juanmanuelsanchez
Youth Team
We caught up with Kerry Whalen, FIFA 2002 line producer, to see what surprises were in store for us with the latest, greatest version of the best-selling soccer franchise. Kerry clued us into some of the cool stuff we have to look forward to…
EA SPORTS: Are all the major international leagues represented in this game? Are any new leagues and international teams included -- for instance, the Portugal team, which was left out of the last version?
KERRY WHALEN: The quick answer is yes. We've included all the major European Leagues -- Spanish, English, Italian, German, and French, as well as other big leagues (Scottish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Korean, MLS, Austrian, Belgian, Brazilian (in Friendly mode), Israeli, Swiss, and the Rest of World category (including teams like the Dutch, Czech, Portuguese, Greek, Turkish and others).
Most International teams are represented (Just over 120 national sides), and yes, Portugal is there. The addition of the Creation Center means that any leagues that aren't covered can be created and saved into the list of Seasons that are already there.
EA SPORTS: How does the new tackling model work with respect to the referee? Will he be more consistent in calling fouls, especially in the box?
KW: It's quite simple. You pull a player down without getting to the ball and it's a foul. Come through a player from behind and the ref will call it. Professional fouls will result in red cards. The ref is typically very consistent in whistling the play down in the box or otherwise. With the new slide tackling you really need to aim to block the path of the ball than aim for the player.
EA SPORTS: How are you accurately able to rate the tons of players and teams?
KW: There are many people involved and it is one of the most challenging components for us. We use a professional soccer scouting company called Touchline Inc., based in the UK, to track all the statistics for us. They are a company that specializes in providing soccer information to professional soccer scouts in Europe. Much of the data they collect comes from scouts linked to the big clubs.
Once the data is collected there is a large team of EA people who verify the data is correct. These people are located in all the different countries that we cover. I'll be the first to say that there are many heated debates over how the various players, teams and leagues get rated.
EA SPORTS: How will World Cup 2002 be incorporated into this game?
KW: FIFA 2002 has a game mode called World Cup 2002 Qualification. The objective of this mode is to play through all the qualifying stages leading up to the World Cup finals in Korea and Japan.
EA SPORTS: What is "open passing" and how does it work?
KW: This is the marquee feature of the game this year. Open passing allows players to pass the ball anywhere on the pitch rather than in a straight line to a teammate. By using a 360-degree gamepad and a power bar you can pass into the exact space you want to. This allows an incredible variation in the way you can build up a play. For example, if your forward has his back to goal and is marked closely by a defender, you can pass the ball into the space in front and on the side away from the defender for him to collect. Alternately, you could adjust the direction slightly to split the defense, power up to full, add some swerve to the pass to get it around the defenders reach and put an inch-perfect through-ball to that same forward. The players react to your pass how they would in real life. It takes a little while to get used to, but once it's mastered it is very fulfilling because it mimics the same mental aiming, weighting, and swerving skills you would use in real soccer.
EA SPORTS: Are more stadiums included in this version?
KW: We've included five stadiums that reflect the look and feel of various stadiums throughout the world.
EA SPORTS: Now that you've had a year to get used to the PS2, what were able to do with the 2002 game that you couldn't do last year?
KW: We were able to modify the rendering engine to handle more effects. We ended up increasing the detail on the pitch, crowd, nets and players as well as maintain a 60 FPS frame rate.
EA SPORTS: Is there a "franchise" mode where you play consecutive seasons while your players improve and/or age? If so, does it incorporate transfers and youth teams?
KW: It's not a full franchise mode as the players don't age or necessarily improve, but season mode allows users to play through multiple seasons, transfer players and try to accomplish a feat few teams in each league ever attain: the treble. (That's the European Cup, The League Cup and the League Championship all in one year).
EA SPORTS: What does the future hold for the FIFA franchise? What kinds of things would you like to add to the game going forward?
KW: If I were to look into my crystal soccer ball, I'd say we'll be focusing on further progression in gameplay and interactivity, more accessibility to customize/mod the game, and improved entertainment value in terms of graphics and audio. The other thing to look out for would be expanded and improved online features.
EA SPORTS: Anything else you'd like to add about FIFA 2002?
KW: It's a bit of a change for staunch FIFA fans, but with a few hours you'll have mastered the open passing system. Then the addiction starts... I've played hours and hours and hours at work and I still can't stop when I go home. Two-player games are probably the best way to play FIFA -- playing two on the same team against the CPU is definitely worth a try!
