The Gamer Blog: A few words with Mike Cameron

Jon Robinson

Check your dignity at the door, it's time to strap on the spandex.

You don't know a man until you've seen him in spandex. Those are words to live by if you cover video games, as month after month I'm invited to interview players as they hit, pitch and catch in skintight suits that light up like Christmas trees whenever a flash goes off in the room.

Awkward? That's an understatement. Some athletes look incredibly embarrassed and want to change before they talk to me, while others flaunt and flex their muscles to anyone with a camera.

2K Sports decided to take advantage of the Brewers recent Bay Area visit to invite The Bigs 2 cover athlete, Prince Fielder, as well as Prince's Brew Crew of Mike Cameron and Seth McClung to be the latest victims of the spandex series in order to get some new batting stances and catch animations in the game.

And while Prince might be on the cover, it's Mike Cameron, a.k.a. Cam, and his always smiling personality who turned out to be the star of the group, taking the time to capture his batter's box ritual and even playing catcher for a bit to help animate a no-hit celebration with McClung.

I caught up with Cameron as he chilled in the only suit that comes with detachable sensors to get his thoughts on everything from The Bigs 2 to how he translates his hitting approach in real life to the video game.

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• Q + A with Prince Fielder about The Bigs 2

The Mag: Are you a big gamer?
Mike Cameron: My kids are really into it, so I play my son at NBA 2K9 and Madden. The baseball games are pretty good, but football is dominant for a lot of guys. When you know all the glitches in Madden, you can't be stopped. Lastings Milledge knew all those glitches. You couldn't tackle him. Every time you were even close, he'd do some glitch and you'd miss every time. I don't know how he did it. Maybe he's just really fast with his thumbs, but I call it a glitch. [laughs]

Who is your team in Madden?
I play as the Eagles or Chargers. Tomlinson is a beast in that game.

What were your favorite games back in the day? Were you a fan of RBI Baseball?
We still play the old RBI game now. RBI and Tecmo Bowl were the best. Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen on the same team, it doesn't get better than that.

Who was your team in RBI Baseball?
Everyone loves St. Louis and the A's, but I always like to play as Houston and Nolan Ryan.

What's your video games setup like at home?
My kids have Wii's in their rooms. My older son likes to play the 360. We also have a PS3 down in the theater. The screen is about 70 inches, so the characters are looking huge up there.

Do you ever play as yourself in the theater to see what he looks like?
Oh yeah. It's pretty cool. They always put me with my shades on, so it looks pretty good.

Jon Robinson

We promise, Cam, this is vital to the game development process.

As a gamer, one of the toughest aspects of playing video game baseball is trying to judge balls in the outfield. Any advice?
The art of playing good D is being able to run, take your eyes off the ball, then run to that spot. You need to have a feel for where the ball is going to land. The game of baseball is an art. It's the most artistic of any sport because you can come up with so many different ways to do it and express your individual style while you play. Whatever you feel comfortable doing, do it. I try to practice different plays all the time like making over the shoulder catches. When I was first coming up with the White Sox, our coach used to hit balls over the wall and I would try to jump up and catch them.

Do you wish you had turbo like the game?
Turbo, turbo jumps, I want it all. [laughs] The Bigs 2 is crazy, though. They have guys making what they call legendary catches, and these guys are robbing home runs and making the catch bare-handed. I wish I could do that in a game.

Is there an approach to hitting that you use in real life that I can translate to hitting in the video game?
As a player, you become so routine-oriented that you really just try to stay in your routine from game to game. But different pitchers, they'll take you out of that routine, so you need to learn to approach every pitcher differently. If you're facing a guy like [Tim] Lincecum, you need to approach that differently than facing a guy like Barry Zito. If you're facing Lincecum, you need to be prepared to hit at all times, because he throws close to 100, plus he has two other great pitches, so he makes you work. So to carry that over to the video game, you need to know your opponent. You need to scout your friends.

You were motion-capturing your home run swing and your antics before you step in the batter's box. What should people expect to see?
The first thing I do when I step to the plate is clean out the box. I want to clean the whole box out. I don't know why, but I need the box to be fresh when I get in there. It's like I'm stepping into my home, so I don't want a whole lot of dirt in there. I have to clean up. After I take a pitch, I also like to knock the dirt off my spikes. I don't want to feel anything on my spikes until I get ready to hit again. Hopefully they get all of this in the game. I want the box to be just as clean in the game as I make it in real life.

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