They say that hitting a fastball is one of the hardest things to do in all of sports. To date, that challenge has not been replicated in most baseball video games. The creators of Major League Baseball 2K6 have taken the first leaps toward the next generation of hitting in baseball sims with their new “Swing Stick” mechanic.
NBA 2K6‘s “Shot Stick” debuted in the first round of Xbox 360 games and was an instant hit. It was hailed by many as the best original game mechanics in 2005. The same concept has been used in MLB 2K6 to bring you a similar realistic experience. Using the Right Analog Stick, gamers simply pull back to have the batter start pulling back for the swing. As the baseball is about to cross the hitting zone, releasing the “Swing Stick” will make the batter swing the bat for a contact swing, while pressing forward on the stick will result in a power swing. The Left Analog Stick can be used in conjunction to guess where a pitch is going and when contact is made, users can influence a hit to a specific direction on the field.
Sounds like something that would take time to get used to but, once the player has run through a few blowouts, could result in a greatly increased gaming experience. TMR will let you know first-hand as soon as we get our mitts on this title.
