The release of the Xbox 360 just a few months ago ushered in the ‘next’ generation of videogame consoles. A new generation that promises to be faster, prettier and ‘better’ than anything before it. I’ll save the intricacies of the associated console techno-babble to those who understand it but suffice to say the 360 is one hell of a powerful console and the PS3 promises to be just as impressive, if not more. [Cue cries of derision from the PC gaming elite!] With this increased processing power comes the potential for the games that aren’t just prettier, but also games with more complex AI, physics and game features. So what are the possibilities for the future of soccer games? In this article I hope to explore and share some ideas of where the next generation of videogame consoles could take us when it comes to soccer gaming.

Graphics

It’s fitting that I discuss graphics first because that’s what people immediately notice when it comes to a next-generation system. I think this is a double edged sword as first generation games for a new console often look very impressive, but do so at the expense of features and gameplay – just look at the unmitigated disaster that was FIFA: RTWC 06 for the 360! Let’s get the obvious out of the way, ideally, the next generation of FIFAs, Winning Elevens, and World Tour Soccer’s should, naturally, sport crisper graphics, smoother animations, better player models, and better player likenesses. That’s a given, and the very least we should expect from our brand-spankin’ new über consoles.

But what else can the increased horsepower of new consoles bring us visually?

Cut the needless ‘cut-scenes’

I think the first thing developers should do is to drastically reduce/change the number pre-packaged cut-scenes for goal celebrations, player scuffles, substitutions, and ref-player interactions. An important part of sports games is immersion and a large part of that are the graphics (see the cockpit view in PGR3), but what developers don’t often realize is that immersion doesn’t just come from the high fidelity of the graphics but also by the AMOUNT of stuff going on in the game and how it all ties in. What I still dislike about the FIFA series is how the goal celebrations follow a goal are completely independent of the on-field action that just occurred. What do I mean? Well in FIFA 06 I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve scored a goal, the goal-scorer runs to the left corner flag to celebrate, then the game cuts-away from the playable angle to a cut-scene where the same player (who was off on a full pelt to the corner flag) standing still in the middle of the box with his arms in the air celebrating! It totally kills all sense of immersion, especially since these cut-scene graphics are noticeably better than the in-game visuals, and its something that’s plagued the FIFA series for years. It’s as if the programmers at EA Sports Canada have a need to say; “Here, look at the pretty graphics we’ve made, look at this cut-scene!”.

While I know this is what the nimrods at IGN and Gamespot love to see “Oh, look at the pretty ‘SAAACER’ graphics!” it totally kills immersion. Konami have done a slightly better job of this and goal celebration cut-scenes are totally congruent with what’s happening on-field before the cut-scene kicks in. Furthermore, the graphics are of the same quality in both instances. However, they’re still cut-scenes for even the smallest infraction and they serve, for me anyway, to ruin the immersiveness of the experience and almost scream out ‘hey look, you’re playing a videogame!’.

What I’d like to see instead is the majority of ref-interactions, player scuffles and substitutions occur using the in-game engine and be viewed from the in-game view! How neat would it be to clatter someone, then have opposing players step up to your player, start some ‘argy-bargy’, the ref come into separate everyone, brandishes a yellow card and all this WITHOUT the camera angle changing! Another approach that would be a happy medium (and perhaps help the human player control the flow of the game) would be to default into a cut-scene, but if you press X (or whatever) the game zooms back out into the gameplay view (in-real time), and if you double tap X then the screen fades of a second and returns to the point at which the opposition takes the resulting freekick/kick-off and you continue on playing.

I’ll elaborate more on the utility of this approach later in the article.

Fergie on the touchline

Another graphical enhancement I’d like to see in soccer games is the presence of more vibrant and ‘alive’ touchlines! How about seeing substitutes warming up on the sidelines? Managers standing up, screaming and waving instructions to players? Again, rather than have these as distinct cut-scenes, have them as on-going actions that you can see via the in-game view. For example, if you’re at Anfield and playing with the default Winning Eleven side-view, you only see the dugouts if the ball is by the touchline nearest to the camera. Therefore, when the ball is in that area you’re able to see Rafa Benitez and Paco Ayesteran (as well as the opposition manager and staff) up and about.

Likewise, if you arrange a substitution and are waiting for the ball to go out of play, it would be cool to see the sub standing by the touchline with the 4th official waiting to come on – but again, only if the ball (and therefore the camera) happens to go to that particular area of the pitch.

Spyin’ the Kop

The quality of stadiums in soccer games has been steadily improving over the last generation, but what is in desperate need of an upgrade is the depiction of the fans! I’ve reviewed a fair number of older soccer games for systems like the SNES for this site, and one thing I’ve noticed, particularly in the first FIFA games is that the crowd were modeled really well. You could see individual fans with their hands waving, standing up etc. Those programmers acknowledged that, from gameplay angles, there was only so much of the crowd you could see and therefore gave that small amount of punters visible to the player the attention they deserved.

With the current generation of consoles a fair argument could be made that the consoles just don’t have the horsepower to depict 3D fans in NON-CUTSCENE/GAMEPLAY views. With the next generation I think that’s a different story. If EA Sports can boast that you can see the individual stitches on a player’s jersey in Madden, then they have the ability to model 3D fans in real-time. I don’t know about you, but I think its more impressive when a game uses CPU horsepower to generate a crowd that looks real, than to use that horsepower to create minute jersey details that are only visible when you pause the game and zoom in. It’s also important to note that programmers don’t have to use the 360/PS3’s power to generate an entire stadium of fans, just the amount of fans that are visible from the gameplay view.

Estadio da Luz

As well as properly modeled fans, it would also be nice to see real-time lighting/shadows in stadiums! This is something that’s already in Madden 06 for the 360. I think it would be very neat to see the shadows in the stadium change position as time goes on, and it would be even cooler to have the light affect player’s vision and to see details like a keeper donning a baseball cap during the half in which he’s facing the sun!

Celebrate good times, come on!

While I was harsh earlier on about needless cut-scenes in football games that only serve to yank you out of any sense of immersion the game created, I do think there is a place for some cut-scenes, particularly when it comes to trophy celebrations!

It seems that celebration cut-scenes (when you win a championship) in almost all sports games (not just soccer ones) have been little more than an afterthought in recent years. I think that’s a trend that needs to go the way of the dodo. You’ve busted your gut to win the World Cup and you should be rewarded with a lengthier, more in-depth celebration scene. I like what the more recent Winning Eleven games have done with the stage trophy presentation, the confetti, and the shaking camera (to simulate a field level not-so-steady-cam) but it’s a sequence that’s just too short. Winning a tournament is a special occasion, programmers should make us feel like we’ve just done something important rather than throwing us a 15 second clip of a player hoisting a trophy in the air.

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