Electronic Arts today have announced the new subscription service for it’s sporting titles, called the EA Sports Season Ticket. The service will last for 12 months and apply to the FIFA, Madden, NCAA, NHL and Tiger Woods franchises. The service will be available on Xbox Live (2000 Microsoft points) and Playstation Network (US$24.99).
Benefits include:
Play the game 3 days before retail. Any progress made during that time will then be able to be transferred to the retail copy.
20% Discount on all EA Sports DLC. (Only applies to games released after August 28th)
Premium Web Content. Be able to bring real world graphics into the game.
Membership Recognition. An exclusive badge for purchasers of EA Sports Season Ticket.
Respected broadcaster and former England and Leicester City forward Alan Smith was unveiled today as part of the main English commentary team, replacing Andy Gray for EA Sports FIFA 12. Alan Smith joins long-time commentator Martin Tyler as the primary commentators for this year’s title. New to this year’s version is the addition of a second English commentary team featuring Andy Townsend and Clive Tyldesley. The latter will commentate in cup competitions, though players will have a choice of selecting which commentating team they want to hear in games.
“Alan will bring a fresh, new perspective and insight to FIFA 12, working alongside the trusted and well-known voice of Martin Tyler,” said David Rutter, Senior Producer of FIFA 12. “As one of the top-tier broadcasters in the UK, he brings enormous knowledge and expert analysis to the game so that we can deliver the most authentic FIFA experience this year.”
“The natural chemistry that Martin and I have developed working live matches for TV has transferred very well to the virtual broadcast booth,” said Smith. “I’m really looking forward to FIFA fans hearing our work this fall as we bring all the match day emotion and excitement to this year’s game.”
A while ago David Rutter boldly claimed that FIFA 12 will be a revolution in the gameplay department and ever since then, we’ve been wondering just what EA Sports have up their sleeves that they could bring to the table to back up this claim. After all FIFA 11 was a commercial success and added what was a unique feature in allowing the player to control a goalkeeper for the first time in the series’ now ever present Be a Pro mode. The game is still a good five months away from release if previous release schedules for FIFA titles are maintained, so let’s see what we do know.
As you can see from the video above, it seems like EA Sports have been working on something called the “Player Impact Engine” which aims to bring the experience of real world footballers and how they challenge each other for the ball, win possession and test each other physically. Natural collisions and players tussling one another have been improved upon.
The two other things that we know about currently are Precision Dribbling; bring new ways to take on opponents, more time on the ball and improvements all around from last year’s dribbling. The second is Tactical Defending which promises to fundamentally change the way you defend in the game to bring it more into line with the ‘real world’, by aiming to place more importance on intercepting opposition passes, positioning and tackling like never before.
Update
Pro Player Intelligence is a part of the proclaimed revolution to the FIFA series and will add a self-awareness and aptitude that will enable players on the pitch to make decisions based on their skills as well as the strength and attributes of their team mates. Players who have exceptional vision will see through balls, that others won’t, for example. Additionally teams will vary their attack based on the types of players they have on the pitch and the opposition they face, making for a more varied and authentic experience.
Career mode will also be given a touch up in FIFA 12, reportedly driven by the story lines of real world football. Elements such as on-pitch form, player morale and league position will influence the outcome of games, giving players more decisions and factors than ever before when their consequences are played out on the field.
FIFA 12 will once again come with a large selection of clubs, with over 500 making up the count in the latest iteration.
It was only a couple of years ago that EA’s FIFA franchises rose from the ashes of mediocrity and became one of the best sports games around. Apparently, creating the best controls ever for a footy game just wasn’t enough for EA.
David Rutter, Line Producer for FIFA 12, promised a “revolutionary year for FIFA… especially in the gameplay department.” Rutter wouldn’t expand on what kind of revolution was coming.
It might be surprising to hear that EA is putting a major investment (and potentially making big changes) considering FIFA 11 sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and owns 75% of the football (soccer for the Yanks) market.
What big gameplay changes are coming? We’ve got no idea. What do you think? Let us know in the comments section.