Oh, England. Not even Fabio Capello can make you play well.
Electronic Arts has just announced a new feature for FIFA 09 that, shockingly, actually sounds pretty good. It’s called adidas Live Season (gotta love sponsorship money), and it updates your game’s stats to mirror the real world sporting situation. The system uses a team of worldwide scouts to monitor the performance of every player from the English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Mexican leagues.
Por ejemplo, if Fernando Torres scores a hat-trick against Boro this weekend, that stat would be reflected in the video game. So if he’s having a monster season, his in-game stats will improve and he’ll be more useful to you in the game.
Similarly, if someone is having a shocking season (Sheva or Ronaldinho? Though there’s rumors Sheva could be loaned out to Milan this season, so maybe he’ll be good again), it’ll be reflected in the video games.
My one concern is that this is a premium service. EA says you’ll get a trial edition of Live Season for one league with your XBL or PSN subscription. How much it costs to get the full thing, and whether or not they’ll be discounts available, is unknown.
I haven’t hid my affection for PES over FIFA through the years, but this is the type of thing, coupled with an otherwise improved core, that would make me buy FIFA 09.
Dare I say it: good job EA?