Bare additional minimum features you expect from Ashes Cricket over DBC17

[The_Pharoah]

This thread is more of a wishlist and not things that are expected to be in Ashes Cricket. Given the game releases in 3 weeks or thereabouts the game must've been finalized some time back.

fair enough. If BA just wrap up DB17 with a new coat of paint and call it Ashes Cricket, thats going to be very disappointing. Not saying they have or they will. Just hoping thats not the case.

I've been burnt enough with the annual crappy releases of FIFA and now 2K (esp the farce around microtransactions).

 

[cricket_online]

fair enough. If BA just wrap up DB17 with a new coat of paint and call it Ashes Cricket, thats going to be very disappointing. Not saying they have or they will. Just hoping thats not the case.

I've been burnt enough with the annual crappy releases of FIFA and now 2K (esp the farce around microtransactions).

You are missing the bigger picture. Ashes Cricket, even if it's a slight upgrade over DBC 17 (say DBC 17 2.0), will garner a lot of attention and publicity thanks to licensing and CA's backing. Whether you like it or not but licensing is a huge deal and it sells. Majority of casual fans prefer a licensed game with say below average gameplay compared to a stellar game but which is non-licensed OOB. Unfortunately that's how things work.

The advantage of a successful, and I'm hoping a best-selling, Ashes Cricket will be that it will put future cricket gaming on a solid footing. Even if it's a slight upgrade over DBC 17, we should get much better and feature rich games in the future. Plus Big Ant is publishing the game themselves so the support for the game should be much better than DBC 17. IMO in the long run Ashes Cricket is a huge win for Big Ant and cricket gaming fans and I wish @BigAntStudios all the best for the upcoming release

 

[blockerdave]

You are missing the bigger picture. Ashes Cricket, even if it's a slight upgrade over DBC 17 (say DBC 17 2.0), will garner a lot of attention and publicity thanks to licensing and CA's backing. Whether you like it or not but licensing is a huge deal and it sells. Majority of casual fans prefer a licensed game with say below average gameplay compared to a stellar game but which is non-licensed OOB. Unfortunately that's how things work.

The advantage of a successful, and I'm hoping a best-selling, Ashes Cricket will be that it will put future cricket gaming on a solid footing. Even if it's a slight upgrade over DBC 17, we should get much better and feature rich games in the future. Plus Big Ant is publishing the game themselves so the support for the game should be much better than DBC 17. IMO in the long run Ashes Cricket is a huge win for Big Ant and cricket gaming fans and I wish @BigAntStudios all the best for the upcoming release

Can't disagree with a word you say there even if it is a bit jam tomorrow for hard core nerds.

 

[cricket_online]

Can't disagree with a word you say there even if it is a bit jam tomorrow for hard core nerds.

One thing I've realized is that video gaming, especially related to sports titles, is not targeted towards hard-core gamers. They are meant for casual and "pick n play" audience which generates majority of the sale and revenue (probably 90%+). I've seen this with Madden, FIFA and other sports games. The key is to generate enough sales to casual fans to add features to appease hard-core fans coz hard-core fans by themselves are unlikely to sustain a video game franchise. This is even more true for a niche video gaming market such as cricket.

 

[Biggs]

coz hard-core fans by themselves are unlikely to sustain a video game franchise.

This is true in part, but not in whole. There's a real importance to catering to some degree for your buy-it-sight-unseen fans because they'll keep coming back, if you treat em good. Anecdote; I can only speak for myself but I quit Assassin's Creed around Black Flag time because the series had strayed so far from what I originally loved about the franchise, I haven't played or touched any of the other titles since. I played every game, brought every season pass, add-on, re-release, t-shirt and figure I could get my hands on up until that point - but they lost me, hard. Now with AC:Origins they've gone back to a 4 year development cycle, gone back to the single-player focus, a return to a truely historical time-period worth exploring and all the hallmarks are there for a hard-core fan like myself to be brought back into the world. I'm certainly not the minority opinion on all of that either. Anecdotally the last two releases have seen a drop-off of the hard-core user base and underwhelming reviews for both Unity and Syndicate. So whilst the law of lesser-returns can be applied here, I think Ubisoft saw what was happening and did the right thing bringing the franchise back to its roots, back to a 'beginning' if you will to help return fans like me, to the franchise again.

When you look at a cricket title, is there a place to continue to cater to hard-core fans whilst still maintaining a pick-up-and-play element within the same title? Absolutely. My theory is with the Ashes release they have a workable template. Ashes will be a "cycle" every few years to move copies of an enhanced, upgraded and licensed product around DBC releases that feature all the nerdy-hard-core stuff/upgrades/tweaks we're looking for. Furthermore they get the power-house cricket countries (UK/Australia) to help market and promote their product. More people discover it, more people buy into it and a few people join us (hopefully) here as newly birthed hard-core fans. We grow that user base, the game gets stronger. Rinse, wash, repeat. There's a real opportunity the licenses can be continued and expanded with each DBC release too as they continue to prove they get how cricket works on a console.

I think there's room for everyone. The licenses help massively for casual fans, the support Big Ant get from the hard-core fans make the next title better... and then the next... and then the next...

