RIDE TO HELL: RETRIBUTION

Ride to Hell: Retribution has received no small amount of criticism (to put it mildly), and yet it still doesn’t feel enough. Some games are simply offensively bad, and this is one such game. From crappy writing to repetitive gameplay, from terrible AI to a litany of bugs, ugly visuals to awkward controls, Ride to Hell: Retribution was a game that had critical problems in almost every single area.

Ashes Cricket 2013, the most looked forward to cricket game possibly ever–although granted there haven’t been many looked-forwards-to cricket games–was cancelled after it’s disastrous launch in which gamers deemed the game to be more or less unplayable.

Until today, all has been quiet on the cricket gaming front. Developers Big Ant Studios have just released a trailer for their upcoming game, Don Bradman Cricket 14, in hopes that they will corner the cricket gaming market. Apparently the game has been in development for four years, but the studio chose this opportune time–just following Ashes Cricket 2013 being taken down from the Steam Store–to release the trailer.

The pressure is on for Don Bradman Cricket 14 to deliver an at least playable cricket experience. With no other competitors on the market at this time, this opportunity is completely Big Ant Studios’ to capitalize on or squander. Let’s hope it makes for a great game that die-hard cricket fans the world over can enjoy.

The publisher issued a lengthy public statement on the matter. “As the licensee and publisher of name for Ashes Cricket 2013, 505 Games would like to apologise publicly and sincerely to our licensors, the ECB and Cricket Australia, and their respective partners/sponsors, who have been nothing but patient and supportive of us throughout the challenges this project has presented, and who, ultimately, we have let down.

“Our deepest apologies, however, are reserved for the fans of cricket and cricket games worldwide. 505 Games prides itself on being a safe pair of hands on which gamers of all tastes and denominations can rely to put their best foot forward to create compelling gaming experiences. It is clear that, in this instance, we have fallen way short of our stated aims and failed to deliver. We know that the mitigating factors, as highlighted above, hold little solace to the hordes of excited cricket fans worldwide who had hoped this year to be able to play out their fantasy of playing in the Ashes series.

“The people who purchased the game will be contacted very shortly with details of a full refund.”

Ashes Cricket 2013 has been in development for 2 years and apparently faced many problems despite Trickstar’s experience with cricket games.

(Source)

Ashes Cricket 2013 has been pulled from Steam just days after it went on sale. No explanation was given for the game’s sudden disappearance.

The game had suffered multiple lengthy delays before it finally went up on Steam. The wait, however, did not prove to be worth it, as the game, once it released, was slammed (see the video above for some of its more bizarre moments).

The publisher, 505 Games, did not comment on why the game was gone; they have also not dated the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or Wii U versions of the game yet, all of which have been announced.

This is a highly unfortunate situation, because there exists a great void in the market for a good cricket game, especially since EA Sports and Codemasters both fumbled on that front. With the official Ashes license, 505 Games could have given us a proper cricket game, but their handling of the entire episode has been even worse than EA’s or Codemaster’s was.

[VideoGamer]

The game is set to be published by 505 Games who published ARMA 2 and Armored Core 4. Ashes Cricket 2013 is currently set to launch sometime in November 2013 and is slated to drop on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and Wii U.

• 1. Development
• 2. Gameplay
• 3. Teams
• 4. Cancellation

Development

In order to create the perfect cricket game, Trickstar Games have developed a new game system that has been built from the ground up to provide their players with a better gameplay experience. This newly designed gameplay system will allow for better control over Batting, Bowling and Fielding. Given that the game carries the title of “Ashes” (a notational prize awarded in test cricket games played between English and Australian teams), Ashes Cricket 2013 carries a great deal of significant for the niche audience of Cricket video game fans.

Because of this, the games intended release date of June 21^st 2013 was pushed back over quality concerns to July 2013. The vagueness of this date brought with it concerns that the game would not be ready in time for this release window, and such was the case. 505 Games had to make an announcement that the game was in fact, not ready to release at the time and that it was being delayed once again, this time being pushed back to November of 2013. The reason for this was that the game was “simply not worthy of the Ashes name”. In June 2013, a statement was publically released via Facebook saying:

“Firstly, we do feel that we owe you all an apology, informing you two days before the scheduled release that the game is being delayed was an error on our part. Once we accepted that the game was not going to hit its submission dates, we were contractually obliged to gain approval from our partners before communicating a shift in release date. For the reasons outlined below, this has all happened very late in the end-phase of the development cycle. That said, we should have been more transparent and honest with our community and for this we sincerely apologise.”

Despite the game being pushed back twice, and all the concerns that come with a delayed launch, the developers have acquired the licensed Australian and English cricket teams alongside 14 other unlicensed national teams.

Gameplay

The game is going to feature the 2013 Ashes Series in its entirety, from start to finish, The development team have been working hard on building the game from the ground up on brand new gaming designs that allow for many improved elements that includes an improved editing suite for fielding, this will stock up to 60 new possible fielding options.

The variety of batting shots has been improved with their new system which allows for a larger variation of batting shots. The players bowling styles will be dynamically influenced by real world conditions as and when they change, this includes the condition of the pitch as the game wears on it and the weather conditions that will affect the balls trajectory. Whilst playing the game, commentary will be provided by Mark Nicholas, David Lloyd and Michael Slater.

Teams

A full roster of the playable teams in the game has yet to be revealed, but currently the game has secured both licensed English and Australian teams as well as 14 other national teams for you to play as.

