| MLB Dugout Heroes | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Danchevy |
| Publisher(s) | GamesCampus |
| Platform(s) | PC |
| Genre(s) | MMO, Baseball |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Media/distribution | Download / Setup Info |
MLB Dugout Heroes is a massive multiplayer online baseball game for the PC. MLB Dugout Heroes was created by Danchevy , a Canadian based game developer. The game is the first fully licensed and online-based PC baseball game in North America. The game is known as Slugger in South Korea, and is hosted by Pmang, a subsidiary of Neowiz Games.[1] The game is currently still owned by Danchevy and for the forseable future it will be kept running until atleast the end of February 2012.
Contents |
GamesCampus signed a licensing deal with MLB Advanced Media in January 2009,[2] so they have rights to present actual ballparks and real baseball players in the game but this is restricted to Canada and USA only.
As of March, 2010, the game includes all current teams in Major League Baseball. It also includes eight professional playing fields; Safeco Field (Seattle Mariners), Yankee Stadium (New York Yankees), AT&T Park (San Francisco Giants), Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles Dodgers), Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox), Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs), Angel Stadium (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim), Minute Maid Park (Houston Astros), Jamsil Stadium (Doosan Bears and LG Twins), and Tokyo Stadium (Yomiuri Giants). Additionally, it includes a field called "Practice Field" for batting and pitching practice.
Every team starts with a fairly even playing field in terms of skills and attributes. Some teams will be strong in one area, but weak in another. An example: The San Francisco Giants begin with the best pitching staff to start, however they have no power hitters. If you want a team with good hitters and a good pitching staff you should pick the Milwaukee Brewers or the St.Louis Cardinals. The New York Yankees have great power hitters, but their speed is very low. The default team can not be changed once selected, so new players should choose a team they are fans of, and with which they will enjoy playing.
Games can be played for 3 innings, 5 innings, 7 innings, or 9 innings. Players can also choose which stadium to play, the time of day, allow people to watch, or turn extended innings on or off. Rookie players begin in the rookie server, only for players levels 1-5. The amateur server is for players level 6-19, and the Pro server is for players level 20 and above. Pitchers will fatigue throughout the game based on how many pitches they throw, and how many runs they give up. Batters will also fatigue and will need to be rested or else their attributes and chances of an error will increase.
All baseball players in the MLBPA from the years 2000 to 2010 are included in this game. Players can be purchased from cards in the item shop. There are many different types of cards that can be purchased:
In addition to the draft cards, there is a daily recruit which can be purchased.
World-Class rated players are extremely rare, and only include the MVP's and Cy Young winners of their respective year. These players begin with the highest combination of attributes than any other player in the game. The player's name is highlighted in purple.
All-Star rated players are also very rare, and include the best batter and pitcher from every team, per year. Each team has one All-Star batter and pitcher in each year from 1998–2010, as well as two All-Star batters and two All-Star pitchers from the years 1990-1997. In some instances, there is only one All-Star rated player for the team. The player's name is highlighted in blue.
Every batter has 5 attributes. Power (POW), Accuracy (BAT), Speed (RUN), Defense (DEF), and Throw (THR). Players can increase their attributes by playing games, and specific attributes will be increased differently based on the batter's position in the lineup and their performance. Batters in the 1st and 2nd spot will increase speed, batters in the 4th, 5th and 6th spot will increase power, and batters in the 3rd, 7th, 8th, and 9th spot will increase accuracy as well as their overall stats.
Pitchers will have between 3 and 5 pitches. Every pitcher has a 4-seam fastball. The other pitch types available: 2-seam fastball, changeup, slider, curveball, sinker, forkball, and screwball. Pitching attributes will increase based on how many times a certain pitch is thrown, and there is a bonus for getting a strikeout.
Certain World-Class rated players begin with specialty pitches such as: rising fastball, sinking fastball, upshoot, power curve, slow curve, slurve, cut fastball, splitter, vertical slider, horizontal slider, backdoor slider, palmball and circle change.
Players can now purchase most of these specialty pitches and equip them on their pitchers with Nuts.
MLB Dugout Heroes contains an item mall and an item shop. The item mall is available in-game and on the MLB:DH website. The item mall only consists of CC Items, which can be purchased with real money or from filling out surveys. The item shop is only available in-game, and players can purchase draft cards, or items that will boost their performance.
Items that can be purchased in the item shop: Uniforms, undershirt, bat, batting gloves, shoes, baseball gloves, glasses, goggles, accessories, coaches, logos, etc. All of these items will impact the players in different way based on what item is purchased and equipped.
Every player's default contract is for 8 seasons. One season is 50 games. After a player's 8th season is over, the user has the option to release their player or re-sign them for 1, 3, or 5 seasons. As the player gets older, his stamina will decrease at a faster rate, therefore will require more time to rest or the use of stamina increasing items. Likewise as the player gets older, the amount of nuts required to re-sign him will increase.
When a player is released, the team will be awarded a replacement card. This card will not be nearly as good as the player who has been released.
In March 2010, Gamescampus included a Home Run Derby mode. This allowed the player to compete with up to 5 other players in a best of 10, 20, or 30 pitch home run derby. Shortly after the debut of this new game mode, Gamescampus released a new event that rewarded players with 5 million nuts for going 15 of 30, and 1 million nuts for going 10 of 20. They also ran an event that rewarded players with up to $200 worth of CC. Currently, there is a silver box event. Players can earn three silver boxes per day in the individual mode by hitting 19 home runs out of 30 pitches. Players can also earn one silver box in team mode by hitting 4 home runs in a row. Another silver box can also be earned for each player if the team reaches 550 points in one round. You can get 3 silver boxes from the team having more than 900. If you hit 8 homeruns in a row you get 3 silver boxes and a 10/10 homeruns/pitches will get you 15 silver boxes and 15 gold boxes. If your team gets 1100 points in one round you get 10 silver boxes and 10 gold boxes. 1400 points by a team in one round will get you 40 gold boxes. And if your team just happens to get lucky, and this has only happened once, getting 2000 points in one round will get you an automatice Hall of Fame player.
Silver Boxes contain many things like super accuracy sprays, super power grips, super rosin bags, hassle owners and managers, and nut coupons. The chances for the near useless super items are ridiculously high, roughly 95%. Gold Boxes contain the same items as silver boxes, but also have a chance at a HoF player.
The game launched closed beta testing in March 2009 and soon after four weeks went into open beta. The publishers announced it went commercial in beginning of May 2009. The name "MLB Dugout Heroes" is trademarked, owned and copyrighted by the MLB.
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| GameZone | 7.5/10[3] |
| IGN | 7.4/10[4] |
IGN gave MLB Dugout Heroes a 7.4 overall rating and called it a "well-built, fun and – perhaps most importantly for this sort of effort – accessible version of America’s pastime.” [4] GameZone gave the game a 7.5 overall rating and wrote that the "players met in competition all seemed nice enough and the games ranged from extremely tactical, with base stealing and such, to blow-outs – both for and against this gamer.”[3]