Omnipresent brothers, Travis and Jason Kelce (who are NFL players, commercial stars, SNL hosts, podcasters and members of Taylor Swift(The inner circle of developers) would like to make a name for themselves in game development – in particular, they want to reissue the classics of the 90s Backyard soccer And Backyard baseball. Whether you’re a member of the Kansas City Chiefs Kingdom, a Birds (Philadelphia Eagles) supporter, or a Swiftie, you can’t deny that this is a great idea.
On the January 31 episode of their New Heights podcast, Travis asked his brother Jason if he remembered Backyard soccerwhich appeared two years after the first game in the series developed by Humongous Entertainment (and published by Atari), Backyard baseball. The premise is simple: neighborhood kids come together and form teams to play entertaining versions of baseball, football, and soccer. Players take on the role of manager, selecting teams and making in-game decisions, either in quick matches or full season games. For many of us, it was a crucial part of our childhood experiences with games – for me in particular, I still say some of the lines squealed by the in-game baseball announcer, Vinnie the Gooch.
Jason Kelce also remembers it fondly Backyard soccer– so much so that he wants to restart the damn thing. “I don’t even know if I want to mention it, I’ve been secretly checking to see if anyone owns the rights to it Backyard soccer And Backyard baseballbecause I want to buy it and make it work again – it was the best game ever.” Kelce then suggests that the game would be perfect for mobile devices, and he’s not wrong – it certainly didn’t require all that much processing power.
The Kelce brothers are certified geniuses if they reboot this backyard franchise – and not just because these games are great and a lot of people would get involved for the nostalgia alone. In particular, the genius behind rebooting the franchise lies in later versions of the games: both Backyard Baseball 2011 And Backyard soccer 2002 (And Backyard Soccer: MLS Edition, which I really liked), added professional athletes to the mix of neighborhood kids, animated to match the games’ art style. That meant you could play alongside a big-hearted Derek Jeter or Brett Favre, rubbing shoulders with schoolyard icons like Pablo Sanchez and the Weber twins.
Imagine a modern version of this, with a little cartoon Travis Kelce doing the swag surfing? I’m so depressed. As discovered by IGN and confirmed by my city, American legal information site Justia states that it is the Backyard Sports brand is owned by Day 6 Sports Group, which developed the franchise’s last games in 2015. The Day 6 Sports Group Website link is a dead endand his Twitter account is no longer active as of May 4, 2015.
Kelce brothers, get to work.
