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We know, we know -- we've been desperately waiting for more new media on April's South Africa-themed FIFA release as well, and today we've finally got some more. Arriving care of GDC 2010, EA Sports released the trailer you see above and the smattering of new screens seen below (for Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 as well as the Wii).

The trailer urges players to take their own country's team to the World Cup, though we should issue a word of warning to those of you in the contiguous United States who choose to bring our fine nation to the top: it's just a game. Okay, okay, sorry -- we were just joshin' ya! We suppose it's possible. Maybe after the robots take over. Maybe.

It's the perfect Saturday. You're rocking your team's jersey as you settle onto the couch, a Shasta in one hand, bag of Fritos in the other, preparing to hit the pitch in FIFA 10. You head online, get yourself into a match and suddenly you're up one-nil. And then, just as suddenly, your opponent quits. You go bananas, hurling your controller into the TV. Then your wife comes in and says she's had enough and takes the kids to her mother's. A month later, you're divorced.

It's a story we hear way too often here at Joystiq. Thankfully, EA is working on a way to punish these quitters -- outside of rectifying the fact that they've wrecked your life forever -- in the next series iteration, FIFA 11. EA Canada's Simon Humber told Eurogamer these "rage quitters" are a "complex problem." See, there's a loophole in the game that allows players to quit within five minutes of starting a FIFA 10 match online, in case there's a connection issue -- but EA is looking for ways to keep players from exploiting that feature.

Humber says that EA is thinking about adding functionality to FIFA 11 that would reward players for finishing matches, rather than try to punish those that quit. As for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa, don't expect any changes: "We haven't done anything different for this game as far as I know," Humber said.

FIFA 10 has already found its way into 2.2 million UK homes, making it competition for the "biggest-selling game in the series so far," according to an MCV UK report. With today's earlier announcement of a free-to-play FIFA and the recent unveiling of FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa, and now this, we're quite considering naming it "FIFA Week" here on Joystiq.

And we're willing to bet that EA Sports marketing manager Trevor Uzice would be a big fan of that, especially considering he believes that "there's no denying FIFA 10 is the best football game ever." While we're not sure that the (admittedly impressive) sales numbers corroborate his sentiments, it's always nice to see marketing putting its most outlandish spin on any piece of news.

EA Sports is close to launching the "free-to-play" version of its footy franchise for PC, called EA Sports FIFA Online, in Europe and North America. A closed beta begins February 3, and the publisher is looking for feedback to help shape the game before it goes into open beta this June. EA will allow 20,000 testers in the first phase, so sign up now if you're interested. The game will officially launch "over the next 12 to 24 months" across "Europe and then in North America." FIFA Online has been available in Asia for years.

It's not like sales of "regular" FIFA are hurting, so who is this game for? Executive Producer Kaz Makita says FIFA Online is for the "large number of football fans who do not want a console gaming experience due to time and other priorities in their personal lives, but they still want to be able to play a top-quality football video game." Ohh, we get it now, it's the FIFA game you play at work! Gotcha.

Footy aficionados fancying themselves some world class football will get just that in EA's newly announced spinoff, FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa. Simultaneously releasing on Xbox 360, PS3, PSP and Wii, this special installment -- only once every four years people! -- in EA's ongoing franchise features all of the 2010 World Cup's 199 qualifying round national teams and all ten of the official South African event stadiums. There's also an online-enabled World Cup Mode, where you can take any national team (dibs on Brazil!) and progress from the qualifying rounds right up to the final match.

Wii players will get "an art style that celebrates the cultural vibrancy of the first FIFA World Cup to be held in Africa" (so, pretty much, it'll look like a cartoon) and their own special game mode in Zakumi's Dream Team, where players create custom teams and take their virtual squads on the road against the 32 participating World Cup teams. No specific PSP version features have been revealed.

FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa is being developed by EA Canada in Burnaby, B.C. and is scheduled to hit the pitch on April 27 in the US and April 30 in Europe and Asia.

EA Sports' monthlong silence on FIFA 10's Ultimate Team DLC has been lifted today with the release of a new (and charmingly British) walkthrough trailer. As you can see for yourself above, the clip not only gives us a cursory tour of the new content, but also a preview of what's to come -- new packs, updated player stats, and more tournaments, among other things. The DLC is said to be priced at 400 ($5) or $4.99 via Xbox Live and PSN (respectively) and we still don't have a more solid release date than "February." In the meantime, well, we've got you this trailer. That's something, right?

During EA's half-hour investor callstravaganza yesterday, CEO John Riccitiello unleashed a flurry of game titles set to be released in the company's "FIscal 2011." For EA, that falls anywhere between April 1, 2010 and March 30, 2011 -- a window that now holds the release of "a great new version of Medal of Honor, a revitalized Need for Speed, Sims on console, FIFA in a World Cup year, an innovative and new take on Madden, Dead Space 2, Crysis at full margins, a new MMA game, and many others."

