FIFA 13

[sportdan30]

I thought initially it played slower than the demo, but after playing it for a couple days it feels pretty much the same. It could be a little slower IMO (and many agree), but it doesn't detract from the game play. The A.I. is a little more varied in how they attack in the full game, but it's not a huge difference. I find that overall, it's a bit more free playing/organic than the demo.

I can certainly understand the appeal with this in a head to head game. I've had a blast playing against my son and look forward to trying it out online eventually.

I'm really impressed with the "Match Day" games. It has a true tv style broadcast and it's quite cool to hear the sideline reporter interrupt with breaking scores from other games. I assume these are actual scores??? The style and presentation overall is really impressive.

[Jimmydeicide]

So how is it different from the demo?

Stop asking questions and don't forget to get the game on Tuesday. Club games starting Tuesday night and you'll be there!

The moaning season is upon us so soon? Not much of a break in this league. If forensic moans like last year im only going to play 4hrs a night and not 6.

[10spro]

The game doesn't come out until tomorrow and already FUT is huge due to the web app that came out a few days ago. Needless to say top players prices are out of the roof, so I'll be taking my time to build on a nice silver team until people come down to their senses.

[Macca00]

So how is it different from the demo?

Stop asking questions and don't forget to get the game on Tuesday. Club games starting Tuesday night and you'll be there!

The moaning season is upon us so soon? Not much of a break in this league. If forensic moans like last year im only going to play 4hrs a night and not 6.

I would like to play left bench since I'm going to be confused with PES controls.

[10spro]

I would like to play left bench since I'm going to be confused with PES controls.

I know exactly what you mean. Heck, I've decided to custom made the PES controller ala Fifa.

[10spro]

Quick tip for those players that may hate defending in this game. Contain is better than tackling.

[10spro]

EA stiffed us short of a night as it mentioned that the SP expired for the game already. Woot? A full night before the game is released?

[dbdynsty25]

EA stiffed us short of a night as it mentioned that the SP expired for the game already. Woot? A full night before the game is released?

It's been that way with every game on the Season Pass. You get it for 3 days before it's released. Goes up Friday 3pm PST, it expires Monday at 3pm PST (or whatever time they post it). Just the way it is.

[10spro]

EA stiffed us short of a night as it mentioned that the SP expired for the game already. Woot? A full night before the game is released?

It's been that way with every game on the Season Pass. You get it for 3 days before it's released. Goes up Friday 3pm PST, it expires Monday at 3pm PST (or whatever time they post it). Just the way it is.

It doesn't matter now. I can just remember playing Madden and NHL up to midnight before release day so when I tried to squeeze a couple of more FUT games after MNF, it was expired. Checked other forums and they were wondering he same. Look forward to the retail game in a few hours.

[RobVarak]

Great piece by the always entertaining Rog Bennett from Men in Blazers about FIFA's role in popularizing soccer in the US.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/nam ... 91?cc=5901

[10spro]

Great piece by the always entertaining Rog Bennett from Men in Blazers about FIFA's role in popularizing soccer in the US.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/nam ... 91?cc=5901

Good read. Not only in America but the kids involvement in the sport in Canada has surpassed hockey now in an article that read not too long ago. I took my daughter to the Whitecaps camp this summer and she absolutely loved it even though she was playing with the boys. The women's performance at the Olympics also raised further interest, good to see that happening in NA.

[Naples39]

I have no doubt the USA run in WC 2002 and the excellent PES games of the times made me the soccer fan I am today. They were the best sport games around at the time, by far IMO. Like doing fantasy sports, video games get you absorbed in players and tactics.

I'm not quite sure what the tipping point for the explosion of FIFA popularity was, but it's interesting to see such a widespread phenomenon. My PES epiphany was clearly uncommon.

It's also interesting to speculate as to how kids in the USA these days will no longer quit soccer at 10 or so to play "proper' sports like baseball or basketball, which is what nearly everyone did when I was younger. That couldn't be solely attributable to a video game, but it certainly helps.

