Rugby League 2 Anticipation at Fever Pitch on Eve of Release

Rugby League 2 Anticipation at Fever Pitch
on Eve of Release

Wellington, NZ – 7th December 2005 – Home
Entertainment Suppliers Pty Ltd (HES) has announced "incredibly strong" presales
of "Rugby League 2" for PlayStation(R)2 and PC, with some retailers organizing
midnight releases to cope with the high demand. The game follows on from the
highly successful 2003 release "Rugby League", which was the number 1 selling
title in Australasia over Christmas 2003. Total presales for Rugby League 2 are
over double that of the previous title, which had itself broken a global single
store presales record for Electronics Boutique.

"The positive response to the sequel from
both retailers and consumers alike has been overwhelming" said Sebastian
Giompaolo, Managing Director for HES.

"We are very pleased with both the final
product resulting from our continuing investment in the franchise, and the
support we have had from our development, distribution, and licensing partners".

Features of "Rugby League 2" include:

• Multiplayer online play for both platforms,
  allowing competitive and friendly play over the Internet, player rankings, and
  statistics.

• All major teams and competitions including
  the NRL, SuperLeague (including, in addition, the 2006 teams Les Catalans and
  Castleford), State of Origin, City versus Country, and 17 different
  International Teams.

• 40 stadia from around the world including
  Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and France

• Brand new gameplay features including video
  ref, enhanced AI, ball stripping, shoulder barges, diving on and kicking the
  loose ball, contesting the high ball, pass to playmaker and more.

• New 10 year Franchise Mode, including
  player contract management, injuries, judiciary, and mid season representative
  games.

• Highly realistic, individually modelled
  likenesses for over 500 players.

• Lifelike animation, motion captured by Weta
  Digital, the VFX wizards behind The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

Mario Wynands, Managing Director of Sidhe
Interactive, the development studio behind the title said, "Rugby League 2
delivers an even richer and more engrossing sports gaming experience than the
first title in the series.

Our commitment to development and listening
to the fans has allowed us to bring rugby gaming to a whole new level".