Neowin.net

Before 37 billion people worldwide come to a standstill to follow the 2002 FIFA World Cup™ competition, EA SPORTS™ offers soccer fans the opportunity to determine for themselves who will win the world's most coveted trophy in 2002 FIFA World Cup.

As the official interactive games provider of the 2002 FIFA World Cup tournament, the game promises to capture every moment of glory, every emotion, every sound and every aspect of a truly global event, giving consumers the opportunity to kick-off the FIFA World Cup frenzy by playing in the tournament before it begins. Gamers will find a whole new world of showboating and high-tempo, high-impact action, obvious from the first touch of the ball.

Key Features

• Official and exclusive content - The only interactive soccer game licensed to use the official FIFA World Cup, insignia, mascots and the 20 new World Cup stadiums in Japan and Korea.
  
• Star Players - Lifelike representation of all the star players participating in the World Cup Tournament, combined with the exceptional individual talents that characterize their style of play in real life.
  
• Accessible and exciting new game play -'Air Play,' delivers intuitive one-button headers, volleys, scissor kicks, juggling, and more. Showboating and high-tempo, high-impact play is both exciting and accessible from the first touch of the ball.
  
• New player-to-player animations - New player-to-player animations result in aggressive jostling for the ball both on the ground and in the air.
  
• 'World Cup Moments' - Key dramatic moments during the tournament including the beginning of a match, the end of a match and key goals are highlighted by epic cinematics. Using replays, player animations, original scores by the Vancouver Symphony and special effects, World Cup Moments underscore the emotional range of play with increasing intensity as games become more important.
  
• 'Moment Zooms' - New camera angles and replays capture intensity of World Cup games as they dramatize nearly missed shots, fouls and goals by focusing on player facial animations as they grimace and fall to their knees in frustration or pump their fists and cheer in celebration of a goal.
  
• Tournament Mode - A seven game series beginning with round-robin play, followed by playoffs leading to the final match with a progressive story line and a rising intensity as you advance.
  
• New stadium environments- Teams will be met with a rising tide of crowd excitement with thousands of fans sporting team colors, country specific chants, and an explosion of special effects including lasers, confetti, streamers, flags.

World Cup 2002 will be out in April 2002.

News source: Soccergaming

'HEADS WILL ROLL'

Another said bluntly: "From what I've read today, if the French win the pairs dancing, heads will roll before they leave Salt Lake. If not before that."

There were many posts in various forums that cast aspersions on the origins of all parties involved in the case. They will not be reproduced here.

There were other ways Web-surfers could express themselves. Several sites, including www.harrisinteractive.com asked visitors to give their opinions in unscientific surveys on the issue.

Visitors to the Harris site were asked to complete the sentence, "The victory of the Russians over the Canadians in pairs figure skating was the result of..." Choices offered were politics, the differing opinions of judges and revenge.

In its "Readers' Opinions" section, the New York Times Web site called the scandal "Rashomon Incident of the Week: Canadians vs. Cronyism, a Love Story," the last phrase an apparent reference to the music the Canadian pair chose for their program.

Compiled before Friday's announcement, the New York Times said participants in the forum were divided on which pair deserved the gold medal.

"North Americans only have themselves to blame," one participant wrote. "Judges try to look at a performance objectively however the American crowds are so pathetically focused on their own people ... that you can hardly blame a judge for subconsciously working against an American ... Serves yourselves right!"

But another called the incident "the most bizarre thing I have ever seen in a sporting event" and offered a haiku to sum the matter up: "Poor Canadians skate so perfect/Crowd loves them/So why Russians win?"