We have kept these gems under the hat thus far, but now it's time to publicly announce the addition of two great news features:

Simple ball animations!

OOTP uses Retrosheet ball locations to calculate where the ball is hit once put in play. OOTP 9 will allow you to set these exact locations in the ballpark editor so it matches the ballpark image used. Now, when playing a game in broadcast mode, you see where the ball is heading using a simple but effective ball animation! This works at all play-by-play speeds, and even if you selected the short play-by-play mode. When using instant play-by-play, the final destination of the ball is indicated properly. Now you can finally see where that 450-foot home run ended up in the stands!

Save & watch game replays!

OOTP 9 introduces a feature that is great for solo players and even better for online league participants. The game now allows you to store complete game replays either automatically (using similar setting like box scores, i.e. just human teams, human leagues etc.) or manually. These replay files include the complete play-by-play, ball locations for the animation and sound effects. The replays are shown in a screen similar to the broadcast game screen, so you can re-live all those exciting moments. Storing replays manually works as well, and allows you to share your greatest games with the community. Replay files even include the final box scores, so after watching a game that you got from a friend you can see the final numbers easily.

For online leagues the replays are included in the online league files, and we have added a setting to the schedule screen to hide final scores, so you could update your league file, then jump into the schedule screen and watch the simulated games without knowing the result! That's extra excitement added for people who love playing in online leagues.