Dazcooke Presents…”Does Everyone In The UK Own FIFA 13?” – An Analysis Of UK Game Sales Charts September 2012 – March 2013

Each week for the radio show that I co-host (click ‘Radio Show Archives’ at the top of the page for more information), I have to do a quick bit of research and find what the best selling game in the UK is for that particular week. And while I was checking today’s data, I noticed something very strange.

FIFA 13 was number five on the charts.

Now, to the casual eye this doesn’t mean much at all; but to someone like me who keeps a watchful eye on the charts, it is quite noticeable because this is the first week since its release that FIFA 13 has ranked lower than 4^th place. This small statistic made me query this morning the extent to which the sales charts have changed since FIFA’s release at the end of September 2012, and so I decided to have a quick check of the archives of sales charts since September to see if there are any trends.

13th Season Syndrome? – FIFA 13 Review

FIFA 13 (2012) – EA Canada

If Messi doesn’t take your fancy, there are custom covers available from the EA Sports website

To the casual eye, FIFA 13 is same old same old; to the extent by which I could probably copy and paste my FIFA 12 review and get away with it. Fans of the series will know however that it’s the subtle changes that make FIFA a different experience each year. The last installment was one of the most vigorous changes of the series yet, with the implementation of a whole new defending system and new player physics. FIFA 13 has brought a whole host of new tweaks to the engine this year to ensure that it remains ahead of Pro Evolution Soccer, but it is noticeable that the gap between the two series, which was a vast gaping chasm only two years ago, has shrunk dramatically. After a quite lengthy amount of time playing FIFA 13, I get the feeling that for the first time in years, the series has taken a step back.

FIFA 13 Demo Review

When I opened the curtains this morning, it was a grey and dull September morning that welcomed me. All the more excuse then to stay inside and pop onto Xbox Live to download the demo for the latest iteration of the most popular football franchise in the world, FIFA 13. It was released yesterday alongside a demo for F1 2012 (a quick word on that later) so chances are you have already played it a fair bit, but for those without the time to test it out yet this is a quick review of what’s going on with this years premium ball kicking simulation.

Dazcooke’s Top 10 Most Anticipated Games For Winter 2012

We are coming to the end of August, which means that the autumnal and winter seasons will soon hit us. While this is bad news for anyone currently in the middle of a holiday or fans of sunny weather, it means that we are slowly but surely moving towards the most exciting time of the year for gaming. The end of year schedule for games being released last year was nothing short of ridiculous, and while this year isn’t quite as filled to the gills with AAA titles, there are a few big hitting games that you will be enjoying soon enough. Last year. I wrote an article proclaiming the 20 games that I was most looking forward to, and in a very lazy show of journalism I am going to repeat the process…only this time I’ve narrowed my selection down to just 10 games after realising that I barely played many of the games I mentioned in the last list. So without further ado, here are the games that I am most looking forward to in the next few months.

EA Reveal Details On Dead Space 3, FIFA 13, Need For Speed & SimCity

Last night, Electronic Arts (EA) held an investor call in which several details of upcoming titles were revealed. Below is a quick list of the most important stuff to note from the meeting:

• It seems to have been quite a good year for EA on the financial side of things – say what you want about their money grabbing schemes with stuff like Online Passes, but the output of games last year was solid, and sales from titles such as Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic have led to an overall revenue of $5.4 billion; $1.2 billion of which was purely from digital sources such as Origin, EA’s online distribution service
• More importantly for gaming fans, we can look forward to a few more titles in the upcoming months. The latest instalment of Need For Speed is set for release sometime around Christmas as per usual. Given the lacklustre response to The Run, here’s to hoping that we will get another game in the same vein of quality as Hot Pursuit.
• Football fans like myself should also be anticipated FIFA 13 in the same time period. Series producer David Rutter has promised an updated player impact engine, better ball control and revamped free kicks amongst the major changes for the latest version of the best football game on the market.

FIFA’s new poster boy Messi dances around the Madrid defence (screenshot courtesy of dsogaming.com)

• The investor meeting also heavily hinted that there will be a third Dead Space game, widely expected to be under the helm once again of Visceral Games. Expect more details of this game to be released at the upcoming E3 conference.
• Finally, we have a more concrete release date for the new SimCity, which I am very much looking forward to. Before yesterday we had to guess when it would arrive in 2013, but now the promise of a release in the final quarter of this fiscal year (January to March for those of us not blessed in the ways of accountancy) means the wait becomes only slightly less unbearable.