EA Sports has revealed a new online mode called FIFA 09 Clubs, introducing 10 vs. 10 online team play, allowing 20 people on 20 different consoles to connect online and play a single match of FIFA 09.

Designed specifically for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions, FIFA 09 Clubs enables players to form or join clubs of up to 50 friends and then put their strongest team together to take on other clubs.

FIFA 09 Clubs will rank the best teams in the world using a ranking system based on total points and placing clubs into different divisions. Clubs are promoted to different divisions based on their performance during the season. Another neat feature is the ability for club managers to scout rival players and recruit them to join their club.

The full playable demo of FIFA 09 is out now for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Gamers can play as Chelsea, AC Milan, Real Madrid and a few other teams to get a sneak peak of the game before it ships to worldwide stores this October.

Did you think Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness was going to run away with the award for longest game title of the year? Well, there’s a new challenge to that ignoble throne.

I have a lot of fun just saying the title of this game: Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars. Now after watching the trailer, it seems like playing soccer with RC cars will be a lot of fun as well. Check it out on the next page.

Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars will be a PS3 downloadable title, hitting the PSN this fall.

EA Sports has announced the 42-song soundtrack to FIFA Soccer 09 this morning. Featuring songs from 21 countries and a number of genres, the soundtrack follows the style of their previous sports games with a mix of both established and new music acts. Some of the artists include The Ting Tings, Kasabian, The Kooks, Foals, and Duffy.

“We have exceeded our annual challenge to create videogames’ preeminent international soundtrack,” said Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music and Marketing at EA, in a press release. “No other game has been as influential with regards to new music, and FIFA Soccer 09 truly raises the bar worldwide. We’re excited that Brazilian fans of Curumin will hear Spain’s The Pinker Tones and Norway’s Datarock. We’re proud that Canadians who love Chromeo will discover Ladytron from England and Junkie XL from Holland. We want fans throughout France, Mexico and Germany to find that their favorite new song is by Señor Flavio from Argentina, DJ Bitman from Chile or Jupiter One from New York. FIFA Soccer 09 will take music globalization to a whole new level.”

Here’s the complete track list:

* Caesar Palace – 1ne
* Chromeo – Bonafied Lovin’ (Yuksek Remix)
* CSS – Jager Yoga
* Curumin – Magrela
* Cut Copy – Lights And Music
* Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley – Something For You (One Loaf Of Bread)
* Datarock – True Stories
* DJ Bitman – Me Gustan
* Duffy – Mercy
* Foals – Olympic Airways
* Gonzales – Working Together (Boys Noize Remix)
* Hot Chip – Ready For The Floor (Soulwax Remix)
* Jakobinarina – I’m A Villain
* Junkie XL feat. Electrocute – Mad Pursuit
* Jupiter One – Platform Moon
* Kasabian – Fase Fuse
* Ladytron – Runaway
* Lykke Li – I’m Good I’m Gone
* Macaco – Movin’
* MGMT – Kids
* My Federation – What Gods Are These
* Najwajean – Drive Me
* Plastilina Mosh – Let U Know
* Radiopilot – Fahrrad
* Reverend And The Makers – Open Your Window
* Sam Sparro – Black & Gold
* Señor Flavio – Lo Mejor Del Mundo
* Soprano – Victory
* The Airborne Toxic Event – Gasoline
* The Black Kids – I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You (The Twelves Remix)
* The Bloody Beetroots – Butter
* The Fratellis – Tell Me A Lie
* The Heavy – That Kind Of Man
* The Kissaway Trail – 61
* The Kooks – Always Where I Need To Be
* The Pinker Tones – The Whistling Song
* The Script – The End Where I Begin
* The Ting Tings – Keep Your Head
* The Veronicas – Untouched
* The Whip – Muzzle #1
* Tom Jones – Feels Like Music (Junkie XL Remix)
* Ungdomskulen – Modern Drummer

FIFA Soccer 09 will be available in stores on October 16 for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, PS2, PSP and Nintendo DS.

We can all associate with the familiar battle between the Fifa football franchise and the PES football franchise. It’s a long-standing match up that comes around ever year, dividing gamers as to which of these footie feasts is the best. Is it Fifa with it’s full house of licenses, or is it PES with the unrivaled gameplay? Each year the battles are fought, with allegiances made to each of the ultimate titles in football gaming.

But wait… upsetting the applecart just enough this year is Konami, who have introduced something a little different for all the Wii owners, with the release of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. Out goes the old control system, and in comes a system that allows you to orchestrate all the players in your team. Via the use of the remote controller (with the occasional nunchuck swing), you can control the runs of any of your teams players, on and off the ball, dribbling, closing down and tackling, passing and moving into space, clearing your lines and shooting.

