Josh H

Sounds like this will be a more "arcadey" baseball game. The screen shots are amazing. I'm too lazy to post them though, maybe someone else will do the honors?

From cube.ign.com:

GameCube Hits Home Run

Sega announces Home Run King baseball for Nintendo's console. First details and screenshots!


Sega of America today announced Home Run King exclusively for Nintendo GameCube. The title, developed by WOW Entertainment, is scheduled for a March 2002 release in the US.
Home Run King (which originally showed up on US release lists as Line Drive Baseball) was first previewed in video form at the Tokyo Game Show 2001. It's a fast-paced arcade take on the sport of baseball complete with all of the Major League Baseball licensing gurus cannot live without.

Features

-Fast-paced, high scoring arcade gameplay

-Pick-up-and-Play controls, including an easy-to-learn hitting interface and auto fielding

-Four modes of play: Exhibition, Season, Playoffs and Home Run Derby

-Next-gen graphics with incredibly detailed player and stadium models and stunning weather effects

-Fully customizable players and teams

-Player specific batting stances and pitching styles

-Endless animations with everything from hook slides at the plate to leaping catches at the wall

-Immersive audio brings the game to life with colorful play-by-play commentary and hometown hecklers in the stands

-Fully licensed by Major League Baseball featuring every team, stadium, and player

-Endorsed by Houston Astros' first baseman Jeff Bagwell, who appears on the cover of the game

Judging from the screenshots and video (below), this Sega baseball game has got the visual goods to destroy just about everything out there. Highly detailed baseball stadiums, crisp, well designed polygon models with amazing facial maps of the real athletes, and beautiful animation to boot. We can't wait to go hands on with it.

We'll post a full preview on the title as soon as we can uncover some new details, but in the meantime definitely don't miss out on the newly released screenshots and Tokyo Game Show 2001 movie of it in action.

Gallant Pig

Are they ditching their Baseball 2Kx games?

Flay

Nope. World Series Baseball 2K3 is being released on April 23rd for the XBox and June 11th for the Cube.

jeffdsmith

I checked this game out, it looks like a lot of fun. Sort of similar to the original Ken Griffey for the super. Another great party type game for the cube.

Aghama

I dunno, the screenshots don't look that great to me, maybe the video is more impressive.

mmconhea

Holy poopy! The video is amazing. That's years ahead of ASB2002 from acclaim. At first I thought the video was real MLB footage. Wow. I'm really looking forward too this game now. I really love arcade-paced baseball games--Like All Star Baseball from SNK and Griffy from Rare. The graphics just rock and knowing Sega, the gameplay will too.

Aghama

Yeah, I checked out the video and it is indeed pretty sweet looking. Hopefully the crowd looks better in action than it does in the screenshots.

Chaos

Is it just me, or is GCn getting the shaft? PS2 gets the Grandia series, X-box gets the Shenmue series, and all GCn gets is SOnic and all the sports titles. I never saw anything in any sports titles, so this means nothin to me, but come on----we get Sonic, which is great, but what about all the other killer-apps that the others are getting?? I thought Sega wanted to make money, so why are they assigning certain names to only a few consoles? Why wouldn't they put all their big names on multiple consoles so they can make even more $$?? Why restrict their biggest franchises to only 1 or 2 consoles???????

AgtFox

Many people enjoy sports games and they are some of the best-selling games out there. Sega's series of sports games (except for NHL2k and World Series 2k1) have been excellent games. I do not put the NFL games ahead of Madden, but the NBA games are head and shoulders above the rest. Visual Concepts truly has a gift.

Super Monkey Ball (although it is coming to PS2) is pretty exclusive to the GC. There is a good chance that there will be more GameCube exclusive games coming from Sega. Best bet? If a Nights sequel is in the works it will probably go to the GC.

mmconhea

well, Sega wants to make money. So they are going to bring their big games to consoles that have more potential customers. Right now Gamecube can't justify the cost of bringing those games to the console. When the userbase is built up higher, probably after Star Fox and Eternal Darkness (if it turns out to be a good game) then Sega may think twice- of course by then the other console will have had the games for some time.

