According to Wilson, the game is still on track to be released early in September. "We will also be releasing a PC and PlayStation 2 demo sometime in June. The preliminary alpha should be ready by the end of this month to give our testers time to fine-tune the title."
Wilson agrees that the timing of the final release could not have been better since the Rugby World Cup in Australia is scheduled to kick off in October.
Unfortunately, Xbox and GameCube fans will not be able to experience the title first-hand since Electronic Arts will only be developing PC and PlayStation 2 versions.
"We tend to develop all our titles for the PC, but for the consoles we work according to stricter budgets. So, rather than developing an average game on several different platforms, we wanted to focus on developing the best possible game for the PC and PlayStation 2. Also, with the Xbox not even available in SA yet, we did not want to restrict our market."
Luckily, gamers won`t be faced with another resource-hungry beast like the soon-to-be-released Doom III. Wilson says that Electronic Arts regularly conducts research on the standard system requirement of the time. "Traditionally, fans of PC sport titles do not have extremely high-end machines. At this stage we are working towards a minimum system specification of a Pentium II 400MHz PC with 64MB RAM and a 32MB graphics card."
With the last rugby title being released in 2001, Electronic Arts is trying to put as many new features into Rugby 2004 as possible.
"We have introduced the Super 12 competition for the first time. Rugby 2004 has the official Rugby World Cup licence and is being licensed by several unions that include the Australian Rugby Union, New Zealand Rugby Union and South African Rugby Football Union."
Rugby gamers are notorious for being critical on titles that do not accurately portray the intricacies of the game. Wilson agrees. "Rugby is one of the most difficult sports to create a game with the most complicated aspect being how to manage player control.
"We have worked closely with the Australian Rugby Union and several top players like Johnny Wilkinson and Dean Hall to get their feedback. However, I feel it is very important to get feedback from the grassroots level and get young rugby players to test the game and hear what their criticisms are. After all, it will be them playing the game.
Rugby is one of the most difficult sports to create a game with the most complicated aspect being how to manage player control.
Andrew Wilson, development manager at Electronic Arts
"We have also decided to incorporate different refereeing styles and have introduced a 'cheat` mode. This will see the player test the referee and try to get away with some unconventional tactics." These tactics can range from collapsing the scrums, throwing a ball in skew at a lineout and late tackles.
Wilson is especially pleased with the incorporation of a world league. "The player is now able to create his/her own team and use that team to play against all the other sides in the game. You get points according to your performance and you will be able to use those points to manage your team more effectively.
"Of course, if you aren`t happy with any of the players, you can use the player editor to create your own players and teams."
Despite the fact that there have always been concerns about the playability of rugby games, Wilson is unconcerned. "We have overhauled the control system. In previous versions the rucks and mauls looked very similar to scrums but now the player can actually see the difference. It is also much quicker to move from phase to phase.
"Not only do we want to grow the market as much as possible, but we also want to grow rugby as a sport. In the European countries for example, rugby competes with sports such as football and cricket so building awareness is important for us."
While gamers familiar with the rules of rugby will easily be able to get into the game, newcomers have not been neglected. "For these players, we feature two modes. The first is a walk-through with commentary on the different positions, rules and so on. The second option is to allow the artificial intelligence to control more of the strategy behind the game. Obviously, we want to get the player to the intermediate phase as quickly as possible to experience what rugby is all about."
With the PC version promising to be fan-driven with regards to downloadable extras, the title is sure to gain a loyal following very quickly.
Maybe now, the Springboks will be able to beat England.
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