EA unveils Wii stabilisers

By Robert Purchese Published 5 July, 2007

Easy controls for beginners.

EA has added a new feature to its sports games to help beginners and advanced users play together on Wii.

It's called Family Play and it will be included in FIFA 08, Madden NFL 08, and NBA LIVE 08.

With it you'll be able to choose between two control options, Advanced or Family Play. The first is a simplified method that lets you dictate key actions such as passing, shooting and throwing using big, clear gestures - with the rest of the responsibility handed neatly over to the AI.

And for those of you confident enough to kick away the stabilisers there's the Advanced option, which lets you regain full control of your players.

"EA Sports Family Play on the Wii creates an incredibly accessible and user-friendly experience that the whole family will enjoy," said Dave McCarthy (not our one!), executive producer for the three games at EA Canada. "While many fans love to control every piece of the action, novice players can have just as much fun jumping in to throw a touchdown pass, nail a three pointer or take a shot on goal."

"Family Play brings together fans of all ages to enjoy playing EA Sports games, and even lets them ease in to Advanced play if they desire."

Pop over to our Family Play gallery for a taster of things to come.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • tobi #1 5 years ago

    i don't how someone can play a football game from that camera angle shown in that fifa shot.

  • Stilicho #2 5 years ago

    "Advanced or Family Play. The first is a simplified method"

    Er...shouldn't that be the other way around?

  • skillian #3 5 years ago

    Good idea.

  • ZeroAX #4 5 years ago

    "i don't how someone can play a football game from that camera angle shown in that fifa shot."


    um i think for decades that's how football video games used to be.
    the only one i've played was tenhkan world cup (really old arcade game) and i have got to say it was killer.

    i just don't know how this will work in multiplayer

  • ruckus #5 5 years ago

    "and even lets them ease in to Advanced play if they desire"

    If that means you do stuff on a sliding scale etc. it would be awesome - if it just means on/off erm... not so awesome.

    *edit* I think I'm wrong anyway since they might not be talking about a control config screen - maybe if you select family play the advanced controls are there when and if the player uses them.
    Edited by 1 at 05/07/07 @ 14:15

  • Eraser #6 5 years ago

    I think it's a great initiative from EA. I don't know how well it actually works but it shows EA are again thinking about their games rather than spitting them out one after the other.

  • Arcadiian #7 5 years ago

    Being able to change game difficulty is EA thinking ?

  • GrandpaUlrira #8 5 years ago

    It's not just changing the game difficulty though, is it? It's about making games that have two levels based on whether you're the sort of person who can just about play Wii Sports or the sort who got every last heart and poe on Zelda.

  • jonsaan #9 5 years ago

    I can think of a 'big clear gesture' regarding motion controlled games..

  • miiiguel #10 5 years ago

    definitely this waving me arms thing is not for me.

  • miiiguel #11 5 years ago

    I like you.

  • Steve_Ince #12 5 years ago

    "Being able to change game difficulty is EA thinking ?"

    Perhaps it shouldn't be thought of as game difficulty but interface difficulty that's being changed.

  • afghan_jones #13 5 years ago

    B-b-but I thought the Wii was easy for everyone?

    young and old, rich or poor, we could all huddle round and wave our wands about whooping with joy at how gaming was now so accessible that your gran could enjoy Resi 4 thanks to a plastic nunchuck.

    The Wii interface now has to be made easier because it's imprecise and fiddly. I laugh bitterly at the Ninty-sheep.

  • BraveArse #14 5 years ago

    "said Dave McCarthy (not our one!)"

    Are you /sure/ it's not your one? Having just played RE4 ( my first time, I'm a Resi 4 virgin ) on the Wii for the last 4 consecutive evenings, I couldn't think of a person more in need of wii controller help myself ... :p
    Edited by 1 at 05/07/07 @ 16:22

  • Carrybagma #15 5 years ago

    :-o ==%

  • Arcadiian #16 5 years ago

    @ GrandpaUlrira.

    Either your little story about Wii Sports and Zelda baffles me into confusion, or it describes my point about game difficulty exactly.

    @ Steve_Ince.

    Correct, but my point really was that this has been done before, yet apparently when EA do it, it's considered "great initiative".

