EA SPORTS announce new FIFA PC Game!

[NumB]

21 Mar 2010

CLOSED BETA 2 HAS NOW CLOSED,
BUT YOU CAN STILL REGISTER TO BE CONSIDERED TO TAKE A PART IN CLOSED BETA 3.
ALL CLOSED BETA 2 GAMERS WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE NEXT ROUND
STARTING IN A FEW WEEKS.

19 Feb 2010

CLOSED BETA 1 HAS NOW CLOSED, BUT PLEASE REGISTER TO BE CONSIDERED TO TAKE A PART IN CLOSED BETA 2.
ALL CLOSED BETA 1 GAMERS WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE NEXT ROUND STARTING ON MARCH 3RD

Register to play now at http://fifa-online.easports.com

29 Jan 2010

EA SPORTS FIFA Online Announced!
A new, free, downloadable football game for PC is unveiled.

Electronic Arts announced today development of a free-to-play*, downloadable game called EA SPORTS FIFA Online. The game will make its most popular and highest rated** videogame franchise available to football fans with a broadband Internet connection and an average-spec laptop computer or desk-top PC.

The free-to-play EA SPORTS FIFA videogame will call on football fans and gamers to help shape features during closed beta testing prior to its English-language European open beta release in June 2010.

"Listening to and engaging football fans has been one of the driving forces behind the success of our FIFA franchise and now we are inviting European football fans - in mass numbers and earlier than we ever have before - to help us develop a new football game," said Executive Producer Kaz Makita.

"Fans will determine the features that matter most, and at the end of this process our goal is to deliver a game for fans looking for a quick football fix at home or at work.

"There are a large number of football fans who do not want a console gaming experience due to time and other priorities in their personal lives, but they still want to be able to play a top-quality football videogame. FIFA Online will be designed specifically for them."

Beginning 3 February, football fans across Europe are invited to register to participate in the closed beta development and testing of FIFA Online by visiting http://fifa-online.easports.com.

More than 20,000 fans will be involved in the first phase of closed beta testing and then, during open beta in June, hundreds of thousands of fans will test the game, providing feedback directly to the game's developers through exclusive discussion forums.

EA SPORTS FIFA Online will be released around the world in stages. The English language version will be available to all football fans in June 2010. Over the next 12 to 24 months, FIFA Online will launch in other languages across Europe and then in North America. Non-English speaking football fans will also be able to participate in the development process of these games.

EA SPORTS FIFA Online will offer an authentic football experience with 30 licensed leagues, 500 clubs and more than 15,000 players. During the first closed beta stage, the game will feature a 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa tournament mode and a control system that uses the mouse only. At the second stage of closed beta, the game will feature a League Mode that enables fans to manage and compete as their favourite football club, and the ability to play online matches. FIFA Online will enable football fans and gamers to build their favourite club into their dream team by developing or acquiring players, upgrading skills, and getting unique apparel by earning in-game currency to acquire items or through micro-transactions. Additional content will be designed for the game based on feedback by fans.

Register to play now at http://fifa-online.easports.com

CLOSED BETA2 SCREENSHOTS:
Screens pending...

CLOSED BETA1 SCREENSHOTS: - by EA Sports

 

[BFK]

Well let's see....

The graphics at the screenshots are exactly the same with fifa 10.
I hope that the gameplay will be like NG's FIFA.

 

[Outsider 87]

No, the graphics are the same of FIFA 10, but with the turf of FIFA 09
I hope that gameplay will be at least like FIFA 10 PC (not so sure) and I hope to be able to play a 10 vs 10 (in a screenshot you can see two players of the same team, Arsenal).

 

[Merdiso]

No NG gameplay, and yes, it's FIFA 10 graphics with 09 turf.
It's ok because IT'S FREE, but I hope it'll be lag-free, UNLIKE FIFA Online 2.
WHAT I can't undestand is WHY they don't make the net better, it's so HARD ? OMG !!

 

[RobbieD_PL]

is it possible to transfer data from that game to FIFA 10?

 

[NumB]

is it possible to transfer data from that game to FIFA 10?

i don't think so, since is an internet browsed game and even so is not available yet :P.

 

[silvone]

New features ?

 

[Champion757]

The game will feature a 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa tournament mode and a control system that uses the mouse only.



EA is putting PC gamers to sleep. It was bad enough that WC 10 will not be released for PC. Now they are going to release a free online game that is being released as a beta test first!? I think EA is mad at PC gamers so instead of hiring game testers for PC, they decide to release beta versions of online-only "free" games based loosely on the FIFA engine without the bells and whistles nor the level of customization seen in a game like FIFA 10.

Why doesn't EA just release FIFA 10 WC for PC, put time into the game, release the game in stores, and have a robust online mode that actually works.

