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.

Here are three new tutorial videos for your learning experience for FIFA 07. Now, this collection ought to be more than sufficient for you to learn the important tricks of the trade when playing this game on your X360s, PSPs and DS.

The first vid, as the title so blatantly tells, is a tutorial on how to do free kicks. With the help of this vid, you should be able to place your kicks just right, out of the reach of the defense. The second one, meanwhile, teaches you how to do those passes. Yep, those sweaty hands should no longer be a problem for you after watching this. The third, but not least, shows you how it is to pull off a master defense stunt.

Cumulatively, these tutorial videos definitely are a surefire way to get you wearing that pro uniform in no time. So, set that popcorn aside for a while, and get ready for some field action!

Free Kicks

Kick off the rest of the tutorials by clicking on Full Article!

You guys are probably too busy playing multiplayer on Gears, but just in case you care, here's the news: Andries Smit from the Netherlands emerged victorious from the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2006, after beating Austrian Wolfgang Meier in a grueling Grand Final that had its final score pegged at 6:4.

Here's what Smit had to say after receiving the prize money of $20,000:

I’m absolutely amazed, stunned and delighted! I thought that it was just great to be in the Grand Final, but here I am leaving with the title and a trip to Zurich to the FIFA World Player Gala! I can’t believe it! The whole tournament was just brilliant

Even though the football was all virtual (they were playing FIFA 07), Amsterdam's Westergasfabriek was tightly packed with 1,500 spectators. What's nice about this year is that this years' Cup can truly be called a global event. In addition to the qualifying events that took place around the world, players from 25 countries competed on Xbox Live for their place in the Grand Final. This year’s finalists also met the 16 final contestants from the two previous FIWC tournaments.

Too bad last year's winner didn't get as much as this year's did.

The smoke has cleared, the battle is over, and the crowds go wild in Geneva, Switzerland. It's been a month since the FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC), and today, we're happy to announce that amid all the grueling matches and nail-biting moments of the competition, 128 finalists have now secured their place in the FIWC Grand Final for FIFA 07.

These finalists will be given an all-expense-paid trip to the Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam on December 9. Here, these 128 finalists will be facing off in the final matches to determine who becomes FIFA Interactive World Player 2006. The winner receives a cash prize of US$ 20,000, and will be invited to attend the FIFA World Payer Gala 2006 at the Opera House in Zurich on December 18, Monday.

Drawn in from a combination of 38 qualifying events, and Xbox Live eliminations from 25 different countries, these 128 competitors are chosen as the winners of their own local events, consisting of 68 off-line qualifiers, 44 Xbox Live qualifiers, and 16 previous FIWC finalists.

Richard Teversham, Head of Marketing, Xbox Europe:

We’re really excited to be part of the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2006 - exclusively bringing next generation, high-definition football gaming action to players across the globe with FIFA 07. The gaming tournament on Xbox Live was a great success allowing our 4 million members worldwide the chance be part of this great competition and take on their friends. It will be great to see the finals played out on the screen in Amsterdam, just like being at a big match for real.

The end of the month is coming up, and while you guys will be out there running around trick-or-treating, we thought we'd tickle your gaming sweet tooth by giving you a compilation list of the games coming out for the next few days. Once again, save
yourself the trouble of sweating out a long walk to you local retail store, and enjoy our Halloween treat for  'ya.

And while there's a lot of games to look forward to, we'll have to honestly say that our top picks would have to be The Sims 2: Pets (Sickeningly cute animals, go figure), and FEAR (This one just for this holiday's sake).

Nintendo DS

• 10/30/06 Children of Mana
• 10/30/06 Pokemon Ranger
• 10/31/06 Konductra
• 10/31/06 Nacho Libre
• 10/31/06 The Sims 2: Pets
• 10/31/06 Tom and Jerry Tales
• 10/31/06 Scurge: Hive
• 11/01/06 Chicken Little: Ace in Action

See the full list after the jump!

It's that time of year again folks, and this year it's gonna be better than ever before. If you haven't guessed what I'm talking about, it's the annual FIFA world cup, and the reason why it's gonna be better this year than any other is because this year it's using the uprated FIFA 07 engine and the amazing Xbox 360.

