DBC17 press

[kamrul]

Cricket never lost it's charm. It's beautiful as always and always will be. If have a doubt then watch a test match played in India, Australia or England and you will know.

If ICC don't find ways to engage the new generation in cricket then it's gonna lose it's charm very soon. Coming from a country which is known mostly for it's cricket team, most of my friends love football more than cricket. Whereas our national football team isn't going to any direction. It has only been possible for FIFA.

 

[SibiNaayagam]

If ICC don't find ways to engage the new generation in cricket then it's gonna lose it's charm very soon. Coming from a country which is known mostly for it's cricket team, most of my friends love football more than cricket. Whereas our national football team isn't going to any direction. It has only been possible for FIFA.

Then probably your board should be doing something about it? It's not cricket that is at fault here or the ICC.

 

[kamrul]

Then probably your board should be doing something about it? It's not cricket that is at fault here or the ICC.

Not getting my point. Are you? Anyways...

 

[LittleBigPlanet]

Then probably your board should be doing something about it? It's not cricket that is at fault here or the ICC.

That's the problem though the ICC, there not showing a willingness to include the smaller countries, they simply aren't giving those guys enough matches of any importance, they are literally starving them out, and if they try to stand up for themselves, then the ICC take away more and more, example being shortening tours or no tours at all (watch the cricket documentary "death of a gentleman").

Sounds like ea were just in the 'right place, at the right time', its a perfect storm now, nearly 10 months of the year the biggest leagues in the world are playing, by the time ea's FIFA starts to feel old there's already a new one out, there just isn't anytime to forget soccer doesn't exist. You would think people would tire of it, but nope, it is literally getting bigger and better all the time, it has it roots firmly planted in nearly every single country in the world, whether that's because of the saturation of soccer all year round and the media that follows, or because of ea's behemoth, who knows, but they work best together.

Maybe one day when franchise cricket kicks up a gear and we have a meaningful champions league set-up for the most prominent cities globally, there will be enough revenue to go round that the ICC might decide to support left field ideas like video games, for the purpose of electronic bill-boards. That is assuming they haven't sold the most important thing, the TV rights to pay TV by then, because the most important place for cricket in general is in the living room, and its sad to hear that in england(birthplace of cricket) that its not accessible unless you have pay TV.

I think BA may actually be somewhere near the right place at nearly the right time, its just that a few things need to fall into place at the right time in the near future.

 

[SibiNaayagam]

That's the problem though the ICC, there not showing a willingness to include the smaller countries, they simply aren't giving those guys enough matches of any importance, they are literally starving them out, and if they try to stand up for themselves, then the ICC take away more and more, example being shortening tours or no tours at all (watch the cricket documentary "death of a gentleman").

Sounds like ea were just in the 'right place, at the right time', its a perfect storm now, nearly 10 months of the year the biggest leagues in the world are playing, by the time ea's FIFA starts to feel old there's already a new one out, there just isn't anytime to forget soccer doesn't exist. You would think people would tire of it, but nope, it is literally getting bigger and better all the time, it has it roots firmly planted in nearly every single country in the world, whether that's because of the saturation of soccer all year round and the media that follows, or because of ea's behemoth, who knows, but they work best together.

Maybe one day when franchise cricket kicks up a gear and we have a meaningful champions league set-up for the most prominent cities globally, there will be enough revenue to go round that the ICC might decide to support left field ideas like video games, for the purpose of electronic bill-boards. That is assuming they haven't sold the most important thing, the TV rights to pay TV by then, because the most important place for cricket in general is in the living room, and its sad to hear that in england(birthplace of cricket) that its not accessible unless you have pay TV.

I think BA may actually be somewhere near the right place at nearly the right time, its just that a few things need to fall into place at the right time in the near future.

Yeah I agree that ICC is starving them out but ICC doesn't seem to be running on it's own. It's controlled by the big 3 now. The latest meeting gives an optimistic view about the future of cricket in that sense.

And I completely agree on BA being at the right place at the right time. They just need a few more years of growth to be a flagship carrier of cricket around the globe. But I can totally see that happening. GO BA!

 

[Chief]

this is a painfully bad article... but maybe @Ross can evangelise and get some publicity for DBC17.

Why cricket needs its own Fifa 17 video-game equivalent to inspire a new generation

Ross has said hugely similar things about AFL in the past - He's basically written this article before! And I agree with it 100% - Mass-market appeal is key for the sport to continue to grow.

I don't think DBC is the game to do it though - FIFA is a massively dumbed-down game experience: My 6yr old nephew can play it and enjoy himself. The game has training wheels on it.
DBC is brilliant for hardcore fans, but probably the most inaccessible cricket game ever for newcomers either to the sport or to a game. It's the nature of it - two completely separate audiences and the more you go one way, the more you make it impossible for the others to enjoy it.

 

[SibiNaayagam]

Ross has said hugely similar things about AFL in the past - He's basically written this article before! And I agree with it 100% - Mass-market appeal is key for the sport to continue to grow.

I don't think DBC is the game to do it though - FIFA is a massively dumbed-down game experience: My 6yr old nephew can play it and enjoy himself. The game has training wheels on it.
DBC is brilliant for hardcore fans, but probably the most inaccessible cricket game ever for newcomers either to the sport or to a game. It's the nature of it - two completely separate audiences and the more you go one way, the more you make it impossible for the others to enjoy it.

They could probably try and reach the general audience after they have satisfied the audience who are surely going to play the game, which would majorly be hardcore people right now. What if DBC down the line ends up being the benchmark of balanced sports games that satisfies both hardcore players and be accessible to newcomers?

