RBI Baseball 14 (PS4, XB1, PS3, 360, Mobile) - Spring 2014

[bdoughty]

http://rbigame.mlb.com/rbigame/home.jsp

MLB Supported. Coming to current gen, next gen and tablets, phones, etc.

[cdj]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bd_aQ8PIUAAZq8F.jpg

[bdoughty]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bd_aQ8PIUAAZq8F.jpg

That was an old game from 2008 (two entries as Take 2 was the PUBLISHER and Six Degrees Games was the DEVELOPER).


http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/major-league-baseball-takes-matters-into-its-own-h/1100-4843/

Today, Major League Baseball--like, the league--announced that it's getting into the video game business proper. And its first title? R.B.I. Baseball 14. Weird, right? Specifically, this would come from the company's Advanced Media arm, which was in the news last week as the partner for WWE's soon-to-launch streaming video service, the WWE Network.



2K got rid of all the MLB stuff on it's site, like it just vanished one night. Pretty much says to me, "We are not going to be doing anything with the MLB anytime soon."
This also explains the (*) stating MLB The Show 14 would be the ONLY DISC based MLB baseball game. (Emphasis on disc based as they had to have already known that the MLB was working on a game and one would presume it would be digital only)

[cdj]

That was an old game from 2008 (two entries as Take 2 was the PUBLISHER and Six Degrees Games was the DEVELOPER).


http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/major-league-baseball-takes-matters-into-its-own-h/1100-4843/

Today, Major League Baseball--like, the league--announced that it's getting into the video game business proper. And its first title? R.B.I. Baseball 14. Weird, right? Specifically, this would come from the company's Advanced Media arm, which was in the news last week as the partner for WWE's soon-to-launch streaming video service, the WWE Network.

Ah, thanks. Saw that pic online and thought the person who posted it did their homework.

I read that MLBAM is in charge, but I assume they contracted development out to an established game studio. However, there's no fine print on the website to confirm/deny that.

[JBHuskers]

YES!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

[bdoughty]

Just happy to have some baseball on the Xbox One.

[Rudy]

It's nice to have an option to play something else. I fired up MLB 2K12's demo the other day and had fun. I actually played the 2K10 and 2K11 versions over the Show because the Show got stale to me. They were fun games for about 50 games but then I couldn't deal with the bugs and flaws that existed. Other than the player faces (ugly vs the Show) I didn't think the graphics were that bad in 2K's baseball game. Some animations were but the game had some nice things. I loved the commentary and pitching and hitter's eye.

Hopefully we get some real videos on this soon.

[SmoothPancakes]

It's got my interest! I was hoping EA or someone would snatch up an MLB license and start working on a game for 360/Xbox One to fill the gap left empty by 2K (though it really wasn't all that much of a gap with the many issues that annually plagued MLB 2K).

[JBHuskers]

I loved RBI Baseball as a kid. I played it in the arcades all the time, then when I got a NES, I grabbed the Tengen version.

http://coldslitherpodcast.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/il_fullxfull-222620999.jpg

[psuexv]

RBI was a ton of fun. They needed to re-release Baseball Stars

[JBHuskers]

RBI was a ton of fun. They needed to re-release Baseball Stars

It was a 3rd party game, so if someone wanted to, they could.

[JBHuskers]

For those who have never had the pleasure of this great game.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfvLe0jOP_k

[bdoughty]

It was a 3rd party game, so if someone wanted to, they could.

Technically SNK (now SNK Playmore) would have to do it as it is their game. Since they have not made a new sports game this century, the last being on the NeoGeo, probability would be miniscule at best.

[bdoughty]

For those who have never had the pleasure of this great game.

Bunt Simulator 1.000?

[JBHuskers]

Bunt Simulator 1.000?

:D I noticed that.

Well at least it shows you what the game looked like.

[JBHuskers]

Re-enactment of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-GgbP9C9Zk

[cdj]

pastapadre posted a look at MLBAM's other offerings (http://www.pastapadre.com/2014/01/15/the-games-developed-by-mlbam). They seem to have a good track record:

Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) is the interactive and mobile division of the league. They’ve developed the popular MLB At Bat app and all the league websites. Most relevant though are the mobile games. There are three that released within the last year.

