FIFA man bigs up 360-degree control

By Johnny Minkley Published 10 June, 2009

"It totally changes the way you play."

FIFA 10 producer Dave Rutter has told Eurogamer TV that the addition of 360-degree control in this year's update is "going to totally change the way you play the game".

The move away from traditional eight-direction play was flagged up as this season's headline addition during the game's unveiling at the terminally trophyless Arsenal's Emirates Stadium back in April. And Rutter admitted the team was "really worried that it was going to freak people out the first time they played it."

"It makes a very big experience difference," he said. "What we found is, the first five or six minutes you're a lot more inaccurate on your thumb than you think you are. [But] within a couple of minutes you've totally got it.

"You're going to be able to move to any area of the pitch you want literally just by pushing yourself there, rather than having to take multiple angles to get there - and that really changes the way the game plays."

And Rutter argued that this feature, along with a raft of other improvements, would be enough for FIFA 09 fans to justify shelling out for another annual update.

"There are bigger changes afoot for FIFA 10 that we haven't told you about yet," he teased. "There will be bigger changes for [FIFA] 11 as well - we've got some stuff that is in very, very early stages of thought rather than work at the moment that we want to try and do - but certainly for FIFA 10 there's a lot more to come out yet."

You can hear more from Rutter - and his boss Peter Moore - in the latest Episode of The Eurogamer TV Show. And if you missed it, you may want to have a squizz at our recent hands-on impressions.

FIFA 10 kicks off this autumn on all major formats.

Picture of Johnny.

About Johnny Minkley

Eurogamer TV's Johnny Minkley is a veteran journalist with a lifelong passion for games and the games industry. He uses Twitter more than most people use air.

Read more articles from Johnny by visiting the Johnny Minkley archive page.

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Comments (33) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • Hunam #1 3 years ago

    It's taken until 2009 for this to happen?

    Mental.

  • rhubarbandcustard #2 3 years ago

    One of the things Peter Moore wanted to address with EA Sports was to make them more inclusive, as he thought that sports games had become too hardcore.

    They've already ruined Fight Night with the nonsense that is Round 4.

    Now Grand Slam Tennis and Tiger Woods 2010 have both met with a muted response.

    I'm starting to suspect that Peter Moore has now helped to butcher FIFA 2010, a game that was approaching perfection in it's 2009 version.

  • Hunam #3 3 years ago

    Running at 28 degrees = death of football.

  • Eraysor #4 3 years ago

    I doubt EA's PR are going to be too happy about him mentioning big things to come in FIFA 11, because I'll happily wait if it means more substantial changes.

  • Darren #5 3 years ago

    I've always thought it bizarre that the 360 degree analogue stick has been around for over a decade now yet no-one has bothered to implement it in a football game. Instead they stuck to eight-directional control, something that looks a bit daft when you see your players running with the ball and they snap into one of the eight fixed directions.

  • neilka #6 3 years ago

    Can't wait for the plasma rifles and cover system in 11.

  • Freek #7 3 years ago

    Whoa whoa, slow down there fancy pants, I point the thumb stick in a direction and my character moves that way? I'm stunned, I can hardly believe that's possible with today's technology!

  • ademkermad #8 3 years ago

    @Darren

    I guess we'll see which makes more sense from a gameplay perspective when the demo comes out. In theory, 360 degree control should make the game appear more realistic, but with EA anything can happen.

  • BlueDot #9 3 years ago

    I've took a few years off Fifa and just getting back into it by buying Fifa 08 second hand. It's bloody hard! Have they made the difficulty any easier in recent versions ?

  • Darren #10 3 years ago

    @ademkermad - I know what you mean, EA do have a track record of adding new features which balls up other things.

    The FIFA games are admittedly very good but they do seem like work-in-progress code toward the ultimate version which will no doubt be released the year before the new consoles arrive! It happened on the Xbox which had a far better FIFA (06) than the abysmal 360 Road to World Cup 06 version. That final version will probably be considered the best yet and near perfect.

    The next-gen versions will then come out the following year as a launch titles for the new systems with stripped down features (less teams, less stadiums, less licences, less moves, etc.) and EA will have to go back to the drawing board adding new features each year, slowly perfecting and expanding the game over the following years until it's great again. It's the EA way!

  • jmg123 #11 3 years ago

    Unfortunately I won't be able to play fifa 10 as my brain will be unable to process this new idea of having more than 8 directions! oh wait whats that? other game genres have been doing for 10 years? some games allow two sticks one for movement and one for aim? crazy how will people cope?

  • Naboomagnoli #12 3 years ago

    jmg - Those other game genres have fuck all AI compared to sports games.
    Edited by 1 at 10/06/09 @ 14:29

  • DarthInsinuate #13 3 years ago

    To be fair, I can only run with a football in one direction.

  • Bealsy #14 3 years ago

    at least nobody's called it soccer yet anyway...

  • thedaveeyres #15 3 years ago

    Terminally trophyless? Did football start 4 years ago?

    What a fucking wanker.

  • JackyB #16 3 years ago

    thedaveeyres. Doesn't mean they were always terminal. Just are now

  • MeBrains #17 3 years ago

    i am with the "has it taken so long to implement an analogue control properly"-group kinda stuff yea.

    baffled. this news?! O_o

  • jonthepymm #18 3 years ago

    I thought there were currently 16 directions? e.g. there is an angle between N and NW isn't there? Still, 16 directions to 360 is an increase, granted...

  • frycrayola #19 3 years ago

    FIFA 2005 on the GameCube had 360 degree dribbling.

