Baseball sims 2008
 

I am surprsied we haven't much from any of the "Big 3" in baseball text sims on the new round of games? So what are the options this year:

Puresim
OOTP 2008
Baseball Mogul

I still need to learn OOTP. Maybe this year.

puresim better

Here's what I know from trolling all the boards and from a little inside info...

OOTP 9 - Still a few weeks from beta testing, and no official word on what's in store. Given the late beta start, I really doubt we'll be seeing a new version of this game for the start of the season.

PureSim 2009 - No announced release date yet, and not a lot of info on what 2009 has in store for us, except for some UI changes that Shan has already shared on the message boards. The most recent news was that Shaun was battling some health issues, so that probably put a damper on any progress he was making. I'd guess that this will be an "in-season" release like OOTP.

Mogul 2009 - Sounds like Clay is prepared to launch his latest version by the start of the season, but I'm not sure this has been officially confirmed or not. Folks that currenly own 2008 will be able to participate in the beta for 2009, and I would expect the first beta to show up soon since there is already talk of a pre-beta release that some folks are testing with.

Ok, an update Shaun has psoted that he is more or less in semi retirement again due to personal stuff and a new release is unlikely for this season but a patch at some point is possible.........
Mogul is mogul as usual...........
OOTP 9 is going to be mostly new rosters and bug fixes. That isn't a bad thing, but with that interface from SI; I won't be purchasing it.
So........................
That leaves us with repaly sims:

Dimond Mind Baseball-the big blue of basbeball sims but it's interface makes command line look elegant.
Action replay Baseball: Don't know much about it?
Strat-o-matic Baseball:Played the board game as akid and really liked it. How is the PC game.
APBA/Baseball for Windows 6.0: Has been delayed until the fall at the earliest. Anyone played the 5.5 version or the APBA pc game?


So it looks like either Strat-o-matic, Action Baseball, or the last APBA game/baseball for windows v5.5. I know Jon in Middle Georgia is a person here who is well connected with the replay games maybe here or Craig S can give some recommendations which is the best of the three I mentioned?

For what it's worth, OOTP is no longer affiliated with SI.

So...dunno if they're going to keep the interface or go in a new direction.

Wouldn't Marcus have said that a new/revised interface was part of 09 if that was the case?

I believe on the OOTP boards Markus said a number of times that the interface is staying last year when the split was announced.

I think the SI interface is staying with OOTP.

-Cork

BM 08 is still getting playing time from me, far from perfect, but TONS OF FUN and the interface is the best in any baseball game, imho.

BM 09 is in beta and mostly the release will consist of better AI, bug fixes, and a few other things Clay is working on.

This will be my baseball sim once again this year.

I know I am keeping my interface and nobody can have it.


Dumb jokes aside, that blows donkey about PureSim.

I purchased BM07 and played it more than any other Baseball sim in the past few years. I skipped 08 since it didn't seem like enough of an upgrade to warrant the purchase, but I hope that 09 will be worth it. I also have not purchased either of the SI OOTPs and think that this might be the year for me to re-immerse myself in that franchise.

Ok, I was in hiding but glad to see someone else enjoys this as well.

OOTP just did not interest me, and I played Mogul extensively last year and have spent most of the day today playing it. I love it. Sure it's not overly deep, but if I just want to fire up a team and quick sim through a history it's a blast. I'm really enjoying it, and not getting bogged down in the details.

Yeah it has a lot of issues, but I agree about the interface and just love the ease and quickness of play. It's perfect for a quick-simmer like myself.

I'm interested in seeing what is added this year.

I've never really given PureSim a try. I guess I should do that sometime.

Looks like it's OOTP 9 or bust this year, I have no interest in replay-only games.

Some people don't understand why folks would play Mogul. But I appreciate the simplicity and the appeal. I don't mess with it anymore, because I like the detail of OOTP and I like it as a fictional sim over PureSim (and I think familiarity helps too)

But..Mogul does have value and the fact that's effectively the same game after all of the years must be an asset.

