Nexon unveils new baseball contents

By Cho Mu-hyun

A model in a baseball uniform poses during game maker Nexon’s media event to promote its Probaseball 2K game, at COEX, Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Nexon

Nexon, Korea’s largest game developer and publisher, unveiled Tuesday newly added content to one of its most ambitious and anticipated baseball games of the year.

The firm is planning to release Probaseball 2K in April to coincide with the start of the local professional baseball season. Korea’s fervor for the sport is at an all time high and Nexon is no doubt trying to ride that tide to better promote the offering.

It will commence a second test Friday until March 23 to finalize the game as well as to try out newly added features developed after the initial review of a first test last November.

The biggest addition is a multiplayer mode, while the latest version will retain its “Super Simulation Mode” and “Pure Action Mode.” These modes add a real-time control option for players, unlike previous baseball games that were limited to mere role-playing, according to company officials at a press conference in COEX, Seoul.

The latest update includes a shortened game time and an order reservation feature that allows users to pre-order moves to be made by in-game characters at certain durations of the game.

There are also added a user interface for the in-game score board and a convenient control option that allows the space bar to be used to control both batting and pitching.

“From what we learned during the first test, we set up an ultimate goal and put in every effort to make a baseball game that is loved by not only gamers but baseball fans,” said Nexon spokesman Park Sung-min. “We hope attention will remain high for Probaseball 2K and we tentatively plan to officially launch the game sometime in April, when the professional season kickoffs.”

Nexon took applicants starting late last month for the second test, drawing more than 100,000 people within 10 days, showing high anticipation by gamers.

Probaseball 2K was one of the games the company displayed at last year’s G-Star, a global game tradeshow that took place in the coastal city of Busan.