EA Rugby 08

EdgarAllenPoo

It's scheduled for a release on the PS2 and PC here on 20 or 22 July depending on whether you look at GAME or Play.com.

Here's some info and screenshots.

A nation’s destiny is in your hands when you take control of one of the officially licensed national teams in EA SPORTS Rugby 08 and power your way through a grueling six-week World Cup campaign for the sports’ ultimate prize – the glorious Webb Ellis Cup. New modes introduced this year include the Rugby World Cup and the World Cup Challenge mode. On top of these exciting additions, we have introduced enhanced gameplay features including a new lineout mechanic and defensive formations plus a new camera system that superbly captures the intensity of the sport. Rugby08 will be released in late July on PlayStation2 and PC.

zAbbo

About bloody time.

I've been contacting EA every week for the last 4 months on a release date or some information.

the most I got was 'sometime before xmas', and it may not be called '07'

Rugby 06 was easily the best rugby game ever made

burnedfaceman

looks good hopefully game will be an improvement on previous EA attempts, doubt it will come near lomu though!

EdgarAllenPoo

You can bet England will still be a stupidly good team despite their appauling record in recent years(as eveidence by the fact Wilko is still a star player) and all the Irish players will be seriously underrated.

besty

And there'll probably be bizarre squad inclusions for Ireland along the lines of Paddy Johns and Dion O'Cuinnigean.

Clareman

looks good, pity it's not coming on the Xbox

Worrytahs

Its the only hope for an end to boring and pointless kicking away of possession or endless mauls from some teams

Utopia Parkway

Can't believe it's not coming out on the 360 or the PS3. Especially the 360 which has been out for 18 months now.

zAbbo

Utopia Parkway wrote:

Can't believe it's not coming out on the 360 or the PS3. Especially the 360 which has been out for 18 months now.

Essentially the game is made for the PS2, and has been ported to the PC.

Originally this should have been out before the 6nations, and called Rugby 07

Steffano2002

I'm fed up with the graphics of the PS2... I'm waiting for the first edition to come out on the PS3 then I'll buy it the game and the console!

I haven't really enjoyed a rugby game since Jonah Lomu on the PS1...

dulpit

zabbo wrote:

Originally this should have been out before the 6nations, and called Rugby 07

Are you sure? AFAIK it was delayed until now so that it would be coming out before the world cup, when interest is at its highest...

Sucks that it won't be xbox though

cwis

really looking forward to it

Kinetic^

I'm pretty surprised it's not coming out on the Xbox 360 tbh/ Hopefully the next release will.

Sundy

cwis wrote:

really looking forward to it

Im not, knowing EA sports record it will have regimented game play, lack of options at lineouts etc.. Bring back Jonu Lomu rugby

zAbbo

Sundy wrote:

Im not, knowing EA sports record it will have regimented game play, lack of options at lineouts etc.. Bring back Jonu Lomu rugby

It's developed by HB Studios (again), who have done an amazing job with Madden 08 on the Wii, the control system on that game is probably the best of any sports game.

Lomu is crap compared to Rugby 06 !

I'd like to see the difficulty level increased a few notches, beating the AB's with Georgia loses it's appeal after a while, similar with the World League, after a season or two, and two players with 90+ speed in the backline will beat any team.

Hopefully realistic stats, and some kind of form or consistency factor for players (as in Pro Evo Soccer). Yes Johnny Wilkinson is possibly the best OH on his day, but those days are few and far between.

Let's hope the squads are right upto date, but the RWC squads aren't announced till August 7th.

Mikeyt086

Hey hey whats this?

http://news.mygamercard.net/2007/03/27/rugby-08-for-xbox-360/

It would seem that it is 360 bound after all!

Also checked the EA forums and a chap who had been on the HB Studios website said it was:

PS2 and PC 22nd July.
Xbox 360 18th November.
PS3 18th December.

fingers crossed!

zAbbo

Could be horribly dated come Nov/Dec considering the amount of club movement after the RWC, not to mention the squads. Image the AB squad after the RWC, which won't be reflected in game.

With the PC version, I'm sure someone will mod the rosters

What version are people going to play it on ?

I'll be playing PC with a 360 controller

Sundy

zabbo wrote:

It's developed by HB Studios (again), who have done an amazing job with Madden 08 on the Wii, the control system on that game is probably the best of any sports game.

