toward the puck. I tend to leave this on Balanced until the third period when I want to protect a lead, or make a comeback attempt.
CPU Tendencies
CPU players that control the puck are much smarter when it comes to shooting from the right spots, carrying the puck, passing, dumping, taking one-timers, etc. You will notice this the first time you play against a CPU-controlled team.
We have some new sliders this year that dictate how often the CPU players tend to make some of their actions. We have a slider now for CPU Shot Frequency, CPU Pass Frequency, CPU One-Timer Frequency, and CPU Dumping Frequency. Depending on what you set these sliders to, an AI player that has the puck will perform those actions more or less. These sliders change automatically when you toggle between difficulties, but you can always put the difficulty on “Custom” and change these to whatever you wish.
We also added the following sliders. The “User Teammate” options will dictate how often AI players on User controlled teams will attempt these actions.
User Teammate Stick Lift Frequency
CPU Stick Lift Frequency
User Teammate Body Check Frequency
CPU Body Check Frequency
User Teammate Poke Check Frequency
CPU Poke Check Frequency
User Teammate Defensive Aggressiveness
CPU Defensive Aggressiveness
The Defensive Aggressiveness sliders are probably the most important as far as making the game easier or harder to play. With this slider on 0, CPU players will not battle as much for loose pucks, they will be “lazy” on defense, and you will pretty much be able to skate circles around them. With this slider on 100, they will be super aggressive toward the puck carrier, and they will cover you like glue. All the new and revamped sliders can really create tons of different game types. I look forward to seeing some of the slider sets you all create and put online with our 2K Share feature.
There were tons of other improvements and fixes made to AI behaviors this year on top of all these major overhauls we have done. All of this combines to make a great hockey game with tons of strategy, but at the same time our game still has that organic, unpredictable feel.
Ok, that’s going to be all from me, but please comment below and I’ll try to answer some questions. I hope you enjoyed reading this, and I know you will enjoy the complete game play in NHL 2K10.
-Anthony Yampol A.K.A. "We Want The Cup"
NEXT NHL 2K10 DEVELOPER INSIGHT: “Wii Gameplay,” by Ben Bishop – Wednesday, August 19th
Thanks for posting, Anthony.
Are the Offensive/Defensive quick strategies still there this year? You know, Left of D-Pad, then buttons for, Screen Goalie, Crash Net, Clear Front of Net, Release.. etc...
I've always loved this feature in the 2k series and it set it apart from the competition.
cheers.
IS THE EQUIPMENT UBDATED ANY? LIKE THEY ADDED THE EASTON SE16 OR THE NIKE BAUER ONE 95 FOR EXAMPLE OR IS STILL THE SAME ONE 75 JST THE OLD EASTON SYNERGY ELITE AND STUFF LIKE THAT ?
NOTE:IT LOOKS LIKE THEY PUT RBK PREMIER III GOALIE GEAR
This is more of a presesntation comment..... I really would like to know if they have extended the championship celebration. Maybe some postgame interviews/press conferences, champagne showers in the locker room afterwards.... just something more to make it feel like you've really accomplished something BIG.
PSP Version By: 2K Admin Ron | Friday October 30 2009 Posting on behalf of Rosalie
Hello out there, 2K Sports Fans!!
Rosalie Kofsky here, Producer on NBA 2K10 for the PSP! Yup, you heard me right: NBA 2K10 is coming out for Sony’s PSP! Need a little NBA 2K while you’re away from your PC or console? Going through some serious withdrawal symptoms? Rest assured, 2K Sports has you covered! The game happens here? This game happens anywhere!
How to Play
• Get the UMD version in stores – playable on the PSP
• Get the digital download version from PSN – playable on the PSP and PSP Go (to go this route you can download the game onto a PSP Memory Stick Duo from either your PS3 or your PSP)
User Interface
The first thing you’ll notice when starting up the game is the slick, new 2K10 interface, redesigned specifically for the PSP, complete with fun audio effects. Our goal was to be as faithful to the next-gen consoles’ interface and 2K Nav menus as we could, while taking advantage of the PSP. Check it out!
