The BIGS Picture
Finally, some details about 2K Sports' arcade take on baseball.
Published: April 24, 2007
You can count on one hand the number of people in the office here that are die-hard baseball freaks -- if that arm belonged to an amputee. No, we don't dig the long ball any more than those so-called "chicks" do, but that's mainly because we all suck at it. Whenever the games come in, we send them off to whatever sports freelancer we've managed to lock down for that particular week and then watch with misty eyes as our hard-earned copies of those games just disappear into the either.
But we digress. The reason isn't so much that baseball games can't be fun, it's that we just don't want to be hung up on all them icky simulation elements. Games like MLB SlugFest were surprisingly fun not only because they mixed genuine humor and Midway's then-trademark over-the-top style of arcade sports, but because they where actually solid, accessible arcade games. But that was back when anyone could make MLB-licensed games, and now that 2K Sports has the rights to professional baseball, we'd just assumed that there would be no arcade games to tickle our fancy.
Well our fancy just got tickled again. We caught the announcement it a while back, but at the time there was really no solid info on just what The BIGS was going to be. Now we know. Imagine all the baseball players currently juiced up into roid-powered ball-crushing powerhouses were given some Flubber and allowed to pump any and all chemicals into their body that they wanted. Outfielders can jump stories high to catch would-be home runs, pitchers can turn on Big Heat throws, batters can crank out Power Blast hits in what 2K is calling "Turbo gameplay," and everything is basically amped up to ridiculous degrees.
Hyper-stylized though it may be, that doesn't mean the MLB license is going to waste. Real players will have their faces captured in surprising detail, but their specific abilities will be jacked up to insane levels. The stadiums, too, will be replicated with the same over-the-top style, turning Fenway's left field wall into a real Green Monster or the Giants' bleachers glove into an impossibly huge doppelganger. Interesting stuff, to be sure, but it's a little weird that Greg Thomas, President of Visual Concepts, who handle the development on almost all of 2K Sports' titles isn't chiming in t--
"With The BIGS, we want to take the baseball genre to new heights and redefine what a baseball video game can be," Thomas interrupted. "The BIGS has the fast learning curve of an arcade game coupled with deep play mechanics, amazing visuals, and hero-like presentation of real MLB players that will keep gamers coming back for more. The BIGS will showcase dramatic highlight reel moments at every at-bat, creating a truly epic baseball title."
Oh, nevermind.
But we digress. The reason isn't so much that baseball games can't be fun, it's that we just don't want to be hung up on all them icky simulation elements. Games like MLB SlugFest were surprisingly fun not only because they mixed genuine humor and Midway's then-trademark over-the-top style of arcade sports, but because they where actually solid, accessible arcade games. But that was back when anyone could make MLB-licensed games, and now that 2K Sports has the rights to professional baseball, we'd just assumed that there would be no arcade games to tickle our fancy.
Well our fancy just got tickled again. We caught the announcement it a while back, but at the time there was really no solid info on just what The BIGS was going to be. Now we know. Imagine all the baseball players currently juiced up into roid-powered ball-crushing powerhouses were given some Flubber and allowed to pump any and all chemicals into their body that they wanted. Outfielders can jump stories high to catch would-be home runs, pitchers can turn on Big Heat throws, batters can crank out Power Blast hits in what 2K is calling "Turbo gameplay," and everything is basically amped up to ridiculous degrees.
Hyper-stylized though it may be, that doesn't mean the MLB license is going to waste. Real players will have their faces captured in surprising detail, but their specific abilities will be jacked up to insane levels. The stadiums, too, will be replicated with the same over-the-top style, turning Fenway's left field wall into a real Green Monster or the Giants' bleachers glove into an impossibly huge doppelganger. Interesting stuff, to be sure, but it's a little weird that Greg Thomas, President of Visual Concepts, who handle the development on almost all of 2K Sports' titles isn't chiming in t--
"With The BIGS, we want to take the baseball genre to new heights and redefine what a baseball video game can be," Thomas interrupted. "The BIGS has the fast learning curve of an arcade game coupled with deep play mechanics, amazing visuals, and hero-like presentation of real MLB players that will keep gamers coming back for more. The BIGS will showcase dramatic highlight reel moments at every at-bat, creating a truly epic baseball title."
Oh, nevermind.
