{"id":138,"date":"2005-03-17T22:35:07","date_gmt":"2005-03-17T22:35:07","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2005-03-17T22:35:07","modified_gmt":"2005-03-17T22:35:07","slug":"checking-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2005\/03\/17\/checking-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Checking In"},"content":{"rendered":"

Baseball games have come and gone this season, but the only significant news is that there will be a new patch <\/a> issued for Out of the Park Baseball in a couple of days. I hope. Since this patch was promised as a \u201cChristmas present\u201d in 2004, many have speculated that Markus actually meant an early present for Chrsitmas 2005. No word on what is fixed or added by the patch.<\/p>\n

Sean Sullivan continues to plug away at his PureSim Baseball <\/a> game. He has a very loyal following and the game is much better than when first release a couple of years ago. The real shame in all of this is that I don\u2019t have time to really take a hard look at the game. I am an OOTP fanatic because of online leagues. Playing baseball games solo lost its luster after I joined my first online league, and there really isn\u2019t a significant PureSim multiplayer community.<\/p>\n

However, if I did play baseball solo, I probably would choose PureSim over OOTP6. I don\u2019t like PureSim\u2019s minor league structure, but everything else is set up to attract people who like to customize everything. Sort of the ultimate tweak file game.<\/p>\n

Speaking of baseball pruducts, it just amazes me how many years we see the same reaction to baseball arcade\/action games. One group will quickly proclaim that game A is the best thing since sliced bread. Another group will say they don\u2019t like the batter\/pitcher interface. Yet another group will complain that some major baseball aspect is seriously broken in the game. Bill Harris will lead a concerted effort to \u201cslider\u201d out the problem. Everyone will seek Bill Abner\u2019s slider settings. Repeat and rinse.<\/p>\n

High Heat was the last gasp folks. Until a serious sim engine is attached to these arcade games, this cycle will continue. High Heat 2001 was the closest thing to a serious arcade baseball game that I\u2019ve seen in my lifetime. It failed because of many lingering bugs that even the community couldn\u2019t fix and tweak out of the game.<\/p>\n

But that is is. Game over. Will never happen again. If you seriously believe that EA Sports or Sony (my God, Sony!) is going to make a serious baseball product, then you really aren\u2019t looking for an acurate baseball simulation. So be happy with what you have.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t get any better.<\/p>\n

This is why I steadfastly support PureSim and OOTP. These are baseball chess games. And they deserve to be played.<\/p>\n

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