Rusty's Real Deal Baseball [3DS downloadable]

[RubixsQube]

So, let's talk about a weird video game here:

 

Rusty's Real Deal Baseball

Nintendo 3DS

 

(I know that some of you are probably thinking: "oh, this is boring, I don't even have a 3DS," but please, hear me out.)

 

Rusty's Real Deal Baseball (RRDB) is a downloadable 3DS mini-game collection / visual novel. In the game, you play as your Mii, and you talk with a weird anthropomorphic dog ("Rusty") and his ten kids (with names that are variants on Rusty, including Rustina, and Rust Tee). When I say "visual novel," I mostly mean that you'll end up talking to Rusty and advancing a story-line as you play through the mini-games. The story line is about a dog marriage on the rocks. It's funny in that way that Weird Nintendo way. Think...Wario Ware. But the real bulk of the time you'll be playing mini-games that revolve around baseball. There are 10 game modes, and they range from a one-button-pressing home run hitting game to one where you have to use the thumbstick to catch line drives, to a game where you play as an umpire and make split second decisions. Each game mode features challenge levels, as well as variants on each game (the home run game has different types of pitches, or little UFOs you have to hit with your home runs), and then a few high-score modes.

 

The games, it seems, were built with the idea of Tim Rogers "friction" in mind (I can't link to that article enough), in that it just feels good to play. If you hit the ball with the sweet spot of the bat, the game just pauses imperceptibly ("sticky friction") and damn if it doesn't work well. Little neurons fire in your brain. You feel good. That's fun. I like having a portable system that makes tiny feel-good neurons fire in my brain. My favorite portable game of all time is Wario Ware Twisted, which is just pure portable perfection ("PPP"), and it seems as if the creators of RRDB have learned a lesson from the best weird Nintendo games. You know how good it feels to master a

 (god, linking to that fucking video just makes me want to play Rhythm Heaven Fever for another one million years)? It feels fantastic. RRDB know this. They've built a series of fun games that can be traced back to that particular river. Maybe you want a game that is the opposite of that! Well, keep reading, since there's still a damn TWIST to this story, and it's just as interesting as the game's content.

 

SO. Let's say you want to play this game. Well, in the 3DS e-shop, you'll find out that the game is FREE! And you download it, and then you find out that only a DEMO is open, and the mini-games are only unlockable through in-app purchases! And you fret! Yes, you fret about the fact that it seems like each game is FOUR DOLLARS! And you do some very quick mental math and think: "is this game worth forty american dollars?" And you probably frown, because you probably think "no." That's ok! Because once you complete the demo, and you're presented with the option to purchase the full mini-game, one of Rusty's kids will pop in to let you know that you can haggle with Rusty over the price. Yes, you can talk to a video game dog and ply him with gifts and and listen to his sob story and he will reduce the actual price of each mini-game. From what I've read, you can potentially buy all of the games for a total that is less than half of the 40 dollars your initial mental math provided.

 

This is a real weird way of doing in-app purchases, and one that I totally approve of. For one, you're only paying to unlock content you want to play, and not to unlock power-ups and new abilities. At the same time, while I can see someone saying: "why not make it possible for me to just pay to buy the whole thing, why do I have to 'haggle' for the lower price?" Well, this, I think, is part of what makes the game fun, I think. The haggling provides further dialogue with Rusty and his kid. This is fun. It provides an extra challenge. This is also fun. It's haggling, a stressful thing in real life, but with someone who is virtual!

 

What are your thoughts on this weird business model? How do you feel about in-app purchases that unlock content? How do you feel about sticky friction? 

[tegan]

I've heard from friends that this game is surprisingly good, specifically how microtransactions are actually integrated into the story and gameplay. You can get all the minigames for sixteen dollars if you haggle enough, so I might consider trying it next month when my credit card's a little better off.

[clyde]

Wow. The haggling part is really interesting to me. 

[Architecture]

Alex Navarro made it sound intriguing during one of his morning shows with Patrick Klepek this week. The concept of a divorced dog selling baseball video games is just absolutely fucking insane.

