FIFA Soccer 11 introduces new Pro Passing where pass accuracy is determined by a gamer’s ability on the control pad, and player skill, situation and urgency on the pitch, yielding a deeply rewarding passing system. Poor decisions or over/under striking the ball will mean error-prone outcomes. New types of passes such as swerve passes will enable players to make a safer and more effective play.

FIFA Soccer 11 continues to listen to its growing legion of EA Sports FIFA fans around the world to refine gameplay in ways that matter most to fans.

Two years in development, the console game engine has been optimised for PC, delivering next generation console-quality gameplay, game modes and visuals to FIFA 11 PC.

The physics-based, data-driven technology behind the EA Sports football engine has been optimised for PC to deliver true freedom on the pitch with individuality of player control and movement, sophisticated ball touches, and physical interaction between players. FIFA 11 PC will feature the market-leading true 360° dribbling system that gives players precise control of the ball and next generation animation technology that delivers Skilled Dribbling, enabling skilled dribblers to face defenders and use highly responsive lateral dribbling to skip past them. Plus, Physical Play has been improved using collision sharing, creating a varied, less predictable, and extended fight for possession between players.

Hello all,

My name is Marcel Kuhn and I am a Producer/Designer for offline & online Game Modes on FIFA 11. My main focus for FIFA 11 is the all-new Career Mode and I wanted to give you some insight to what this game mode is all about. You’ve probably played Manager Mode and Be A Pro: Seasons in FIFA 10. For FIFA 11, we’ve decided to remove these two Game Modes and create a totally new experience that combines these two Modes into one connected Mode – that Mode is called Career Mode.

As we come closer to the release of FIFA 11 we will be revealing many more details about this Game Mode, but today I want to focus on some of the basic building blocks of the mode as well as take you on a journey through the first couple of weeks in this year’s Career Mode.

To start off, I created my Virtual Pro and trained him a bit in the arena before taking him with me in the Career Mode.

The first choice I have to make is if I want to start a Career as a Player, a Manager or a Player-Manager. Either choice will allow you to play a 15-year long career. To experience a total football career you can start as a player and when the time comes to hang your boots up you can become a Manager. Or you can start as a Manager right away, the choice is yours.

I will go for a Player-Manager Career, as that will allow me to play locked to my Virtual Pro or to control the whole squad. Also I can make the choice to field my Virtual Pro or not as I will responsible for the line-up of my squad.

Embarking on a 15-year long career starting as a Player Manager!

As I start the new Bundesliga season I will pick VfB Stuttgart as my team and use my Virtual Pro as my player.

My first contract, let’s just sign and get on with it will you!

After signing and saving my Career I arrive in the Career Mode HUB. I get greeted by several news items, telling me about the Transfer Window being open, what teams I will face in Pre-Season Friendlies, and that my first League Match will be vs. Werder Bremen – tough opponent to start the season against.

Friendlies vs. Caen, Villarreal and Ramenskoye – will be great to test the new transfers
You may or may not know, but Stuttgart lost many starting 11 players over the summer break – Sami Khedira (to Real Madrid), Roberto Hilbert (to Besiktas) and Aleksandar Hleb (back to Barcelona) to only name a few. During the World Cup many teams used a 4-2-3-1 formation, therefore I want to look into some key transfers to mould my squad into that formation.

Let’s have a look at the current Stuttgart squad to see what kind of changes I have to make…

In goal I have an inexperienced 21-year old GK named S. Ulreich. He waited for his chance behind J. Lehmann last season, so I will give him a chance to prove himself. In addition my current back-up is experienced and can come in if needed.

On defence, Stuttgart has quite some depth and they have recently added P. Degen on loan from Liverpool. Talking about loans, one of the cool new features this year is that loaned in and loaned out players are actually treated as such when the mode starts, so Degen will return to Liverpool after he finishes his loan stint at Stuttgart. I also have the choice to loan players for a full season or only for a shorter period (3 months), which allows you to fill up your squad should you run into injury and / or suspension trouble.