    The question isn't why it's taken them so long to implement it, but rather why the hell did they drop it?
    Edited by 1 at 10/06/09 @ 15:29

  • Naboomagnoli #20 3 years ago

    Jon, you'd turn halfway between each angle when sprinting, as you can't turn that sharply at full pace.


    I can't help but feel that most of the people who are mocking this are the types that wouldn't be buying sports games anyway. Hey ho. The day Gears or Ratchet and Clank have a fraction of the depth of gameplay of a good sports game is the day I'll say, "Really? It's taken till 20xx?"
    Edited by 1 at 10/06/09 @ 15:31

  • MaliceMajorE15 #21 3 years ago

    I dont think it was nessesary to have a dig at the Arsenal in the process of writing this piece

  • MGG #22 3 years ago

    Rutter supports Leicester you know. Crap fact of the day.

  • AusFreelancer #23 3 years ago

    Lighten up Arse fans, you'd think your French.......oh.

  • Ryze #24 3 years ago

    Can you say...dripfeed?

  • jeebthegreat #25 3 years ago

    surely it would make more sense, what with dlc becoming the in thing these days, to release fifa 10 then after that add everything new as dlc, so add the 2011 lineup as dlc, any new game modes etc, and have new gameplay elements and stuff as patches?

  • Feanor #26 3 years ago

    This is the guy Edge interviewed for their latest issue. He made Fifa 10 sound pretty appealing.

  • MightyMouse #27 3 years ago

    @Jeeb

    The constant replacements are one thing that always puts me off buying sports games. Looking at buying a football game at this time of year is a non-starter as you know everyone will move onto the next one soon. Same with L4D!

  • jeebthegreat #28 3 years ago

    @MightyMouse that's what's making DLC so much more appealing these days I think, imagine if L4D2 was released as an expansion for L4D rather than a new game. Though I don't mind paying £40 to Valve as it may just help towards finally getting HL3 :) But this is what always pisses me off about sports games, you buy one and you know there's a time limit to how long you'll enjoy it

  • JackyB #29 3 years ago

    I have played Fifa 09 more than any game i have - only SF4 gets close. its one of the few games that I will play regularly for a year. In that sense, I see it as good value. So I dont mind shelling out again a year later.

  • Naboomagnoli #30 3 years ago

    Why the fuck should any sports game developers only release a game once every two or three years if (a) people are willing to pre-order the next one before it's even announced and (b) they are capable of improving the game more within one year than your standard developer manages in two? Yes they could conceivably release it as DLC, but couldn't you argue that of Call Of Duty? Gears? Any game that releases a sequel within two years?

    If you don't care about the game enough to warrant forking out once a year then fair enough, cut it down. But don't be such a fool as to say there aren't any changes from one year to the next. Whereas most games can fall behind new lighting engines and different maps to disguise the otherwise identical gameplay, FIFA and PES have been using the same map for years. And yet we keep coming back, putting hundreds of hours into these games solidly from October year 0 to September year 1, and can't go back to the original once they've experienced the huge number of large and/or subtle tweaks to the engine in the follow-up title.

    It's very simple-minded to see sports games by the length of time between each release, when the whole genre is defined not by length but depth.
    Edited by 1 at 10/06/09 @ 16:59

  • davisorle #31 3 years ago

    On games like Fifa ( since its more accessible and easy to adopt in at LEAST the penalties in this year's version of the game and not next ) you ppl should be betting if Natal will be implimented at any lvl , doesnt matter.. I bet that next year it will be ( im cheating i know ).

    Seriously now though....
    @Eraysor
    Well ofc every year you are to expect changes.. which also means that the changes from the current version to the one after the upcomming would have MORE changes than the upcoming. oO Not like they told you something you wouldnt expect or know yourself already.

    In general the whole 360implimentation in the game is meant to be the only change? The game that had HUGE issue when it comes to turning your player was in ISS series. Fifa had more or less always easier and smoother way to move around while handling the ball. Yet when ISS had the most obvious issue possible since BACK BACK BACK in the years with this matter, was the same period that it was way more fun for most ppl than Fifa. So you could as easily say that this 360 is total crap and worthless and its just something they should just go on and do and not even mention to ppl bragging about this way. But in all honesty.... by how much do you expect those companies to be improving a game of the genre every year when graphically there is no such differences to get from now on till i would guess the NEXT gen of graphs/consoles.. Right? Maybe they should stop worrying on making money each year before ppl loose interest in playing Fifas etc on consoles that much and spend a few more months or even a year to make the game actually better than just a bit different since.. football ( or soccer for americans.. ) will always be football and will be played from 11-11 in the field. Not like they are gonne add any better visuals or ideas on the ballz and flares... lol

    I did get tired of talking about new Fifas and ISS every year arguing which is better when they have minor improvements eitherway as tittles to begin with. Im done playing football on my console/PC. And i dont miss it at all actually lol Its like playing WoW for another 3-4 years. Really

  • Rodchenko #32 3 years ago

    What Naboo said. I for one am glad there was only one year between FIFA 08 and FIFA 09, because the changes were rather massive (and good).

    Also, PES has the 8/16 direction controls as well. Maybe it has to do with these games originally being designed for d-pad control. I would also think it's a hell of lot of work to streamline the whole animation and AI system into a functioning 360 degree motion engine which doesn't look or feel awkward. Some people here seem to think that it just requires a few lines of code to make this happen.

  • jimbo118 #33 3 years ago

    They need to improve the A.I alot imo. All teams play virtually the same.