Announcement today
I was involved in the original in 2003/4, as one of my projects in gaming.
NRL Video Game Coming Soon
BewareOfThe Dog on 03/03/2025 - 21:28
Last edited 03/03/2025 - 21:57 by 1 other user
Last edited 03/03/2025 - 21:57 by 1 other user
Comments
Yes it was. 12-18 months. I was in the credits, and in the game.
TruBlu was originally HES. They had the license for Mad Catz in Australia, and purchased all the remaining Atari Lynx games. They also imported in a heap of 3rd Party controllers, PSU's, RF adapters etc.
Here is some more info….
ET's rugby League was released @92, I think by Sega Ozisoft on PC.The in 1996, ARL 96 was released by Electronic Arts, however, quite a few player names were omitted due to the Super League War, and the ARL didn't have the rights to use any names affiliated with Super League.
The game was very ordinary, and if I hear Ray Warren yelling Fittler one more time, I will smash the monitor. EA held the rights for some time, but did not develop anoither game, due to the unstable nature of Rugby League in Australia, plus they did not see it as being a viable game financially.
Why waste resources that coud go towards NHL98 etc?
When the NRL was established, and things settled down, HES(Tru-Blu) obtained the rights to a new game. EA were not interested. MicroForte were the original developer, but they seemed to be incapable of taking such a mammoth project on. HES, were at E3, and they saw the guys from Sidhe NZ, promoting a game. Sidhe had an in-house RL game, which was better than what MF had, presented so far. So MF were dumped, and the game went off shore to an NZ developer.
Yes, I attended the release/launch of ET's Rugby League at The Gamesmen store in Penshurst in Sydney in 1992 and purchased the Amiga 500 version of the game.
Maybe I'm just being nostalgic but it remains my favourite rugby league game. Whilst the graphics can't compete with modern games, the gameplay was very good.
Yes, ARL 96 was a bit of disappointment. I didn't mind the commentary but the controls and gameplay were lacking
The Gamesmen were awesome at the time, and (still trading). I recall there was an armed holdup, and Angelo Cusumano (Owner) was killed. Article here
There was a rumour that the owner of TB was also a part owner in the Gamesmen. I know a few employees, and they denied anything, but said it could have been correct. They don't know for shore.
ARL 96, without having all the players was unrealistic. Apparently Ray Warren, was called into their studio several times to do voice overs, and ghe was sick of it. Hence, why TB brought in another then new commentator, being 'Vossy'.
@BewareOfThe Dog: Looking back now, given the circumstances of the armed holdup, i wonder if the owner of TB stepped into keep it going. I'm just glad that an independent has outlasted EB games.
@BewareOfThe Dog: Yes, the robbery and murder was shocking. I think it was in 1995.
Part of me is actually surprised that they're still operating after all of these years, especially with the competition from places such as JB Hi Fi and online retail. Part of me thinks that one of the main reasons that they are still operating is because of Angelo's legacy.
I'm old enough to remember when The Gamesmen operated their business out of a garage on Bonds Road, Riverwood. As a kid my first console was the Intellivision and I remember being taken there by my mother to purchase some games.
@lovesabargain77: I was an atari 2600 guy. I still have it.
My best friend bought a coleco vision (me jealous).
I recall at the time, Atari was like Apple is today in iphones. The intellivision was a better machine. That's when i learnt to not be brainwashed by marketing, popularity etc.@BewareOfThe Dog: The only thing I think they got wrong with the Intellivision was the controller had a circular disc instead of a joystick. Although thankfully after a while a third party company started selling a joystick clip on for the controller that looked something like this
@lovesabargain77: Eb's were the company that destroyed gaming, then jb tried to compete. There were so many eb stores in our area. 1/2 closed, and now most of the space is dedicated to merchandise, board games etc, and given digital purchasing, there are less games to trade and sell.
@lovesabargain77: I vaguely recall when you called them to place an order, @91/92 , they greeted you with a slogan. Ie thank you for calling the Gamesmen, Australia's number gaming store (or similar).
The news.com.au article was kind. It even put in punctuation for the boofhead Reddit comments.
Rugby league fans are rejoicing
I don't believe you meme seems appreciated
It's been a few years, and there was talk they were releasing one last year or the year before.
Will the games include all the sleazy drug and alcohol cahoots in hotel rooms, sex scandals, brawls,gambling etc, or is it 100% fantasy based?
I just hope they have a way of reducing a teams point to zero, like when the Melbourne Storm are caught cheating AGAIN.
Sorry i have many friends, in the rugby league world.
I bought a demonstrator, that was used by a nrl player last year, as it was on loan for 5500ks. I cant say which Sydney dealership it belonged to.
;)
Steam achievements for being caught molesting a dog and peeing in your own mouth.
Probably should be one for that time that Fittler got so drunk the cops had to leave him in the cells for 24 hours because he couldn't even say his own name.
Role models for the masses.
LOL. Was that ET's? I can't remember.
Yep, ET's.
The Tru-Blu version was a good game. The first Rugby League game that was good.
Yes, EA misread that. I was also in retail at the time, and during the whole time I was selling games, between 1991 and 2006, this was the most anticipated, hottest game, even more than GTA Vice City (which Electronics Boutique broke the street date on).
I have a few IDE Hard drives, and some of the Beta versions I had are probably on one of them.
Lots of wireframe players,as they didn't have jerseys programmed, correct player names, player faces, player attributes etc. It was lots of fun.
Pretty cool you were involved in the 03/04 series. Where you paid an ok amount for your efforts and did you did 40 hours a week or was it proper crunch time?
Wonder if they'll hardcode it so Panthers win the next 3 years.
It was volunteer work, and I got my name in the credits.
I would get an update, that there was a new version on a Thursday night. I would download it via Slow TPG ADSL.
Set my alarm for @4:30/5:00AM. Grab the file, install it, and play it downstairs, so as not to wake my family.
Make notes, suggestions, corrections. Wake my kids up for school, goto work.
Come home, then after dinner and a few beers, play it more from a different perspective (IE a relaxed yobbo) , then play over the weekend. I recall one occasion, where I was going to the pub to watch my 2 favourite teams play, and I put it on CPU v CPU, for the same time frame?. I came home, and the score was very similar to the real score. LOL
Didn’t think NRL fans owned consoles or even computers.
Thought they just owned a phone.
Lowest intellect and socioeconomic class of all the football codes.
Only because nobody's figured out how to train greyhounds to kick a ball yet.
Isn't that AFL? ;)
Multi-platform!
will it include punch up battles like in nes blades of steel?
ARL96 was an excellent game in fact
I still have the Pirated CD somewhere. Sorry EA, I had 3 kids to feed.
I hope people know that this is a BigAnt game? They made the AFL 23 game, and have just launched Rugby 25
Hopefully better than Microfortes attempts in 2002.
Trublu released a playable pc demo in 2003, with Warriors vs Roosters.
Was that with Tru-Blu Entertainment?
How long were you working on it for?