Superstitions and International Cricket Captain 2010

I am one that believes in omens, portents and other superstitious stuff. I think sometimes it comes from being a sportsperson - you train a certain way, adopt certain routines and rituals, and when things don't seem to be working out, you look for a time when things were working out. Sometimes they are logical things - your not keeping your eye on the ball for long enough, or are rushing things. Othertimes they are little things that you'd otherwise overlook - gear is a little too loose, tight, or not quite right. And then there are the other things. Just about every players has them, whether it is not shaving during a game, wearing lucky underwear, or lacing the left boot before the right. They don't make sense to anyone, but they are as important as having the right technique and gear.

Anyway, I should have sensed something was amiss when I was going through my emails, and noticed that gmail had put something in my SPAM folder. There was an email in the SPAM bin from Childish Things, the guys that make International Cricket Captain, undoubtedly THE best cricket management/simulation game series on the market. I immediately rescue it, returning it back to my inbox, and follow the links to grab the demo. That's one of the things that I love most about the ICC series games (and I know it is not unique to them - other game companies do it) - you can grab the demo, and play it for a solid 48 hours before buying it. You can even keep your game progress when you finally buy it, which is a nice touch, too.

So I begin the download process, sipping a beer, watching the download time left jumping up and down like Ponting before he's settled at the crease, and resist the urge to fire up ICC2008 while I wait. When it's all down, installed, and everything is set, I run it - or try to. I see the little error message, ignore it and try again. Same deal. I have a WTF moment, followed by a RTFM moment, and come across this little message on the Childish Things website - "*Please note: International Cricket Captain 2010 does not support Integrated/Onboard graphics chipsets and laptops but works on most machines. You can try the demo on your machine to see if it will work before purchase." Okay. What? ICC2008 and every other earlier version that I've tried to install on my trusty netbook have no trouble working. I look through all the other changes that they say that they have made to the game, and I can't for the life of me work out why ICC2010 (and, it seems, 2009) shouldn't work. It's not like they've installed the latest Quake engine on the thing. And it's not like the highlights in the game (which I assume could be the only reason that it wouldn't work) are essential - it even says in the manual - "RUNNING ANIMATED HIGHLIGHTS - If these highlights appear jerky or slow, then choose ‘None’ from the Highlights Level menu." I've sent them an email to see if they can explain to me what's going on, because I'd really love to give them my money, and play the latest version on my netbook. I really would. I've been playing this game series since 1999, when I picked up my copy of the original ICC.

So, in terms of reviewing this game, as was my initial intention, I guess I can just go on the information I have - what their website says and what is in the manual. Their website says that they have added an Australian Domestic season. Thank you, and about time! I mean, seriously, about time! It's not like the game takes up a huge amount of space on a CD when you buy it, and I've been waiting for a decade to be able to play all the domestic series from around the globe, but, hey, this is a good start. Maybe as future versions roll out, more domestic series will be available to us. Please? The rest of the new features seems to be what all the previous updates have been - updated player stats, update the game to reflect the current tournaments and series in the real world, better AI, and so on - all the kinda stuff I'd need to play the game to check out, and that you could read straight off their website. There is one other thing that I think needs to be mentioned, and I have thought this for several versions of the game now. The manual. Please rewrite it, update it, make it more relevant, useful, something? Please?

Anyway, I'm going to go sit by my inbox, and see what the boys at Childish Things have to say, if they get back to me. I'll keep you posted as to how things go. And maybe play a bit of ICC2008 while I wait.

Childish Things Ltd Inc has sole ownership of the names, logo, artwork, marks, photographs, sounds, audio, video and/or any proprietary material used in connection with the game International Cricket Captain.