Fifa 16

FIFA 16 will feature women's national teams

In what will likely be the only bit of positive news to feature the word "FIFA" this week, EA has announced that the upcoming FIFA 16 will, for the first time in the series' long history, feature women's teams.

Twelve women's national teams will be available to play, fulfilling what the studio calls "one of the most requested features in recent years." The full roster includes England, Germany, USA, France, Sweden, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Spain, China, Italy and Mexico.

The teams will be available to play in Kick Off, Offline Tournament, and Online Friendly Matches. Women's teams will, however, only be able to play against other women's teams. "Keeping in line with how women’s football is played in real life at this level," is how EA puts it in a Q&A. That does somewhat ignore the fact that the FIFA series has always been happy to deviate from how football is played in real life—for instance, letting players pit a lowly League Two challenger against the world's best national teams.

Nevertheless, it's a good step, and an effective way for EA to demonstrate a meaningful new feature for the ongoing annual series.

“Bringing some of the best women’s players and teams in the world to our franchise is a massive event for EA Sports, and we are equally excited about bringing millions of fans a new way to play,” said David Rutter, VP and GM of EA Sports FIFA, in a press release. “We’re making sure fans get an authentic experience when playing with Women’s National Teams thanks to our innovative player capture and reference tools, as well as the sophisticated gameplay platform which we will continue to innovate on in FIFA 16.”

FIFA 16 to feature women players on the cover for the first time

EA Sports announced in May that, for the first time ever, FIFA 16 will feature playable women's teams. Today the studio followed that up with the announcement that, also for the first time ever, female players will appear on the front of the box.

The "headliner" on the cover, across all regions, will once again be Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona. But in the US, he'll be joined by Alex Morgan, a 2012 Olympic gold medal winner and key player on the US Women's National Team that won the 2015 Women's World Cup. The Canadian release of the game will be adorned with an image of Christine Sinclair, the captain of the Canadian women's national team and one of the most prolific scorers in international competition, with 155 goals over 225 appearances to her name. And for Australia, a fan vote selected Stephanie Catley of the Portland Thorns for the cover.

"As soon as we knew Women’s National Teams were joining FIFA 16, we immediately recognized that Christine and Alex would be the perfect cover athletes based on their accomplishments and what they represent for their respective countries and the sport of women’s soccer," said David Pekush, senior manager of North America Marketing for EA Sports, who was presumably quite pleased for Catley as well. "They are exhilarating players and exude heart and courage on the pitch, and we are extremely proud to be working with them this year."

Personally, I think this is great—I mean, why not, right?—but it's no secret that stories like this don't always bring out the best in everyone. And so, a gentle reminder: As we said in the post announcing women's teams in the game, if you can't say something without being hopelessly sexist, please don't say anything at all. For further guidance, here are the rules and guidelines on comments. FIFA 16 is out on September 22 and we'll have a further hands on before then. Meanwhile, we'll have to make do with the console boxes.

Fifa 16: a host of small changes hope to make a big impact

If FIFA games were named like Friends episodes, 13 would be The One With the 360° Dribbling, 14 would be The One With Precision Movement, and 15 would be The One With All the Emotion. This year? It’s a bit harder to summarise.

For FIFA 16’s lead gameplay producer Aaron McHardy, the snappy pitch is “no stone unturned,” an allusion to his team’s exhaustive efforts reexamining every feature, mode, and system. “It’s a marketing problem. How do you communicate to your fans what you’ve done?...We want to go into every part of gameplay and touch everything to ensure it’s balanced and consistent as we can with the fewest bugs we’ve ever shipped with, so we can let all those big innovations shine through.”

That’s not to say there are a lack of additions, however, and no-touch dribbling is one of them. On an Xbox One pad, holding RB and flicking the right stick while running opens up the hips to throw off opponents. During my two-hour hands-on I use indecisively haired Brazilian Neymar to link exaggerated sleight-of-foot feints as the ball trickles forward independently, throwing in a few RT presses that lurch his whole body sideways like a bloke suddenly remembering he's left his phone in the pub.

