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FIFA Online First Impressions

EA Sports is bringing the online version of FIFA to the West, and we were on hand to check it out.

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After launching to incredible success in the East as a free-to-play online game, FIFA Online will now be coming to the US and Europe in the second quarter of 2010. EA Sports president Peter Moore was on hand to announce the news at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium, and we were able to talk to line producer Adrian Blunt about what to expect from the game.

FIFA Online uses the FIFA 10 PC engine and PS3/Xbox 360 assets.
FIFA Online uses the FIFA 10 PC engine and PS3/Xbox 360 assets.

FIFA Online is going to be accessible to the widest group of people possible, according to Moore. While FIFA 10 may have been EA Sports' biggest-ever launch, the wider football market is still a massive target for the FIFA franchise. As Moore explains, "There are 2 billion football fans worldwide, and we sell 10 million (FIFA games) on a good day." Clearly, the other 1.99 billion might be interested in playing a FIFA game, but whether it be the cost of entry, a lack of skill, or any number of other reasons, they're just not playing.

The answer for EA Sports has been to reduce nearly all barriers to entry for FIFA Online. The game can be played on very low-end computers, including an average work laptop. Likewise, the control scheme is based entirely around a mouse, as Blunt demonstrates by showing a picture of a man with one hand on the mouse and another on his sandwich. The concept is "100 percent mouse play," with a cursor control system not too dissimilar to FIFA on the Wii, with two mouse buttons for passing, shooting, crossing, and tackling. Thankfully, there will also be keyboard and gamepad support for those who want to use it.

Despite being aimed at a broad market, FIFA Online boasts impressive technical specifications--it's based on FIFA 10 PC code and uses Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 assets. Because it's an online game, friends are also integral to the FIFA Online experience. You have a friends list down the right side of the screen, which will always inform you when contacts are available to play. There will also be a competitive element, with in-game currency dished out at the end of matches allowing you to buy things such as player recovery or increased stamina.

Of course, the issue of microtransactions is always important when talking about a free-to-play game, and while FIFA Online will accept payments, those spending real money shouldn't have a massive advantage. "I don't have to invest any money into FIFA Online," says Blunt, emhasising that it's possible to always play for free. What he describes is the concept of "accelerators," which will allow those who do spend money to progress faster through the game. While the developer isn't going into huge detail yet, there will be a level system in the game, and players will be rewarded the more they play. Paying money will allow you to avoid some of the grind to get to these higher levels. Thankfully, everyone will have access to the same features whether they're paying or not.

EA Sports is about to go into a series of closed beta tests for FIFA Online starting 3 February, and it is currently recruiting participants through the official Web site. The company plans to have 20,000 people involved in the first wave of tests, with more following through the spring. Hopefully, by June the company should be ready to unleash the open beta, with the commercial release coming in August. It will initially launch with one game mode--World Cup--but this will eventually be expanded to include both league and versus modes.

There's clearly a lot of potential for FIFA Online, and while we don't expect to give up on the standard FIFA releases just yet, we're already looking forward to checking out the beta. We weren't allowed to play the game at this stage, so we're eager to try out the control scheme. Luckily, we don't have too long to wait before being able to do just that, so check back for more information soon.

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