We are sort of stuck between releases so obviously this idea is too late for 2009, but hopefully it'll make it into future releases.
Adding old time players and stadiums to the game is kind of nice, and allowing people to edit players so that they can create whoever they want is also kind of cool. There is however, a much better way to inject the grand history of Major League Baseball into video games: a Classic Playoff Mode.
This mode would allow you to pit teams from different eras in a full fledged playoffs to determine just which team was the greatest of all time. It could be done by allowing people to create teams and save them to the hard drive as a separate file, so that unlimited teams could be made. These individual team files could then be loaded into a Classic Playoff Mode. One that offered a unique presentation to help distinguish it from the modern game.
The playoffs could be set up as seen fit by the user, including the numbers of rounds as well as the number of games per round, so as to replicate the different playoff setups throughout history. There could also be different slider sets that helped shape the game by era, whether it be the steroid era, the dead ball era, the pitchers era of the 1960s, etc.
Other possible additions to this mode, as well as the game as a whole, could be a uniform editor and a stadium editor. These two things could serve both the aforementioned Classic Playoff Mode and the standard Franchise Mode.
The main thing to consider for a Classic Playoff Mode would be the sense of authenticity. To be done right it would have to be done with care and consideration, and not just thrown in as an extra thing to tinker around with.
Baseball, more than any other sport, is tied to it's history. It is time for this history to be properly recognized in video games. It might even be feasible for a company to pay tribute with a release entirely separate from the annual spring release. Whatever the case, it is time.
Adding old time players and stadiums to the game is kind of nice, and allowing people to edit players so that they can create whoever they want is also kind of cool. There is however, a much better way to inject the grand history of Major League Baseball into video games: a Classic Playoff Mode.
This mode would allow you to pit teams from different eras in a full fledged playoffs to determine just which team was the greatest of all time. It could be done by allowing people to create teams and save them to the hard drive as a separate file, so that unlimited teams could be made. These individual team files could then be loaded into a Classic Playoff Mode. One that offered a unique presentation to help distinguish it from the modern game.
The playoffs could be set up as seen fit by the user, including the numbers of rounds as well as the number of games per round, so as to replicate the different playoff setups throughout history. There could also be different slider sets that helped shape the game by era, whether it be the steroid era, the dead ball era, the pitchers era of the 1960s, etc.
Other possible additions to this mode, as well as the game as a whole, could be a uniform editor and a stadium editor. These two things could serve both the aforementioned Classic Playoff Mode and the standard Franchise Mode.
The main thing to consider for a Classic Playoff Mode would be the sense of authenticity. To be done right it would have to be done with care and consideration, and not just thrown in as an extra thing to tinker around with.
Baseball, more than any other sport, is tied to it's history. It is time for this history to be properly recognized in video games. It might even be feasible for a company to pay tribute with a release entirely separate from the annual spring release. Whatever the case, it is time.
I don't have that power, that's in the hands of publishers.
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