Software:Sports Talk Baseball

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Sports Talk Baseball
North American cover art
Developer(s)Sega
Publisher(s)Sega
Platform(s)Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
Release
  • JP: August 30, 1991
  • NA: May 1992
Genre(s)Traditional baseball simulation
Mode(s)1-2 players

Sports Talk Baseball, released in Japan as Pro Yakyuu Super League '91 (プロ野球スーパーリーグ'９１), is a Mega Drive/Genesis baseball video game which features an official MLBPA license as well as most rules and aspects followed by Major League Baseball.

Summary

Unlike real professional baseball however, the game ends when one team has 10 or more runs than the other team (win by domination, or "mercy" rule). Players can play either exhibition, regular season, all-star, or playoff games. It was one of the first video games to feature individual hitting abilities for each pitcher.

The most valuable (hitting) player in the game is Howard Johnson of the New York Mets. HoJo has the full capability in both running and hitting. He also has the ability to play infield and outfield.

It is considered to be one of the best baseball video games.[1] Rant Sports rated it the eleventh best baseball video game in history.[2] Stack rated the game as one of the top 10 video baseball games of all time.[3] Bleacher Report rated Sports Talk Baseball as the twelfth best baseball video game of all time [4] and referred to it as a "gem."[5]

Features

  • Rosters and statistics from the 1991 Major League Baseball season[6]
  • All-Star game rosters could be edited, allowing one to create their own team from players from both leagues, including the ability to have multiples of the same player
  • Different batting stances
  • Submarine-style pitchers

Other information

Live play-by-play commentary

Sports Talk Baseball featured Sega's sports talk speech synthesis for running commentary of each in-game play. It was their second game to feature this technology (Joe Montana II: Sports Talk Football being the first). In order to produce the running commentary, Sega contracted sports announcer Lon Simmons as well as the vocal reproduction company Electronic Speech Systems to record the unique phrases and play calls for the game. Being that several simple phrases had already been recorded in the previous game, much of Joe Montana II: Sports Talk Football's running commentary was reused for Sports Talk Baseball.

Japanese version

Instead of a running commentary, Super League '91 uses a constant soundtrack of Japanese drums during the game and a remix of the umpire voices to a techno tune at the main menu. There is no way to see any advanced statistics other than at the end of the game in the Japanese version (i.e., errors and hits). All the players are shown using hiragana with English letters being used only to show field position and the status of the player.

Sonic the Hedgehog cameo

If the ball is hit far enough, a black-and-white picture of Sonic the Hedgehog appears on a billboard with his name below it can be seen.

References

  1. ↑ "The Best Sports Games on the Sega Genesis". 19 May 2012. http://www.racketboy.com/retro/the-best-sports-games-on-the-sega-genesis. Retrieved 10 July 2016. 
  2. ↑ Smith, Douglas (12 September 2014). "Top 15 Baseball Video Games In History". http://www.rantsports.com/mlb/2014/09/12/top-15-baseball-video-games-of-all-time/. Retrieved 10 July 2016. 
  3. ↑ "The Top 10 Baseball Video Games of All Time". 20 February 2013. http://www.stack.com/a/baseball-video-games?slide=3. Retrieved 10 July 2016. 
  4. ↑ Reuter, Joel (27 June 2011). "MLB: Power Ranking the 50 Greatest Baseball Video Games of All Time". http://bleacherreport.com/articles/748008-power-ranking-the-50-greatest-baseball-video-games-of-all-time/page/40. Retrieved 10 July 2016. 
  5. ↑ Tylicki, Dan (12 April 2012). "50 Greatest Baseball Video Games of All Time". http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1140632-50-greatest-baseball-video-games-of-all-time/page/21. Retrieved 10 July 2016. 
  6. ↑ Bassave, Roy (September 7, 1992). "Video games". p. 14. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89618268/sun-herald/. Retrieved November 27, 2021. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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