Nick Channon: 1st Touch Control. I think ultimately it’s the one that changes our game fundamentally again, like Tactical Defending. The way it’s playing out, I’m really excited about where it’s going to go, and give that sense of realism in our game. It creates more of a balance again and we talked a lot about that because it’s so important.

Aaron McHardy: I feel like the 1st Touch Control is as big a change as tactical defending and it’s a game changer and makes you think differently, those principles apply to trapping. It just feels now playing it, “well that was missing before.” When you play 12 it was definitely missing.

David Rutter: I think the first big a-ha moment was the work that the guys did on Attacking Intelligence. The first time we were playing and it was unbalanced because we just put it in, but the box was literally flooded with attacking support. That to me was a kind of like, “right, we’ve got it,” just need to tone it back — and we have done now — but the fact that when you’re attacking you’ve got so much more support, you’ve got options where you wouldn’t have had before.

Head over to 1UP.com to read the full interview.

Whilst at a recent EA showcase Mr Asim Tanvir of NGB sat down with Aaron Mchardy and got him to explain the changes we can expect from FIFA 13 himself.

You can blame the green tint on EA’s choice of back lighting at the FIFA 13 press event…

Click here to view the embedded video.

As well as the early strategy EA adopted to try and revive FIFA that centered around online gaming, this interview also goes in-depth on how the development team were assembled, how Pro Clubs came to fruition and it even offers a hint at what the future may hold for FIFA. The full (and excellent) interview is right here.

“The first time we stood up and gave the presentation about 11 versus 11 online the company thought we had rocks in our head”

After you’ve had a read gentlemen, hit the comments.

To compliment our UEFA Euro 2012 Review and as part of our launch day coverage we manged to grab some time with the man behind the European adventure, FIFA Producer Seb Enrique. A lot of these questions were taken directly from you guys, so have a read and hit the comments with your thoughts.

Massive thanks Seb for taking the time to answer our questions and as always to Romily Broad and Alistair Reid.

[FSB] How did you go about capturing the match atmosphere of UEFA Euro 2012, did you visit any of the stadiums in Ukraine and Poland?

I did not personally but we had a lot of help from UEFA and the EA team from Poland. They were key to be able to build the stadiums as authentically as possible and to capture the right atmosphere. We even recorded crowd audio, sounds, and chants from some games there and we used some of those in the DLC.

[FSB] The UEFA EURO 2012 menu presentation is fantastic, how much emphasis did you give this?

Thanks. We put a lot of emphasis on the presentation of the game. We really wanted to give it the right feeling and capture the pageantry and unique feel of the tournament. The goal was that from the moment you enter EURO 2012 from the FIFA main menu and see the intro video, you should feel you are right in the world of the tournament. The bold colours and style that UEFA is pursuing with this edition of the tournament helped us a lot, as it clearly identifies right away with the tournament.

[FSB] Have you managed to squeeze in any FIFA 12 gameplay tweaks with UEFA Euro 2012?

We made the decision early on that we were not going to change gameplay. FIFA 12 gameplay is 90-rated and great, so we really didn’t need to do gameplay updates just for the sake of doing them. We felt that instead of spending our time doing minor updates or changes in that area, it was better to provide new experiences with game modes like Expedition.

[FSB] How long has UEFA EURO 2012 been in development?

The project manager, technical director and myself starting on this in April 2011. From there we assembled the team and worked closely with the FIFA team and UEFA to build this fantastic game.

[FSB] The commentary seems to be tied in really well to what else is happening in the competition. Was this easier to achieve with a smaller tournament as opposed to something larger like Career Mode?

Our audio guys are amazing and do better and better things every year. While Career Mode can play for multiple seasons, the EURO tournament is much more self-contained. This allows us to record a fairly manageable amount of commentary that would be relevant to what most gamers will encounter. That contrasts with Career Mode, where they have to deal with a literally infinite amount of ways a gamer experience can go. But the new audio, along with the authentic crowd chants and other new pieces, have come together really well.

[FSB] How often and how fast will UEFA EURO 2012’s real challenges get fed in to the game when the tournament is live in Ukraine and Poland?

I can’t promise any frequency at the moment, but trust me we are going to do them as frequently and as fast as we can. Creating a scenario involves many things, like selecting the right scenario, doing the localisation, and then testing before it’s injected into the servers for everyone to enjoy.

[FSB] Captain Your Country has been a staple of the EURO and World Cup games for the last few titles, why has it been dropped for UEFA EURO 2012?

