FIFA 10
Details of this year's new features and tweaks.
Guildford, UK.,– 3rd June, 2009 – On the heels of winning 25 international gaming awards with FIFA 09, Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today revealed the first features for its top-selling* football franchise from EA SPORTS™. Responding to consumer feedback from more than 275 million online games played**, FIFA 10 will deliver a new standard for authenticity with gameplay refinements and innovations that will make it the most complete and intelligent simulation of football.
On the pitch, critical gameplay fundamentals have been enhanced to ensure that FIFA 10 mirrors real-world football, providing more sophisticated ball control, and physical interaction between players. In addition, players now move, behave and position themselves more realistically. On attack, players analyze space more effectively, curve their runs in an attempt to stay onside, create passing lanes naturally, and drive for more variety in attacking options. On defense, new concepts like position priority enable defenders to multitask so dangerous spaces left open by teammates out of position are covered. Plus, slide tackle targeting, press marking, and better-urgency clearance logic provide new options that make defending a tactical skill in FIFA 10. In goal, a myriad of improvements and refinements to goalkeeper intelligence result in a more responsive and powerful rushing system and ultra-realistic saves.
“We have benefited from 275 million games played online to refine FIFA 10 in a way that matters most to our fans,” said Andrew Wilson, Vice President & Executive Producer for the FIFA franchise. “We’ve listened and responded to their feedback to improve player control, responsiveness and intelligence and create what we believe is the world’s most authentic football videogame.”
Listening to feedback and addressing gamer frustrations has become a key part of the EA SPORTS strategy to improve the FIFA franchise on an annual basis. Better balance on lofted through balls, improved goalkeeper intelligence, more realistic shooting mechanics with less shots hitting the goal posts, a practice arena to perfect skills, and a more immersive football experience through continuous play and quick free kicks are just a few of the issues raised by fans and addressed in FIFA 10.
Three new innovations revealed today have been developed to change the player control experience in FIFA 10. The first-ever true 360° dribbling system gives players finer control of the ball, enabling them to find spaces between defenders that previously were not possible. Using an all-new animation technology, skilled dribblers now have the ability to face the defender and use highly responsive lateral dribbling to skip past him. An innovative concept called Freedom in Physical Play enables players to perform wider dribble touches and new collision sharing creates a varied, less predictable, and extended fight for possession between the dribbler and a defender.
FIFA 10 also features a deeper iteration of the ever-popular Manager Mode with more than 50 major improvements, including new match realism, realistic player transfers based on multiple decision points, and true-to-life player growth curves.
New game modes, and innovations to popular features like Be A Pro, will be revealed in the upcoming months.
Visit www.easports.co.uk/fifa beginning June 5 for more information. Screenshots of FIFA 10 are available at www.easports.co.uk/press.
FIFA 10 will be available in stores world-wide this Fall 2009 for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system, Wii™ home video game system, PC, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo DS™, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system and mobile. It is developed under the EA SPORTS brand by EA Canada in Burnaby, B.C. The game has not yet been rated.
EA SPORTS™ is the leading interactive sports software brand in the world, with top-selling titles and franchises including Madden NFL football, FIFA Soccer, NHL® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAA® Football, and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR®.
*Based on total sales in 2008 according to the NPD.
**Number of games played while connected online between September 2008 and June 1, 2009
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EATM, EA SPORTSTM, EA SPORTS Freestyle™ EA Mobile TM and POGOTM. In fiscal 2009, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $4.2 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.easports.co.uk. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at www.easports.co.uk/press.
EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle, EA Mobile and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Official FIFA licensed product ' © The FIFA brand OLP logo is a copyright and trademark of FIFA. All rights reserved.' Manufactured under licenese by Electronic Arts Inc. Player names and likenesses used under license from FIFA, International Federation of Professional Footballers "(FIFPro)" and national teams. John Madden, NFL, NHL, NBA, NCAA, Tiger Woods and PGA Tour are trademarks of their respective owners and used with permission. Microsoft, Xbox, and Xbox 360 are registered trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. “PlayStation”, “PLAYSTATION” and PSP are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Memory Stick Duo™ may be required (sold separately). Nintendo DS, and Wii are trademarks of Nintendo. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.