As well as that gargantuan projection for this year it’s also been revealed that Ultimate Team already made EA a whoping $100 million last financial year which is essentially FIFA 10 and FIFA 11 combined.

It’s no surprise then that EA are looking to shift the FIFA Ultimate Team model in to it’s other franchises and here’s what EA President Frank Gibeau had to say:

“On the question about digital expansions within the Sports label based on what we’ve been able to do with Ultimate Team, we’re certainly looking at that as an opportunity in our other sports, but not just limited to our sports - We have a very ambitious plan to drive digital revenues off of our console businesses in our shooters category, in the racing category, in action. So we’re taking the key learnings that we’re developing from Battlefield and FIFA and we’re applying it to our entire suite of brands and across all of our different labels”

So there you have it, expect more micro-transaction goodness from other EA titles in the not too distant future and if they mimic the success of Ultimate Team, the future is indeed very bright for EA BUT is it bright for gamers?

Hit the comments guys and let us know how you feel about buying packs and micro-transactions in general.

Source: Eurogamer

Huge thanks to Vinnie, and a combination of Johnson from the boards, and MASSIVE credit to the guys who run the Bundesliga creation thread on PESGaming.

As ever the file is created for the UK version of PES 2012, BLES 01406. People asking for other versions should check our editing section for help. Being based in the UK, our work is focused on that version.

The team pack includes (as written by Vinnie):

All 18 Bundesliga teams, (Bayern and Leverkusen have been added for the reasons below)

Almost every player has the correct appearance,(Only a few players are missing the right appearance)

Every player has the correct stats, as best I can make or adjust

Every player has the correct accessories, as best as I can fit to images I have with the boots etc in game.

Every team has the best formation and tactics I can find to give them

Every team has been given their real stadium name, and been allocated a default stadium as best I can fit.

Each team has been allocated the default German fan-chant, there is a MUSIC file in this download with around 500 fan-chants that I have been able to make/get hold of in the last few years.

Every team has the correct kit, I had added some third kits and alternative GK kits instead of the standard away or GK, to minimise clashes.

A few youngsters for Bayern and Leverkusen are missing but the DLC should sort this out!

I have used every player in the default PES league and a few left over from the Div. 2, once we finished the championship teams, so there shouldn’t be too much for people to do when importing but they are advised to keep some create player slots available just in case.

When the DLC arrives none of these players will need base copying, all in game players who have transferred to the Bundesliga have been base copied already and added using created players, so no one should disappear!

Download this awesome file by clicking here. For a guide on how to add team packs, click here and scroll to the bottom.

Huge thanks again to everyone involved!

So I was off to a great start in my Master League. I had bought some brilliant players and my team was shaping up quite nicely, even at this early stage. Maybe this was going to be a bit too easy with Newcastle. Looking at my schedule, I certainly felt confident. Up next were Stoke, Norwich, Everton and Bolton. I was planning maximum points, maybe 3 wins at least. But Pes being Pes, it wasn’t long before I came crashing back down form my lofty perch.

Stoke absolutely destroyed me! And they didn’t even play Peter “Pumpkin” Crouch! They just outplayed me. Tactically, I was annihilated and Demba Ba didn’t get a sniff apart from the odd 1 or 2 half chances. Walters looked like Drogba in his free scoring Chelsea years banging in a spectacular volley and bullying my usually solid centre half partnership. I was punished every time I attacked. I was lucky it wasn’t 3 or 4 nil. But I had Norwich next, easy points. Clearly Norwich never got the script….

It was a really tight affair but I should of pipped it at the end with Alan Smith. Shocking really. I might come to regret that miss. Overall, there wasn’t much between us. Norwich were rock solid at the back. They won the midfield battle and Holahan looked dangerous all the time.  I guess a point wasn’t too bad. I just  need to be more patient in attacking and take my chances.

Next up was Everton, a team I honestly thought about picking before I chose Newcastle. They have a great team but I played very well.  There wasn’t many highlights to be honest but the goal I scored is the reason I love Pes when it clicks. Just a beauty. Tim Krul made two amazing saves in the last few minutes. He is a great keeper. So after 4 games I’m sitting pretty in 8th with 7 points. If I keep this up, I will surely please the chairman and grant his request of a Europa place. Something tells me I might not be so lucky…..

Check Back Wednesday for Bolton, Wolves and Chelsea and some brilliant transfer dealings!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNWCXXbLon8

Don’t forget to subscribe!!

