Hi everyone! Sorry for the frequent e-mails, but we have had a lot of changes in the past few days, and wanted to keep sharing it with you. Don't worry, we don't have enough time to send you newsletters every few days year-round! So, after this message, we'll go back to somewhat more infrequent mailings.

As we mentioned in our last newsletter, we (OOTP Developments) are now on our own again. That means a lot of change for us, as we go back to being a very small operation. Fortunately, it won't mean much change for you guys. However, developing, testing, marketing, and supporting a game is a lot of work, too much for two people, even with all of the great volunteer support we get. Which brings us to our first piece of news for today:

We're pleased to announce that Steve Battisti ("battists") has joined OOTP Developments. Unless you've avoided the forums completely, you know who Steve is. Steve originally got involved with us in 2006, when he offered to help write a manual for the game, and was one of the beta testers. We were very impressed with the quality and volume of his work, and very importantly to us, he seemed to do a great job of getting along with the community too.

Steve did a ridiculous amount of work for OOTPB 2007, especially for a volunteer. He managed the entire beta testing process, wrote the manual, developed the in-game help system with Andreas, managed the creation of in-game text, wrote and recorded tutorials, managed our bug tracking system, and more, all while remaining pleasant and great to work with. Together with Marc Duffy, he essentially managed all of the work that allowed Markus and Andreas to focus on coding features and fixing bugs.

Going forward, Steve will do much of the same stuff, as well as taking over some of the responsibilities that Marc Duffy handled. Steve will still only be with us part-time, but maybe we can change that if we hit a home run with the next version! So, welcome, Steve!

With the split from SEGA/SI, we are returning to our old naming convention. So, the next version of the game will be called "OOTP 9". As you saw in the last newsletter, we'll be wrapping up collection of suggestions for the next version on Friday, September 28th. This marks the beginning of the development cycle for OOTP 9. We already have some great new ideas, and some changes to our development process that we think will continue to make OOTP better and better. We don't expect OOTP 9 to be wildly different from OOTP Baseball 2007. That is, we won't be scrapping the interface or anything like that. As with OOTP Baseball 2007, expect OOTP 9 to contain many nice new features, some improvements to the interface, and a bunch of smaller improvements to baseball play and the stability of the game. FaceGen will remain in the game, and we're determined to make a "real roster" set a success next year. However, an actual MLB license is unlikely to happen, because it would probably result in a big price increase and some significant restrictions on the game that we're not willing to accept. We're really looking forward to getting started!

As part of the split with SEGA, SEGA still owns the rights to OOTPB 2007. However, we are also allowed to release our own version of the game. As a result, we will be releasing "OOTP 8" shortly. OOTP 8 will be the exact same game as OOTP Baseball 2007, just branded with our company name, and sold through our web site and shareware sites. It will have no impact on those of you who already own the game, but will provide some extra sales for us during the transition back to a small company. A few notes about OOTP 8 that might help clarify things:

OOTP 8 and OOTP Baseball 2007 will be completely compatible. That is, you can share leagues between the two versions, and online league owners can have a mix of OOTP 8 and OOTP Baseball 2007.

There is no need for owners of OOTP Baseball 2007 to purchase OOTP 8. They are the same game.

OOTP 8 will be released patched up to the final patch version (patch #3), which will be released shortly. Unless some major crisis crops up, we do not plan any patches for OOTP 8.

Possibly the biggest news for today is that we are currently designing a new game, based on OOTP, called "OOTP Online". OOTP Online will be a subscription-based online league version of OOTP, that will be marketed towards fantasy baseball players. OOTP Online would use the OOTP engine for simulating, but would be competely hosted, and would be largely automated. OOTP Online would not replace OOTP 9, nor would it eliminate support for online leagues in OOTP 9. Some of the planned features for OOTP Online include:

• A web-based front end where GMs can submit transaction changes even when away from their PCs
• A "lite" OOTP client that would receive a "changes-only" file from the server each sim, eliminating large file downloads.
• An integrated message board within the lite client, so that GMs can access the league message board from within the game
• An integrated chat program within the lite client, so that GMs can chat with each other
• A points-based subscription system where leagues could win points that could be used to pay for subsequent seasons, etc.
• Support for historical leagues, something that has never really been present in the fantasy baseball world.

There is no release date for OOTP Online as of yet, but it will be after OOTP 9. We're very excited about this, and really feel it can help bring OOTP to a completely new audience.

What else? Well, the final patch for OOTP Baseball 2007 is nearing completion. It should definitely be out within the next three weeks or so. It will have a few very tiny new features and a number of fixes, many of which are for very small and rare bugs. We're very excited about the recent changes, and the addition of Steve to the team. We're really looking forward to the next year!

Thanks very much for all of your support!

The OOTP Developments Team