Captain Your Country was a really good game mode, one extremely connected to national pride. In EURO, we offer other game modes like the offline and online tournaments where the national pride element is really strong, too. We favoured creating a new experience, a fresh take on football videogames, like Expedition.

[FSB] Expedition Mode was an unexpected surprise for us, what is the team’s vision for this new mode?

Designers and creative directors that are part of the FIFA family back at EA often get together to brainstorm what new things we could do in the world of football. It’s been quite some time since we have considered bringing the strategic elements of board games into a football-related game mode, and we thought that EURO 2012 was the right opportunity for it. It also allows gamers to get to know all the nations and plenty of players in the EURO 2012 world. It’s a fresh take, to innovate, renew and refresh football videogame experiences.

[FSB] There are no qualification stages in UEFA EURO 2012, was that a conscious decision or a limitation of DLC?

We analysed the data of past games like World Cup and EURO 08 and most people usually jumped directly to play the tournament finals. Implementing the qualifiers is not a straightforward thing, so – after looking at what gamers enjoyed most – we decided that we could use that time better to improve the Expedition game mode.

[FSB] Was there anything else you wanted to do but couldn’t because of DLC limitations?

Limitations don’t just apply to DLC, but we needed to make sure that the gamer’s experience with the DLC was appropriate. In the end we set our own limitations to focus on user experience. One of those, for example, was the file size. We set a specific target for the DLC size because we didn’t want people to wait for ages to download the DLC.

[FSB] UEFA EURO 2012 is FIFA’s first genuine game mode to be offered as DLC, why now and why UEFA EURO 2012?

I like to call it the first game inside a game – it’s much more than a game mode! Many factors contributed to the decision. One of the most important ones is that our fans were looking for new things to extend their FIFA 12 experience. Checking our forums and listening to feedback from our community tells us that pretty clearly. Another contributing factor was having a great game like FIFA 12, which is a successful game from every angle you look at it. It’s a bold move going digital, but we thought it was the right opportunity and one that we hope our fans embrace.

[FSB] If the UEFA EURO 2012 DLC is successful could this pave the way for FIFA to be expanded with new game modes in future releases?

We can’t predict at this point what our future plans hold, but what I do know is that delivering EURO as a DLC will provide us with lots of learning about how to deliver these kinds of services to our fans down the road.

Here’s a little snippet of what you can expect but be sure to check out  the full interview on ea.com/football 

“Messi is the perfect athlete to represent the face of FIFA. You have the best footballer representing the best football game. Meeting Messi was a moment that I will never forget, it was very special”

And if you think you’re a bit of a street star yourself EA are after your own skills submissions. Find out how and see Jayzinho in action in the video below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

FIFA Street coverage is gathering steam, with videos and interviews appearing daily. Today is no exception, we recently sent some questions over to Line Producer Sid Misra and here’s what he had to say.

FSB: We were incredibly impressed with the amount of regional detail in FIFA Street during our playtest, how much effort has gone in to capturing the essence of street football from country to country?

Sid Misra: We gathered a lot of reference to ensure we could depict different regions, or specific places, quite accurately.  The goal is to make you believe that you could be playing a street match in that place – they may be somewhat fantastic, but they are always plausible – either because there are real-world examples (like the rooftop pitch) or it’s believable that a tournament could be hosted in that area (like Dam Square in Amsterdam).  This may sound weird, but it was important to us that all the venues at least had a door to be able to enter the pitch!

FSB: Another stand-out feature for us was FIFA Street’s audio. Have the team recorded sound from any real street matches, in real venues?

SM: Yes, we had members of our audio team attend some pick-up matches where they mic’d up the players to make the in-game audio experience that much more authentic.  The impacts with different materials (fence, walls, pitch surface) were also using recorded assets so the user gets a truer experience.

FSB: Game Face is a notable absentee from FIFA Street’s Character Creation, why has this been left out?

SM: This was an unfortunate technical limitation – GameFace currently cannot be shared, so if you tried to download your friends into your team, if they had used GameFace what you would see in your own game would have just been a generic guy that probably looks nothing like your friend.

FSB: Can you give us a quick run-down of the online modes we can expect to see in FIFA Street?

SM: We have brought over the much-loved H2H Seasons mode (called “Street Seasons”) in which you compete in 10-game sets against a virtual leaderboard – the goal is to try and be promoted in those 10-games, or avoid relegation.  We expect players will use their created team in Street Seasons – which will create a lot of variety in the online mode, and an opportunity to see what skills or clothing others have unlocked to hopefully motivate you to level up and get them!  Playing with your club in Street Seasons also allows you to level up your team – so even if you lose, there is still a benefit to having played the match.

