Electronic Arts has decided to offer fans all over the world the first details about their upcoming FIFA game, FIFA 10. According to the developers, “FIFA 10 will deliver a new standard for authenticity with gameplay refinements and innovations that will make it the most complete and intelligent simulation of football.” We’ve got your attention already, right?

One of the most important changes will be gameplay-wise, since the fundamentals have been enhanced to provide more sophisticated control of the ball and physical interaction between players. The AI was also greatly improved and the players will move more naturally and realistically. For example, while on the attack, players will be able to analyze their space effectively, curve their runs and try to beat possible offside traps. On defense, players will try to multitask open spaces left by teammates, while having new options like slide tackle targeting, press marking, and better-urgency clearance logic. It would be great if these additions would be accordingly to the overall skill of the player, but I might be asking too much from FIFA 10 already.

Three new innovations revealed today have been developed to change the player control experience in FIFA 10. The first-ever true 360° dribbling system gives players finer control of the ball, enabling them to find spaces between defenders that previously were not possible. Using an all-new animation technology, skilled dribblers now have the ability to face the defender and use highly responsive lateral dribbling to skip past him. An innovative concept called Freedom in Physical Play enables players to perform wider dribble touches and new collision sharing creates a varied, less predictable, and extended fight for possession between the dribbler and a defender.

FIFA 10 also features a deeper iteration of the ever-popular Manager Mode with more than 50 major improvements, including new match realism, realistic player transfers based on multiple decision points, and true-to-life player growth curves.

So, all in all, I think we can all agree that FIFA 10 indeed seems to be a really promising soccer simulation. We’re waiting for even more details and surprises, promised to be released in the coming months.