**For EA Sports to read & assess** FIFA 09 Improvements & Ideas

[DAMIANH86]

Dear EA Sports.

I am a very passionate FIFA fan and this years' edition of FIFA 08 on the Microsoft XBox 360 and Sony Playstation 3 has been a huge success. I know that many, many fans are pleased with the end result that FIFA 08 has achieved this year. But as a summary of the game and looking at pros and cons of the gameplay. I have been able to come up with a large brainstorm of things to be improved on for the next edition, FIFA 09. Here are my improvements; I have also taken ideas from other FIFA users and implemented them into my summary. Some are essentials and some are not. Never-the-less, I feel that with these ideas in mind, FIFA 09 can be an even bigger success than that of the current FIFA edition.

FIFA 08 pros:

1) Overall gameplay is very good, free flowing and graphical quality is brilliant.

2) When skill moves are pulled off and successfully done, they look superb to see and also to replay back in the Instant Replay option.

3) The AI of the players is very good and players seem real and most of the time play 'life-like'.

4) The intuitive FIFA 08 podcasts, to keep gamers updated of current affairs and league/team and also game information.

5) The free-roam arena mode where gamers can practise skills moves, penalties & free-kicks.

FIFA 08 cons

1) Players (on the pitch) fall over to easily and too much during gameplay.

2) There is no in-game referee or match official/s (i.e linesmen. etc.)

3) If both teams that are playing, when substituting more than one player at any one time. The game doesn't physically show that. It only shows one player being substituted and the remaining substitutes are shown by written text at the bottom of the screen. And the opponents' team substitutes are not even acknowledged or shown.

4) Certain/Some players don't have the appropriate hairstyle. For example, Joe Hart of Manchester City is shown to have no hair, when in real life he does have hair.

5) Created players and also some other players names in-game have no call name from the commentator.

6) There is a slight delay, only very slight.. in the time it takes to pull off skill moves. From the time that the gamer inputs his control movement to the time the player on-screen actually corresponds with the instruction.

7) CPU controlled players hardly show/do skill moves. Even top players hardly do their trademark skill moves. Only when controlled by the gamer him or herself, is the skill moves seen to be done.

8) It feels & looks like players lose the ball too easily from collisions and open ball movement.

These are my improvements that I have brainstormed for FIFA 09;

1. Shirt Length: In the edit mode, when editing a players shirt length (short/long). I'd like to imply the idea of a 'medium' length. For example: How Cristiano Ronaldo currently has his sleeve length when playing for Manchester United. (Sleeves are half way up/down his forearms).

2. Wrist Bands With New 'Medium' Shirt Length: With *idea 1* in mind, to imply the idea of a player being able to wear wrist bands with a medium sleeve length shirt. Again, this is referring back to Cristiano Ronaldo when playing for Manchester United.

3. Different Coloured Licenced Boots: Again, still in the edit mode. When selecting boots to give to players (including ones that have been bought & unlocked in the 'Fan Shop'), to imply the idea of being able to change the colour of boots. For example: If a pair of white and red (heel) Nike Mercurial Vapors are made available through the 'Fan Shop' mode. Each time, when selecting them for a player, the boot colour can be changed with a colour palette that are actually available for that type/style of boot.

4. Create-A-Player: When creating a player and using the EXP points that have been bought/purchased through the 'Fan Shop'. There should be enough points for the player to make him an elite player with an overall of '90'. Meaning created players can do skills moves like the 'Rabona'. etc.

5. Player Animations: More player animations; such as free-kick styles, penalty styles & corner styles that are typical/associated with certain players. Such as the way Ryan Giggs of Manchester Utd takes corners or David Beckham with free-kicks in FIFA 08 currently. And also for cut-scenes, for example; When a player is penalized for a foul (but not given a booking). At times, the player argues with the referee as he feels that the tackle/challenge for the ball, wasn't a foul.

6. Referee's & Officials: To have a fully viewable referee running around on the pitch with the players and the linesmen down each side of the pitch aswell.

7. Team Substitutions: When making a substitute.. If implementing more than one substitute at once for the same team, then to imply the idea of showing who is being brought onto the pitch and showing the exchanging players interact with each other. (i.e clap hands together. etc.) and show a team official showing the number board for the players being exchanged.

8. Skills With Pace: Being able to run at a faster pace when doing skills like stepovers (not reverse stepovers) as I feel currently, the speed can is and feels slow when running. For example, looking at how Cristiano Ronaldo uses stepovers at speed in real-life. Also I feel the 'Ronaldo Chop' skill move needs to be a little more at an 85 to 90 degree angle as I feel it is a little too much at a 45 degree angle. A video to show both of these skills is below:

YouTube - cristiano ronaldo 'The Stepover King'

9. Skills On Opponents: For the opponent to actually respond more to the skills being done on them. Have a look at the following video taken from FIFA 07 on the PS2 for a more specific insight on the opponents reactions to skills.

YouTube - FIFA 07 - New Skill Moves

10. More Players In Arena: To be able to add more players to the arena for use a wall when practising free-kicks, players in the goal area when taking corners. etc.