Once the season is over, it’s back to Anfield Road for Mr. Degen.

The two holding midfield positions belong to Kuzmanovic and Traesch. I also have Gentner on my squad who returned to Stuttgart after a successful season at Wolfsburg. As these positions are crucial in the formation I am planning to go with, I will try to add a top rated, starting 11 player to my team.

For the remaining midfield and winger positions I have talented but young players, so I will have to add an experienced winger to my squad as well.

Cacau will play the Attacking Midfield role as he has pace and is a good distance shooter. The lone forward role belongs to Pavel Pogrebnyak and he is backed up by Ciprian Marica. No real urgency to add players here either.

Here’s my wishlist: 1 top defensive Midfielder and 1 experienced Winger.
Players that will have to look for new club: Celozzi (RB), Elson (CAM) and Schwarz (CM)
Players that are young but not ready for the Bundesliga: Didavi (LM), Funk (CM) and Riedle (ST)

First I have a look at the current Free Agents, but with the exception of M. Azaouagh there isn’t a player that really interests me. As he is a CAM I will not pursue him. On to the Transfer Listed players, as I have specific needs (CDM & RW/LW) so I will scout the market for these positions.

More search options allow me to find the exact players I need faster

No flat-out “this is the guy I want” on here, but Rodwell from Everton is definitely worth a try as he is a young & talented player that would be a good fit for my squad. I offer Everton 6.4 Mil Euro, which is slightly below his market value and see what they have to say.

Changing the offers is now faster as you can modify each digit individually.

I am still not 100% happy as I would like a higher rated player that can make an immediate impact. Therefore I will search for non-transfer listed players that match my overall expectations.

My next search is:
Overall: 80-90
Position: Midfield
Role: Centre Defensive Midfield
Transfer Status: Any
Max. Transfer Value: 10 Mil.

That’s more like it – but it definitely comes at a price.

I will submit bids to G. Barry (Man City), J. Makoun (Ol. Lyon) and S. M’Bia (O. Marseille). As they are all starting 11 players for their clubs, my negotiator is warning me that I will have to pay some extra money to even have my offer looked at. My overall transfer budget is not very large, therefore I have my eyes set on M’Bia. In my eyes, he is the best overall package and at 6.3 Mil Market Value he carries the smallest price tag.

You need to offer more than a player’s market value if he is not transfer listed.

Now let’s look for wingers…for the right wing all that’s on the market are Joaquin from Valencia (who at 15 Mil Euros is a bit out of my budget range) and Keko (young Spaniard who is not really an improvement to what I already have on my squad). Regarding left wingers, I find Inter-reject Mancini (overall 74 and not fast enough anymore) and Juanma (same assessment as Keko). Again, no luck with the players that are transfer listed, so I will try to lure a non-transfer listed player away from their current club.

My next searches are:
Overall: 75-85
Acceleration: 80-100
Position: Midfield
Role: Left/Right Wing
Transfer Status: Any
Max. Transfer Value: 10 Mil.

The first player I find is C. Bellamy, who is already at Cardiff (well done to our Data Collection team for that one J) and would be a perfect fit. I also submit a bid to Braga for Helder Barbosa (a young Portoguese left winger), A. Sanchez (Udinese) and R. Beerens (Heerenveen). I am not getting my hopes up too high, as I only offer market value for these players.

Once I advance to the next match I get emails from my board regarding the season objectives (Finish Top 6) and the Transfer Market.

Additional players are going to be added to the transfer list while advancing via the calendar – therefore keep your eyes open at all times to find the perfect player.

Transfer market activity begins and the first transfers can be reviewed while waiting for your first friendly match. As soon as there are responses to the submitted offers, the simulation gets interrupted and you can review the responses via incoming emails.

