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FIFA 10 Ultimate Team DLC pitched amid sales surge

by James Ransom-Wiley { Dec 1st 2009 at 9:30PM }

FIFA 10, the latest iteration of EA Sports' biggest global franchise, itself based on the world's most popular sport, is selling well. That's an understatement. Worldwide, EA estimates game sales have surpassed 4.5 million units since the October 1 launch, including a so-called record-setting first week, in which 1.7 million units were sold in Europe to make FIFA 10 the world's "fastest-selling sports video game." What better time to announce that the game will receive a fresh pair of legs?

EA today announced the pending release of FIFA 10 Ultimate Team, a DLC management mode -- introduced to the series last year (and ported to this year's slumping Madden game) -- that has been made over with a "redesigned chemistry system built around player relationships." Think: God game governing platonic dating-sim played with a deck of cards, and ... you're there. Come February, Ultimate Team will be available for download for 400

or $4.99 via Xbox Live and PSN.

Gallery: FIFA 10 Ultimate Team (DLC)

EA: FIFA 10 is fastest-selling sports game 'ever'

by Alexander Sliwinski { Oct 7th 2009 at 9:36AM }

EA's annual footie franchise must be doing something right this year because FIFA 10 has apparently sold 1.7 million copies in Europe during its first week. According to EA, the title is "the fastest selling sports game ever and EA's biggest European launch in history."

Even with the positive launch, GI.biz spoke with an analyst who believes the sales aren't going to help EA in the long-term. Doug Creutz of Cowan and Company notes that heavy discounts at supermarket chains and other incentives made initial sales strong, but if the situation plays out anything like FIFA 09, the year-on-year sales will only grow marginally. But like a head-butt goal in the first minutes of a match, FIFA 10 is putting on a good show during launch.

Source -- EA announces record-breaking launch FIFA 10 (EA)
Source -- FIFA 10 record sales won't boost profits (GI.biz)

EA Sports: 'How big can football get?' Us: 'Pretty big, we guess?'

by Ben Gilbert { Sep 21st 2009 at 7:30PM }

Showing the far reaching effects of football ("soccer" for us Americans) fandom in a succinct two minute video, EA Sports asks UK residents in its latest ad for FIFA 10, "How big can football get?" From the looks of the insanity in the commercial (found after the break), we're going out on a limb here and saying, "Substantially large." Would you care to up that wager with a "significantly enormous?" Maybe a "demonstrably massive?"

Gallery: FIFA 10 (360/PS3)

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Here's a beautiful FIFA 10 trailer from GamesCom

by Ben Gilbert { Aug 19th 2009 at 1:15PM }

We may not know much about the athletes on the various covers of FIFA 10, but we do know that this trailer looks damn impressive. In fairness, the game often looks rather stunning, but the sizzle reel that EA has whipped up for GamesCom (found after the break) is specifically meant to show off the game to its most active market -- which certainly comes through in production quality. Though we don't watch a ton of sports (and we play even less) we're legitimately looking forward to EA's next entry in the FIFA series, set to release this October.

Gallery: FIFA 10 (360/PS3)

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Who? EA reveals FIFA 10 North American cover athletes

by Ben Gilbert { Aug 11th 2009 at 9:29PM }

After EA announced a trio of British gents gracing the cover of FIFA 10 in Europe last week, the company today revealed the box art for the North American iteration. Cuauhtémoc Blanco of Chicago Fire and Sacha Kljestan of Chivas USA appear on the box, with ~~Jason Bateman~~ Chelsea's Frank Lampard taking center stage.

EA also revealed the game's release date Stateside to be October 20, while a Euro release has been confirmed for October 2. We'll be spending the extra few weeks figuring out what exactly Chivas USA is. Peep the full cover and a new video of FIFA 10 in action after the break.

Gallery: FIFA 10 (360/PS3)

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EA reveals UK lovefest with FIFA 10 cover athletes

by Ben Gilbert { Aug 6th 2009 at 2:00AM }

We've been known to dabble in a FIFA game from time to time, though cover athletes aren't really our forte, if you will. Rather than address our ignorance dead-on, we'll simply tell you that Frank Lampard of Chelsea, Theo Walcott of Arsenal and Wayne Rooney of Manchester United are donning the cover of this year's footballer.

