For any sports gamer, there has always been one company worth a damn. Electronic Arts has been both the prime example and biggest failure in all aspects of sports gaming over the past 2 decades. We’ve all made our friends heads bleed in NHL 95, and have all thrown controllers in frustration at the 7th drop of our stud receiver in Madden. And as frequent Birdnesters know, the most played game at The Nest is FIFA 09. And since the Ultimate Team DLC was released last week for it, it’s been an exciting time here.
But not really exciting in a good way. Granted the mode itself is set up beautifully. A quick recap for those not in the loop: Ultimate Team combines Collectable Card Game elements with traditional Manager Mode style of gameplay. Starting with a basic Bronze pack of cards, players create their “Ultimate Team” buy purchasing packs of cards that contain players, tactics, managers, training options, kits, shields, and contracts.
By using these cards, you work to assemble your best squad to be put to the test in either online or offline tournaments and single matches. After every game you get awarded an amount of coins, which are then used to buy more cards. The three levels of packs contain increasingly better cards, ranging from Bronze to Gold (with Silver in between, obviously.) Bronze packs cost about one win’s worth of coins, with silver being about 4-5, and gold being even more expensive.
What’s really cool about this mode is the secondary market that EA is creating, allowing gamers to trade their unused cards for more useful ones. Your entire midfield is Spanish but you just picked up Stephen Gerrard in your first gold pack? Sure you can play him, but if you want, try to trade for Cesc Fabregas and give yourself the morale bonus that comes with having players from the same country. The options are endless and EA is really trying to let the gamers develop their own market. Without setting prices, there is a real feel of the invisible hand in pricing trades. EA has been devoting message board threads to trading giving users a chance for negotiations and Craigs List-esque advertisements.
Now you know what Ultimate Team “is” and is “supposed to be,” here’s what’s been happening since it dropped on Thursday morning. It can be summed up in two words: SERVER FAILURES. As can be expected in any major upgrade, especially something as popular as FIFA, there were major server failures in the first 48 hours of release. I’d like to say that this ended after the initial night, but alas even when I logged in yesterday to check out my team after a weekend at my parent’s house, there was nothing but a frozen menu.
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