First week sell through of FIFA 10 in Europe: 1.7 million units

Electronic Arts announced that FIFA 10 saw 1.7 million copies sold through at European retail in the first week. EA says that these numbers make it the fastest selling sports game ever and EA’s biggest European launch in history. EA added that, since launch, more than 10 million gaming sessions have been played online, with over 155,000 gamers playing online simultaneously during peak playing hours.

“We were confident that FIFA 10 would be a hit, and this week fans across Europe have shown just how much they love this game,” said Peter Moore, President of EA SPORTS. “We are incredibly proud of FIFA 10 and this kick-off for great, authentic football competition.”

FIFA 10 will be in stores throughout North America on October 20, 2009.

FIFA Interactive World Cup kicks off this week

FIFA, Electronic Arts and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe today announced the new season of the FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC), a season-long tournament mirroring the real world of soccer with competitors from all around the world participating in the EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer 10 on PlayStation 3.

This year marks the sixth FIWC season, which will kick off today inside EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer 10. Players will be able to compete for their spot in the Grand Final at one of 10 FIWC Live Qualifier Events across the globe, taking place in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, South Africa and the UK, or by playing online.

For the first time in the tournament’s history, the online competition of the FIWC via PlayStation Network will be split into two seasons. Season one starts with the launch of FIFA Soccer 10 on October 2 in Europe and concludes on December 18, 2009. The ten best players of season one from across the FIFA confederations will go through to the Grand Final, which will take place at Port Olympic in Barcelona on May 1, 2010. Players who didn’t make it during season one have another shot at their spot in the Grand Final in season two, which kicks off on January 4, 2010 and concludes on March 31, 2010. Registration for participating in the online leg of the FIWC 10 tournament will take place directly inside the retail version of FIFA Soccer 10 on PS3 from October 2 across Europe and Asia and from October 20 in North America.

Championship Manager 2010 dated, demo this month

Eidos Interactive and Beautiful Game Studios have pegged September 11 as the release date for the latest game in its popular soccer management simulation game series, Championship Manager 2010. That date is for Europe, where French, Italian, Spanish, Turkish and Polish language versions of the game will be on store shelves.

According to the hype machine at Eidos, Championship Manager 2010 will be the first football game available for the 2009/10 season. It has been in development for over 2 years, and promises such new features as a bespoke 3D match engine with over 500 individual player animations created specifically for Championship Manager, a Set-piece creator that lets users create their own free kicks and corners, Scouting Networks that allow users to set-up local networks in countries around the world and scout for local players and Practice matches to help users build a team or trial new players.

A full demo will be available on August 14 via the Championship Manager website offering 6 months game time (over half a season) and fully compatibility with the full version of the game when it its release. This gives players a full four weeks to prepare themselves for the release of Championship Manager 2010 and continue the play in the retail version.

Microsoft inks Canal Plus deal for France

More than a million Xbox 360 users in France will soon be able to watch films on demand, television and soccer from cable operator Canal Plus thanks to a new deal between Microsoft and the European pay-TV group. Microsoft, which is trying to widen the appeal of the Xbox 360 beyond hard-core demographic, last month announced a similar deal with Britian’s BSkyB.

Under the freshly announced deal with owner Vivendi, Xbox live members will be able to access more than 3,000 films, TV shows, soap operas and French Ligue 1 soccer games live and on demand.

The partnership to other Canal Plus products may be extended on Xbox Live in that region, along with other deals for other Microsoft platforms.

New Star Soccer 4 update released

A new version of New Star Soccer 4 has been released, bringing the indie developed soccer game to version 4.07. The update includes a much more realistic match engine, improved player and goalkeeper intelligence, various bug fixes and various gameplay tweaks. The game is also now playable in 9 languages including English, Bulgarian, Brazilian-Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese and Romanian.

An updated trial version of the game for Windows and Mac is available now from www.newstarsoccer.com.

Worldwide Soccer Manager 2009 on Steam

Sega announced that Worldwide Soccer Manager 2009 is now available via STEAM. The latest game in the popular soccer club management game features a brand new 3D Match Engine, which can now be viewed in full 3D - you’ll be able to view players from multiple camera angles on the pitch and rewind or fast-forward to key plays.

With this customizable view you can also choose the information you would like to see during the match, be it the latest scores or player performance stats for the match. The game has been updated for the new 2008/09 soccer season with all the latest league, club and player data, as well. Worldwide Soccer Manager 2009 features over 5,000 playable clubs from over 50 countries, and around 350,000 players and staff from around the world, drawn from the Sports Interactive database.

Head on over to steampowered.com for more details.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 Revealed

To all of us here in Europe, football has long been the second most important thing in life. Drinking beer and shouting on the stands while screaming profanities at anything that moves on the pitch has most likely been the most important thing for many.

That said, Stateside, they don’t even call it football! It seems as though not even the importing of David Beckham has helped to change the minds of Americans. They seem to have this rather peculiar notion of football, involving an oddly shaped ball and something called the touchup?! Seems like a slightly disturbing concept to me. Oh so it’s touchdown? All right then.

OK, OK, calm down, just having a little fun here.

On to the news; Konami has announced plans for Pro Evolution Soccer 2009; arguably one of the best football sims on the market. Soccer sims. Whatever. The game is coming out this Autumn for Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS2, and PSP.

According to Konami: “The new game has undergone a stunning graphical update to ensure its players look and move even more like their real-life counterparts.

“Similarly, all-new options allow users to tailor the game to their own tastes, while new moves, innovative new control elements and key online elements will further the realism of the new game.”

Source.