Game On!

Click the images to get a better look at them.

Wordfromthewise – Silver Liga BBVA

Aidan – FC Gooners

Chyngyz – EPL 75 Star

Johnpaulluna – ASTORIA FC

Neil – Blitzkrieg

Ole Martin – FK Oslo

Pablo – Inter Milan

Tim M – Irish

Tuome – Spain

Think you’ve got something better? Pop a link in the comments…

To be in with a chance of winning all you need to do is purchase any Gold, Premium Gold or Premium Gold Jumbo Pack, either from the Web app or in game, within the above time frame. Each pack purchased will count as one entry into the competition and you can enter multiple times. If you’re a winner, you’ll be contacted by email from the 24th of February.

Grand Prizes: (Available only to UK Residents)

• Signed Manchester City Shirt, 1 pair of tickets to Man City v Bolton at the Etihad Stadium on March 3rd, 100,000 coins.

• Signed Newcastle Shirt, 1 pair of tickets to Newcastle v Sunderland at the Sports Direct Arena on March 4th, 100,000 coins.

• Signed Chelsea shirt, 1 pair of tickets to Chelsea v Stoke at Stamford Bridge on Mar 10, 100,000 coins.

• Signed Arsenal Shirt, 1 pair of tickets to Arsenal v Newcastle at the Emirates Stadium on March 12th, 100,000 coins.

Secondary Prizes: (Available only to UK Residents)

10 Prizes of 100,000 coins

If you aren’t eligible because of your location, don’t panic. There will also be 10 Prizes of 100,000 coins for FUT players outside of the UK.

For full details, see the announcement on EA.com

Good luck.

It has been a strange time on the Fifa Ultimate Team market, player prices are jumping around everywhere, and what seemed to be good investments, turn into disasters. Everyone has noticed the price drops, it is a huge thing to take in to consideration if you are trying to build your Ultimate Team. I remember back in December, I bought a Neymar for 15,000 (below average market price), hoping that his price would rise. It turned out that his price not only didn’t rise, it plummeted. His average price is now under 9,000 – not a massive loss, but it was totally unexpected. I decided to research this further, and find the reason that player’s prices drop this much half way through the year, here is what I have learnt:

Why player prices have been dropping:

There are a few factors that have contributed to the player prices dropping, the most important probably is the massive increase of people buying packs:

• Increase of Supply:

During the winter period, many more people than normal have opened packs. As every economist will know, an increase in supply, will lead to a decrease in price. Players are becoming less rare and therefore their market price has dropped. Not great for people who have spent lots of money on very high priced players. So if you were someone that bought lots of packs during the winter, it was partly your fault that prices crashed!

• TOTY packs and IF cards:

When an in-form card of a player comes out, understandably people would prefer to have this card instead of the original, because it is better. This in turn means that the original player’s price will drop dramatically. Take Iniesta for example, before TOTY his market price was 250,000 , after this his price dropped to under 200,000 as everyone rushed to the packs to find the higher version. It has since risen slightly, showing that buying players just after their in form version is released can yield high profits.

How will the price drops affect you?

The majority of cards that you have in your club, have dropped in price by at least 5%. The players from TOTY and TOTW however, have increased by an average of 10% since their release, due to people not knowing their market price. If you have any players that have recently had an in form version released, their prices will drop.

It is extremely hard to predict whether your card will drop in price, perhaps the only way is by watching the trends on Ultimatedb.nl. You may be annoyed, but remember back to Fifa 11 where this all happened at almost the exact same time of the year. Perhaps the prices even dropped by less, I can remember really struggling to even sell players, because they had become almost worthless.

How can you maximise your profits?

The drop in prices will affect players with less money more than those with more. If you have little money, you will find it hard to start trading and making profits, as prices are all over the price. If you have lots of money however, you can take advantage of the price fluctuations, and cash in on players when their prices peak. Always check the player prices before you sell, this will ensure that you are not being ripped off.

• Buy low, sell high.

Obvious really, but I see many people ignoring it. It is easy to sell players cheap, but that will not do you any favours, wait until their price rise.

• Buy in form players as soon as they are released.

Their prices are proven to rise by alot after they are released. If you get a player for 60,000 just as they are released, it is likely that their price will be around 80,000 in about a week. Buy as many of them as you can, if you can afford it, you may just get lucky and rake in 100,000′s of coins.

• Buy regular players when IF’s have been released.

