From the Desk of the Sports Geek: Creating the Baseball Game of the Future

[RaychelSnr]

Most modern gamers probably associate the name Don Daglow with the popular Neverwinter Nights series, but to a sports geek like me, Daglow means one thing: computer baseball.

This past weekend I had a chance to talk to Daglow. For those unaware, he is the creator of the first mainframe computer baseball simulator. He was a pioneer in the world of console baseball and helped to create titles such as Intellivision's World Series Baseball. Other titles of his include the seminal PC baseball titles Earl Weaver Baseball, Tony La Russa Baseball and Old-Time Baseball.

When I spoke with him, he had some interesting thoughts on the state of the current baseball video games. We also discussed some ways these games could be improved, as well as why they most likely will not get those improvements.

Read More - From the Desk of the Sports Geek: Gazing into the Past <!-- () -->

[tomzenns]

Oldtime Baseball owned my life when I was growing up.
It was the first game that I updated rosters to be updated 94 rosters.
I was about 12 or so and the game is all I did when it was raining outside, I would play all day long.
Loved it then, and would LOVE to be able to find a copy, but that has been impossible to find.

[bhurst99]

Interesting article. I had no idea he worked on both the baseball games and Neverwinter Nights. That's quite a versatile career.

[AgustusM]

What I miss most from those games was real baseball SIMULATION. Current console games are fun, but follow the typical arc of: I lose all the time in the begging while I learn the controls, It is pretty good for awhile, then I get too good and win all the time and my whole team hist .400. This is the problem with all current sports games on consoles and most don't care because they do want to win all the time. Old guys like me want the challenge of a coaching/gm sim. OOTP is the best, but lacks the graphical representation we had back with Earl Weaver/Tony LaRussa. The 2k Front Office Manager had promise, but it seems as though no one in the console world understands what a coaching/gm sim is supposed to be, but sees how much money Si's Football Manager makes so they want to try - then they screw it up, it doesn't sell and they give up (to be fair they could probably make it perfect it still wouldn't sell well since only the old guys like me really want a game like this)

Head Coach 09 was a perfect example. I game I really liked and I still play, that was agonizingly close to being our best option since Front Page Sports Football 98, but ultimately with some severe flaws,horrific marketing decisions that not only made sure they didn't get the sales they needed, but insured they didn't even know how many sales they got. And now predictably it is a title EA has completely abandoned.

What do I want?, I want current gen graphics with the great UI and Detail of OOTP and FM for baseball, football, basketball and hockey. As it is the closest we have for that is soccer with FM.In OOTP, we have great depth but not even 80's level graphics for baseball and nothing close in football, basketball and hockey.

I like 20 sports more than I like Soccer, yet I play FM a lot because of the enjoyability of the depth, UI and graphical representation of the games. Here is to hoping that one day I will get a game with the depth I am looking for and the graphics the current hardware is giving us in the console world.

[MLB01]

Re: From the Desk of the Sports Geek: Creating the Baseball Game of the Future

Oldtime Baseball owned my life when I was growing up.
It was the first game that I updated rosters to be updated 94 rosters.
I was about 12 or so and the game is all I did when it was raining outside, I would play all day long.
Loved it then, and would LOVE to be able to find a copy, but that has been impossible to find.

Looks like you're in luck. I was lookin' for a screenshot of that game and actually found a download link, but it looks like you have to donate before downloading.. I am not affiliated with that site in anyway. Like I said, it's just something I came across you might find interesting..

[stlstudios189]

Tony Larussa baseball was one of my favorite games ever.

[goalie]

strat-o-matic, anyone?

earl weaver dominated my neighborhood for a year or two - all my friends made teams, and we had wild games back in the old days...

god, am i old!

[Eski33]

Statis-Pro Baseball was my life in my teens. Not only the board game but the Commodore 64 version developed by Avalon Hill. That game not only had all the teams but it had a create a team disk. All I did was by a magazine over the next two years and create each season. It took forever but the stats were sick...

[murph17]

i think a good baseball sim like OOTP or even a re-make of Micro League Baseball would kill on the the iPod/iPhone/iPad.

[statnut]

Re: From the Desk of the Sports Geek: Creating the Baseball Game of the Future

I'd love to see a baseball simulator game on the DS. It feels like it would be a perfect fit, use the touch screen for management(lineup, calling for a steal, etc), the top screen displays a game.

[dp68]

Even as great as I consider the FPS baseball series to be, I still felt EWB was superior. The customization was incredible, and as the article mentions, the ability to create an actual stadium was one of the best parts of EWB. That no graphical game has allowed it since is criminal, and a missed opportunity imo.