A blast from my text sim Past.

[SirFozzie]

We were discussing expanding PBP over in the beta test of PureSim06, and it brought back memories

The game that got me into replay sims, and was my gateway drug to text sims..

APBA Broadcast Blast.. It was APBA Baseball, but the best thing was this game was one of the first to come out in a CD format, and they had the ex-Tigers announcer, Ernie Harwell, do the voice over for the game.. it was clunky and slow, but golly if it didn't sound like a game over the radio.

I just checked.. it's still for sale! Wow.. (of course, it's SUPER pricy..)

Miller Associates presents APBA Baseball for Windows 5.5 W/ 2005 Season CD

APBA--long praised as the leading strategy game for serious fans,the first game ever with full-broadcast sound, has been upgraded and enhanced for Windows 95/98/NT/2K/XP(TM) format. The game now has ballpark effects, enhanced commentary, Autodrafting, newspaper style boxscores, platoon lineups and more. With break-through ArtSound(TM) technology, Hall of Famer Ernie Harwell desribes every action in vivid detail, his classic baseball voice taking you to a time and place known only to true baseball fans. Manage and control your team, work your strategies including the new bunt for a hit and in field in at the corners. Start your own league, draft your team and stadium and fit your team to the characteristics of the park.

Includes: Broadcast Blast 5.5, League Manager 5.5, StatMaster 5.5, Advanced Draft 5.5, and the 2005 Baseball Season.

(Cost $80)

I have to wait for at least one check.. but I think I might get it just to relive the good old days :)

[SackAttack]

I used to play that series, but it cost me $20. Inflation, I guess.

[SirFozzie]

well, the company that made the games (Miller Associates) reincarnated themselves as FanPark, and have since gone out of business.. you can only get it from APBA Baseball now.

It's an EXTREME niche market, probably.

[Flasch186]

is it career or replay? I remember this game as well.

[SirFozzie]

it's a replay season game, based off the APBA Baseball board game.

Some folks figured a way to use the disk creator to kludge together a new season disk from the old one.. creating a league in perpetuity.

One of the really cool thins I was in growing up was a minor league league. That's right.. we managed MINOR league clubs, and were at the mercy of the major league clubs (which was also a league).. just when our players were doing well, the majors would call em up! :P

[Fouts]

APBA cards and dice bought me into the sports sim world back in high school. Still have the computer game on my hard drive, but haven't played it much since it doesn't have career play. OOTP and PureSim are cheaper and offer longer replayability.

Still remember rolling dice (66 HOME RUN!) in a local league full of stangers a few years back. Those were the days. Even went to one of the APBA conventions. Nerdy yeah, but a great excuse to go to Vegas.

[Solecismic]

I reviewed the first Ernie Harwell edition for CGW. I remember how ground-breaking the audio was, though the simulation itself was clunky and very hard to install.

Ken Miller (of Miller Associates) got my number, and, I also remember thinking that in the hands of a PR person who wasn't annoying to the point of wanting to do bodily harm, they might sell a bunch of those games if they fixed the install issues.

[SackAttack]

I reviewed the first Ernie Harwell edition for CGW. I remember how ground-breaking the audio was, though the simulation itself was clunky and very hard to install.

Ken Miller (of Miller Associates) got my number, and, I also remember thinking that in the hands of a PR person who wasn't annoying to the point of wanting to do bodily harm, they might sell a bunch of those games if they fixed the install issues.

I gave up on it before I reached the Ernie Harwell edition, mostly because I had a booger of a time figuring out the scheduler. I could create teams and lineups and have them play, but what I really wanted was to set up some kind of a classic league, with Koufax on the Dodgers and so forth, but I never could get the scheduler properly balanced.

I remember discovering a newfound respect for the folks who make the REAL schedules after that.

[WSUCougar]

I still have an old Broadcast Blast edition. I was an APBA diehard back in the day.

[KWhit]

Yeah, I have every version of the old APBA games.

[CraigSca]

I was an APBA diehard as well. However, I couldn't get over the whole grading system that just took away extra-base hits to differentiate between pitchers. D-rated pitchers were over the top awful and A-rated pitchers were over the top incredible. Before Broadcast Blast came out, I moved to PTP, which eventually became DMB.

I still have a hankerin' to hear the Ernie Harwell version, but whenever I think about it, the price scares me away.

Btw, if you ever think about getting rid of it, you can almost get full retail price for it on eBay, the few times I've seen it.

[WSUCougar]

The legacy of APBA in my life is that - to this day - any time I see "boxcars" on two dice I have a momentary Pavlovian thrill (66!).

[Ramzavail]

I have this version 5.5, I bought these APBA games all the time and they were always real expensive. I would sell it but I loved it at the time.

This and microleague was my first indulgence into baseball computer games. I played this game for hours on end.

[SirFozzie]

Hmm if someone has the Broadcast Blast CD, maybe I should buy it off one of you instead :)

[WSUCougar]

Hmm if someone has the Broadcast Blast CD, maybe I should buy it off one of you instead :)
I'd certainly consider it, Fozzie, but we're talking old school version here. It may even be DOS-based... :eek:

[rkmsuf]

Everytime I see the thread title I read it as

A blast from my text sim ass.

[WSUCougar]

You anal retentive or something?

[rkmsuf]

You anal retentive or something?

I don't retain in my ass. I blast.

[Ramzavail]

I'd certainly consider it, Fozzie, but we're talking old school version here. It may even be DOS-based... :eek:

The Broadcast Blast CD, I believe is Windows.