Game developer Joe Nickolls talks about EA’s 2006 FIFA World Cup

FIFAElectronic Arts Joe Nickolls imparted much about his latest stint with the said company — 2006 FIFA World Cup. Exuding excitement the minute he started describing the innovations they made to the best-selling title, Mr. Nickolls detailed every added feature and improvement.

When asked about the star-player feature, he said that it was made “to highlight what the stars of the game are capable of”, adding that development were geared to which part of the game a particular player is good at. Like if a player is known to be good at dribbling, then his character in the game is more advanced in dribbling skills. “Players like Ronaldhino from Brazil has his signature ‘flip-flop’ move when dribbling, Zinedine Zidane from France has the 360 spin etc.” he added.

Regarding the gameÂ’s settings, he described them as “quite different”.  According to him, the stadiums, lighting conditions, the grass condition, and the crowds all vary from place to place. Even crowds were created taking the atmosphere in to deep consideration.

One of the features he really was excited about was the historic World Cup games that can be replayed with modern teams. He enumerated some of the World Cup Finals that users will be able to reenact such as England 1966: England won 4-2 over Germany after Extra Time; USA 1994: Brazil won on penalties over Italy; Mexico 1986: Argentina won 3-2 over Germany; Argentina 1978: Argentina won 3-1 over Netherlands after Extra Time.

He also explained the latest and perhaps the most noticeable innovation to the gameplay – shooting. HereÂ’s how it goes in his exact words —“The longer you hold the shoot button down, the higher the angle of the shot. The power and accuracy of your shot is determined by a few things like the ability of the striker shooting, where they are and what foot they take the shot with, what kind of a shooter they are (long shot or a clinical finisher) and their accuracy skill rating.” This was done to make the experience more realistic, it is also aimed at exploiting the superstar element in the game since the World Cup is the gathering of more-skilled footballers.

As a closure, Mr. Nickolls hopes to make every gamer notice the amount of work they’ve put into the title citing that the game “is about 7 times bigger than 2002 FIFA World Cup”, well, for the sake of soccer fans/gamers worldwide (and his job), I hope what he says is true.
FIFAElectronic Arts Joe Nickolls imparted much about his latest stint with the said company — 2006 FIFA World Cup. Exuding excitement the minute he started describing the innovations they made to the best-selling title, Mr. Nickolls detailed every added feature and improvement.

When asked about the star-player feature, he said that it was made “to highlight what the stars of the game are capable of”, adding that development were geared to which part of the game a particular player is good at. Like if a player is known to be good at dribbling, then his character in the game is more advanced in dribbling skills. “Players like Ronaldhino from Brazil has his signature ‘flip-flop’ move when dribbling, Zinedine Zidane from France has the 360 spin etc.” he added.

Regarding the gameÂ’s settings, he described them as “quite different”.  According to him, the stadiums, lighting conditions, the grass condition, and the crowds all vary from place to place. Even crowds were created taking the atmosphere in to deep consideration.

One of the features he really was excited about was the historic World Cup games that can be replayed with modern teams. He enumerated some of the World Cup Finals that users will be able to reenact such as England 1966: England won 4-2 over Germany after Extra Time; USA 1994: Brazil won on penalties over Italy; Mexico 1986: Argentina won 3-2 over Germany; Argentina 1978: Argentina won 3-1 over Netherlands after Extra Time.

He also explained the latest and perhaps the most noticeable innovation to the gameplay – shooting. HereÂ’s how it goes in his exact words —“The longer you hold the shoot button down, the higher the angle of the shot. The power and accuracy of your shot is determined by a few things like the ability of the striker shooting, where they are and what foot they take the shot with, what kind of a shooter they are (long shot or a clinical finisher) and their accuracy skill rating.” This was done to make the experience more realistic, it is also aimed at exploiting the superstar element in the game since the World Cup is the gathering of more-skilled footballers.

As a closure, Mr. Nickolls hopes to make every gamer notice the amount of work they’ve put into the title citing that the game “is about 7 times bigger than 2002 FIFA World Cup”, well, for the sake of soccer fans/gamers worldwide (and his job), I hope what he says is true.

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