E3 2011: FIFA 12's Football Club Detailed

EA Sports has shed more light on its new online in-game service Football Club, claiming it "is the heartbeat of FIFA from now on." Talking exclusively to IGN at a behind-closed-doors demonstration of FIFA 12 at E3, Line Producer David Rutter added, "This is not just for FIFA 12, it's for all FIFA games moving forward."

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Rutter then went on to explain how Football Club will revolutionise FIFA's online play by adding a new layer of social depth to the game: "Everything you do in the game will accumulate XP and you can track your progress in FIFA 12 and other FIFA games in the future with your friends. You can compare yourself against your friends but also see how you're doing in the bigger global leaderboard."

In many respects it appears Football Club is FIFA's equivalent of Need for Speed's innovative Autolog, which enabled you to keep track of how your friends were doing and issued challenges in-game.