FIFA 10 Release Date Announced, Plus New Details

Electronic Arts have announced that their upcoming football (as in soccer) simulation game FIFA 10 will be released this year on October 2, just in time for the Christmas madness and for the new season (remember that EA also releases later this year FIFA Manager 10, for those who wish even more control of the game!). Also, from a developer diary of the title’s gameplay producer Santiago Jaramillo, we found out some extra and interesting FIFA 10 details.

For starters, we do know that Electronic Arts love to listen to the user feedback and trying to improve or change the game accordingly. Therefore, one of the main issues that had to be addressed was the unfair advantage teams with fast and strong attackers were getting from the use of through balls (and the lack of any midfield play). And by balancing and changing things like better positioning of the defenders, slowing down the dribbling speed and better goalkeeper positioning during one on one situations, EA promise that we’ll have a more realistic experience and players exploiting this weakness in the previous FIFA game will no longer have a winning strategy.

Amongst the other changes added to FIFA 10 after analyzing the feedback from players, I think that the most important are: ability to change kick taker on set pieces (and move the wall when defending), less frequent offsides, fewer cut scenes (but more on-the-field player reactions), “Super Long Throws” by players who are able to perform them and many more.

In other words, some important and welcomed improvements to FIFA 10. Seems naturally, having in mind that since last year it was Electronic Arts who managed to become, once again, the king of soccer simulations.