‘Nuff Said!

But throw on top of that a 104 inch projection screen to play FIFA 09 on, and add a couple of footballers to play against (including Red Bulls Mac Kandji, Matt Mbuta and Andrew Boyens), and you have a Soccer Nerd’s Video Game Heaven!

Novecento really did this shin dig up – but that might be my bias for amazing Argentine food talking. The outside featured a sidewalk footie display, highlighted by a gorgeous flat screen where passers by could play some FIFA. The 2006 EA FIFA World Champion was on hand to show off his skill to the gathering crowds. I will have more on that later.

The place was also swarming with a bunch of beautiful FIFA 09 girls . . . .

. . . see what I’m saying?

Anyway, the night featured an all night tournament, with the winner taking home a Wii. Of course, I was in, as was my photographer (pictured above with the girlies). Let me say that this FIFA game lays last years product to waste. Here are a few observations:

- You can switch off to a player more accurately than before. If you want to switch to a specific defender, the AI is much more responsive to the logical switch than the 08 product.
- Speed. UEFA Euro 2008 was fast, but almost to a flaw. This game allows for speed on offense AND defense, where recovery of the ball and the subsequent jostling to hold on can work in either positions favor.
- Physicality. Thats what 09 is all about. You can knock people off the ball, box the ball in for protection, back track at a decent speed that does not leave the D immediately exposed. All that good stuff.
- Passing. Wow. You can spring a pass to a computer forward that will independently point out a passing lane. It is up to you to be smart enough to pick up on the gesture (here is one taken of me playing Barcelona on the left)

But enough of that – let’s get back to the party! A long story short, I advanced to the final of this tournament, which was commentated on by the announcer from ESPN Deportes. I picked Argentina (obviously), and my opponent picked England (the crowd favorite) . . . .

When all was said and done . . . I won a Wii. Argentina managed to net 4 goals, on the back of Riquelme who was playing CAM spectacularly, to Englands 1. Who says blogging doesn’t have its advantages?

So, if winning a Wii was not enough, I actually had the opportunity to play the 2006 FIFA World Champ right after the game (pictured to the right)! He came in second in last years 08 tournament as well, just to give you the necessary background. This game was for fun and I thoroughly expected a whooping . . . but when game time came, a miracle happened. I WON.

Sticking with Argentina, the champ decided to counter me with Brazil. But it was all for nothing, as I immediately went up 3 goals in the first half, and closed the half winning 3-1. Thats when he really put his game face on, concentrating on every play. In the end, the game wound up being 4-2 Argentina, with a confounded World Champ slinking away wondering what happened, and with an astounded blogger pondering the same thing.

What a great night.

The game is in stores NOW. Go out and pick this up NOW. You will absolutely not be disappointed.

For the last 6 years or so, only two football games have existed. FIFA and Pro Evo dominate the market like Pepsi and Coke, and despite efforts such as This Is Football (did anyone else play that? ouch…), wikipedia refuses to acknowledge anything else other than Pro Evo or FIFA for any next gen/previous gen console (ignoring EA’s multiple money spin offs – no, I don’t want to pay £40 for a game I’ve already got that only has European International teams in it…)

And every year, October is the month where it happens (incidently, Pro Evo’s release always coincides with my birthday, and a well trained younger sibling knows exactly what to buy me every year). And the first battle field: the demos.

Last year, Konami went forfeit and didn’t even play game on the PS3, an early indication of last year’s horror effort from Seabass and co. This year, both games have demos bright and early and although I’m very keen to point out I already have the full version of FIFA – oh yes – I’ll leave main reviewing duties to Dave.

I’ve read video game reviews for over a decade now and I can’t stand the assumption that a game can be divided up into graphics, gameplay, sound, longetivity etc. With a football game, it’s about so much more than that – is it football? Can I smell the turf when I play the game? When I beat my housemate for the fifth time in a row, exactly how happy does that make me feel?! So I’m going to take a far more liberal approach and just jump straight in.

FIFA’s been making vast improvements over the last two years, and the demo makes a point of showing the full range of options, before restricting us to a 5 minute game. Fair enough. The atmosphere created by the visuals – especially the stunning representation of the stadia – bring me right in, although immediately I realise it’s actually quite difficult to realise which of my players has the ball at any one time. It’s hard to tell even Drogba from Lampard, but then player graphics always get a final tweak before release.

I can’t get enough of the skills in FIFA. The system is incredibly intuitive, and there’s not much as satisfying as shipping the ball out to Joe Cole, and shimmying inside off the left wing before unleashing a shot that’s going to knock a hot dog out of someone’s hands back in row Z. I’ll have to work on the timing then.

As I come to the end of my FIFA playing, I realise that it’s not really representative of my experience of football. I’m from the English terraces through and through, and I’ve spent many a Saturday afternoon on a grass bank watching lower league football. But the players in FIFA seem more interested in rolling about on the floor than anything else, and as soon as there’s a suggestion of contact between two players, the defender wins the ball. Possession changes far too frequently for my liking, shots feel like I’m dispatching a ping pong ball into the stands, and my football playing style is quickly annihalated by FIFA’s AI and my now silly looking decision to admit to a professional level of experience in video games. It’s got a massive amount of promise: I’m just going to take a while to adapt.

