Electronic Arts (EA) Executive Producer of Football Andrew Wilson recently had a chat with gaming site Computer and Video Games (CVG) about the future of sports in video games, especially during this cycle of the console war. If you think FIFA 07 is next-gen already, you will be surprised with EA's plans.

Before that though, Wilson couldn't help but reminisce on what their development team experienced while making FIFA video games for the current-gen consoles. He lamented,

We ran out of space on the disc with current gen. Last year's FIFA had 26 leagues, 15 thousand players, kits, players, stadiums, audio and music, you just run out of space. The next-gen discs have got more space so in the short term we will have much more commentary on our games.

After that, the official remarked that they are quite happy with the online capabilities of today's video gaming consoles, especially those of the Xbox 360's and PlayStation 3's (PS3). When asked about possible additions to upcoming titles, Andrew Wilson focused on the game's commentary features.

According to him, EA is considering to pop in "dynamic commentary" in their games so fans wouldn't be hearing the same statement twice. This, according to Wilson, can be done on a weekly basis. His exact words were,

But think about competitions. Imagine having commentators popping up to commentate on interactive games. So you're not reliant on commentary from our game anymore, you got someone who gets online and comments every week instead, who then gets a reputation.

Pretty exciting, don't you think so? We wonder now when this dynamic commentary feature will be incorporated to the game. It better be sooner than later.

According to Xboxyde.com, an upcoming event to be officially unveiled tomorrow will be that Adidas will sponsor a whole week of free Xbox Live gold gaming on the 8th of May, which is a Monday, until the 15th of the month all of this while E3 will be going on. They are also promising that new free Marketplace content - trailers, demos and exclusive gamer pictures will be released each day, but the titles are yet to be announced. The reason for the sponsoring will be Xbox Live™ Football Free-For-All and will give you a chance to play Fifa World Cup 2006, to win matches and end up as number #1 on the leaderboards (if you're good enough). If you're still number one on the 24th, you'll be qualified for the Xbox Cup in Germany this summer, and represent your country there. For all those without Gold access mark Monday the 8th of May on your calenders as your account will change to gold status for the entire week of free online gaming.

EA has released a trailer for FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 which includes actual gameplay footage. In it, we can see a few plays being made, penalties being called, and even a dramatic corner kick. The character models up close look great, but during play the camera is zoomed too far out to notice each character. Instead, the bird's eye view gives a nice look at the stadium as a whole and makes conducting plays a lot easier. The replay cameras are positioned effectively and the end result is a realistic looking presentation, so this trailer is definitely worth a watch.

Download: [FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 Trailer]

Enough of the April Fools mania, let’s now go down to business. Xbox 360 has revealed a list of new titles set for release this April, and I have made a short preview as well as the exact release date for all those Xbox 360 loyalists out there (wink, wink).

First off the list is Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, a game based on the blockbuster online multiplayer war Battlefield franchise. Developed by Digital Illusions, gamers will be included in the battle to another realm of modern-war. Players from the United States, China and the Middle East Coalition will all be represented in harrowing 24-player battles. Tanks, choppers and more than 30 military vehicles can be utilized by the player including full access to more than 70 kinds of weapons such as heat-seeking missiles, laser-designated bombs and other modern military hardware. This title will see the light of videostores this coming April 11.

Lara Croft is not to be outdone by mere soldiers with their toy tanks; she is also set to invade Xbox 360 consoles on April 11 with the latest installment Tomb Raider: Legend. Frontlining the game are new character animations and control schemes that goes along well with the natural character design and level details for the most immersive chapter in the series. Lara comes toting modern devices such as a magnetic grappling device, binoculars, frag grenades, personal lighting device and communications equipment for her all-new adventure.

A week after those two titles, Final Fantasy XI will hit video retailer’s shelves. Players from around the world control the fate of the world of Vana'diel as they take missions to defend its nations and people. Customizable characters allow players to tailor physical attributes and skills to suit individual tastes. Adventures span over 100 different areas such as mountains, deserts, oceans, castles and dungeons. Environments take on a life of their own as time and weather constantly change.

