| Baseball Mogul 2012 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sports Mogul |
| Publisher(s) | Sports Mogul |
| Designer(s) | Clay Dreslough |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release date(s) | March 18, 2011 |
| Genre(s) | Sports Management |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E (Everyone) |
| Media/distribution | CD-ROM or Download |
| System requirements
600 MHz+ Pentium or Pentium-compatible processor, 256 MB RAM (512 MB recommended), 500 MB hard drive space, 1024 x 768 screen resolution |
|
Baseball Mogul is a series of career baseball management computer games created by game designer Clay Dreslough. The product was first published in 1997. The thirteenth and latest installment, Baseball Mogul 2012, was released March 18, 2011. A proprietary database, included with the game, permits play in any season of historical baseball from 1901 to the present. The early Baseball Mogul games are considered to be influential works in the baseball management simulation genre.[1]
The Baseball Mogul series has incorporated many features over the years. Examples include sortable statistics in more than 150 categories, more realistic aging curves, and detailed scouting reports.
Developed and published by Sports Mogul.
Features:
Baseball Mogul 2009 has an average score of 65 on Metacritic. Reviewers complained there were not enough new features.[3]
Baseball Mogul 2008 was the best-selling PC baseball of 2007, selling over 115,000 units.
Developed by Sports Mogul. Published by Enlight Software.[4] Released 4 April 2007.[5]
Features:
The game now has MLBPA licensing, while early versions required players to input their own team names and used fake player names. (i.e.: Bill Mueller is Bert Mack and Barry Bonds is Bert Brundage. Players had the same initials as their major league counterparts but different first and last names)
Baseball Mogul 2007 was the best-selling PC baseball game of 2006, selling over 100,000 units according to NPD data.[6]
Baseball Mogul 2006 was developed by Sports Mogul and released on Mar 15, 2005.[1] It received average to high review scores. Computer Gaming World and Computer Games Mag awarded 3.5 and 3 out of 5 respectively, while PC Gamer awarded 90% and GameSpot 8.0 out of 10. GameSpot highlighted the addition of Lahman Database support, player personalities and realistic features such as expansion drafts and arbitration. The simplistic financial model was criticised, as was the lack of long-requested features such as lefty/righty splits and more managerial options.[1]
The full 2006 version was made available to download for free when 2007 was released.[7]
Developed by Sports Mogul.
Developed by Sports Mogul. Published by Hip Interactive.[8]
The amateur draft was not included in early versions of the game, as instead the computer randomly generated new players and put them in the minor leagues at the start of each new season. It was not until Baseball Mogul 2004 that the amateur draft was created.
Developed by Sports Mogul. Published by Monkeystone Games.[9]
Developed and published by Sports Mogul at March 2002
Developed and published by Infinite Monkey Systems.
Developed by Infinite Monkey Systems. Published by WizardWorks Software.
Developed and published by Infinite Monkey Systems.
Microsoft Baseball 2001 was an action-oriented baseball game that used the Baseball Mogul engine and allowed players to control the franchise. MLB Slugfest and MLB Slugfest: Loaded are a series of action-oriented baseball games for PS2, Xbox and GameCube that used the Baseball Mogul engine for in-game and franchise simulation.
Prior to Baseball Mogul 2007, all games were simulated, with the player assuming the combined role of general manager/manager/owner. Players oversee an entire baseball franchise, and possess the ability to set batting lineups, make trades, and set ticket and concession prices. Baseball Mogul 2007 added a play-by-play option to control every pitch of a game.
Baseball Mogul relies primarily on text-based menus. Its accurate simulation and expansive option set are popular among baseball fans of the genre.
When starting a new game, the player must choose from one of five options:
After selecting one of those five options the players must choose the level of difficulty (Fan, Coach, Manager, or Mogul). The opposing AI strengthens, and the player's initial operating budget shrinks with each increment in difficulty. The following options further determine the nature of the game's simulation and are listed under "Advanced Options":
A variety of player attributes are rated numerically on a 100-point scale, though none are likely to score lower than 40 or 50 except for relief pitchers' Endurance. Ratings vary over time with player development, aging, and injuries suffered. All players possess an Overall rating, a combination of all other measures weighted by position, a Peak projection of overall performance at the height of his career, and an indication of Health, the likelihood of succumbing to personal injury, which declines with age and major injuries.
Position players are rated for a variety of measures of batting, baserunning, and fielding prowess. Contact and Power ratings correlate to a batter's ability to connect with pitches and do so solidly, influencing batting average and extra base hits. Swinging-at-a-pitch determination, or not, relates to the Eye rating, with highly-rated players properly identifying good pitches from bad. Laying down bunts and running the bases are also measured, by Bunt and Speed ratings. Defensive talent is broken into Range, Arm, and Fielding ratings, measuring aptitudes to reach and quickly dispose of batted balls with skill and consistency.
Pitchers are rated for a variety of measures of pitching skills. Power measures pitch velocity and strikeout rate. Accuracy in pitch placement and walk rate relates to a pitcher's Control rating. Movement indicates the action, or movement, on pitches thrown, with highly-rated pitchers inducing more ground balls or popups from opposing batters. Endurance roughly indicates the pitch count that can be thrown before fatigue sets in, adversely affecting velocity, control, or movement.
Batting and fielding skills for pitchers are conflated into "Hitting" and "Defense" ratings, respectively, with values comparable only to other pitchers. For example, a Hitting score of 90 would not qualify a pitcher to start as a position player.
Many players choose to run leagues with their friends using Baseball Mogul. This gameplay is similar to fantasy baseball, except that the games are simulated by the engine and thus leagues can continue beyond the Major League Baseball season.
The league commissioner posts game results as a saved game file, and each player downloads this file, makes adjustments to his team, and sends his updated file to the league commissioner.
It had a short run from 1999-2008
Every several months, a patch is released. Currently, Baseball Mogul's official patch is version 14.07, and the latest "unofficial" patch is version 14.10.[10] When a version is X.5 or higher, it is considered a beta of the next Baseball Mogul iteration. For example, 14.50 would be considered an open beta for Baseball Mogul 2013. On the Sports Mogul forums, players report bugs with the current patch and also can request ideas for future version of the game.