As expected, the clubs whose starting 11 players I was targeting are not very susceptible for my transfer offers. I get 2 offers flat out declined, Braga tells me that they don’t want to sell Barbosa as they’ve just recently acquired his services (they purchased him in July 2010 from Porto). Similar response from Cardiff, who want to keep their home-town boy, no matter what I offer, in addition it’s not really “their” player as he is on loan from Manchester City. Heerenveen is a bit more open for negotiations, but they put a hefty price tag on the player and ask me to increase my offer to almost 12 Mil Euros. Not willing to pay that amount of cash, therefore I turn to the last email in my inbox and to my surprise Man City has accepted my 11.5 Mil Euro offer for Gareth Barry. I respectfully decline Heerenveen’s offer and the negotiations end here, but I enter the next stage and submit a Wage offer to G. Barry. In my opinion, he would be a signing that gives me the immediate boost I want. At this point my negotiator warns me, that several other clubs are interested in the player as well, therefore I increase my offer to 65k/week for a 3 year long contract.

After a couple of days the first offers for my players come in and I want to make sure they find a new home quickly – I loan Riedle for the season to Manisaspor in Turkey and Didavi to Nice in France. Responses for my other negotiations come back as well. Udinese as well as Everton want to push the price for their players up. I pull out of the Udinese negotiations, but raise my offer for Rodwell from 6.4 Mil Euros to 6.8 Mil Euro (Everton was asking for 9.4 Mil). I seem to have my way with the French clubs as both Lyon and Marseille accept my offers. M’Bia is my Plan B in case I can’t sign Barry, therefore I give him an offer he surely can’t refuse. After that’s done, I remove myself from further negotiations with Makoun.

My mission to build my squad for the next season continues and I sell my first player, Celozzi is headed to France and will play for AS Nancy next season – I wish him the best of luck there and put 3.6 Mil Euros on my bank account J. During the calendar sim, I observe that United loaned out Macheda to Valencia, good move as the kid wouldn’t have gotten too much playing time this season.

More updates on my negotiations arrive, M’Bia accepts my offer and Barry submits a counter offer via his agent. He wants his wage offer raised to 80k/week, which after consulting with Adam (English SE on Career Mode) is too much. So I go for M’Bia and my first new signing costs me 8.5 Mil Euros. After both sides have signed the contract, the Chief Exec of my club congratulates me on signing a new player and reminds me to put him in the line-up soon…M’Bia immediately replaces Traesch in the starting formation.

Everton must have gotten wind of the M’Bia transfer who fills my defensive midfield void, so they reduce price for Rodwell to 8 Mil Euros. Since I am not really interested anymore, I will see how far down I can get the price and I reply with a 7.2 Mil Euro offer. In the meantime, Elson is off to Palermo, which adds another 6.1 Mil Euro to my bankroll. Another round of negotiations with Everton, who seem to start to get annoyed with me trying to low-ball them. They raise the price up to 8.4 Mil Euro. Back in the HUB, I get a news item of a transfer within my league, apparently Karim Haggui has left Hannover and joined “The Hammers” for 5.6 Mil Euros.

The next email I receive confirms my suspicion, that Everton is getting annoyed with me…

I guess this negotiation is over.

As the first friendly match comes closer I have to think about my situation on the wings some more. I think M’Bia allows me to play either Kuzmanovic or Traesch on the wing, so despite having some more cash on the bank, I will play my first match without any further transfers for now. Other teams in my league seem to be preparing for the new season as well – Gladbach announces the signing of Park Chu Young from AS Monaco, nice signing…

Ramenskoye is my first opponent and I have decided to start my first 11, including myself on right wing.

First match of the season – I am excited!

Wow – almost 10 pages already! So far we’ve covered how to start your Career based on the 3 different types of careers available and we had a look at the transfer system. Based on the examples from my play through I’ve shown you how we have a new layer in the negotiation process for FIFA 11’s Career Mode. In order to complete a signing, you have to negotiate with the club as well as the player. As this is one of the major base systems of the mode, I will probably come back to it in one of the next blogs…for now I am off to play my first match of the season and I hope you you’ve enjoyed what you read about Career Mode so far.

Cheers,
Marcel