Voila_Capture993They is MLB Advanced Media, the MLB-offshoot company that runs MLB.tv and other technology platforms for Major League Baseball and others:

MLBAM today announces that R.B.I. Baseball 14, a video game brand not seen in nearly two decades, will return this spring. R.B.I. Baseball 14 is being developed by MLBAM for multi-platform distribution across current and next generation consoles and smartphones and tablets. For the latest developments on R.B.I. Baseball 14, please visit rbigame.com and follow @RBIGame.

No further details were given, but the (awesome) sports video game site Pasta Padre provides their best guess:

There is very little to go on at this point in setting expectations for R.B.I. Baseball 14. It definitely won’t be a “sim” disc-based retail release so most likely it will be an arcade game offered as a digital download through XBLA and PSN. The establishment of microtransactions with “MLBucks” being at the heart of the three mobile games certainly represents an early concern but there is also a quality to [MLBAM’s] efforts so far that at least demonstrates some promise.

In other words: Don’t expect some unbelievable baseball sim. Tengen was the company that made the original Nintendo R.B.I.* games– the ones that we all remember fondly. But the last version of the game – R.B.I. Baseball 4 for Sega Genesis – was positively awful. Tengen went away in 1994. So this current version will literally have nothing in common with the original other than the name.

MLBAM is a limited partnership involving team owners and is separate from the league itself. They’ve been ahead of the curve on streaming video and run the online feeds for ESPN.com, the NCAA Tournament, and The Masters. Despite some (my) complaints about their draconian YouTube restrictions, they’re quite good at what they do, and if anyone can produce a fun, addictive arcade-style game, it’s them. My suggestion? Just port the original game and engine to the new systems with slightly beefed up graphics and rosters– that’ll sell.

I want this song on my iPhone.

*Could not beat my dad when he took “Boston.” Scarred me for life. I thought I’d never be a winner at anything. I mean, look at this fucking lineup they had. I remember losing games 24-0 when I was “New York” with Lenny Dykstra and Mookie Wilson. But now who’s the winner, Dad? I’m hungover from one-too-many winter cocktails, writing about video games, and earning money while I do it! Don Baylor’s power rating made me think I’d never amount to anything, but he was wrong. So wrong. Screw you, Don Baylor! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to copy and paste these graphic sexual excerpts from a book a former stripper wrote about Michael Vick.