• Source: Hardball

Hardball, in English, more specifically American English, generally refers to baseball (as opposed to its variant softball), especially when played very competitively. Metaphorically, it refers to uncompromising and ruthless methods or dealings, especially in politics and business negotiations: see Glossary of English-language idioms derived from baseball#hardball, play hardball.




Computers


Hardball, a computer game made for the Palm OS and similar to Breakout
HardBall!, a series of computer games about baseball




Films


Hardball (film), a 2001 film with Keanu Reeves and Diane Lane
Hardball (soundtrack), a soundtrack album from the film
Bounty Hunters 2: Hardball aka Hardball, a 1997 film with Tony Curtis




Food


Hardball, a sugar stage in the making of candy and other confectionery




Literature


Hardball — How Politics is Played Told By One Who Knows the Game, a book by Chris Matthews, a political talk-show host
Hardball (comics), a superhero in the Avengers: The Initiative series from Marvel Comics
Hardball, a comic book series written by Chuck Austen
Hardball (novel), 2009 detective novel by Sara Paretsky, part of the V. I. Warshawski series




Sports


Hardball squash, a racquet sport
Hardball, a type of handball used in Gaelic handball#Types of handball
Hardball, an extreme shooting game utilizing BB guns which fire metal projectiles




Television


Hardball with Chris Matthews, a talk show on MSNBC hosted by Chris Matthews
"Hard Ball", an episode of the television series 30 Rock
Hardball (1989 TV series), a one-season 1989 crime drama television series that aired on NBC
Hardball (1994 TV series), a 1994 television series, unrelated to the 1989 series, that aired on FOX
Hardball (2019 TV series), an Australian children's TV series
Hardball, a BBC One game show hosted by Ore Oduba




Fictional characters


Hardball, of the alien Bounty Hunters working for Damocles and the Sword in the Gen13 comics and the Fire from Heaven crossover.




Other uses


Hardball (company), a Norwegian investment company.
Hardball, a slang term used for full metal jacket bullet pistol ammunition, particularly in .45 ACP caliber
Hardball (G.I. Joe), a fictional character in the G.I. Joe universe
• Source: HardBall!

HardBall! is a baseball video game published by Accolade. Initially released for the Commodore 64 in 1985, it was ported to other computers over the next several years. A Sega Genesis cartridge was published in 1991. HardBall! was followed by HardBall II, HardBall III, HardBall IV, HardBall 5, and HardBall 6.




Gameplay



Play is controlled with a joystick or arrow keys and an action button. One of the four cardinal directions is used to choose the pitch, and again to aim it towards low, high, inside (towards batter), or outside (away from batter). The same directions are used to aim the swing when batting. When fielding after a hit, the defensive player closest to the ball will flash to show it is the one currently under control. The four directions are then used to throw to one of the four bases.
Hardball! was one of the first baseball video games to incorporate the perspective from the pitcher's mound, similar to MLB broadcasts. There are also managerial options available. The player has a selection of pitchers to choose from. Each team member has his own statistics that affect his performance, and can be rearranged as desired. Prior to HardBall!s release, there were managerial baseball games available, such as MicroLeague Baseball but HardBall! was the first to integrate that aspect with the arcade control of the game action itself.




Reception



Hardball! was a commercial blockbuster. The Commodore 64 topped the UK sales chart in March 1986. It went on to become Accolade's best-selling Commodore game as of late 1987, and by 1989 had surpassed 500,000 units sold.
Info rated Hardball! four-plus stars out of five, stating that it "is easily the best baseball simulation we have seen to date for the 64/128" and praising its graphics. ANALOG Computing praised the Atari 8-bit version's gameplay, graphic, and animation, only criticizing the computer opponent's low difficulty level. The magazine concluded that the game "is in a league of its own, above all other Atari sports games—simulations included".
In an overview of statistics-oriented baseball games, Computer Gaming World stated that Hardball "would probably be disappointing to anyone other than an avid arcade fan". Compute!'s Apple Applications stated that the Apple II and Macintosh versions had "almost everything you could want from a baseball simulation", with good support for playing as manager, player, or statistician and "exceptionally clear and precise graphics". The magazine concluded that "Hardball's realism is outstanding—at a level unmatched by other baseball software to date". The game was reviewed in 1988 in Dragon #132 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars. MegaTech gave the Genesis version a score of 75% writing: "A decent baseball game which doesn’t have enough novel or interesting features to make it appeal to anyone other than real fans of the sport."
Entertainment Weekly picked the game as the #11 greatest game available in 1991, saying: "With its oversaturated colors, ultrarealistic sound effects (when the umpire shouts 'Play ball!' it sounds as if he’s in the room), and detailed managerial options, HardBall! is the closest you may ever get to playing in a real major-league ballpark."




Legacy


The game appears in the opening scene of the 1987 film The Princess Bride, being played by Fred Savage.




References






External links


HardBall! at Lemon 64
HardBall! at Atari Mania
HardBall! at Atari Mania
HardBall! at SpectrumComputing.co.uk
HardBall! can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive (Apple IIGS)

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• Hardball with Chris Matthews
• Joe Rogan
• Bisbol
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• Keanu Reeves
• Brian Robbins
• CNBC
• Hardball
• Hardball (film)
• Chris Matthews
• HardBall!
• Hardball (soundtrack)
• Hardball with Chris Matthews
• Hardball squash
• Constitutional hardball
• Hardball (1994 TV series)
• Hardball (company)