Next Generation Rugby Games (for PS3 and Xbox)

First topic message reminder :

Like London buses, you wait for ages for one and then two pop up at the same time!

I know there was a lot of chat on 606 (RIP) about Rugby games for PS3 and I thought I would bring some news about two games that have been confirmed for August 2011.

Firstly, there is Rugby Challenge, produced by Sidhe:

http://rugbychallengegame.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_Challenge

https://www.facebook.com/pages/All-Blacks-Rugby-Challenge-Game/162875610443414


I think this is an update from the 'World Cup Challenge' produced just after the 2003 World Cup and may be a descendant from Jonah Lomu Rugby.

The screenshots look very impressive.

They have confirmed licences for the All Blacks, Wallabies, ITM Cup and Super 15. There has been no confirmation of whether they have any European national teams or leagues - which is a bit of a downer - but, going by the Wiki link, there seems to be an extensive editing mode.

In addition, the team behind the game seem very 'on the ball' and have opened up a fans forum asking for advice and answering any queries:

http://forums.sidheinteractive.com/forumdisplay.php?f=85

I would advise going on there and giving the details for your favourite team!


The other option is the RWC 2011 Official Game which is made by HB Studios:

http://www.rwc2011game.com/

https://www.facebook.com/RWC2011game

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_World_Cup_2011_%28video_game%29


This game is a direct descendant from Rugby 08, 06, 04, etc. - I don't know whether this is a good thing! Although they were fun games, they were very limited

I presume that this will have licences for all teams at the RWC 2011 (this is, however, disputable due to Rugby Challenge claiming to have exclusive licenses to the All Blacks, Wallabies and Super Rugby) but I am not sure about the gameplay outside of that.

I haven't seen any screenshots for this game.


So which game are people going to buy?

I'm kind of torn because HB Studios should, in theory, be able to make the best game but it remains to be seen whether this will be another rush job just to maximise sales while the RWC is on.

My only issue with Rugby Challenge at the moment is what licences they will have for Northern Hemisphere rugby.

Has anyone else got info on these games?

Feckless Rogue wrote:If you ask me the IRB should be looking to fund and publish a top class rugby game themselves. That's what the wrestling crowd do. And not only do they promote their "sport", but they make a huge amount of money on sales of the games, rather than just getting a fee for letting someone else use their image licences and the like.

I agree wholeheartedly with this. FIFA do the same. What I'm guessing the iRB will do is wait till they see a game of the required quality and then put their backing behind it.

The IRB SHOULD do it, and I would welcome that as a rugby fan, but I'm glad they haven't as a gaming fan because most of the rugby games haven't been that great and once it has the official IRB seal and licenses that is going to make marketing a competing game very difficult.

Notch - that said there in wendyball Pro-Evo managed to do it so if there was a will there is a way.

For the best playing experience it has to be play 3 seasons in jonah lomu and then play a world cup warm up and then the tournament. full rugby experience

Just playing the world cup demo at the moment (again) as South Africa. Broke through the defence with Jacques Fourie, went to sidestep the fullback and both of them disappeared. Completely gone. All the players are just standing around, the commentator is still saying things like "They can't catch him now!" and "I think he has the pace to get there!". The sooner Rugby Challenge comes out, the better.

JmD wrote:Just playing the world cup demo at the moment (again) as South Africa. Broke through the defence with Jacques Fourie, went to sidestep the fullback and both of them disappeared. Completely gone. All the players are just standing around, the commentator is still saying things like "They can't catch him now!" and "I think he has the pace to get there!". The sooner Rugby Challenge comes out, the better.

Yep...

RC has a UK release date of October 14th. I have a pre-order copy on amazon, initially they had it down as being out October 7th but the office RC says it is the 14th. Low and behold, get an email from amazon saying it's been 'pushed back a week and will be released October 14th'.

Can't wait for this

Not again

It will be Christmas by the time this game is out.

"Jonah Lomu's health problems will also impact on his commercial interests, with a delay on release of an Xbox and PS3 game called Lomu's Rugby "

Steady on Irish...

Ah ok I didn't know that was the reason so cheers .

Thats understandable I suppose hope he gets well soon. I asumed it was something to do with the game makers.

Not sure of the logic in it, just a random quote from the paper.

Knowing software and general IT management, it's more than likely that they gave the devs a couple of weeks to fix major bugs and release a patched version, and they screwed up.

