Wayne Rooney is joined by Kaka and Andrés Iniesta on the cover of FIFA 12, but what about the rest?
According to a recent story run by CVG, the players on the cover of, the best selling and eagerly anticipated, FIFA 12 have been revealed.
The story was mostly another one of those run of the mill articles, discussing the various features of the latest iteration of the best selling FIFA series, before dropping a bombshell near the end where it read, “Wayne Rooney will still be a cover star,
along with Iniesta and Kaka, for those who care about such things…”
Apparently there are quite a few people who care about who they will be seeing on the cover of FIFA 12 as the news spread like wild fire among the gaming community.
Electronic Arts have always put some of the finest players on their covers ranging from Ryan Giggs and Edgar Davids, to Ronaldinho and Kaka. This year they seem to have continued the trend with the arguably two of the biggest footballing stars in the modern
game, Rooney and Iniesta, and an injury prone, ghost of his former self, in the form of Kaka.
Though the cover stars are known to change depending on the region in which they are sold, one has to wonder what the selection process EA adopts in choosing who goes on the cover.
One could assume that EA opts for a method of elimination; short listing players and then eliminating them one by one, until they are left with just three players.
Peter Crouch and Jermaine Defoe, both of whom play as strikers for Tottenham Hotspur, would have gotten the axe right away seeing how Crouch would make anyone else on the cover seem dwarf-ishly small and Defoe would make them look freakishly tall. Photo-shopping
them would not work either as FIFA 12 is h**l bent on bringing the most realistic football experience to date.
Chelsea’s Frank Lampard would also not make the cut as he has issues with his width, brought about by a long serving addiction to cakes and pies.
While Liverpool Football Club’s Dirk Kuyt and Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez may have been star performers for their clubs, the only time they would be an appropriate choice to go on the cover would be if FIFA were to release a ‘Halloween Edition’ of the
football simulation.
Managers have never been used on the cover of FIFA games and it will remain the case, though if FIFA was to put up a picture of Chelsea’s new 33-year-old manager, Andres Villas Boas in the team’s kit, it would be very hard to distinguish him from a player.
If clubs could have their say, then one can be almost certain that Sir Alex Ferguson would nominate his favourite figure in the footballing world: Howard Webb. Luckily for everyone that is not the case.
Sticking with the theme, one cannot find it too hard to imagine Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, insisting that the player’s childhood pictures be put up instead of their present day ones.
Chelsea captain, John Terry and Manchester United legend, Ryan Giggs would not be a suitable choice either, as their lifestyles would make them more appropriate for appearing on the cover of the next Duke Nukem game, than a family-friendly FIFA game.
In the end, one can understand Iniesta’s inclusion, the player is class, as for Kaka, one can assume EA probably had a contract with him, meaning they could not just dump the player. But the trump card has to be Rooney; I mean what kid wouldn’t want a FIFA
game with Shrek on the cover. Very shrewd marketing EA, very shrewd marketing indeed.
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