11. Weather conditions: To be able to play in most weather conditions, such as; rain, snow. (In both 'kick-off mode' and 'manager mode'. And maybe if the snow or weather is too bad to play, the match is 'occasionally' postponed.

12. Night mode: To be able to play matches at night-time in manager mode. As currently in FIFA 08, all matches are played in day-time.

13. Commentary: Prevent commentators from stopping trivial commentary in the middle of a goal attempt abrubtly, when a player reaches the box and shoots, if he misses the shot on goal. The commentator should continue with the trivial commentary. etc.

14. Ankle Tape: To have 3 choices of ankle tape to use on players/created players. The choices would be: 'No tape' 'white tape' (which is the style of tape used on players in the game currently) And the last style of tape would be tape that covered the whole foot (from the bottom of the shin to the sole of the foot). A lot of wingers and strikers use this type of tape i.e Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani. etc.

Here are some ideas that I've looked at from other gamers and have taken some of the more useful and appetizing ideas to suggest:

1) Better cameras
2) Different types of speeds for different players
3) A proper training mode
4) More skill moves
5) In normal play gamers should be able to see the manager and the substitutes on the bench. In normal play currently, gamers only see the manager and the substitutes when there is a substitute.
6) To be able to kick the ball away when the referee has awarded the opposite team a free-kick or penalty. At the risk of getting a yellow or a red card depending on whether he has been booked previously. etc.
7) As it is a modern day thing now in football, nobody likes to see it, but to keep the realism in the game. Be given the ability to dive, but if the referee knows it was a dive. The player may get a yellow or a red card.
8) To be able to see the mud stains on the players shirts and shorts when they fall over from a tackle. etc.
9) To show players lifting the trophy/shield at a cup/shield victory.
10) Being able to use the XBox Live Vision camera to put your face in the game on created players.
11) Being able to save replays to your console's hard drive and replay them back in a 'saved replay' mode in the game's main menu.
12) The idea of hand-balls and accidental hand-balls.
13) Make cold weather games, where players wear field gloves and neck-warmers and when they exhale gamers can see their breath.
14) Have players exchange jerseys at the end of matches.
15) More scoring celebrations.
16) Free-kicks tweaked a little so they are a little easier to score.
17) Bring back Visual-Sim for Manager Mode
18) Have the chance to choose how players wear their shirt, eg. Long shirt but sleeves pulled/rolled up, to also give the option of arm-length thermal skins same colour as kit, but with t-shirt on top (Wayne Rooney, Nani, Tevez. etc.).
19) Change ECC and EFA to UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup (Dependant on whether licensing can be acquired.
20) Be able to mix & match kits ('Real-life' Teams sometimes wear either a mixture of home clothes with away or 3rd kit clothes.
21) Official TV so its presented on Match Of The Day or Sky (Again, if the licensing can be acquired).
22) Loan deals to also to end in months, not just until the end of the season.
23) Player requires stretcher after a serious injury.
24) Be able to bring GK up for corners late in game.
25) Weather affects ball physics.
26) Be able to 'stop & start' when taking a penalty kick, like C. Ronaldo
27) Crowd wear club colours/shirts.
28) Ability to wear gloves (only in cold weather conditions) but to also be able to wear short sleeves (Steven Pienaar) whilst wearing gloves.
29) Be able to pick a commentary name for created players (looking at Pro Evolution Soccer as they have a database of player names to choose from, searching from within a specific letter category)
30) Integrate Rumble features (Hitting the Post, Crunching tackles etc.).
31) In Manager Mode the player's wages to be paid weekly, not after every match.
32) Have Home and Away GK jerseys.
33) Don’t have 3rd kits as unlockable extra's, they should be available from the start.
34) Delayed offside decisions, The players all celebrate until they notice the linesman’s flag.
35) 'Real' + Photo-realistic Referees
36) Be able to wear neck-warmers (Rolando Bianchi, Manchester City)
37) Have different size pitch dimension ('Emirates Stadium' is very wide but 'Div 2 - UK' is short and narrow)
38) Don’t have the defenders congratulating the forward after a goal all the time, this is rather unrealistic.
39) More personalized menus, In FIFA 2004 the background was of your favourite teams jersey.
40) Lots more multiple choice questions in Manager Mode, after 1 season you seem to be getting the same questions time and time again and gets rather predictable which answer to choose to help the stats of your manager mode to improve.
41) To play FA Cup finals & the Community Shield matches at Wembley. And the League Cup final at the Millennium Stadium.

I feel that the current and recent FIFA games on the Next-Gen consoles (Microsoft XBox 360 & Sony Playstation 3) are of high class, but I think that with these ideas being implemented in the next edition in the FIFA series. We (as a gaming/FIFA gaming community) may be looking at the most realistic football experience.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your time and dedication in making the FIFA game franchise. And also to thank you for making the FIFA game franchise a success that it has become today and for taking the time to read my input.

Yours Sincerely
Damian Howard
DAMIANH86

P.s I'd appreciate it if this post/thread is left alone by other users on the forum. As it is purely intended for the viewing of the EA Sports crew to assess and expand on.

