Month: June 2014

EA Sports has revealed that one of FIFA 15 Ultimate Team’s new features is the ability to get a player on loan. EA haven’t released many details about the feature, but it seems that you’ll be able to use a player for a limited number of times, we’re guessing to make sure you really want him before buying.

That mean that if you reserve a copy of FIFA Ultimate Team Edition, a special version of FIFA 15, you’ll be able to get Lionel Messi, the Barça player, on loan immediately. “Afterwards, you’ll be able to unlock more players from the EA SPORTS Football Club Catalogue using football club credits”, EA Sports have stated. You unlock players using virtual or real money.

FIFA Ultimate Team has become almost a game in itself, thanks to its huge popularity. You practically see more YouTube videos of people opening envelopes than you do of actual FIFA matches. Given its popularity, it could be that we see FIFA Ultime Team becoming a standalone game in the future.

Find out more about FIFA 15 by reading our interview with lead producer Sebastián Enrique.

Follow me on Twitter: @lorddevries

Source: official FIFA 15 page

Sebastián Enrique is the Lead Producer on FIFA 15, the head honcho who takes the lead on the game in the famous EA Sports soccer franchise. He’s an enthusiastic guy with a smile you warm to quickly– maybe it’s the passion with which he talks about the game. Clearly, he’s not alone; soccer courses through the veins of its fans, and its this passion that Enrqiue seems to want to convey through the FIFA game, something he definitely impressed upon me during our interview.

During the recent EA press event, where he showed off the game, Enrique detailed every inch of the game, talking about how he’s traveled the world to see games, how fans behave, and how differently the sport is experienced, depending on the country. His work gives him this luxury, travelling around the world to see the game, much to the envy of most fans.

But with this privilege also comes great responsibility. Sebastian Enrique must create the best football simulation ever. As much pressures as the players get on the pitch, its as if Enrique gets just as much when it comes to the popular video game. Honestly, I wouldn’t like to be in his shoes, but if there’s anyone who can do it, it’s Enrique, and I had the chance to speak with him about his role in creating the game, and what we can expect with FIFA 15.

To begin, can you tell us exactly what your role is in FIFA 15?

I’m the Lead Producer of the FIFA 15 video game, which means I’m directly responsible for the game. If it goes wrong, it’s my fault, and if it goes well, it’s all thanks to the team [laughs]. On top of working with creative directors and people dedicated to design, I’m also responsible for the game’s design as a whole, from the project itself, to leading the team.

What you’ve presented today is basically structural changes in the game, controls and graphics. Every year, FIFA is being refined more and more. Now, it’s reaching a point where it’s getting more difficult to improve each time. To what extent is there room to continue at this rate of improvement?

Every year we have similar questions. “They’ve done this or that, what will they do next?” And I can assure you that we have a huge list of things we want to do or want to try. At the same time, we listen to what the community is telling us, what they want to see in the game. Every time we watch soccer, week after week, we continue to see things that we don’t have and that we want to add to the game.

When we start out each year, we combine all three and use them as building blocks for that year. Then you realize that those ideas would build three or four FIFAs. At the end, we have to reduce all these ideas but still find a sufficient number of innovations to make a significant jump in quality from one year to the next, making it more playable, with more depth, better graphics, appearance.

There will come a day when we’ll run out of ideas, but for today, there are still plenty.

This is the second new-generation FIFA. How have you improved this year?

The main thing that happens in the first year of new consoles is that the game has to work, and work well enough not to let the player down. There are constant updates to the console, to the software, plus you won’t be working with the final hardware.You’re constantly adjusting to these changes. Besides that, you’re building the basis for future tools. It’s difficult to do what you want, the way you want it.

In the second year, in this case FIFA 15, you’ve already got a more robust knowledge of the workings of the console, and you’ve created a database of tools. For example, last year we rewrote all the visual graphics, so we can continue this year by giving depth to that and really starting to exploit it. In this vein, in the second year you can start doing the things you wanted to do when you were thinking about the extra power of the new consoles. And so that’s what we did.

From everything you’ve been able to teach us today, what’s most important in your opinion? What sets FIFA 15 apart from previous versions?

There isn’t one single thing you can say that has “completely changed the game”. It’s the combination of all the things we do, either gameplay, or artificial intelligence, total immersion, graphics, the comments, cameras– the combination of all the details is what makes a good soccer game. That’s how I see it.

But there must be something you’re particularly proud of, right?

There is one thing that I’m particularly happy about. Something that is pretty “wow”. But we haven’t announced it yet. We can talk about it in August if you want.

There are lots of things we can’t talk about. We haven’t seen any of the game modes, or the leagues. Can you tell me something about the online aspects?

[Laughs] No, no, no. Sorry. I can’t talk about that either. In the first tour, all we do to tell people about the new FIFA is to show gameplay, nothing more. But this year, there’s also the leap in graphics, the emotional leap (which is very important), how the field is deteriorating– I am very happy with the graphics, with the new improvements to the physics, ball movement, the flags, and how the goals move when the ball hits them.

Yes! I have seen these animations. There are more animations for the small movements from the players. It helps makes everything more fluid.

Exactly. We put special emphasis on this. The main focus this year was playability, control and response. We’ve created many “contact” animations, as we call them. For example, when the player is lifting the ball from the ground, you have more flexibility and accuracy on the move, or when turning. Shorter, quicker steps were created, as well as animations with the ball and without. They’re all animations that give the game better range and make it even more playable. It’s more sensitive, and so players can enjoy being more in control.

Are there specific features for PS4 or Xbox One?

There will be some small differences like last year, where Microsoft platforms had Xbox Legends for Ultimate Team mode. There will be some differences between the three platforms (Xbox One, PS4 and PC), but they’ll be minimal. We’ll tell you about those differences in the future, as well as the common features. There’s much more to be announced.

