Now available on the PlayStation Network, Xbox LIVE and PC is the long awaited FIFA 12 demo. It's lands a fortnight before the game hits stores, and has been receiving high praise from a wide range of publications. GamesMaster has the world's first review, scoring it a whopping 94% and calling it "the freshest and most fearless FIFA in living memory." Konami's PES 2012 demo is also out, if you want a football sim comparison....

Aaron McHardy, FIFA 12's Lead Gameplay Producer, gives us a video demonstration of what we can expect from the football sim's player impact engine. The aim is to deliver real-world physicality in every interaction on the pitch, and it's looking mighty close to exactly that. "Experience the way real-world players challenge each other for the ball, win possession, and test each other physically. Enjoy an infinite variety of natural and believable outcomes in every collision."

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NBA JAM's reboot was initially going to be a Nintendo Wii exclusive, with non-online versions bundled with the now cancelled NBA Live, err, "NBA Elite" 2011. It turns out that with EA Sports' flagship basketballer put on the bench, and the high anticipation for some old-school boom-shakalaka action, it was decided NBA JAM would see its very own Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 release - in HD, with full online multiplayer support. It's not all good news, though.....

Not sure which new soccer game to pick up? You will be soon. Let's start with EA's FIFA 11. IGN UK gave it a substantial 9.5/10: "for the next twelve months at least this is likely to be the best football experience available, and FIFA's looking like retaining its crown in convincing fashion."
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So an octopus named Paul predicted a bunch of World Cup matches correctly, pfft, so what - he'll be dead in two years anyway. That's if the Germans don't eat him before that. What's really interesting is that EA Sports used their 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa title to simulate the World Cup, a first for the developer, and it also picked Spain as the winner. Now that's hardly impressive by itself, until you consider that EA Sports have been using their Madden franchise to simulate the NFL Super Bowl for 7 years, and it has only picked the winner wrong once.
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EA's FIFA engine had a major rework back in 2006, launching it onto next generation consoles such as the Xbox 360. Unfortunately for PC gamers, we've been stuck with the last generation engine even into 2010 - the same engine we played with on the Xbox...

Everyone seemed pretty impressed with Tiger Woods Online, and given the huge popularity of football and the fast approaching FIFA World Cup, it will be interesting to see if they can kick a goal with FIFA Online. The free-to-play browser-based game has just gone into open beta, and anyone who has an EA account can participate. Fill in your log-in details, click 'register for the beta', then actually log-in and you're away......

Dubbed 'Online Pass', all EA Sports console games will be sold with a one-time use registration code as of July this year that grants access to online multiplayer modes. If you've purchased the game second hand and the original access code has been redeemed already, you'll be up for an additional $10 charge to jump online to have a bash, kick, bat - or whatever your flavour of sports simulation is.....

If you're a console owner and a football fan, then you're probably already more than aware that today EA Sports' 2010 FIFA World South Africa hits store shelves today. For those that weren't, now you are! EB Games have it selling for $80, and I'm sure if you looked hard enough you could find it a few bucks cheaper from a competitor retailer....

At some stage over the next twelve-or-so hours, the Xbox LIVE Marketplace and PlayStation Store will be graced with a demo of EA Sport's forthcoming World Cup iteration of their ever-bettering FIFA franchise.

You'll have the opportunity to try out FIFA's new two-button control scheme, which means you can get your Grandfather or an equally inexperienced player into the mix with the smallest of learning curves. More impressively is their intelligently re-worked penalty kicks system which you can see at our YouTube channel....

Tiger Woods Online has officially launched, and it's a surprisingly enjoyable experience. It's free-to-play, and you can log straight in with the same Electronics Arts account details you use for Bad Company 2 and other EA games. As you play you'll earn XP and cash for the Pro Shop. For those not wanting to save up their virtual bank-roll, you can spend real money on items or rounds of golf at locked courses......

Rage-quitting is the bane of many a FIFA player's existence. The minute you're up is the minute your competitor quits the game. It seems there is light at the end of the tunnel, though. EA Canada's Simon Humber told Eurogamer that EA is looking to add a reward system to FIFA 11 that would encourage players to finish matches, win or lose. Hallelujah.

EA Sports boss, Peter Moore, today spoke exclusively with CVG. He has made bold and somewhat bias predictions that sports will be the biggest driver of 3D gaming's growth; "None of the games I've seen [so far] have been built that way - they've been regular games running in 3D. The real secret sauce will be when somebody says: 'I'm going to build this game specifically for a 3D platform.'"...

Reuters is reporting on an incident in which an Italian teenager stabbed his father in the neck after an argument over a video game. Now before Mick Atkinson registers on the forum to start posting "I told you so," get this - the game in question was FIFA '09......