EA has given first details on an ambitious premium service for FIFA 09, Adidas Live Season, that will dynamically update player stats in-game on a weekly basis, so that player attributes mirror real-world performances - including injuries!
EA's global network of football scouts will monitor every player throughout the season to supply accurate and in-depth player and team data each week, says the company.
360 and PS3 gameplay will change dynamically as the performance of players and footy teams in the real world climb and dip during their campaigns. This sounds brilliant.
"This is an ambitious and completely unique feature that has never been attempted before for football videogames," said FIFA producer Andrew Wilson. "The game will feel and play differently each week. With Adidas Live Season if Ronaldinho has a great match on the weekend you'll feel the difference when you pick up the controller as his in-game attributes increase."
The new service, which will run until the end of the 2008-200 season (so that you'll buy FIFA 2010), will be available for Barclay's Premier League, La Liga BBVA, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A and Mexican Primera Division.
There's no info on pricing yet, but EA says players will get a free, season-long trial for a league of their choice when purchasing the game.
A demo for FIFA 09 will also be available on PSN and Xbox Live on September 11, says EA.
I only ever really use norwich but with the amount of transfers they've made over the last 12 months (will youth players who aren;t even in the game) it's impossible to manually keep the squad uptodate.
i'd probably pay for a squad update every month or two - it also sucks when plays stats turn out to be so badly wrong.
A one off few for the year may be better or just set the game price with it all included.
Well, seeing as i only ever play as Celtic thats no help to me!
thats a benefit for you then cause it won't take nakamura's 3 minutes of play and 87 minutes of hiding into account. mind u i won't have christian dailly getting worse every week either.
so people cant max out their skills on a choosen player? if their bad in real life, their bad in the game?! s**te.. EA as well, like they need more money. dirty bastards.
1 up to pro evo (just as they were getting close too!)
What? EA are offering a new optional feature, and that is 1up pro evo? What?
On to the actual story, it is an obvious feature that I'm sure the majority of players have considered. Personally I don't think it should be a premium service, it is more than enough to ask people to by the next edition in a year. I imagine offering one league for one season will suffice for the average consumer though.
at least EA are innovating, unlike a certain other footy franchise and they are giving us a season long trial on a league. Add to this the 10vs10 online mode and fact I skipped euro 2008, then I'll be adding this one to the buy list.
Nice to hear a demo is coming as well. EA always seems to get their demos out early so at least you can decide whether you want to get it or not
My mate had 08 on the wii and I'm sure the squads got updated because he was whinging about Robinson being taken out of goal for Spurs for online games and relaced with Cerny when Robinson's stats were better.
Maybe that's different to the off line version though?
I don't think it's a very good idea,i mean lets say Rooney has a shocker one week does that mean he'll have stats like kevin Davies or Emile Heskey the week after.
I personally won't pay for something like this,not when you've already forked out Ł35,Ł40 for the game already.
Squad updates are free (and always have been) on FIFA. They usually come out around release, and then around mid-February, with every up to date player.
Another fact people seem to be overlooking is you get a FREE season-long trial of this feature for a league of your choice.
Personally, I think I'll use the trial on a league I don't use very often, La Liga perhaps - otherwise i'll have to endure Sunderland without Kenwyne Jones (although strangely not too different from PES08 - which completely missed him out of the game).
It's the individual player stats? I should read things a little better. Good job it wasn't a fanboy type; I'd have got roasted.
Haven't played FIFA with an online console (last one was 05 on the GC). It sounds a good idea I suppose, but could get annoying if they're changing them week in, week out or just to replicate a slight dip in form and I think injuries would just p**s me off. What about opposition managers if a team changes manager mid season and the new one brings in a different style of football? And this is going to happen in the premiership.
Still a free trial is more than fair to see if it works. As long as it isn't too pricey. They could have their work cut out with my beloved Spurs though, they go from amazing to god awful within the same match, let alone week to week!
I assume that as soon as Fifa 2010 is released you will have to buy it and re-pay the premium if you want to continue the service? As knowing what EA are like they will stop doing it for 09 as soon as the yearly update has been released.
While it sounds great, I don't think it's all it's cracked up to be. Specially with injuries. It'll bring up inconsistencies with your personal game, and the league you've chosen. For example, if your striker in the game is firing in goals left right and center and hasn't been so much as pushed over in the box, but in real life his leg is snapped in an on pitch incident, how're they going to incorporate that into your games "story"?
Fifa news "Your team has an injury worry! It would appear that your superstar striker played through his last virtual game with a leg break in 6 different places! He's now out for the rest of the season"
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