One last question. Can you comment on any other new features from Ultimate Team?

It’s the most important FIFA game mode, and apart from the fact that there will be more cards, I can’t comment much more. In the future.

Okay, okay. Thank you very much for having us, it’s been a pleasure.

Thank you for coming!

Want to know more about FIFA 15? Don’t miss our first look at the game.

Electronic Arts chose the Vicente Calderón Stadium, home of Atlético Madrid, for its first round of presentations of FIFA 15. Game producers Nick Channon and Sebastián Enrique took charge of showing the new graphics, controls and AI that feature in the newest version of the ultimate soccer simulator, and we had a chance to see the demo.

The best FIFA yet?

Attending journalists seemed to have only one question – is FIFA 15 really that much of an improvement on FIFA 14? By the time the presentation was through, there was only one possible answer – Yes. EA has surprised us again, just maybe not in the way expected. Basically, the changes aren’t that spectacular or jaw-dropping. Instead, FIFA 15’s improvement are more basic and structural, with the AI and soccer simulator combining to give us a game that’s better conceptually, rather than just physically.

Of course, graphics and visuals are better, as we’d expect from the 2nd year with the newest gen FIFA. If you scratch the surface, however, you’ll see the improvements you’re going to read about which, although might not be super newsworthy, are definitely very important.

Emotion and intensity

If there’s one message that’s been broadcast loud and clear, it’s that this year, FIFA is all about emotion. There’s a new layer of simulation called “Emotion and Intensity” that you’ll find underneath the other, tangible elements, like control, graphics and game modes. It’s invisible, a series of applied techniques that add just the extra degree of emotion that soccer always provokes.

The part that surprised me most was the new layer of AI that controls the emotions of all 22 players when they’re on the pitch. This “emotion engine” controls how the players interact with each other to such an extent that everything that happens effects their attitude. Take this example: a striker is marking a defensive player tightly and ends up kicking him. The defense will actually get mad and the aggression between the two will grow.

The same happens with good decisions and mistakes within a team. If the goalie has a bad day and ends up making mistakes, his teammates will criticize him and complain, even gesticulating at him or shouting.

Bear in mind, though, that this “emotion AI” only effects game visuals (cut scenes and animations between games). A bad – or good – attitude doesn’t affect player stats – they’ll just keep playing at their level.

Other aspects that bring even more emotion to games are the fans. The stands are filled with color and movement, songs and dances. In this aspect, FIFA 15 is the best sports game I’ve seen to date, and maybe even the best crowd ever – the stands seem entirely realistic.

Improved graphics

For the last few years, we haven’t really seen major graphical improvements from one year to another, but they haven’t stood still either. This is FIFA’s second year on new gen consoles, and the graphics introduced last year already seem to be looking more like the graphics we were expecting.

Players already look more natural and human, so to speak. Animations have improved significantly, and there’s significantly more of them. EA explained that these transitional micro-animations have completely changed the game. There are more movements, for a start, and they’re much more realistic. This translates into very organic control with the gamepad.

If I had to pick just two things from what I saw in the presentation, the first would be the lighting system. It’s incredibly realistic, with a TV-like effect from the very first minute. Gone are the dim lights and dark shadows we saw in other years. What we see now is a brilliant, eye-catching game.

The second point would be the way the pitch dynamically deteriorates. Every step, every fall, tackle or shoot affects the pitch in one way or another. It happens in real time, calculated to exactly match the player’s actions. In other words, the pitch doesn’t get torn up more or less according to what the players do: it’s modified exactly as a real pitch would be affected by each and every move a player makes.

Besides these details, you can expect a much more next-gen visual experience. Weather is much more realistic, as are its effect on the pitch. Players will slide around in the mud, fog will interact with the lighting, and the ball physics are better. Ultimately, they are very small improvements, but there are a lot of them, and they all add up to make FIFA 15 one of the most spectacular sports games ever.

Artificial Intelligence

It’s very difficult to improve a game’s sim without also improving the AI. This year, the focus is on team intelligence. Players controlled by the AI don’t just play like individuals; now, they play like they have an understanding of the team vision and evolution of the game. If a team is winning comfortably and it’s near the end of the match, for example, they might autonomously see fit to add a catenaccio to the mix. If they’re losing, meanwhile, they’ll attack more energetically, even if that means leaving their defense at risk.

This is nothing new in itself, but the fluidity they do it with is much more innovative. The player thinks for himself, understands the concept of a game, sees advantages and disadvantages, and plays tactically, all like a human would. This makes solo games (against the machine) more interesting, and games with friends even more challenging.

Player Control

Even though FIFA 15 contains lots of new animations that make you think that the game control is slower and heavier, you couldn’t be further from the truth. The games I saw at the presentation left no room for doubt –  control was fast and accurate. The micro-animations make the players easier to move, and the ball control more realistic.

To take an example, a big change here is that each players’ dribbling style is personalized. Every player has his style in real life, and the player’s movements and interactions with the ball within the game will leave doubtless as to which player you are.

Finally, changes to ball physics allow it to move and turn in the air more realistically.

More coming in August

This was the first point of contact with one of the most eagerly-awaited games of the year. Electronic Arts has promised more details in August, but at the moment, they estimate that FIFA 15 is about 50% – 60% complete. That means there’s still plenty of work to do, and even more room for improvement. We still don’t know anything about game modes, licenses, or leagues, but we do know one thing: Ultimate Team mode is back, this time with 40 Golden Packs distributed over 40  weeks.

Want to find out more about FIFA 15? Read our interview with lead producer Sebastián Enrique.