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'FIFA 20' is a lot more than just street soccer
For the first time since 2012, street soccer is coming back to the FIFA franchise. Today, at E3 2019, EA Sports revealed a new mode called Volta that will bring small-sided play to FIFA 20, which takes a cue from the FIFA Street series that launched in 2005. While we saw a glimpse of street football in FIFA 18, as part of The Journey campaign, this year's game will feature a fully fledged mode. In Volta, you can create your own character and play in cages and futsal pitches all around the world, including London, Amsterdam and Tokyo. The teams will be made up of three-to-five players, which you can play with your custom character or professional players, and you'll have both story and league modes.
'FIFA 20' revives 'Street' soccer games on September 27th
EA has explored seemingly every angle of official soccer (yes, football) pitches in the FIFA series, so what's left to do? Take it to unofficial pitches, of course. The company is releasing FIFA 20 on September 27th for PC, PS4 and Xbox One, and its centerpiece will be a new Volta league that takes its cue from the streets -- it's really a spiritual successor to the FIFA Street series. You play in much smaller three- to five-person teams, with customization that ranges from your players' outfits through to the walls. You can play story and league modes, or even throw professional players into the fray.
Fox Sports will stream every Women's World Cup game in 4K
Fox Sports offered 4K streams for the 2018 FIFA World Cup last year, but in order to watch them, you had to own a HiSense TV. For the Women's World Cup that begins Friday in France, those higher quality streams will be more readily available. The network told Engadget that for the first time 4K broadcasts will be available inside the Fox Sports and Fox Now apps. They'll still be somewhat limited though: You'll need an Apple TV or Roku device to watch the action on the pitch in 4K (2160p).
EA announces E3 livestream schedule and 'Anthem' isn't on it
Electronic Arts revealed the schedule for this year's EA Play, its annual showcase of its flagship games that takes place during E3. The roughly three-hour livestream will air on June 8 and devote a segment each to six different EA titles; Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Apex Legends, Battlefield V, FIFA 20, Madden NFL 20 and The Sims 4. But what sticks out is the agenda's exclusion of Anthem, a decision probably made in the interest of optics. The much-anticipated BioWare shooter had a disastrous, bug-filled launch in April. Multiple patches have been released since then; the game's latest update was unveiled today. BioWare plans to drop some more Anthem-related news on May 30th during a separate livestream.
'FIFA 19' eChampions League group stages are underway
The inaugural FIFA 19 UEFA eChampions League just got serious. After weeks of online knockout play, the in-person Group Stages are underway at Manchester's Victoria Warehouse. The more definitive phase has 64 pro FIFA 19 PS4 players challenging each other between April 26th and April 27th to become one of just eight people who'll reach the league final in Madrid on May 31st.
Fox Sports lands US broadcast rights to 'FIFA 19' eSports events
Fox Sports will play host to a number of FIFA 19 eSports events this year. Following the EA Sports FUT Champions Cup last weekend, it will broadcast FIFA 19 Global Series events in the US, including this weekend's FIFA eNations Cup in London and the season finale FIFA eWorld Cup.
The FTC will hold a public workshop on loot boxes in August
The Federal Trade Commission pledged in November to investigate loot boxes, and it's set out the timeline for the first steps in the process. It will hold a public workshop on August 7th to look into consumer protection issues linked with them.
EA debuts eSports studio with Madden NFL 19 Challenge
EA is moving deeper into competitive gaming territory by opening an eSports broadcast studio. There are two main studios: the competitive area and a player lounge. The former includes 360-degree sets, spectator cameras and media and audience seating. The player lounge is styled like a New York loft and is kitted out with robotic cameras and directional microphones. The facility also has a control room, a green screen area and a four-person analyst desk.
EA stops selling 'FIFA' currency in Belgium due to loot box law
When Belgium declared that loot boxes were illegal and amounted to gambling, EA didn't react well -- it not only defended the practice, it refused to honor the law and insisted its practice was legal. Authorities saw things differently, however, and EA is backing down. The publisher is halting sales of the FIFA series' in-game currency (FIFA Points) in the country by January 31st after "further discussions with the Belgian authorities." Footie fans can still use any points they have left after that moment, but they'll otherwise have to earn content the old-fashioned way.
Twitter and Fox Sports are making a live show for the Women's World Cup
Following their partnership during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Twitter and Fox Sports are now teaming up on video content for another major FIFA sporting event. For the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, which is being played in France this summer, Twitter and Fox Sports are bringing back their live soccer (er, football) show from last year, though it'll now be called FIFA Women's World Cup Now. The premise is the same as the original program: It'll be live-streamed on Twitter, feature match previews, recaps, highlights, guest appearances and, naturally, the best tweets from users across the site.
