Do you think they will release a version for 2006?

[Gary Armida]

Re: Do you think they will release a version for 2006?

Anyways, I completely agree, this game ISN'T that far off... if you're the type that enjoys watching your baseball games. The franchise is really great, but when it comes down to gameplay... it's still off. It's almost as if the dev. team can only hope to tweak from here on out the actual gameplay.

Do you really feel the hitting system is necessary here? It's just still buggy... but at least they've rid the game of the "hit a HR at will" that was present in 2003 and still noticeable in 2004.

ESPN does one thing really, really well, and that's their "Zone" hitting. It's bar none the best of any game, EVEN HH. It's almost as if they took HH's implementation and went further with it.

ASB made some great touchups this year to their game that will hopefully be more than touchups next year. But if you look at it, especially in terms of sales, MVP was on top, with either ESPN or ASB being behind. If ASB came in third, and Acclaim didn't come off with much of a profit, I really think this series might not get the push it deserves.

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I completely agree with you on the hitting system. ESPN was really good. One of the reasons I didn't play ASB for the past couple of years was the insane amount of homeruns. This year, their zone system is horrible. They need to totally redo that for me to buy the game next year. I am putting up with the cursor hitting b/c I really like the the results I am getting, but I really hate the cursor. In this game, I feel like I actually have a team and my managing counts during the game ala High Heat. When to pull pitchers is critical and your offensive strategy is crucial in this game, like stealing on the right counts (for example, 2-1). I really like MVP (which as I have said is my co-favorite), but I don't get that feeling alot of the time especially on offense when it comes to stealing. You can steal on any count IMO.

All in all, this has been a good year for us baseball gamers; better than the past few years. I do agree with you and worry that acclaim may not be able to put the effort needed to make the necessary improvements like MVP will undoubtly do.

[HairyBeanbag]

Re: Do you think they will release a version for 2006?

Competing with MVP isn't about what's in the game, it's about what's on the TV and the radio and billboards and magazines and TBS overlays and all that. Nobody will ever be able to compete with the mighty advertising dollars of EA. ASB might be the best game out, but until somebody tells the masses that, it will never outsell a game that is advertised as much as MVP. Websites like OS have very little to do with overall sales. Even if OS gave the game 10 out of 10, that might result in an extra 5000 sales. Not much when you consider MVP sells over 500K copies a year.

I worry that EA is creating itself a nice little monopoly on sports games. They throw 120 people on a game, kick it out, and advertise the holy hell out of it while companies like Acclaim have 20 people on the team and put out maybe 2 or 3 print ads. Someone has to stick around to give EA some competition, and I hope it's ASB... I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[HairyBeanbag]

Re: Do you think they will release a version for 2006?

Competing with MVP isn't about what's in the game, it's about what's on the TV and the radio and billboards and magazines and TBS overlays and all that. Nobody will ever be able to compete with the mighty advertising dollars of EA. ASB might be the best game out, but until somebody tells the masses that, it will never outsell a game that is advertised as much as MVP. Websites like OS have very little to do with overall sales. Even if OS gave the game 10 out of 10, that might result in an extra 5000 sales. Not much when you consider MVP sells over 500K copies a year.

I worry that EA is creating itself a nice little monopoly on sports games. They throw 120 people on a game, kick it out, and advertise the holy hell out of it while companies like Acclaim have 20 people on the team and put out maybe 2 or 3 print ads. Someone has to stick around to give EA some competition, and I hope it's ASB... I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[HairyBeanbag]

Re: Do you think they will release a version for 2006?

Competing with MVP isn't about what's in the game, it's about what's on the TV and the radio and billboards and magazines and TBS overlays and all that. Nobody will ever be able to compete with the mighty advertising dollars of EA. ASB might be the best game out, but until somebody tells the masses that, it will never outsell a game that is advertised as much as MVP. Websites like OS have very little to do with overall sales. Even if OS gave the game 10 out of 10, that might result in an extra 5000 sales. Not much when you consider MVP sells over 500K copies a year.

I worry that EA is creating itself a nice little monopoly on sports games. They throw 120 people on a game, kick it out, and advertise the holy hell out of it while companies like Acclaim have 20 people on the team and put out maybe 2 or 3 print ads. Someone has to stick around to give EA some competition, and I hope it's ASB... I guess we'll have to wait and see.