Is it just another soccer sim? Hardly. If you haven't yet sunk your cleats into
EA Sports' 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, the following are some interesting
factoids about the game to consider— from Electronic Arts' Matt Prior, producer
of the game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

— 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa has the most teams ever to appear in a
World Cup game. Every single one of the 199 teams that competed in the real
World Cup tournament are in the game ranging from footballing giants such
as Brazil, Argentina & England all the way to minnows such as US Virgin Islands,
Barbados & Grenada.

— The game engine is so advanced that the altitude at which the game is being
played will affect the players stamina. Play a game against Bolivia in high altitude
La Paz and you'll notice your players tire quickly and the ball physics will also be
effected. The game accurately re-creates playing the beautiful game in a whole
range of different global environments and conditions.

— For the first time ever people can now play the entire World Cup tournament
online. Through some clever design you can now play through the tournament
online at your leisure without having to wait for other fixtures to take place or
without having to wait around for friends to turn up. From group stage to finals,
the whole tournament is available against other users online.

— In order to capture the unique atmosphere of South African football we flew
people out to South Africa to record the Vuvuzela trumpet noise at real games.
We also created unique fully rendered crowds for each of the different nations
that appear in the game, that's 199 unique crowds all with unique dress, head
gear and face paint. The incredible carnival atmosphere that makes the World
Cup so special has never been re-created so authentically.

— During the actual World Cup tournament in South Africa you will be able to
re-live the events of the day by downloading free scenarios that re-create what
took place in the actual games. For example, if the USA were losing to Algeria
in the 85th minute but came back with two late goals by Landon Donovan, the
following day you would be able to download the scenario and take control of
Donovan and try and recreate his last minute heroics. Never before has the
real tournament been so closely linked with the game.

By Marc Saltzman