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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."
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 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.
http://www.ign.com/articles/1998/01/01/olympic-hockey-nagano-98
"We'll post a new review when Midway releases a new game."
Isn't WoW subscription based? You pay for a new game every month!
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.
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.
Touché.
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
How would you feel buying a new copy of WoW every time they changed the stats on an item? Nonsensical.
The hard-core sports gamer cares about rule changes, rosters, stats, authentically detailed uniforms, stadiums and so on. What he wants to do is to recreate the experience he has seen live or on TV.
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.
Some of my friends and I had the TurboGrafx 16 (PC Engine). NEC hadn't bothered to get the rights to any of the sports games, so as a result we didn't really worry about the age of the game. In fact, it was a long time before a better baseball game came out on any platform.
It's not like the EA rosters were realistic anyway - I remember during the early 90's playing Madden Football on the Sega Genesis, and the players were endowed with talents that they did not have. You could scramble with Rodney Pete.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Then I guess he should start to exercise really hard. I heard then they don't even have to pay money, they get money.
It's so win-win...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Plus, even after both games have been out for over three years now, they can still be played, there are still servers for them.
Is it still possible to play FIFA 10 online?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Dude I know. In NBA Jam you could literally set the basketball on fire!
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
"He's heating up!"
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
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.
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.
Plus, even after both games have been out for over three years now, they can still be played, there are still servers for them.
Is it still possible to play FIFA 10 online?
I stopped buying EA Sports games after buying Tiger Woods 11 in mid 2011' only for the online features to be removed before the year was out, presumably to encourage buyers on to Tiger Woods 12. I expect more than 6 months of value from a game.
Your optimism strikes me like junkmail addressed to the dead.
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.
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."