♦MLB.com Franchise MVP (Released 12/13)
Sim-oriented game focused on creating a player and guiding them through a career.

♦MLB Ballpark Empire (Released 8/13)
Management game that includes building stadiums, setting concession prices, and hiring staff.

♦MLB.com Home Run Derby (Released 5/13)
Straight forward HRD game with Arcade mode and traditional Derby mode.

All three games are free, rated decently well (Home Run Derby however has by far the best reviews), and utilize “MLBucks” for the economy making microtransactions a strong possibility for R.B.I. Baseball. It would seem a certainty for the mobile version of the game and a probability for the consoles. Obviously all the games are licensed so they include real teams and players.

[CLW]

Competition for The Show. I like it.

[JBHuskers]

Competition for The Show. I like it.

Not really. This is going to be arcade, not sim.

[Rudy]

I think I am probably going to pass on the Show 14 no matter what. The game just feels too similar every year and I'm burnt out on it. Hope to hear good things about RBI.


431456610586996737

https://twitter.com/michaelgbaron/statuses/431456610586996737

[GatorfanStovy]

I think I am probably going to pass on the Show 14 no matter what. The game just feels too similar every year and I'm burnt out on it. Hope to hear good things about RBI.


431456610586996737

https://twitter.com/michaelgbaron/statuses/431456610586996737

But yet u buy Madden year in and year out :fp:

[bdoughty]

But yet u buy Madden year in and year out :fp:


http://i.imgur.com/9dCKKH3.png

[Rudy]

But yet u buy Madden year in and year out :fp:

Not true. For me football is my #1 gaming sport so I do tend to buy one every year but not always. I used to buy NCAA every year and quit on that series. I gave up on that series with NCAA 12 and didn't come back to it until NCAA 14 after Madden 25 disappointed me. I have not liked a Madden game this gen until M12. Madden 12 was the first Madden game this gen I bought (other than M10 which came with an SI subscription) and I enjoyed it and M13. I bought M25 and sold it as I found too many things annoying. Madden does not have my guaranteed money every year and especially not this upcoming year. I may just roll with NCAA 14 again.

Same goes for baseball games. I didn't buy a single one last year. I just played the Show 12 a little and saved my money.

[GatorfanStovy]

http://i.imgur.com/9dCKKH3.png

Don't worry its me being me.

[Rudy]

RBI releasing April 10. They better gave more info soon.

[cdj]

RBI releasing April 10. They better gave more info soon.

And it only mentioned last gen consoles & mobile in that release, so there's some concern there may not be a next-gen version.

[SmoothPancakes]

Yeah, if it's a last-gen release, I may pass. I've pretty much put the nail in the coffin in terms of purchasing games for last-gen. All my anticipated purchases from here on out are for games on the Xbox One and PS4. I haven't even looked to see what new releases there have been (both retail and arcade) on the 360 since probably October.

[JBHuskers]

I'll still get it. I'm playing the PS3 more than the PS4 still.

I bet there won't be much info until the week before release. There hardly is any extensive coverage on PSN / XBLA titles. Not sure why it would be different here.

[CLW]

Achievement List

http://www.xboxachievements.com/game/rbi-baseball/achievements/titleDESC/

[cdj]

Achievement List

http://www.xboxachievements.com/game/rbi-baseball/achievements/titleDESC/

I'm seeing discussion on Twitter that those may be for an older, possibly unreleased game and not the upcoming title.

[SmoothPancakes]

I'm seeing discussion on Twitter that those may be for an older, possibly unreleased game and not the upcoming title.

Based on this showing up as the cover of the game, I'd be inclined to agree. That and there is only 200 Gamerscore worth of achievements there, which would make it only an Arcade game.

http://www.xboxachievements.com/images/game/775/cover.jpg

[cdj]

443778461576855552

443778628443074560

443778896362627073

443779099882831872

443779394322980864

[gschwendt]

Polygon has their preview up...
http://www.polygon.com/2014/3/12/5499176/r-b-i-baseball-14-mlb-preview-simple-fast-paced

http://cdn3.sbnation.com/assets/4125793/RBI14_5.jpg

[cdj]

Polygon preview: R.B.I. Baseball 14 wants to be the simple, fast-paced game you remember (http://www.polygon.com/2014/3/12/5499176/r-b-i-baseball-14-mlb-preview-simple-fast-paced)

To start, any Xbox 360- or Xbox One-owning fans of simulation baseball video games should disabuse themselves of the notion that R.B.I. 14 will serve as a competitor to Sony San Diego's PlayStation-exclusive title, MLB 14 The Show. MLB Advanced Media, the digital and interactive media arm of Major League Baseball, is aiming for something different — something that hews closer to the simpler sports games of the '80s and '90s — so Xbox gamers still have no options for baseball simulations this year, now that 2K Sports' MLB 2K series is no more.

