But anyway, apology aside these are the PS3 and Xbox360 covers for FIFA Street you can expect to see in stores March 13th when you’ll all be able to get your hands on retail copies of the game. You’ve all seen the screenshot before I’m sure but doesn’t it look prettier on the front of the box?

This isn’t a great indicator as to which game is/was more popular in general because FIFA 11′s 2010 release months aren’t taken in to consideration. But it offers an interesting insight none the less in to the popularity of FIFA on the Xbox 360 and the strong start FIFA 12 made in 2011. Here’s the top ten based on global unique users:

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
3. Modern Warfare 2
4. Halo: Reach
5. Battlefield 3
6. Skyrim
7. Gears of War 3
8. FIFA 12
9. FIFA 11
10. Madden NFL 12

The FPS was certainly the weapon of choice for Xbox 360 gamers in 2011 but after that, FIFA was next on your list. Thoughts?

The most obvious sign of hacking so far has been missing MS points but also achievements gained for FIFA 12, when some people haven’t even played or purchased the game. The achievements are those which relate to Ultimate Team, in particular the achievement for opening 100 packs.

I guess this is as good a time as any to remind people that being secure and safe online is paramount and with phishing scams everywhere, you need to sharp and aware at all times. Here are some good resources for staying safe online.

Xbox Live Account Security

FIFA 12 Ultimate Team: Stay Safe

We’ll be using this post to announce when things go live. Currently the expected times, according to EASPORTSFIFA are as follows:

PS3 (N America) – 13th Sept *from* 2pm PST

PS3 (EU) – 14 Sept *from* 5pm

The PC demo was expected from 10am, but it’s already live. Link below. It’s from the EA website and it’s the one I’ve downloaded.

*UPDATE* The 360 demo is now live on the dashboard. Access it as follows: Game Marketplace -> Titles A-Z -> E – EA Sports FIFA 12

*UPDATE 2* A few users have experienced issues with installing the FIFA 12 demo with FIFA 11 still installed on their machines. The simplest fix is to back up your FIFA 11 saves, uninstall, then install the demo. Thanks to JC in the comments for his help figuring that out.

*UPDATE 3* There have also been issues with downloads stopping at 99%. One fix we’ve seen is to turn your XBOX off, then try to download again, it should skip to 98% then straight to 100%. Thanks to BlueOggster from the FVPA for that. Let us know if it works for you.

Links:

PC Demo EU Link – 1.5GB

PC Demo NA Link – 1.5GB (Thanks to Dude Dudette for the NA link)

XBOX 360 Marketplace Link – 1.42GB

The FIFA 12 code we have access to is on the PS3, we expect these trophies to be exactly the same on Xbox 360 however we don’t know the allocation of Microsoft achievement points (G). But from the PS3 gold, silver, bronze breakdown you get a pretty good idea.

Bronze Trophies

Precision Tackler – Obtain a successfull tackle percentage of 80% with a minimum of 5 tackles in a game.

Don’t Blink – Score within the first five minutes of a game in a game against the cpu.

Comeback Kid – Win after being 3 goals down in the 2nd half against the cpu.

10 vs 11 – Win from a draw or behind while down a man against the CPU.

Ruud Boy – Score a goal on the volley.

Block Party – Manually block five shots whilst defending in a single game.

Massive Signing – Sign a player better than anyone else on your club in the transfer window.

Youth is Served – Sign a player to your youth squad in career mode.

Puppet Master – Talk to the press in Career Mode.

Sweet Music – Have custom audio play in FIFA 12.

All my own work – Win a match using manual controls (including tactical defending).

Warrior – Score a goal after suffering a non-contact injury with a player.

Quickly Now! – Score shortly after a quick throw-in.

EASFC Youth Academy – Reach level 5 in the EA Sports Football club.

Challenge Accepted – Complete an EA Sports Football Club Game Scenario Challenge.

Path to the Cup – Win a cup game in head to head seasons.

Friends Now Enemies? – Win an Online friendlies season.

Being Social – Play an Online friendlies match.

Look Sharp – Use a Creation Centre team in an online game.

3 points – Win a season game in head to head seasons.

