Latest news with #DiamondDynasty
New York Times
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
From concept to console: how ‘MLB: The Show' creates live All-Star Game content
Each year for baseball fans and avid gamers, Major League Baseball's All-Star festivities represent a blending of two passions. Imagine this… The 2025 Home Run Derby has just ended, and after watching your favorite players launch dingers out of the park in Atlanta, you eagerly turn on your gaming console of choice and boot up Sony San Diego Studio's 'MLB: The Show 25' to re-create the magic in the virtual batter's box. Advertisement You log in to Diamond Dynasty, the online card-collecting and team-building mode within the game, and to your surprise, the Home Run Derby winner already has a 99 overall card with a picture of him holding the trophy. Wait, that was fast… You scroll further through the menus and realize there is also a new card for each player selected in the first round of the 2025 MLB Draft. On top of that, there's another full content drop coming tomorrow immediately after the conclusion of the All-Star Game. To the casual observer, these elaborate content drops may seem easy to create and release, maybe as simple as clicking a button or two. However, in reality, they require months of planning, keen attention to detail, and a non-negotiable ability to react in real-time, a skill that has been honed through years of experience and a passion for the sport. This year marks the game's most ambitious All-Star week content drop, featuring over 90 new collectible virtual baseball cards and, for the first time, extensive live content after each event. The stars are shining in #MLBTheShow 25! ⭐ Complete the 2025 All-Star Game Collection and earn:🤩 2025 All-Star Aaron Judge🤩 2025 All-Star José Ramírez🤩 2025 All-Star Garrett Crochet🤩 2025 All-Star Josh Hader🤩 2025 All-Star 👀 Get ready to start stacking All-Stars… — MLB The Show (@MLBTheShow) July 11, 2025 'MLB: The Show' was first released in 2006, but live All-Star content did not debut until 2018. At the time, Stephen Hass — now the senior manager of live design at San Diego Studio — was working on the game as a live designer. Live designers create content for Diamond Dynasty year-round, including building programs, fine-tuning multiplayer modes and communicating the latest updates in-game to consumers via platforms like YouTube and Twitch. Advertisement Back then, the live design team had two members. Today, they have 10. That first drop was far less elaborate, including just a single program that did not feature live content surrounding the All-Star festivities. Yet, it laid the foundation for what has become a core aspect of the game. As the team at SDS evolved, so did the possibilities. 'As the team has grown, we have expanded the content offerings for our players. Ten years ago, we had roughly a few hundred pieces of content, and now we offer three times that,' Hass told The Athletic. Though the All-Star drop is one of the studio's crown jewels, SDS is constantly releasing content throughout the game's cycle. After Clayton Kershaw recorded his 3,000th strikeout, a program was released that allows users to unlock a 99 overall version of Kershaw to commemorate the historic moment. Another example is the 'Spotlight' programs that are released each week, highlighting the league's best players with a special version of their card in-game. SDS has released over 50 programs already this year, featuring hundreds, if not thousands, of different cards. 'Our goal is to make this year's live content for All-Star Week the best and biggest yet. That's what our fans want,' Hass said. Here's how the live content process works. Preparation for these drops begins well before the latest version of the game launches. Although new editions of 'MLB: The Show' are released in mid-March, planning for All-Star content begins the previous November — lining up logistics, brainstorming improvements on the previous year's drop and cultivating imagery for the cards, which is one of the first steps. As the season begins, SDS is closely monitoring MLB's marketing for the Midsummer Classic, incorporating official league and team designs to give the virtual cards an authentic look. This includes elements such as fonts, color schemes and the official MLB All-Star logo. Advertisement Next, as All-Star Week approaches, the live design team begins creating programs for the Draft, Home Run Derby, and the All-Star Game, including themed missions where gamers can unlock player cards or packs as rewards. Program creation includes coding 'Moments,' which allow users to recreate plays that happened on the field, designing objectives based on players' real-life performances and balancing the players' stats in-game to match the game's gradual power curve. However, there is only so much preparation the live design team can do. Who will win the Home Run Derby? What about the All-Star Game MVP? What will the replayable in-game moments be? Those are all unknowns that the folks at SDS are waiting on, just like everyone else. 