I'm right there with you about BM, I've attempted to tout those same points of the game, but people here tend to not like it because they want to have full and total immersion. I love being able to just quicksim and look at some stats for the hell of it.

I could not stand BM 06 or was it 07? and made myself known, but 08 has been quite immersive for me. It's actually quite deep stat wise, but it's simplicity is what draws me back into its world.

I'm done with OOTP and I don't think I'll go back, but who knows. For now, BM has my money and I hope Clay keeps it semi-deep, but at the same time simple.

BM is quite good as others have said for just "fire it up and sim a season quick and check out the stats" type of play. And there are things that I enjoy about it. I bought and played, then skipped , not sure what I will do about this year

I just wish one release one year from any of these games would focus on making the AI tougher. The roster logic in OOTP is ridiculous.

I'm curious, is the appeal in only playing the latest versions of these games or would you consider playing older versions?

I would play whichever one is better. But I don't think that 6 is better then 8 or whatever you want to call the current version.

Can you create fictional leagues in Baseball Mogul? I like the idea of the simplicity, but I prefer fictional leagues. Also, how is the manager AI in BM?

Yeah, there are options for fictional players and fictional teams when you start up the game. Nothing near the options as OOTP when it comes to leagues obviously, but it's there.

I can't say much as to the manager AI. I really do almost nothing but sign players and sim through seasons. It's a great game for just jumping into a world and doing what if's, or looking at stats quickly over years. I haven't dove into the nuts and bolts so I couldn't tell you much on the AI managing.

Another thing I'd like to harp on is that it has the feature I've always wanted in FOF, where I can lock a player to a position or batting order and then have the AI autofill the rest of the lineup. Very nice little feature.

I agree that locking in player and auto filling the rest of the lineup is great. I think the real question with any of the big three (OOTP,Pursesim, BM) is how well any of the them handle the AI management. I haven't looked at any of these in detail as far as the AI manager aspect goes so maybe someone else has a better idea.

I've spend many hours just poking around my BM 08 career last night and everything seems within the norm as far as CPU AI managing goes. I'm sure you can find examples of poor AI decisions, but for signing players and player trades, everything over the last few years in my career seem fine.

I'm in season 4 and the big complaint with BM 08 was it's too easy to keep winning once you have your team built up.

With the Cardinals starting on 07, I've finished last, 4th, and 3rd last year, so it's still a challenge thus far.

It's the opposite of OOTP though in terms of interface and information.. the interface is my favorite part of the game and to me, there's just enough stats and what not to call it a baseball sim. (actually a tad more like DICE).

Thanks, I appreciate the info about BM. One more thing... I like to manage all my games. How is BM as far as in game strategy, manager AI, etc? I notice they have a pitch-by-pitch option. Anyone use that?

I do plan to try the demo, but it may be a few days before I have time to really get into it.

Never used pbp, but I've read it shows you where the ball goes after its been hit and what not. Head over to those forums, there are some threads about pbp.

http://www.sportsmogul.com/vbulletin...lay.php?f=1725

They're retaining the 'gist' of the interface I believe however I'd expect that they'd try and respond to feedback to make it more user friendly where it is provided.

(ie. if you have issues with it then suggest constructive improvements - these might be in the stance of wizards to allow some common things to be easily done or rearranging screen information etc. - if you don't ask you don't get and all that ;) )

I'm seriously thinking of switching back to the BM series.

The last few versions of OOTP have left me cold and so has the message board community over there.

BM 09 webpage is up: http://www.sportsmogul.com/games/baseball2k9.html

You can also get BM 08 for $19.95, although BM 09 looks like it's released tomorrow. :)

I haven't played Baseball Mogul since... well... since probably the first or second one.

I love OOTP for my fictional leagues. But I just never liked the newer versions of OOTP for real players. Is the consensus here that Mogul is better when using real players and simming fairly quickly?

I like Puresim better for historical replays. I guess I like baseball enough that I could have a use for all three games :)

I can't speak for anyone but myself but ootp has grown too deep for me. For quick simming, BM does as good of a job of doing what I want it to do.

Looks like Clay has expanded the stats a bit, but I am so happy he's retained his interface!