EA SPORTS: Are all the major international leagues represented in this game? Are any new leagues and international teams included -- for instance, the Portugal team, which was left out of the last version?
KERRY WHALEN: The quick answer is yes. We've included all the major European Leagues -- Spanish, English, Italian, German, and French, as well as other big leagues (Scottish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Korean, MLS, Austrian, Belgian, Brazilian (in Friendly mode), Israeli, Swiss, and the Rest of World category (including teams like the Dutch, Czech, Portuguese, Greek, Turkish and others).
Most International teams are represented (Just over 120 national sides), and yes, Portugal is there. The addition of the Creation Center means that any leagues that aren't covered can be created and saved into the list of Seasons that are already there.
EA SPORTS: How does the new tackling model work with respect to the referee? Will he be more consistent in calling fouls, especially in the box?
KW: It's quite simple. You pull a player down without getting to the ball and it's a foul. Come through a player from behind and the ref will call it. Professional fouls will result in red cards. The ref is typically very consistent in whistling the play down in the box or otherwise. With the new slide tackling you really need to aim to block the path of the ball than aim for the player.
EA SPORTS: How are you accurately able to rate the tons of players and teams?
KW: There are many people involved and it is one of the most challenging components for us. We use a professional soccer scouting company called Touchline Inc., based in the UK, to track all the statistics for us. They are a company that specializes in providing soccer information to professional soccer scouts in Europe. Much of the data they collect comes from scouts linked to the big clubs.
Once the data is collected there is a large team of EA people who verify the data is correct. These people are located in all the different countries that we cover. I'll be the first to say that there are many heated debates over how the various players, teams and leagues get rated.
EA SPORTS: How will World Cup 2002 be incorporated into this game?
KW: FIFA 2002 has a game mode called World Cup 2002 Qualification. The objective of this mode is to play through all the qualifying stages leading up to the World Cup finals in Korea and Japan.
EA SPORTS: What is "open passing" and how does it work?
KW: This is the marquee feature of the game this year. Open passing allows players to pass the ball anywhere on the pitch rather than in a straight line to a teammate. By using a 360-degree gamepad and a power bar you can pass into the exact space you want to. This allows an incredible variation in the way you can build up a play. For example, if your forward has his back to goal and is marked closely by a defender, you can pass the ball into the space in front and on the side away from the defender for him to collect. Alternately, you could adjust the direction slightly to split the defense, power up to full, add some swerve to the pass to get it around the defenders reach and put an inch-perfect through-ball to that same forward. The players react to your pass how they would in real life. It takes a little while to get used to, but once it's mastered it is very fulfilling because it mimics the same mental aiming, weighting, and swerving skills you would use in real soccer.
EA SPORTS: Are more stadiums included in this version?
KW: We've included five stadiums that reflect the look and feel of various stadiums throughout the world.
EA SPORTS: Now that you've had a year to get used to the PS2, what were able to do with the 2002 game that you couldn't do last year?
KW: We were able to modify the rendering engine to handle more effects. We ended up increasing the detail on the pitch, crowd, nets and players as well as maintain a 60 FPS frame rate.
EA SPORTS: Is there a "franchise" mode where you play consecutive seasons while your players improve and/or age? If so, does it incorporate transfers and youth teams?
KW: It's not a full franchise mode as the players don't age or necessarily improve, but season mode allows users to play through multiple seasons, transfer players and try to accomplish a feat few teams in each league ever attain: the treble. (That's the European Cup, The League Cup and the League Championship all in one year).
EA SPORTS: What does the future hold for the FIFA franchise? What kinds of things would you like to add to the game going forward?
KW: If I were to look into my crystal soccer ball, I'd say we'll be focusing on further progression in gameplay and interactivity, more accessibility to customize/mod the game, and improved entertainment value in terms of graphics and audio. The other thing to look out for would be expanded and improved online features.
EA SPORTS: Anything else you'd like to add about FIFA 2002?
KW: It's a bit of a change for staunch FIFA fans, but with a few hours you'll have mastered the open passing system. Then the addiction starts... I've played hours and hours and hours at work and I still can't stop when I go home. Two-player games are probably the best way to play FIFA -- playing two on the same team against the CPU is definitely worth a try!
then it's not EA's fault we get those faulty rosters, it's Touchline Inc.'s fault. Come on!