Major League Baseball 2K12 (PC)

• Developer: Visual Concepts
• Publisher: 2K Sports
• Platform: PC
• Format: DVD-ROM, Digital Download
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Release Date: 2012

• Follow your favorite team in the dynamically updated MLB Today Season Mode
• New throwing system lets you emphasize speed or accuracy
• Opposing batters and pitchers learn from your tendencies and playing style
• Includes 80 hours of new commentary from Gary Thorne, Steve Phillips, and John Kruk
• Soundtrack features music from The Cool Kids, Skrillex, The Joy Formidable, Grouplove, My Morning Jacket, and more

• Operating System: Windows XP, Vista, or 7
• Processor: Pentium 4 2.4 GHz Single Core processor or equivalent (2.8 GHz for Vista)
• Memory: 512 MB or more (1 GB for Vista)
• Hard Drive Space: 9.5 GB or more free space
• Video Card: 128 MB or more memory and either ATI x1300 (or better) or NVIDIA 6600 (or better) with Shader Model 3.0 support
• Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible
• DirectX: DirectX 9.0c

Major League Baseball 2K12 continues 2K Sports' baseball series on PC with a number of new tweaks and enhancements designed to improve on the gameplay and presentation from 2011’s game. First and foremost is the MLB Today Season Mode, which lets you follow your favorite team through a complete 162-game season as it unfolds each day on the MLB schedule. You’ll decide which games to play or simulate using the same lineups, pitching matchups, and rosters as featured in the day’s real-life games.

Another change is the inclusion of a "Dynamic Tendency System," which has both pitchers and hitters from the rival team learning your tendencies as you play. If you consistently throw fastballs at a particular batter, for example, he’ll be looking for the heater next time he’s at the plate. If you strike out on a pitch low and away, then the opposing pitcher might try to make you swing at it again in subsequent innings.

The batter-pitcher interface is otherwise unchanged from 2011’s Major League Baseball 2K11. On the mound, you’ll choose from your pitcher’s real-life repertoire and then attempt to use a gesture-based control scheme to carry out the throw. At the plate, you’ll use a timing based system to swing the bat as the ball crosses the plate. The results of your swing will be different than in previous games in the series, largely due to a new physics-based contact system in place for 2K12. This is designed for more hit variety, taking into account the location and type of pitch as well as the timing of your swing.

The types of hits you'll see on the field include soft bloopers, line-drive home runs, line drives off the wall, choppers, slow dribblers, and line drives that slice down the line from the ball's spin. Bunting has also been revamped, as players will now have to adjust the height of the bat to make contact, with the results largely dependent on the batter's real-life bunting ability.

On the field, you’ll be able to master a new throwing system that lets you decide whether to use a quick release by queuing up the throw in advance or planting your outfielder’s feet for a more accurate throw. Quick strikes may save time, but they can also potentially pull fielders off bags or go sailing away from the cut-off man.

Perhaps the most extensively reworked feature is the commentary from announcers Gary Thorne, Steve Phillips and John Kruk. More than 80 hours of new dialogue has been recorded for Major League Baseball 2K12, with games in the MLB Today mode offering dynamic commentary that is updated to reflect the on-field action.