As you will have learnt, player prices drop after an IF card has been released. It is likely that their price will increase later on. Remember that you need to buy the players after their prices have dropped, buying before the drop would be plain silly! If you see the player’s prices rising slowly after a drop, this is also a good time to buy, there is no better way to make profits than buying when a player’s price is rising!

You can follow FIFA Monster on Twitter, and visit the site at FIFAMonster.com

648… Damn!

When they are that highly ranked you know they’re good.

When Mr. 648 pinches a last minute winner after 89 minutes of your back being firmly against the wall he’ll only pocket a measly 3 or 4 points and you can continue to float around the 500′s. Spare a thought for the guy then when he can’t find that winner and you hold out for a famous… err… draw. Without losing a game his rating takes a big hit.

Take stock of that and you realise that these guys in the mid 600′s know their stuff and have racked up some serious runs of consecutive wins. You also find out how good they all are when you get promoted to division 1 and they spank you 5 games in a row in the cup!

The following week relegation comes as a bonus because the big boys dont knock around in division 3 and wins are easier to come by. Relegation should not come as a relief!!!

Relegation and promotion is not gaugeable either so its pretty much pot luck on your fate come Tuesday’s update. This coupled with the lack of transparency when awarding ranking points after games leaves one very messy rankings system indeed.

What kind of ranking system should PES adopt? or are you happy with the current system?

The divisional format works to a degree but as previously touched on it’s a week of joy followed by a week of misery. Being promoted multiple divisions leaves you trying to run before you can crawl and the top top players make me look stupid. They make others look stupid, and eventually people switch off. With the top top players knowing every trick in the book and scoring relativley simple goals it can frustrate even the most patient of gamers.

One division at a time would spread the level of opposition across the leagues much more fairly and might even have gamers finding their level and enjoying the game a lot more regularly. Adopt the same format for relegation and you stop what is known in some circles as “moonlighting” one example being Ronaldo playing in division 5…

How can the ratings points be better distributed post match?

There is definatley no place in football for losing points after a draw. Especially to the degree in which you get docked points after drawing against an opponent you really should have dispatched with ease. Perhaps incorporate the match statistics in to the ranking points lost or gained? Or why not reward after every game? Even defeat, just not as many points?

So let’s hear you. I’d especially like to hear the thoughts of any gamers ranked in the 600′s and what it feels like when you draw and take a big rankings hit.

enjoy your gaming

648… Damn!

When they are that highly ranked you know they’re good.

When Mr. 648 pinches a last minute winner after 89 minutes of your back being firmly against the wall he’ll only pocket a measly 3 or 4 points and you can continue to float around the 500′s. Spare a thought for the guy then when he can’t find that winner and you hold out for a famous… err… draw. Without losing a game his rating takes a big hit.

Take stock of that and you realise that these guys in the mid 600′s know their stuff and have racked up some serious runs of consecutive wins. You also find out how good they all are when you get promoted to division 1 and they spank you 5 games in a row in the cup!

The following week relegation comes as a bonus because the big boys dont knock around in division 3 and wins are easier to come by. Relegation should not come as a relief!!!

Relegation and promotion is not gaugeable either so its pretty much pot luck on your fate come Tuesday’s update. This coupled with the lack of transparency when awarding ranking points after games leaves one very messy rankings system indeed.

What kind of ranking system should PES adopt? or are you happy with the current system?

The divisional format works to a degree but as previously touched on it’s a week of joy followed by a week of misery. Being promoted multiple divisions leaves you trying to run before you can crawl and the top top players make me look stupid. They make others look stupid, and eventually people switch off. With the top top players knowing every trick in the book and scoring relativley simple goals it can frustrate even the most patient of gamers.

One division at a time would spread the level of opposition across the leagues much more fairly and might even have gamers finding their level and enjoying the game a lot more regularly. Adopt the same format for relegation and you stop what is known in some circles as “moonlighting” one example being Ronaldo playing in division 5…

How can the ratings points be better distributed post match?

There is definatley no place in football for losing points after a draw. Especially to the degree in which you get docked points after drawing against an opponent you really should have dispatched with ease. Perhaps incorporate the match statistics in to the ranking points lost or gained? Or why not reward after every game? Even defeat, just not as many points?

So let’s hear you. I’d especially like to hear the thoughts of any gamers ranked in the 600′s and what it feels like when you draw and take a big rankings hit.

enjoy your gaming