A little bit late with this one, but Sidhe Interactive are making a big return to Rugby League with Rugby League 3, slated for late 2009. It seems the announcement has been causing a bit of a stir amongst fans as the game has been slated as a Wii exclusive.
The visuals of the game look great, the player models are fantastic and everything sports a much less saturated and more realistic look than the visuals in previous iterations of Rugby League and their Melbourne Cup Challenge title. The video post-processing effects seen in the screenshots look like they really enhance the visuals a lot as well.
The press release
Home Entertainment Suppliers Pty Ltd (HES) today announced the development of Rugby League 3 for Nintendo Wii™, by leading games developer Sidhe. The game continues the highly successful “Rugby League” franchise, which is amongst the highest selling franchises of all time in Australasia.
“We are extremely pleased to be publishing a new Rugby League title with such fresh features, content, and innovations across the board,” said David Robles, Business Development Manager for HES. “Rugby League 3 is a significant and worthy addition to the franchise.”
The features and content of “Rugby League 3” include:
- Visceral Wii Remote motion controls bring the physicality of Rugby League into your living room
- 80+ licensed teams from competitions such as the NRL, Super League, Toyota Cup, UK Championship, UK Championship 1, State of Origin, City v Country and internationals
- 38 stadia from Australia, New Zealand, UK and France
- Team level gameplay features including defensive line controls, attacking strategy selection, team confidence, and AI support play
- Build a champion team in the Multi-year Franchise Mode including advanced player management, Dally M Player of the Year and Man of Steel, club records and optional manual rep selection
- Create and customise players, teams, and competitions
- Broadcast style presentation with enhanced replay angles, match highlights, and in-game commentary from Channel Nine’s Andrew Voss
“The production team has been able to leverage significant past experience and extensive feedback from consumers in the development of this title” said Mario Wynands, Managing Director of Sidhe. “As a result, Rugby League 3 takes the series to new heights, delivering a richer, deeper and more immersive experience than ever before.”
Rugby League 3 is expected to be released for Nintendo Wii in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and France in Q4 2009. More information about the game can be found at http://www.rugbyleague3.com
Third time lucky?
Let's hope this game turns out better than the previous two PS2 and Xbox games. Honestly with all due respect to Sidhe who were probably under publisher pressure, those games were a buggy, glitchy, unpolished mess. I hope they have the time to polish this one up properly.
Noooo release it on Project
Noooo release it on Project Natal instead! OR as well