FIFA 08 PS3 and Xbox 360 developer blog #04

Be A Pro: Online Team Play is going to be downloaded content released in late October/early November. When you log-on through your console on that date the game will tell you this mode is now ready to download, and most importantly, it is going to be free.

In the office it feels like this feature is the dawn of something new. I’ve been playing FIFA a long time but to be able to play with a group of friends – and you have to organize yourself well – is a very different experience. The Offline Training helps you understand what your responsibilities are in the game but it is not until you get in that live situation where you have your teammate shouting at you that it really starts to replicate the pressure of a real-world game. It is really cool.

I played the game the other day where I was the defender. I was doing my job as a defender well and then we had a corner in the 80^th minute of a 1-1 game. I went up for the corner, the ball came to me and I volleyed it into the net. It was so satisfying. I spent all my time doing my job on defense and then all of a sudden to be involved in the winning goal felt 10 times more rewarding than if I would have been playing all ten men as myself.

The other difference when playing Be A Pro is that you are not always in the action so the emotional investment in each touch of the ball is much greater. Say you are a winger and you may not touch the ball for a whole minute or so. You play your position and make sure you are doing your job but the moment the ball comes to you the sense of pressure rises dramatically because you might not see the ball for another minute so you have to make sure your touch matters. And then all of your teammates are focused on you so if you screw up they are going to be after you at the final whistle. It is quite an experience and I hope everyone will enjoy this new way to play FIFA 08.

- Joe

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