Next-gen FIFA debuts on 360

By Tom Bramwell Published 23 August, 2006

PS3 version to follow in 2007.

Electronic Arts today unveiled the next-generation version of FIFA 07, promising a completely new experience based on an engine that's been two years in the making.

FIFA 07 will appear on Xbox 360 first, this autumn in the US and Europe, but producer Hugues Ricour, speaking to Eurogamer, confirmed that a PlayStation 3 version is in development for release next year.

EA Canada has rewritten the gameplay engine from the ground up - something that took "100,000 man-hours" according to Ricour - and consists of a new animation engine, physics engine and AI system.

Players will have proper "football brains", based on real-life attributes - similar to the way that Pro Evolution Soccer works - with the idea being that players will behave as they tend to in real life. "So for example, Frank Lampard has a very strong shot as an attribute, and his trait is his tendency to shoot from distance," Ricour told us. "So we know he does this quite often and he's tagged to specifically do it."

The 360's extra processing power has meant that all 22 players can be calculated this way - compared to maybe a third of that in the past - while the ball itself has been written away from the animation, hopefully helping FIFA to escape the feeling of ball-glued-to-foot.

Players will also be able to react to the ball and trap it in a huge variety of ways, dependent on context, and we're promised that the ball will curve and spin very dynamically. The buzzword appears to be "unpredictability".

EA is also promising online modes - though not the current-gen version's Interactive Leagues feature - that will allow for four-versus-four matches online, while Xbox Live will deliver a free transfer-window update in February, as well as streaming news relating to your club, including podcasts.

With changes to the Manager Mode too and news from 20 major leagues, according to Ricour, FIFA 07 sounds like it's shaping up nicely, and will be shown behind closed doors on Xbox 360 during this week's Games Convention in Leipzig ahead of its release this autumn.

To find out more about the Xbox 360 version, be sure to check out our interview with Hugues Ricour elsewhere on the site.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Blerk #1 6 years ago

    Players will have proper "football brains"

    Is that a sneaky way of saying that the AI is crap?

  • BartonFink #2 6 years ago

    LOL nice one Blerk

  • BartonFink #3 6 years ago

    A bit of a coup for 360 having this out in the run up to Christmas and only on 360. Yea the the usual but it's FIFA blah blah, but the series sells amazingly well regardless.

  • Tweakmonkey #4 6 years ago

    Yeah - the power of 360 is going to suddenly make FIFA great ;-)

  • jonsaan #5 6 years ago

    Took the words right out of my mouth Blerk!

    Does it also mean they will be more worried about how their hair and clothes look than being any good at football?

    Seriously. It would be great to see a fully realised FIFA. it 's com close in the past. Lets hope the concentrate more on the gameplay than the crappy EATRAX business. Am I the only one that turns that kind of stuff off straight away?

  • Darren #6 6 years ago

    Nice to see that EA are holding back the PS3 version so the owners will get a decent club side edition unlike the rushed international "exclusive" version of the game the Xbox 360 got last year! /rolls eyes

    In a way, PS3 owners are getting a better deal out of EA as their 2006 sports games were all rushed beyond belief and lacking in features and/or games modes on the 360 with the 2007 versions being what we should have had last year. Certainly Madden NFL 07 is supposed to be massively improved over the bare-bones 06 version and the reviews scores of 80%+ reflect that. I hope FIFA 07 shows a similar improvement as the two international games haven't been "all that" and lacked the depth of the club editions.

  • ecureuil #7 6 years ago

    Well done EA, you've finally stolen a feature Pro Evo had over 10 years ago. Brilliant work.

  • tobi #8 6 years ago

    Players will have proper "football brains", based on real-life attributes - similar to the way that Pro Evolution Soccer works - with the idea being that players will behave as they tend to in real life. "So for example, Frank Lampard has a very strong shot as an attribute, and his trait is his tendency to shoot from distance," Ricour told us. "So we know he does this quite often and he's tagged to specifically do it."

    all that money and they cant even come up with their own original ideas, poor!

  • RMXtreme #9 6 years ago

    So I guess that means that the PC will still get the PS2/Xbox version?

  • Talha #10 6 years ago

    Well, for one, I think FIFA IS great, as is Pro Evo. EA could have easily aped Konami to satiate the 'purists', but they are treading their own path and while they might be behind in the gameplay department, the overall package on offer is impressive.

    For two, I hate to see that PC is getting shorthanded again. Surely there is enough processing power to give those brains to 11, if not 22, players!

    For three, it won't be a true footy game if there is no headbutting option.

  • Steroyd #11 6 years ago

    I'm sure EA have the liscence to include that.

    Hmm... EA are thinking with their heads on this one for the PS3... they have to, if they took out features from the Current gen versions to rush it into the PS3's launch, the PS3's full Backwards Compatibility would bite them in the arse HARD.

    Too bad gamers weren't protected by that feature on the Xbox 360.

  • BartonFink #12 6 years ago

    Or perhaps maybe they are thinking with their wallet and concentrating on the 360 version because of the installbase it will have by then. :)

  • SergioAguero #13 6 years ago

    It will just be great to see the two big footy franchises with Next Gen graphics and animation.

    Pro Evo 6 on X360 could be a system seller. And there is nothing in a football game that needs extra power from PS3 to improve.


  • Steroyd #14 6 years ago

    Or perhaps maybe they are thinking with their wallet and concentrating on the 360 version because of the installbase it will have by then. :)

    true... but with EA spending 10's of millions rushing a game to a console that could play the feature rich current gen version... i think that in itself is a stark warning in it's self.

    FIFA still sucks though.

  • SergioAguero #15 6 years ago

    There is a story on anther site: Microsoft has announced that BOTH Fifa 2007, and Pro Evo 6 will be next gen exclusives on XBOX360.

    You'd have though Sony would want these pretty early on. Do PS3 fans know they might have to wait another 12 months for the next iterations?

  • Talha #16 6 years ago

    That looks like a big coup for MS. Surely financial muscles are flexing - Sony are not that healthy these days.

  • alpha-0ne #17 6 years ago

    "but producer Hugues Ricour, speaking to Eurogamer, confirmed that a PlayStation 3 version is in development for release next year."

    what does that mean? august 2007?, september 2007?

    does the 12 months start now or when fifa07 is out?

    still with this and pes being 360 exclusive for 12 months it a big blow for sony in europe..

    i think its more down to EA struggling to develop on the ps3 more than anything EA are not the first and wont be the mast to delay/cancel an iteration of a game due to dev issues on the ps3