 

[wasteyouryouth]

You are missing the bigger picture. Ashes Cricket, even if it's a slight upgrade over DBC 17 (say DBC 17 2.0), will garner a lot of attention and publicity thanks to licensing and CA's backing. Whether you like it or not but licensing is a huge deal and it sells. Majority of casual fans prefer a licensed game with say below average gameplay compared to a stellar game but which is non-licensed OOB. Unfortunately that's how things work.

The advantage of a successful, and I'm hoping a best-selling, Ashes Cricket will be that it will put future cricket gaming on a solid footing. Even if it's a slight upgrade over DBC 17, we should get much better and feature rich games in the future. Plus Big Ant is publishing the game themselves so the support for the game should be much better than DBC 17. IMO in the long run Ashes Cricket is a huge win for Big Ant and cricket gaming fans and I wish @BigAntStudios all the best for the upcoming release

DBC17 had a very enjoyable, if not perfect, recreation of T20 and 50 over cricket. In spite of the odd flaw I had so much fun playing T20 matches. '14 had more enjoyable test matches but perhaps with limited dismissal types. On topic, that is my minimal expectation. Anything else is a bonus to be honest. But I'm really excited to be getting a new cricket game this year.

 

[DAP]

This is true in part, but not in whole. There's a real importance to catering to some degree for your buy-it-sight-unseen fans because they'll keep coming back, if you treat em good. Anecdote; I can only speak for myself but I quit Assassin's Creed around Black Flag time because the series had strayed so far from what I originally loved about the franchise, I haven't played or touched any of the other titles since. I played every game, brought every season pass, add-on, re-release, t-shirt and figure I could get my hands on up until that point - but they lost me, hard. Now with AC:Origins they've gone back to a 4 year development cycle, gone back to the single-player focus, a return to a truely historical time-period worth exploring and all the hallmarks are there for a hard-core fan like myself to be brought back into the world. I'm certainly not the minority opinion on all of that either. Anecdotally the last two releases have seen a drop-off of the hard-core user base and underwhelming reviews for both Unity and Syndicate. So whilst the law of lesser-returns can be applied here, I think Ubisoft saw what was happening and did the right thing bringing the franchise back to its roots, back to a 'beginning' if you will to help return fans like me, to the franchise again.

When you look at a cricket title, is there a place to continue to cater to hard-core fans whilst still maintaining a pick-up-and-play element within the same title? Absolutely. My theory is with the Ashes release they have a workable template. Ashes will be a "cycle" every few years to move copies of an enhanced, upgraded and licensed product around DBC releases that feature all the nerdy-hard-core stuff/upgrades/tweaks we're looking for. Furthermore they get the power-house cricket countries (UK/Australia) to help market and promote their product. More people discover it, more people buy into it and a few people join us (hopefully) here as newly birthed hard-core fans. We grow that user base, the game gets stronger. Rinse, wash, repeat. There's a real opportunity the licenses can be continued and expanded with each DBC release too as they continue to prove they get how cricket works on a console.

I think there's room for everyone. The licenses help massively for casual fans, the support Big Ant get from the hard-core fans make the next title better... and then the next... and then the next...

All I can say is well said!

 

[Llewelynf]

This is true in part, but not in whole. There's a real importance to catering to some degree for your buy-it-sight-unseen fans because they'll keep coming back, if you treat em good. Anecdote; I can only speak for myself but I quit Assassin's Creed around Black Flag time because the series had strayed so far from what I originally loved about the franchise, I haven't played or touched any of the other titles since. I played every game, brought every season pass, add-on, re-release, t-shirt and figure I could get my hands on up until that point - but they lost me, hard. Now with AC:Origins they've gone back to a 4 year development cycle, gone back to the single-player focus, a return to a truely historical time-period worth exploring and all the hallmarks are there for a hard-core fan like myself to be brought back into the world. I'm certainly not the minority opinion on all of that either. Anecdotally the last two releases have seen a drop-off of the hard-core user base and underwhelming reviews for both Unity and Syndicate. So whilst the law of lesser-returns can be applied here, I think Ubisoft saw what was happening and did the right thing bringing the franchise back to its roots, back to a 'beginning' if you will to help return fans like me, to the franchise again.

When you look at a cricket title, is there a place to continue to cater to hard-core fans whilst still maintaining a pick-up-and-play element within the same title? Absolutely. My theory is with the Ashes release they have a workable template. Ashes will be a "cycle" every few years to move copies of an enhanced, upgraded and licensed product around DBC releases that feature all the nerdy-hard-core stuff/upgrades/tweaks we're looking for. Furthermore they get the power-house cricket countries (UK/Australia) to help market and promote their product. More people discover it, more people buy into it and a few people join us (hopefully) here as newly birthed hard-core fans. We grow that user base, the game gets stronger. Rinse, wash, repeat. There's a real opportunity the licenses can be continued and expanded with each DBC release too as they continue to prove they get how cricket works on a console.

I think there's room for everyone. The licenses help massively for casual fans, the support Big Ant get from the hard-core fans make the next title better... and then the next... and then the next...

