FIFA-World-Cup
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Portugal wins virtual World Cup
With Portugal facing off against France at 3:00 p.m. EST today, they can at least hit the field knowing their virtual counterparts went all the way. A team from Portugal took the gold in the Xbox Cup, an online tournament using 2006 Fifa World Cup as the medium. The team faced off against Mexico a few hours prior to the England-Portugal match that ended with Portugal's victory in a 3-1 penalty shootout. In the virtual World Cup, Portugal beat Mexico 2-1. Ironically, Germany had been eliminated by Mexico in extra time, similar to its final defeat in the actual World Cup. Peter Moore presented the trophy to the team, 28-year-old Miguel Angelo Dinis and 21-year-old Antonio Luis Ferreira Gomes. While on hand, Moore also gave props to his console of choice, opining that "seeing the matches being played out on the Xbox 360 has been nearly as good as watching a real football match!" Mr. Moore, I think you need a corroborator on that one, so feel free to fly me to Germany for the final two games of the 2006 World Cup.
World Cup keeps EA at top of sales charts
Team USA may have been eliminated from Cup contention, but North American sales have remained strong for Electronic Arts' FIFA 2006 World Cup. According to Amazon's sales charts, EA's footballer is currently the top selling game for the Xbox 360, the second most popular PlayStation 2 title, and a solid #3 on the original Xbox. The PSP edition also checks in at a respectable #6. Meanwhile, DS gamers are busy flexing their brains, while the GameCube faithful partake in a half dozen adventures with the plumber. See also: UK sales charts, June 4-10: World Cup fever Czechs win 2006 World Cup (sort of)
Metareview - 2006 FIFA World Cup
Though EA has released several FIFA iterations this year, the new 2006 World Cup might be worth a look if you haven't played the series in a while and have $30 bucks to spare. If anything it should get you pumped for the world's largest sporting event if you're a futbol buff. IGN 84% - "EA put together its most solid soccer gameplay experience yet and the deepest World Cup title of all time. Still, it's hard to argue that the gameplay, an obvious imitation of Winning Eleven, is better, but with star players and a nifty new shooting mechanism, it would be hard to argue it's worse." Games Radar 70% - "The biggest disappointment is the sheer lack of innovation in the game engine and graphics. Yes, the shooting mechanic is a little different, but for the most part the gameplay is the same as the last few FIFA games."
Toshiba's Dynabook 2006 FIFA World Cup laptop
So you've got your FIFA World Cup Xbox 360 and HDTV read to go but, well, you’re still just not feelin’ that World Cup fever? How ‘bout trying on a new, limited edition Toshiba Dynabook 2006 FIFA Word Cup laptop? This pup starts with a Dynabook TX base (1.6GHz Core Duo, 15.4-inch WXGA LCD, 80GB disk, 512MB RAM, and Harman & Kardon speakers), lays on a healthy slathering of gold paint inscribed with the dates and countries of previous World Cup hosts/winners, loads-up a multitude of soccertastic themes, and then slaps on a serial plate just in case your silicon slab gets mixed-in with one of the other 600 units produced. Now the ol' mercury's rising, eh? Ok, maybe not. Still, they'll be shipping May 26 for right around $1700 -- just in time for some hard posing at the pub or heaving onto the pitch should the “Hand-of-God” make its return. [Thanks, Roygbiv]
