Have you ever dreamed of being able to play like football greats such as Ronaldinho, Peter Crouch, and Gennaro Gattuso? Well, developer Electronic Arts may actually be able to bring you a step closer to experiencing just that. EA has just named these very football stars to grace the covers of its FIFA Street 3 games scheduled for release in February 2008.

Eager for more? Read to the full article after the jump.

 

Konami's Winning Eleven (Xbox 360, PSP, Nintendo DS) series has made football lovers believe that there is a good football game out there that they could enjoy playing hours with. Every release is met with excitement and enthusiasm from football/gaming aficionados. Now, the game's associate product manager, Colin Ferris, chatted with 1UP about what's next for the series, what's missing from it, and what makes it kickass.

He mentions that one thing that he is proud of is their accomplishments on the Xbox 360 version. He shares that:

In fact, all the screens and videos we have used for marketing the 360 version have been created using the in-game engine. There's no need to touch up the video when it looks this good....We truly did build the 360 version from the ground up. I'll repeat: this is not a port of the PS2 game. Besides amazing graphics, the next generation of consoles allows us to get more realistic in terms of physics and gameplay. In order to take full advantage of new features in coming versions for next generation, the development team felt the need to start over and not burden themselves with code designed for the last generation

Now, the inevitable question - what is Konami's plans for the PS3? He divulges that "WE: PES 2007 will not be released on the PS3, but Konami does support all the next generation consoles. You'll have to wait and see for future announcements."

Ferris also shared that they have worked very hard on including the licenses for the teams that they know that their fan-base would want. Unlike FIFA, Winning Eleven Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 included all of the World Cup teams (FIFA excluded eight teams). He was also questioned about the lack of the USA National team license for a US release, which he answered by saying:

As with all sports games, licensing is always difficult. In the case of soccer, you have the leagues, the teams, and the team's sponsors all to deal with. Do we get everything we want? Absolutely not, otherwise every single team in the world would be in the game. However, we are very focused on increasing the presence of North American teams in the game. Personally, the addition of Argentina in WE: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 is one of my favorite new teams to play with.

You could check out the word-per-word account of the interview by clicking on our read link below.

 

With the World Cup so over and with the whole world now in the know about what Materazzi said to Zidane in the finals, the world of soccer has been a little less interesting lately. But out to change that is Konami's Winning Eleven for the Nintendo DS, proving to one and all that a classic never fails to attract attention and interest from us, mere mortals. And now, they have released some screens of the game for your own viewing pleasure.

One of Konami's more successful and famous franchise is set to hit Japan this coming November 2. Of course, people outside the Land of the Rising Sun would have to wait a little while to be part of the action. We could only hope that these could accompany you through the wait.

    

It's quite disappointing that the World Cup is so over and we would have to wait eons (well another four years sure feels like eons) for another one to occur. Now let's shift our attention to American football in the Nintendo DS.

This week is all about Madden NFL 07 which, according to some reviews, suffered a fumble of sorts during its first DS release way back in 2004. Well, lightning doesn't strike twice, but then again, there are a few exceptions...Only time and sales figures could tell that. Anyway, here is the list of releases for the week of August 21st.  Bear in mind that availability is subject to manufacturer delivery.

DS Releases

    * Madden NFL 07

GameBoy Advance

    * Madden NFL 07
    * The Scooby Movie Dual Pack
    * Yu-Gi-Oh! Double Pack 2

Yeah, by now, every person that has seriously embraced video gaming as part of his/her life is aware of the sudden changes that'll prompt him/her to bid farewell to the E3 as he/she knew it. The Halls of QJ has been ringing with dead silence every single time the matter is brought up (it's happening right now). But we all have to move on as E3, arguably gamers' own version of World Cup and Winter Olympics, undergoes some major tweaks that'll indirectly affect all of us.

Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein, in an interview with Wall Street Journal, has revealed what exactly those "major tweaks" will be - a new name, a new venue and a new date. According to him, the event will be dubbed as the E3 Media Festival starting next year, cementing thoughts that the affair will now only be joined by members of the press from various media.

From last E3's groundbreaking attendance of 60,000 visitors, next year's event will have a toned-down population of around 5000 people. In fact, Lowenstein has cited that the huge number of participants is primarily the reason why all the changes are being made, saying that "some companies were frustrated because E3 was such a huge, sweeping event it became increasingly difficult to get their messages out."

Instead of the traditional May affair, the next E3 (if we could still call it that) will be held on July to give publishers more time to develop their projects and to strategically bring it nearer to Christmas where most games are usually released. The event will also say goodbye to the Los Angeles Convention Center as the ESA divulged plans to use two hotels, holding press events and meetings in suites and conference rooms - there goes our booths and the booth babes along with it.

As much as we want to present this news as an objective one, it's really hard not to choke out some disappointments while tackling the matter. The gamer in us conquers the inner writer/reporter as it cry for the game demos open for civilians, promos for the attendees, E3 booth babes, lost opportunities for smaller developers, and the shed "people image" of the event we used to know as E3...

Reports from the UK put our beloved DS Lite in a solid, but not sensational sales position, as there have been 35,000 units sold in the opening weekend. This may not be much compared with the original DS, where 87,000 units were sold at launch - but still, for a "merely" redesigned system, it's very good. Especially considering this happened while the whole of Europe finds itself in the tight grip of the World Cup craze, and without heavy promotion from Nintendo.

ChartTrack's Dorian Bloch agreed on this, stating: “You can call it good as they've managed to sell 35,000 even though the football's on. I tend to think it doesn't make much difference to what the year total will be, because those who haven't bought it yet will buy it as soon as their attention has moved on from something else.”

The percentage of white/black Lites sold seems to lie pretty evenly around 50/50, and sales of the old DS haven't been affected either; particularly the pink model, bundled together with Nintendogs, seems to be selling very well. As a side effect, the DS Launch caused a number of DS games to shoot up the ladder - consequently, a total of eight exclusive titles are now residing in the Top 40 All Format Charts.

So as Japan holds the pole position in the DS Lite madness (2.2 million sold since the launch) and the US and UK are following with satisfying numbers, I hope it doesn't convince Nintendo to continue the practice of annual hardware revisions in the future. Because love only goes so far...

Support your favorite FIFA World Cup team by dressing your PlayStation Portable or Nintendo DS in their national flags. In time for 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany, Wrapstar releases ten new skins for the the portable consoles with flags of the competing nations as design.

Game Store Scandinavia now sells the mentioned skin design. The store's Managing Director Adolf Kristjansson praises Wrapstar skins by saying, "We believe that Wrapstar products are a great way to help our customers customise their PSPs and to express themselves. They also have a second benefit of protecting your PSP from any minor mishaps. What I liked especially about the product though is the fact that it leaves no trace of any kind when you remove it from your PSP, leaving it in pristine shape."

If you want to root for your favored team or you just want your handheld console to sport a new look, go ahead and order your own Wrapstar skin for €4.99 (approx. $9).