Many thanks
DAMIANH86

[billy-fifa-fan]

i totally agree with your ideas as that would be really intresting and 1 thing i would is the conference teams to be put in it aswell because im from crawley and the only game i get to use them in is football manger
also the weather should be different as in fifa 08 it is alwats sunny or grey it never rains or snows but this is on the ps3 but on the ps2 it does rain and u can see them breathe so surely if they can do this on ps2 it shouldnt be to difficult on ps3 and xbox 360 and also when u r in manger mode the players enrgy goes down to quickly and they only last about 5 6 games before they are very low energy and they should play the champions league games in the evings so reply to this

[Alamode]

Seriously if all of these ideas were implemented.. There wont be any other thing left!!.. Whatever you have wrote there, thats exactly what i want in the game. And thats a very good big list.

[mets6161989]

I didnt see this mentioned ( I may have missed it ) but I think they should add fair play. If one of your players gets injured and is lying on the pitch, the opposing team should kick the ball out of play.

Another idea that I have played around with:

Remember the 06 world cup game? They had a system ( I believe called the passport ) where you got a certain amount of points and a "stamp" for beating each national team?

How about a similar system where you get points for beating each team ( Example more points for beating Chelsea rather than Real Salt Lake ), and you get a virtual shirt/banner display ( either shirts from trading after a match, or those banners that the teams exchange before a match ), kind of like a display case of all the teams you have beaten.

[EAUK_Adroit]

Thanks for your feedback.

Moved to the Feedback forum.

[Woola-D]

all agreed

[Carlitos]

Agreed 100%!!

Although, I doubt EA will take any notice.

[JimmyD252]

totally agree,
some of those are in current gen versions (e.g. keeper up for corners, different weather, night time matches, wembley finals) so it does frustrate me that these do not exist in next gen

[JoeJoe93]

Cool you used some ideas from my 100 ideas mega post. Some real good ideas there mate cocerning gameplay, I did't really notice the faults but when I read your ideas I was going Oh yeah again and again

[jimbonik]

The Manager Mode is good but...

It would be so much better if you can do a two player mode being two different teams. Please make it possible. You can do it in torniment mode but it is nowhere as good as manager mode!

[FaY90]

i agree with the whole list. my only addition would be an indoor league during the winter season, similar to the one in one of the earlier fifas idk if you guys remember that

[WarNer001]

I had fifa 08 on the ps2 and thought it was amazing, but then i got in the 360 and i thought it was harder to pull off tricks and i saw that the option to chnage game speed wasnt on there was dissapoiting.

Things that would be brill in fifa 09 (ON ALL CONSOLES)

Training/Pre season - On ps2 there was pre season training but not on 360, and actual training sessions, for example - dribbling with ball round cones or if your ronaldo - pratice your tricks around dummies??

Better Crowd?? - the crowd always look the same ( like cardbord, i understand having this low makes the game better but.. )

Better control of people - I think that sometimes or sum runs you go on with the ball and you sprint, then run off the line, i think why play this, its un realistic, you shud be able to stop wenever u want and the poeple should move quicker, not in a staright line but better agility with the ball.

Tricks - On the ps2 tricks were amazing and easy, i remember i had berbatov for man utd and there was always one defender left and i dragged the ball to the left and scored, this movement was quicker, as soon as u pressed the stick you did the move, on 360 i think it takes time to do the trick and there a little advanced.

Be a pro - Its a good idea, again better on ps2. I dont like the camrea shots available on 360.

Manager Mode

Winning a season - After the season ends you could see your team in a bus going around manchester (example).

Three manager modes - Be the team on manager mode, be the manager or both. (as mentioned alrdy, on someone elses post) you should be able to walk around the dressing room at half time and speak to the team and walk up to the sideline while your team play, i think that the current manager mode is a bit boring, it has basicly being the same since, 2005?

Before game - Before the game starts you could have a warm up session, this would make games longer but more realistic, you could even get injuries through this training.

Better commentary - once you heard it thats it, i have to turn it off, it repeats it self too much, also maybe more than two commantators.

Interviews - Interviews with the press before, after a game.

Youth Teams and under 18's - there should be them aswell not senior and reserve in one team

Teams - Be able to leave your club for another, like fm08.

General

Make your own player (in a manager mode) - Make a person, start of a club of your choice, and start off at youth or reserve team, that would be really good and maybe one day play for country.

Just a better be a pro - Like the one in ps2.

Freekicks - Freekicks are solid on this game, there to complicated, plus need a power bar, just like 2005, 2006.

Have awards - There should be awards for player of the season ect..

Ref - Visible referee.

Player growth - I made ronaldo like amazing (i no he is alrdy) he could run the pitch in like a second, it should be harder for poeple to growth in skill ect.

Harder Transfer Market - Basicly you can get anyone in the market, offer like 500k more than there worth and hes yours.

Transfers - (again) - You should be able to part ex people

Gameplay - Just more realistic things in the game.

Thanks for viewing my ideas, it would be great to see them implented into the game.

[AdrianMutu]

add adrian mutu and add romanian league!!!!