EA Sports Reveals Wii Family Play

[Shadow19]

http://wii.ign.com/articles/801/801326p1.html

In Madden, it's all about throwing, snapping, kicking, and stiff-arming. Players will grab the Wii-mote and easily pull off any of these moves with no need for button pressing. AI players find the holes in the defense, and you're responsible for making the big play or shoving a defender out of the way. Plug the nunchuk back in and take direct control of the action once you're ready.

Shooting, passing, and stealing is a breeze with NBA Live's Family Play mode. Forget about setting up complex passing plays or worrying about the technical rules of the game, and focus instead on sinking jumpshots, passing with the flick of the wrist in either direction, or blocking and stealing on defense with either flicks up/down or left/right respectively. Want to drive to the hoop? Just hold the B button and your AI-controlled baller will get the hint.

With FIFA Soccer 08, leave the running and ball-handling to the computer and line up a perfect shot with Wii motion. Take over throw-ins, passes, punts and corner kicks without the need for buttons, and plug backing the nunchuk once you think you have what it takes to step up to Ronaldinho. If you're a hardcore FIFA fan, crank up the AI difficulty and pass an extra Wii-mote to a friend or family member. It's not so easy when your human opponents know all the right moves.

Be sure to stay tuned for more on EA Sports Family Play as details emerge. Don't forget to check out each of the screenshot galleries for the three currently-supported games, and keep checking back to IGN for the latest in EA Wii content.

[TheGreenElf]

I saw this, it's actually pretty cool. I can maybe get my girlfriend to play me in Madden or Fifa now and she'll probably beat me. I'll get angry and claim it on her having the easy controls...oh the fun.

[Sandman]

That's pretty cool, like turning the games into Wii Sports.

[Mr. Coww]

Its still EA, they need to keep the simple wiimote stuff but allow the player to still move to get both groups happy. I frankly dont enjoy most sports game any more due to being far more complex and annoying then learning every move in Street Fighter 2. I dont think any ones tryed to make a semi simple realistic sports game in a over a decade so this makes me worry if EA is just doing this to make a gimicky tacked on mode or are they really trying to do some thing NEW. I guess time will tell.

[Generosity of God]

i like it. it gives the inexperienced a chance to play the game with less complicated controls. and once they get use to the game they may decide to try out the complicated stuff. EA would have noticed the demographics that have been buying Wii and have implemented this as a way to ease new players into the games. if EA is tacking it on half assed, then it probably wont be very enjoyable to those new players and EA would have lost the chance to gain more sales. that's why i dont think EA are just tacking it on. unless i am mistaken and EA are stupid enough to let the opportunity pass by.

i dont think the new people using the Family Play controls will be beating experienced players using full controls. they'll be dependant on the computer AI and unless EA make the AI better than what you would normally play against in single player, experienced players should be able to beat them just the same.

[TheGreenElf]

I don't see how this can be bad. I mean, all they have to do is have the computer control everything you do, except the main action is left to the Wii-mote and yourself to decide. Everything else though, is handled as if you are playing single-player.

[Viper]

This is an awesome way to get new gamers experienced with more complex control methods. I've never purchased a Madden game until '07 on Wii and I love the motion controls though they did have a learning curve. I can only image how tough that might be for others just starting to use the Wii-mote itself.

With this, I can play my wife who's wanted to play but didn't have time to learn all the motion controls.

Oh and it's online too so the level of competition should be real nice.