I think what bothers me most is they secured the exclusive rights and then put out this unplayable piece of crap. It's proving to be the worst-case scenario the anti-exclusive crowd (which was everyone, really) was talking about last year.
I got back into console gaming a few years ago because I was sick of the pain you had to go through to get a PC game running correctly. Now with downloads part of the console scene, I believe game companies are rushing console games out the door, knowing they can fix them later. This is bad, very bad. Ideally, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo will put their foot down and make it clear that this is unacceptable to the gamer community as a whole. Games should be playable out the box, period.
If word gets out that MLB 2K6 is unworthy of purchase and most gamers do not buy a baseball game this year, I wonder how the licensing fees that go to MLB will compare to 2005? I suspect that 2K Sports paid so much for the exclusive rights that MLB will still make much more than in years past. I have to believe 2K Sports stands to lose some serious money on this deal if they cannot turn this franchise around quickly.
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I completely agree with you. It's kind of similar to how people feared EA would lower the quality of their football titles with their exclusive deal, although in this case, the nightmare has become a reality. The one thing to remember, though, is that 2K did allow other companies to make MLB games this year (albeit with their permission). Case in point, Sony with MLB 06: The Show for the PS2 and PSP. And the current gen versions of MLB 2K6 don't have problems as serious as the 360 one, so 2K still has a chance to stay in the green with their baseball deals.