Out of the Park Baseball 2007 now available

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, 23rd March 2007 - Sports Interactive, the sports management development specialists, have today released Out of the Park Baseball 2007 and a free demo for PC and Mac. Both the demo and full game can be obtained from the Out of the Park Baseball website www.ootpbaseball.net.

Out of the Park Baseball 2007 gives players the chance to do almost anything a real life general manager can do to help guide their team to glory. Players can design their own fictional baseball universe, create and import fantasy teams and players or simply compete with other human players in an online league.

Key Features and improvements

Improved interface and usability

Out of the Park Baseball 2007 features great user interface improvements making the game easier and more enjoyable, including: a league creation wizard, a simplified navigation model with intuitive icons, a detailed in-game help system, improved in-game screens and manager and online league commissioner "portals" that centralise the most commonly-used tasks.

The ultimate control over your baseball universe

Out of the Park Baseball 2007 gives players the flexibility to configure a unique baseball universe. Players have complete control over the structure, rules, and finances of their world, including the new abilities to add or delete leagues at any time, to have leagues "feed" players into other leagues and many other new league options. No simulation game has ever been this flexible.

Huge advances in the historical league experience

Historical leagues now feature an automatic expansion mode, including protection lists and expansion drafts. Out of the Park Baseball 2007 now offers players the chance to import the history of a league prior to the selected year, giving complete historical data and record books. Other new historical features include automatic adjustment of league financials, league strategies and rules (i.e. playoff format, schedule length). Sports Interactive re-introduce the concept of ghost players and a new option to block fictional players from reaching the major leagues. Combined with vastly improved statistical accuracy in historical leagues, the end result is the best possible way to replay the history of baseball starting from 1901, but retaining all the Out of the Park Baseball 2007 flexibility.

Fictional

Fictional leagues come to life like never before, thanks to the help of a wider variety of league news & stories, the player morale and popularity system and the ability to create fictional player portraits using the FaceGen technology.

Online

The online league mode of Out of the Park Baseball 2007 has never been more user-friendly and functional than in this year's edition. The new commissioner portal will greatly reduce the administrative burden of running a league. Online GMs benefit from new features as well, such as the automatic waiver pullback option and an adjustable draft pool date that will give online leagues much more flexibility in processing amateur drafts. Commissioners can also now add and edit league news items and write game recaps, which will display both in-game and on league HTML reports. Commissioners can also send messages to all users and manually select all-star team members and award winners, including a new custom award of player's choice! All these features are available in solo play as well.

League expansion wizard

The new league expansion wizard helps you expand your league much more smoothly by scheduling an expansion draft and handling the submission of protection lists.

Trading

The trading model in Out of the Park Baseball 2007 has been vastly improved. GMs can now mark players as "untouchable" or "on the block," with corresponding effects on that player's morale. The "shop player" feature allows you to quickly identify desirable trading partners and new trade-related reports put all of the information you need right at your fingertips. A "make this work now" button asks player's trading partners to tell them exactly what is needed to make a deal under negotiation to happen immediately.

In-game experience

The experience for those players who enjoy playing out each game has improved greatly in Out of the Park Baseball 2007, including: strategic one-pitch mode, more natural play-by-play text, a "short PbP" option that displays just the outcome of the play and many other improvements to the in-game screens. Additionally, players can now write their own recap of the game that will appear in a game news article and will be saved along with the history of their game.

Improved AI and player development

The AI does a better job of managing its team than ever before and extensive statistical analysis and testing results in the most realistic player development system in any baseball simulation game.

Returning "fan favourite" features

Based on popular demand, a number of "fan favourite" features from previous versions of Out of the Park Baseball will return in Out of the Park Baseball 2007, including: an optional star-based rating system, adjustable AI player evaluation based on statistics/ratings, weather, ghost players, bullpen warm-up, and team focus.

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About Sports Interactive

Sports Interactive (SI), is the world's leading developer of sports management simulations for home computers. SI's pillar titles cover a range of sports, including football (the Football Manager series), ice hockey (the NHL Eastside Hockey Manager series) and baseball (Out of the Park Baseball Manager). Founded in 1994 and based in North London, SI has a full-time staff of 34 and employs the services of more than 1,500 part-time researchers across the globe. Seven of SI's creations are among the UK's Top 20 best-selling PC games of all time. The company's future games will be published by the global computer and videogames giant, SEGA. Further information on the company and its games is available from the SI website, www.sigames.com.