FIFA '11 Receives Major Update

I'm not much of a soccer player, but I did watch (most of) the World Cup this summer, so I guess that counts. To somehow relate this back to soccer, EA just released two new online features for FIFA '11 called Play a Friend Challenge and Friends Leaderboards. Check out the press release below for more info about what exactly these online mode entails.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – February 18, 2011 – EA SPORTS™ has launched globally two major new features— Play A Friend Challenge and Friends Leaderboards— plus over 50 improvements forFIFA 11 Ultimate Team, a massive online community of fans building, managing and competing with their ultimate soccer team in FIFA Soccer 11 on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system. The features and improvements will be live in Asia on February 24.

FIFA 11 Ultimate Team is free-to-play* with a massive online community of more than two million fans. It is the most popular and successful DLC ever developed by EA SPORTS**.  FIFA 11 Ultimate Team challenges community members to build a squad of the world's best players by earning coins from competing in weekly tournaments and then spending them on packs in the in-game store or as currency to bid for players in the very popular auction market both on console and the web app at www.easportsfootball.com/ultimateteam/play.

The FIFA 11 Ultimate Team title update released today features:

Play A Friend Challenge

• Play A Friend Challenge enables you to test your skills against your friend’s Ultimate Team, even when your friend isn’t online. Take on your friend’s squad whenever you like with the CPU controlling their squad. Results are recorded and presented to your friend the next time they log on to their console. Now you can prove who has the best Ultimate Team whenever you are ready to play. Plus, when you return to your console, you can see who played your squad, left you a message, and challenge them to a rematch when you want to play.

Friends Leaderboards

• Compare your progress in FIFA 11 Ultimate Team against friends automatically with personalized leaderboards. Catering to how you choose to play, you can now compete and compare your progress as a trader, expert team builder, top entrepreneur in the auctions, or owner of the most valuable club.

The update also includes over 50 additional refinements that were included based on the feedback from the FIFA community. Some of the additional changes include updates to the auctions to make it easier to track auctions or repost expired items, Power Passing assistance is switched off by default in online matches, and a number of general stability improvements. For a full list, please visit the News & Media section on www.easportsfootball.com.

Visit www.easportsfootball.com/ultimateteam for more information about the game and join other fans in the EA SPORTS FIFA community at http://www.facebook.com/easportsfifa.