Lomu is crap compared to Rugby 06 !

I'd like to see the difficulty level increased a few notches, beating the AB's with Georgia loses it's appeal after a while, similar with the World League, after a season or two, and two players with 90+ speed in the backline will beat any team.

Hopefully realistic stats, and some kind of form or consistency factor for players (as in Pro Evo Soccer). Yes Johnny Wilkinson is possibly the best OH on his day, but those days are few and far between.

Let's hope the squads are right upto date, but the RWC squads aren't announced till August 7th.

In fairness the gameplay of rugby 06 is not very different to Jonah Lomu, the only massive improvement is graphics.

Rucks are slow and do not represent what really happens in rugby, you cannot offload in the tackle or get quick ball from rucks.

Linesout are so limited its stupid, maul on 2 or off the top on four which in real life is quick ball but for some reason is painfully slow in the game. The throw over the top to 7 is also very unrealistic. At least in JL you could throw to anywhere in the lineout.

Scrums are very simple which is probably a good thing but again they dont really mirror reality. On a number 8 break the flankers stay bound resulting in the 8 getting turned over regurarly.

The opposition also never give away penalties for offside or ruck infringements, the two most common penalties in rugby. The only time you can get penalties is in the oppositions 5 metre when they collapse a scrum or a maul which all to often leads to a repeat of the same and then a penalty try.

The only thing i like about Rugby 06 is the kicking from hand and the drop goals. The rest i dislike as outlined above.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

zAbbo

Sundy wrote:

Rucks are slow and do not represent what really happens in rugby, you cannot offload in the tackle or get quick ball from rucks.

You can offload in the tackle, albeit it depends on the player.

Good point about the 8 getting isolated, happends to often, but you can handoff going into the tackle, and get your men quick to the ruck, and get quick ball out wide, grubber down the line and you'll either score or nail the FB into touch.

Well that was my tactic.

AbusesToilets

Rugby 06 is a terribly limited game.I can score almost every time with BOD from a restart - ROG drops it just over the 10m line,BOD gathers,grubbers past defenders and scores.And the defense is appalling,no organization,just whoever is closest to the attacking player.For some reason,probably my own crappness i would invariably get turned in the scrum and lose possession and yet on opposition put in when i turn the scrum nothing happens??The out of hand kicking is pants,you want to do a chip and you end up with a garryowen.Allied to this is the inability to work moves on the fly,you can only run "Plays",which makes for very limited broken field play.
No real effort went into developing the game with rugby's nuances intact and implemented in an intelligent fashion.

zAbbo

We'll have to meet up and have some games on Rugby 08, playing against the CPU is boring, and there aren't that many ppl who are half decent at it.

It's not exactly pick up and play.

Sundy

Yeah multi player was the best fun on Rugby 06. I used to play against my house mate, beating him was all the better because he was south african. It was good fun because its an even playing field and theres more incentive to try the hands in the ruck etc because you know your opponent will try it too.

Jello

Looks pretty good.. Stade De France looks very well in that screenshot.

But Jona Lomu Rugby will always be my favourite

marco_polo

Sundy wrote:

Yeah multi player was the best fun on Rugby 06. I used to play against my house mate, beating him was all the better because he was south african. It was good fun because its an even playing field and theres more incentive to try the hands in the ruck etc because you know your opponent will try it too.

I love the hands in the ruck button, drives the brother mad when I play him. Who says cheaters never prosper.

NotWormBoy

The out of hand kicking is far far too slow (excepting the kicks to touch), especially when trying to grubber past the full back. A chip kick'd be nice too - one that wasn't a preset move. Also, having backs that could ruck would be nice - pissed off much about having your winger turn the ball over with three of your backs sitting there watching it happen? Of course...

Running game was decent enough, if a little easy, though tackling from the side view against human opposition was a whore. Playing against Wilkinson was just horrible, regardless of where he was on the pitch, he'd put you into your own 22 time and time again.

zAbbo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gjIvJmF1cs

identical commentary and animations, and stars handed out to everyone

(possibly fake video)

shreddedloops

I sure hope that video isnt legit. Its identical to 06, that commentry does my head in!

spider18

Sundy wrote:

In fairness the gameplay of rugby 06 is not very different to Jonah Lomu, the only massive improvement is graphics.

