Digital Messi Returns In September

At EA's Gamescom press conference today, FIFA 13 information was up for grabs. Executive Producer David Rutter outlined a whole new mode in the form of "Match Day", which draws on real life data in order to attempt to replicate some of the experiences that will occur throughout the course of the real football season. The briefest of demos was played out, showing the final day of last year's Barclay's Premier League season, where Manchester City could secure the title with a win. Commentator Martin Tyler provided context-sensitive commentary, which seemed pretty much designed for that one match. Also, if individual players are in particularly fine or poor form in real life, this will be replicated in Match Day, with their stats altering accordingly. If this is what we can expect from Match Day every single week, then colour us impressed.

“This is a huge technological innovation that will make every match feel like a seamless extension of the headlines ripped from the football pages around the world,” said David Rutter, Executive Producer of FIFA 13. “There is nothing bigger in the world of sports than match day. It brings together the emotions, passion and drama of the world’s sport for players, pundits, managers and fans alike. We are going to capture that experience and bring it to life in-game.”

The FIFA 13 demo will be available to Xbox Live Gold subscribers on September 11th, with the game hitting the stores at the end of the same month. We're told that a demonstration of Match Day will be included in that demo download, too.