News: Full team non-American football.
Electronic Arts announced that FIFA 08 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 will support 10 players anywhere in the world in a single match and lock them into single, fixed role as a disciplined football player. Dubbed Be A Pro: Online Team Play, this free role-playing-like download will be ready about six to eight weeks after the game goes to stores.
EA detailed its plans on the download in an official statement
Be A Pro: Online Team Play is the evolution of a new play mode featured in FIFA 08 called Be A Pro that locks you into the role of a single, fixed player the entire game and challenges you to master the same disciplines as a real football playerЧfrom positioning and tackling to reading the field and passing. Users receive real time feedback and analysis on the fly and a unique camera angle keeps both player and action in focus, zooming in when you're on attack. Now in Be A Pro: Online Team Play, up to five friends on different consoles will be able to select and take control of their own individual players on the same team, supported by AI teammates, to play against up to five rivals of another team. Alternatively, online users can select to play with free roaming players, and teams can have a combination of both.
УAt EA SPORTS our dream is to create a full 11 versus 11 online gameplay experience in which each user will have a set position during the match and train specifically for that position,Ф said Joe Booth, producer of FIFA 08. УBe A Pro is the first step in this direction, and now, with the ability to deliver five versus five online gameplay as free downloadable content, we are moving even closer towards the realization of this dream.Ф
УBe A Pro forces you to think and react like a professional player where you experience the whole range of emotions players go through during the course of a game,Ф said Andrew Wilson, Executive Producer of FIFA 08. УNow we are taking this experience online for you to share with your friends. You will have to learn to work together as a team much like any real teams go through in order to be successful.Ф
In addition to Be A Pro: Online Team Play, the online feature set in FIFA 08 includes the award-winning Interactive Leagues, where you represent your club online against your rivals throughout the season in the F.A. Premier League, Bundesliga, French League or Mexican 1st Division and features weekly in-game pod casts by the development team, and Online Leagues, where you create and organize your own multiplayer Friends Leagues and tournaments with all the tools in-game.
FIFA 08 debuts in Europe on September 28 followed by North America on October 9. That means we'll probably see this Be A Pro: Online Team Play download sometime between November 20 or December 4. Stay tuned to Gaming Target for more.