Kellehair

That's BS. The cost to port a game is miniscule compared to the potential profits.

mmconhea

Not really. Why do you think so many developers are making ports for x-box and PS2, but not Nintendo? Do you think they are just forgetting and they need you to remind them that all they have to do is port it over to the cube?

They have to pay salary for the team doing it. Possibly purchase additional development kits (which for Nintendo are the most expensive), design new packaging and manuals, Q&A (which also seems to have a high cost with Nintendo) then pay for manufacturing & distibution. It's expensive to set up a plant to manufacture items. The more they manufacture, the lower the cost per item. If the number of potential users for a system doesn't warrant the cost, then they don't port it. If they wait, Hype or interest in the particular game can dwindle and sales will will not meet expectations.

If Sega has a definite million Seller game they are making, what are they going to make it for to make the most money in the least amount of time? a system with more than a million consoles out already (PS2) A system that is selling well and has plenty of support on the horizon (x-box), or s system that is last in sales, but excellent Nintendo games that people are waiting to buy the system for when they come out this summer?

sniper308

Do the console makers pay software developers/publishers to provide their titles as an exclusive to the console/platform? In other words is Nintendo paying Sega for the exclusive rights to its sports games, and is Sony paying for exclusive access to Grandia?, and Microsoft paying for exclusivity to Shenmue? If so, then Sega is probably doing well by diversifying/hedging their bet, and putting different eggs in different baskets, while also achieving quick profits by signing the exclusivity agreements... Quick returns, not tied completely to one platform/console, ... just a thought.

mmconhea

I don't think I've ever seen it on paper that they do pay for exclusives. I doubt that there is an actual monitary exchange. It's probably more like " you make this game for us and only us and we will give you 2 free dev kits and charge half price on liscensing fees"

Tigger

This does occur from time to time. Microsoft gave Shiny Entertainment something like 5 million cash to be exclusive for the X-Box.

Taken from IGN:

Hungry for exclusive and original content, Microsoft has agreed to lend cash-hungry Shiny $5 million to secure rights to The Matrix for publishing six months prior to its arrival on any other console. According to the agreement, and in addition to the time-based exclusivity, no other platform, such as the GameCube or PlayStation 2, can offer Matrix-based games that feature Internet play.

Thrillhouse

Heres the link:

http://cube.ign.com/previews/17436.html

I'm also too lazy to post the pics .

jeffdsmith

It has very little to due with "developmental" costs. That is wrong.

Once a game is programmed and finished for a system, it is very easy to port that game over. This is the case with both the xbox and Gamecube. PS2 is a different story.

In terms of "Why isn't every port in the world coming to the GC?", it's because of the fact that Nintendo has positioned itself specifically against that type of software flooding the market.

The reason that Sega is spreading their titles IS because of deals. Not because of programming issues.

EDIT
Also The costs to release a game (production) of the PS2/Xbox/GC are all virtually the Same! Several developers have already said this. The days of Nintendo's inflated costs are over. (For now anyway.) The Dev kits are also similiar priced. It's true if a company that does not have them yet, would have to shell out another 20k, however we were discussing Sega and their releases. They already have kits.

Outlaw

In terms of Grandia and Shenmue,

Skies of Arcadia is coming out for the Gamecube I think, it was the best RPG on the Dreamcast.

Chaos

I never played it, but of all the RPG's I have played, Grandia II is the most magnificent I have ever had the pleasure to play--------good plot, deep characters, and great gameplay--------the only thing that's missing is total interactivity, which is the very essence of an RPG---interactivity.

Josh H

I don't think the GC is "getting the shaft." I hated Shenmue. It is a love/hate game and is a best a cult hit that appeals to a niche market, it's not a system seller. Same with Grandia, it's a great RPG, but not a system seller. We're not missing out on anything as far as Grandia II goes, as the PS2 port is supposed to be horrible. It got a 4.0/10 from EGM (the DC version got a gold award when it came out, which means it averaged 9.0 or better), mainly saying that the graphics are absolutely terrible, much worse than the dreamcast version, and that it is full of glitches that almost make it unplayable in places. I do admit that Grandia Extreme will likely be a much better, more polished game since it's being developed for the PS2. Personally I'll take Monkey Ball, Sonic, and arcadey sports games over Shenmue and Grandia anyday.