FIFA Street Preview

It's back and bigger than ever. While the main FIFA series is attempting to go down the sim-esque route with Sky Sports highlight moments thrown in for good measure, FIFA Street is going bigger and bolder than ever. The completely off-the-wall flavour has been ditched for a more authentic down to earth game. In spite of this, tricks and skills are still the order of the day.

The number of skill moves included in the game has been increased and fans want to see them. Not only is there an emphasis on winning, but teams must entertain the fans. Each player will be rated according to how entertaining they were over the course of the match. Flicks, spins, tricks and flashy passes or shots will be met with approval. If used correctly, they can wrong foot the defender or goalkeeper and turn the match in your favour.

While the skill moves themselves will take a little time to actually understand so that you can pull off the right move at the right time, there are a large variety of tricks that each player has up their sleeves. Cheeky passes and shots are the order of the day. Best of all, any player can feel like a footballing god quite easily. If a skill move or two come off and set up a wonder goal, it is the moment where you feel like you have accomplished something spectacular. But of course, you can never stop at one moment.

The gameplay is quick, frantic and exciting. The matches showcased at a recent EA preview were 5v5 or 6v6. In great news, indoor soccer is back. While it's not quite the same as the good ol' days of FIFA, it brings back fond memories. The focus of FIFA Street is the grassroots soccer. Well, not quite grassroots… Players will take on teams on streets, beaches and courts from around the world.

There will be several game modes included in FIFA Street. Along with exhibition matches, game modes based on panna (1v1) and futsal will be included. Players will also be able to start with a squad of nobodies and take on the world. Along the way, they will be challenged with the potential reward of picking up notable real world players. Your created player could finally earn the chance to play alongside Wayne Rooney for example. The World Tour mode challenges players to progress from the local scene to national, European and ultimately world-stage tournaments.

It is shaping up to be a cracker. The play is fluid and fun, the skill moves are animated well and the game is graphically impressive. While the action is more frantic and goal mouth action is frequent by the nature of the size of the pitch, goal-fests are not to be immediately expected. Keepers are more than capable of holding their own and will pull off some impressive saves.

FIFA Street blurs the line between reality and simulation. Tackles are more realistic pokes and players will occasionally stumble as a result of the impact engine. The larger than life tricks and skills at the beckon of an player remind the gamer that this is not your typical FIFA game; this is FIFA Street.

You say eSports, I say sports

...Let’s call the whole thing off. Regardless of what term is given to the idea of playing video games competitively and for prize money, there will be conflict. There is going to be time and energy wasted no matter what term is given. If pushes are made to recognise games, or particular games, as sports then gamers face endless debates over the merits of gaming as sports.

Honestly, I prefer prattling off my rehearsed and practiced speech regarding what eSports are, or what the concept entails. It is a preferable incident than trying to explain, and debate, why games should be recognised as sports. My own explanation regarding eSports aims to personalise it to my target audience.

For some, it is explaining how they enjoy FIFA and, naturally, so many people think that they are the best. eSports is a platform through which people can prove that they are the best, and will be rewarded in a meaningful way – prizes, hardware, travel, fans, etc. This explanation can be tailored to almost anyone. Replace FIFA with Mario Kart – as that has a massive market and a seemingly endless supply of players who claim to be unbeaten – and you have more people who understand.

There are several issues to consider, which could prevent games being recognised as sports. For starters, not all games would be suitable - similar to how not all past times or activities are actively recognised. Gamers are rarely unified, even within certain scenes, and this will come to the fore should backing be requested.

If Counter-Strike is being pushed, there will be conflicting opinions over which is more suitable – Source or 1.6, or indeed CS2 or Tactical Intervention when the time arises. If Quake is selected, there will be backers for Quake 3, Quake Live, CPMA, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Duel, etc. Of course, there are more ignored titles such as Heroes of Newerth, Team Fortress 2, and even Warsow – which is designed with competition in mind. Can we, as a collective unit, put differences aside and recognise the merits of certain games or modes?

Personally, I would have liked us, as gamers, to get our own house sorted first. We cannot even choose games that should be selected as official eSport or competitive titles. Look at all the tournaments that take place worldwide. They feature a wide variety of games. Sometimes, games appear on the roster thanks to sponsor pressure, while other choices come out of left field. Who should be trusted to make a definitive list? Should the list encompass games which are graphically impressive thus making sponsors more interested, be impressive from a gameplay aspect but features a steep learning curve, be accessible to all which would draw the argument that the game is noobified. So many arguments, so little time!

The games themselves also stand in the way. There is the issue of continuity. When sports undergo changes, they are still fundamentally the same. If soccer ever introduces video technology, at its core, it is still soccer. Despite rule changes in Formula 1 and rugby, they remain fundamentally unchanged. Games do not fall under this umbrella. Sequels often make dramatic changes – for example, look at the mechanics that changed between Quake 3 and Quake 4. Furthermore, sequels often cause divides in player bases. Not everyone made the move to Counter-Strike Source, Quake Live, Starcraft 2, and so on…

eSports was never given a chance as an amateur prospect – it was never a pipe dream before that people could make thousands playing video games in the past. In a sense, it is both a dream and a reality at present – something that sports such as Baseball, basketball, etc did not have. Each sport went through the dream (amateur) phase, became a reality where players could earn a living, and is now almost standard whereby players at a lower level can make a living.

The term of eSports is unique – and that is needed. eSports as a concept and as an industry, if it can be called that, is different! There is a long way to go but the eSports term should not be abandoned.

What difference does a name make? Pro gaming, eSports, competitive gaming, HEGA - call it what you like. Golfers, poker players and darts players come under scrutiny and pressure regarding the “sports” term, but they do not seem to waste time on it as the eSports community does.

This article comes after, what seems like a trending topic in the eSports scene. Recently, there have been articles from famsytron (fnatic) - http://www.fnatic.com/feature/8394/Is-eSports-a-bunk-term.html , keekerdc (ESFI) – http://keekerdc.com/2011/01/sports-that-just-so-happen-to-be-electronic/ and even, Yahoo! - http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2011/01/10/should-gaming-be-considered-an-official-sport/. This is my own €0.02 on the issue…