'It's embracing that chaos,' said Ashley Sanders, a live designer who is heavily involved in the process. 'Those events are going to dictate the plan, so it can totally spoil what we planned, or it can complement it.' While baseball fans will be huddled around their televisions watching Monday night's Home Run Derby, the live design team will get to work. Derby contestants James Wood, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Byron Buxton, Oneil Cruz, Matt Olson, Cal Raleigh, Brent Rooker and Junior Caminero will each have a featured card, with the overall rating and statistics determined by their real-life performance. These cards are created within minutes of players being eliminated. The winner and runner-up will receive the highest-rated cards, and the rest of the field will have their overall rating tiered down from there. One of the most time-consuming steps of the process is waiting for the perfect image for each player's card art, since these events are live. Photos are chosen, edited and applied to the virtual cards in real time. These steps are repeated until there is a champion. Advertisement Once the cards are coded and the programs are prepared, the content is tested internally to ensure all aspects are working as intended. Once completed, the switch is flipped and the content is officially released in-game. The process was completed on Sunday for the first round of the MLB Draft, featuring cards for all 30 players selected in the first round. It will be replicated again for the All-Star Game on Tuesday night, re-creating key moments and spotlighting the game's best performers. While creating live content for each event could seem stressful, it's a celebratory time at SDS as countless hours of planning come to fruition. '(Our) team thrives when the sport is unpredictable,' Hass said. 'We just love these moments. When baseball offers it, we're all about it, and I know our fans look forward to it.' Now you know the process from concept to console, but one question remains — Which player will receive the 99 overall 2025 Home Run Derby winner card? (Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic)
Fox News
12-06-2025
- Sport
- Fox News
New Mets pitcher Justin Garza credits video game MLB The Show for helping save career
Pitcher Justin Garza was thinking about quitting the game he loved during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 as he struggled in the minor leagues. However, as Garza is joining the New York Mets now after a deal with the San Francisco Giants, he credits one thing to saving his career. A video game. "MLB The Show actually was a big part about me learning how to pitch and figuring out how to pitch," Garza told The New York Post. "It's so realistic at times, just playing that video game." Garza is not the only player in professional sports to use video games to prepare for games or rework their mechanics. Garza specifically uses the game mode Diamond Dynasty, where he said the different camera angles helped him experience how to use his pitches. Using a catcher's view to pitch, he started reworking his arsenal. Though it was not intentional, he was happy something clicked by playing the game. "Once I started to play more and more, it was like, 'OK, well, I actually have a cutter, I have this four-seam, I have this changeup, and maybe my stuff can play like this," Garza told The Post. Garza was an eighth-round draft pick by the Cleveland Guardians in 2015, but he struggled in his first taste of professional ball. He was only able to post one season with an ERA under five, owning a 3.36 ERA in 2018. However, the pandemic break saw Garza as a rejuvenated hurler on the mound. Garza posted a 1.59 ERA with 31 strikeouts over 14 games in Triple-A Columbus before being called up for the first time in his career. He had 21 appearances in 2021 in the big leagues. He did not make it back to the big leagues until 2023, this time with the Boston Red Sox, but it did not go according to plan. Garza had an 8.35 ERA in 17 appearances (one start) before being moved to the Giants. Garza was in Triple-A Sacramento this year before moving to the Mets. Garza has played one game with the Mets, tossing two-thirds of an inning with two strikeouts in his first appearance. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Forbes
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
