FIFA 11

FIFA 11 also includes "hundreds and hundreds" of gameplay tweaks. Corner kicks shouldn't be so boring, apparently, with players (including the goalkeeper) now having to read the ball trajectory rather than effectively knowing in advance.

We're also going to see more idiosyncratic techniques, like swerve passes with the outside of the boot, and backspin and driven lofted through-balls.

When you score an amazing goal, you'll also - finally - be able to save the replay locally, even if you're playing an online match.

Like the excellent 2010 FIFA World Cup game, FIFA 11 also has an answer to goalkeepers rushing out and getting chipped all the time in FIFA 10 - although Paterson approached it in a different way to his colleagues on that game.

"The goalkeeper coming off the line created emotion in the game," he says of FIFA 10 and earlier instalments, "because there was pressure on the attacker. But because the chip was so easy it didn't really force you into a decision. We don't want the keeper to creep out so much, but we've also added more contextual error into the chip system."

You'll need to be more composed and on your good foot to guarantee a chipped finish, in other words. Meanwhile goalkeepers will also be smarter at dealing with loose balls and shots from off to one side of the goal.

Speaking of the World Cup game, however, FIFA 11 hasn't ignored it completely and there are some hand-me-downs. The World Cup penalty system will make the transition, as will the two-button control option. "We're not calling it the Dad Pad," says Rutter, "but those controls are coming across as well."

Sadly the scenario mode - called Story of Qualifying in World Cup - isn't making it across, and the team isn't discussing Manager Mode, Clubs or Be A Pro in any depth yet, but we should learn more about those in the coming weeks - perhaps at E3 but more likely at gamescom in August.

In the meantime though, we can chew over one more prospect - audio customisation. "It's probably not quite as glamorous as the gameplay but I think it's a bit of a sleeper hit," says Rutter.

Basically, if you happen to have music or a crowd chant you've downloaded off the internet and burned to a CD, you can rip it to your console hard drive as normal and then import it into FIFA 11. You can assign music to teams and leagues, so you hear it whenever you access them, and you can assign crowd chants to individual teams.

"If you were really hardcore I guess you could get your mates round and record it," says Rutter - something he does with the journalists assembled in Vancouver to see the game. The results probably won't make it into the shipping version.

The big question is, when it does ship - early October is always a good bet for FIFA, although EA's only saying autumn at the moment - will Peter Moore be throwing another party, or have they come up with a better wager this time?