VB Warnie
This is something that we won’t see over in England, but last year when I was in Australia I was caught up a bit in the marketing hype, enough so that I want to post about it!
Victoria Bitter, or VB as it is more affectionately known “down under”, is an Australian lager and the company behind them have supported cricket for quite a while. The past few years they have released plastic dolls or manikins, such as the one shown to the right, which are mine! The first year was just David Boon on his own, and last year for the ashes they had Boony and Beefy (Ian Botham obviously!). Wow, so nothing special you say… well how about the fact that they talk to each other! Put these little bad boys near the tele, and when you settle down to watch Australia take on some second rate outfit from another country, they start chirping up! Its witchcraft, I tell ye! However, when I brought them back to this country they had to be moved downstairs as they were talking as I was trying to sleep!
Anyway, onto the point – this year the ambassador for VB is none other than Warney. They have changed the format slightly, so its just Shane this year, and he’s sat down in his armchair. If you’re down under you can get him if you buy a nice big pack of VB (lovely stuff, by the way – but bloody difficult to get in England!), or from the 1 st December you can get him from the online shop at www.vbwarnie.com.au Or maybe you want to buy an inflatable chair, t-shirt or hat! Also on that site there are a couple of addictive little games, desktop downloads etc. Never say I can be taken in by marketing spiel again!!
As a sidenote I think this would work ok in England, but the brands which support cricket (Marston’s), are a little more reserved and I don’t see them attempting this. But imagine how many people would get one of these with Freddie or KP on… My commission fee can be sent to me at….!
New Slazenger Bats for 2008
I’ve not done a post recently on the 2008 gear coming out at the moment, and there is a lot to get through it seems! I’ll try to keep up a bit more with them in the next few weeks so you know what to start saving up for! Slazenger is the focus of my attention today - after I saw Michael Clarke’s bat looking pretty sweet.
Despite saying that, you can’t buy Clarke’s bat for a couple of reasons - slazenger AUS and GB are separate entities, and two - he isn’t exactly a household name over here. His bat still looks nice though! Slazenger havn’t been the most exciting brand over the last few years, and 2008 doesn’t look like its going to buck the trend. A slightly updated look has been applied to the bats, and the names have been changed but the profiles look the same and you wonder if there is actually anything “new”.
What used to be the SE is now the “Pro blade”, the SXI becomes the “Pure blade” and the SX is renamed to be “Power blade” and they are shown in the image above in that order left-right. Still, if Bell has another top season like last year and Collingwood does ok as one day skipper it should help them shift a few. So not the most exciting, and not top of my list but no doubt they will be for someone!
Woodworm Hard Drive, Mega Bite, Satellite Part II
My previous post about the new Woodworm offerings for 2008 was very popular, so when they released new images of the bats I knew I had to let you all see them! I’m still not sure about the names, but the colours and look of the bats have grown on me, to the stage that I’m starting to quite like them!
On the right I have put together a picture showing the profiles of the three bats - with the Hard Drive on the left, Mega Bite in the middle and Satellite on the right. They look like re-brands of the existing bats, but that’s what marketing is all about! Create a bit of hype, change the look of the product you sell, give it to the right people and watch the sales come flying in (which they will).
I’m not going to give an opinion on how well these bats will actually perform - I’ve not tried one and therefore I can’t. However, Woodworm havn’t had the best reputation for making the best bats and there has been no word on where these bats are actually sourced from.
If you want any more pictures of these bats leave me a comment and I can upload a couple more of the front and back!
Woodworm’s Hard Drive, Mega Bite and Satellite
Check out my newer post with more information about these bats. Woodworm Bats
Woodworm used the day of the first one day international game between England and India to announce their new line up of bats for the 2008 season. Companies often re-sticker the international players bats around this time of year to try and generate a bit of interest before everyone goes into hibernation for the winter.
They have re-branded themselves a little bit and moved away a bit from the more colourful look to a darker, metallic look which looks ok but not what we are used to from Woodworm. They’ve been an incredibly successful company thanks to Freddie and KP, and now having established themselves they will look to push themselves further into the adult market, as the junior market is already successful.
