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April 9th, 2012 - 

2012 Major League Rosters

You'll love our latest roster set, which features not only up-to-date Opening Day rosters for all major league teams but also thousands of individually-rated players for all minor leagues. Can Yu Darvish propel Texas to the top of their division, or will Albert Pujols give Los Angeles the pop they need to win that race in the AL West?

And that's not all. We're also current with the rule changes introduced by the new major league labor agreement, including:

• New rules for free agency, draft pick compensation, salary arbitration, and the amateur (Rule 4) draft
• Houston's move to the AL West at the beginning of the 2013 season, with the corresponding schedule adjustment
• A second wild card team in each major league, starting with the 2013 playoffs

Real-Time Simulation Mode

Here's a great way to feel like a big league general manager: turn on the new Real-Time Simulation Mode. While you browse stats, plan roster moves, look for available free agents, and so forth, OOTP simulates the current day in the background at the speed you choose, complete with a scores and highlights ticker at the bottom of the screen.

The league scores screen lets you follow all the games in progress, so if something exciting is happening, you can jump in and watch or take the reins of your team (or any team, if you're in commissioner mode). The game's stats update in real-time too, so if one of your pitchers just threw a no-hitter, you'll see that reflected in his profile, and the news screen will highlight his accomplishment. League standings and statistical leader rankings also automatically update as games conclude.

After the day's games finish, you can advance to the next day, or you can tell OOTP to play out all the contests in real-time for a preset number of days.

Interactive Storylines

OOTP 13 takes the storylines introduced by OOTP 12 to the next level with a layer of interactivity that brings you even closer to the general manager's office.

Here's an example: Your team is mired in a bad slump, and your star player takes his grievances to the media. Do you fine him to set an example, with the possibility he could become even more upset and see his morale decline? Do you ignore the incident and risk losing the respect of other team members? Do you take the drastic step of labeling the player a cancer and releasing him or arranging a hasty trade?

The decisions you make influence the way storylines develop. No two are ever alike, and they have wide-ranging effects on injuries, fan interest, team chemistry, player morale, player ratings, player potential, owner attitudes, and much more.

This system is optional, so you can turn it off if you want. We imagine there are many big league managers who would love to do that in real life.

League Associations and Expanded Playoff Modes

The game now supports associations with multiple leagues. Associated leagues may share certain rules, free agents, and/or draft pools. Once all seasons are completed in the associated leagues, the winners may meet in extra playoffs, determining the ultimate champion of your OOTP game.

League playoffs in OOTP 13 also offer more custom options, including, for example, first-round byes. Now you can run your league playoffs any way you want.

Redesigned Interface

We have completely overhauled OOTP's interface, creating the best-looking and easiest to use OOTP experience to date.

OOTP 13 introduces a number of new or completely recoded screens, including:

• A redesigned manager home screen with a new task manager that keeps track of when you last visited certain sections of the game and alerts you to tasks that need your attention.
• A new in-game screen that merges the widget screen with the broadcast screen and automatically utilizes the available screen space in an optimal way.
• Completely new team and league home screens.
• A new minor league system overview screen as part of the team screen.
• A redesigned player profile screen.
• A new global home screen that lists the most important information about each league in your currently loaded game.
• A new league association screen.
• An improved league schedule screen that adds a section which lists the next 7 days of action.
• An improved league standings screen.
• A new centralized online league screen.
• Improved league setup screens.

On top of the new and redesigned screens, we have changed the way HTML reports behave inside the game. In OOTP 13, these reports and pages look like normal game screens and links to teams or players act like normal game buttons, eliminating possible confusion.

The menu system has also been improved, providing a cleaner look at the available options presented by a menu. Among many more small but useful changes, we have moved the toolbar to the right of the screen so it can be hidden or shown with a single click of a button.

Improved Online League Play

Creating, commissioning, and playing an online league is easier than ever before in OOTP 13.

This year we streamlined the OOTP Online League functionality, as well as the entire online league experience in general. We added one central place for online league features - it displays all available options and actions for commissioners and managers alike.

Core Engine Improvements

Each year we improve or expand the game's core functionality, and this year is no exception.

OOTP 13 features the following improvements:

• Recoded trade AI engine, resulting in the most competitive computer GM ever in OOTP
• Improved pitcher creation & development. OOTP 13 creates fewer pure relievers for the draft. More pitchers are generated with the potential to become starters. Not all pitchers will capitalize on their potential, though; failure to develop an off-speed pitch or build stamina may necessitate a move to the pen.
• Improved roster AI in general
• Improved in-game AI
• Improved play-by-play and league news
• Improved simulation speed
• Improved historical simulation accuracy
• Improved ballpark import/export, including background pictures and proper ball coordinates
• Import / Export for drafts in online leagues

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