All this is achieved by a number of combinations that look tricky at first but are soon second nature. One of the most radical new actions is dragging non-controlled players on your team all around the pitch, so that the player you are controlling can lay off a beautiful pass. To do this, you first highlight the free player by aiming at him with the remote and pressing A, while still controlling the player with the ball. Follow this by dragging the arrow run indicator along a desired path into space. As you then lay off the ball, the free player makes his run, hopefully to collect the pass.

Sound awkward?

Give yourself a few games to try out the combos, and you’ll find that there’s a nice fluidity in the new controls set up. Of course, with so much attention to the new movement and controls of the players, much of the classier player skills seen in the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game aren’t available in this version. It’s a shame, but you have to expect some drawbacks when converting a title of this scale onto the Wii system.

The Wii version concerns you more with the team you play as a whole, and there has been much less thought given to individual star quality of the players. This also is seen reflected in the average PS2/PSP version-looking graphics used.

Sure, the teams that Konami got the licences for do have better looking player models and look more in keeping with their real life selves. But with only two teams from the top flight English Premiership (Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspurs) licensed, the rest of the league is made up of some very bad lookalikes at best. This has in the past pushed me away from the PES titles. It still grates on my nerves now, that it is something that Konami still haven’t fully addressed. But saying all that, you do have to applaud them for how good the gameplay is in this version of PES.

Editing your team has been limited to player and team names only, while the Master League has been replaced with the Champions Road mode. Transfers are no longer an option, instead by doing well in this new mode and winning regional competitions, you are able to trade in your starting players for elite players from around the World. Skills for your players can be unlocked by completing the missions, that are set within matches. ’Score a Hat-Trick’ is just one such type of mission.

Champions Road mode makes for a fun diversion from the faltering online aspect of the Wii, which tends to plague the online option of PES 2008. All I can mention is that again, like many other Wii titles, there’s no leader board to talk of via online play, and with it being too much a varying experience, I cannot give a forthright commentary.

In conclusion, PES 2008 will probably be the most football fun you’ll have on your Wii to date. It has great gameplay that is marred a little by average player modeling and graphics. For now Konami must feel safe in the knowledge that PES 2008 leads the competition on the Wii as the best footie game experience. All that it needs now are those missing licenses!

With the 2008 UEFA European Championships just around the corner, UEFA Euro 2008 steps forward to satisfy the fans of football (also known as soccer, to some) who are hungry for goals, dives and, in England’s case, disappointment. Is this merely a repackaged Fifa 08, or does it have something more to offer?

First things first: Yes, England (and the other home nations) are included in the game, as are every other nation that took part in the qualifying stages. This means it’s possible to change the course of history and guide England, past Croatia and Russia, into the finals and all the way to cup glory. So if that was all you were worried about, you need not worry any longer.

What is most impressive about this game is that it certainly is not just a repackaged Fifa 08. The developers seem to have taken into account the criticisms levelled at the game and have reworked the gameplay to an impressive degree, given the relatively short period between the two games release.

You can’t help but applaud EA Sports on this one, they really do seem to be focused on innovating and improving this franchise to match the performance capabilities of the current generation of hardware. This is something Konami, and their Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) series, needs to learn, and fast, because on the evidence of this game, they’re in danger of being dealt a knockout blow the next time Fifa and PES do battle.

If you’ve played Fifa 08, the first thing you’ll notice with UEFA 2008 is just how much faster this game plays in comparison. Fifa 08 was often criticised for being too much of a passing game– it didn’t really allow players to knock the ball past defenders and have a crack on goal.

This time around, running straight at the defense with a quick attacking player will often lead to a goal. The defenders will just not be able to keep up. This adds a whole new layer to the gameplay that was sorely lacking in last year’s Fifa, and makes this a much more enjoyable experience.

In addition to an increased pace, the A.I. seems to have also gone through a bit of an overhaul. In comparison to Fifa 08 and PES 2008, it feels as though you’re taking on an actual team, rather than a few fancy (or not so fancy) algorithms.

Opposing players will pass it around you with a fluid ease that makes Arsenal’s passing prowess look distinctly schoolboy. You’ll also see players taking shots from impossible distances and angles that have no hope of hitting their target, but what is neat about this is that it only tends to happen with players that try similar antics in real life, so don’t be surprised to see this happen a lot when you go up against a team such as Portugal.

Graphically the game neither disappoints nor impresses. It seems to be running the same graphics engine as Fifa 08 during match play and it serves its purpose well enough. What is impressive however, is the level of detail in terms of presentation. As you’d expect, being an EA Sports title, the game menus all look beautiful and are stuffed full of the official logos and artwork that have been licensed for this game.

All the stadiums that will host the tournament this summer are present and correct, and a special mention needs to go to the quality of the crowd noise. Fans will sing team specific chants and anthems, when the team is performing well, and notably there are multiples of these for each team.

Of course, no discussion of a sports title would be complete without mentioning something about the quality of the commentary. In the English language version of the game, this is taken care of by Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend.

