Old Timer Soliciting Opinions (360)

[Stain]

Hey, s'up.

If you glance over there to the left, you'll see I've been around OS since dogs were invented. I just keep my mouth shut in the forums and see if I can learn anything.

So, I'm a huge baseball fan and the clock would have to run all the way backward to FPS:BBPro '98 coupled with the fact of a complete and full population of real people in the old Sundown League to bring a nice satisfaction smile and trigger some fun memories of baseball video games.

I'm stuck on a 360 so .. "The Show" is not a viable option. And the one game in town for the three-six-oh I just don't get along with. 2K so pisses me off year to year with their Promises and Balks.

I am soliciting opinions of a game a half year old, released in July, and totally out of character for a 44 year-old:

The Bigs 2.

I'm looking to have a little fun and hoping that through some logical revisions from the first game that maybe I could accidentally catch the wave of a little franchise stat keeping ( not looking for OOTP equality here ) and let the graphics whoor in me out to run rampant - just this once - as I chase a decently fun game of baseball.

I honestly hoped that what might be total happenstance .. or flat dead luck .. might end up being a fairly passable core to the game of baseball I could play and play as a franchise, if I kept my expectations in check knowing what kind of game I was attempting to play.

Have it sitting over there unopened from Christmas, the One I got this year. What should I be looking for to brighten my outlook on time spent and where might I look for more? Any fansites with goofy stories dedicated to the game or a comprehensive list of CHEATS (yeah, I said it) so that I might tune in a good strong signal of general baseball? Any patches that got released that helped .... or not that big a game for a company to put in any effort in to paying $300 to detail a rusty '79 F-150?

Any chance for a Fantasy Draft to start off a team and then switches and sliders .. in your opinion .. that might bring me a decent baseball mindset with the fundamental sadness of 3 inches of snow and a wind chill of -6 outside?

Yeah, it's true I've got a hotmail address that starts "ootp3league" and never played a game of Triple Play in my life. But, lookin' for a change-up in a 1-2 count.

See, got unemployed, divorced, foreclosed and forced in to personal bankruptcy in '09. Slumpin' hardcore, Caught in the Mosh of The Great Recession and an evil, evil blonde.

It was a harsh year. Way harsh.

It's been quite a while now since I smiled and looking to engross myself with the platform of a game I have loved for 35 years and looking to the most knowledgeable bunch of folks I know on the Web to possibly help me find one of those upside down frowns if I do this, that and then this and that and then that too.

Wanna help out an old-timer trying to recapture a little of the glory-uhh? And maybe some tips so that they don't throw that speedball by me, make me look like a fool, boy?

I'd buy ya a shot of Tennessee Sour Mash and a green bottle from Amsterdam chaser if ya help me out *or* just let me know I'm wasting my time completely on my one and only this holiday and just why that might be.

Much Obliged in advance.

Much Obliged.

Dave

[Knight165]

Re: Old Timer Soliciting Opinions (360)

Dave;

I wish I could help you with The Bigs....but I do not play.
However, you make me remember fondly...of playing the FPS:Baseball games...going back to FPS:Baseball'94 in online leagues that consisted solely of guys on BB's.....handing in lineups to the commish and waiting for boxscores.
Imagine that.

Good luck.

M.K.
Knight165

[LucianoJJ]

Re: Old Timer Soliciting Opinions (360)

Try Strat-O-Matic for PC, or go totally retro and buy the board game version. You don't need a super fast computer to run it. Graphics and general presentation are not its' focus, producing realistic results, including statistical accuracy is its main objective.

2009 has been a struggle for many of us, for a lot of different reasons. Hang in there, and good luck for 2010!

[Stain]

Re: Old Timer Soliciting Opinions (360)

..

However, you make me remember fondly...of playing the FPS:Baseball games...

They had it down, didn't they? I found myself in a situation where the true brilliance of that series shined.

It wasn't the "game".

It was the social aspect. I was commish at a league called "The Sundown Baseball League. So, one day Doug Johnson sends me a mail. As in, The Lead Programmer of FPS:BBPRO98 Doug Johnson. Wants the Giants or something. "Hey, dude. That's a little unfair, isn't it? You built the friggin' game." No no no ..

OK, fine.

So, he starts bringing in all these high egos from all the Sierra/Dynamix games from back then to fill teams. THEN, I had Rob Smolka as a personal friend. Smoke wrote sports for PC Gamer and he starts telling his friends in the press that the game they are working on reviewing, the lead programmer or whatever owns the Reds in this league, right? So, here comes some major Bill Abner and, ah heck I can't remember all the major players of the online press but if you wrote sports on a major site back then, you were an owner in Sundown.

I'm just sittin' there.

It just happened.

I didn't know what to think of it. So, here comes Shaun Sullivan and Markus Heinson from OOTP and PureSim programming fame and they want in.

The social aspect was truly intense. These were some high powered egos on display here but generally witty and smart people. The whole league. Almost every team.

They just found some place to get together, talk some biz and generally play a game. That was The Internet in 1998.

The old Sundown Baseball League. Whew.

I'm a radio announcer by trade and we rigged up some way through ICQ or something where everybody could hear me do the p-b-p to The Playoffs and The Series. Hey, these dudes were as smart as it got when it came to programming. Just do what they say, ya know? Problem with the game? Guess what comes out? A patch to fix that EXACT problem we were having in the league. Pretty handy.

Out of The Sundown Baseball League came the online multiplayer portion of OOTP. I made the manual. It was cool. We just designed the perfect game for Sundown and Markus considered that would do for OOTP online.

Whew, that was a long time ago. Back then, I had four kids, a knockout blonde wife, an afternoon drivetime show on a 52,000 station, a rear engine sportscar, a Gibson Flying V and a house with an actual white picket fence.

Now we're ready to turn 2010. I got an unemployment check until Valentine's Day and then two choices:

Hobo or Suicide

And the moral of the story, kids, is ... enjoy what you have RIGHT NOW. One word will bring you down.

In a heartbeat.

And that ain't theory. I'm sittin' right here in The Zoo/Museum to look at.

Stare away and don't send no friggin' flowers in a couple months.

Buy a videogame.

DD

..

[KingV2k3]

Re: Old Timer Soliciting Opinions (360)

Hey,

Ran a search here and came up with nothing of consequence but fell across a few good leads with just a straight up google:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...=Google+Search

There might be something in there to get you pointed in the right direction.

Your post really resonated with me. I had a 2001-2003 like that, and now it's all good and a distant memory.

Find the fun and hang in there!

[Skyboxer]

Re: Old Timer Soliciting Opinions (360)

Dave;

I wish I could help you with The Bigs....but I do not play.
However, you make me remember fondly...of playing the FPS:Baseball games...going back to FPS:Baseball'94 in online leagues that consisted solely of guys on BB's.....handing in lineups to the commish and waiting for boxscores.
Imagine that.

Good luck.

M.K.
Knight165

I'd venture to bet we played together back then and never knew it....
Good times...

[GlennN]

Re: Old Timer Soliciting Opinions (360)

For me, High Heat 2k2 on the PC is still the best baseball (playing) experience out there. I have The Show 09 for the PSP and was not real impressed (can't check a swing, and it is incredibly frustrating). For text, I like Puresim. But, yeah, your post takes me back to the days of Hardball and the FPS series. Good times for computer sports gaming (RIP).

[Knight165]

Re: Old Timer Soliciting Opinions (360)

I'd venture to bet we played together back then and never knew it....
Good times...

It's quite possible Sky.
We had a thriving league(actually two) and I'll tell you...it was fun.


M.K.
Knight165