Believe it or not, the game will feature more than just players from English teams. (Yes, we're just as shocked as you by that possibility.) The game is set to land in the UK on October 2, and Amazon and GameStop are putting the game's US release on October 20th.

Gallery: FIFA 10 (360/PS3)

FIFA producer cautious on Natal, PS3 motion wand use

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jul 16th 2009 at 4:00AM }

David Rutter, producer of FIFA for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, has put his foot down, literally. He's not moving it. At least, he's not moving it to play a 75-minute soccer match in his living room. When asked about the prospect of future FIFAs incorporating motion controls by utilizing Project Natal and Sony's motion wand, Rutter told VideoGamer.com, "There are a few things we can do, definitely, but we've not really started on it yet." Those few things do not include reinventing the franchise with unintuitive hand and body motions. "If it doesn't add to the overall thing, then it's pointless. I don't want it to be just this distraction, to be quite honest."

While FIFA might be the exception in an otherwise motion-inspired EA Sports business, we're sure all the head-nodding, inbounds wrist-flicking minigames you could imagine will be considered -- or worse, ported to FIFA 11. The trick, it seems, would be to perfect the motion caption technology: "Kick from the couch in all-new Energy Saver Mode!"

FIFA 10 hits the pitch October 2 in the UK

by David Hinkle { Jul 15th 2009 at 1:35PM }

MCV confirmed with EA that its latest entry in the long-standing soccer franchise, FIFA 10, will arrive at UK retailers on October 2. There's no mention of a release date for North America, so we've put in word to EA to see just when we Yanks will receive the game. We'll be sure to update you as soon as we hear back.

FIFA 10 offers brief glimpse of footy-filled gameplay

by David Hinkle { Jul 2nd 2009 at 8:45PM }

EA Sports is ramping up the hype machine for its very crucial FIFA franchise, as it has issued out a new teaser trailer for the latest installment, FIFA 10. Thankfully, it's not your average teaser trailer, as though it is short, it does contain actual gameplay footage. It looks like the one big improvement for this year's version will be bullet time.

UK chart get: Wii Fit still on top, FIFA 09 takes 2nd spot

by David Hinkle { May 18th 2009 at 4:00PM }

Wii Fit has been selling extremely well, taking the top spot for the seventh week in a row, Chart-Track data shows. In fact, a record of nine weeks in a row was set by Who Wants to be a Millionaire (no platforms mentioned), and Nintendo's Balance Board bundle is on pace to tie that record should it frequent the top spot for the next two weeks.

Unsurprisingly, ~~soccer~~ football game FIFA 09 managed to take the second spot, pushing last week's second place holder, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, down to third. Interesting to note is the inclusion of Battlestations: Pacific on the list. The game only released in the UK last week for Xbox 360 and PC, and managed to win the battle for last place, taking up the tenth spot.

GDC09: Upcoming EA iPhone game list fully revealed, screens and info on Tiger

by Ben Gilbert { Mar 27th 2009 at 5:30PM }

Just before the deluge of GDC 2009 news started this week, Travis Boatman, VP of worldwide studios at EA Mobile, confirmed the upcoming release of a veritable smörgåsbord of EA franchises coming to the iPhone. Today, we have confirmation from Meghan Rathman (representing EA) of the exact titles on the way to the iPhone/iTouch as well as a handful of screens from Tiger Woods PGA Tour. Unfortunately, according to Ms. Rathman, the rest of the games in development are "still too early" and don't have screens. Considering the turnaround time on iPhone/iTouch games though, we're willing to bet you'll see those shots ~~by the end of the week~~ pretty soon!

The full list of games we received from EA is as follows: Tiger Woods PGA Tour, The Sims 3, FIFA, Madden NFL Football, Spore Creatures, Mystery Mania, Wolfenstein RPG, American Idol, Connect Four, Battleship, Need for Speed, RISK, Monopoly and Clue. Differing from reports at the GDC Mobile event earlier this week, we're seeing the addition of The Sims 3 and Need for Speed. In turn, we're losing the first SSX in two years, Red Alert, NBA Live 10, American Idol, Star Trek. But hey, Tiger Woods!