Got my copy of this game imported from Australia a few days ago. Pretty good game all round... But i find it does put a bit too much emphasis on backs play. I dont really see the point in the forwards, its all about flinging the ball wide and doing fancy chip kicks and side steps. An the offloads are abit silly, everyone can offload like Sonny Bil in this game until you knock on.

Also only the player likeness of Australia and NZ players have been captured. None of the NH players look real.. Even the most famous ones ie Wilko, O'Driscoll, Shane Williams are just random faces.

An the player stats are all just wrong for NH players.

An no set plays is a bit annoying, everything is just abit too random and chance based. I would like to be able to execute a pre defined move at many points in a match.

But after those gripes I think this is the start of an excellent franchise. I do think abit more effort on the NH side would go a long way in terms of sales over here.

And there we see nicely illustrated the difference between the SH and the NH in terms of our perspectives on rugby I guess.

Call me predictable, but I've always thought a nice touch would be to capture referees personalities and traits and have to play to them.

A few dodgy home rulings thrown in to capture those whistlers like Barnes and Clancy.

Here we go again.....

TheGreyGhost wrote:Not sure of the logic in it, just a random quote from the paper.

Knowing software and general IT management, it's more than likely that they gave the devs a couple of weeks to fix major bugs and release a patched version, and they screwed up.

Do you know how quickly patches can make their way from product developers to the retailer shelf?

It takes more than a week. And given that the game is already released then why would they be sweating over fixing things for a regional version?

Mickado wrote:

TheGreyGhost wrote:Not sure of the logic in it, just a random quote from the paper.

Knowing software and general IT management, it's more than likely that they gave the devs a couple of weeks to fix major bugs and release a patched version, and they screwed up.

Do you know how quickly patches can make their way from product developers to the retailer shelf?

It takes more than a week. And given that the game is already released then why would they be sweating over fixing things for a regional version?

They may just want to update the player lists and so on for NH teams before the release. Last seasons squads in the game.

That might be the case Notch, but that type of update is easily handled by a “hot fix” which is delivered by downloading the updates for the game when you buy it.

Software releases wouldn’t be delayed for an update like that, I suspect it’s a marketing call what with Jonah in the hospital.

Not wanting to sound cynical but it may well be delayed due to Lomu's health issues, but they also could be using the time to make the updates to the software as opposed to having to make them DLC updates.

The game discs have been printed for a while I believe , the updates will be download content .

perand25 wrote:The game discs have been printed for a while I believe , the updates will be download content .

I would expect so. I work in the new products release department of a software company, so even though i'm not an expert in rugby, i know how these things work...

It's not a matter of distribution, they may want to have the patch ready prior to release of the disk so that the game will be patched immediately, rather than have the largest user base play the game full of bugs found in their limited, let's face it beta release to a smaller market.

But if they implement the patch and they've already got disks printed then they incur scrappage costs. Unless the patch is critical ie doesn't create customer returns, then it's cheaper to use up existing inventory and release a hot fix.

Essentially, a non critical error wont affect the release date.

Oh and most games force you to download updates as soon as you buy them so it's not as if that would be unusual, even brand new ones.

Mickado, what I'm saying is that they may not want users to play the un-patched version.

I can't speak for PS2, but most Xbox games insist on downloading a patch as soon as you put them in the box for the first time.

You want a users first experience to be a good one. The most annoying thing is having 1000 people complain a problem that's already fixed.

Oh the definitely don't want customers to play an unpatched game if possible. But they won't half their margin by scrapping disks. That's just how they do it, not a great customer experience but hey ho!

Ok, I don't see where anything get's scrapped but, ok, whatever...letting it go

Let's hope they fix the horrific player ratings.

Ghost. When you introduce a new update to a disk you either

A) bring it in immediately and scrap all stock
Or
B) use exising stock until it's exhausted then cut in the change

If you do the first one, you scrap, if you do the second one, nobody gets the update until the old stock is used. So to ensure nobody needs a patch you must scrap.

Got the game this morning, played it before work.

I think it's awesome

I got this game imported a few weeks back. Thought it was awesome to begin with.. But Im becoming pretty bored with it now.

Once you master it I think you'l find passing between the backs pretty frustrating. Its incredibly easy to knock the ball on or throw the ball to no one.

Also its impossible to get quick ball off a ruck, always takes around 4-5 seconds in the best instances to get the ball out. So this encourages you to always offload the ball as much as possible, and pretty much every player in the team can off load like Sonny boy on a very good day.