OTP is also in FIFA Street – so you can drop in with your created player and join other FIFA Street gamers in a 5v5 street match.

Finally, there are friend matches – invite a friend directly and compete against them in a H2H match.

FSB: Which FIFA Street online mode do you think will become a favourite of FIFA gamers?

SM: Given the success of H2H Seasons in FIFA, I expect this to really take off in FIFA Street.  I think our core gamers will appreciate players choosing their own team and trying to compete – rather than everyone choosing the top 2-5 clubs.  The motivation of being able to level up your own team, win or lose, should be compelling to our fans also.

FSB: Will there be any daily/weekly challenges or featured tournaments in FIFA Street?

SM: Yes, we have weekend online cups that will run for users to jump into and try to get the trophy for.  These are accessed through Street Seasons.

FSB: Can you explain how the recently announced FIFA Street Network, interacts with the EA SPORTS Football Club people know from FIFA 12?

SM: FIFA Street Network is an extension of the EA SPORTS^TM Football Club – the infrastructure is same in terms of news and leaderboards, but we have built on a new feature that we think strongly resonates with the culture of street football – the ability to easily share and watch videos of the cool moves your friends pull off in the game.  Video upload has always been a part of our sports titles, but FIFA Street Network allows you to view the videos without having to leave your console.

FSB: We saw friend’s leaderboards for World Tour challenges during our playtest; will these be part of the FIFA Street Network?

SM: It’s part of the same idea – but surfaced in World Tour through the map interface.  The idea is that you can see how your friends have performed in each challenge, and if so inclined, try to beat them at it.

FSB: The Adidas All Star team is a FIFA Street pre-order bonus but do you have plans for any future DLC?

SM: No plans at this point for future DLC.  What we wanted to focus on was delivering a great core experience – I think our fans are rightfully sceptical about delivering a great FIFA Street as we haven’t hit it yet, so we didn’t want to detract from our team’s focus.

FSB: With the worldwide release date edging ever nearer, what are the team working on at the moment?

SM: A little R&R mostly.  Making a video game is a lot of hard work, and the team has done an incredible job of pulling together and delivering this great experience.  At this point they take some time off, or just play the game for enjoyment instead of work – a lot of great tournaments going on in the office right now!

FSB: The FIFA Street Demo is going to be really important to allow people to sample what will be a very new experience for most. How do you plan to show-off the best FIFA Street has to offer in the demo?

SM:  We are confident the gameplay stands tall, which is the single most  important thing a demo needs to demonstrate.  Our timelines allowed us to get a lot of extra polish into the demo that we might not always be able to get – so the gameplay is quite solid.  We have also provided an extended experience by allowing users to basically start their World Tour careers in the demo – you can create yourself, create your team and even start levelling up your team by playing matches.  All the teams created in the demo will be uploaded to EA servers, so the FIFA Street world is populated from Day 1 of purchase.  And your team will be ready to go when you get the full game.  We think that will be compelling to many.

FSB: what advice would you give to FIFA 12 players when they load FIFA Street up for the first time?

SM: Don’t assume you’ll dominate right away!  We had the FIFA Interactive world champion from France at our EAC studios a while ago matched up against an Italian journalist that had rarely played FIFA – competing against each other in FIFA Street.  The Italian journalist ended up winning 4-3!

Our anti-vision when making this game was “FIFA with walls” – we wanted to deliver a brand new way to play football, but keeping in mind that a lot of our FIFA gamers would be interested in playing and can’t be put off by a whole new control scheme… a challenging goal!  So, the basic controls of football – locomotion, pass, shoot – are still the same as FIFA, but we’ve built Street Ball Control and cool skill move mechanics to differentiate and bring you into the 1v1 battles that street football is all about.  Both FIFA gamers and new gamers seem to really enjoy the new game dynamics.

FSB: It was evident that you wanted to separate this game from previous versions of FIFA Street, what were the reasons for that and do you think you’ve been successful?

SM: It’s largely based on feedback – and fundamentally everyone wants a game that plays like a football game first.  Proper locomotion, animations, physics, etc – if the game doesn’t look like football, it won’t be received well.  Building the game starting from the award-winning FIFA gameplay engine was a no-brainer for us.

One thing that the FIFA team at EAC has been able to do well, is deliver an authentic experience that is fun.  So we used that expertise, knowing that consumers wanted to play that experience, and the feedback so far has been quite positive.

FSB: Can we expect to see Ultimate Team for FIFA Street in the future, or is the player pool too small for that to work?

