Ashes Cricket demo now on Xbox Live

By Ellie Gibson Published 30 July, 2009

Try out this "exciting" and "thrilling" "sport".

A new demo of Ashes Cricket 2009 is now available on Xbox Live.

As reported by Major Nelson, it'll let you experience "the most exciting and thrilling confrontation in international cricket".

Ashes Cricket 2009 will be released for PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 on 7th August, which is the first day of the fourth real-life Ashes test at Headingley, whatever that means. You can take part in test matches and ODIs as well as Twenty20 games, which it turns out do not involve playing cricket while heavily under the influence of low-end fortifified wine. Disappointing.

For videos and screenshots, visit the gamepage. For advice on hair loss, ask Shane Warne.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • matrim83 #1 3 years ago

    Its been on XBL for about 5 days now EG. For shame.

    Demo is too short TBH but I still liked it. So I think I will get it.

  • metalangel #2 3 years ago

    What's with all the slagging off of sports? First the Tour de France, now the Ashes! I can't wait to hear what you have to say about The Bigs 2, EG.

  • JimWest #3 3 years ago

    I don't like Cricket, oh no! I love it!

    Bring on the Ashes!

    Should be a fun game and sell well if England do well in the Ashes, whilst the Aussies will buy it no matter what!
    Edited by 1 at 30/07/09 @ 09:29

  • viper_h #4 3 years ago

    Sounds riveting.

    Last time I "watched" a "game" of "cricket" a part of me died inside.

  • TheStatics #5 3 years ago

    Played the demo a few times (only 3 overs a piece) and it's better than I thought it'd be. The 20/20 stuff could be fun online too.

  • Agent_Llama #6 3 years ago

    Enjoyed the demo of this so looking forward to it. :)

  • monkeywithnoeyes #7 3 years ago

    as always.. hot off the press with the news

  • Kosak #8 3 years ago

    Is there a PS3 demo?

  • Deckard1 #9 3 years ago

    I thought the demo was a bit shit actually. The batting seemed far to easy, with little or no timing needed.

  • Ceatlan #10 3 years ago

    Problem I had with the demo was that when batting I wanted the camera close up behind the batsmen, not miles away behind the bowler. Anyone notice if there was a way to change it ?

    Deckard1, you must have played a different game to me. I found the batting was entirely down to timing, and until I noticed the timing bar in the top right letting me know whether I was swinging late or early, I didn't actually manage to connect with a single shot. (Which I think was partly cause by the camera angle making it more difficuly to judge than I thought it should be.)
    Edited by 1 at 30/07/09 @ 11:02

  • Darren #11 3 years ago

    How come EG have a habit of announcing Xbox 360 demos almost a week late? :?

  • Darren #12 3 years ago

    @metalangel - I got the BIGS 2 (360 version) yesterday and it's great fun although a little hard so far (even on Easy!).

    It's an arcade baseball game through and through with ridiculously over-the-top moves (super jumps, turbo pitches, etc., etc.) but manages to feel reasonably authentic otherwise with licensed teams, venues and players. The various mini-games are fun, the Be A Legend mode takes a created player through a variety of one-off games and mini-games starting in Mexico, there's a Season mode too and the presentation is superb with colourful, beautifully animated and detailed graphics, great commentary and a good soundtrack.

    It's the only good baseball game you're likely to ever see on the Xbox 360 here in the UK and it's actually way better than 2K Sport's official MLB 2K9 actually. For £15 at Amazon it's a steal (no pun intended).

    P.S. I did have the game freeze on me during the first game when I played it off the disc but it was fine when I installed it to the HDD. The strange thing is that the demo also crashed on me too when I tried it. :?
    Edited by 1 at 30/07/09 @ 11:13

  • metalangel #13 3 years ago

    @Darren: Yup, preordered and got. The demo could do with explaining it all better but once you get to grips with it it's a very good game. You can turn off some of the powerups and as someone who has been clamouring for a baseball game I delighted we not only got one but a good one too! What I was saying was that EuroGamer's current antisports stance combined with the typical British views on baseball will likely make for some "wonderful" journalism if they ever review it.

  • NHDave #14 3 years ago

    There is a cricket outside my window and it is annoying!

  • Chufty #15 3 years ago

    Fuck you Ellie, cricket is a thrilling sport and many thousands of people in this country agree. Fortunately, many thousands of people also don't take you, your biased news articles, your cack-handed reviews or your bumbling, embarrasing interviews seriously.

  • TheGoose126 #16 3 years ago

    I think batting is pretty tough! Looks pretty good but codemasters know what they are doing with cricket games. The player likeness are very poor though it is harldy like fifa with loads of players, at least get flintoff looking accurate. Got mine ordered and will be up for some online action next w/e

  • BillyBrush #17 3 years ago

    I found it to be worse than the 2007 one tbh, seemed as if transmission games have used Swordfish's engine/setup and not added a lot themselves

  • monkeywithnoeyes #18 3 years ago

    they'll be breaking the news that Michael Jacksons dead next

  • Billybob21 #19 3 years ago

    I'm getting sick and tired of websites saying things like "whatever that means" and the like. Why can't they just get someone who likes the sport to write about it.

  • kiroquai #20 3 years ago

    Just played it, and really disliked it. I had the Aussies drop 3 regulation catches in one over (was testing hitting out) and then take two absolutely impossible blinders the next, the bowling is tricky and you seem to get tonked a lot and the general look and feel of the thing felt all wrong. Had Katich performing some kind of ridiculous pull shot above his head whilst he was ducking a few times.

    Yeah, not a big fan as far as the demo goes.

  • kiroquai #21 3 years ago

    Just found a really awesome* bug.

    Anderson bowled a nice yorker to Ponting, who blocked it out. They tried to take a run but whilst Ricky turned back, Hughes kept running so eventually both batsmen were stood at the same side of the strip. My fielders then stood around not doing anything, and rather than just click the bails off at the bowler's end the game went on to the next ball.

    Yeah...

    *awesome unless, like me, you wanted a good cricket game to play this summer.

  • ComradePete #22 3 years ago

    Yeah steady on with the headline EG... would a new Gears of War demo etc. be greeted with the same lack of respect?

    Not "clever" or "funny".

  • RedSparrows #23 3 years ago

    I like cricket. This game is a bit ropey but seemed alright. As far as I can tell, anyway.

  • Syrette #24 3 years ago

    Be fair now, cricket is extremely boring.

    I can't understand how people could watch those test matches and find them "thrilling".

    -1 me all you want, I don't care.