The OOTP Newsletter is the voice of the company and our way of keeping you, our customers, informed on special events, upcoming releases and ground-breaking developments. This issue focuses on Markus Heinsohn’s critically acclaimed baseball simulation, Out of the Park, and his upcoming sure-to-be a classic, Inside the Park baseball game.

Major Price Drop!

We are pleased to announce that we have reduced the price of the award-winning baseball simulation Out of the Park to $19.95! That's a drop of over 40% from the original $34.95 price tag. So, if you do not own the best baseball management simulation of the market yet, now is the perfect time to get it. OOTP 5 has received an average rating of almost 90% in numerous reviews from both famous and independent websites and magazines. Gamespot awarded the game a 8.5 rating, stating "Out of the Park Baseball 5 improves on the series and will no doubt keep would-be baseball managers up late many a night." Other ratings include a perfect 10.0 from BaseballSimCentral, a 4-Star rating from Computer Gaming World Magazine and 95% from Operation Sports. Download the game now!

Out of the Park Baseball Patch 5.14

The last official patch for OOTP 5 is now available. Here is the list of important fixes/enhancements:

• Fixed problems that were introduced with the release player option for online leagues. The game will no longer perform releases during the FA and amateur draft, and during the season will ask the commissioner for permission to release a player during imports
• Improved playoff rotation AI
• Fixed 'Phantom Double Play' bug
• Fixed extention bug which caused a player demanded more money when offered exactly what he asked for
• Enhanced contract extention algorythms. Some players will now give you more chances than others for extended contract talks, and also comment on their current mood, giving you a hint on how to proceed with negotiations

You can get the patch from the OOTP 5 downloads page.

We are proud to announce that Inside the Park Baseball (ITP), our promising new baseball product that combines role-playing with sports simulation, is close to entering beta testing. Development is proceeding smoothly, with just a few screens left that need to be implemented.

In the last newsletter, we presented you screenshots from the character creation part of the game. In this newsletter, we’ll go a step further and, using the ‘Easy’ difficulty setting, start the career of a new character, fresh out of high school, slugging first baseman, Markus Heinsohn.

Having created the character in the last newsletter, I am now ready to start my professional career. The final step of character creation is the selection of the league in which you choose to play. You can use the default league (a league with fictional players that mirrors the real life league set up) or you can simply import any OOTP 5 league. I chose the default league, and the character is available for the 2003 first-year player draft.

While the draft is being conducted, you can select the processing speed and check out the young players with whom you compete for a high order pick. Because of the 'Easy' difficulty mode, I was able to create a really talented player, who was selected by the Milwaukee ball club as the 2nd overall pick in the draft! The signing bonus that comes with being one of the high draft picks will come in handy when it comes to buying the first quality equipment.

This is the main screen of ITP, your virtual baseball town. You will find the following useful places there:

The Ballpark

Baseball is now your profession and here is your new place of business, where you have to prove that you can not only play the game but also match up to the competition. If there is a game on the current day, it will be displayed on the grass. If you are a starting pitcher, your turn in the rotation will be highlighted as well.

Your Home

Here you can get info on everything that is related to your character. Your stats, ratings, awards, equipment - it's all here. Also, this is the place where you can read baseball-related books, an especially important task for pitchers. Also, once you made it to The Show, here is where you can track the price of your rookie card as it value increases or decreases, based upon your performance in the Big Leagues.

The Sports Store

Spend your hard-earned money here! The sports store gets weekly stock updates, and you can find everything here that a professional baseball player needs. ITP features hundreds of baseball items, but don't expect the famous Wonderboy Bat to be in stock all the time! You may also sell your own equipment here, if you want to replace it.

Larry’s Workout Palace

Baseball players need to work out, and this is the place to be in ITP if you want to shape your body through workout exercises. The right training will help you develop your ratings faster; or if your age is nearing the late 30's, a balanced workout will help you to better maintain your skills.

The Front Office

This is where the money talk takes place. You negotiate your contracts with team officials here. The Front Office is also the place where you can find loads of information about your current organization, like the current roster, projected lineups, statistics and more.

The Internet Café

The internet cafe features the best of the internet, the ITPNET. Here you can visit the online auction house BBay, where you may bid on baseball items or sell your own. Also, the league website is available via the terminals in the café; the league website provides you with every bit of information that you can imagine about the league in which you are playing.

The Fiddlers Sports Bar

Frustrated about an 0 for 5 night? Stop in at The Fiddlers for some much needed rest and relaxation and improve your mood with a few drinks. But beware, if you lack self-control and drink too much, you will probably have the next 0-fer the coming day.

Screen Shots of the Various Locales:

When you are in need of new equipment, the sporting goods store is the place to visit. The stock of the store will be updated weekly. You will be able to find all the basic equipment most of the time, but the more expensive and rare items are not often in stock, so you will have to check in here on a regular basis if you are looking for the real hardware.

Home sweet home! Here you can view your most important stats and ratings on one screen. However, an incredible variety of other stats are available as well, even game-by-game stats of all your minor league games at any given point in the season. Your home also features your equipment, awards and, once you made it to the Big Leagues, your rookie card. The overall goal of ITP is to have a great career and, in the process, increase the value of your rookie card, making it a true collector’s dream!

Today there is a Single-A game against the Pittsburgh team scheduled. Before you enter the ballpark, you need to choose the equipment you would like to use in the game. Note, though, that It is possible to change equipment during the game as well.

The in-game screen for minor league games gives you all the info about the game situation and basic stats about your team and opponent. You can advance batter-by-batter, or simply simulate play until your at-bats. In Big League games, you can also watch the play-by-play commentary of every play. This greatly enhances the excitement. Imagine you're up in the bottom of the 9th, tied game, and you hit a blast... down the line... it has the distance... but the wind blows it foul! Then you rip the next pitch 430 feet into the centerfield bleachers!

While you can play out every game, you are not required to do so. You can also simulate periods of time, and this is the screen that displays current standings, leagues, and your latest game stats as the simulation proceeds.

Coming Soon!

That's it for now. We hope you enjoyed the screenshots. Inside the Park Baseball will be released in late 2003 at a price of just $19.95! Now that’s a steal that even Lou Brock would be proud of!

The Next Issue of the Out of the Park Developments will present exclusive coverage of the soon-to-be-released Title Bout Championship Boxing!