We focus on very small micro-transactions rather than the kind of Tiger Woods four-dollar maxed-out golfer kind of deal.One of EAs best selling franchises sees another yearly update, just months after the release of UEFA Euro 2008. I can't actually tell you the prices officially as yet, unfortunately, but they aren't going to be very much at all. If they aren't able to get to the same level because they can't devote the time, then maybe they want the shortcut and will spend a few pence and get one of the card packs. It's basically just a shortcut, because we didn't want to reward users who are able to just devote more time to Ultimate Team obviously working guys are only able to go home and play for a few hours. Buying a card pack for real-world cash is in no way more advantageous than buying with in-game currency. There's nothing you can't get in the game that you can out of the game. With regards to the micro-transaction card packs: very important to note that they're only there as a shortcut, really. It was an entirely separate dev team working on this for the past year, so it's not just a break-off from FIFA with a few people. It is an add-on to FIFA in the sense that you need FIFA 09 to play it, but it's important to note that it's essentially a full game by itself. Those are currently being finalised: expect an announcement soon. And we wanted to do that for FIFA users rather than do a traditional packaged game once a year and walk away we want to keep content flowing through FIFA year round, so you don't play for a few months and consider it dead until the next one comes out. In terms of the way we're offering it as a download and an add-on: the online usage figures for FIFA 09 are through the roof, and there seems to be an appetite for DLC and add-ons to keep games fresh. Always getting sodding Tottenham players. It's something that just fits very well into the FIFA world. And it lends itself well to FIFA because the game covers a broader range and so there's much more depth in the card game because we can have a lot more players. That game was never quite as big at EA as FIFA, so we never really thought it achieved its potential. The other reason is that we did something similar in a Champions League game a few years back and it was universally well-received. Obviously we could just do another competition or a cup tournament or whatever, but that's ground we've already covered. One of the key reasons we came up with idea is that it is very unique and not something FIFA gamers have experienced before. And ask them some silly questions about football. Keen to find out more, we sat down with Ultimate Team producer Matt Prior and Football Academy lead designer Chris Coates to find out more. The former bolts on an enormous card-trading strategy feast for the bustling online community to devour, while the latter bravely mixes an unknown Pokémon, FIFA and Brain Training concoction and awaits the result. FIFA 09 online add-on Ultimate Team, and Football Academy for DS, are products of this era. We've also seen EA recently knuckle down with Need for Speed and focus specifically on platforms and tailor-make games for each audience, and we've also seen EA adopt a much tighter stance on quality control. EA has poured serious time and effort into the FIFA brand over recent years, not just on painstakingly recreating the beautiful game, but complementing the package with ambitious online features like Be A Pro mode - where 20 real people each control one outfield player during a match - and Adidas Live Seasons, which each week update player stats to match real-life goings-on.
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