    The example of Quake III Arena on Dreamcast comes to mind, which had the options of using a control pad, mouse and keyboard, a Mad Catz roller ball thing, and then control pad and keyboard, and all of them had the options to change the buttons/keys to whatever you wanted.

    This isn't really anything new - but when it comes to EA, youre right, this probably is them "thinking".

  • GrandpaUlrira #17 5 years ago

    You were baffled ;)

    The point is that this is not *only* changing the difficulty of the game, but it is fundamentally providing two different control schemes: one for the casual/virgin gamer who just wants to pick something up and play it in the manner of something like Wii Tennis, where you have some control but don't have to worry about every last detail; the other for hardcore gamers who want to control everything and eke every last drop of juice out of the game.

    I know what you're saying about difficulty, and you're right, up to a point, but to suggest that the difference is merely changing an option from 'easy' to 'hard' is being a little disingenuous. The main example I can think of that's close to what EA are doing here are driving games with driving aids on or off, so admittedly it's not a completely new idea, but certainly it's not one that's commonplace.

    The anti-EA bullshit is pointless when what they're doing is a good idea.
    Edited by 1 at 05/07/07 @ 17:08

  • Arcadiian #18 5 years ago

    You're making exactly the same point as me, but with all the bells, whistles and brain-washing of an EA-branded sheep.

    Of course i understand your point about it having two control options, but clearly these will either make the game harder or easier, depending on which you choose. And don't get me wrong, having these options is a good thing, but the thought of an EA meeting of suits deciding to brand an obvious inclusion in most games as "Family Play", then sell it to us as new basically annoys me.

    I mean, music in games is now branded EA Trax ? Difficulty modes as Family Play ? I knew games were beginning to take on in-game advertising, but i didn't expect the games themselves to be adverts.

    You'll have to excuse me, i'm a bitter old man before my time.
    Edited by 1 at 05/07/07 @ 17:31

  • afghan_jones #19 5 years ago

    "You're making exactly the same point as me, but with all the bells, whistles and brain-washing of an EA-branded sheep."

    EA make sheep now????

    Prepare for annual updates

    'EA Sheep:2008'
    'EA Street Sheep'

    Etc

  • GrandpaUlrira #20 5 years ago

    But it isn't an obvious inclusion in games... I honestly can't think of another game where there's a simpler control scheme for casual players. The branding makes sense in that it's something a casual player can see on the box and know that the game will be easy for them to play.

  • BraveArse #21 5 years ago

    Surely it's not as simple as difficulty modes? It seems far more akin to the driving aids analogy, in that people playing against one another can choose which mode they want /independently/ of the opponent. A difficulty mode implies that the same schema would be applied to all players in the same game.
    Edited by 1 at 05/07/07 @ 17:55

  • secombe #22 5 years ago

    i don't how someone can play a football game from that camera angle shown in that fifa shot.

    I miss the days of playing football games 'vertically'. You can actually see where your players are when choosing a pass etc, in my opinion it's a far more obvious and logical method of playing football on a console.

  • nick_f Verified Senior Producer, Microsoft #23 5 years ago

    Being in the privileged position of knowing *both* Dave McCarthys, I can confidently say that only ONE of them qualified first in his year at Oxford.
    Edited by 1 at 05/07/07 @ 17:51

  • deepmenace #24 5 years ago

    wiibilisers?

  • spongebob #25 5 years ago

    Not a bad idea at all, I declare!

  • 3william56 #26 5 years ago

    I hope this gets adopted in all multiplayer games, wii and others. It's good to have the advanced system for a single player or experienced players, but when your non gaming mates come over for a zap, a post pub mode with simple controls, and easy gameplay to level the playing field so that n00bs can have a chance would be ace. It's what makes Crash mode from Burnout so great. No brains, little skill, easy controls, hoots of fun.

    More please.

  • KingOfTheC #27 5 years ago

    seems like an ok idea to me, those screenshots look pretty gorgeous too

  • Balboa #28 5 years ago

    @Arcadiian re "I mean, music in games is now branded EA Trax ? Difficulty modes as Family Play ? I knew games were beginning to take on in-game advertising, but i didn't expect the games themselves to be adverts."

    God forbid a company touts its feature set. By that logic, EG should remove all Eurogamer TV branding, because other websites have embedded video too.