Rucks are slow and do not represent what really happens in rugby, you cannot offload in the tackle or get quick ball from rucks.

Linesout are so limited its stupid, maul on 2 or off the top on four which in real life is quick ball but for some reason is painfully slow in the game. The throw over the top to 7 is also very unrealistic. At least in JL you could throw to anywhere in the lineout.

Scrums are very simple which is probably a good thing but again they dont really mirror reality. On a number 8 break the flankers stay bound resulting in the 8 getting turned over regurarly.

The opposition also never give away penalties for offside or ruck infringements, the two most common penalties in rugby. The only time you can get penalties is in the oppositions 5 metre when they collapse a scrum or a maul which all to often leads to a repeat of the same and then a penalty try.

The only thing i like about Rugby 06 is the kicking from hand and the drop goals. The rest i dislike as outlined above.

in fairness i'm sure you could go back and make numerous critizims of jlr as well. i'm sure it was a good game but saying its close to 06 is just silly.

zAbbo

Another update

Joining McCaw on the cover of Rugby 08 in the United Kingdom is England's Mark Cueto, and in France Yannick Nyanga. Brian O'Driscoll, Paul O'Connell and Ronan O'Gara will be showcased on the cover in Ireland, Bryan Habana, Schalk Burger and Francois Stevin in South Africa, brothers Mauro and Mirko Bergamasco in Italy and Australia's Stirling Mortlock will be the featured athlete in Australia and Asia.

zAbbo

Crash

Well, least we get to see what players in the new strip look like

EdgarAllenPoo

In fairness the jersey doesn't look that bad there. I'm surprised that made it in. 16 days to the release.

shreddedloops

GDM wrote:

In fairness the jersey doesn't look that bad there. I'm surprised that made it in. 16 days to the release.

is it 16 days til the game??

zAbbo

yes

20th / 22nd July

damienom

Wonder will it feature Croker??

shreddedloops

Well if all the legal rights mumbo jumbo allowed
them to then it would only be lazyness that would
prevent them from putting Croker in the game
(which wouldnt suprise me)

EdgarAllenPoo

It would be great to see but I doubt it. I mean we basically have three main rugby grounds in this country and they only put two in the last game(Thomond was called Irish Park).

NotWormBoy

I wonder how many game breakers Ireland will have in this version of the game...

O'Connell, O'Driscoll...? Don't think D'Arcy yet...O'Gara? Not in real life, in the context of the game, given we'll probably be underrated again.

Who else in the world deserves to get bumped up with the gold star?

EdgarAllenPoo

As far as I know from looking at other boards and other places BOD,ROG,POC and one other Irish player are star players.

jamieh

Hey all,

Does anyone know for certain will it be released on the 360 or PS3?

Mikeyt086

unfortunatley mate nothing has been confirmed. there is just heavey spectulation that a November release is schedualed for the next-gens. Maybe its EA's plan to boost sales after the World Cup hype.

zAbbo

Maybe it's difficult to port a 3 year old game to next gen

Lousy gits, and I'll end up getting it anyway (illegally just so I can derive some satisfaction)

Mikeyt086

So... The game is out today, anyone got it? Impressions?

EDIT: Play.com say it has been delayed a week to 27/7/07...

komodosp

THat youtube video makes it look pretty much the same as 06... Don't know if I'll bother

zAbbo

It's out on the PS2 since last week, I've seen various 'sources' for it online.

Looks like the PC version is pushed back till next week, bastards.

EdgarAllenPoo

Stupid question but would the graphics for the PC version be better than the PS2 version. I don't play PC games so I would have no general idea of the quality of PC games.

zAbbo

The last game was just ported over from the PS2 to PC, so graphics wise there were no 'tweaks'.

Personally I prefer the PC, due to high resolution etc.

EdgarAllenPoo

Ok the arguement has been settled for me. Not based on graphics but I have seen the rosters for Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Ireland and they are woefully out of date.

At least with the PC version I can find a good roster editor.

shreddedloops

Is this game actually out on PS2 now? I get the impression from this thread that it is but I cant find it anywhere

Jello

shreddedloops wrote:

Is this game actually out on PS2 now? I get the impression from this thread that it is but I cant find it anywhere

Nope had a look today and it's 'coming soon'.