Fri 26 Sep 2008
Although I’ve long had access to one, I’ve borrowed a Wii for a long overdue extended trial of the console and am working my way through the various Wii Sports games that came with it.
After initially being underwhelmed by the graphics and simplicity of the gaming, I’ve started to be pulled in by the points accumulation system and its ability to get even the most cynical members of the family playing instantly through its intuitive gameplay.
Baseball (Rounders surely, ed?) has been a particular favourite leading to the universal question from those who have played of ‘where’s the cricket?’
Given the size of the cricket diaspora and the suitability of the Wii Remote as an extended cricket bat, I expected a quick search to reveal the game.
However, Wii Cricket is not yet in existance leading to several internet campaigns to push the likes of EA Sports to develop it. Its development has been hindered by the lack of cricket played in key markets, such as North America and Japan, but it looks like the decision is about to be reversed if comments by EA Sports’ President Peter Moore are anything to go by:
We continue to look at Cricket, you will see us talk about a little bit more about the Indian market for Cricket. We continue to watch the 20/20 format and seeing where that is going, but the National Test game is still the preeminent way people want to play the game. We have not done a game in a couple of years I think.
To add to the campaign, if Wii Cricket does come along, then one household at least will be purchasing a shiny new Wii to play it…
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September 26th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
wii want it and wii want it now! ideally suited to the wii given the lack of genuinely playable cricket games across the consoles…
November 24th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Yeah, I would have thought the Indian market would have been about as big as the combined Japanese/North American market?
Any cricket game would be a big seller on the sub continent with good sales in the rest of the commonwealth (NZ, Australia, Pakistan, West Indies, UK et al).
One would think it wouldnt be that hard to port cricket08 from PC/PS to the Wii?
Mailman
November 24th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Oh forgot to add…then again, when you can make easy millions from another tired rehash of Madden NFL, why would you invest large sums of money in a new cricket game?
Mailman
November 24th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Good points, Mailman. The reason is to create another franchise that you can release tired rehashes from for years to come!
December 8th, 2008 at 11:34 am
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December 27th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Having used a Wii for the first time the other week it’s crying out for a cricket game.
Population of North America + Japan is about 500 million, the population India alone is twice that. Perhaps it’s time they started looking at expanding into other markets.
December 31st, 2008 at 3:52 pm
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