Everything that you show them, they will suck down and devour. Give them a video and they will download it in the thousands. EA Sports know this, but are they still hiding the truth?

It comes like this every year; of course, EA feeding the anticipating (or bitter) fans the newest features in their upcoming release. A worded preview of the game in the thousand-word fact sheet is enough to get any hardcore gamers heart racing while the page loads.

Not to mention, the agony of waiting for the debut video to download at a sluggish pace of four kilobytes per second (56k, is that a real hardcore gamer). Sometimes though, it takes more than that to convince a gamer, especially if the gamer is tired of seeing the same things over and over, year after year.

Whilst some are gleefully running in circles over the new implemented ideas, others are looking at these "new features" and wondering, "Oh no, it's another one of those football games."

One of my mottos is "I'll believe it when I see it". Naturally, I've been told, 'O ye of little faith". Maybe it's true, but take one look at the Soccer Gaming forums and you'll see I'm not alone. Nowadays, you're either boycotting FIFA games, undecided, or buying the games out of curiosity (or are buying it uneducated).

Where as three years ago just about everyone would have been suckling at EA Sports virtual nipple and consuming everything that was given to them. Back then the rugged world of virtual football gaming competition was just starting up.

With the likes of RTWC 98, World Cup 98, and FIFA 99 nearly everyone was happy with EA Sports. Well, sometime between then and now, EA has gotten lazy and slipped up with FIFA 2000 and FIFA 2001.

Looking back and reading what people have said about the previous releases has made me wonder if this is just another one of those hyped-up games that is going to make me bored within a few weeks. With all my doubt, I've been told by my Soccer Gaming acquaintances that this game is definitely different.

Sure you're saying, someone who has seen a preview has just told you! The thing is I've heard the exact same thing last year (and the year before that). The difference is that more and more people are realizing that these games aren't getting much better.

Time can prove me wrong, though. Maybe in three months from now we'll look back at this and say, "Joe, you're such a whiney fool". Personally, I hope we do look back and say that. But, there could still be some hope .

After all, there have been new steps to help improve the worn-out series. Like the new FIFA 2002 Wishlist, where in the Q+A at the Official FIFA 2002 Website, EA swear they've used suggestions from. Plus, a new passing system. You can't go wrong with that.

The deal with EA Sports is, unlike other football gaming companies (e.g. Sports Interactive), they are too big to interact and share their ideas with the customers. Take a quick look at Sports Interactive's (creators of the Championship Manager [CM] series) website and forums. Their official Website is up-to-date, and contains a lot of content.

Check out the bustling forums, with the legendary CM creators and workers as regulars. It may surprise you that many of their workers and testers are from off the Internet, hired to help improve the already very popular game. All you obsessive FIFA players eat your heart out!

It could be that we are looking in the wrong place for the perfect football game. Perhaps the best footy game will come from a small game company, where community is part of making the game better. The trust in you, dear EA is dwindling. Bring us the real game, and we will be yours.