Passing With Purpose is another alternative means of attack. Holding RB and A pings a fast ball to feet and exploits quickly closing gaps, giving a new weapon to those undone by the slow charge-up of a traditional pass. Oh, and shooting’s improved, too, especially with regards to what McHardy calls “magic moments.” Subtle changes to momentum and a smattering of fresh animations make successful volleys feel extra venomous, and stepping into the ball at pace results in a fierce thwack and truer trajectory. The controller vibrates during particularly sweet shots like a cat rewarding you with pleasant purrs. Introducing new options down the sides and centre, FIFA 16 welcomes self-expression.

But it, like American politics or a seriously complicated game of tic-tac-toe, is structured with an intricate series of checks and balances. To counter Passing With Purpose, for instance, defenders are now more eager to race in and challenge from behind. "We watched videos of some of the best slide tacklers in the world launching into slides from distance on a slick pitch and winning possession,” says McHardy. “Not everyone can do that, so there’s an attribute that governs whether they have access to those animations." While stronger passes speed the game up, aggressive defenders prevent them becoming magic bullets.

And to offset the lightning-quick likes of Ronaldo and Messi, a new swing-step animation prevents them getting easily turned. This feeds through to the crossing system: previously, wingers needed only sprint to the byline and launch a box-bound hit-and-hoper, but with more nimble blockers able to goad wingers using dummy tackles and immediately regain their feet after a slide, they’re now more of a contest. It’s remarkable how transformative a few small changes can be—like tightening a string on a piano and changing the whole tune.

If this all sounds a bit daunting, FIFA Trainer’s rolling tutorial can help. During a given scenario you’ll see up to two contextual hints floating above your player’s head. Near the box? Consider an RB+B finesse shot. At the byline? Try a whipped cross. “Tutorials are something we’ve not been historically good at on FIFA,” admits McHardy. “Over the last few years we’ve done research and discovered the best way to play the game is with your buddy on the couch: ‘A is pass, B is shoot’...And then as you get better you learn a little more. ‘OK, now you’ve got those down you can try a through-ball.’” The thinking is, the better you are at the game, the more enjoyment you’ll get from it.

FIFA 16’s other milestone is, of course, the introduction of 12 international women's teams, playable in Match Days, Offline Tournaments, and Online Friendlies. All comprehensively head-scanned and mo-capped, they’re no token inclusion. McHardy tells of how EA Canada originally tried female heads on men’s bodies with slightly horrifying results, so they had to rethink their entire approach to player physiques. That goes for both genders, so spindly ladder-man Peter Crouch now looks less like he’s been stretched vertically in Microsoft Paint.

While there’s no snappily titled marquee feature à la the Impact Engine or 360° Dribbling this year, there are so many systems at play now that even reevaluating one sends ripples throughout the game, and EA Canada edge ever closer to parity between them all. This is a game with a hundred tiny changes, rather than a handful of big ones, the inverse of death by a thousand cuts. Life by a thousand plasters, I guess? Stick that on the box, marketers!

FIFA 16 system requirements

FIFA 16, if I may invoke a broad stereotype, is a game that has perhaps a bit more appeal amongst the members of our UK team than it does with those in the US. But they're not here right now, and so it falls to me to deliver the game's system requirements, as recently revealed by EA.

Minimum Required Specifications:

• OS: Windows 7/8/8.1 -64-bit
• CPU: Intel Core i3-2100 @ 3.1GHz
• RAM: 4GB
• Hard Drive Space Required: 15.0 GB
• Minimum Supported Video Cards: ATI Radeon HD 5770, NVIDIA GTX 650
• DirectX: 11.0

Recommended Specifications:

• OS: Windows 8/8.1/10 -64-bit
• CPU: Intel i5-2550K @ 3.4Ghz
• RAM: 8GB
• Hard Drive Space Required: 15.0 GB
• Supported Video Cards: ATI Radeon HD 6870, NVIDIA GTX 460
• DirectX: 11.0

So there you have it. We talked about what's coming in the latest version of EA's long-running soccer (that's right, I said it) sim in an interview with Lead Gameplay Producer Aaron Hardy last month, which you may enjoy here. FIFA 16 comes out on September 22.