Posted by There’s always an Ashes cash-in game. The latest is somewhat unsurprisingly titled Ashes Cricket 2013
Only it’s not out yet.
As far as we can tell, they decided they’d make the game from scratch, rather than doing the usual thing of updating the database and recording three more lines of commentary for the previous version. As a consequence, it isn’t finished. They’ve basically said that they could have released it, but after giving it a quick go, it turned out to be rubbish. That’s unusually considerate of them and fortunately the 2013/14 Ashes provides a second deadline, so maybe something will appear then.
Sadly, there is further bad news in that the game will feature official licensed Australian and English cricket teams, so there won’t be any amusing near-miss names. No Shaun Whiston. No Bert Jackson. No Jenny Bristow. No Kelvin Pieterswoggle.
This sorry tale reminds me of the 1975 song, January, by Pilot, which was released later than intended and yet still went to Number One in February.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_(Pilot_song)
Strangely, the Wikipedia entry on the song seems to retro-fit history, such that it now seems that the song was about a person named January and that the timing thing was inconsequential. I for one am convinced.
Similarly I’m sure, it was always intended that Ashes 2013 would be a nostalgia game and not something that anyone might want to play before or during Ashes 2013.
And yet, in 1975, I seem to recall playing Owzat cricket and cricket darts with the squads and teams from the Cricket World Cup during that summer, only to move on to other things once the event was over.
What a gadfly I must have been. Attention span of a fl
My favourite comedy video game name ever has to be Michael Paughan.
Sensible Soccer had a Steve McBananaman.
I think Codemasters were the previous makers, and they did indeed just record some new commentary lines. No new script though, so any new commentators just used the same lines as the others, barring the occasional personalised bit. The graphics were almost identical too, even from Lara on the Xbox to Lara on the 360. The less said about the dreadful EA Cricket the better.
Those Codemasters ones bizarrely had licenses for World Cups, so you had proper names, but the rest of the game had ridiculous almost-names. For the same people.
While we’re on the subject, is anyone else waiting for the new version of International Cricket Captain?
There’s also Don Bradman Cricket 14: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Bradman_Cricket_14
Interesting about this one is that it has a career mode, which will hopefully be a bit more fun than just playing a bunch of matches because you’re bored, and then realizing that bowling thirty overs of fast-medium at batsmen who either play perfectly or make horrid mistakes with no in-between isn’t really doing much to alleviate your boredom.
A career mode?
Does that mean you only play one player, and get the fun of sitting around waiting to bat, spending all day at third man after dropping a catch, and trying very obvious bowling warm ups when the captain is looking in your direction?
Was wondering how we’d missed the first 13 Don Bradman Crickets then.
My problem is I am always unable to resist bowling the non-spinning long-hop that always gets a wicket in revenge for something that I think shouldn’t have happened. Admittedly, I haven’t played a cricket game since Graham Gooch’s World Class Cricket. Maybe they’re better now.
It’s like accepting the unlikely unlucky results instead of reloading a save game in XCOM. Just can’t resist.
Exactly. No matter how realistic the game, they will never be able to stop you from throwing a strop, giving up and re-starting. Imagine if life was like that. I’d re-boot several times a day.
I don’t see what’s stopping people giving up and throwing a strop in real life. Take the T20. If I were Stuart Broad, needing 250+ to win (or whatever it ends up as), I’d send out the openers with instructions to finish the match on 38 for 0. That will send a proper message to Australia.
I hope there will be another live tweet review when this comes out.
Aus 248/6 off 20 overs.
Ashley Giles isn’t looking so clever now.
Did he ever? I always thought he looked amiably dim.
Is there a game on today, then?
Just some exhibition thing, daneel. Nothing to concern yourself with at a serious level.
http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/cricket97ashestouredition/demo/1859.html?details=1
There was a fast bowler named James Andersen in this game. Playing for West Indies.
Not content with poaching from South Africa, looks like England poached from video games circa ’97, and changed a vowel to differentiate.