Virtual World Cup kicks off at April 24 via FIFA 2006: Road to FIFA World Cup. Players will be able to experience an enhanced gameplay engine that delivers extremely responsive controls and greater level of depth. New physics and animations mean that players will now react more realistically to every tackle, shot or pass of the ball. High-definition technology brings you details of the players that are accurately recreated in fine medium Xbox 360’s technology truly brings to life 80,000 chanting fans in a stadium and immerses you in the emotional intensity of FIFA World Cup football.

April is a good month for sports, believe it or not even for gamers. Proof enough is Major League Baseball 2K6 that ships out on the same date as FIFA 2006: Road to FIFA World Cup. The 2K6 edition “sports” innovative features such as a new movement system and realistic player collisions on the infield and outfield to take the virtual baseball experience to the next level. Broadcast elements boasts of flashback replays and an exceptional player morale system that aims to unfold the drama like never before in a baseball video game.

I don’t know about you, but I’m salivating buckets here...

Ah the World Cup! Bastion of beer, citadel of crusading chip crunching, couch coaches and home of "holler till hoarse" Hungarian hooligans... oh yeah, and there's some footy thrown in for good measure as well. For EA it's all about capturing the essence of this biggest of celebrations of "the beautiful game", at least in this first dev diary it is:

What were main focuses for your design?

The great thing about the FIFA World Cup is the fact that it always brings new stadiums that are built for the event.

The first thing we had to do was make sure we had all the reference material possible to build them accurately and efficiently. In addition to acquiring footage from our licensed partners, we sent photographers out to take photos of each stadium.

In many cases we took hundreds of photos to get absolutely accurate reference ranging from the way rafters look and the lighting standards on the pitch through to images of the bolts and hinges on the seats.

FIFA also gave us reference of how the graphics, such as the hoardings, and colours would be used in each stadium, so when people play the game, it will be accurate to the real event.

Also, as this is the FIFA World Cup and the biggest celebration of football every four years, we wanted to ensure we captured the festival atmosphere and ensuring our new 3D crowd to look and behave like the real thing. Fans throw streamers and confetti, as well as holding up giant flags in the crowd.

What were the challenges?

When you put a lot of detail into things like the players, their kits, and the pitch they play on - that doesn't leave a lot of room for things like balloons, fireworks, confetti, streamer, and flags.

We had to build our stadiums in a way that the best parts of the geometry were shown in gameplay cameras. That means putting less detail in the last row of the upper tier of seats, as opposed to the lower level seats, and paying attention to things like staff and photographers seen standing around the perimeter of the pitch.

When you're dealing with a video game, you've only got so much display memory that you can use at one time - so we had to re-think where to put the details in stadium. The end result is a great looking stadium, with lots of effects and a party atmosphere.

What technical tricks did you employ?

Aside from putting less polygons and detail in to the areas you don't see a lot in gameplay, we also worked on a new lighting engine for the game. We have day, night and dusk lighting conditions, with dusk being the most dramatic.

The sun will shine through the stadium gaps and cast accurately colored shadows on both the pitch and the crowd. Even the flags hanging in the rafters cast colored shadows on the crowd as our artificial sun shines through them. We also used depth of field to help focus on key areas of the stadium when viewing gameplay and the cut-scenes. This way we focus the gamers’ attention on the things that look best in each situation. Even our goal net has new physics applied, so each shot into the net will look more accurate than before.

Every four years the whole world (except the US) grinds to a screeching halt, puts aside its problems and sits down in front of the telly to partake in the greatest tournament in history, the FIFA World Cup. Every time that happens the good folks at EA celebrate by supplying every couch coaches dream, take your team to the big stage, stare down Rooney, Owen and Ronaldinho and battle for the most coveted prize on earth, the golden statue thingy. These are your warriors, your soldiers, and your battlegrounds, study them well.

Of course if you have no interest in soccer whatsoever you could just have a gander at the pretties!


View the rest of the screens after the jump!