FIFA
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FIFA YouTuber admits to breaking UK gambling law
A prominent British YouTuber has been fined for running an unlicensed FIFA betting website called FUT Galaxy. Craig Douglas, better known as "NepentheZ" online, pleaded guilty to two charges -- being an officer of an unlicensed gambling company, and another linked to the advertising of unlawful betting. His business partner, Dylan Rigby, admitted to three charges related to the provision of betting facilities and advertising illegal gambling. As BBC News reports, this is the first time a UK court has prosecuted people for running an unlicensed gambling website in connection with a video game.
ESPN strikes deal with EA to broadcast 'FIFA' eSports tournaments
ESPN isn't slowing down its plans to make eSports mainstream. The network has now teamed up with EA to broadcast FIFA tournaments on most of its channels, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and the internet-based ESPN3. Last year, ESPN embraced competitive gaming with a dedicated section on its site, followed by coverage of different championships across the world. It's a significant cultural shift for a company whose president, John Skipper, not long ago expressed that he didn't see eSports as "real sports."
Watch the Nintendo Switch event in less than 12 minutes
What a night. While you were (probably) fast asleep, Nintendo ended months of speculation by revealing a ton of new info about its upcoming console. Most important, the Switch launches globally March 3rd and will cost $300. Nintendo also announced a number of new games for the system, including Super Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2, a custom Switch version of FIFA, Xenoblade 2, Skyrim and a weird but fun-looking new IP -- Arms. There are also new titles and ports from big hitters like Ubisoft and Square Enix, and we're even promised a sequel to No More Heroes.
Russian Parliament members claim FIFA 17 is gay propaganda
The Russian government has a problem with a lot of current technology: a YouTuber was imprisoned for playing Pokémon Go, Microsoft Outlook was banned from government computers for being an American boogeyman, and good luck accessing LinkedIn from St. Petersburg. This week, Electronic Arts became the country's latest target when a group of Russian members of Parliament asked the government's communications oversight agency to possibly block FIFA 17 after the popular soccer franchise promoted a tie-in with a UK-based LGBT rights group.
'FIFA' hackers guilty of 'mining' $16 million from EA
We tend to think of 'wire fraud' as a white collar crime perpetrated against a banking institution, but in a world with virtual currencies and online marketplace, the reality can be a bit more complex. Take the case of Anthony Clark, a 24-year-old man from Whittier, CA, who was found guilty of a conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He didn't defraud a major US bank -- he and three others mined $16 million worth of FIFA Coins from EA Sports' popular series of soccer games.
'FIFA 17' marks a new beginning for the soccer franchise
I've been playing FIFA since its first title launched on Super Nintendo, when characters on the screen looked like nothing more than colorful stick figures. Nowadays, thanks to the power of modern gaming consoles, the visuals and gameplay are as close to the real thing as it gets. So much so, in fact, that oftentimes when FIFA is on my TV someone asks, "What game are you watching?" FIFA 17, which arrived yesterday in the US and lands tomorrow worldwide, is no exception.
The first Xbox One S bundles in the UK are really cheap
Microsoft's Xbox One S is just the right kind of mid-generation hardware update. The neater console, with a better bundled gamepad and 4K Blu-ray drive, is tempting enough without feeling like a big ol' middle finger to OG Xbox One owners. When it launched in the UK towards the beginning of last month, though, its £350 price tag wasn't exactly accessible. But today, the first One S console bundles (with FIFA 17 included) have launched, lowering the cost of entry to dangerous, impulse-buy territory.
YouTube star charged over 'FIFA' game betting
The consequences of promoting dodgy bets on video games can extend well beyond account suspensions and tarnished reputations. YouTube star Craig Douglas (aka NepentheZ) and FUTgalaxy owner Dylan Rigby have both been charged with violating the UK's Gambling Act through their respective businesses. The two allegedly used their online presences to push lotteries and "unlawful gambling" in FIFA 16 matches through bets with in-game coins. Douglas is also accused of encouraging underage gambling by refusing to warn viewers that bets were only for people 18 and over.
Manchester City signs its first FIFA eSports player
At this rate the Premier League will need its own dedicated eSports division. Following West Ham United, which signed Sean "Dragonn" Allen back in May, Manchester City has recruited its own FIFA star. Kieran "Kez" Brown is the club's first eSports signing and will represent the team at both major tournaments and fan events. He's not the biggest name -- his YouTube channel has less than 12,000 subscribers -- but he is a competent player. Prolific YouTuber Spencer Owen held a competition earlier this year to recruit a FIFA fanatic into his professional "Hashtag United" team; Brown narrowly missed out, losing to Harry Hesketh in the final.
FIFA vs PES: The battle to make the best soccer game rages on
FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer? It's a debate that's been around almost as long as I've been playing soccer (or football, to me and the rest of the world) games. Since their introductions in 1993 and 1996, respectively, EA and Konami's series have been trying to outdo each other, adding various new features, tweaking their gameplay styles and snapping up licenses to appeal to fans. This year is no different, and the question is once again a hard one to answer.