Federal Trade Commission agrees to investigate loot boxes
The Federal Trade Commission has agreed to investigate loot boxes in games, along with their impact on kids. The agency's commissioners committed to the probe after Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) raised the issue at a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation subcommittee hearing. Loot boxes offer players in-game items, but because you can often buy them with real money and the virtual goods within are awarded at random, some claim they're tantamount to gambling.
'FIFA' eSports league eMLS expands to 22 teams
eMLS, the FIFA eSports league of Major League Soccer, is getting ready to expand. Following a successful inaugural season earlier this year, the league run in parternship with EA Sports will head into 2019 with three new squads. Atlanta United, D.C. United and FC Cincinnati will all have eSports clubs appearing in the next season. They will compete for the eMLS cup and will join in the new eMLS League Series events.
'FIFA 19' has everything it needs to be the best
I've always tried to love FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer equally, though there are years when one franchise wins me over the other -- even if it's by a tiny bit. You can always count on the game mechanics of Konami's PES to be a pleasure to play, but EA Sports' advantage with FIFA has been that it owns the official licenses to the biggest clubs and players. I don't know about you, but I'd rather play with Manchester United than Man Red. This year, the most important change to FIFA 19 is the addition of the UEFA Champions League, Europe's premier club competition, which had featured on PES since 2008. EA Sports didn't need the Champions League to make FIFA great, but it was basically the only thing it was missing. And now, at the expense of PES, it's finally here.
'FIFA 19' demo gives you an early taste of The Journey this week
It's that time of year again: FIFA demo season. The demo's 2019 installment for, you guessed it FIFA 19, will be released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One September 13th, around two weeks before the full game. The playable teaser features 10 teams total including UEFA Champions League clubs Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.
How Ronaldo's transfer impacted The Journey in 'FIFA 19'
On July 10th, 2018, less than three months before the release of FIFA 19, Juventus announced that it had signed soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid for $110 million. The timing made sense -- at 33, the Portuguese forward is entering his twilight years -- but the move still came as a shock to many, including Electronic Arts and the FIFA team in Vancouver, Canada. "We didn't get a heads-up," Sam Rivera, lead gameplay producer on FIFA 19 said. "It wasn't like, 'hey Ronaldo has actually signed a contract and it will go live tomorrow.' No. We heard at the same time everybody else did."
World Cup tweets were viewed 115 billion times
Twitter had high hopes that the World Cup would be a big hit on its platform. The previous games in 2014 happened before the platform released video features, but this time around, it secured a deal with the event's US rights holder Fox Sports, as well as others across the world, for exclusive content like highlight clips and interviews. As the dust settles following the French team's triumph over underdog Croatia's squad in Sunday's final game, Twitter has released its own numbers to give us an idea how the World Cup went for the platform.
The World Cup showed how VAR will shape soccer’s future
For every football (aka soccer) fan, it doesn't get any bigger than the FIFA World Cup. Every four years since 1930, the tournament has been held in different parts of the globe, and honestly, it hasn't changed much. There was the expansion to include 32 teams in 1998, but the game's rules have rarely been altered -- largely because of FIFA's unwillingness to embrace emerging technologies. But the 2018 edition in Russia, which ended Sunday with France's win over Croatia, was different. For the first time ever, FIFA used the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) at its flagship competition. And the tech, for better or worse (depending on which team you cheered on), certainly made a mark.
'FIFA 18' correctly predicted France's World Cup win
EA Sports has a pretty amazing record when it comes to predicting the outcome of major sporting events. The company used it's FIFA 18 game to correctly opine that Germany would win the 2014 World Cup, and has used the long-running Madden franchise to correctly guess the real winner of the Super Bowl nine out of thirteen times. Now EA wants you to know that it also correctly chose France as the winner of this year's World Cup.
Even the World Cup couldn't escape the 'Fortnite' fever
Now that England is out of the 2018 World Cup, there's one thing we're really going to miss about its team: The goal celebrations from midfielders Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard. While professional athletes creatively expressing themselves after scoring is nothing new, these guys stood out because their quirky moves were inspired by none other than Fortnite. Best of all, they did it at the world's biggest sporting event. Fortnite's mark on the World Cup in Russia is just the latest example of how inescapable the Epic Games' survival title is.
'Alexa, is football coming home?'
You've gotta hand it to England's football fans -- what they lack in World Cup wins they more than make up for in boundless optimism. It's been 52 years since the team won the World Cup, but after their unbearably tense win against Colombia earlier this week, football (or "soccer", except not soccer) is now closer to coming home than it has been for more than half a century -- and even Alexa knows it.