Controls
For controls, we stayed relatively close to the PS2 control scheme and it feels really intuitive as a result. The major differentiation here is that, since there is no right analog stick on the PSP, we kept player movement on the left analog stick, but moved the shot stick commands to the directional buttons. Utilizing the left analog stick in combination with the directional buttons allows you to achieve the flashier moves. The result is a robust NBA 2K control scheme, complete with icon passing and lots of cool shots, blocks and fakes.
Game Modes and Features
All of your favorite classic modes are here in NBA 2K10 for the PSP, each as fully customizable as ever!
• The Association – The Association is your chance to control every aspect of the team. You’re the General Manager, Coach, and players on the court. Scout players, sign free agents, draft college talent, hire coaches and much more. This year’s game goes even deeper than 2K9 with the addition of an interface designed specifically for the PSP, development drills, player ambitions and more. No season limits – build that dynasty!!
• Season – Season is just that, one NBA season. Guide your team to the NBA Finals…and the NBA Championship?
• Playoffs – Skip the regular season and enter your team into the playoffs. For the inpatient gamer in all of us!
• Street – Play in full court, half court, one-on-one, and games of 21. This is my personal favorite game mode!
• Tournament – Set up a tournament and select from 4-16 team tourneys, a fantasy draft and make adjustments to the quarter and sim quarter lengths.
• Practice – Practice your moves and hone your skills before you move onto the court for a real game.
• Situation – Hating on yourself for constantly missing a certain play in game? Figure out what’s going on in situation mode. Adjust the score, who’s got possession of the ball, how many timeouts, and lots of other factors. Practice is key!
• Features - Signature Play is here, pulling together all the Signature Styles and adding in all-new Signature Tendencies, too. In NBA 2K10 for the PSP you can play with classic teams, unlock uniforms, create your own player and play around with the camera a lot, too.
Online Modes
NBA 2K10 for the PSP utilizes ad hoc wireless connectivity to allow you to create and join head-to-head matches in two different modes.
• Exhibition Games – Choose any of the available teams, uniforms, lineups, or courts to play a match with a friend.
• Street Games – Choose an exciting two-player match that features several different game options including Full & Half Court, 3-on-3, 4-on-4, and even 5-on-5.
Conclusion
So, that’s it for now…but please drop me a line after you play the game and send your feedback. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts about NBA on the PSP!
WE NEED A SKILLS CHALLENGE
and beyond the skills challenge I understand thats not an overnight process but the dunk contest and 3 point shootout shold be held in the allstar arena not at rucker park and with accurate and adjustable rules so if you like the 3 round 3 dunk per format and 30 second dunk time you can have it but if you like the real life 2 round 2 dunk per format and 60 second dunk time you can have that and any combination of them and the same goes for the 3 point contest only 4 shooters is bad enough but we NEED at least 2 rounds but even if you didn't adjust any of that we (once again) NEED to be able to have the all star challenges in the all star arena if nothing else but still have the ability to chose between the two and we should be able to choose between real commentators and Bobbito I like Bobbito but sometimes I want the realism that's not just my opinion I know about 400 other players that agree with these ideas
i just have a question to an isue that has been frusterating me for several days now. i started a season under the my player mode for nba 2k10 on the playstation 3, the quarter length is set for 5 min, how do i increase that time per quarter without losing my season ?
Pitchers vs. Hitters Battle, Part I By: 2K Admin Ron | Monday February 08 2010 Hello,
My name is Sean Bailey and I am a gameplay designer on Major League Baseball® 2K10. I want to share with you a quote straight from the white board in my office. Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn once said, “Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing.” After winning more games than any left-handed pitcher in baseball history, Mr. Spahn is as well versed as anyone when it comes to the battle at the plate between a pitcher and a hitter. In Major League Baseball® 2K10, we have provided an experience where the gamer will really feel the benefits and challenges of upsetting timing, as Warren Spahn so eloquently put it decades ago.
Let’s walk through an at bat together and touch more on the pitching improvements that make this year’s game the most enjoyable baseball game I’ve ever played.
Right now, I literally have the controller in my hand with recently acquired Roy Halladay on the mound for the Phillies.