Here's everything we saw at EA's E3 'Play' event
Today, video game juggernaut Electronic Arts kicked off this year's Electronics Entertainment Expo with a show all its own. If you weren't a member of the press or one of the lucky few fans that were let into the event to experience it firsthand, don't worry: We've collected all the trailers that made their debut on The Novo theater's stage and put them in one handy spot for you. Want a look at the new multiplayer trailer for October's Titanfall 2? Look no further. How about FIFA 17's intriguing single-player story mode? We've got your back there as well, with a few other bits like a new glimpse at Battlefield 1's World War I action. Join us below, won't you?
EA's 'FIFA 17' lands on September 27th
Game studios are getting a jump on the E3 news cycle and Electronic Arts is no different. Today, the company announced that FIFA 17, the next installment in its popular soccer franchise will arrive in September. What's more, the game will be powered by Frostbite, a move that VP and executive producer Dave Rutter says "unlocks a whole new world of possibilities." The studio used Frostbite on a sports title in last year's PGA Tour release after employing it on Battlefield and other games.
FIFA will test in-game video replays next year
It took FIFA, soccer's governing body, years to bring goal-line technology into the sport. And even now that the system is approved, there are only a few leagues world taking advantage of it. Still, that decision showed the organization's willingness to evolve and keep up with other sports. Today FIFA, along with the International Football Association Board (which sets the rules for soccer), is taking another step forward by approving tests of video replays to review controversial plays during matches.
West Ham United signs its first FIFA eSports pro
The FIFA video game franchise has grown into a hotly contested eSports discipline. Just like League of Legends, Dota 2 or Counter-Strike, players travel around the world to compete for coveted titles and cash prizes. Now, FIFA professional Sean "Dragonn" Allen has been signed by a legitimate football (or "soccer," as my American colleagues like to call it) club -- West Ham United, the same team that has Dimitri Payet and Cheikhou Kouyate among its ranks. Of course, Allen won't be competing in the Premier League -- he'll be representing the club at FIFA tournaments instead.
The Panama Papers, a breach we can all get behind
Now here's a breach and leak everyone can get behind (unless you're a billionaire despot, that is). Selected excerpts from the Panama Papers dropped on Sunday, an unprecedented snatch-and-grab of offshore tax haven records released to a handful of global news organizations. In them, the tax-avoiding dealings of the super-rich were exposed in a gigantic haul of data said to total around 11.5m files (2.6 terabytes). It was taken from shell-company specialist Mossack Fonseca by an anonymous source, who shared the Panamanian law firm's trove with German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Fox Sports will broadcast FIFA's Interactive World Cup finale
Fox Sports announced on Thursday that it will televise the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2016. The E-sport tournament pits 32 "Grand Finalists" against one another in a three-day contest that will eventually crown the official FIWC 2016 world champion. Fox has made significant efforts lately to integrate modern technology into its sports coverage. The company announced earlier this year that it will record the Big East Men's Basketball Tournament -- as well as the Daytona 500 -- in virtual reality.
The FIFA 2014 World Cup was streamed by 280 million people
FIFA. Oh, FIFA. There are so many things to say regarding football's governing body. But today we're not here to talk about how its top officials are facing corruption charges, or that suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter is hiding in a bunker somewhere trying to avoid the wrath of Loretta Lynch, the US Attorney General. No, that's not it. It's been nearly a year and a half since the 2014 World Cup came to a close, but FIFA has just now released final viewership numbers from the tournament. Most notably, according to FIFA and Kantar Media research, an estimated 280 million people watched it online or via a mobile device.
EA launches an eSports division led by Peter Moore
Electronic Arts, the studio responsible for Star Wars: Battlefront, SimCity and the Battlefield franchise, has launched a new Competitive Gaming Division led by former COO and EA Sports President Peter Moore. The goal of the new business is to cultivate eSports opportunities within EA's library, most notably in the Battlefield, Madden NFL and FIFA franchises. EA's CGD will develop live events and broadcasting featuring eSports, plus create new, officially branded competitive experiences, CEO Andrew Wilson says in a blog post.
FIFA wants to have a wearable tech standard for soccer teams
The past few months haven't been kind to FIFA, football's governing body, after news broke that its top officials were being investigated for corruption crimes. But the organization isn't letting those legal woes get in the way of improving the sport's future. Next month FIFA and the International Football Association Board (IFAB), which is responsible for determining the rules of soccer football, will host meetings to develop a wearable standard for the game. In a nutshell, the idea behind this initiative is to have all professional teams using the same data-tracking technologies for training purposes. Down the line, these could make their way to live matches, to help doctors and coaches on the sidelines. Since there isn't a unified system right now, each club is allowed to work with any method they choose, so the goal is to develop a solution that works equally for everybody across the FIFA network.
'FIFA 16' demo lets you control a women's team for the first time
FIFA 16 is a little special this year. For the first time ever, EA will let you play its football game as one of 12 women's national teams. It's a landmark moment in the series, and today you can see how it all works with the long-anticipated demo on PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC. You can step out onto the turf as one of two women's teams -- the USA or Germany -- or get to grips with one of 10 professional clubs: Barcelona, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Inter Milan, Manchester City, PSG, Real Madrid, Club Atlético River Plate and the Seattle Sounders. With whipped crosses, mid-air tackles and some new finishing animations, there's a lot here to sink your Suarez teeth into.
