Ashes Cricket 09

Australia, May 10, 2009 - Atari Australia today announced that it will be publishing Ashes Cricket 2009 in partnership with Codemasters in July. The game will ship on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. A Nintendo Wii version will be released later in the year. Ashes Cricket 2009 will be the official game of the tournament and is fully licensed by Cricket Australia, the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) and the MCC (the Marylebone Cricket Club - owner of the Ashes urn), which means the game will have all the official players, kit and stadia – including Lords and The Brit Oval, from this year's Ashes Series. The game is in development by Transmission Games, the studio behind Ricky Ponting 2007 Pressure Play on PSP.

For any Americans reading this, what's happening in this screenshot is a 'batteroo' is 'crikey-ing' a 'chazwazza' for 'tensies'.

The game will feature an Ashes mode, featuring all five Tests played out at authentic recreations of each venue. It will also give players the option of One Day Internationals, 20 over games, Test matches and even challenges. The PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions will also feature full online multiplayer as well as support for local multiplayer games.

Really though, all you need to know about cricket is that it's the perfect excuse to drink in the sun for five days straight.

"The Ashes is set to be the sporting event of the European summer and it's great to be producing the official game of the series," commented Jamie Firth, Producer, Codemasters. "In partnering with the development team at Transmission Games, Ashes Cricket 2009 is a cricket title with an unprecedented heritage that comes from two companies that know and love the sport. Codemasters' cricket titles became the number one cricket gaming brand for over ten years and it's a reputation that we fully intend to continue with Ashes Cricket 2009."