T.J.'s Time Machine - R.B.I. Baseball

[SportsorDeath]

Quote: Originally Posted by Djwlfpack

RBI was so much fun back then. I also played a ton of Bases Loaded. Paste and Bay used to tear it up on the New Jersey team. TJ: you're right about how today games are held to a higher standard. In some ways I agree that they should be scrutinized as we are paying more for the games, and thus, expect more. But, we've also lost that youthful innocence along the way. As you mentioned, bugs in games we played as youths didn't bother us. As long as the overall experience was enjoyable, that's all that mattered. I think we need to go back to that mentality when it comes to how we view games.

If you're old enough to have played 20+ years of different baseball video games, it is simply impossible to "go back" to that mentality. The reason we have lost that innocence is because a lot of us got in pretty much on the ground floor, so to speak, of baseball gaming, and have gone through 20 or more years worth of technological advancement in the games. Everyone always loves to wax nostalgic about all the great games of yore (myself included), but if you really think back, some of this "loss of innocence" could have been applied even then. Look at the difference between something like Atari Real Sports Baseball and RBI or Bases Loaded. Do you believe that, after playing the latter two titles, most people would have accepted a baseball game that came out afterwards with graphics and gameplay akin to the Atari game? Methinks not. As the technology of the baseball games progressed and matured, so did our expectations for them.

The games were a hell of a lot simpler then, but our minds and experiences with the games were a hell of a lot simpler to match them. It goes hand in hand.

[ZekeRoberts]

i think the article mentioned that rbi and rbi2 were the only games for NES, but I had rbi baseball 3... all 26? teams at the time, and then some divisional champs from the 80s... solid solid game, coming from a former 11-year-old who would play the game and then type up a box score on his parents' typewriter in the basement... that's right, a typewriter

[catcatch22]

I would play this game in my school in the after school programs and stuff when I was a kid 20 years ago. However it was on Commodore computers with the huge Atari style joysticks. Wow was that game fun back then.

[DJ]

Quote: Originally Posted by SportsorDeath

If you're old enough to have played 20+ years of different baseball video games, it is simply impossible to "go back" to that mentality. The reason we have lost that innocence is because a lot of us got in pretty much on the ground floor, so to speak, of baseball gaming, and have gone through 20 or more years worth of technological advancement in the games. Everyone always loves to wax nostalgic about all the great games of yore (myself included), but if you really think back, some of this "loss of innocence" could have been applied even then. Look at the difference between something like Atari Real Sports Baseball and RBI or Bases Loaded. Do you believe that, after playing the latter two titles, most people would have accepted a baseball game that came out afterwards with graphics and gameplay akin to the Atari game? Methinks not. As the technology of the baseball games progressed and matured, so did our expectations for them. The games were a hell of a lot simpler then, but our minds and experiences with the games were a hell of a lot simpler to match them. It goes hand in hand.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying here. The only point I was trying to make is that I think sometimes we get carried away with what we nitpick on with games.

Take Madden and NCAA...does it really matter in the grand scheme of things if the referees or chain gang aren't on the field? I know they were in previous versions, but it's not like those things make or break a game. I'd gladly give up some features for tighter, crisper gameplay.

With the amount of money we shell out for games we should have the right to argue about gameplay issues, but also remember that it's nearly impossible to have a "perfect" game. So, as long as the flaws aren't crippling, learn to love them and enjoy the game experience for what it is.

[SportsorDeath]

I do agree with you, Djwlfpack. I wish people could just enjoy things the way they are now, too. The sad truth is that the advent of the internet served to create a land of malcontents and nitpicking. Like Bill Maher said a couple of weeks ago, "the internet is for porn and bitching."

I have absolutely no qualms about people getting pissy over things in games that are big issues, such as the framerate problem in MLB 2K8. The kind of crap that needs to be curbed is people getting up in arms over sock colors being wrong and things of that nature.