SM: It’s interesting – I think we can separate the game from the mechanic for this one… you’re probably right that taking FUT as-is into FIFA Street might not translate well because of the player pool or even size of your squad; however, the mechanic of getting desirable items through a pack mechanic built around rarity and chance – well, you could imagine extending that beyond players and potentially into rules, boosts, etc… again, before getting too far ahead of ourselves, we must successfully deliver a truly fun, compelling FIFA Street game.  We believe we have, and if the fans agree – we have some incredibly gifted designers that will come up with something great to build into FIFA Street in the future.

FSB: There are no manual, semi or assisted control options in FIFA Street, why is this? 

SM: Simple answer is they didn’t feel necessary for FIFA Street – on a smaller pitch, it feels ok to ask users to be a little more precise with the pad when making passes or taking shots.  With FIFA, with a bigger pitch and more players, it can be more difficult to move up and down the pitch building an attack, so you might need some assistance so you can focus on the right action.  We have done numerous play sessions with beginner to experienced users, and it has made sense to just provide the best gameplay option to the user.

FSB: Will there be a Pro Clubs mode or any other way to play with your friends controlling individual players? 

SM: We have a Friends OTP mode, where you can challenge your friends controlling the players you each created in an 5v5 game (CPU GK).

We’d like to say a big thank you to Sid for taking the time to answer our questions, and the same to Al Reid for his help setting this up.

This is what he had to say.

FIFA Street – Gary Patterson Interview

*UPDATE* The video is up in English. Big thanks to Matthew Bussy for the heads up!

Click here to view the embedded video.

He’s not joking…

He has 182,000 subscribers on YouTube, a quite incredible 53,000 followers on Twitter and most importantly he got hands on time with FIFA Street just last week. How did FIFA Street play? How were the Skill Moves? And will the YouTube community take to FIFA Street? The FIFA phenomenon KSIOlajidebt answers those questions and more in our exclusive FSB Interview. Enjoy.

[FSB] Which part of the new FIFA Street gameplay impressed you the most?

“It has got to be the skill moves. I’m a big fan of skill moves, so being able to see the different variations on skills and especially the air skill moves, is just wonderful. It was so cool to see every skill move and nothing felt more amazing then getting past a player at the right time with a beautiful skill move. The funny thing is, I haven’t even played the final version yet, just an Alpha…AN ALPHA! And I’m already drooling… Incredible.”

“At first it was weird, because I have learnt off by heart nearly (if not every single one) most skill moves in the game, and since I know that when you face different directions in FIFA 12, you have to make sure you do the right skill move accordingly to where you are facing. However with FIFA Street, all the skill moves are all in 1 direction, independent of where you’re facing, and this is probably going to be the hardest thing for me (and most skillers) to adjust to in FIFA Street. Practice makes perfect I guess.”

“Like I said in the previous question, it’s just the skills that will take getting used to, everything else is the same. You can shoot, you can head the ball, you can pass etc. Simple. If you played FIFA 12, you will feel quite comfortable with FIFA Street with just a few hours of playing it. It’s easy to pick up, but it’s hard to master. However, if you can become really good at the game, oh, good, lord the damage that could be done, especially to a noob… yikes!  Almost forgot about the tackling. It’s slightly different to FIFA 12 in a sense that when you “Contain” you get a lot closer to the player in FIFA Street ( I think this it’s sort of what FIFA 13 needs to be like) and it is all about tackling the ball at the right time. Since I was playing right next to Hjerpseth and the lads, I knew when they were about to tackle or “try” to get past me, so in a sense; it was much easier to defend. However, when it comes to playing someone online, I’m sure that will be the real challenge.”

“1v1 Panna does it for me. It’s definitely the best modes up there. It’s basically a mode where you have to embarrass your opponent as much as possible. Absolutely Amazing!”

“To be honest, everyone is just as good, maybe Ronaldo is just that bit quicker than other players at doing skill moves, but other than that, everyone can do every skill move, even the freaking Goalkeeper!”

“Brilliant…Just brilliant! I don’t really need to say more to be honest.”

“I’m sure the community will take this game with open arms, it will truly revolutionize FIFA on Youtube. FIFA skillers will finally be able to really put themselves out there, especially since this will be their kind of game. Compilations won’t be be repetitive, but will be full of creativity and I’m sure there will be numerous jaw dropping moments, videos will become even more entertaining. FIFA Street will increase the FIFA Community even more and forget COD, FIFA is the right, and best community to be in at the moment.”

“My mind was exploding with ideas. I won’t mention any here, but there is definitely a bright future between me and FIFA Street.”

“I think it’s because I’m different to other commentators…Really…Really…Really…Different…Haha!”

