Yesterday was the last scheduled live stream for MLB The Show 16, with a release date of March 29th. It showcased some of the major graphical improvements of this years’ edition, which was also touched upon in yesterdays short video and post. If you have not seen that you can find it here. So now let’s dive into the content of the developer live stream which compared the already impressive Graphics of last years title with MLB The Show 16.
Taken from MLB The Show 16 livestream
The overall goal of the stream was to compare this years’ graphics to last years’, and show the improvement and additions. Here is what they showcased in the video and how ’15 and ’16 stacked up against each other.
Reflections are much more realistic in MLB The Show 16, which is a huge improvement from previous years. At the beginning of the stream it shows previous years versus this year, and the improvements are very evident. Previously everything would be flatly reflected, whereas now things are reflected based on what type of material or surface something is. Shadows and how light hits different materials like jerseys or helmets have been refined and as compared to previous years is a really amazing improvement. Localized lighting has also been added into the game for each stadium and varies depending on where the camera is, which give the game a very realistic feel to it. Most of these graphical improvements are for both PlayStation 3 and 4, but some are unique to the new generation console. As for much of this game’s improvements, the majority of things are available to both, but there are some significant parts of the game that PlayStation 4 either has exclusively, or has a better version of. That being said, this game still looks amazing for the PlayStation 3, and is leagues ahead of MLB 15: The Show for the PlayStation 4.
Contrasts the in game details and shows how significant the changes are
16 versus 15 graphics, focusing on lighting and reflections, taken from MLB The Show 16 livestream
Most of the major graphical improvements are based around reflections, and the sun’s rays. Both have been largely ignored until this year, when the design team has spent over eight months working on it. The sun now bounces off of dirt, grass, players and any other surfaces that it can to give a very realistic look. The lighting is unique in every stadium in the game. They use Google satellite data to determine the sun position for every month and time of day. That is a very in depth graphical improvement that people may not even notice if they had not told us. Now that we do know we can appreciate the amount of time and effort put into that improvement that makes lighting look that much better and realistic.
Shows how light bounces off of different surfaces in 16, taken from MLB The Show 16 livestream
The game is officially complete with no additional changes to be made, other than the regular updates each week, with player upgrades/downgrades and bug fixes. Everything seen from this point forward is exactly what you will see when you open up your copy on March 29th. The game discs have been printed and are being shipped out to distributors.
Check back here for any last minute streams before the release, or check out some of our previous MLB The Show 16 videos on the new game modes, franchise mode, diamond dynasty, and gameplay engine.
As always follow us on Twitter and YouTube to stay up to date on MLB The Show 16 news.
