''FIFA 08'' (titled ''FIFA Soccer 08'' in North America) is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

simulation A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in ...

video game developed by

EA Canada EA Vancouver (formerly known as EA Burnaby, then EA Canada) is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened as Distinctive Software in January 1983, and is also Electronic Arts's largest a ...

and published by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

under the

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...

label. It was released on all popular gaming formats in September 2007 in Europe, Australia and Asia, and in October 2007 in North America. The

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

versions of the game feature an improved

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...

with superior graphics and different commentators and are dubbed "next-generation" by EA. On all other platforms—including the PC—the game utilizes an older engine. The

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

version features fewer teams, stadiums, game modes and kits due to the limitations of the machine's storage medium. Commentary comes from

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

Martin Tyler Martin Tyler (born 14 September 1945) is an English Association football, football commentator. He worked as a commentator for Sky Sports from 1990 to 2023, covering the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, as well as other domestic and inte ...

and Andy Gray on next generation consoles. However,

ITV Sport ITV Sport is the Broadcasting of sports events, sports department of ITV plc, which produces and presents sports programming for the ITV (TV network), ITV network and ITVX. The branding was originally introduced in 1985 as an umbrella title fo ...

Clive Tyldesley Clive Tyldesley (born 21 August 1954) is an English television sports broadcaster. He was ITV's senior football commentator from 1998 until 2020. In that role, he led the ITV commentary team at five World Cups and five European Championships an ...

partners Gray on the then current generation consoles, and the PC version of the game. On the

version of the game, Tyldesley commentates solo. It also marked the first time the

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

has been excluded from the FIFA lineup since ''

FIFA 2001 ''FIFA 2001'' (known as ''FIFA 2001: Major League Soccer'' in North America and ''FIFA 2001: World Championship'' in Japan) is a football simulation video game and the sequel to '' FIFA 2000''. It was succeeded by '' FIFA Football 2002''. It feat ...

'' and the first time the original

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

and

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

has been excluded from the FIFA lineup since '' FIFA Football 2002''. The tagline for the game is "Can You FIFA 08?". The theme song is "Sketches (20 Something Life)" by La Rocca, from the album ''The Truth''.

New features

New features that were not in ''

FIFA 07 ''FIFA 07'' (also known as ''FIFA Football 07'' and ''FIFA 07 Soccer'') is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label for GameCube, PlayStation 2, Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, P ...

'' include " Be a Pro Mode", where the player plays as only one player (the player can be changed) throughout the entire match. However, this mode is not available for goalkeepers. New features for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 included cooperative online play and a change of controls, which features the right stick as a way of selecting which player is to be on defense. However, this control setting can be changed back to the ''FIFA 07'' configuration as well as other preset control configurations. In addition, the online mode has a new addition with interactive leagues, where players choose a league, a team, and play against real-life opponents. While not an entirely new feature, ''FIFA 08'' includes new trick moves that can be used by using the right analog stick, which were, for the most part, absent in ''FIFA 07''. In general, the speed of game also has decreased in ''FIFA 08''. In the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

version of the game, two new features were added. The first being goalkeeper AI, which meant when in a one-on-one situation with a forward and goalkeeper, one could push the right analog stick and have complete control of the goalkeeper. The second of these was when taking a free kick you were able to push the R3 (right stick) to lock the position of the ball, while you used the stick to determine exactly where you wanted the free kick to go. These were two features that have not been used in any FIFA games since, although many users and fans have requested them.

Manager Mode

The Manager Mode on ''FIFA 08'' has few enhancements from its predecessor. Some of the new features include the chance to schedule training on certain dates, via the manager's calendar, and the option to play up to four pre-season friendlies.

Leagues and teams

''FIFA 08'' includes 621 licensed teams, 43 national teams, with 30 leagues and more than 15,000 licensed players. It is the first game in the series to feature the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

. Several teams from other leagues also appear in a "Rest of World" category. Of the 621 teams that comprise the game, 29 appear unlicensed, 13 of them being national teams.

National teams

''FIFA 08'' has 44 teams in its international division. The most notable exclusion is Japan, who made it into the round of 16 in the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, but whose licensing rights belonged to

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

at the time.

Soundtrack

EA Sports officially announced ''FIFA 08s soundtrack on 11 September 2007. It featured many

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...

acts including

Ivy Queen Martha Ivelisse Pesante Rodríguez (born March 4, 1972), known professionally as Ivy Queen, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer and actress. She is considered one of the pioneers of the reggaeton genre, commonly referred to as the Queen of Reggae ...

and Pacha Massive.

Reception

The PlayStation 2 version of ''FIFA 08'' received a "Double Platinum" sales award from the

Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) is a non-profit trade association for the video game industry in the United Kingdom (UK). Ukie was founded in 1989 as the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), then chang ...

(ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom. ELSPA gave the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 releases each a "Platinum" certification, for sales of at least 300,000 copies per version in the region.

Awards

In 2008, ''FIFA 08'' was nominated for BAFTA Children's Kids Vote Award. During the

11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards The ''11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards'' was the 11th edition of the Interactive Achievement Awards, an annual awards event that honored the best games in the video game industry during 2007. The awards were arranged by the Academy of ...

, ''FIFA 08'' received a nomination for " Sports Game of the Year" by the

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain Summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...

References

External links

Official website
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