Compared to other recent football titles, it’s fairly impressive, due in mostly to the fact that it takes a slightly more conversational style. This means they’ll often go off on a long dialogue about a specific player, or team, rather than just describing the action. While it doesn’t reach the quality of the announcers in a game like NBA 2K8 it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

In terms of game modes there are a couple of interesting additions. As well as the obvious inclusive of the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament itself, and various exhibition modes (both online and off), you also have Captain Your Country and Story of Qualifying.

Captain Your Country is an expansion of the Be A Pro mode found in Fifa 08, in which you control only one member of your selected team. Rather than just being an exhibition only game mode (as Be A Pro was), Captain Your Country encourages you to create a player from scratch and then earn your way into the national squad, eventually proving yourself worthy of the captain’s armband.

For football fans with enough patience, this mode is extremely satisfying. The improved A.I. of your teammates means they can usually understand your intentions when, for example, you’re making a run into space, they’re able to recognise this and pass the ball accordingly.

After each match you gain experience based on a number of categories; goals, assists, passes, tackles and perhaps most interestingly, positioning. This means that if you choose to be a central midfielder you can’t just sit up front with the strikers and try to put the ball in the back of the net; you’ll have to give a hand to the defense when the time comes if you want to earn maximum points.

Story of Qualifying is a scenario-based game type in which you must match (or better) certain scenarios that occurred during the qualifying stages of the tournament. For example, one of the earlier scenarios challenges you to come back from a two-goal deficit against Romania using Bulgaria. The twist? There’s only ten minutes left in the game. This mode offers a good change of pace and is fun to drop in and out of for shorter gaming sessions.

Overall, though, there isn’t that much content to keep you satisfied for long. With a limited number of players and teams, and a lack of game modes this is a game you probably won’t be playing, outside of multiplayer, much after the tournament itself ends on June 29th.

There are a couple of other drawbacks as well. While the graphics during gameplay (on my 360) are good enough, the cut-scenes graphics– goal celebrations, substitutions, replays etc.– are not so great. Player models look poor and, in some cases, barely resemble their real life counterparts. There also seems to be some frame-rate issues and the odd glitch (the pitch flickering constantly from green to black for example), which ruin the atmosphere during these moments.

It’s a shame, because I really would like to give this game a higher score, but the aforementioned lack of content and animation issues mean I can’t do that. If you are a huge football game fan, or you can’t wait to live the dream of taking your country to the finals, then think about picking this up, if not, you should probably wait for the 2009 versions of either Fifa or PES.

Fifa Street. Hmm…Fifa Street. Not very memorable was it. Things are about to change. Things are about to get exaggerated. People are about to grow huge calf muscles and tiny knee caps. Fifa Street 3 is offside, and changes things up.
This is the generation for developers to express themselves artistically and show us what they’re made of. An EA game being artistic? My word, what is happening to the world!?

Fifa Street is an arcade football game, so why not try and make it different? Joe Nickolls, the games producer, took this view and wanted the games art style to compliment the exaggerated gameplay, where it’s not uncommon for players to perform over-the-top moves.

This is why the art style falls under a “heroic” stylized look, rather than a photo-realistic one. A look that might be compared to Team Fortress, or even (at a stretch) Uncharted. They created a caricature style for the players, that emphasises their athleticism, but also makes them recognisable rather than “goofy”.

Looking at the lanky Peter Crouch in the England team is quite hilarious, but it’s certainly not out of this world – you can tell it’s him, and when you play as him you’ll definitely be able to feel his advantages (strange sentence I know) – his height. When everythings exaggerated, players are both recognisable and distinct.

The stylisation continues on to the environments with lighting and shading all creating a distinct and exciting look, with locations that stray from the norm for a football game – a beach, or a Mediterranean roof top.

So Joe had a target for the game:

It was important to us that if you were to walk by a kiosk or store window that was playing FIFA 08 and FIFA STREET 3 side by side – you would know at a glance that FIFA STREET 3 was a different experience.

And thanks to a stylised look for both players and environments…you will. Why not have a gander at the gallery.

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Five images sourced from Gamersyde.

Football legend Sir Geoff Hurst offers a positive opinion on gaming, delivering logical and praise worthy comments regarding the “videogames are ruining football” debate that hit last week.

The World Cup Winner pronounced that videogames are “fantastic”, and stated, “there’s technique and skill needed to be good and successful”, which he compared to that of a real game of football.

Hired to promote upcoming remake Sensible Soccer, Hurst isn’t perhaps as skillful on a virtual pitch as he was on the real thing, admitting, “I get walloped by my grandson.”

Earlier in the week, controversy was created when videogames were blamed for England’s failure to qualify in Euro2008 after losing to Croatia. Hurst, however, suggested a much more reasonable take on the situation.

He suggested: “We have so many distractions that not enough children are playing sport,” and while he cited videogames as one of these distractions, he didn’t single it out as the greatest.

“There’s a balance between sitting down enjoying your leisure time playing games and running around playing sport,” which is a balance many aren’t finding, according to the legend.

Via CVG