[Inuyasha]

absolutely love the game. It's perfect for me who's not a hardcore soccer guy but like a good mix of sim/arcade.

I am really enjoying how much modes they packed in this year. They also have something like NBA TODAY where you can play the last 4 matches for every team. And, they still have the 'MADDEN MOMENTS' game of the week type of thing but this year, instead of 1 game available to play, there are like 4-5.

Gameplay fits me fine. It's faster than last year but I sort of like that. This game is meant to use sliders, but my slider changes from last year were just tweaking 3 small things.

Having Fun with it!

[JRod]

So last night I did the dreaded 5 start against the lowest rated team I could find.

First Inuyasha is right sliders are needed. For a realistic game probably more tweaks are needed later.

I took Man City against a lowly Irish Club team rated a half star. On default sliders the Irish team was able to string together passes and do crazy one tough passes like Barcelona. I'm playing on World Class.

Like all FIFA games the game boils down to shoulder tackling and taking the ball away then pushing the ball as fast as you can up the field. With the new containment mechanism you'd think that containment would actually work but it's wonky. The slightest movement and a player can get by you. Plus if you locked into containment, the CPU AI recognizes this and passes back. Not pressing containment and the CPU also knows this.

Now I'm expecting too much to have FIFA program the Irish Club to have 10 men behind the ball and just kick the ball upfield trying to catch me on the break.

What playing a game like this shows is that the difficulty of a game isn't down to player's ratings but how good of a button jockey you are. If you just "play football" FIFA doesn't really care as it gives opponents the wrong type of boosts to make games competitive. Passing for lower rated teams should be difficult.

I like all the offerings for FIFA but unless you are playing against another human, the AI will get very stale. Maybe this is why I can't stand this years gameplay. I'm tired of FIFA's way of playing football. I wish it was more like NHL where ratings matter. Even Madden, I really think it's the best year where ratings matter.

One side note on sliders...
The slider settings seem to blanket cover all players so that if you move the CPU passing accuracy down great players are too heavily affected. I need more time to figure this out but I doubt I'll pick up the retail version until after Madden gets boring.

[wco81]

Great piece by the always entertaining Rog Bennett from Men in Blazers about FIFA's role in popularizing soccer in the US.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/nam ... 91?cc=5901

Guess they have a commercial now with Snoop Dog playing FIFA? I don't recognize the other people in the commercial but they may be D-list celebs.

On Hard Knocks, Reggie Bush and Chad Johnson were playing FIFA.

Worldwide, FIFA must outsell Madden by a big margin.

But it may also be selling pretty well in the US too. EA continues to release PC versions of FIFA while they stopped developing new versions of Madden.

And it looks like the same thing may be happening on mobiles, with FIFA 13 releasing today for iOS (with online play for the first time) but no sign of Madden 13.

[10spro]

[Worldwide, FIFA must outsell Madden by a big margin.

But it may also be selling pretty well in the US too. EA continues to release PC versions of FIFA while they stopped developing new versions of Madden.

And it looks like the same thing may be happening on mobiles, with FIFA 13 releasing today for iOS (with online play for the first time) but no sign of Madden 13.

You think? The rest of the world doesn't know even who Madden is.

[Drag66]

I picked up the Vita version of FIFA 13 at lunch. Just wanted to share my impressions in case anyone was interested in the VITA version.

I played one 5 minute half - Chelsea v. Arsenal. Take these impressions with a grain of salt as I just finished a half so I could give some quick impressions.

It is an improvement over to the launch FIFA Soccer released earlier this year, but said improvement is slight.

First, the new physics engine does not appear to be in the game. I did notice that the ball physics seemed a little more organic, but the interaction between players is the same as the launch version.

Second, tactical defending is NOT in the game. It is legeacy defending only.

Third, there are no sliders in the game that I saw. I went into the settings menu during the game and there were no sliders.