"It's going to be very true to the roots of the brand, of R.B.I. Baseball," said Jamie Leece, vice president of games for MLB Advanced Media, in a phone interview with Polygon earlier this week. "It will be fast-paced; games can be played in under 20 minutes. From a user control standpoint, fans will find the controls to be 'classic,' reminiscent of the two-button controls from games of that generation."

MLB Advanced Media is developing R.B.I. 14 in-house with a team that, at its peak, had as many as 40 employees; it is the company's first console game.

Leece clarified that R.B.I. 14 will be an arcade experience; the term "arcade" carries specific connotations for sports titles, and they don't apply here.

"That's exactly one of the challenges with the word 'arcade' — as soon as you say 'arcade,' you start thinking about power-ups and boosts and things of that genre. And we don't have any of those [things]," said Leece. Actually, R.B.I. 14's developers are taking advantage of the massive trove of data that MLB Advanced Media collects during every real-life baseball game, and using it as the basis of player skill and behavior in the game.

MLB Advanced Media is pairing that real-life foundation with a stylized look that sits somewhere between cartoonish and realistic, as you can see in the screenshots above. While R.B.I. 14 features real baseball players — 16 on each of the 30 MLB clubs, a total of 480 — each of them appears in one of three body types. It's the kind of visual shorthand that sports games have used for decades: Big guys are sluggers, slim players are contact hitters and athletes of average build are balanced.

The modes in R.B.I. 14 are similarly basic. Three are available: You'll be able to play one-off exhibition games, take a team through a season (a full 162 games or less) or start at the beginning of the postseason. Each team has three jerseys — home, road and alternate — and you can gain access to a fourth uniform, a retro jersey, by completing a challenge in the season mode. The unlockable uniforms include the Brooklyn Dodgers jersey and the yellow jersey for the "We Are Family" Pittsburgh Pirates of 1979.

R.B.I. 14 won't offer any of the deeper, more expansive modes that fans of simulation sports games may be used to, such as single-player career modes or online leagues. In fact, R.B.I. 14 doesn't feature online play at all; multiplayer action is limited to local one-on-one games.

"What we're trying to [do] here [is] kind of capture an area that had not been capitalized on in a long time," Leece explained. "This is something unique [for] an audience that had not been served for a while."

An MLB Advanced Media representative declined to confirm last week's report of an April 10 release date for R.B.I. 14. The rep said the game will initially launch simultaneously on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Android and iOS in "early April," with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions to follow soon afterward.

[SmoothPancakes]

Goddamnit. I guess no true baseball until I eventually get a PS4 later this winter or next year and can buy MLB: The Show. :(

[Rudy]

Disappointing but not surprising. Could be fun. Pricepoint will be huge. At $40 or more they are dreaming.

[JBHuskers]

Goddamnit. I guess no true baseball until I eventually get a PS4 later this winter or next year and can buy MLB: The Show. :(

You thought this was going to be a sim game?

[SmoothPancakes]

You thought this was going to be a sim game?

I knew it wasn't going to be a sim game, but I was hoping it would at least partially pretend to be a sim. I knew it would be arcade, but what they've shown so far, it's more like arcade-arcade type, instead of sim-arcade. If that makes sense. :D

I'll probably just keep plugging away on MLB 2K13 for now. Maybe, depending on what my tax return looks like and if there's not something more pressing to spend it on, maybe I'd consider picking up a PS4 and MLB: The Show in the next 2-3 months, especially if Sony were to do a PS4/Show bundle (though unlikely)

[JBHuskers]

I knew it wasn't going to be a sim game, but I was hoping it would at least partially pretend to be a sim. I knew it would be arcade, but what they've shown so far, it's more like arcade-arcade type, instead of sim-arcade. If that makes sense. :D

I'll probably just keep plugging away on MLB 2K13 for now. Maybe, depending on what my tax return looks like and if there's not something more pressing to spend it on, maybe I'd consider picking up a PS4 and MLB: The Show in the next 2-3 months, especially if Sony were to do a PS4/Show bundle (though unlikely)

I just figured it would be in the same style as the old RBI Baseball games. Guessing this will be $15 or $20 since it's a downloadable game.

