''Microsoft Baseball 3D 1998 Edition'', also known as simply ''Microsoft Baseball 3D'', is a
sports video game developed by
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
and WizBang! Software Productions. It was released for
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
in 1998. It received praise for its graphics, but criticism for numerous glitches and its varying difficulty. It was followed by ''
Microsoft Baseball 2000
''Microsoft Baseball 2000'' is a sports video game developed by WizBang! Software Productions and published by Microsoft. It was released for Microsoft Windows in 1999, as an updated version of ''Microsoft Baseball 3D 1998 Edition''. Critics consid ...
'' and ''
Microsoft Baseball 2001''.
Gameplay
''Microsoft Baseball 3D'' includes all of the players, teams and ballparks from the
1997 Major League Baseball season
The 1997 Major League Baseball season was the inaugural season for Interleague play, as well as the final season in the American League for the Milwaukee Brewers before moving to the NL the following season. The California Angels changed their n ...
.
[ Players include ]Ron Gant
Ronald Edwin Gant (born March 2, 1965) is an American television news anchor and former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves (1987–1993), Cincinnati Reds (1995), St. Louis Cardinals ...
, Lance Johnson
Kenneth Lance Johnson (born July 6, 1963) is an American former professional baseball center fielder.
Career
Johnson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. After graduating from Princeton High School, he completed his education at the University of So ...
, Mickey Morandini, Sammy Sosa
Samuel Peralta Sosa (born November 12, 1968) is a Dominican-American former professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Chicago Cubs. After playing for the Texas Rangers and C ...
, and Todd Stottlemyre
Todd Vernon Stottlemyre (born May 20, 1965) is an American former professional baseball player. He played for 15 seasons in Major League Baseball as a starting pitcher from to , most notably as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays with whom he won t ...
.[ The game has three modes, including single game, season play, and playoffs.][ There is no home run derby or practice mode.][ The game has three difficulty settings,][ three swing types, and four pitch types.][ The game can be played in a manual mode or an assisted mode.][ The game includes the General Manager utility, in which baseball players' statistics can be edited, including their weight and height.][
]
Development and release
The game was developed by Microsoft and WizBang! Software Productions. Development of the game began in January 1996, and took 28 months.[ The baseball players' actions were created through 500 motion-captured moves.][ Because of its graphics, the game can only be played with a 3D accelerator card.][ The game was originally scheduled for release in October 1997,] but underwent additional development,[ before being released on July 1, 1998.] The game shipped without multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
capability, although a patch
Patch or Patches may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Patch Johnson, a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives''
* Patch (''My Little Pony''), a toy
* "Patches" (Dickey Lee song), 1962
* "Patches" (Chairmen of the Board song) ...
was in development at the time to allow such a feature through the Internet.[
]
Reception
The game received above-average reviews according to the review aggregation
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website GameRankings
GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
.[
The game was praised for its graphics.] Scott May of ''Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...
'' praised the animation and considered the graphics to be the best of any computer baseball game to date.[
The game was criticized for containing a number of audio and visual glitches.][ The ]artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
(AI) received criticism as well,[ although a patch was planned to correct this issue.][ Long load times were another subject of criticism,][ and the ball physics received a mixed response.][ Regarding the game's audio, '']GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
''s Michael E. Ryan wrote in his early review of the game, "Instead of complementing each other and fitting together to form a realistic game atmosphere, the various sound effects seem to be in constant conflict for your attention."[ Dan Egger of '' PC Accelerator'' similarly criticized the uneven sound effects.][
Daniel Morris of '']CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
'' considered the gameplay to be mediocre,[ and Rick Worrell of ''Sports Gaming Network'' found it to be the least impressive aspect.][ Egger criticized the lack of a home run derby,][ and other reviewers criticized the lack of displayed statistics during season play.][ The difficulty modes were criticized, being described as either too easy or too hard.][ Tom Anderson of '' GameRevolution'' criticized the assisted mode, stating that "rather than assist you, the AI just takes over, moving your fielder to the ball and making the play all on its own."][ Ryan wrote that it would have been better if "the computer simply gave you a little help starting the fielders in the right direction, then turned control over to you".][ During play, the game will sometimes rapidly change its camera angles for visual effect, although this was considered disorienting by some critics, who viewed it as one of the reasons for the game's difficulty.][ Anderson found the pitching and batting interface difficult to master, and the controls too responsive.][
Paul Rosano of '']Hartford Courant
The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...
'' wrote that the game "produced some fine features, but along with most of its competitors, it also falls down in enough other areas to make an unqualified recommendation impossible." May stated that the game's problems "can't be ignored or dismissed. But then again, neither can its considerable strengths."[ Anderson only recommended the game for "the most dexterous button pushers", although he felt that the game could be worthwhile with fine-tuning in a later release.][ Worrell called the game a "noble, if ultimately flawed, effort", writing, "This could have been a great title. Unfortunately, there are so many bizarre bugs and inconsistencies. ..it would take the mother of all patches to fix this game. Barring that, I cannot recommend that you buy it."][
]
References
External links
Official website
archived via the Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
* {{moby game, id=/windows/microsoft-baseball-3d-1998-edition
1998 video games
Microsoft games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games set in 1998
Windows games
Windows-only games
Microsoft Baseball video games