FIFA Soccer 09 Q&A

EA Sports' long-running FIFA series is one of the last bastions for PC sports fans. Although the NHL and Madden series used to be PC stalwarts, they've fallen off the map, and for this season it doesn't look like an NBA Live entry is in the cards for EA Sports. Thankfully, if you're a PC owner with a soccer jones, FIFA 09 is still heading to a computer near you. To find out what's happening with this version of the game, we hit up EA Sports line producer Paul Hossack.

GameSpot: Let's start with last year's game. What did you like about FIFA 08 and what needed to be improved?

Paul Hossack: Gameplay changes and the introduction of the Be A Pro mode were the two most significant feature additions in FIFA 08. The gameplay changes that really stood out were depth of control and more-intelligent player movement. Be A Pro was a great game mode that let users live the experience of playing as one professional football player, and added a lot of fun social elements through the Co-Op Season tasks and player growth.

For FIFA 09, we listened to feedback from FIFA 08 fans and improved the collision system, added better support-run logic from teammates, and better positional AI for the defensive line. The most substantial feedback we got on Be a Pro - Co-Op Season was to extend the mode beyond one season, and to include the third-person Be A Pro camera from the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of FIFA 08. For FIFA 09 PC, we are happy to say we made both of those changes.

GS: With FIFA 09, you set out to create a soccer game that plays to the strengths of the PC platform. What specifically about the PC platform did you take advantage of in making FIFA 09?

PH: First, the mouse is a very powerful and accurate input device. Mouse-and-keyboard controls are a great combination in FPS and RTS games. It was those games that gave us the inspiration for the great new mouse controls we added to FIFA 09 PC. This is a feature that just made sense on the PC platform. We were even able to add a control that no other control system has on any FIFA game. With the mouse, you can click on an empty spot on the pitch to get one of your teammates to run to that spot when you are attacking. When you combine that with a quick manual pass to that same spot, you can create some amazing passing build-up play.

The second PC-specific characteristic we leveraged is the fact that most PCs are online all the time. This let us invest in our online widgets, which show you relevant, real-time info about you, the FIFA community, and real-world football wherever you are in our menu systems, and they update automatically.

Finally, as PCs tend to have nice, high-resolution monitors, we put a lot of effort into improving the graphics. The biggest jump is how the players and pitch look. It's a dramatic improvement over FIFA 08. In addition to these obvious improvements, we increased the sharpness and clarity of all our menus too.

GS: Give us some insight on how the PC version of FIFA 09 has evolved alongside its console counterpart. What big features will it share with the 360/PS3 version and at what point in the dev cycle do you decide to split off and go your own way with PC-specific features?

PH: FIFA 09 PC is a true PC football game, not simply a port of a console game. That said, both FIFA 09 PC and console do share some features and did work on some similar features. On both PC and console, we did a lot of work on the physicality of the game, the responsiveness of the dribble, and adding depth to the gameplay experience. In addition, you will find the new Adidas Live Season premium service available on PC, PS3, and 360. This is an exciting new service that dynamically updates player form from six leagues every single week based on how the players performed in real-world matches. Finally, you'll find very similar versions of the Be a Pro Seasons mode on those three platforms.

GS: This year's game will use a point-and-click control scheme. Tell us about the development of that control system, and what it allows a player to do on the pitch. Also, can you play with a console controller if you like?

PH: With "point and click" you are referring to the new mouse plus keyboard control scheme we have in FIFA 09 PC. We developed this idea by looking at other game genres that are successful on the PC. Two of the dominating PC genres are FPS and RTS games, which rely on a combination of the mouse and keyboard to control gameplay. We thought, why not put this into a PC sports game?

The user simply moves his player with the keyboard and performs passing and shooting actions with the mouse. Passing and shooting are performed by pointing and clicking with the onscreen mouse pointer. The mouse pointer can be moved very quick and is very precise, therefore the user is able to pass and shoot quickly and precisely. Other advantages of this control scheme are the ability to send players on support runs to specific spots, and to make player switches by simply clicking on specific players.