Pro Evo is next on my PS3, and it throws me straight into a game. Having just played FIFA I am hugely dissapointed that Konami continue to refuse to acknowledge football players’ abilities to run in more than 8 directions. It’s called an analog stick, and it’s been around for quite some time. Use it Konami! I also quickly realise that I can’t really do any skills other than a flic-flac and a step over. The same ping pong shooting also seems to be there. I haven’t played outfield for quite a while – maybe this is what balls actually do when you take a shot these days!

FIFA’s complete lack of commentary is however surpassed here, and I only hear the same expression 7 or 8 times in my first game. This is something of a record and I may even wait a whole day before turning off Pro Evo’s commentary this year. But where Pro Evo’s demo comes into its own is in attention to detail in the gameplay. Yes, you can still score in all the same ways as you’ve always been able to in the game – but this is exactly what happens in real life! As Rooney and Ronaldo forge a 1-2 which leads to a fantastic Shrek finish, I can’t help but remember the highlights from the weekend when the duo did the exact same thing against Blackburn. This is football as I know it.

So I guess the conclusion so far is I prefer Pro Evo, but I think FIFA may well be the better game. What is clear is that it’s going to be a very close and subjective year, and I’m looking forward to hearing what you guys and girls think of the games so far in the comments.

7 years. 2 consoles. Many failed exams. And 7 versions of Pro Evo… thousands of PES fans around the world, like me, have followed this game over the years, giving it a cult like status among video games. Dave was looking for bloggers to cover wider topics so I volunteered to share my extensive knowledge of Pro Evo, PS3, and any other awful football games I happen to be unwise enough to buy.

Last year Konami disappointed big time with a re-release of PES6 on PS2 and next-gen versions failing dismally to even run without stuttering. This year they’ve come up with the standard promises of better AI, physics and graphics – very standard improvements and nothing out of the ordinary.

Where it gets exciting is the deal Konami has sorted for the Champions League license which spares us of playing as the Merseyside Reds for the next four years. The CL mode also allows gamers to play through a whole season of the competition, and along with the “Become a Legend” mode (cf: UEFA 2008’s “Be a Pro”) it looks like the aged Master League mode is finally dying its overdue death.

The edit mode – which was absolutely inexplicably cut back last year – faces an overhaul with the locker room visible in the background as you place that giant ginger afro on Wes Brown (if you’re anything like me, it’s just irresistable).

The demo’s out this Thursday – a day before the full release of FIFA, so expect plenty more posts from me about both those events towards the end of the week.

Finally, if you’re screenshot hunting, here’s some links:
http://www.videogameszone.de/aid,661677/Bildergalerie/VideogamesZone/PES_2009_-_Ueber_70_Screenshots_des_Become_a_Legend-Modus_aus_Pro_Evo_2009/
http://kotaku.com/5018726/pro-evo-2009-announced

Remember – you too can download a free demo version of FIFA 09! Go to your marketplace and start downloading!

Enjoy y’all!

I’ll let them do the talking. HOW AWESOME IS THIS?!?!???!??!?!?

EA will be releasing an online Demo version of FIFA 09 to hold all of us over till the eventual release date in two months. Starting September 11, you will be able to get a taste of what is being called the best football game to come out in years.

EA has also announced a very interesting partnership with Adidas, in what they are calling “Live Season.” Here is an excerpt of the release:

“Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced a new premium service for EA SPORTS™ FIFA Soccer 09 called adidas Live Season that will redefine the soccer videogame experience by dynamically updating player form in-game on a weekly basis so that player attributes mirror real-world performances. FIFA Soccer 09 will now feel and play differently throughout the entire 2008-2009 season matching the weekly rhythm of soccer. The new service will be available for Barclay’s Premier League, La Liga BBVA, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A and Mexican Primera Division on the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system and PC.”

Imagine that – real time performance evaluations of all your favorite players, available at your finger tips. Every kid has always dreamed of real time compatability between the players in the game and the players in real life. No more will you have to ask yourself “Why is Claudio Reyna a 75 rating when he has clearly fallen off the map?” Or “Why is Peter Crouch a 97 when clearly he should be a 2?!” That kind of stuff.

With every tidbit of information, I beg and plead more and more for October to come around . . .

This season, you pick your style. Offensive defenseman a la Brian Leetch? Go for it. Power Forward in the Lindros mold? Make it happen. Look at the gameplay! Its tremendous!

Anyone down for an NHL tourney?

Dont know what a Mii is? Look to your left!

EA is ahead of the curve once again, creating platform specificity – including Wii based characters.

I have been waiting for an excuse (lose weight, be more active) to open up my Wii and start playing. This is where that streak ends. Guess what game I want my hands on?

Ill have more screenshots and trailers for the coming days.

Ladies and gentlemen, your cover athletes for this side of the Atlantic.

FIFA 09 will be released October 3rd.