By Kieron Gillen on September 11th, 2009 at 12:44 pm.
Finally growing tired of the “It’s the 2010th version of FIFA” gags, EA’s latest edition of the foot-to-ball game is just FIFA 10. Which is just a lie, innit? Anyway, there’s a demo available. I find this very interesting. It’s very interesting because the English/French/Italian/German/Spanish demo is 2.15Gb in size, while the Russian/Czech/Hungary/Polish demo is 1.72Gb in size. Which means, by my calculation, Spain is .43Gbs in size, which I’ll send off to the atlas people so they can add it to their files. And there’s some footage of the game in action below for those who are beneath their quota of staring-at-men-in-shorts for the day.
It’s hardly Blood Bowl, is it?the
11/09/2009 at 12:45 The_B says:
Second best alttext joke ever.
11/09/2009 at 12:54 Heliocentric says:
I need to get something off my chest.
If i had the funds to play paint ball with my friends whenever i wanted in a well suited arena i would never play counterstrike again.
If a had a massive range of racing cars and the freedom to race them like and idiot with no risk of death i’d stop playing grid.
If i owned a clone army of tiny soldier men which would fight to the death for my amusement i would never play men of war (or sleep, lest they overthrow me) again.
So why prey tell, do people play foot to ball on their interactive entertainment systems?
11/09/2009 at 12:56 Vandelay says:
Downloading now.
Probably going to be a year where I buy a footie game. Anyone know what Konami are up to with PES this year?
11/09/2009 at 12:57 FunkyLlama says:
And yet simultaneously the Worst Alt-Text On The Internet. :V
11/09/2009 at 13:00 Alexandros says:
@Heliocentric:
Maybe they don’t have that many friends, or are in poor physical condition? Anyway, everyone knows that manager games is where it’s at!
11/09/2009 at 13:08 Sagan says:
@Heliocentric: For me gaming never was about escapism. So even if I had the funds to play paint ball with my friends whenever I wanted in a well suited arena, I would still play Counter Strike occasionally.
11/09/2009 at 13:08 Ian says:
I’ve never really felt the whole “I/you could go outside and kick a ball for my/your-self” argument really holds up, but hey ho.
11/09/2009 at 13:10 Schaulustiger says:
Heliocentric: because I can’t just rent a stadium, fill it with 40,000 people, call 21 friends at 2 o’clock in the night and tell them to come play football?
It’s like racing games: you do have a car that you can drive, but racing with 200 mph is a different thing. It’s the same with football games. I do have the ability to kick a ball (even relatively precise), but playing a game with the possibility to do passes, tricks and shots that I personally would never be able to pull off is a different thing.
11/09/2009 at 13:11 Sabre says:
Step outside (yes, that area with fresh air the other side of your window) and play football with your friends if you like it that much to want to buy a game of it. Buying a game for something you can physically do yourself – and which is more fun to do properly anyway – is the height of lazyness
11/09/2009 at 13:11 Schaulustiger says:
Oh, that said: Fifa 10 looks like an iteration that I can skip. I’m still happy with the 09 edition and its improved graphics. It still makes for a fun match or two, especially against a friend with the excellent keyboard/mouse controls.
11/09/2009 at 13:14 Heliocentric says:
Well, i hate foos ball in all its forms which is why i cannot really answer the question myself. But, to be fair player manager on the amiga was proto total war to me. Tweak tactics, formations and playing style and then watch it happen before my eyes.
Many other sport make great games but i find actually playing football games rather charmless.
11/09/2009 at 13:15 Kieron Gillen says:
I’m amazed anyone thinks football games have anything to do with actually playing real football rather than the fantasy thereof.
Clue: When I play football in real life, I don’t control 11 human beings with my mind.
KG
11/09/2009 at 13:18 Heliocentric says:
The crowd in a game isn’t 40000 people though, its 20 cardboard repeated 2000 times each.
11/09/2009 at 13:22 Jayt says:
I play sports games because I can’t play sports like a super star. If the game was about a bunch of amateur guys kicking a ball around then I probably would agree with you helio.
11/09/2009 at 13:36 Schaulustiger says:
I hate being forced to defend myself that I love to watch football or play it on a computer. Both have nothing to do with actually playing football myself.
First thing: playing FIFA (or PES if you like). It’s fun because it recreates the atmosphere and rules of football. I can do stuff in game that I can’t in real life, atleast unless I’m a football pro. I played football (the real thing) fairly well in my youth and then quit playing in a team due to my knee being seriously injured. FIFA lets me do all the things I can’t do myself. Tackle Michael Ballack. Score a goal against Rene Adler. Hit a perfect corner shot on the head of one of my attackers. And all that in an environment that resembles the original stadiums and the general atmosphere surrounding a big game.
