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Major League Baseball Takes Matters Into Its Own Hands, Announces New RBI Baseball

Classic baseball series planned to return to old consoles, current consoles, tablets, and phones.

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I'd been wondering aloud lately about the status of the R.B.I. Baseball license. The game was originally created by Namco, but that game (part of Namco's Family Stadium franchise) was taken by Tengen (Atari under a different name) and released for the NES without a license! It was one of those crazy black carts, but a licensed version was also released. It, along with Baseball Stars, serves as one of the greatest console baseball games of all time, and any other answer you may think to provide is actually completely incorrect.

OK, I'll accept that you might really like Baseball Simulator 1.000. That first Griffey game for the SNES was really good, too.

Anyway, last developments in the RBI saga went cold years ago. Midway eventually purchased the Atari/Tengen assets, but I was told that the baseball license was sold off separately, well before Midway's last-gasp sale to Warner Brothers. An in-development game called RBI Baseball showed up for the Xbox 360, with a company called Six Degrees Games at the helm. It was never released.

Today, Major League Baseball--like, the league--announced that it's getting into the video game business proper. And its first title? R.B.I. Baseball 14. Weird, right? Specifically, this would come from the company's Advanced Media arm, which was in the news last week as the partner for WWE's soon-to-launch streaming video service, the WWE Network.

The title is planned for release this Spring and is listed as a release for "current and next generation consoles and smartphones and tablets." One can only presume that this means Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, and iOS devices, but heck, I'm just guessing at this point.

Can a new RBI Baseball game come out and not be terrible? Can a developer that's primarily known for making solid streaming video services possibly develop a solid arcade-style baseball game? Do I seem prophetic for running my look back at the original RBI Baseball a little over a week ago? Those are just a few of the questions that come to mind. Here's said look back at the original RBI Baseball, by the way...

Click To Unmute
Encyclopedia Bombastica: R.B.I. Baseball

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MLB has registered a Twitter account for the game at @rbigame. Crazy, right?

Jeff Gerstmann on Google+

101 Comments

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RedFive

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Edited By RedFive

I hope this includes a mode to play the Tengen RBI Baseball with 2014 rosters.

Also, I now hold out hope for a new robot baseball game. Something akin to Base Wars in 2014. God, I should just make that game.

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ultrapeanut

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The singularity draws nigh.

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Niceanims

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Duuuuuuuude YEEEEES!

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GaspoweR

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You made this happen @jeff...and you will bear the consequences for messing with the space-time continuum. 0_o

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reisz

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Approved by the League of Major Baseballers.

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TheHBK

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So is Giant Bomb too powerful and influential in the world now?

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BasketSnake

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Edited By BasketSnake

Lame 8-bit retro games. I only play modern warfare which require TRUE skills!

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libb

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Edited By libb

@theveej: Carbon Neutral Games presents Windjammers 2015.

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BD_Mr_Bubbles

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Edited By BD_Mr_Bubbles

@thehbk said:

So is Giant Bomb too powerful and influential in the world now?

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MooseyMcMan

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MooseyMcMan  Online

I look forward to Giant Bomb's continuing, and I assume extensive, coverage of this game.

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emprpngn

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JEFF PLEASE DON'T EVER PLAY TOO HUMAN EVER AGAIN.

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Fuwano

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It seems like the kind of thing that'd be really easy to get right and just as easy to get it wrong.

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CharAznable

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RBI Baseball is THE baseball game, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not holding my breath for this new one, though.

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Winternet

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Edited By Winternet

I see that our plans to take over the world are progressing at an acceptable rate. Keep it up, Jeff.

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HS_Alpha_Wolf

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So I might be out on my own here, but I fondly remember EA's Triple Play Baseball from the PS1 era. If this turns out to be a similarly attractive game that plays well it could be pretty awesome.

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Trilogy

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Edited By Trilogy

I'm sure Jeff can't wait to be totally disappointed with this game due to his impossibly unrealistic childhood expectations.

Jeff Gerstmann is also clearly the fucking Nostradamus of video games.

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Bambam15

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Edited By Bambam15

Jeff is a prophet.

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JoeRosa

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What have you done Jeff!

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Lyfeforce

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Next: WindJammers.

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49th

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Jeff what are the next lottery numbers please?

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EternalHaV0C

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Hopefully PC too but I doubt it.

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firecracker22

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@bambam15 said:

Jeff is a prophet.

I know, right? He posted that Bombastica on RBI Baseball...and then this? If a new Windjammers gets announced, then we'll know he's using voodoo or something to make this stuff happen.

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fattony12000

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Edited By fattony12000

#SaveShenmue

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LarryDavis

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What the christ, did Jeff will this into existence? Maybe a new Windjammers could actually happen.

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noizy

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@ouren said:

Someone told Jeff!

I've seen a few people on Twitter and here just decree that "he was told". That's a pretty bold statement that he did the Encyclopedia Bombastica in response to some foreknowledge. Is the insinuation that he's "in on it" and did it as some kind of marketing effort? Knowing Jeff, that would surprise me greatly that he would ever want to be part of a marketing effort beyond CBSi selling ads on Giantbomb. Jeff is no shill.

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colourful_hippie

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Edited By colourful_hippie

@rapid said:

Keep playing more Windjammers maybe we'll get a new Windjammers!

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flameboy84

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Edited By flameboy84

Hmmmmm I smell a conspiracy theory...

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Ozzer

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Micro-transactions used to purchase for relief pitchers and pinch hitters.

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deactivated-62a216db3532b

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Guess I will find out if modern sports games could benefit from being simplified.

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Sphinx

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deactivated-629fb02f57a5a

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Where do I bring my offerings to the prophet of the Bomb?

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Giant_Bomb

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@wolfgame said:

I hope to god they knock this out of the park!

.............

.......rods.

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SethMode

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I require a fresh pair of pants.

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Azurath

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Edited By Azurath

Jeff probably heard rumors and it got him thinking about the game recently, that's all. Done get your panties in a bunch, guys.

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generic_username

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Edited By generic_username

I was scared I got caught in a forward time warp to April for a minute there.

Weird.

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HisHeroIsGone

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Good times.

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JCee

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86 World Series, Game 6 in RBI Baseball

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t12qml7up-o#t=294

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Zleunamme

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Will gummy bears be the new power up or the mini syringes?

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goodlucktj

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Edited By goodlucktj

i adored rbi baseball back in the day - my mother bought it, along with gauntlet at the freakin' aldi grocery store, both games under the tengen name, both weird-looking black cartridges. i've never heard of aldi carrying video games of any sort before or since.

i am a little saddened that no one is mentioning extra innings for the snes. i played almost as much of that as i did rbi baseball. the game had no mlb license and, hence, no real teams, but it made for some fantastic baseball games with my friends and i back then.