I’m not to sure on the names of the bat, the “Hard
Drive”, “Mega Bite” and “Satellite”, are a bit tacky if you ask me, and without seeing the bats they may just been re-brands of the Torch, Flame and Globe. But some marketing people have obviously decided that is the way for the next two years and as long as KP and Freddie keep in the public eye they will get plenty of coverage!
If you see anymore new gear from the manufacturers, get in touch and I’ll post about it! Oh, and if Wordworm would like me to post fuller about this, get in touch and send me one and I’ll be more than happy to post about it!
International Cricket Captain 3
Despite my moaning, it is summer! And the computer games marketing departments recognise that, so it’s time for another release of a game connected to cricket!
I’m still enjoying beating my mates at Brian Lara - especially this weekend…. (sorry, private joke!), but that is on the XBox 360. When it come to PC games, there is only one game that makes it onto the radar. That game is Football Manager (the evolution of the super successful championship manager games) , but of course that has nothing at all to do with cricket! There is a similar kind of game based around cricket though, and there is a new version out, and it is called International Cricket Captain III.
It is released tomorrow, and I havn’t had the chance to play a demo of it, but at only 20 quid from Game it doesn’t cost much and may help releive the boredom of a Saturday afternoon when cricket gets rained off! The previous versions weren’t bad games, and the previews I have read suggest it has improved on them, so it could be worth a bash. This game has been endorsed by KP, who says without any marketing spin at all “The games are made by cricket fans for cricket fans. They love the game and it shows.” ….hmm!
If you get the game leave me a comment and let me know what you think of it. I don’t get much time to play games on the PC anymore, but if I hear good reviews from some of you I’ll give it a go!
Brian Lara Cricket 2007 Demo Review
The demo for Brian Lara International Cricket 2007 was released yesterday, and I’ve had a bit of a play so I thought I’d let you know my thoughts!
You can download it from the codemasters site for the PC, or on the marketplace on xbox Live for the xbox 360, which is where I got mine. Its quite a big download, but it didn’t take nearly as long as I thought to download, so if you want a taste of the game then it’s worth the wait.
Once you start the game, the loading screens show you the instructions, but far too fast to see them all! So the first game was spent trying all the buttons and trying to remember what they do! You play as England, against Australia, in a 3 over a side game. Yeah, its not long, but its only a taster to make people want to buy the game! It is supposedly only 90% finished, and there are things missing such as commentary, but the essence of the game is all there.
So what is it like? Anyone who has played previous Brian Lara games will feel right at home, as the game keeps to the same winning formula of the previous versions. Think of this game as an update of the old versions with a couple of new features, better graphics and you’re thinking along the right roads. There is only one level of the game, which to an experienced Brian Lara fan will be a little easy, so hopefully this is just due to the level of play. Sixes and fours can still be hit quite regularly, and they go quite a long way if you time them right with the “advance down the track” new option. Its not all easy though, especially for someone who hasn’t played any previous version for a while. I particularly like being able to use the”defend” shot a bit better, as you can angle it into the gaps and get singles where previously it would just pat the ball back to the bowler.
When bowling there are some nice touches - such as automatic switching of fields for different batsmen if you want - and the bowling speeds seem more realistic and consistent than before. One annoyance is the fact that everytime you throw the ball to the ‘keeper he takes the bails off and appeals, even if the batsman has been stood there for an age. Just a small bug I’m sure, one that will be ironed out before the full release. I couldn’t quite get to grip with pressing the right button at the right time to take a catch but this is probably due to my ineptitude more than anything!
Overall it is a great update to the series, and the demo has definitely re-enforced my decision to pre-order the game. It’ll be good to tackle a whole game and tournament, and the multiplayer game will be even better (getting to beat my mates!).
The best prices for this game I’ve found are the following:
xbox 360 £39.99 from Game or Amazon
PS2 £29.99 from Game or Amazon
PC £17.99 from Amazon
Go pre-order it now!
