Re: Video Game Baseball Alcoholics Anonymous
The Microleague games were my first exposure to computer baseball and I played the heck of them. Oh and some game on the Atari 2600 that I remember because every time you hit a "fly ball" it made this godawful sound. And then this low-pitched sound when you made an out. I can't remember if I played any baseball on the Odyssey2 or TRS-80.
However, it would be Baseball Stars and Bases Loaded that really cemented me into video game baseball. Baseball Stars eventually would win out because of how freaking ahead of it's time it was. Creating teams? Player development? Having to put fans in the seats? Tracking stats? Some semblance of pitching rotations and carry over stamina status? Releasing, trading, and free agency? Female players? Female teams? This game had everything I could want. To this day, I still play Baseball Stars.
After that, I became a die hard PC gamer. That exposed me to Tony LaRussa Baseball, which I also loved. After that was the Baseball Pro series that would become my favorite (and still is) baseball series. It's one of the few baseball games that actually tried real physics, not just die rolls. MVP 05 was another that had a real physics engine in there and I loved it on PC.
I remember trying Baseball Mogul at some point. It was interesting, but I couldn't stay interested in it.
OOTP came around on PC and I gradually came to like it, though the early versions of the game felt very limited in terms of play resolution, but I was used to actual physics models while OOTP was all die rolls...and I was starting to get into sabermetrics so the whole "Avoiding Hits" thing (and the useless Avoiding Runs rating...that was inaccurate...at best) and how plays were resolved rubbed me the wrong way from OOTP2-4. Around OOTP5 or 6, it started getting better in my eyes and then when 9 came out with the scouting system that was awesome (and they sadly scrapped) and the development system that was more gradual and nuanced (that they happily improved on) - OOTP became positive for me. I still wanted a physics-based baseball game, though.
I remember playing some baseball games on the Game Boy a lot. The games escape me except for one with Bo Jackson's game (had baseball and football on it). Oh and Ken Griffey's baseball game on the SNES. Played that a lot, too.
I also remember trying to make my own baseball games. That's what happens when the love of AD&D, RPGs, funky-shaped dice, and baseball come together. I remember having ONE piece of paper with formulas and rules and die rolls on it for various situations. It was all crammed on one piece of paper and for whatever reason just one side of the paper (I probably wrote it on the back of something). I wonder if I still have it somewhere...
Even now I dabble with the idea. I have a folder if baseball research in it, and formulas, a retrosheet diamond that I divided into zones, part of why I constantly search out baseball data is because of this and I want to stay on top of the latest models (and the other part if because I'm addicted to baseball).
I really didn't take to many modern console baseball games until The Show 06. Even then I was still playing BBPro '98 solo and online leagues and getting more into OOTP in online leagues. It probably wasn't until MLB13 that I really got into The Show.
Other than that, I remember playing one of the Hardball games on PS1 a lot and I remember liking a song on the game I think that played after the game was over and you were looking at the boxes or something. I can't remember clearly.
But as much as I like The Show - I'm still waiting for the marriage of Baseball Stars, BBPro98/MVP 05, and OOTP. Still looking and hoping that it's out there somewhere yet undiscovered by me.
I know I'm a baseball addict. I will be like Julio Franco, 60 years old and still playing baseball. Just video game baseball. But it's still baseball and still "too old" to be doing it.
I will be playing some baseball game, somewhere.
The Microleague games were my first exposure to computer baseball and I played the heck of them. Oh and some game on the Atari 2600 that I remember because every time you hit a "fly ball" it made this godawful sound. And then this low-pitched sound when you made an out. I can't remember if I played any baseball on the Odyssey2 or TRS-80.
However, it would be Baseball Stars and Bases Loaded that really cemented me into video game baseball. Baseball Stars eventually would win out because of how freaking ahead of it's time it was. Creating teams? Player development? Having to put fans in the seats? Tracking stats? Some semblance of pitching rotations and carry over stamina status? Releasing, trading, and free agency? Female players? Female teams? This game had everything I could want. To this day, I still play Baseball Stars.
After that, I became a die hard PC gamer. That exposed me to Tony LaRussa Baseball, which I also loved. After that was the Baseball Pro series that would become my favorite (and still is) baseball series. It's one of the few baseball games that actually tried real physics, not just die rolls. MVP 05 was another that had a real physics engine in there and I loved it on PC.
I remember trying Baseball Mogul at some point. It was interesting, but I couldn't stay interested in it.
OOTP came around on PC and I gradually came to like it, though the early versions of the game felt very limited in terms of play resolution, but I was used to actual physics models while OOTP was all die rolls...and I was starting to get into sabermetrics so the whole "Avoiding Hits" thing (and the useless Avoiding Runs rating...that was inaccurate...at best) and how plays were resolved rubbed me the wrong way from OOTP2-4. Around OOTP5 or 6, it started getting better in my eyes and then when 9 came out with the scouting system that was awesome (and they sadly scrapped) and the development system that was more gradual and nuanced (that they happily improved on) - OOTP became positive for me. I still wanted a physics-based baseball game, though.
I remember playing some baseball games on the Game Boy a lot. The games escape me except for one with Bo Jackson's game (had baseball and football on it). Oh and Ken Griffey's baseball game on the SNES. Played that a lot, too.
I also remember trying to make my own baseball games. That's what happens when the love of AD&D, RPGs, funky-shaped dice, and baseball come together. I remember having ONE piece of paper with formulas and rules and die rolls on it for various situations. It was all crammed on one piece of paper and for whatever reason just one side of the paper (I probably wrote it on the back of something). I wonder if I still have it somewhere...
Even now I dabble with the idea. I have a folder if baseball research in it, and formulas, a retrosheet diamond that I divided into zones, part of why I constantly search out baseball data is because of this and I want to stay on top of the latest models (and the other part if because I'm addicted to baseball).
I really didn't take to many modern console baseball games until The Show 06. Even then I was still playing BBPro '98 solo and online leagues and getting more into OOTP in online leagues. It probably wasn't until MLB13 that I really got into The Show.
Other than that, I remember playing one of the Hardball games on PS1 a lot and I remember liking a song on the game I think that played after the game was over and you were looking at the boxes or something. I can't remember clearly.
But as much as I like The Show - I'm still waiting for the marriage of Baseball Stars, BBPro98/MVP 05, and OOTP. Still looking and hoping that it's out there somewhere yet undiscovered by me.
I know I'm a baseball addict. I will be like Julio Franco, 60 years old and still playing baseball. Just video game baseball. But it's still baseball and still "too old" to be doing it.
I will be playing some baseball game, somewhere.
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