So, why is it cool for me too to play football on a PC? Why do I love to *watch* this sport so much instead of just doing it for myself? It’s hard to explain to someone who doesn’t like it. And most of the RPS regulars obviously don’t. But I’ll try.
For me, football is about passion. About atmosphere. It’s a magic moment to sit in a stadium with 40,000 other people who all act and react to what’s happening on the field. No other sport in my country (Germany) comes close to this excitement because they don’t have this huge mass of people caring about it. That’s what I love. 75th minute, the cup finals. It’s a close 1-0. The leading team brutally fouls an attacker of the other team. The ref pulls out the red card. 45,000 people cry out with one single voice, the players argue heatedly. The game swings at that moment and now the leading team is desperately trying to defend their lead. To experience that, be it live, on TV or in a game, is what makes football great for me. It’s a moment of excitement and tension, a perfect drama, better than any movie could do it.
As I said, it’s hard to explain. But so is every passion. And I don’t bash anyone who is passionate about, let’s say, guitar playing. Or car racing. Or whatever you care passionately about. Be a bit more tolerant. I don’t know why it’s always football fans that constantly get attacked because they love to watch this sport.
11/09/2009 at 13:41 Schaulustiger says:
Oh, as always: excuse my bad english. There are probably a few typos and grammar mistakes up there.
11/09/2009 at 13:45 Sartoris says:
@ Kieron: “When I play football in real life, I don’t control 11 human beings with my mind.”
Surely you jest? You’re one of four gods I believe in, those sort of powers are a must.
11/09/2009 at 13:48 Dean says:
Football on the computer is to real football what Call of Duty is to real war, basically.
11/09/2009 at 13:52 Okami says:
Schaulustiger nails it down perfectly. I’m no particular fan of the sport (though two of my ex flatmates were) but on occasions like the world or european championship even I get swept along in the excitement. And watching world class football players at work can be stunning at times -it’s almost like some kind of brutal ballet.
Same goes for footbal video games: Sometimes they’re really good at giving you the fantasy of just beeing there during a world cup finale. Also playing games like Fifa allows me to lead my country to world champion status, something that’s even more fantastical than the story of most absurd action adventure. Last time it achieved anything noteworthy was 1978 in Cordoba (Für immer 3:2, Schaulustiger!!!)
11/09/2009 at 13:53 Vandelay says:
I think the reason you feel that people attack those that watch football is probably because the people that attack you are attacked for not watching football.
I have often felt like people think me a bit weird for being a man that is not interested in watching any sport. When I respond to the inevitable question of “what team do you support?” by saying I’m not interested in football, the following question is always (usually after a slightly bemused look) “so what sports are you into?” The reply of not being into any is usually greeted with even more bemusement.
What does get me more riled about the expectation that a man must be into football is that there are some football fans that are the biggest geeks of them all (e.g. knowing the number of time and what dates some team won such and such cups,) and yet that isn’t considered as weird as if someone happens to play games, watch sci-fi, play pen and paper RPGS, read fantasy novels, read comics, or whatever you do that the stereotypical geek may do.
So, I would think that you having to be defence about what you like is probably no different to everyone else having to be defence about what they like. As an outsider, I would say you would have to be less defence about being a football fan then anything else, but I’m sure an outsider to any hobby would probably say the same thing
11/09/2009 at 13:54 Mike says:
ah… I’ll wait ’til the next one.
/repeat
11/09/2009 at 13:56 Kieron Gillen says:
Sartoris: I actually control all 22.
KG
11/09/2009 at 13:56 Ginger Yellow says:
Which means, by my calculation, Spain is .43Gbs in size, which I’ll send off to the atlas people so they can add it to their files
So now we know the answer to the old question: “How many Peggles can you fit on the head of a Spaniard?”
11/09/2009 at 13:59 Ian says:
@ Sabre: Good work, Internetclicheman!
11/09/2009 at 14:03 Schaulustiger says:
Vandelay:
Fair enough. What I don’t get is why even here on RPS people flame football fans for being passionate geeks. I mean, we’re all geeks, pulling excitement from watching numbers on a computer screen. Why am I flamed for watching 22 players running after a ball whilst controlling one of them with my gamepad?
But I get your point and I generally loathe the kind of fans that attack you for not caring about sports. As a matter of fact, nearly none of my friends like football at all, but they respect my passion for football as much as I respect their caring about something else. That’s the way it should be, but unfortunately that seems to be the exception.
11/09/2009 at 14:11 Sartoris says:
The only virtual sport game I can enjoy is hockey because it allows you to smack little people and watch them fall.