Virtual Debut - Play an online Pro Club or pro ranked match with your Virtual Pro.

New Club in Town – Create your FIFA 12 Ultimate Team club.

Legends Start with Victories – Win a match with your FIFA 12 Ultimate Team club.

Tournament Victory – Win a tournament in FIFA 12 Ultimate Team.

I’ll Have That One – Open your first pack in FIFA 12 Ultimate Team.

Friendly – Finish a match against a friend in FIFA 12 Ultimate Team.

Growing Club – Achieve a club value of 85,000,000 in FIFA 12 Ultimate Team.

Procrastinator – Sign a player on deadline day in Career Mode.

Happy  20th EA Sports! – Score 20 match goals in FIFA 12 to celebrate 20 years of EA SPORTS.

Silver Trophies

EASFC Starting 11 – Reach level 20 in the EA SPORTS Football club.

Century of goals – Score 100 goals in FIFA 12 match play.

Campaign Complete – Complete a season in head to head seasons.

Marquee Signing – Purchase a gold player from the trade market for 15,000 or more coins using buy it now.

“Big Cup” Squad – Enter an Ultimate Team tournament and finish a match with an overall squad rating of 85 or higher.

We’ll Need a Larger Trophy Case – Win your 10th trophy in FIFA 12 Ultimate Team.

Trophy time - Win the league title in any league in Career Mode.

Fully Formed – Have three players be in full form at the same time on your club in Career Mode.

Virtual Legend – Play 50 matches with your Virtual Pro.

FIFA for Life – Spend 50 hours on the pitch.

Megged – Successfully dribble the ball through a defenders legs.

Riding Bikes – Score with a bicycle kick.

Legendary – Win a game vs the CPU on legendary difficulty against a club of the same or higher star rating.

Gold Trophies

Pack King – Open 100 packs in FIFA 12 Ultimate Team.

Platinum Trophies

Football Legend – Unlock all other  trophies (excluding additional content trophies).

Hidden Trophies

Hidden: There are 3 hidden trophies to collect.

Which leaves us with just one question, who’s going for Platinum?

“The core FIFA gameplay is very, very strong based on the control mechanism we currently have, I’m not sure that we want to screw around with that if you will.”

You use a controller, same as any other game. It’s been working for a while now. But Andrew is well aware of that...

“What we’re looking for, is how can a Kinect experience be additive to that without de-focusing or de-prioritising that core 11 on 11 twitch gameplay that happens on the pitch which, to be frank, the controller does a very good job of facilitating.”

Controllers do indeed do a very good job of facilitating it because they were designed to control games like FIFA. Kinect was not.

PR guff aside, somewhere, surely there must be practical applications for Kinect in FIFA? Here are a few ideas I’ve seen thrown about.

Custom Celebrations:

An interesting, probably quite fun addition on the surface. Actually doing the robot when you bury a 90th minute winner would be funny, but if you’re in the room with the person you’re playing against then it’s pointless because you can do that without Kinect. To make it worthwhile, you’d need to have a window that pops up in online matches which showed your opponent celebrating. It would be awesome to be able to properly celebrate when scoring and have the other player watch, but it’ll never happen because people can’t be trusted to not get their knobs out.

Once you restrict the idea to offline usage (or online but only as a way to initiate an in game celebration), it would tire very quickly. If you honestly think about it, would you still be using that feature after a week or so? I wouldn’t. And surely the list of celebrations would be slim? Can’t see many of us managing Nani backflips in our living rooms.

Game Face:

If properly applied it would allow people who don’t have/want an EASF account or don’t want to mince around with getting unity running smoothly, to get their face into the game. Definitely useful.

Taking Throw Ins:

A slim possibility, mainly because the novelty would wear off almost immediately. It wouldn’t be as accurate as using a pad and would be frustrating if it didn’t work 100% of the time. The possibility of the controller slipping out of your hand and slamming into the TV is just too great. It might be hilarious the first time you did it, but it would offer nothing at all to the game.

Actually Controlling The Game:

See “Taking Throw Ins”.

Playing As A Keeper:

In the arena this would possibly be fun, but it wouldn’t be a good idea for matches. There’s too much room for error. Can you imagine one of the FVPA keepers conceding a goal because of Kinect lag? Me either.

