Picture the (slightly exaggerated) scene. Little Jimmy loves his Wii console. His dad’s glad, because due to economic difficulties he’s not bringing in a lot of money these days despite working 23-hour shifts down the pit every day (or something… do they even have pits any more? We dunno) and the family is struggling to make ends meet.
Jimmy’s pals all have Xbox 360s and PS3s but Jimmy understands his dad can’t afford to get him one, and so he’s perfectly content with his Wii. Deep down he knows that the Wii versions of the games his pals play – FIFA, PES, Call Of Duty, (ahem) Dead Rising – aren’t anywhere near as impressive, but he’s happy to make do and he still has fun playing them.
Jimmy’s dad knows his son is a generous kid, and he knows Jimmy loves FIFA more than any other Wii game he owns. Every year Jimmy’s dad works overtime doing… um, 28-hour shifts down the pit every day, just so he can get a little extra money to afford the £30 it costs for the latest FIFA game each year. Jimmy’s face lights up every time and to Jimmy’s dad, that makes up for the 73-hour pit shifts he puts in every day.
Tomorrow FIFA 13 is out and this heartwarming yearly tradition will continue. Jimmy’s dad will bring home a copy of FIFA 13 on the Wii, Jimmy’s love for his hardworking father will be clearly visible and a brand new gaming adventure will begin for Jimmy. Except this year it won’t.
Tomorrow what Jimmy sees will shock him. It will disgust him. It will leave a jaded expression on his face. On his hour-long breaks from the pit Jimmy’s dad will notice his son doesn’t have the zest for life he once did, and will ask him why. Jimmy won’t want to tell his dad, because he doesn’t want him to feel bad. But one night as Jimmy sleeps, his dad will sneak into his room for a cheeky game of FIFA, and he’ll see it for himself. And he’ll be livid.
The next day, Jimmy’s dad will spend his entire Christmas bonus on an envelope and a stamp. He will spit in the envelope, seal it and write “to EA” on it (not realising that isn’t enough detail to get it to its destination). What has he seen that made him so angry?
The following screenshot gallery compares FIFA 12 on the Wii with FIFA 13 on the Wii. In each situation the first screen is FIFA 12, the second screen is FIFA 13. Imagine paying an extra £30 for an “updated” version of FIFA 12 and getting this.
There you have it.
Well, that was pretty shocking, we’re sure you’ll agree. We realise this article is going to annoy our friends at EA, but we felt duty bound to make it obvious that FIFA 13 is identical to FIFA 12 other than a squad and kit update.
This is something that needs to be highlighted, because while it would be easy to pass it off and say “meh, it’s just the Wii version”, the fact remains that this game does still sell relatively well. This isn’t guesswork – as journalists we receive confidential sales figures and though we’re legally bound not to reveal those figures, we can at least say with confidence that FIFA 12 did pretty well for a Wii game this close to the console’s death.
Indeed, the fact it appears regularly in the Wii top ten (as can be seen by our weekly chart stories) shows that while it may not be selling in the millions like its Xbox 360 and PS3 cousins the game still has a solid audience, an audience that may well be looking to buy FIFA 13 on Wii expecting something other than a roster update (which would be free on other consoles but is £30 here).
Our story about little Jimmy at the start may have been exaggerated for comic effect, but it’s not a million miles away from some situations across the country. Many families are working hard to make ends meet and can’t afford to buy a lot of games each year.
FIFA games have traditionally been seen as good investments because they provide a lot of gameplay and can be enjoyed for many months, and so it’s not crazy to imagine a strapped-for-cash parent buying FIFA on Wii for their children to keep them entertained, safe in the knowledge that they won’t be asking for another game a week later because they’ve completed it.
In the past, games like PES on Wii haven’t changed too much over the years. For the most part though, at least Konami has bothered to change the front-end and menus to make it feel different, to make it feel like someone’s actually taken the time to bother with it and at least give Wii owners some sort of respect, to at least realise we aren’t idiots and aren’t fooled quite that easily.
The Wii U version of FIFA 13 will no doubt be a fantastic game, since it’ll share a lot (if not all) of the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions’ features. The 3DS version is a solid improvement over last year’s effort, and worth a look if you’re into some handheld football action. This, however – a £30 roster update – is unacceptable.
Entire article pulled from here:
http://www.nintendo-gamer.net/2012/09/27/fifa-13-wii-vs-fifa-12-wii-the-shocking-truth/
