Aussie Rules coming back to PS2

For several years now, games based on the sport of Australian Rules Football have been the exclusive domain of Melbourne-based developer IR Gurus. 2007 looks to be no exception, with IR Gurus and Sony Computer Entertainment Australia (SCEA) working together once again on the latest game--AFL Premiership 2007--which has been confirmed for release for the PlayStation 2 on June 28, 2007.

AFL Premiership 2007 will carry the official licence of the Australian Football League, meaning that all real-life players, clubs, stadiums, and competitions will be represented in the upcoming game, according to a statement from SCEA. While little detail is known about AFL Premiership 2007 at this stage, the Sony statement did say that feedback from gamers about the previous titles was taken into careful consideration.

"Each year IR Gurus sets up a forum for the views and ideas of real life footy fans and the feedback accounts for almost 70% of the changes made to the game. This year there's the ability to edit all aspects of the player's appearance, there's a comprehensive set of stats including match, season, and career information, plus the difficulty levels have been refined to allow experts and beginners to have fun whatever their ability," the statement said.

"Motion capture techniques were used in a studio whereby players were dressed in skin tight suits with sensors on every joint. Special insurance policies had to be taken out in order that the players could make every tackle and kick as hard and true to the real life game. Fortunately, no one was injured and the result is some of the best action graphics available."

GameSpot AU will bring you more information about AFL Premiership 2007 soon. In the meantime, check out our review of last year's effort, AFL Premiership 2006.