OOTP 9 to be released soon

[Duane]

I have jst received the OOTP 9 mailing for pre-release sales. SOme really cool features coming in this version
Drug testing and suspensions
Brawls
Reasons why you can't sign a FA
Crowd noise and announcers

Looks awesome

[DanD]

is it 24.99?

[Duane]

yep ... pre-order is 24.99 then jumps 15 after release

[John]

Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention! Duane is indeed right: OOTP 9 has now entered the pre-order phase. I'll have more info about PEBA's plans as they relate to OOTP 9 later this week. For now I recommend that owners hold off on pre-ordering unless you are certain you want the new version for your own personal enjoyment! Here's the email that was sent out for those that haven't seen it:

Out of the Park Baseball 9 - PRE-ORDER NOW!
We are proud to announce the start of pre-ordering for OOTP 9!

The game is currently in beta testing and will be released in Spring 2008. The pre-order price is just $24.99, a substantial saving over the anticipated list price of $39.99.

Pre-order Out of the Park Baseball 9 now and save $15.00!
OOTP 9 PC/Windows Web Store
OOTP 9 Mac Web Store

The sequel to PC Gamer Magazine and Metacritic's "PC Game of the Year 2007" will feature the following improvements:

Revised Scouting System
The scouting engine has been completely rewritten in OOTP 9, largely based on feedback from our customers. With our new engine, scouting becomes a much better approximation of what a real GM's interaction with his scouting team would be. Instead of micromanaging a team of scouts, you now hire one scouting director and set a scouting budget during the pre-season. The scouting budget is distributed among four scouting areas (majors, minors, amateur and international players). The accuracy of scouting reports and is directly tied to your budget expenditures and the strengths and weaknesses of your scouting director. Your international scouting expenses will also directly impact the likelihood of your team turning up a hidden gem. A past favorite feature has returned, too. In addition to updating player ratings regularly, your scouting team now delivers a detailed text scouting report on each player.



Improved Financial System
OOTP 9 features a redesigned front office, featuring additional financial detail to provide increased visibility into where your precious dollars are going. No more uncertainty about why you can't afford to sign that free agent! Further, we have added two new optional revenue sharing models, one implementing a MLB-style luxury tax, and another that uses a set percentage of a team's income, which is then shared among small market teams.



In-game Sound and other Play-by-Play Improvements
The silence is over for OOTPers who like to play out their games! Sound has returned to the in-game experience. Listen to the crowd cheer as you manage games, with a play-by-play engine that has been improved to include more natural flow and realistic play-calling. Sound changes dynamically based on the situation, so that a crowd in a playoff game will provide a much different experience than that in a Spring Training game. All in-game sound is optional, and is customizable.

Improved Historical Play
Several improvements have been made to the handling of historical leagues, for example the addition of several new stats modifiers, solidifying OOTP's place as the most flexible, most realistic historical baseball simulator.

Opening Day 2008 Major League Rosters
No more frustration over finding a MLB roster set! OOTP 9 will come with a full set of real players, accurately filled down to the rookie leagues. The set includes the complete Major League history, and even some history for certain minor leagues. Start Major League play with one click from the main screen!



Great news for the Mac fans
The Mac OS version is now a universal binary, meaning that Intel processors are directly supported. Our Mac beta team has been frankly astounded by the performance improvement. Speed has also been increased for PPC-powered Macs as well, and support for mouse scrolling on Macs has also been added!

More new features

• Rankable Draft Lists: Online league players will be ecstatic to see this feature that allows GMs to rank available players before a draft takes place.
• Suspensions & Fights: The game now includes bench-clearing brawls and fights, which may lead to suspensions. Optional drug-related suspensions are also included.
• In-game Add-on Installer: OOTP 9 saves you the hassle of manually installing roster sets & templates. You will now be able to download and automatically install roster sets from inside the game.
• More News Stories: OOTP's news gets even more variety, as we have added even more news stories to the game, including news about individual hitting streaks, team winning streaks, and playoff clinching, and more.
• Flexible Playoffs: A revised playoff system, with many more customizable options, has been added to the game, giving unparalleled flexibility when setting up playoffs for your league.
• Exhibition Games: Exhibition games can now be played directly from the "Play menu," without the hassle of using the schedule editor.
• Improved Backup Function: Backing up your league data is important, and OOTP 9 offers you a new, customizable backup function that makes it easier than ever to ensure you are getting solid backups of the leagues that are important to you.
• Improved AI: Every year, we continue to work on the artificial intelligence of computer GMs, and this year is no exception, making OOTP 9 the most realistic management experience to date.
• Improved Personnel Contracts: Personnel now go through a contract system more similar to that of players, although not quite as complex. A huge improvement especially for online leagues, where teams will now have to bid for the services of the best personnel, instead of getting them on a "first-come, first-served" basis.
• Improved Player Development: The player development and aging engine has been enhanced. We have eliminated those aggravating sudden talent "jumps" or "bumps," resulting in a vast array of realistic career arcs.
• Improved Simulation Speed: The sim speed of OOTP 9 has been further improved, and Mac users' jaws will drop when they see the speed of OOTP with our new Universal Binary!
• New skin: We have added another skin to OOTP, which will come with three different looks: "OOTP Blue", "OOTP Classic" and the new "OOTP Modern." Additionally, leagues can now have their own fictional logos, and logo sizes have been increased to take more advantage of our skilled modder community!

This isn't all! A complete feature list will be published once the game is closer to being released.

As always, thanks very much to all of our loyal customers for your continued support, your contributions to the community, and for your amazing suggestions for OOTP.

Pre-order Out of the Park Baseball 9 now and save $15.00!
OOTP 9 PC/Windows Web Store
OOTP 9 Mac Web Store

Thank you very much,

The OOTP Developments Team

[Hitmen]

Luxury tax...I'm sorry, having a lot of highly paid stars isn't a luxury, it's a necessity

[Tyler]

I am drooling right now. The last one was the best: bigger logos.

[John]

I am drooling right now. The last one was the best: bigger logos.

Super Size me!

[Hitmen]

Scouting expenses relating to finding hidden gem...nice.
Luxury taxes that may relieve the need for salary caps...nice.
Bidding for personnel and no more waiver priority...priceless.

[John]

Scouting expenses relating to finding hidden gem...nice.
Luxury taxes that may relieve the need for salary caps...nice.
Bidding for personnel and no more waiver priority...priceless.

Quoted (and emphasized) for truth.

[Hitmen]

Scouting expenses relating to finding hidden gem...nice.
Luxury taxes that may relieve the need for salary caps...nice.
Bidding for personnel and no more waiver priority...priceless.

Quoted (and emphasized) for truth.

As we say in another forum I moderate, QFmfnE

[John]

A new OOTP 9 newsletter was released today. While it dealt with improvements to historical simulation - and thus isn't relevant to PEBA - there were four new screenshots that highlighted some nice improvements:


The game now has a section in the stats screen that lists all active and past streaks. This will be great article fodder!


We have revised the signing system for personnel, it is now similar to the player signing system which is very useful for online leagues and more realistic. Praise the Lord...


The team financials screen now offers even more useful info! Though it's not shown here, the financial screen will also now show a breakdown of exactly where your money is going... no more questions about why you don't have enough for contract offers/extensions!


Here is the new draft list feature for online leagues. Getch's online draft utility has worked great for us... we'll have to see how much more useful OOTP's system is.