[CLW]

$10-$20 max for that game and I'll prob just wait until it goes on sale or is free on +

[Rudy]

It's supposed to be released today and it's $19.99 on the consoles. Very arcade like as you can control the pitch (move it left to right) after it leaves the pitchers hand.

http://www.operationsports.com/forums/other-baseball-games/721896-r-b-i-baseball-14-hands-preview-polygon-sports-earth.html

[cdj]

The game is currently available on 360 and iOS. It should be available on PS3 later this afternoon.

[JBHuskers]

I might just get it for PS3 and see if it comes with PS4 for free and if not, no biggie.

EDIT: Just read that there will be no season stats kept. Hmmmm. But:

A source close to the game told Yahoo Sports that RBI '14 plans to offer a multiplayer option available via free download this summer.

[Rudy]

No stats is ridiculous. Baseball is all about stats. At least track some basic stuff.

[JBHuskers]

No stats is ridiculous. Baseball is all about stats. At least track some basic stuff.

The original didn't have stats, so it's no big surprise. Someone thought that since someone will probably have 170 home runs in a season, that they didn't put it in with non-realistic stats.

[JBHuskers]

This was just posted today:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4EMOSgRZ7A

[JBHuskers]

I love how it still has the fly ball noise :D I'll probably stream some of this later tonight.

[CLW]

Looks like a $5-$10 type of game to me. I cannot imagine playing this over The Show.

[JBHuskers]

As a fan of the original, I like it. I don't care if it was $20. Easily put in four games before I knew it tonight.

[Rudy]

Kershaw looked unhittable in the short time I watched that game. Being able to pick different pitch speeds and still curve the ball after release makes that tough.

Not having stats for at least the user team in a season mode is idiotic. I don't care if the original didn't have stats. No excuse for not keeping some basic numbers.

[JBHuskers]

Kershaw looked unhittable in the short time I watched that game. Being able to pick different pitch speeds and still curve the ball after release makes that tough.

Not having stats for at least the user team in a season mode is idiotic. I don't care if the original didn't have stats. No excuse for not keeping some basic numbers.

When you look at it from the perspective of the game, it makes somewhat sense to not have them. It's going to be hard to sim unreal stats to keep up with the human. Like I saw one person say, they figure they could get 170 HR's with Miggy in a season.

[Rudy]

I don't care. They can at least keep track of user stats. Baseball Simulator 1.000 on the NES was a better game and tracked tons of stats - sim or not.

[CLW]

IGN: 4.5

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04/15/rbi-baseball-14-review

[SmoothPancakes]

According to Engadget, this is arriving on PS4 and XBox One next Tuesday, the 24th. The price will remain $20.

Sent from my Droid Maxx using Tapatalk because I'm a lazy ass

[JBHuskers]

According to Engadget, this is arriving on PS4 and XBox One next Tuesday, the 24th. The price will remain $20.

Sent from my Droid Maxx using Tapatalk because I'm a lazy ass

Great game, should have been $10.

[GatorfanStovy]

Dang 20 ouch :fp: if it was ten I'd jump on it.

[bdoughty]

Too much for me, looks like I will have to wait for a PS4 for some baseball.

[bdoughty]

Screenshots for PS4/XB1 systems released. One of them is for the PS4/XB1 the other image is for the 360/PS3. Care to guess which is the PS4/XB1 screen?

http://i.imgur.com/bfk3fTV.jpg

[Rudy]

Can't tell the difference. Those graphics wouldn't even push the power of a PS2.

[JBHuskers]

The only difference is some of the breakout players from this year are in the current gen versions. I'm glad I just went ahead and got the PS3 version when I did. No reason to buy it for PS4.