MLB The Show 25 Update: Latest Info On 3rd Inning Content Drop
Bernie Williams #51 of the New York Yankees swings in the 4th inning against the New York Mets at ... More Yankee Stadium on June 30, 2006 in New York. The Yankees defeated the Mets 2-0. (Photo by) Sony San Diego revealed a ton of new content on Friday. It is mostly centered around the 3rd Inning Diamond Dynasty program, and while I hoped for a few splashier bosses and multiplayer rewards, SSD is continuing a stupendous year for DD with another layered release of content. Let's break it down. Former San Francisco Giants All-Star Matt Cain is back in DD. This 91-overall version can be earned at the 205,000 XP mark on the 3rd Inning path. Cain has a solid pitch mix, a 98 H/9, 90 HR/9, and Break Outlier. That's not a bad pickup as you move through the program. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder The Weekend Classic kicked off on Friday afternoon. This time, in your first six WC games, users are getting a Weekend Classic pack after one win, seven Ballin Is a Habit packs for two wins, and an April Spotlight pack at three wins (which is big). At four wins, you can earn a Live Series player of 85 or higher. At five wins, you'll get a Weekend Classic choice pack. You get the same at six wins, but you'll also get 3,000 stubs. The matchmaking for WC will be based on the league you qualified for through the last multiplayer program. Users can earn a 92-overall Bernie Williams, Eric Gagne, or Trevor Story. It's probably going to be Williams and Gagne for me, and I'll try to grab Story for the heck of it down the line. Williams' switch-hitting and Gagne's crazy pitch mix make this an easy decision for me. To give users a bit of a push to start the 3rd Inning grind, SSD began Double XP Days, which also impacts PXP, on May 9. This will extend until 3 p.m. ET on May 13. The latest content update also delivered new City Connect uniforms for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Miami Marlins. In addition to the new uniforms, users will also see updated player models for Tyler Alexander, Tink Hence, Jose Leclerc, Orion Kerkering, Jung Hoo Lee, Christian Yelich, Joseph Ortiz, and Ryan Helsley. During the teaser video for Eric Gagne, there is a pan-up shot of what appears to be a left-handed hitter in a Giants uniform. There's another shot that shows the outline of a '2' on a uniform, as if it could be Bonds' 'No. 25.' As it turns out, the player shown is current Giants third baseman Matt Chapman. However, I don't think it is an accident or coincidence that this trailer has these shots. If you understood how much scrutiny trailers receive before they're released to the public, you'd understand why I'm asking this question. In any case, we're still waiting for the greatest player of all time to make it to The Show.
Forbes
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
MLB The Show 25 - Patch 9 Notes Include Diamond Dynasty Update & More
MLB The Show 25 Sony San Diego Studios released the ninth game update for MLB The Show 25 early on Tuesday morning. The patch targeted a few minor gameplay details, a Marketplace issue and some stability fixes across other modes. This is the kind of update that doesn't change the DNA of the game but could shift how it feels to play. MLB The Show 25 has been critically acclaimed, receiving an 83 score on Metacritic. I gave it a 9 in my review, but there are still a good number of people complaining about R and G results in hitting, and overall difficulty having success at the plate. The studio shared the official update link on X, providing full patch notes for every platform. To be honest, I'm not as interested in player model updates for The Show 25. I'll be more plugged in on this front for next year's game, which should be a massive visual improvement as the series stops supporting last-gen consoles. That subtraction should free most sports games up to fully take advantage of the PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X and the new Nintendo Switch. I don't care what anyone says, I've never enjoyed a baseball video game more than I've enjoyed The Show 25. Diamond Dynasty's flow of content is exemplary and I appreciate the challenge of hitting. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder There is one thing I'd love to see them add to Diamond Dynasty, and that is the ability to set platoon lineups for Ranked, Event and Battle Royal games. There's no way to know if you'll be facing a left or right-handed pitcher. If we could set platoon lineups that were chosen based on the handedness of the opposing starting pitcher, that would be ideal. We will see how much people like or dislike the latest update to the game.
