If you didn't have an opportunity to play OOTPB 2007, you've been missing out on what GameShark called "the best fantasy baseball game ever created." Now, with OOTP 8, you get everything OOTPB 2007 brought to the table, and more. Here's a quick rundown of some of the features which make OOTP 8 and OOTPB 2007 an award-winning baseball simulation:

The ultimate control over your baseball universe
OOTP 8's flexibility in configuring a baseball universe is unparalleled. Players have complete control over the structure, rules, and finances of their world, including the new abilities to add or delete leagues at any time, to have leagues "feed" players into other leagues, and many other new league options. No simulation game has ever been this flexible.

Improved interface and usability
OOTP 8 features some great user interface improvements that make the game easier and more enjoyable, including a simplified navigation model with intuitive icons, a detailed in-game help system, improved in-game screens, and manager and online league commissioner "portals" that centralize the most commonly-used tasks.

Huge advances in the historical league experience
Historical leagues now feature an automatic expansion mode, including protection lists and expansion drafts. OOTP 8 can also now import the history of a league prior to the selected year, giving players complete historical data and record books! Other new historical features include automatic adjustment of league financials, league strategies and rules (i.e. playoff format, schedule length). We have re-introduced the concept of ghost players and the new option to block fictional players from reaching the major leagues. Combined with vastly improved statistical accuracy in historical leagues, the end result is the best possible way to replay the history of baseball starting in 1901, but yet with OOTP's characteristic flexibility. A historical fan’s dream.

FaceGen and Fictional Leagues
Fictional leagues come to life like never before, thanks to the addition of FaceGen technology, which allows OOTP to create unique faces for each fictional player. These faces age over time, and change accordingly to display the correct uniforms when players change teams, and so forth. You can also customize team colors, jerseys, and caps. In addition, OOTP 8 features a much wider variety of league news and stories, and a new player morale and popularity system really makes it feel like you are managing a team of individual personalities!.

Online League Improvements
The online league mode of OOTP has never been more user-friendly and functional than it is now. The new commissioner portal greatly reduces the administrative burden of running a league. Online GMs benefit from new features as well, such as an automatic waiver pullback option and an adjustable draft pool date that will give online leagues much more flexibility in processing amateur drafts. Commissioners can also now add and edit league news items and write game recaps, which will display both in-game and on league HTML reports. Commissioners can also manually select all-star team members and award winners, including a new custom award of player’s choice! These features are available in solo play as well!

League expansion wizard
The new league expansion wizard makes handling expansion in your league a snap. You can now handle the addition of new teams smoothly by scheduling an expansion draft and forcing teams to submit lists of protected players.

Trading
The trading model in OOTP 8 has been vastly improved. GMs can now mark players as "untouchable" or "on the block," with a corresponding effect on that player’s morale! The "shop player" feature allows you to quickly identify desirable trading partners and new trade-related reports put all of the information you need right at your fingertips. If you're up against a deadline, a "make this work now" button asks trading partners to put together a package they would sign off on immediately!

In-game experience
The experience for those players who enjoy playing out each game has improved greatly in OOTP Baseball 8/2007, including: strategic one-pitch mode, more natural play-by-play text, a "short PbP" option that displays just the outcome of the play and many other improvements to the in-game screens. Additionally, players can now write their own recap of the game that will appear in a game news article and will be saved along with the history of their game!

Improved AI and player development
The AI does a better job of managing its team than ever before and extensive statistical analysis and testing results in the most realistic player development system in any baseball simulation game.

Returning "fan favorite" features
Based on popular demand, a number of "fan favorite" features from previous versions of OOTP are back in OOTP 8, including an optional star-based rating system, adjustable AI player evaluation based on statistics/ratings, weather, ghost players, bullpen warm-up, and team focus.

How many game companies offer backward compatibility? With OOTP 8, you can easily import league files from OOTPB 2007, OOTPB 2006, and OOTP 6.12/6.5. Using the free demo versions you can also import your OOTP 4 or 5 leagues! With the new Catobase import function, you can finally restore the integrity of your league's history if you used Jeff Cato's third party tool in the past!

That's about all we have for now. We wish everyone a very safe and happy holiday and New Year, if you celebrate such things. If not, well, have a great time until the next newsletter! We'll be hard at work on OOTP 9 during that time, and we're looking forward to letting you know what we've been plotting!

Thanks very much for all of your support!

The OOTP Developments Team