Considering this laundry list of games is getting little more than a 12-month window for release, we're taking the logical next step and throwing darts at images of the games on our cork-board calendar. According to our impeccable aim... everything is coming out in November. Not helpful!

[Via Eurogamer]

FIFA 10, the latest iteration of EA Sports' biggest global franchise, itself based on the world's most popular sport, is selling well. That's an understatement. Worldwide, EA estimates game sales have surpassed 4.5 million units since the October 1 launch, including a so-called record-setting first week, in which 1.7 million units were sold in Europe to make FIFA 10 the world's "fastest-selling sports video game." What better time to announce that the game will receive a fresh pair of legs?

EA today announced the pending release of FIFA 10 Ultimate Team, a DLC management mode -- introduced to the series last year (and ported to this year's slumping Madden game) -- that has been made over with a "redesigned chemistry system built around player relationships." Think: God game governing platonic dating-sim played with a deck of cards, and ... you're there. Come February, Ultimate Team will be available for download for 400 or $4.99 via Xbox Live and PSN.

EA's annual footie franchise must be doing something right this year because FIFA 10 has apparently sold 1.7 million copies in Europe during its first week. According to EA, the title is "the fastest selling sports game ever and EA's biggest European launch in history."

Even with the positive launch, GI.biz spoke with an analyst who believes the sales aren't going to help EA in the long-term. Doug Creutz of Cowan and Company notes that heavy discounts at supermarket chains and other incentives made initial sales strong, but if the situation plays out anything like FIFA 09, the year-on-year sales will only grow marginally. But like a head-butt goal in the first minutes of a match, FIFA 10 is putting on a good show during launch.

Source -- EA announces record-breaking launch FIFA 10 (EA)
Source -- FIFA 10 record sales won't boost profits (GI.biz)

Showing the far reaching effects of football ("soccer" for us Americans) fandom in a succinct two minute video, EA Sports asks UK residents in its latest ad for FIFA 10, "How big can football get?" From the looks of the insanity in the commercial (found after the break), we're going out on a limb here and saying, "Substantially large." Would you care to up that wager with a "significantly enormous?" Maybe a "demonstrably massive?"

We may not know much about the athletes on the various covers of FIFA 10, but we do know that this trailer looks damn impressive. In fairness, the game often looks rather stunning, but the sizzle reel that EA has whipped up for GamesCom (found after the break) is specifically meant to show off the game to its most active market -- which certainly comes through in production quality. Though we don't watch a ton of sports (and we play even less) we're legitimately looking forward to EA's next entry in the FIFA series, set to release this October.

After EA announced a trio of British gents gracing the cover of FIFA 10 in Europe last week, the company today revealed the box art for the North American iteration. Cuauhtémoc Blanco of Chicago Fire and Sacha Kljestan of Chivas USA appear on the box, with Jason Bateman Chelsea's Frank Lampard taking center stage.

EA also revealed the game's release date Stateside to be October 20, while a Euro release has been confirmed for October 2. We'll be spending the extra few weeks figuring out what exactly Chivas USA is. Peep the full cover and a new video of FIFA 10 in action after the break.

We've been known to dabble in a FIFA game from time to time, though cover athletes aren't really our forte, if you will. Rather than address our ignorance dead-on, we'll simply tell you that Frank Lampard of Chelsea, Theo Walcott of Arsenal and Wayne Rooney of Manchester United are donning the cover of this year's footballer.

Believe it or not, the game will feature more than just players from English teams. (Yes, we're just as shocked as you by that possibility.) The game is set to land in the UK on October 2, and Amazon and GameStop are putting the game's US release on October 20th.

David Rutter, producer of FIFA for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, has put his foot down, literally. He's not moving it. At least, he's not moving it to play a 75-minute soccer match in his living room. When asked about the prospect of future FIFAs incorporating motion controls by utilizing Project Natal and Sony's motion wand, Rutter told VideoGamer.com, "There are a few things we can do, definitely, but we've not really started on it yet." Those few things do not include reinventing the franchise with unintuitive hand and body motions. "If it doesn't add to the overall thing, then it's pointless. I don't want it to be just this distraction, to be quite honest."

While FIFA might be the exception in an otherwise motion-inspired EA Sports business, we're sure all the head-nodding, inbounds wrist-flicking minigames you could imagine will be considered -- or worse, ported to FIFA 11. The trick, it seems, would be to perfect the motion caption technology: "Kick from the couch in all-new Energy Saver Mode!"

MCV confirmed with EA that its latest entry in the long-standing soccer franchise, FIFA 10, will arrive at UK retailers on October 2. There's no mention of a release date for North America, so we've put in word to EA to see just when we Yanks will receive the game. We'll be sure to update you as soon as we hear back.