As you can see, we allow you to select your pitch this year before performing the gesture. By selecting the pitch before doing the gesture, we prevent you from accidentally throwing a pitch type that you never wanted to throw in the first place. The pitch selection means that you will always throw the pitch type that you intended to throw, regardless of how far off your gesture was. With Pablo Sandoval at the plate, I am going with my catcher’s suggestion in the 0-0 count: Cut Fastball. Upon selecting your pitch, a diagram will show you how the gesture should be performed in order to throw a pitch with the optimal control, break, and aim. The green zones in the diagram are the targets for where you want to move your right stick.
Since Halladay has a good control rating, these gesture targets, or green zones in the diagram are larger than those of some of his teammates, like Antonio Bastardo. Bastardo’s control rating is only a 70, making it tougher to precisely stop the 2nd gesture in the right spot.
Now that I’ve selected the Cut Fastball, it’s time to let it fly. The Inside Edge report shows me that Pablo Sandoval bats over .300 against right handed pitchers in all but 3 zones. Luckily, 2 of those 3 zones are low in the strike zone. Sorry Pablo. I’m not serving you any high heat just yet.
The first pitch is a ball. The Cutter missed the low, inside corner that I was trying to paint with Halladay and almost grazed Pablo’s leg.
On my gesture, I was supposed to stop at 9 o’clock. However, I moved the right stick too far past 9 o’clock (more like 7 o’clock…whoops), resulting in the pitch being overthrown in that direction. Had I done the opposite and completely stopped short of my gesture, the pitch would have been closer to the middle of the plate rather than outside for a ball. The right stick gesture this year dictates the placement of the ball in a way that is predictable. No more random pitch gestures with random results. If you stop short of your gesture on a 12-6 curveball, the pitch will be hung. If you go past your gesture on a 12-6 curveball, the pitch will be overthrown below the strike zone, or even into the dirt. This 1-to-1 relationship between the right stick gesture and final location of the pitch is consistent for each pitch type. Even better though, it gives the gamer a sense of command on the mound. And like we touched on earlier, the pitcher’s control rating plays a heavy role in how far off a pitch misses when the gesture is performed inaccurately. After pitching earlier today with Jonathan Sanchez, I really feel how much bigger the margin for error is with an ace like Halladay.
Back to Halladay vs Pablo. After going with the slider, I filled the meter 100% for a max pitch .
The Panda swings for the fences. Strike 1. When getting a max pitch, the batter’s contact chance is decreased and the pitch is thrown with ideal velocity and movement. The smaller the pitch meter is, the less breaking balls will move and the slower fastballs will travel. Think of a full meter as a way to represent the pitcher’s ratings. If I fill the meter 50% instead of 100%, Halladay’s cut fastball is no longer a rating of 88 for that pitch. This is crucial considering how important a pitch’s rating is to the batter’s chances of making solid contact, or just contact in general. And don’t worry - the likelihood of timing a max pitch is easier or harder depending on who is pitching and how tired they are. The 2K10 dev team did a great job making sure that the player ratings, player tendencies, and performance of the gamers’ pitching mechanics all come together in a realistic, learnable fashion. While accurately nailing the gestures is required for perfect aim, the degree of difficulty varies from pitcher to pitcher, and pitch to pitch. Since the slider is Halladay’s lowest rated pitch, it requires more accurate movement on the right stick and more precision in timing the meter compared to his higher rated sinker.
Let’s get back to this 1-1 count between Halladay and Sandoval. Better yet, now that I’ve touched on the pitching mechanics, let’s pause the game and switch sides. I’m taking over for Pablo. It’s time to go over the new hitting mechanics.
As I take over at the plate with Pablo, I am informed that Sandoval is a .315 hitter with 9 HRs and 37 strikeouts after a 1-1 count . If pitching is about control, command, and avoiding the big mistake, hitting is definitely about waiting for the right pitch and working the count. Get ahead in the count, and you’ll be more likely to see a fastball for a strike. Fall behind in the count, and you’ll be chasing breaking balls outside of the strike zone. Face a pitcher like Halladay, and both the balls and strikes are separated by inches. Face the 4th or 5th man in the rotation, and strikes are down the middle more often while the balls are way outside of the strike zone. That’s the beauty of incorporating Inside Edge™ into the CPU AI hitting and pitching logic. Per count, every pitcher will throw what he throws in real life and will try to hit the spots that he hits in real life.
