Why Aren't Baseball Video Games Any Good?

We like to play the occasional video game, but we don't obsess over them, mostly because we're not very good at them. We have, however, obsessed over Strat-o-Matic before, because we're a nerd for baseball simulation. (A bit redundant phrasing, we agree.)

Escapist Magazine asks: why doesn't anyone play baseball video games anymore? Heck, people still just talk about RBI Baseball. Why do current games kind of suck?

Baseball has eight players acting independently on every defensive play, and as many as four base runners functioning with only minimal support from a human. Sure, programmers can give us increasing levels of control over these in-game players, but the learning curve skyrockets. The only other option is to put most control over these players' actions in the hands of AI, which ultimately takes away from the player the bulk of the responsibility for any single game's outcome. And no matter what kind of game you're talking about, that's a formula for disaster.

It's a shame too, because we always buy baseball video games, thinking they're going to be cool, and we end up just admiring how good a job they did rendering the stadiums, and then we never play the games themselves.

Peanuts And Cracker Jack [Escapist Magazine]