11/09/2009 at 14:26 alex@luximperialis.com says:
Sounds like the players all wear kevlar vests… thud… clank… thud.
11/09/2009 at 14:30 Aorawn says:
Don’t you guys mean soccer?
*cringes*
11/09/2009 at 14:44 Gremmi says:
Out of interest, have they done the thing they appear to have done for the past three or four years and just made the PC version a hi-res port of the PS2 one, or have they actually managed to match the console ones this time?
11/09/2009 at 14:48 Nero says:
The latest Fifa version I bought was 2000, which is now being used to scare away birds from the garden in our summer house. Still enjoy the PES series more.
11/09/2009 at 14:56 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:
Nero:
That’s nothing the last version I bought was…89!
….ergh, 98, I mean :) A bloody good one, tho, with Blur’s Song 2 and that French cock in it and all..
11/09/2009 at 15:01 Ian says:
@ Nero: Oh God, I’m no FIFA fanboy but between about 98-2003 it was horriblehorriblehorrible and thus you should at least give a newer one a try (rental or at a friend’s or whatever) because they’re a vast improvement. :-P
I was amazed to find that I actually preferred the most recent FIFA to the most recent PES when it came to PS3/360.
11/09/2009 at 15:12 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:
Oh c’mon, 98 was great and many people around me think that as well.
11/09/2009 at 15:15 Kierkegaard says:
@Gremmi: They really haven’t. While the console version might be pretty and fancy next-gen, the PC demo is about as unimpressive as you can get. It seems to be like you say, a hi-res port of the ps2 game. The pc version of PES 09 is infinetely better (and prettier) than the FIFA 10 one, so hopefully PES 10 will be worth playing, not to mention pay for.
11/09/2009 at 15:16 Juz says:
Also enjoyed the last FIFA more than the last PES, and quite liked the demo of FIFA 10… everything seems more responsive, which can’t be a bad thing.
Still might skip this year though, anyone know if there’s a new PES demo coming at some point?
11/09/2009 at 15:17 That Guy says:
Fuck yeah Gunners!
11/09/2009 at 15:18 Super Bladesman says:
Sorry to bring FM10 into this lovely debate, but that certainly looks worth trying – I think I shall be downloading this. I just found Fifa World Cup 2006 on my desk, so it’s been a while since I last bought one…
11/09/2009 at 15:27 Ian says:
@ Frankie: Really? The “FIFA: Road to World Cup ’98″ one? I thought it was bloody awful. :D
11/09/2009 at 15:28 Heliocentric says:
@Vandelay stop spying on my childhood. You are on to something there. I think i dislike football because has been so persistently expected that i would like it.
Indeed i tried to like it for years. Shit, i need to go seek counciling or something now.
I would like to formally apologise to all football fans. And also ask why people put up with a lack of 3rd umpire (cameras being used to make calls in cricket) like service and the bullshit offside rule which sits in the rules as comfortably as a doberman humping a shitzu.
11/09/2009 at 15:39 Ian says:
[Insert rant about how the old fashioned offside rule was a million billion times better than the current clusterfuck]
11/09/2009 at 15:46 Dante says:
Regarding the ‘why don’t you just play real football’ thing, apart from the other answers, I’d like to say that there’s something to be said for playing as real star players.
There’s a reason sports games spend a lot on licensing, it’s because there’s a giddy thrill to being in control of your favourite team or player, taking them to the glory they never quite could manage yourself. For instance, my standard response to a particularly humiliating defeat for my beloved Aston Villa in real life is to load up Fifa and thrash the ingrates to within an inch of their lives.
A lot of people who play Fifa play real football too, the attractions are different, and not mutually exclusive.
11/09/2009 at 15:46 Waste_Manager says:
I hate football. That is all. Carry on.
11/09/2009 at 16:04 Heliocentric says:
I have a problem with living in a world where footballers are heroes over say, doctors or firemen. People who actually save lives, or scientists or designers who change the future.
Kids are lead to emulate people who’s primary effect on the world is boosting the number of sick days the country tots up from wanting to watch matches and hangovers from the after effects. It also bothers me that they are unfathomly rich.
11/09/2009 at 16:18 Dolphan says:
@Helio – The offside rule is necessary, whatever the debate about its current form. Without it the game would be entirely based on booting the ball from one end of the pitch directly to the other.
11/09/2009 at 16:24 Heliocentric says:
Like i said, i don’t think its a very good sport, that its so “duct taped” hardly changes my mind.
11/09/2009 at 16:34 Schaulustiger says:
@Heliocentric: “I have a problem with living in a world where footballers are heroes over say, doctors or firemen. People who actually save lives, or scientists or designers who change the future.”
