Be A Pro: Online Team Play is the evolution of a new play mode featured in FIFA Soccer 08 called Be A Pro that locks you into the role of a single, fixed player the entire game and challenges you to master the same disciplines as a real soccer player--from positioning and tackling to reading the field and passing. Users receive real time feedback and analysis on the fly and a unique camera angle keeps both player and action in focus, zooming in when you're on attack. Now in Be A Pro: Online Team Play, up to five friends on different consoles will be able to select and take control of their own individual players on the same team, supported by AI teammates, to play against up to five rivals of another team. Alternatively, online users can select to play with free roaming players, and teams can have a combination of both.

"At EA SPORTS our dream is to create a full 11 versus 11 online gameplay experience in which each user will have a set position during the match and train specifically for that position," said Joe Booth, producer of FIFA Soccer 08. "Be A Pro is the first step in this direction, and now, with the ability to deliver five versus five online gameplay as free downloadable content, we are moving even closer towards the realization of this dream."

"Be A Pro forces you to think and react like a professional player where you experience the whole range of emotions players go through during the course of a game," said Andrew Wilson, Executive Producer of FIFA Soccer 08. "Now we are taking this experience online for you to share with your friends. You will have to learn to work together as a team much like any real teams go through in order to be successful."

In addition to Be A Pro: Online Team Play, the online feature set in FIFA Soccer 08 includes the award-winning Interactive Leagues, where you represent your club online against your rivals throughout the season in the F.A. Premier League, Bundesliga, French League or Mexican 1st Division and features weekly in-game pod casts by the development team, and Online Leagues, where you create and organize your own multiplayer Friends Leagues and tournaments with all the tools in-game.

Key Features

• A true next-generation ball-striking engine calculates shot success by combining an almost infinite number of different contexts, including ball spin, pressure from defenders, player attributes, and even air pressure to recreate the drama and unpredictable nature of shooting.
• Now featuring AI with a 35-point decision engine which enables players to process 1,000 potential options and reactions every second in real time -- more than 60,000 options every minute -- via a dynamic ‘Threat Map’ system to capture the excitement and realism of soccer.
• Be a Pro: Offline Training — Think and react like a real professional soccer player. Play the entire game as a fixed player while getting real time feedback and analysis on the fly. A unique camera angle keeps both player and action in focus, zooming in when you’re on attack.
• A new, organic building-block system enables you to combine tricks and skill moves together to recreate signature moves from the real-world superstars or define your own style of play. Animations can be interrupted at any time to transition into a new move, just like real life.
• Dictate the play with new manual controls for through-passing and crossing. Now use the right-stick to quickly switch defenders and choose exactly who you want defending, when you want him.
• Create and organize your own multiplayer Friends Leagues and tournaments with all the tools in-game.
• Represent your club online against your rivals throughout the season in the F.A. Premier League, Bundesliga, French League or Mexican 1st Division. Features weekly in-game pod casts by the development team.
• Capture your best goals and highlights in-game and bring them online for the world to see. Upload your highlights to the FIFA 08 website to create the ultimate highlight reel to prove the stories you are telling your friends are all true. Because without the footage, it’s fiction.
• Receive up-to-the-minute soccer news and podcasts from media outlets.
• Dramatically more authentic and exhilarating with 620 licensed teams, 30 official leagues, and more than 15,000 players.
• Play 60 tournaments, including 35 officially licensed ones, or create one of your own.

FIFA Soccer 08 will be available in stores in Europe on September 28 and beginning October 9 in North America, on the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, NDS, PSP, and PC.

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