Minigames:

As with playing as a keeper this might be a laugh, but if that’s what you’re looking for, you can get Kinect Sports right now without waiting until 2012.

Menu Navigation:

FIFA has suffered from a sluggish, poorly designed menu system for a while. They’ve been redesigned and are now a lot better, so do people actually want to be waving their arms about to swap players or change match settings? I can’t see it being a positive addition. However…

Voice Support:

This is where things get interesting. The possibilities are great and as I noted when I reviewed UFC Personal trainer for NGB voice support can be a fantastic addition to a title if applied properly. Within FIFA, voice commands could be used to swap tactics and formations mid match, or set players on runs with more variety than the current control system allows.

The thing is, there can’t be anything introduced that would hold any sort of “advantage” for Kinect owners. So anything introduced will have to be replicated in some way for players who don’t have Kinect, surely. Which in turn means that any new features added have to be throw away and not anchored to the core experience.

So what do you guys think? Will Kinect support bring anything exciting to the franchise or not?

Official Playstation Magazine

Play Magazine

Official Xbox Magazine

So when you’re out and about make sure you double check the magazine rack as official FIFA 12 information could be just a few feet away and before anyone asks we won’t be posting or linking scans of any kind, you’ll just have to go out and buy the magazines I’m afraid.

The idea of beating one of the developers is pretty enticing and definitely something to shout about, if you manage a decent result, let us know in the comments below.

To get involved, head over to EA.Com for a list of Gamertags to add.

Confirmed on Twitter by both Romily Broad and EASPORTS_FIFA who posted the exact same message.

A game update for FIFA 11 will go live tomorrow morning. Lots of enhancements. It will now happen on both PS3 and X360 at the same time.

I’m sure everyone has seen the fix list by now, but if not, you can see it here.

Overview of what’s included in the patch below. Here’s hoping we get a detailed fix list in the near future.

GAMEPLAY
You’ll now find that the implementation of the offside rule in the game is more accurate, both in terms of when the infringement is called and in terms of player positions when it happens. Occasional strange player positioning at kick-off have also gone away, while shooting from weak volleys has been improved, too. Importantly, so-called ‘micro-pausing’ during gameplay will also be a thing of the past. Overall, your gameplay experience should now be even better.

CAREER MODE
There are a lot of improvements you’ll notice here, which will all further boost the realism of the mode, but in summary: Your match fixtures during the season for cups and leagues, as well as the time of day they all happen, should now be much more realistic. We’ve also improved how accurately player ratings and growth are displayed, as well as making sure the players get the awards they deserve, when they deserve them. Using an odd exploit to secure a whopping $2 billion budget has now gone away, while the emails you receive as a manager will be more appropriate and players you’ve loaned out will now be easier to see and manage.

ONLINE HEAD TO HEAD
Matchmaking will be enhanced, particularly in terms of initially connecting to an opponent, while we’ve removed a couple of exploits that people were using to gain an unfair advantage over their opponents. Also, players will now no longer be able to use Passing Power Assistance in ranked matches.

ONLINE CLUBS
We’ve already made a lot of server-side improvements to the Clubs experience, particularly in terms of matchmaking, match results and progress in Cups. With the game update we’ll be making a range of improvements to stats and league-table presentation, too, as well as improving the camera motion when your player is a long way from the ball.

PRESENTATION
You’ll now find that cut-scenes are improved during substitutions, along with a range of more subtle improvements around of the game.

AUDIO
Creation Centre teams will now benefit from crowd chants, while we’ve improved the custom chants area as well. We’ve also managed to enhance a few audio triggers during gameplay, meaning you’ll get an even better atmosphere as things happen during a match.

CREATION CENTRE
The general performance of the game when it involves teams and players created via the Creation Centre has been improved. Also, you’ll now find that the formations and attributes you set on the web will now transfer more accurately to the console.

FIFA STORE
We’ve made sure that Live Season will be available for multiple users on the same console. Some people who had switched from an inactive XBL account to a Gold Account were having problems seeing the content of the store – we’ve got that covered, too.

KITS
Lincoln City and Montpellier fans, your teams’ kits should now be right on the money.