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With a world full of avid gamers, do we ever truly take a moment to appreciate the way technology has enhanced our gaming experiences? Between gaming companies like Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and more, technology has grown far beyond our imagination. Many of us who grew up on the first generation consoles of Nintendo, Sega and PlayStation have seen and experienced the changes in graphics and gameplay modes over the years, thus helping us to appreciate what is readily available to us now and just how far the games industry has come since its inception.
EA Games has come a long way in 20 years. With the original game released on the 15th of December 1993, FIFA adopted ground-breaking technology for its time – isometric technology rather than the classic 16-bit style – to build their game. As generations went by, FIFA evolved with real-time 3D graphics, new game engines, smarter artificial intelligence, and now, the new Hyper Motion gameplay (Newsround, 2020).
With constant re-invention and time, graphics and gameplay have advanced, generating excitement for every new FIFA game. As new technologies became available, games like FIFA have taken full advantage of using new tools to enhance the gaming experience.
Worlds away from the original gameplay modes, we forget that technology has progressed with us. So, what makes this new gameplay so sophisticated and fascinating when playing FIFA 22? Firstly, the technology itself: ‘Xsens’ suits enable EA to motion capture professional footballers playing at high intensity, resulting in high-quality, real, human movement data for the game (EA Sports, 2022). Secondly, a machine learning algorithm learns from millions of frames of advanced match capture and writes new animations in real-time (EA Sports, 2022).
The fascinating use of artificial intelligence and machine learning has thus enabled realistic gameplay, varying from; tackling, attack, defense, full team motion, composed ball control and player humanisation (EA Sports, 2022). For avid game players and lovers of football (soccer), this realistic gameplay has given more control back to the gamer. Thus, the thrill and excitement of watching or playing a real match is recreated as the FIFA 22 players are brought to life. With this, FIFA 22 is potentially the most realistic and immersive gameplay experience to date.
So, next time you’re on your games console, take a moment and think back to the first-ever EA sports game you played. Try to appreciate the time it has taken to get this far and let your imagination run wild with the mouth-watering possibilities of future advancements to come.