Yesterday we got to take another mammoth trip to EA's glass fortress to check out the PS2 version of FIFA 08 and its game-shaking co-op mode.

Last-gen producer Paul Hossack said the four-player co-op mode, which has gamers controlling a single player on the pitch, is just a small preview of what's to come.

It's "only the beginning," he said. "One thing we aspire to get to is an 11 vs 11 online scenario. That's not something we're delivering this year, but what you have in Be a Pro co-op season is a really good first step, because to get to 11 vs 11 we have to make sure that people start off on the right foot and get used to playing together as one player."

He continued: "I think we've done a really good job this year of educating people in that, but also giving them a mode that's really fun to play in by itself."

From our hands-on time we have to agree that Be a Pro co-op is certainly a way of testing the water. It takes a little while to get used to, but eventually you'll be playing FIFA in a completely different way, taking the right position and working with your teammate.

"Where that leads to and how soon we get to 11 vs 11, we'll see where we end up," commented Hossack.

How long will we have to wait for full online soccer though? And will it make us all shockingly overweight when it arrives?

July 31, 2007