Regarding console controllers, we officially support the Xbox 360 controller and a long list of USB control pads. If I am not trying to master the new mouse-and-keyboard controls I am playing with the good old PS2 controller.

GS: Point-and-click seems like a limiting control scheme when it comes to re-creating the insane step-overs of Cristiano Ronaldo. How do you show off the strengths of your star players with such a simple control scheme?

PH: The main goal for this control scheme was to make it more intuitive for PC users while not losing any functionality. This control scheme allows players to trigger all actions with a controller, and have additional control resources available in the mouse and keyboard.

Regarding skill moves, we developed a way of mimicking foot movements by "drawing" tricks with your mouse pointer. The user can move into trick mode by clicking down the mouse wheel. This triggers a visual indicator that informs the user that the game has switched modes. In this mode, the user can simply move the mouse in the natural direction that a player's foot would move when performing a trick. For example, if you are facing to the left and want to perform a step-over to the right, you go into trick mode and move the mouse in a quarter circle from forward to right.

Star players such as Cristiano Ronaldo have player-specific tricks that no other player in the game can perform. In addition, they have player-specific animations, like Cristiano's "Cowboy Stance" while preparing for a free kick, that make them unique.

GS: What are widgets and what will they do for the FIFA 09 experience? How many widgets will we be able to choose from?

PH: Widgets can be best described as a series of small applets running within the FIFA 09 PC menus that are constantly pulling the latest and most relevant information for the gamer. In FIFA 09 PC, we provide six widgets that the user can choose from (up to five shown at a time). The user can configure the placement by dragging and dropping them. The widgets stay as you transition from screen to screen.

The widgets add a great sense of community as soon as you boot up the game. You can see how many gamers are online playing FIFA 09 right now, along with lots of other live stats.

Here's a quick description of some of the widgets:

- Online Profile: Want easy access to your online stats? Check out the Online Profile widget to view your latest online stats and ranking.

- Online Community: Check out how many people are connected or playing online matches with the Online Community widget. You can also compare your online stats to other FIFA 09 PC online gamers.

- Favourite Club: The Favourite Club widget will keep you connected to your favourite team while you play FIFA 09. View upcoming match information, results of the last match, and league tables with this widget. You can even read the latest team news right in your FIFA 09.

- Adidas Live Season: This widget displays information related to the Adidas Live Season service. You will be notified whenever a new form file is available. Once downloaded, you can dive into the details of what has changed in your game: who are the hottest/coldest players, what teams have been most impacted by positive form changes, and how your favourite club has been impacted (if it's one of the six leagues supported in Live Season).

GS: EA Sports used to make lots of PC games but, in recent years, that productivity has dropped off, seemingly due to a lack of interest. Yet FIFA keeps plugging away on the PC. What do you think makes the series attractive to PC-specific gamers?

PH: FIFA on the PC is different than other sports games namely because PC gaming is hugely influential to gaming culture outside of North America, where FIFA has a very healthy fan base. The immense popularity of football and FIFA around the world, combined with large numbers of PC gamers outside of North America, makes FIFA a natural choice to continue making specifically for the PC. We focused a lot of attention on improving the PC version of FIFA 09 this year because we wanted to satisfy our large PC fan base with a true PC football game.

GS: Traditionally the PC has been the platform of choice for management sims like FIFA Manager. Have you incorporated more simulation features into the manager mode of FIFA 09 on the PC?

PH: For FIFA 09 PC, we have refined the friendly-match negotiation process to make it more realistic and informative for the user. We have also addressed several key issues in the Manager Mode to help enhance the user experience while navigating through a very in-depth management-sim experience.

GS: What kind of online features will we find in FIFA 09? Will players be able to play 10-vs-10 as in the console games?

PH: Online gaming through the EA servers in FIFA 09 PC will be 1 v 1 gaming. Interactive League matches will be available to gamers (now with the Rivals match-up feature that helps you find more opponents), as well as creating online leagues and lobbies. FIFA 09 PC will support the new Adidas Live Season that is described in more detail above.

Finally, FIFA 09 PC supports direct IP matches and multiplayer LAN games, which allows up to eight players to LAN.

GS: Thanks for your time.