So, im thinking of going back to the HB game for online mode. I do think the next iteration of Rugby Challenge will brilliant though as they seem to listen to feedback.

Gonna get my copy this morning. Do I trade in the WC game? Not sure how good it's gonna be. Watched a couple of trailers and the off loading looks so unreal. But there are more options so that might swing it.

Not sure now after toms review was going to buy this on my lunch

i need someone to validate my purchase, some chirp in saying how amazing it is

Well i think it's great but admittedly i have only had it for a few hours. I just think it is less rigid than the RWC game and the fact you can have 4v4 online is an added bonus. Plus you have all the leagues and tournaments you could wish for.

Sure the offload thing is a bit much but then again...in the original jonah lomu, anyone and everyone could offload.

D24tress wrote:Not sure now after toms review was going to buy this on my lunch

i need someone to validate my purchase, some chirp in saying how amazing it is

You'll probably love it at first like I said. But there are certain things that really grated on me after a while.

Oh and you'll only want to play as teams based in AUS or NZ, though they do have European competitions in the game the player likeness and player stats are poor. I did create my own lions team though, and spent quite along time making the player stats more competitive with the Tri nations teams. An that was quite fun.

The problem is I can see myself putting this game down in a few weeks time as im starting to get bored with it already. The Rugby 2008 game I was still playing til earlier this year, to put things in context.

In summary, even though the rugby challenge has tons of features its the gameplay that really matters. An I think a game needs to be fun, and challenging. In rugby Challenge I have only ever been frustrated while playing the game against hard opposition.
When i've played the HB world cup game, I too have been frustrated by the gameplay. But at times I have been punching the air in joy too.
So I wouldn't buy Rugby Challenge without renting it for a while, the gloss disappears pretty quick.

I was hoping that the constant delays was to iron out the lack of effort put into the European side of things. So if I play as the dragons can I expect faletau to be rated at 57, with flowing blond locks? No doubt Ryan jones will be a 90 and runs like zinzan Brooke! My whole reasoning for buying this game is to play club rugby and get online. The online features on rugby WC are appalling. You can play a game and that's it. Not stats, no leagues and no rematch.

To be honest I am really excited about being able to play on this when I get home, the last time I was able to play as the Scarlets and take on the Celtic League (or RaboPro now) was back in 2005 with Rugby Challenge 2005. Whilst I liked Rugby 08, it was not the same as having to play only in the HC and not having teams like Connacht (and Dragons?) was a real down side. I guess it all come down to what you want out of a game.

manofgwent wrote:I was hoping that the constant delays was to iron out the lack of effort put into the European side of things. So if I play as the dragons can I expect faletau to be rated at 57, with flowing blond locks? No doubt Ryan jones will be a 90 and runs like zinzan Brooke! My whole reasoning for buying this game is to play club rugby and get online. The online features on rugby WC are appalling. You can play a game and that's it. Not stats, no leagues and no rematch.

European sides completely neglected really when compared to the Super 15.. Maybe they didnt think there was much of a market for this game over here they must have been aiming at NZ and AUS only... Cause surely Europe is the biggest rugby game market by a mile.

Anyway online play, in the world cup game trying to turn someone over someone good about 50% time results in a penalty. An with knock ons and passing errors generally being quite rare, you should basically never kick the ball away. On your own 5m you should try and run and you can probably put together about 10 phases(on average) before being turned. I generally find the next try scorer is decided at the kick off as its that difficult to turn someone.

With the Rugby challenge game its kinda the opposite, the person with the most knock ons and passing errors usually looses. Penalties are not even a factor, In most games I probably give away maybe 1/2 penaltys at most. An you can only give away a penalty two ways really with a non straight lineout(quite difficult to keep straight) or a high tackle (Occur almost random based on player stats).

Probably played the World cup game online about 50 times, played Rugby challenge once.. Saying that though single player on the World cup game is very poor.

tom are you playing the game with the patches added? The delay for release here was to add the latest patches to fix some of the game play glitches and stop the SBW-esque off-loads all the time - i would be able to tell you from experience had the postie decided to actually deliver my copy!

HongKongCherry wrote:tom are you playing the game with the patches added? The delay for release here was to add the latest patches to fix some of the game play glitches and stop the SBW-esque off-loads all the time - i would be able to tell you from experience had the postie decided to actually deliver my copy!

I got the patch about a week ago, it adds some sliders to stop the AI from offloading all the time. Nothing to stop a human. But you have to be able to offload alot in this game as the rucks are so slow to get the ball out.

