That's a hilarious picture. But I don't see this title doing that well.

I'm sorry. But cricket is nothing like baseball.

I'd imagine a non-Ashes "branded" cricket game would go over better for a non-PAL release and would go over particularly well in the countries that are cricket mad and happen to not be Australia and England. New Zealand, South Africa and India in particular..... Although I am curious how many people in countries like India, South Africa and Pakistan actually own a Wii. :S

This game would BOMB in the US.

Seriously, we must get about 2 or 3 emails a day from readers about this... I can't believe that anyone even watches cricket in North America.... amazing!

This game probably has a bigger potential global audience than Madden does. Think about it that way. Just because your country doesn't "get it" doesn't mean there isn't an audience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MumjkHBphgI

I played this at my relatives;house. Batting is really fun but bowling and catching mechanics are awful. WIIMOTIONPLUS cricket please....and soon!

I would be interested in this. I lived in Britain as a kid and loved cricket. But I would have to relearn the rules, too.

Edit. Corrected spelling

Yeah, this would bomb here. If you stop 100 people in NA and ask them about cricket you'd be lucky to find 5 or 6 that had the slightest clue what you were saying.

I'm surprised that there's so much international interest, but pleasantly so.

I only thought about 6 to 10 countries actually participate in Cricket, which explains why it's doing so well in England.

If it does go to America then that's fine but I at least like other countries to participate since losing to certain countries in Cricket gets repetitive (Not in a bad way mind, and I hope we beat the Aussies this time ).

Either way it's shocking to hear it's gained national interest.

@habereet: You'll get used to the rules again. It's a somewhat simple game to grasp.

@Aviator and Skywake: I actually didn't notice the title "Ashes" in the game. Is it as popular in Australia as it is over here?

Skywake makes very good points, though I agree it probably wouldn't make a ton of money here since there are massive communities of Indian/Pakistani Cricket fans in the US who might want a cricket game here but they need a game with their teams in it! Duh. I'd pick it up myself if it had more teams.
I grew to love it after making a Doc film about Cricket, and there are Millions of Americans (ex-pats of Cricket loving nations) who need some love too. Be cool if they could just make a limited run or something to test it out, does it really need an overhaul to just make an NTSC version? I promise I'll buy at least one (if not 50; I could sell it for double to all the Indian Cricket fans I know who'd give up a kidney for a cricket game here).

BTW the "cricket=baseball" is really a tired misconception. someone either has a morbid sense of humor, or has no idea what baseball or cricket is about.

Ren, I believe the game has all major international teams, although I believe players not from England or Australia have their names spelt incorrectly.

Oh, I see. Only the the two teams are licensed. My bad. Close enough then, bring it on. Thanks for the clarification.

You should all know by now we like a bit of a joke here at NL - nobody's seriously saying cricket and baseball are the same. Although let's face it, they are near-identical...

@Pro'. We have matching hair cuts, and yes, I was equally shocked.

As for cricket, I love it! But I couldn't face playing a game of it, unless it's that awesome subbuteo like one from when I was a kid (which it isn't). I am immensely surprised to hear that you've been receiving so many queries from outside PAL territory.

@Prosody - Baseball doesn't drag on for 3 days at least!

Forget Ashes cricket, I want wiimotionplus Brian Lara Cricket Wii and Mario Super Sluggers please!

what is cricket?do you hit the cricket with a bat or something else?

Basically, cricket is 3 days of Dad hogging the TV watching people hitting a ball with a bat and running.

And then they do the same thing for the next 4 or 5 weeks. It's probably why I've grown to like Winter so much.

I am amazed to see how many people are predicting that the game will bomb in NA. I got my copy shipped from UK (PC ver. ofcourse) the next day it was released. And just to make few things clear about how easy it is to learn cricket, this game has a legends mode where some great players in cricket teach you how to play the game, it is so basic and simple to understand that I got frustrated since I have played this game forever. But looking at a newbie perspective, which could actually form a good majority of people in US, this is a really good game to get started and even take it to next level. I am one of those people who have emailed codemasters for the NTSC ver. but looks like they don't seemed convinced. There is no way I can play it on wii in US, which would be really great, and I am really upset about it. I mean common atleast just count the number of emails you got, you will have that many buyers, plus don't forget the fact that lot more people will get hooked up to it once they play it on their friends console. I already have 3 guys who knew nothing about cricket till I showed them the PC ver. and now they can't believe that Wii ver. is not getting released in US !!!

Replying SUPERZELDAMAN: Nah man, it's the game where you hit the nuts of a cricket with a bat.

I can not wait for it to come out in the US , this is way better than baseball.

The question is not how many Wii systems are in Pakistan or India, the question is once the locals get wind of Cricket on a Wii in their homes, it has the potential of beating all markets in the world, including the UK and Australian markets, UK and Aus combined has a population of no more than 150 million, now lets see Pakistan and India is a market of 1250 million people, add Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and you have an additional 250-300 million folks.

Imagine Wii cricket becoming half as popular as regular Cricket....Anyway, when are they releasing a NTSC version for the US market, dont forget in the US and Canada there are at leas a million plus Pakistani, Indian household with cricket in almost every family, so Nin is missing out on huge markets by ignoring these demog.