The FIFA Interactive World Cup 2006 kicks off November 1st and will see gamers from the UK, and around Xbox Live competing to be crowned FIFA Interactive world cup winner, and being treated to an all-expenses-paid to the FIFA World Player Gala in Zurich on December 18, and win US$ 20,000 - which, even for us lavish QJ bloggers, is a lot of money.

To get in practice for the interactive world cup, you should be getting in as much practice as you can with the FIFA 07 demo, which you can find on the XBL Marketplace. In order to enter you can either go to a qualifier event or sign up to take part on Xbox Live from November 1 at www.FIFA.com, but since the qualifiers were taking place in HMV stores this weekend, it looks like you'll have to sign up for an Xbox Live trial if you missed out on a qualifier event.

Pre-order: [FIFA 07]

In our most recent FIFA 07 article, Remi M. said that the screenshots we brought you then were EA's last bang before the game comes out on the 31st. Well, we're gonna have to say the same with the video we have for you now. Think of this too as a last crowd wave before your favorite teams go out into the field for some ball-kickin' action.

Here, the dev team talks about the next-gen features of the game: from the new engines (for animation, physics, and A.I.) to the development of graphics; the player-modelling, differences in the game characters' procedural awareness, and tons more. The video is kinda technical but it's definitely not boring 'coz the video visualizes every techy thing they explain. You'll also get to see current-gen and next-gen visual comparisons, so if you wanna check that out, just watch the vid above and let the dev team give it to straight. Enjoy!

Buy: [FIFA 07]

Consider this as EA's one last hurrah of FIFA 07screenshots before they release it for the Xbox 360 this coming October 31. Well, in due time, we'll stop relying on those screenshots and on that hands-on demo review of ours for you to decide if the game is really good as it will soon be on its way to your friendly-neighborhood stores.

Surely, our days of saying "we have more screenshots of FIFA 07" and "we have more details about the game..." are coming to an end but still, it was fun telling you about what we're able to find about the game. And your comments, wow, they are highly valued here! And the sentimental blabber ends here.

Most of you have probably played the demo that was released a few weeks back so you may have already decided on whether you're buying it or not. For now, since October 31 is still far (six days could be like forever sometimes), here are some screenshots to accompany you in you're waiting. Checking out the full article will lead you to more screens so have fun you guys!

Buy: [FIFA 07 for Xbox 360]

FIFA 07 has already been released for the PS2, PSP, Nintendo DS, GameCube, PC, and Xbox early this month, but it has yet to debut on the Xbox 360.

Some of you might be wondering why the Xbox 360 version took a little longer to be released than the other platform versions. The reason is that Electronic Arts developed a new sports engine for the Xbox 360 version of FIFA 07. As such, the game is expected to have improved graphics and better controls.

Of course, we'll reserve judgment until the game is released on October 31 in North America. But if you can't wait much longer, you can check out the game trailer and see if the graphics have really improved. From the looks of it, the graphics seem to be sharper and movements are more fluid - you'd only have to watch Ronaldhino do the samba to say that.

Download: [FIFA 07 Xbox 360 trailer]
Pre-order: [FIFA 07 Xbox 360]

The football season will finally begin for the Xbox 360 on October 27 in Europe and October 31 in the United States with the release of the much-awaited game FIFA 07. For this version, the graphics and physics engine used will be exclusive for a full year. With a total of 27 confirmed leagues for the game, this is definitely one hot field. There's also a featured "Rest of World" league, along with 14 extra clubs. For the international division, FIFA 07 has 41 teams included.

Of course, where you play it is just as important as what you play. So to make sure you'd get your pick from among international stadiums, there are a total of 51 stadiums confirmed for the game. Literally, you can play wherever you want. What's also particularly new in the Xbox 360 version is the learning commentary, which means that the commentary AI will remember what's happened previously in the match, and thus act accordingly.

Yup, all those sure sounds tasty. But while there are a few days left before you can get your hands on the game, might as well get your hands on these fill of screenshots. There's 28 of them in all, so I guess that should keep you happy for the next couple of days and 'til the game is released. Enjoy!

Pre-order: [FIFA 07]

More FIFA 07 action after the jump!