CODEMASTERS® ANNOUNCES ASHES CRICKET 2009 – ‘THE OFFICIAL GAME OF THE SUMMER’.
From the home of video game cricket comes the official game of this summer’s sporting battle – it’s England versus Australia on UK turf in Ashes Cricket 2009.
Monday, 11th May 2009 (10am) - The Ashes, the most exciting and thrilling confrontation in international cricket, will be brought to game screens this July as Codemasters today announced it will publish Ashes Cricket 2009 as the official game of this summer’s tournament for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft® and PC; a Nintendo Wii version will be released later in the year.
Providing gamers with the most authentic Ashes experience possible without having to don their whites, Ashes Cricket 2009 is fully licensed by the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board), the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club, the world's most famous cricket club and owner of the Ashes urn) and Cricket Australia, providing the game with all the official players, kit, stadia – including Lords and The Brit Oval – and equipment from this year’s npower Ashes Series.
Coming from the home of video game cricket, Ashes Cricket 2009 is set to build on the heritage that Codemasters has enjoyed with its best-selling Brian Lara series and will continue to lead the field with great batting, bowling and fielding gameplay and authenticity that made the series a huge hit with cricket fans the world over. Produced by Codemasters, the game is currently being developed by Transmission Games (Brian Lara 2007 Pressure Play (PSP)).
Delivering all the exciting, athletic, skilful and technical elements of the sport, the game’s comprehensive ‘Ashes’ mode will feature all five Tests played out at carefully detailed recreations of each authentic venue. In addition, gamers will also be able to play Test matches, One Day Internationals, 20 over games and a series of challenge modes. The high definition current generation versions will feature full online multiplayer as well as support for local multiplayer games.
“The Ashes is set to be the sporting event of the summer and it’s great to be producing the official game of the Series,” commented Jamie Firth, Producer, Codemasters. “In partnering with the development team at Transmission Games, Ashes Cricket 2009 is a cricket title with an unprecedented heritage that comes from two companies that know and love the sport. The Brian Lara titles became the number one cricket gaming brand for over ten years and it’s a reputation that we fully intend to continue with Ashes Cricket 2009.”
John Perera, ECB Commercial Director said, “The Ashes is one of the iconic challenges in world sport. With cricket set to dominate the sporting calendar this summer we're delighted to be able to give cricket fans the chance to follow in the footsteps of their heroes and try and win back the Ashes for England.”
“Cricket as a sport lends itself extremely well to this type of treatment and we are pleased that with Codemasters technical expertise we will be providing gamers with the next best thing to be playing out in the middle. We are sure it will be a great success."
Prepare to step up to the crease and help England win back the trophy in Ashes Cricket 2009, coming this summer for Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION®3 and PC.
Red Mile Entertainment who developed mobile versions of Brian Lara Interntional Cricket and have been rumoured to be the developers of the next BLIC game are suffering from financial problems.
Games Industry.biz speculate they need to secure a loan within the 30 days or will have to close down. Read the full article here and discuss the news in our forums.
Brian Lara 2007 Pressure Play has been confirmed for release this Friday (31 August) on PSP, with the Ricky Ponting version due on 27 September in Australia.
You can still pre-order the Brian Lara PSP game from the Codies eshop here.
And watch the trailer here:
Originally posted by Rubbergenius at the Codemasters forums
“Angry gamers feeling let down by over-hyped game” syndrome is something I have observed close up upon the release of every cricket game since EA’s Cricket2002. Every release day cricket-gamers far and wide sally forth to search the Holy Grail and yet again it seems that they are going to be disappointed. With years of disappointment and disillusionment behind me (I also support the England cricket team) I fired up BLIC07 with low expectations.
Ultimately, whilst Codemasters have undoubtedly worked hard on this title and implemented some nifty new features it seems they have neglected the sine qua non of cricket gaming – the gameplay.
Put simply the game has major pacing issues and the AI is depressingly stupid.
PlanetCricket.net