Instead they release a free online multiplayer game which will probably end up being the equivalent of a flash game with a control system that uses the mouse only?!?!?

Come on this is getting beyond ridiculous. I was actually considering buying the Wii version if it had 45 minute halves like WC 06. But after this announcement, I have to seriously considering boycotting EA altogether.

Just make a WC 10 game for PC, EA. We don't need this crap. We don't want mouse only control. We want to actually use a gamepad to play a full featured game. This is laughable.

How bout the people who actually buy PC soccer games and have been buying it forever. It'll probably take EA more testing and more time to make this new free multiplayer game than it would to port a PC game with the same features as the console versions.

After all, they started making PC games long before they made a 360, PS3, or Wii game.

This whole thing really has reached a new level of ridiculousness.

 

[Outsider 87]

i don't think so, since is an internet browsed game and even so is not available yet :P.

I think so instead. You have to download a package to play that online game, so there could be some interesting files there...

 

[Merdiso]

FIFA Online Producer Interview : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILeLp9TUOZI&feature=sub

 

[DmnY]

The game will feature a 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa tournament mode and a control system that uses the mouse only.



EA is putting PC gamers to sleep. It was bad enough that WC 10 will not be released for PC. Now they are going to release a free online game that is being released as a beta test first!? I think EA is mad at PC gamers so instead of hiring game testers for PC, they decide to release beta versions of online-only "free" games based loosely on the FIFA engine without the bells and whistles nor the level of customization seen in a game like FIFA 10.

Why doesn't EA just release FIFA 10 WC for PC, put time into the game, release the game in stores, and have a robust online mode that actually works.

Instead they release a free online multiplayer game which will probably end up being the equivalent of a flash game with a control system that uses the mouse only?!?!?

Come on this is getting beyond ridiculous. I was actually considering buying the Wii version if it had 45 minute halves like WC 06. But after this announcement, I have to seriously considering boycotting EA altogether.

Just make a WC 10 game for PC, EA. We don't need this crap. We don't want mouse only control. We want to actually use a gamepad to play a full featured game. This is laughable.

How bout the people who actually buy PC soccer games and have been buying it forever. It'll probably take EA more testing and more time to make this new free multiplayer game than it would to port a PC game with the same features as the console versions.

After all, they started making PC games long before they made a 360, PS3, or Wii game.

This whole thing really has reached a new level of ridiculousness.

I totally agree with all you have said. Mouse only ?! Come on ! Besides, they use the same old engine, so there are no improvements, only a new way to play it, which was not exploited until now.

If they don't release FIFA 11 on another engine for the PC, even if they do release the same old **** (though they may not at all), the franchise is dead on the PC.

 

[Nadzlee]

epic fail..i think it'll be retard and sucks than fifa 10

 

[regularcat]

its a slap in the face of the pc community.

 

[??. s???s???™]

guys !!! i may be incorrect but here's what i have to say:

Now as we've heard Fifa 10 was produced by HB studios and released by EA.
So now EA are coming up with a Fifa Online that even runs on "mediocre" machines.
So what i think is that next year, we'll have 2 games for PC, first being the Fifa Online for "mediocre" PC's and a NG game hor high specs PC.

Let's hope what i say is true.
And especially this thought comes when a Forum moderator said that Fifa Online wasn't the replacement for FIFA 11 on PC.

I am keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Merdiso]

Same, maybe ... FINALLY, this year is the end of NG tunnel !

 

[NumB]

guys !!! i may be incorrect but here's what i have to say:

Now as we've heard Fifa 10 was produced by HB studios and released by EA.
So now EA are coming up with a Fifa Online that even runs on "mediocre" machines.
So what i think is that next year, we'll have 2 games for PC, first being the Fifa Online for "mediocre" PC's and a NG game hor high specs PC.

Let's hope what i say is true.
And especially this thought comes when a Forum moderator said that Fifa Online wasn't the replacement for FIFA 11 on PC.

I am keeping my fingers crossed.

maybe... this is quite interesting...

 

[BHsoccerboy]

FIFA Online Hands-on
EA on its attempt to get 2 billion players in the game.
by Martin Robinson, IGN UK

UK, January 29, 2010 - "FIFA tell me when I go to Zurich that there are 2 billion football fans," EA Sports chief Peter Moore said last year, when FIFA 10 was revealed at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, "and yet we only sell 10 million copies of FIFA." It's a problem that's indicative of the ambition of the outspoken executive, and despite the success of FIFA 10 - indisputably the greatest take on the beautiful game, the fastest-selling sports title in history and host to some 3 million online matches since its launch late last year - he's still pushing for more.

