Paul Hossack: What’s been the most challenging thing? I guess it’s that the gameplay is always challenging us and we have to keep questioning ourselves – it’s easy for you to see past the issues because you get used to them, but we’re playing with the game all year long and we might see past a certain issue because we’ve seen it so many times. But we have to keep reminding ourselves, even if it seems like there’s a hundred pieces and 95 of them are of a top-quality level, those other five that aren’t can potentially ruin the entire experience. So, we have to keep pushing ourselves despite successes we get internally throughout the year to say ‘is it good enough, what else is missing, what else can we do better?’
SPOnG: How did you approach the online play?
Paul Hossack: We started with the same things we had last year, so both of them (PS2 and PC) you can play online. You can play your ranked matches and tournaments, there’s an added level of interactivity there. We’re actually adding a few new leagues to the roster this year as well (one is confirmed to be the Irish League – the Carnegie Irish Premier Division).
There are two other things we’ve done as well: on the PS2 side we have a feature called the Online Football Clubs. Think of it as a little bit like a ‘Clan’ thing so to speak. So, I may create a club and call it ‘FC Vancouver’, and invite a couple of my friends in Vancouver to be in the same club. Now, what does it mean to be in a club? Well, every time I play an online ranked game, if I win I’m adding some points to my club. So FC Vancouver can start going up the worldwide club league tables, and obviously it’s helping the team you play as well. You get more points if you play an interactive leagues match instead of just a normal ranked match.
On the PC side, what we’ve done this year is we’ve added 8-player LAN play. You can connect up to eight PCs on the LAN and have a go at the online modes that way.
SPOnG: I’m assuming with the clan-style ‘create your club’ online, you can use Pros that you’ve built up using the ‘Be A Pro’ mode or do you simply select existing players?
Paul Hossack: For the online side, on the PS2, this online football club is still one-person versus one-person play. It’s a traditional ranked match. So, I could go online and play, as Liverpool and you’d pick another team. But I’m still playing as the whole team and not as one person which is how ‘Be A Pro’ works.
SPOnG: Finally, what’s been the most enjoyable thing about developing FIFA 08?
Paul Hossack: Without a doubt, it’s just being surprised at what the engineers and artists can really do to amaze me. Because we’ve got some really cool things in the game and I’m really impressed with them.
SPOnG: Thanks a lot for your time.
Paul Hossack: Thanks.