[Ucantalas]

Haggling for the price of downloads is really interesting. Is it something that's pointed out before you can make a purchase? Or is it a bit more hidden? I'd be a little upset if I ended up purchasing stuff at full price and then finding out later on that I could have haggled it down.

That said, I really like the idea.

[mikemariano]

Wow, this is an awesome write-up; thanks RubixsQube.

 

I would love to hear Jake gush about this on the podcast—and then hear Chris make fun of him for it.

[RubixsQube]

It's pretty apparent throughout that you can haggle. As this is kind of a weird experiment, the game designers makes it very clear that it would be silly to pay the full $4. However, you can't just "haggle" for all of the games and get the best deal right from the get-go. Haggling requires items which are unlockable from successfully playing the games. So, it's not too far off from other version of in-app purchases, but it's less brazen. You also unlock percentage-off coupons that can add to the discount you might receive as you move down to what I think is a price floor for each game.

 

I am really enjoying the mini-games, especially because the 3D really helps out with the spatial position of the ball in relation to your character. Also, it feels really good to play in a virtual batting cage.

 

Architecture, you are right. It's real weird to like, give a depressed former pro baseball playing dog a pair of noise clippers so you can get a discount on a video game within a video game. And yeah, I really want to hear Jake talk about this game.

[tegan]

The only things that keep nagging me about this is that having to pay to continue the story is kind of insidious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...Also the fact that it shows that Nintendo is interested in free to play content, which could lead down a dark, dark path.

 

[Ucantalas]

The only things that keep nagging me about this is that having to pay to continue the story is kind of insidious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...Also the fact that it shows that Nintendo is interested in free to play content, which could lead down a dark, dark path.

 

Skylanders: Pokemon Edition

[tegan]

Skylanders: Pokemon Edition

 

They tried that already.

 

[RubixsQube]

I understand what you're saying, tegan, and it's definitely a fear, but I think that I would pay 16 - 20 dollars for a game like this (maybe some people wouldn't! You can get a lot of content nowadays for quite a low price, which I think is a bad thing, since it inspires cloning and creating cheaper alternatives to games), and while it's a little tedious to pay that over the course of the game rather than all at once, the feeling of success over a haggling victory eases that slight annoyance. 

 

I wonder if this is just the first step down a dark path, but their forays into it (see also the recent steel diver release as well) seem like they're testing out more stomach-able alternatives

[Ucantalas]

So I downloaded this to try it out. I don't really have the money to buy any of the games right now (even at rock-bottom prices), but I like the haggling option. And the demos that I've played so far are really fun, and some of the best uses of the 3D I've seen so far.

[shammack]

Everything about this seems interesting to me except that it's themed around baseball. Is it worth playing if you don't know or care about baseball at all?

[RubixsQube]

The game certainly uses baseball terminology, and it's developing (virtual) baseball skills, but it's more of a game about both reaction and timing. It has nothing to do with the MLB. I spent a good hour working my way through the batting cage levels last night, and it was really fantastic. In some modes, the balls are thrown with sweeping curves, and in others there is some fog in front of the machine such that you can't see exactly when it's pitched. There is one where the ball fully disappears right before you are to strike it, which requires good timing. Again, if you have zero interest in say, hitting or catching a ball, then maybe steer clear. Remember, there's a free demo which essentially walks you through an overview of the game, and allows you to play one of the early (and fun) modes, and then you can browse the other mini-games to see how they might work. It's worth taking a look.

[RubixsQube]

There is a mode that I'll highlight that may help to entice anyone further. So, in one of the early batting-cage mini-games, they have a series of challenges that rely on "drawing a walk," which, if you're not familiar with baseball, involves only letting balls go by that are "outside the strike zone," which is indicated by a little box they show on the screen in relation to your player character. At this point, the little pitching device starts to pitch a series of balls to your character. If it's in the zone, you swing (press A). Otherwise, let it go. This proves to be straightforward and challenging, and by gosh it's fun. The 3D works well to help with timing, and the game has cute jokes when you manage to slap a ball back towards the pitching device. I think that I may be in the minority of people in this community who gets into games like this, but this satisfies the same itch that, say, Threes/2048 might in other people.