One year on and it's finally become clear how EA Sports are making that push, and how they intend to get those other 1,900,000,000 people playing football. "We're answering the question of how big can football get," Moore tells a throng of press assembled at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium yesterday, "The future of where we see sports is having an experience regardless of time, regardless of platform and regardless of budget - and that ubiquity is the key to where we're going."

Step forward FIFA Online, the forthcoming PC game that's stealing a march on the rest of EA's football stable. Firstly it's ludicrously accessible - games are controlled with mouse only, leaving your other hand free to munch your cheese salad sandwich and making it the perfect lunch break accompaniment. But more importantly it's also free-to-play, with the downloadable client coming at absolutely no cost.

It's not the first time EA has pushed the FIFA franchise in this direction. As FIFA Online is announced, it's misleadingly titled predecessor FIFA Online 2 (developed by EA Singapore) is going from strength-to-strength in Asia, a market that's traditionally more receptive to free-to-play games. However this is the first time the idea's been pushed in the West.

It's not in-browser, but that's no surprise given it runs on the FIFA 10 engine.

So it's a game that's been remodelled for the different expectations of a Western audience, and off the bat it's an impressive proposition. 30 Leagues make the cut, providing some 500 teams to play with both offline and on. Matches are powered by the FIFA 10 engine, inheriting the sparkling visuals and depth of gameplay of that mercurial game. The tweaks that have been made are meaningful and well thought out - the engine's been made fully scalable, meaning it will run on a laptop with less than stellar specs, an essential detail as EA chase a broader audience.

The most explicit addition, however, is the new control system. FIFA's toyed with total control before; FIFA 09 on the PC ported some of the control enhancements introduced by the Wii iteration, with play dictated by mouse sweeps and clicks, working in conjunction with the keyboard. FIFA Online takes this to its extreme, handing over control entirely to the mouse.

It's amazingly intuitive - players on the ball follow the on-screen cursor, running faster the further it is away from them. Clicking the left mouse button sends off a pass, and holding it longer lofts the ball in the desired direction, while the right button is reserved for shooting. The true wonder is how such a simple system preserves the complexity of FIFA 10, a feat that the game's producer Adrian Blunt is understandably proud of.

"We've spent a lot of time working on those controls and gone through lots of iterations to try and make them as simple and as intuitive as possible," he tells us. "The challenge has been taking all that complexity and all that depth of control and making it scalable. We've still got all the other control mechanics in there - you can still play with the gamepad, and keyboard and mouse is still there. If someone's played FIFA 10 before they'll be able to pick this up straight away."

FIFA Online, then, is much more than a watered down extension of the series. The classic gameplay is spread out over three modes - Tournament, Versus and World Cup - and it's joined by some unique elements such as an experience system is coupled with the framework to support a substantial global community, while online leagues will obviously be front and centre.

Microtransactions will be a feature, but they're not going to be a compulsory part of the experience. "We're very much focused on making it a free-to-play experience" Blunt assures us, "and free-to-play means I can play the core game and never have to pay any money for it." It's yet to be disclosed what the paid-for items will be, though for now they're being pinned as things that will accelerate a player's progress rather than anything that will lend them an in-game advantage.

PC owners who've been burned by EA's move away from the format will likely be worried that FIFA Online will spell the end of the mainstream series on the platform, but EA's convinced that the two can co-exist. "We've still got plans for FIFA 11 on PC," says Blunt. "This game is not going to replace any FIFA products that we currently make, and it's designed to sit alongside our existing and future products. We're talking about a game that reaches out to that broader consumer - it's not trying to take away from our existing consumer base. It's a different type of game for a different kind of person."

Community features are front and centre in FIFA Online.

But conversely will FIFA 11's inevitable improvements have an impact on FIFA Online and make their way over in the future? "It's an interesting question - the game is always going to evolve. Unlike traditional games like FIFA 10 and other games in the future, this isn't a yearly release. This game will continually evolve, and the direction it takes will be decided by the community. If they want different gameplay then that's the direction it will take."

FIFA Online, then, has game-changing potential. It's an experiment that's more than a sign of where EA Sports want to go; if it's successful the revolution could be just around the corner. As soon as this summer, even, as that's when the open beta's scheduled to go live, with the closed beta commencing next week. Registrations are being taken at EA's site - sign up and you could yourself sneak a glimpse of what is potentially the sports game of the future.

 

[Outsider 87]

Well, it seems that we are still going to have a FIFA 11 on PC. Let's hope for, at least, a game at the level of FIFA 07 Xbox360: afterall, I'm not asking too much I think

 

[regularcat]

now that sounds like some good s**t !

 

[RobbieD_PL]

World Cup Mode is only going to be the 32 finalists