Before I introduce MLB 11 The Show’s new co-op mode, I want to remind everyone that the MLB 11 The Show demo is now available for download on the PlayStation Store! Play four innings in beautiful AT&T Park in this World Series rematch as the San Francisco Giants take on the Texas Rangers. I hope you enjoy.

Now on to co-op! For those of you that follow us closely, you know that we spend a lot of time reading feedback from all of our fans out there. One of the features that many of you have been pushing for is the desire to play The Show with someone as a teammate, instead of just as an opponent. So, this year we created a co-op mode that gives you and a buddy the ability to play on the same team against the CPU, against 1 player, or against 2 other players.

Here’s how it works…you’re able to customize who will be responsible for the different offensive and defensive areas of the game. When you’re at bat, you can choose to allow one person to do all of the batting or choose to alternate batters. The base running works in the opposite way so if you’re batting, your teammate will be responsible for the base running allowing you to work together for sacrifices and hit and runs. I promise you, if you’re playing a 2v2 co-op offline, you’ll start to develop hand signals with your teammate for these situations. I know, that sounds ridiculous, but it’s going to happen.

When you’re in the field, there are four different controllable areas—pitcher, catcher, infield, and outfield. Again, you have the ability to customize who is responsible for different areas. The pitcher, like the batter, can alternate between the teammates (per inning).

To help avoid the confusion of who is doing what, we created some graphics that use your player’s color to indicate what responsibilities you have at any given moment. You’ll see the description as you load into a co-op game, and the dynamic icons will drop down from the scorebar at the beginning of each at bat.

Co-op is also available online allowing two systems and four players maximum (two users per team) to play a head-to-head game. The PlayStation Network user logged in will receive the game stats and points on their profile. The other user is their copilot, so to speak. Users can also play an unranked co-op game—two users, on two different systems, on the same team, versus the CPU.

Now, typically when you think of sports video games, you think of the competitiveness (and trash talking) that comes with trying to beat down your buddy, humiliating him, and making him cry, which is always fun. With that said, the first reaction to playing as a teammate might be that you would lose some of that enjoyment, at least that was always my impression. Boy was I wrong. While playing with another member of the team here in San Diego, by the second inning into our first game you started hearing…”You are killing me,” “I’m going to have to do all of this myself, aren’t I?,” “Man, you’re awful,” etc…(quotes edited and censored of course). Co-op brings a whole new way to enjoy MLB 11 The Show so we hope you have as much fun with it as we do, and that you don’t lose too many friends from the experience. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to pre-order your copy MLB 11 The Show on PS3 to get 30 days FREE MLB.TV! We were able to get a few test codes to check out last year’s games and this really is a cool app. Follow your favorite team home or away on your PS3 with MLB.TV.

Welcome to The Show!