Cancellation

On 28th November 2013 the game was cancelled by 505 Games. They released the following note:

“As most people who have followed the project closely can affirm, the development of Ashes Cricket 2013 has been fraught with challenges almost from the outset. The chosen developer, even with their many years of cricket game development experience, was unable to overcome the unexpected challenges that the chosen game engine threw up, even with multiple extensions to the development schedule.

“At the start of the project, 505 Games received all assurances from the developer that the engine was up to the task of creating a dynamic, cutting-edge cricket game for the modern age across multiple platforms, and unfortunately those assurances were found to be misplaced.

“The net result of the challenges we have faced was a game which, despite our best efforts over the course of a two-year development, couldn’t meet the quality benchmarks of either us, our licensors or our customers. 505 Games’ main priority right now is to protect the Ashes name and that of the ECB and Cricket Australia, and do what we can to recompense the cricket community.

“As the licensee and publisher of name for Ashes Cricket 2013, 505 Games would like to apologise publicly and sincerely to our licensors, the ECB and Cricket Australia, and their respective partners/sponsors, who have been nothing but patient and supportive of us throughout the challenges this project has presented, and who, ultimately, we have let down.

“Our deepest apologies, however, are reserved for the fans of cricket and cricket games worldwide. 505 Games prides itself on being a safe pair of hands on which gamers of all tastes and denominations can rely to put their best foot forward to create compelling gaming experiences. It is clear that, in this instance, we have fallen way short of our stated aims and failed to deliver.

We know that the mitigating factors, as highlighted above, hold little solace to the hordes of excited cricket fans worldwide who had hoped this year to be able to play out their fantasy of playing in the Ashes series.

“The people who purchased the game will be contacted very shortly with details of a full refund.”

Ashes Cricket 2013, the next-in-line to International Cricket 2010, was originally slated to release in line with the actual UK Ashes cricket series, which would have been a marketing gold mine. However, 505 Games has announced that the release of the title will now be delayed until November 2013, effectively abandoning the previous marketing strategy, and opting to wait until the second ashes series which will take place later this year.

When asked for comment Tim Woodley, 505 Games SVP of global brand and marketing had this to say: “Unforeseen issues which developer Trickstar faced in latter stages of development have meant that they have been unable to do the requisite amount of polishing and fine-tuning which any game needs. We owe it to ourselves, to our licensors, the ECB and Cricket Australia, but most of all to the dedicated cricket fans and gamers to put our best foot forward.

It is small compensation that we have the benefit of a second Ashes series in this unique cricketing year, which affords us further time to work on the game and get it right for the return leg. We are confident that the time between now and the second Ashes series will be enough to add the final polish we believe the game needs.”

Cricket fan or not, you have to respect a game team that — especially in these dire times for gaming — is willing to sacrifice an almost certainly more profitable released and marketing campaign for overall game quality.

Senior Vice President Global Brand & Marketing at 505 Games Tim Woodley stated that, S“505 Games has made a commitment to creating a cricket game designed for cricket fans.

“Developer Trickstar Games has taken the time to overhaul and rebuild the game engine to offer brand new features in batting, bowling and fielding. By pushing back our release date, this gives us the opportunity to deliver a quality cricket title.”

Ashes Cricket 2013 will be launching on the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii-U and PC platforms this July.

The game will be released on June 21st on the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and Wii U. It’s being developed by Trickstar Games who’ve usually done a good job with Cricket Games.

This year’s installment contains new upgrades and improvements and we will be posting the full trailer once it’s out. The game won’t be released on the Wii U in India because there’s hardly any Nintendo presence but considering it’s a major market for Cricket games, that version probably won’t be doing too well sales wise.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Stay tuned to GB for more news and information.

505 Games has just disclosed the first batch of commentators that will be featured in the upcoming Ashes Cricket 2013.  Mark Nicholas, Lead commentator for Channel 5 in the UK and Australia’s Channel 9, will be joined by ex-England head coach and Sky Sports pundit, David Lloyd and ex-Australian international and Channel 9 commentator Michael Slater.

All 3 commentators are regarded as some of the best in their field, passing witty comments and jokes that could lighten up even the most drab matches.

For the benighted, Ashes is a tournament that is held on a yearly basis between the two biggest names in Test Cricket, England and Australia and is renowned for the fierce competitive nature between these two teams. Codemasters, the developers of the previous entries in the franchise, have passed the torch to Melbourne-based studio Trickstar Games.

“Whether listening on the radio or watching on TV, commentary is a key part to the overall experience,” said Ralph Pitt-Stanley, General Manager for UK & Export at 505 Games. “It was therefore important we faithfully replicated this in ASHES CRICKET 2013 and with Bumble, Nicholas and Slater we have three of the finest and most loved commentators in the game today.”

These commentators are only the first batch, and you can expect 505 Games to reveal more as we draw closer to the game’s release, which is on 21st June for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Ashes Cricket 2013 is set to come out on 21st June 2013, and we have details of that here. Now we do have the features for the same and it looks like a promising game.

The game is being built on a new engine and batsmen have 360 degree control over shot placement. A new line and length bowling system has been announced that gives bowlers the tools and players can also set fields of their choice.

Players have to be adaptable to altering pitches which really changes the dynamics of gameplay. Weather forecasts are also set to change and the conditions are same as a real cricket match so you need to plan well.

“We are delighted to be able to announce some of the key features for Ashes Cricket 2013,” commented Ralph Pitt-Stanley, General Manager for UK & Export at 505 Games. “This game has been created with real cricket fans and players in mind. The new engine allows players to mimic a cricketers most important attribute, his technique.”

The game will be released on the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U and PC.