Agreed, but you can’t per se blame football for that. It’s the same with rock bands and all other glamour celebrities who get alot of media presence.
“Like i said, i don’t think its a very good sport, that its so “duct taped” hardly changes my mind.”
Football’s great cancer is the FIFA. They are so conservative it’s not even funny anymore. Hell freezes over before they admit that video proof or a better offside rule is a necessity in modern football. It’s a shame, really.
11/09/2009 at 16:39 Pags says:
The less time spent on FIFA (Pro Evo has been better for years EA, give it up) and the more time spent on fixing Madden, the better.
11/09/2009 at 16:40 Po0py says:
Am I the only person who finds it unusual that the demo wants to install to my system32 folder?
11/09/2009 at 16:42 Heliocentric says:
In a way the lack of camera support lends a certain ref immunity, like in wrestling( the “sports entertainment” type).
Its easier to claim the ref is stupid when he is not an infalible machine, so easier to not rage quit supporting the sport.
11/09/2009 at 16:49 &e says:
@Pags seriously you think ProEvo is better? Balderdash I say (and metacritic would seem to be on the same side as me)
11/09/2009 at 17:05 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:
@Ian:
well, it was one of my first PC games I bought for my Pentium 133, so there MIGHT be some nostalgic value to it :)
11/09/2009 at 17:06 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:
*forgive me the americanized tenses…*
11/09/2009 at 17:07 Pags says:
It was when I last played at least. Then again that was a while ago, so things may have changed. I won’t say anything about using Metacritic to prove a game’s value over another though, it’ll lead us down a road from which there is no turning back.
11/09/2009 at 17:10 nill says:
I’m pretty sure the trailer attached to this post actually has nothing to do with Fifa 10 on the PC. That’s the 360/PS3 version which is a completely different game altogether and should be pointed out as such by dedicated PC followers such as yourselves.
It’s really rather shameful of EA to year after year willfully mislead its audience by bundling a bunch of wildly different games under the same name.
11/09/2009 at 17:16 neems says:
@Schaulustiger – I can tell English isn’t your first language, because you apologise for a post that is probably better written than any other on the site.
I gather that in the last couple of years, Fifa has apparently reclaimed the title from Pro Evo, as hard as that would have been to imagine a few iterations ago. I’d give it a decco, but recently demos seem to have ballooned to ridiculous proportions. Never mind.
11/09/2009 at 18:10 dan- says:
Meh, you can keep your FIFAs and your Pro Evos, I’ll stick with SWOS on WinUAE thanks.
11/09/2009 at 18:20 Dante says:
@ Helio
It’s pretty easy to fathom, footballers, like actors, are able to provide a small entertainment service to millions, and as such are able to generate far more cash than those who provide a vital service to a few.
It’s easy to persuade 40,000 people to spend £10 seeing a 90 minute football match, but harder to persuade the ten people a GP can see in that time to part with £40,000 ( I know they aren’t the real numbers, it was just easier that way).
It’s unfortunate of course, but it’s always going to happen, it’s probably best just to get over it and tax the buggers incessantly.
11/09/2009 at 19:56 Dolphan says:
Pags – It’s pretty well accepted that Fifa got competitive with Pro Evo around Fifa 08, and moved clearly ahead with FIFA 09, which was fantastic. Good Edge article about it a few months ago.
11/09/2009 at 20:41 Ian says:
However, of the ’08 games once you got used to the control system the Wii version WAS superior. Didn’t like FIFA or PES that year.
But yeah, PES wasn’t superior last year and it hasn’t been blatantly superior for a few years.
12/09/2009 at 00:12 Pidesco says:
Isn’t that trailer of the 360/PS3 version, as opposed to the PC/PS2 one?
I know RPS really isn’t very much into football, but journalism is journalism and you guys should be more careful, especially when the two versions of the game are so different.
12/09/2009 at 08:42 TeeJay says:
100,000 doctors – average take home salary over £100k
5,000 professional footballers – average basic wage:
Premiership £676,000
Championship £195,750
League One £67,850
League Two £49,600
Average career for doctors: c. 25 to 65 (40 years)
Average career for professional footballer: c. 19 to 34 (15 years)
I’d say that doctors come out ahead.
12/09/2009 at 13:22 SCdF says:
I feel this needs to be said: I watched that trailer while listening to ‘Everything Back But You’ by Avril Lavigne, and it really really worked.
Hope That Helps,
– SCdF
12/09/2009 at 19:00 El_MUERkO says:
downloaded it, played it, compared to the 360 version it is butt ugly
15/09/2009 at 11:38 G_Man says:
Red till im dead. Liverpool FC