They fixed a bug where player would throw a pass about 20m backwards sometimes, and few other minor glitches.

Got the challenge game and so far am really enjoying it. It's not five star by any means, but it's the best of what's around at the moment. I've enjoyed fiddling around with the Dragons squad to get my best back line, Adam Hughes is finally playing at 13! The stats for the Euro players seem a bit strange until you look at them properly, some forwards are rated ridiculously low (like Faletau) but when you see the breakdown of the stats like speed, agility, jumping, kicking it does even itself out a bit.

One question though. Obviously you can change player stats at will, I could take the Dragons players and give them ratings of 100 in every aspect if I wanted to. Obviously I wouldnt do this as I want a challenge and that's where I was wondering about online. I havent played online yet, when I do could I expect the player ratings of my team to revert back to default if I did ever change them? If not surely online is just full of teams with 100 rated players? Or a team of George Norths if you will. Is this the case or do all squad edits including stats carry on through to online?

Ruckin flanker. It'll go back to default I'm sure.
Haven't been able to pick up a copy today. HMV aren't even stocking it.,game and gamestation were only selling to people who pre ordered it. As I didn't think demand would be that great I didn't pre order. But how does Game? A shop that sells games, only supply enough copies for those that have pre ordered. Did they not think 1 person would purchase the game without pre ordering. Think I'll keep reading the reviews and get it online.

Bloody postie still hasn't delivered it, so he must be enjoying it!

I just hope it sells well and they continue the franchise. The first effort was never gonna be perfect. It usually takes years of evolution for these sports sims to iron out the creases and nail the gameplay.

quick question: does anyone know of a good rugby game for PC? rugby 08 was awful I agree (main gripe is it was wayyyyyyyyyyy too easy to master)

I really like it bar one or two things.

i might buy an old xbox and get rugbychallange 2006. that was my favourite rugby game.

Having an absolute nightmare trying to get Rugby Challenge in Edinburgh just now - every store says they only brought in enough for the pre orders so they don't have any other copies!! Did they really not expect people to want to buy they game despite not pre-ordering??

Shows how little coverage rugby has in Edinburgh!

RDW_Scotland wrote:Having an absolute nightmare trying to get Rugby Challenge in Edinburgh just now - every store says they only brought in enough for the pre orders so they don't have any other copies!! Did they really not expect people to want to buy they game despite not pre-ordering??

Shows how little coverage rugby has in Edinburgh!

Not to rub it in, but i downloaded it from steam for the pc. jealous much?

I doubt it will sell well.
RDW. Ive had the same problem. I live in Newport and have only managed to get a copy today. HMV are not selling it due to issues with the people selling the game. Blockbuster have said the same. They are not stocking it now or in the future.. I managed to get a copy in Game today as not everybody turned up for their pre ordered copy or didn't want to paying the rip off price of £50. I did kick off in there, but they said that they are passing on the the extra cost of Not getting the amount they wanted to the customer. Apparently they only got 1/3 of what they wanted to sell. It sounds like a massive man sausage up
my advice would be to try Game or Gamestation and try and get a pre ordered copy that hasn't been picked up. They weren't able to sell them until Sunday as they give the customer 2 days to collect. If not get it online.
I haven't put it on yet, but I'll give it a bash later. Hope it's better than RWC as I traded this game to get JL rugby.

It's good, much better than any of the rugby games I've ever played before for some things;

-Rolling mauls
-The lineout is very good
-Tactics
-Kicking from hand and drop goals
-Needing to make the right decisions and not run away from your support
-Needing to vary the play; you go wide and get tackled, your backline needs time to reorganise. You commit too many men to a ruck and don't win the ball there will be gaps in the defensive line and you could be exposed etc. In this sense it's much more like real rugby than any other rugby game.
-The level of detail that has gone into the strips, stadiums, crowds etc. is awesome.

It's bad in that;

-Offloading is pretty unrealistic and a bit silly. Everyone is Sonny Bill Williams apparently.
-There are no set plays; even things like catch and drive or Number 8 pickup are essential and seem to be missing.
-You can't win or concede penalties at scrum/maul or indeed the breakdown- cheating is a massive part of getting the upper hand in modern rugby and you basically can't cheat!
-No international licenses for NH sides.
-NH club sides have out of date rosters; last seasons teams and strips.

At first I was really sceptical but now- its growing on me and I'm just off to play it a bit more.