The above sentence ‘EA Sports – Its in the Game !’ has become a part of my life from past 10 years.My eyes lit up every time i see the EA Sports logo flashing in the white background.I know i am not alone,millions across the world have experienced it.

I am talking about it in context of FIFA,the best selling title of Electronic Arts(EA).I have played FIFA from 1998 but mainly from FIFA 2000.Few days back i laid my hands on FIFA 10.A decade of FIFA,a decade of heritage.

FIFA series from EA is a heritage.Anyone who loves football is not unaware of this game.Very few games have attained a brand status.GTA,Max Payne,Mario,Contra to name a few.Mario and Contra are no where to be seen these days.But FIFA has evolved over the years and deepened its roots in the games market.

The first version of the game appeared on the late 1993. It was named FIFA International Soccer, but also known as FIFA’94. FIFA series somehow is the most successful job of the EA sports video games, cause it had the strongest competitors.

FIFA has maintained its brand from past 16 17 years and is still going stronger every year.FIFA is released every year with some or major improvements.I still remember how FIFA 2001 changed everything and was a paradigm shift with all fluid animations and controls and smooth graphics.

With FIFA 2001,the glimpse of future was clear.The brand grew and attained new heights with every release.Every year new marketing strategy was used.Every year a new tag-line was devised to give people a hint of what was coming.’First Touch’  to ‘This is the season’ to ‘Lets FIFA !’ all proved to be powerful attractors.

The going was not always easy for FIFA.Konami launched PES(Pro Evolution Soccer) or Winning Eleven 5 in 2001 which till date is the biggest competitor of FIFA series by EA Sports.PES has managed to shake FIFA (EA).They closely match every move of EA.Both release their version near to each other.

FIFA is no doubt number one but many people claim that PES is far better as a game.Its a similar case as that of PC vs Mac.FIFA always was more popular and even today it is.I have tried PES 2008 and liked it honestly but then there are a lot of shortcomings in PES.The biggest it being the unofficial FIFA game.PES is not licenced by FIFA.Be ready for the false club and player names.When it comes to authenticity FIFA(EA) has no match.Arsenal to Manchester Untited,Barca to Real Madrid,you will find all teams with all Ronaldos,Fabregas’,Persies,Kakas,Rooneys in place.The likeness of player is awesome in FIFA.In FIFA 10,every player looks himself perfectly.PES lacks in this department.

And at the end of the day,Popularity of FIFA is too high.One more thing is that players and gamers cant switch from one game to another,there is a hidden cost.The controls and style of plays are different.So people don’t shift from one brand to another.PES needs to really come up with something extra to overcome the inherent switching costs if it wants to gain more market share.FIFA 08 has really been able to plug the gaps and reduce the difference from PES and FIFA 10 is positioned as the most natural,real and authentic football game ever.

I have not been able to switch because the brand heritage,FIFA is worth staying for.It has given me friends.It has given long hours of discussions.It has given me sleepless nights.It has given me a lot.The EA FIFA as a brand is part of my life and many other similar gamers who play and love this beautiful game.

My friends,roomies all are fans of FIFA.On weekends we try to meet and play this wonderful game together.The time just flows by and the sentence keeps repeating,”EA Sports ! Its in the Game!”.

The Fifa 10 UK Ad

How big can Football get ?

Lets FIFA 10 !

What Say ?

© 2009 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

There has been a International debate in the football fraternity.The footballing world is divided into two on it.

Whole Italy is firm on the belief that Ruud was offside.According to them Panucci,the defender, fell and went off the field of play behind the byline after clashing with other players in the preceding goalmouth scramble and was lying injured on his back when the ball went into the net.So it should be offside.

It finally took an official statement from UEFA to prove the linesman right.

Austrian referees’ commission chairman Gerhard Kapl was quoted on the Austrian Web site www.sportal.at as saying the goal was correctly awarded.

“The injured player behind the goal counts as a player on the field and therefore it was not offside,” said Kapl.

But can an injured player who is lying knocked out outside the playing area can actually be called as an active player in the run of play?

The thing is how the rule has to interpreted.One version says as i heard ona news channel that a defender cant deliberately walk out of the play to make a striker offside.In simple words just imagine when the ball was about to be played to Ruud,Panucci actually walks out the field saying the striker is offside but in that case the striker is Onside. So by the same rule they say even if Panucci fell outside the field of play Ruud was still Onside.

But the debaters argue that Panucci didnt fell deliberately but was knocked down due to collision with the other striker.

The image below tells the actual situation.According to Rule,A player is in an offside position if he is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than the ball and the second last opponent (usually the ‘last defender’ because the goalkeeper is normally closest to the goal line). A player level with the second to last opponent is not in an offside position.

In the picture its clear there are two italian players in front of Ruud.First Buffon and other Panucci.So in this way Rudd is clearly Onside.

But the other counterview can be the fact that Panucci actually is out of the play (he is knocked out god sake).So its the way you see the situation UEFA claims it to be legal.I tried to find lot about it.Even referred the Laws of the game but didnt find it.If someone reading has read that clause which actually validates UEFA claim please leave a comment.

For your reference these are the links i referred to.

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/federation/laws_of_the_game_0708_10565.pdf

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/refereeing/5.%20law%2011_554.pdf

One more valid point is that if linesman didnt see palucci fallen on ground then there was no point in giving ruud onside as he badly offside when he played if we forget Palucci.

So still in the end of the blog i am still myself not clear what was it actually.But at the end i would say whether you consider that a goal or not still Netherlands were a better team and have two more goals to boast of.

So guys enjoy EURO fever and i hope no more controversies creep in and Football emerges a clean winner.

© 2008 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

So comes the event which i had been waiting The Euro 2008.I am a bit disappointed that England is not there but still France is there.The great Thierry Henry will be there.Ronaldos,Torreses,Ballacks,Abidals,Cechs,Fabregases phew list will not finish.I am highly excited for this event.The top image is my dedication and passion for football converted to a JPEG.Actually this is the team i chose for fantasy football in EURO 2008 official website.And then i used the tried and tested Photoshop for making this image using all images of MY STARS and official EURO wallpaper.

So enjoy the image and also try to participate in the game and enjoy EURO 2008.

Extravaganza starts 7th june. 

The stars in my team(see image) are

Goalkeeper: Peter Cech

Defenders: Abidal,Kadlec,Senderos,Cannavaro

Midfielders: Ljunberg,Fabregas,Ribery,Nani

Forwards: Henry,Van Persie,Frei(Subsitute)

This is my Euro team which i managed in 100 million euros as per site.

Lets see how they perform.

© 2008 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.