Cal Ripken's Real Baseball - Development and History

Development and History

Netamin Communication Corporation was the developer behind Real Baseball Online (RBO), with the company having been founded in 1999. Netamin became the world's first company to develop the technology to build a Massively Multiplayer Online Sports Game (MMSOG), led by its found and CEO (Chief Entertainment Officer), Andy Wang. The game entered live Beta testing in April 2004 and late in its development was associated with Disney/ESPN. Former Major League Baseball player Darrell Evans served as the game's "Ambassador" for the majority of its history until shortly after the ESPN deal was signed. After the release of Ultimate Baseball Online 2006 (known simply as UBO), the game had officially ended its Beta phase. Netamin announced a monthly subscription fee for UBO in September 2006, consisting of a $7.95 monthly fee for early adopters and a $9.95 monthly charge for new players. The subscription fee was met with negative reaction by players, prompting Netamin to create a new season and league system, while making the game free to play for those only participating in pickup baseball games.

The game still had its share of bugs and other issues, as explained in the download page on CNET.com. Even though Disney/ESPN insisted the game get visual face lift, this introduced more problems than it solved and ultimately led to the game's demise. Players angry over the subsciption fees lashed out at what were known as "General Managers" or "GM's", people who worked for Netamin who overlooked games and tournaments online on the games message boards. This was a freaking joke, the GM's all kids playing games all day long only cared about playing not the stupid people paying. Player reception to paid service led Netamin to try to find other ways to attract players and defray costs, eventually leading to in-game advertising.

Netamin offered discounts to players who signed up for six months or one year subscriptions and gave away free months of subscriptions for winning in tournaments but nothing lured large enough numbers of players. Netamin then tried to offer new players a limited time free play where they could download and play the game for free, but once they reached a certain level were forced to pay if they wanted to continue. This also failed, and Netamin was at a loss to gain subscriptions. With seasoned players leaving the game and new player not sticking around to pay for the game, Netamin was forced to end subscription fees and once again offer the game to play for free.

Although there are still some things to be worked out, there is enormous potential. Major plusses for the game are that for one, the download is free (as opposed to paying a $40 fee just to obtain the game), you can play as many pickup games and build up your character as you see fit without cost, but now you can also join a pay league and win some decent prizes.

Review of Ultimate Baseball Online 2006 by Dan Clarke of GameShark.com