 

[Deleted member 9102]

Yeah, you can never have even watched football before and pick up and enjoy FIFA as it's not hardcore realistic, but the nature of the sport helps with that too because it's so simple; kick it in the goal to score a point... Offside is about the most complex rule. Cricket has lots more nuance than that which by itself makes it harder for newcomers to get straight into the swing of things.

Thats like me with NBA2K16 or Madden - they may be excellent games; I've heard particularly good things about the NBA 2K series and own 2K16 on Steam, but I don't watch or play these sports at all in real life so I struggle to understand what's going on and get frustrated by the game constantly stopping for a foul or break in play etc.

Football and therefore FIFA has simple rules and just flows, the fouls/breaks are obvious and you don't have to bother with any tactical options or formations to play to quite a high level; just pick a big team and away you go scoring impressive looking goals with little knowledge of the sport or skill at the game.

Could a cricket game appeal in that way to newcomers to the sport? I think that's much more difficult than with a simple sport like football. DBC is not on the arcadey side but I'm not sure how much it'd help that appeal if it were. How far would you need to go? EA/BLC/AC09 etc were arcadey and had licensed content yet to my knowledge didn't help the popularity of cricket.

The foundations are in place though if it is going to take off and I hope it does. Like I said before, I hope I'm wrong as I'd love DBC and cricket as a whole to become more popular.

 

[BigAntStudios]

Ross has said hugely similar things about AFL in the past - He's basically written this article before! And I agree with it 100% - Mass-market appeal is key for the sport to continue to grow.

I don't think DBC is the game to do it though - FIFA is a massively dumbed-down game experience: My 6yr old nephew can play it and enjoy himself. The game has training wheels on it.
DBC is brilliant for hardcore fans, but probably the most inaccessible cricket game ever for newcomers either to the sport or to a game. It's the nature of it - two completely separate audiences and the more you go one way, the more you make it impossible for the others to enjoy it.

I've certainly said this about AFL, still do (To be clear though, I didn't write this article).

DBC14 certainly wasn't easy to pick up and play, I am hoping DBC17 will take us a long way towards making it easier for new players as that is one of the development pillars of this iteration of the game.

I am hoping that we can successfully serve both audiences without separate modes of play, instead separating via difficulty (the amount of "help" offered).

 

[Chief]

They could probably try and reach the general audience after they have satisfied the audience who are surely going to play the game, which would majorly be hardcore people right now. What if DBC down the line ends up being the benchmark of balanced sports games that satisfies both hardcore players and be accessible to newcomers?

The classic problem here is that once you start making it accessible, you start to annoy the hardcore players. I genuinely think you can't do both.

Ashes 09 at one point had a "Like Cricket" or a "Love Cricket" option. One just had more accessible controls and more auto-selection by the game: What we found was that no-one wanted to use it, because to do so was basically admitting you needed the help.

 

[LittleBigPlanet]

I don't think DBC is the game to do it though

Out of curiosity, in your opinion @Chief , why couldn't it?

I dont understand the stigma attached to the word arcade, imo games that are labelled "arcade" are generally the games that are the most enjoyable to play.

 

[Chief]

Out of curiosity, in your opinion @Chief , why couldn't it?

Because everyone here would be enraged.

I should have said "wouldn't" instead of "couldn't" I suppose: DBC is a proper simulation game for hardcore fans all the way through the middle. I think it would be very hard for them to make it accessible without annnoying the fans.

 

[MattW]

Cricket has lots more nuance than that which by itself makes it harder for newcomers to get straight into the swing of things.

Cricket's two main problems in that area, as I see it, are the unanswerable 'Who's winning?' question and that unlike most sports - playing well can't force a turnover - at least not with any real immediacy.

For a video game the first one means it's hard for a player to know if they are doing well - most other sports have a very obvious way of measuring that, you and your opponent both score simultaneously - you can easily see where you stand. Cricket on the other hand - until very near the end of the match, you often can't tell if you've done well enough to win or lose, and that you have two very different skills - batting and bowling - that determine whether you win or lose. That's true to some extent in other sports - where you've got attack and defence as different skills, but you can react to poor defending on the fly - whereas you can't go back and score more runs if your bowling is bad.

The second is the instant satisfaction factor. There's a very direct relationship in most sports between doing something well, and getting a score. Forcing a turnover with a tackle or an intercepted pass - putting you on the attack instantly - is a very good feeling for a video game. For cricket, you essentially need constant success - there's 10 wickets to get if you want to start batting, and while hitting a six might be nice, you can just as easily miss the next one and get out - or the game's so easy, that hitting sixes becomes routine and therefore not a special thing worthy of feeling happy about.

There's some things I think video games can do to adjust for how cricket is - but a lot of it comes down to the nature of the sport.

That and the ECB need to get cricket on FTA.

 

[LittleBigPlanet]

Because everyone here would be enraged.

Yeah well i guess thats a fair point!

 

[blockerdave]

i think these few touches additions to the existing depth will bridge the pick up & play vs hardcore gap:

• the t5 / t10 game modes are short and good for pick up and play, fast matches so for the "who's winning" / instant rewards, in these shorter formats add an exaggerated result on player confidence from hitting boundaries, striking the batsman with a bouncer, a wicket, great fielding etc. this gives an obvious cause/effect.
• additionally, add an 8-over aside "cricket max" style format complete with the double score zones.
• resolving the length pick up issue is essential, obvs.
• remove the "snapshot" idea of game modes that make actually changing a format for competitions harder to understand - if i change a format e.g t20 ALL NEW competitions using t20 would use that new format, i shouldn't have to go and change the competition too.