I plan on buying the game tomorrow if indeed it's released and I post some impressions as well as I'm thinking I'll write a dynasty as soon as I finish this season in BM 08 and then I can start fresh with BM 09 once HoustonGM releases his roster set sometime at the beginning of April.

The dynasty will allow me to put 09 through its paces and see what's changed/improved from 08.

I finally have my team built in BM 08 and I'm hoping my last season is a trip to the WS. Believe it or not, adding Mark Prior to my rotation might have been the piece of puzzle I've been looking for as he's rebounded nicely, and so far, has remained healthy. (keeping fingers crossed)

In Mogul are there still instant free agent signings and no negotiations? I haven't played the game in several versions.

Yeah. Not sure if that changes in the new version but it's that way in last years.

Yep, still the same in 08.

I must be blind, but I'm having a tough time finding a page over there that details the new features in BM '09 compared to '08. What am I missing here?

edit: NM, I'm completely blind and missed MizzouRah's link all together. I was somehow at the old page and checking the forums and it was tough to find.

I found BM > OOTP for real-players. OOTP just has too many variables or whatever that make it so hard to get anything approaching real-life statistics.

BM is much easier to just "pick up and play" and get more realistic results, even if it doesn't track 17 different kinds of VORP and win-shares and stuff.

That said, I never bought 08, but I did play 07 for a while. Definitely got my $$ worth out of it.

Shame to hear about puresim - that would definitely have been on my list.

I do need to re-DL that onto this new computer and re-license it though, I think for historical-play it was awesome.

man I like those BM screenshots. Once I give the demo a whirl that may get my "baseball game $$" this year. Particuarly because the price-point is attractive.

I have a short dynasty going on in the dynasty forum for my last season with BM 08. :)

I buy Mogul every other year, usually play it non-stop for a few weeks, and then put it away. Never could get into OOTP, but if the sim-speed has increased since the last version, and they simplify the interface a bit, I'll give it try.

I don't understand that, this has always been one of the most fun aspects of any pro text sims, along with drafting and trading.

re: BM - has the whole "changing pitchers between starters and relievers" thing been simplified? It seems like it ought to be a lot easier than it is - in fact I don't think I can tell you how to do it.

BM blows chunks. The stats have always seemed way off and other problems that I have noticed with BM 07 have ruined any kind of immersion factor (like the game scheduling my team on a month and a half road trip-- home record in July 0-0). I thought I remember there being some strange injury things too, like a guy leaving a game with a broken arm only to be in the lineup the next day, or something like that (that's one tough SoB).

I have tried a couple versions of it and it always ends up on the shelf very quickly with my having major buyer's remorse.


On the scheduling thing: what is it about today's baseball games that can't get scheduling right? The freaking scheduler for Earl Weaver worked near perfectly from what I remember. BB Pro was the last game I remember where the schedule actually seemed about right.

It was 06 or 07 that totally sucked, but 08 has been a blast.

Baseball Mogul 2009 is out: http://www.sportsmogul.com/games/baseball2k9.html

$24.95

any impressions? I'm going to wait for the demo i'd guess, but i'm curious anyways

I'm not sure if I quite buy or get BM's "comeback" around here, but I'm curious about the new one. Is the only pitch that it's "easier" than OOTP? If I'm managed to somehow overcome my average intelligence and can understand OOTP, are there any other things that BM does better in the game itself?

I think there is something to be said about ease of use. Shrug. I've got an urge for baseball and none of the console games are going to fill that for me this year, I'm not convinced OOTP is going to be the answer as there are too many flaws that bug me still in last year's version, so I'm going to give BM 09 a chance after a hiatus of a few years.

+1

I just want a game I can pickup and play and get reasonably realistic results after a night of play. With OOTP there's too many moving parts that can result in things getting messed up it seems to me, and you end up with weird-ass results.

My first impression is that Clay needs some mirror links for the setup file. It is going VERY slow as in 13kb/sec. At this rate, it is going to take 2 hours for me to download a 103 MB file.

I guess this is probably a good sign for his early sales.