First look at MLB 14: The Show on PS4

Next spring, MLB 14: The Show, the next iteration of Sony San Diego's critically successful PlayStation-exclusive baseball franchise, will be available on all three PlayStation platforms: PS4, PS3, and PlayStation Vita.

Sony highlighted a few key features in next year's baseball sim, noting in particular the ability to carry over saves from Seasons, Franchises, and Road To The Show over to future versions of MLB The Show. This means you'll never have to worry about starting any of these modes over from scratch.

Other notable advancements being made with MLB 14: The Show include:

• A new Quick Counts option which utilizes generated pitch counts to allow you to play through full games faster. This should allow you to play a full 9-inning game in less than 30 minutes — about half the length of traditional game times.
• Improvements to Road To The Show including a new advancement system, new intuitive player creation process, and a new pre-draft prospect showcase.
• On the PS4, you'll have the ability to share those "big moments" using the system's "Share feature."

Of course, the big jump from current- to next-gen will be most noticable with the game's graphics on PS4. Sony released some comparison screens of a "work in progress" version of Fenway's Green Monster for PS4 pointing out specific graphical advancement such as different types of materials properly reflecting sun.

"The shinier materials such as metal will give you more of a direct or tighter reflection. This is immediately noticeable on the team name plates. In contrast, the more matte surfaces such as the wall above the scoreboard won’t reflect as much direct light as seen in the photo," explained Sony Sports Product Marketing Manager Tyler Vaught. "Contrast this with the PS3 version, where you see a consistent lighting reflection profile across the entire scoreboard.

"Our lighting engine in PS3, while powerful, was limited in the way in which the lighting interacted with our models. Moving to PS4, which boasts 8 GB of GDDR5 RAM, we are able to properly represent the true nature of the surfaces. With the added horsepower of PS4, we can create more detailed representation of elements within the stadium. With the added memory, we can increase the texture size, and use higher resolution normal maps to push the illusion of reality."

Graphics and gameplay aside, Sony is even changing things up with how the cover athlete is chosen. Rather than a fan vote, MLB 14: The Show's cover athlete will be chosen by fellow players. Every player in the big leagues had the opportunity to nominate one player for this year's cover.

The MLB 14: The Show cover athlete will be Detroit Tigers third basemen, Miguel Cabrera, eight-time All-Star, 2012 American League MVP, 2012 American League Triple-Crown Award winner, two-time Sporting News Player of the Year, and two-time Hank Aaron Award winner.

Information regarding Cross Buy availability was not revealed.