The London-based studio, famed for its work on Football Manager (known as Worldwide Soccer Manager in the Americas) and NHL Eastside Hockey Manager, are to release the next incarnation of the award-winning Baseball series via digital download.
“We decided to go down this route when it became apparent that we would be unable to secure the necessary licenses to make a physical release more attractive,” said Marc Duffy, Product Manager at Sports Interactive. “The digital download system has worked well for OOTP in the past and, while it was always going to be an element of our release plan, it will now be the focus.”
"The move to SI definitely takes the game to a whole new level,” commented Markus Heinsohn, Lead developer of OOTP Baseball Manager. “Being able to code the new version from scratch, whilst learning from the massive SI code library, is something that we all felt would help the game tremendously. But even I am blown away by the results. Out of the Park Baseball Manager 2006 is by far the best version of the game we have ever developed."
To celebrate the forthcoming release, a brand new website has been created at www.ootpbaseballmanager.com. The website will also feature regular blogs from the development team on the game’s progress.
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Core game features :
- Manage your own baseball franchise
- Set up the line-ups, your pitching staff and depth charts. Demote the struggling rookie, put the injured starter on the DL and trade for a backup catcher. Manage the 40-man roster and scout the upcoming amateur draft pool. In OOTPBM 2006 you can do almost anything a real life GM can do to guide your team to glory.
- A realistic and accurate simulation engine
- No baseball game is complete without stats and OOTPBM 2006 is king. In addition to the multitude of statistics, a fully flexible engine allows you to make all the calls pitch-by-pitch. The game is truly as real as it gets.
- Customizable financial system
- Featuring the most flexible financial system in any baseball simulation ever made, OOTPBM 2006 lets you mirror existing intricacies or allows you to invent your own. The only restriction is your imagination.
- Scouting and coaching staff at your disposal
- All of the staff in your franchise have varying strengths, weaknesses, personalities and of course contract demands. OOTPBM 2006 puts all of your man management skills to the test; it’s in your hands!
- Endless possibilities with historical and fictional leagues
- Play the game with the real life setup of every major baseball league in the world and in addition, you can import every historical baseball season from 1900 to the present day. If that’s not enough simply create your own fictional baseball league.
- Create or join an online league
- Featuring a full online league mode, commissioners and multiple owners can battle it out against each other over the internet. Integrating seamlessly with FTP and HTML you can upload and download files and share them with friends.
- Slick intuitive interface
- Utilizing the technology and expertise of Sports Interactive, the game has a faster, smarter and slicker interface than ever before. What’s more, it’s fully skinable allowing you to change the game to suit your own personal tastes.
Out of the Park Baseball Manager 2006 will be released in Spring 2006 priced at $34.99.