Out of the Park Baseball 15 Announced!

[olivertheorem]

Markus wins. Again. Like he does every stinkin' year. I haven't pre-ordered yet, but I will the moment I can swing the $35.

Originally Posted by aussiebaseballer

Impressive feature list. However you missed out the Australian Baseball League. The Canberra Calvary beat both the *** and Korean champions in the Asia Series. So clearly they are deserving of inclusion.

I guess I'll have to keep updating it myself.

On the bright side, with the existing international leagues and the associated improvements, your manually-built ABL should be even better this time around!

I am SO looking forward to a game with all those international leagues and such included.

[WestyQld2]

Now that Japan, Korea & Taiwan all have real players (fantastic addition, will spend countless hours), I can start begging for the addition of the Australian Baseball League with real players?

Thanks Markus

Edit: Didn't see the posts above regarding ABL! Please, please, please!

[Lukas Berger]

Originally Posted by aussiebaseballer

Impressive feature list. However you missed out the Australian Baseball League. The Canberra Calvary beat both the *** and Korean champions in the Asia Series. So clearly they are deserving of inclusion.

I guess I'll have to keep updating it myself.

We didn't miss it man. I'd love to have done the work needed to include the ABL. Given how much work the other leagues have been, the ABL would've been a piece of cake to include as well.

Problem is, the liberal use the ABL makes of players in affiliated ball means that OOTP would have to be re-coded to allow some sort of player loans. Markus has been quite definite that this would be a big mess to code and that he just can't get to it this year. I'm hopeful that we can get him to add this ability into a future version so we can include the real winter leagues and a WBC type tourney as well but we'll have to see if it'll end up being feasible or not.

I also really want indy leagues added to the roster set but that won't officially happen this year either. Anyhow I'm sure you'll agree that all the int leagues added this year are a huge step in the right direction.

Just to give you a little hope, making no promises, but if rl (which can be crazy busy in summer), the work I do on the int leagues and rest of the roster set, and the work I do on my NCAA roster mod allow me enough time, I'm seriously considering putting out a mod that'll include some indy leagues as well as the ABL and Caribbean Winter Leagues.

It would have the ABL and Caribbean Leagues with the players actually on their teams that aren't in affiliated ball and then they could just sign some FA's to fill out their rosters. If you can help with the ABL for that project, please send me a PM and we'll talk it over.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by Bottom Of The Sixth

Can someone please explain to me what Steam is?



Thanks

Very hot water vapour.

[VanillaGorilla]

I think this little feature will prove invaluable to users:

"New Ratings System

In previous versions of OOTP, the player ratings were absolute numbers based on the hidden internal player ratings. The problem with this approach was that you didn't know if a 60/100 power rating was actually above or below league average. OOTP 15 introduces a new optional rating system which calculates average player ratings for all positions at the start of the season and then displays player ratings throughout the game in relation to those averages. So, for example, you'll know that a 60/100 power rating is actually above the league average (which is always 50 in the 1-100 rating scale) - by one standard deviation, to be exact (for you math heads)."

This is great.

I do anticipate a complaint thread, or two, as ratings fluctuate in the season (like the complaints of the changing stars), but make no mistake, this an AWESOME addition. And in the awesome tradition of OOTP awesomeness, it is optional!

OOTP Rocks.

[tomwolf2008]

Originally Posted by lukasberger

We didn't miss it man. I'd love to have done the work needed to include the ABL. Given how much work the other leagues have been, the ABL would've been a piece of cake to include as well.

Problem is, the liberal use the ABL makes of players in affiliated ball means that OOTP would have to be re-coded to allow some sort of player loans. Markus has been quite definite that this would be a big mess to code and that he just can't get to it this year. I'm hopeful that we can get him to add this ability into a future version so we can include the real winter leagues and a WBC type tourney as well but we'll have to see if it'll end up being feasible or not.

I also really want indy leagues added to the roster set but that won't officially happen this year either. Anyhow I'm sure you'll agree that all the int leagues added this year are a huge step in the right direction.

Just to give you a little hope, making no promises, but if rl (which can be crazy busy in summer), the work I do on the int leagues and rest the roster set, and the work I do on my NCAA roster mod allow me enough time, I'm seriously considering putting out a mod that'll include some indy leagues as well as the ABL and Caribbean Winter Leagues.

It would have the ABL and Caribbean Leagues with the players actually on their teams that aren't in affiliated ball and then they could just sign some FA's to fill out their rosters. If you can help with the ABL for that project, please send me a PM and we'll talk it over.

