14 DAY TRIAL // Home Entertainment Suppliers Pty Ltd, as the publisher, and Sidhe, as the developer, have announced that they are working together to create a new rugby simulation video game which will be called Rugby Challenge and is set to be launched on both the PC and home gaming consoles at some point during the third quarter of next year.
Rugby Challenge has been confirmed to include the All Blacks, the ITM Cup and Investec Super Rugby but the announcement suggests that other teams and competitions will be licensed and integrated before the launch date.
The main gaming mode will be a franchise mode which will capture the evolution of one team over a number of years and multiplayer online play will be included.
The developers promise a number of customization options for the team that the player will control and Rugby Challenge will offer dynamic real time commentary.
David Robles, who is the business development Manager for HES, stated when the announced was made, “HES has a strong history of publishing sports based videogames. The sport of rugby is a great fit for us to build on that foundation, and we are excited by the long term potential for it as part of our growing portfolio.”
Mario Wynands, the managing director of Sidhe, said, “After achieving success with other sports videogames, we are extremely proud to be taking on the national sport of New Zealand. This is an exciting time for rugby both within New Zealand and internationally, and it is fantastic to be a part of that.”
The existence of a game like Rugby Challenge is welcome news for fans of the sport, which is gaining exposure all over the world.
At the moment worldwide rugby is preparing for a new World Cup and the sports has lacked a video game simulation since EA Sports published Rugby 08 in 2007.