Fourth, the graphics appear to be about the same, but the framerate is definitely improved. The game was a lot smoother in the box and when many players were on the screen. There were slight hitches during these instances in the launch version, but 13 is much smoother.

Fifth, the game speed seems to be faster than the launch title just as the console version this year. I lowered the speed to slow and that helped some, but it still appears to be faster than the launch version.

Sixth, the game modes remain unchanged form the launch title.

It is disappointing that the console changes from FIFA 12 didn't make it into the Vita version, specifically the physics engine and the tactical defending. My advice is that if you didn't buy the launch title, by all means, buy this version as it is a terrific handheld soccer title. If you bought the launch version, the only improvement you will really be getting with 13 is updated kits, smoother framerate, updated menus, slightly better ball physics, and updated rosters.

[10spro]

I had no idea that there was a 13 version for the Vita. I think I will pass, since the tactical defending is not there and sounds pretty much the same game as the launch one.

[TheTruth]

Anyone set up a club yet?

[10spro]

Anyone set up a club yet?

I don't think so. Rob? If not go just ahead Truth, I just saw you online so send me an invite.

[TheTruth]

Anyone set up a club yet?

I don't think so. Rob? If not go just ahead Truth, I just saw you online so send me an invite.

I just saw that dogma and forensic already have one. Are they doing their own thing or what?

[TheTruth]

Well, I created the DSP Psychos, in honor of borderlands, and it is open to friends. Didn't see an option where I could set a password to join.

[10spro]

Well, I created the DSP Psychos, in honor of borderlands, and it is open to friends. Didn't see an option where I could set a password to join.

Joined.

[toonarmy]

I picked up the Vita version of FIFA 13 at lunch. Just wanted to share my impressions in case anyone was interested in the VITA version.

I played one 5 minute half - Chelsea v. Arsenal. Take these impressions with a grain of salt as I just finished a half so I could give some quick impressions.

It is an improvement over to the launch FIFA Soccer released earlier this year, but said improvement is slight.

First, the new physics engine does not appear to be in the game. I did notice that the ball physics seemed a little more organic, but the interaction between players is the same as the launch version.

Second, tactical defending is NOT in the game. It is legeacy defending only.

Third, there are no sliders in the game that I saw. I went into the settings menu during the game and there were no sliders.

Fourth, the graphics appear to be about the same, but the framerate is definitely improved. The game was a lot smoother in the box and when many players were on the screen. There were slight hitches during these instances in the launch version, but 13 is much smoother.

Fifth, the game speed seems to be faster than the launch title just as the console version this year. I lowered the speed to slow and that helped some, but it still appears to be faster than the launch version.

Sixth, the game modes remain unchanged form the launch title.

It is disappointing that the console changes from FIFA 12 didn't make it into the Vita version, specifically the physics engine and the tactical defending. My advice is that if you didn't buy the launch title, by all means, buy this version as it is a terrific handheld soccer title. If you bought the launch version, the only improvement you will really be getting with 13 is updated kits, smoother framerate, updated menus, slightly better ball physics, and updated rosters.

Thanks for the impressions. My copy comes in tomorrow, so it's good to get some info on this game since there are no site reviews or hardly any info at all. From reading some other forums, people with the game in hand are saying pretty much the same thing as you say. Unfortunately it looks like some of the info EA released about the Vita version is false and they did very little to upgrade this game from the previous Vita game. It also appears that a couple of the bugs were not corrected as well, such as the nasty freeze bug upon winning a cup. I still look forward to playing this game, though, since I enjoyed the first one. It's just too bad EA was not more ambitious about making FIFA 13 a more full-fledged experience.

[pk500]

Great piece by the always entertaining Rog Bennett from Men in Blazers about FIFA's role in popularizing soccer in the US.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/nam ... 91?cc=5901

I love Rog. I love Mickey and Rog in "Men in Blazers," too.