I was thinking that the newly international league could be a starting point to eventually include international competition, glad to see you guys did think of that as well

[oldtimey]

I'm hearing about a lot of additions and it all sounds great. But what about G A M E P L A Y? I stopped playing OOTP because it's presentation of an MLB baseball game was not acceptable and not at the level of other games I have experienced. I personally don't care about negotiating with free agents, the Rule 5 draft or trying to scout the next Ichiro during the *** season. If OOTP 15 isn't improved when it comes to the nine innings between the lines, I will keep my money. I know the addition of 3d graphics with ball-flight will improve the visual appeal, but I'm talking about improved play-by-play season interaction, properly implemented warmup/bullpen drama (ingame and day-to-day) and much improved strategic AI by the computer manager before and during games. This game's reputation has always been in it's ability to appeal to whatever whim its owner would fancy. I might be in the minority, to say the least, but I like to create my baseball history one season, one game, one inning, one pitch at a time. If there is no evidence of upgrades in the ingame presentation, then OOTP 15 ain't for me.

[Fyrestorm3]

Originally Posted by oldtimey

I personally don't care about negotiating with free agents, the Rule 5 draft or trying to scout the next Ichiro during the *** season.

Hate to break it to you, but you're playing the wrong game if you don't care about that stuff. OOTP is a managerial sim first; that's why the focus is on the managerial elements.

That said, I'm sure there will be improvements in-game; there's always blanket AI improvements in every new release/patch.

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by VanillaGorilla

I think this little feature will prove invaluable to users:

"New Ratings System

In previous versions of OOTP, the player ratings were absolute numbers based on the hidden internal player ratings. The problem with this approach was that you didn't know if a 60/100 power rating was actually above or below league average. OOTP 15 introduces a new optional rating system which calculates average player ratings for all positions at the start of the season and then displays player ratings throughout the game in relation to those averages. So, for example, you'll know that a 60/100 power rating is actually above the league average (which is always 50 in the 1-100 rating scale) - by one standard deviation, to be exact (for you math heads)."

This is great.

I do anticipate a complaint thread, or two, as ratings fluctuate in the season (like the complaints of the changing stars), but make no mistake, this an AWESOME addition. And in the awesome tradition of OOTP awesomeness, it is optional!

OOTP Rocks.

I am very curious how this will work...hopefully for the better.

[zukes]

Originally Posted by BusterKing

Pre-ordered:

OOTP Baseball 15 PC & Mac (OOTP15) (Platform_Independent)
Registration Information:
Serial Number: OOTP15-####-####-####-####-####
1 42.82 CAD 42.82 CAD
subtotal 42.82 CAD
tax 0.00 CAD
grand total 42.82 CAD


WORTH EVERY PENNY!

Agreed, but man, our dollar is going back to
or poop

[dave1927p]

Well I pre-ordered.

My first version was OOTP9...and I simply cannot believe it has been 7 versions and over 6 years since i first "discovered" this game. Time goes by too fast.

Now just to clarify, we don't have to use steam, do we? If not I would be pretty upset as I have boycott them.

[BPS]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm3

Hate to break it to you, but you're playing the wrong game if you don't care about that stuff.....

I disagree. One can get great value out of OOTP even if you turn off things like free agency, rule 5 draft, and even certain types of scouting activity. Indeed, if you have free agency in a 1920s league you might be doing something wrong!

[gabeeg]

Since I have been satisfied with OOTP 14 I promised myself I would not purchase 15 until the All Star break discount...then I read the new features and pre-ordered...I am such weak, weak man.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by WestyQld2

Now that Japan, Korea & Taiwan all have real players ...

From my point of view they also need to have the respective leagues' actual playoff formats and roster rules...

[Fyrestorm3]

Originally Posted by BPS

I disagree. One can get great value out of OOTP even if you turn off things like free agency, rule 5 draft, and even certain types of scouting activity. Indeed, if you have free agency in a 1920s league you might be doing something wrong!

I think that's a totally different argument, though. I never said that the game couldn't be enjoyed without that stuff (oldtimey came closer to saying that than I did). My point was that, at its core, OOTP has been designed as a managerial sim, and therefore the in-game improvements generally take a backseat to the out-of-game ones.

[LouisSVillano]

I just pre ordered and am looking forward to those 2014 Opening Day major league team rosters!Thanks for all the hard work and constantly upping the bar!

[RchW]

Originally Posted by gabeeg

Since I have been satisfied with OOTP 14 I promised myself I would not purchase 15 until the All Star break discount...then I read the new features and pre-ordered...I am such weak, weak man.

This cracked me up. Heroin has nothing on OOTP.

[VanillaGorilla]

Originally Posted by RchW

Heroin has nothing on OOTP.

"OOTP...It's my life and it's my wife."

R. I. P. LR

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

From my point of view they also need to have the respective leagues' actual playoff formats and roster rules...

are they going to? Same with the new summer leagues.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

are the going to? Same with the new summer leagues.

Don't know, but it's a point I intend to raise.