This guy gets it.

 

[cricket_online]

Ashes will be a "cycle" every few years to move copies of an enhanced, upgraded and licensed product around DBC releases that feature all the nerdy-hard-core stuff/upgrades/tweaks we're looking for.

You are assuming that there will be two cricket gaming franchises - one targeting casual fans (Ashes) and one more suited to hardcore/sim cricket gaming fans (DBC). I doubt cricket can support two ongoing franchises and if Ashes Cricket becomes an ongoing long term franchise with release every couple of years lining up with Ashes series schedule, DBC would not be viable IMO.

In an ideal scenario I like the direction EA has taken with Madden starting this year, i.e. they have 3 separate game modes or playing styles - Arcade for 'pick n play', Competitive for online and MUT crowd, and Simulation for hardcore NFL fans who want to replicate the game they watch on Sundays. Essentially you are branching out the game for different sections of the consumer base. I would prefer such a solution instead of having two separate gaming franchises altogether which IMO are not sustainable based on the cricket gaming consumer base.

And a further clarification on game modes/styles i mentioned regarding Madden - they are not difficulty levels. They essentially are three separate forks in the game and the game actually plays differently. E.g., in Arcade mode you can easily make big plays, i.e. chuck the ball around and your receivers will more than likely make plays and catch the ball. In competitive mode, the user and stick skills take prominence. If you time it right and have a DB in the right place you will catch that interception instead of the game deciding it for you. Simulation is for hardcore fans where the game factors in probability of a particular play along with user skills. E.g., if you keep on throwing the ball deep, the chances of your player catching the ball will be less.

 

[kulch]

Casual fans play for the game for a short period of time until the next big title is out. To cater for casual fans can also mean a sacrifice of simulation and an influx of cosmetics. Fifa v Pes is a perfect example. Pes isn't licenced and is the better reflection of football. I hope they don't take the fifa approach and spend more money on licenses than building on solid gameplay

 

[Biggs]

You are assuming that there will be two cricket gaming franchises

That's not what I said at all. I said they'll leverage the "Ashes" license when it's appropriate. Based on the success of this next title, it'll allow them to leverage other licences's and perhaps expand into, say, "World Cup Cricket" style releases with upgrades as well.

But their legacy game will (should?) remain DBC because that's an IP they own and can develop guided by the "hard core" fans. Ross has stated many times he says the DBC product as a "Madden" style release. I'm speculating the Ashes licence gives them the ability to leverage a little more Cricket Australia/England support along with a bigger marketing push that will pay for upgrades to future DBC titles.

Pure speculating. They could well just dump the DBC licence altogether. I'm just saying, my 10c is on the "Ashes" licence being geared towards a different buyer/release schedule.

 

[blockerdave]

That's not what I said at all. I said they'll leverage the "Ashes" license when it's appropriate. Based on the success of this next title, it'll allow them to leverage other licences's and perhaps expand into, say, "World Cup Cricket" style releases with upgrades as well.

But their legacy game will (should?) remain DBC because that's an IP they own and can develop guided by the "hard core" fans. Ross has stated many times he says the DBC product as a "Madden" style release. I'm speculating the Ashes licence gives them the ability to leverage a little more Cricket Australia/England support along with a bigger marketing push that will pay for upgrades to future DBC titles.

Pure speculating. They could well just dump the DBC licence altogether. I'm just saying, my 10c is on the "Ashes" licence being geared towards a different buyer/release schedule.

They don't own anything to do with DBC that's all with TruBlu. Ross has said so very clearly.

 

[Biggs]

Correct, it's their IP that they've created.

 

[Nathaus]

I like your thinking with Ashes forcing a two year release cycle, but I doubt they will release interim titles - maybe just an annual roster update based on contracts, etc. I'd be interested to see if they are working on other licences, or if they are happy to just have official Aus/Eng players in the game. Maybe they will move to a DLC model where you can purchase certain teams/stadiums/competitions (imagine a BBL DLC that gave you all the teams and squads and stadiums) as they acquire licences? It certainly would give them a continuous revenue stream which is essentially in this day and age and to continue funding the franchise, it may also reduce risk where they negotiate the licence deal as a % of sales rather than a hard sum... Either way there are pros and cons to locking in to the Ashes "brand". Hopefully it's not a quick money grab from a dying franchise. Time will tell.

 

[TemPSaad]

Here goes mine
1)Multiple batting and bowling animations with tailender bats like tailender (Kinda like confirmed)
2)DBC17 career mode plus stat bug fixes and dynamic lineups which actually works
3)Manager mode with contracts , training and player chemistry
4)New commentary team (already confirmed)

I will be happy with these set and any additional feature will be a cake.

To be fair I am kinda dissapoint with the feature reveal for Ashes Cricket so far , I just expected 4 things and looks like only the commentary and stats bug is fixed , no new bowling actions ( I don't count 2 second change to release animation as new bowling action) no tailender poor shot animation , no manager mode it looks like , no news regarding dynamic lineup issue being fixed.

I might buy the game for a month and then trade it off , hopefully some of the 4 above will be in the game.