The press release from EA on Tiger Woods PGA Tour tells us that the game is of the "touch" rather than of the "shake" variety, comes with achievements and offers a way to compare achievements with your friends. Of the key features listed, notably missing is "playing against friends wirelessly," though it does promise the ability to "affect your ball spin direction" using your finger. Those are comparable features, right? We'll keep on EA and let you know as soon as we find out more on their upcoming iPhone/iTouch assault.

Gallery: Tiger Woods PGA Tour on iPhone

Trophies: FIFA 09

by Andrew Yoon { Mar 19th 2009 at 3:00PM }

	1 Platinum 2 Gold 17 Silver 27 Bronze	Difficulty: Moderate Online Trophies? Yes Time to Completion: 100 hours DLC Trophies? Yes* *Trophies requiring DLC are highlighted in yellow.
	View Trophy List	Read More About the Game

Gallery: FIFA 09 (PS3)

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Europe loves its FIFA 09, 1.25 million games logged daily

by Dustin Burg { Feb 11th 2009 at 5:00AM }

According to EA-supplied FIFA 09 statistics, gamers around the globe (see: Europe) have averaged 1.25 million online games per day since its release this past Fall. Selling 7.8 million copies in 2008 probably factors into that number somewhat.

The statistical goods keep coming, with EA revealing that FIFA 09 is EA Sports' most successful online game, boasting a 321% increase over its FIFA predecessor in daily games played, and seeing 141 million games logged on all platforms since launch. That's a lot of gamers taking to the field to bend it like Beckham.

2D Boy 'honored' by Peter Moore's World of Goo ignorance

by Chris Greenhough { Jan 6th 2009 at 1:55PM }

Eurogamer posted its "Top 50 Games of 2008" list last week, and was immediately scolded by EA boss Peter Moore for daring to exclude FIFA 09. This story was picked up by numerous sites, but one detail that wasn't so heavily reported were Moore's views on the game that came tenth, World of Goo. Moore said he was "surprised to see [World of Goo] up so high," despite ... not having played it.

For their part, 2D Boy (former employees of EA, no less) described the remark as a "compliment," and said they were "honored that World of Goo has crept this far into mainstream awareness." The pair have also confessed to deriving a "sick pleasure" from an "industry bigwig's indignant, self-righteous incredulity," though we suspect tongues were firmly placed in cheeks at this stage.

Gallery: World of Goo

Peter Moore: 'WTF? WHERE THE HELL IS FIFA 09' and other ruminations on Eurogamer's Top 50

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jan 2nd 2009 at 12:26PM }

Peter Man Tell 'Em has kicked off '09 with a wildly entertaining review of Eurogamer's "Top 50 Games of 2008," headlining with the question on all of our minds: Where The FIFA? From the outset, Peter Moore's rant makes it clear that his is a man's world, summoning well wishes for his distinctly heterosexual males club -- also known as EA Sports Nation: "I hope you all have had a restful few days and have been able to get your sports fix in front of the TV without your wife/girlfriend/mom/mum giving you a bad time ... "

In Peter Man's real talk, there is no place for the seemingly sissy; games like Bangai-O Spirits or World of Goo. And Tomb Raider in the Top 50? No thanks. Who wants to play as ... a girl? (Note: Please excuse Boom Blox and Mirror's Edge's apparent lack of manliness -- trust Moore, it's in the game.) But, beneath the posturing exterior, Peter Man drops hints of latent insecurity. Though Moore has membership in an elite fraternity of buff game execs (true story: the presidency was decided by an arm wrestling match between Moore and Strauss -- guess who won?), he is just as susceptible as the rest of us are to body image issues perpetuated by games. How could Peter Man not be threatened by the sheer power of the Bangai-O bots? Or the Goo's killer combo of unrivaled flexibility and unnerving strength? Or Ms. Lara's emasculating sexuality?

The real tell, though, is this: "I was surprised to see Wii Fit included [at #25], which I thought would make the top 10," writes Moore. Clearly, this is a man obsessed with mastering the physical potentials of the body. A perfect fit for EA Sports, then. And a great businessman to boot. While the media continues the "Wii dissing," Peter Man is heaping on the Nintendo praise. After all, a man's world is measured by units. And no one put more units in gamers' hands -- heck! under their feet, too -- than Nintendo did last year.