FIFA Soccer 09 Q&A

FIFA PC Q&A

Paul Hossack runs us through the changes in FIFA 09 for the PC.

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EA Sports' long-running FIFA series is one of the last bastions for PC sports fans. Although the NHL and Madden series used to be PC stalwarts, they've fallen off the map, and for this season it doesn't look like an NBA Live entry is in the cards for EA Sports. Thankfully, if you're a PC owner with a soccer jones, FIFA 09 is still heading to a computer near you. To find out what's happening with this version of the game, we hit up EA Sports line producer Paul Hossack.

GameSpot: Let's start with last year's game. What did you like about FIFA 08 and what needed to be improved?

Paul Hossack: Gameplay changes and the introduction of the Be A Pro mode were the two most significant feature additions in FIFA 08. The gameplay changes that really stood out were depth of control and more-intelligent player movement. Be A Pro was a great game mode that let users live the experience of playing as one professional football player, and added a lot of fun social elements through the Co-Op Season tasks and player growth.

For FIFA 09, we listened to feedback from FIFA 08 fans and improved the collision system, added better support-run logic from teammates, and better positional AI for the defensive line. The most substantial feedback we got on Be a Pro - Co-Op Season was to extend the mode beyond one season, and to include the third-person Be A Pro camera from the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of FIFA 08. For FIFA 09 PC, we are happy to say we made both of those changes.

GS: With FIFA 09, you set out to create a soccer game that plays to the strengths of the PC platform. What specifically about the PC platform did you take advantage of in making FIFA 09?

EA Sports hasn't completely given up on PC sports gaming: FIFA 09 is on its way.

PH: First, the mouse is a very powerful and accurate input device. Mouse-and-keyboard controls are a great combination in FPS and RTS games. It was those games that gave us the inspiration for the great new mouse controls we added to FIFA 09 PC. This is a feature that just made sense on the PC platform. We were even able to add a control that no other control system has on any FIFA game. With the mouse, you can click on an empty spot on the pitch to get one of your teammates to run to that spot when you are attacking. When you combine that with a quick manual pass to that same spot, you can create some amazing passing build-up play.

The second PC-specific characteristic we leveraged is the fact that most PCs are online all the time. This let us invest in our online widgets, which show you relevant, real-time info about you, the FIFA community, and real-world football wherever you are in our menu systems, and they update automatically.

Finally, as PCs tend to have nice, high-resolution monitors, we put a lot of effort into improving the graphics. The biggest jump is how the players and pitch look. It's a dramatic improvement over FIFA 08. In addition to these obvious improvements, we increased the sharpness and clarity of all our menus too.

GS: Give us some insight on how the PC version of FIFA 09 has evolved alongside its console counterpart. What big features will it share with the 360/PS3 version and at what point in the dev cycle do you decide to split off and go your own way with PC-specific features?

PH: FIFA 09 PC is a true PC football game, not simply a port of a console game. That said, both FIFA 09 PC and console do share some features and did work on some similar features. On both PC and console, we did a lot of work on the physicality of the game, the responsiveness of the dribble, and adding depth to the gameplay experience. In addition, you will find the new Adidas Live Season premium service available on PC, PS3, and 360. This is an exciting new service that dynamically updates player form from six leagues every single week based on how the players performed in real-world matches. Finally, you'll find very similar versions of the Be a Pro Seasons mode on those three platforms.

The new mouse-plus-keyboard control system will give you a different way of controlling the action.

GS: This year's game will use a point-and-click control scheme. Tell us about the development of that control system, and what it allows a player to do on the pitch. Also, can you play with a console controller if you like?

PH: With "point and click" you are referring to the new mouse plus keyboard control scheme we have in FIFA 09 PC. We developed this idea by looking at other game genres that are successful on the PC. Two of the dominating PC genres are FPS and RTS games, which rely on a combination of the mouse and keyboard to control gameplay. We thought, why not put this into a PC sports game?

The user simply moves his player with the keyboard and performs passing and shooting actions with the mouse. Passing and shooting are performed by pointing and clicking with the onscreen mouse pointer. The mouse pointer can be moved very quick and is very precise, therefore the user is able to pass and shoot quickly and precisely. Other advantages of this control scheme are the ability to send players on support runs to specific spots, and to make player switches by simply clicking on specific players.

Regarding console controllers, we officially support the Xbox 360 controller and a long list of USB control pads. If I am not trying to master the new mouse-and-keyboard controls I am playing with the good old PS2 controller.