Slashdot Mirror
EA Makes Minor Tweaks To FIFA 12 For the Wii, Releases It As FIFA 13
An article at Nintendo Gamer highlights how Electronic Arts put almost no work into the latest Wii release of their FIFA soccer game franchise, but didn't hesitate to push it out the door anyway. Side-by-side screenshots show the Wii version of FIFA 12 got some minor graphical tweaks — a different splash screen, slightly modified logos, different colored socks on the players — before being re-released as FIFA 13. From the article:
"This is something that needs to be highlighted, because while it would be easy to pass it off and say 'meh, it’s just the Wii version,' the fact remains that this game does still sell relatively well. This isn’t guesswork – as journalists we receive confidential sales figures and though we’re legally bound not to reveal those figures, we can at least say with confidence that FIFA 12 did pretty well for a Wii game this close to the console’s death. The Wii U version of FIFA 13 will no doubt be a fantastic game, since it’ll share a lot (if not all) of the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions’ features. The 3DS version is a solid improvement over last year’s effort, and worth a look if you’re into some handheld football action. This, however – a £30 roster update – is unacceptable."
Isn't that the most important update?
n/t
Why, technically, can't rosters be updated separately from the engine?
Disappointing football game if just a tweaked older one .... I think that's happened before
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Cup_Carnival
it's a sports game what more do you expect?
It's not like the game of soccer has changed much in a year. If you're buying the game for the first time get the '13 version. If you already own '12 then keep it.
L4D -> L4D2, $50 for no real enhancements, just change the characters, some weapons, the maps, same shitty AI
http://www.ign.com/articles/1998/01/01/olympic-hockey-nagano-98
"We'll post a new review when Midway releases a new game."
Why do people buy EA again? They just buy out good companies to put them out of business.
God spoke to me
It's not like the game of soccer has changed much in a year.
It apparently changes enough that the old FIFA game is as as incompatible in online play with the new FIFA game as Quake III: Arena is with Unreal Tournament.
If you're so high and mighty, why don't you fix real problems instead of bitching about apparent non-issues on slashdot?
It's why I don't buy these games often. Once you play one year, you've played every year. It takes several years for them to come out with something really new. This isn't FIFA either: NFL, MLB, etc. is the same.
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
People buy Electronic Arts games because they want football games. Electronic Arts owns the exclusive rights to make video games based on football leagues. The last time I checked, EA had multi-year exclusive licenses to FIFA, NFL, AFL, and NCAA.
Seriously, these game barely change from one year to the next anyway. If you buy one every 5 years, you will see the difference, but that's pretty much it.
Why? I have yet to play a sports video game that was actually good.
This also happened with the PS2 versions of sports titles after the Xbox 360 and PS3 released. It's pretty much the same deal here, and with the next-next-generation consoles due soon, it's not surprising. They'd rather put engineering effort into code that can potentially transfer to the Xbox 3 / PS4 iterations of the game. The code for the Wii versions are so far behind that anything added to them is basically unusable or would require significant effort to port over.
They've done it for years on the PS2. Every outdated console will face it.
"If you are stupid/backwards enough to live in a third world country"
WTF? I live in a third world country and i'm not leaving because i have my family and friends here... i can't believe the amount of stupidity on your words.
Next year the servers for FIFA '12 will be switched off, and you end up with a virtually useless game. That's how it has been going on for a while: planned obsolence.
Personally I don't care what it says on the box or what color the uniforms are -- I care more about the gameplay.
Is that an unusual concept in sports games?
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
This might have surprised me 10 years ago. Now? No chance. Isn't this the same business model EA already follows with it's other franchises? Make a few incremental changes, bump the number +1, release to the masses...
"Women. Can't live with 'em. Pass the beer nuts." -Norm
After all, they opted just to not make the latest version of Tiger Woods for the Wii at all. The last version of Tiger Woods we'll ever see for the Wii is 12 (the masters).
Hopefully when they make it for Wii U next time they'll use more of its connectivity features.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Don't buy the game. Seriously, just play last year's version.
If you really want a roster update, then pay the price. If it isn't worth it (which seems the case), then don't.
As long as EA can make money off of this, they will. Especially if it's a considerable amount more than they'd make for actually taking time to update and create a better product.
That's business. Maximize profits and shareholder "value"
If customers don't by the product, profits go do, and they'll have to adapt if they want to make money off the franchise.
Personally I don't care what it says on the box or what color the uniforms are -- I care more about the gameplay.
The majority disagrees with you and will choose FIFA over Mario Strikers Charged. They don't want to play football; they want to play as the home team.
If the rosters are what cost money, then why not distribute a game with fake teams for $0 and sell the rosters?
Sensible Soccer?
I thought Apple patented making tweaks and re-releasing it as the next big thing.
This is basically another aspect of muscling out competition. By getting licenses that forbid competition, they make it hard for another video game company to compete.
God spoke to me
Actually EA lost their exclusivity with the NCAA as part of settlement of a lawsuit. Starting in 2014 they give up their exclusive licensing, at least for a period of five years.
I do too... it's called Texas to the rest of the world. :) I'm not leaving, because I hate snow... :-)
It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
EA has a habit of doing this on systems they don't like or want to support. before they killed off NHL on the PC (fuck them for that)
they released absolutely horrible versions of the game on the PC claiming it was because of "piracy" when it was really just about terribly production values. Their last version on the PC was a PS2 port when the Xbox 360 and PS3 were getting far superior versions because EA claimed the PC was not "next generation"
The fact that EA is a dirty lying company really isn't news.
Isn't this the dream of software developers, which, if I were to guess, would be a large percentage of slashdot readers.
Don't reinvent the wheel right? If I already have the best that I can achieve (on this platform), I should be able to just keep selling it.
Sounds like the game is well architected and modular.
If you don't like it, don't buy it. How many ways can you create a soccer game anyway? :-D
</partially sarcasm>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem
I actually do care about real world problems in politics and technology which is why I love slashdot so much. Unfortunately this article doesn't make the cut.Excuse me for pointing it out.
Some people want to collect decorative wall plates. They buy one every year. Others want to buy FIFA's annual installment. A collector's mind works like that.
Personally, I still think PES 2008 for the Wii beats FIFA-13 for the Xbox hands down -- we own both. The wiimote is unbeatable in expressing how you want the players to move and where you want to pass to go.
Good game but completely broken as soon as you learn how to do the halfway-line goal. Matches where both players know how to do it usually end up 40-41.
worth a look if you’re into some handheld football action
Isn't that called rugby?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Everyone knows you play Mario/Metroid etc and all other Nintendo-exclusive franchises on Wii.
Could be, but it's the only sports game that I ever seen that made the cheering of the audience feel just like the real thing, i.e they oooh and aaaw at exactly the same time a real audience would.
The main changes in sports games are usually the team rosters and player profiles anyway.
EA is a publisher, not a game developer.
Then allow me to rephrase: "I have a hard time believing that a company as big as $wholly_owned_EA_subsidiary, does not have some data import engine written that ALL their games use."
I've seen an early version of a "newer" NHL game before (it was the new one that was to come out the year I saw it). This "new" game had the splash screen from the previous year's game. EA has a habit of just tweaking some stuff and adding the new roster into their yearly sports games. Sometimes, they change some of the UI around so that it's not too apparent that it's the same game.
However, every few years, the tweaks are a little better and are really a good upgrade to the game. That being said, there was a bug with the goalie where if you did a certain play, you were assured a goal. This bug had been in the game since NHL 98 I believe. There are many bugs like these that are reported but get flagged as a "legacy" issue because it was in the previous installment. These issues usually don't get fixed until a few years later.