Sticking to the realism theme, every batter has a new eye rating this year (both vs lefties and righties). The higher the eye rating, the more likely your batter is to see the pitch type as it is being thrown as well as what part of the strike zone it is being thrown to. By pitch type, I mean fastball, breaking ball, or change-up. You won’t know the exact pitch type, but by knowing which of the 3 categories the pitch is, your timing will be that much better on the swing.
Unfortunately for me, Pablo’s eye rating vs righties is only a 64. The next pitch is a 12-6 curveball by Halladay that just drops into the strike zone. No swing. Strike 2. The pitch started out looking a lot like a fastball that would have been high for a called ball 2. If Pablo had the eye rating of a guy like Albert Pujols, I would have had a chance at knowing it was a high breaking ball and waited to unload on it. If I hadn’t read so deep into Halladay’s scouting report, I wouldn’t have ruled out a 12-6 curve being thrown.
Only 18% of his pitches in real life are 12-6 curveballs compared to 71% which are fastballs. I should clarify that by no means are the pitch tells too effective. They simply provide occasional and subtle hints to the batters in real life who are patient, read pitches, and draw walks. While Pablo had an outstanding 2009 season, he is not what we would call a patient hitter.
Looking to end the at bat, Halladay delivers a cutter low and away, hoping to graze the strike zone. Knowing it is a strike (thanks to the new batting camera and new strike zone which make it so much easier to watch the incoming ball), I swing away with the contact swing. Foul ball.
My timing was a little late, but I’m still alive. In Major League Baseball® 2K10, we completely re-wrote the physics of the hit distribution. The location of the pitch and the timing of the swing have everything to do with where that ball is hit and how hard it is hit. Replicating real life, the location of the pitch and my late timing is what drove the ball 20 feet foul to the left of the 3rd base line. Had I timed my swing perfectly against that low and away strike, Pablo could have been looking at a line drive base hit over the 3rd baseman’s head. My timing was late and the angle of the bat during contact resulted in a foul ball. Want to pull a ball and rip it down the base line for a double? Start the swing early against an inside pitch when making contact, just like in real life. If you want to hit a blooper over the infield to opposite field, swing a little later against an outside pitch. Major League Baseball® 2K10 is about playing baseball, not spamming the swing stick in hopes of base hits that are randomly sprayed about the field. If you find yourself hitting too many fly outs to the outfield, it’s time to lay off the power swing against high pitches. If you find yourself grounding into double plays, it’s time to lay off those low and away pitches being thrown for balls.
Oh, by the way, while writing this, Pablo just grounded out to 3rd. Faced with a 1-2 count, I resorted to the defensive swing. The defensive swing is a new swing type in Major League Baseball® 2K10. Flicking left or right on the right stick will perform a defensive swing. This swing is a low risk, low reward swing that is good to use when faced with 2 strikes. If you aren’t sure whether an incoming pitch is going to be a ball or a decisive 3rd strike, flick the right stick to the left or right to protect the plate. It’s all about working the count and waiting for the right pitch. This is a good way to foul pitches off to stay alive. In my case with Pablo, the defensive swing resulted in a ground out to 3rd. For other players with a lesser contact rating, they may swing and miss. However, you still have a better contact chance and a higher foul ball chance when using the defensive swing. In addition to staying alive with 2 strikes while waiting for the dream pitch, defensive swings can also wear down a starting pitcher who is trying to go the full 9 innings by racking up a high pitch count.
i was getting this game anyway cause i dont care how good "mlb10 the show" looks it is boring to play.Commentary and presentation play a huge role in sports games and theres nobody better than visual concepts at doing presentation.
looking good...graphically games kind of lacks that shine that 2K7 had but its all about gameplay to me.. I plan on mostly playing the CPU and some online. I am happy they will be patching the check swing. I really thought 2K9 would have been at least a playable game last year for me but I traded it in to gamestop because it kept freezing (not online) and my pitcher would wander off the field at the end of inning.. I hope they addressed these issues!
im really excited for this game 1. cuz its definetly bttr thn 2k9 and 2. theres ANOTHER my player mode and i liked it in the nba version cept there were 2 many glitches
the batting mode is horrible i think that is really stupid three stick movements ,we should be able to swing with a normal button ,im not the only one who will complain about this so i think you gonna need a mod for it.and there is no any information still about an option for the automatic fielding because i dont know a single person who likes to play the defense in a baseball video game.