You can subscribe to KSIOlajidebt on YouTube HERE and if you haven’t seen any of his FIFA video’s before check his most recent and hilarious Ultimate Team video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

[FSB] You guys are from Australia, do you still spend most of your time there

Yes and no. We often go overseas, we spent about 5 months of the year OS last year and we are heading over to the UK in September and will spend about 12 months based there. Any chance to come home though we will take it, it’s always nice to go home and spend time with our family and friends.

[FSB] What clubs do you support?

Well seeing as we are Sydney boys we have to go for our home team of Sydney F.C. in the Australian A-league which we like to get along to now and then. As far as international teams go we have a soft spot in our hearts for Manchester United, mostly because one of our great friends in England is a die hard fan and also because we know someone who works for them and got us in for a tour of Old Trafford on one of our trips. That was pretty amazing to see such a football Mecca with all it’s history.

[FSB]Which member of the band is the best FIFA player?

Oh that’s tough. First things first, we aren’t very good at the game even though we have played hours and hours of it. We are button mashers for sure! But i would have to say Dave is the best, he is the biggest gamer so he has the natural gaming skills.

[FSB] And who is the worst FIFA player?

Not as tough, that would be Gav. He isn’t as much of a football fan to begin with, where the rest of the boys grew up playing football on the weekends but he didn’t. So the rest of us have that advantage over him. He’s getting better though!

[FSB] Do you have any tried and trusted teams or formations that you stick with in FIFA 11?

Honestly we don’t have heaps of time to devote to the Career mode on FIFA 11, we mostly just setup a quick game, 2 on 2, something like that. So we just pick a good team, one of our fav teams normally, and get stuck in. We still get hooked and feel the adrenaline when you put away that last minute goal. Honestly, a lot of the time it’s more satisfying to win a game of FIFA than it is winning a game for your local club on the weekend.

[FSB] Do you get much time to play FIFA when recording or on the road?

When you travel you don’t often get the chance to stay somewhere that has a playstation or xbox. Luckily we have certain friends we sometimes stay with, they have FIFA, we always sneak in a few games with them when we can.

[FSB] “Break The Spell” is set to feature on the FIFA 12 soundtrack, what did that mean for you guys in terms of broadening your audience?

It’s only early days on our FIFA journey and already we are seeing the effects of being on one of the most loved games in the world. The hardcore fans that read this blog, listen to the FIFA podcast and hang out for any information about the new game have flocked to our video, facebook page, webpage in numbers we don’t often see. The reaction in the last few days has been amazing!! Everyone has reacted really positively as well which is great because we know the FIFA fans are very particular and protective of their game, they want to know that it’s living up to the amazing standard that EA has kept it at for years. It’s humbling to know so many of them approve of us being on the soundtrack. But to have millions of people listening to your music, it’s priceless and honestly is humbling because not many people ever get to be on it. We are one of the chosen few, it’s pretty special.

[FSB] Did you have any input on the track being used in FIFA 12, or was it chosen for you?

The guys at EA felt that Break The Spell was the right song for the soundtrack. When they ask you if you want to put your song on the FIFA 12 soundtrack you catch your breath and just say yes!

[FSB] FIFA soundtracks are known for being extremely eclectic, what do you think makes “Break The Spell” a good fit?

Break The Spell is one of those tracks that is energetic, the whole song just keeps building, it’s exciting. I think that type of song can really enhance a sports game. Especially if you are on a roll and your heart is pumping a bit and a rocking song comes on, it just gets  you worked up all that more.  We are pleased to be one of the bands that brings that dynamic to the soundtrack.

[FSB] If you could pick any All Mankind track to feature on the FIFA 13 soundtrack, what would it be?

Hmmm thats tricky. Actually we have a single coming out shortly called Can You Hear Me? In the song there is a bit of a chant section where lots of people sing along just like at a football game where everyone gets involved in the chants. It would be cool to bring the chanting into your game room as well with that song! That would really complete the experience.

[FSB] And finally, what can we expect from All Mankind over the next 12 months?

In August we have our previously mentioned single Can You Hear Me? coming out on August 29th and after that we are releasing our album Simple Desire on September 26th. We can’t wait for people to hear it, we think it is pretty special and think that a lot of other people will too. Along with that we will be touring around the UK and Europe for a while. If you want to keep track of dates, or get a special invite-only listen to the album, you can head to our Website

FSB would like to say a huge thanks to Rich and Dave for the help setting this one up. You can see more of the guys on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and iTunes.

Without further ado, here’s “Break The Spell”, Enjoy.

Click here to view the embedded video.