EA: Lack of Champions League ‘a shame’ for FIFA

Despite routinely schooling rival football series PES for the past few years, EA Sports’ FIFA series still lacks the license for the Champions League – the most coveted trophy in club football.

Does FIFA line producer David Rutter think the lack of the trophy is a big deal for the premiere football sim? “Not massively,” he said in an interview with VideoGamer.com. “I think it’s a shame, and I would love every license for every team and every player likeness on planet Earth.”

No Champions League for FIFA 12, then, but what are the chances of EA snagging the rights to it in the future? “I suspect we never will, but if we can’t then I will do everything I can to create things that will allow people to do that themselves.”

Rutter also doesn’t think FIFA has suffered because of the Champions League omission. “I don’t think we’ve suffered from not having it. I think we’re lucky that last year we also produced that creation centre tool on the web that allowed people to make teams. If you wanted to, to put in it, and we have a fairly comprehensive tournament editor in the game so you could make pretty much anything that you wanted to.”

“I think we’re at a point with FIFA that there’s this level of authenticity that we want to get to, and a big part of that is licenses,” said Rutter.

One of FIFA 12’s primary new features is the new Impact Engine. What does that do, then? “The new Impact Engine allows the bodies of players to interact with each other naturally, so legs can tangle, knees can collide, and sliding challenges can result in truly authentic looking falls,” wrote Tom while arguing why FIFA 12 is a revolution in football games.

FIFA 12 is out this autumn and has been confirmed for Xbox 360, PS3, PC, and 3DS. Will we be seeing a reveal for NGP next week at E3?

VideoGamer.com’s football connoisseur Tom Orry glanced over FIFA 12’s new features last week, and he liked what he saw. You can find out what exactly tickled his fancy in his FIFA 12 First Look Preview.