EA Sports have finally released the first few facts about this year’s edition of their popular soccer title FIFA 12. Until now, the only thing we’ve been able to see from the upcoming version of FIFA has been a single screenshot, and rumors that the game may be released on the NGP. Now it seems that the game will be bringing a few new ideas to the franchise, while still delivering the quintessential soccer experience fans have come to expect.

The details dropped in an interview with the french edition of PlayStation Magazine, and after putting the interview through a few rounds of translation, it appears the focus this year is on a dynamic tool known as the Impact Engine.

With the Impact Engine, EA Sports hopes to more accurately map the physical aspect of the game which was emphasized more in FIFA 11 than previous versions. The engine will calculate, track and generate proper collision maps when players collide across several points of their bodies, so you won’t just get the clumsy generic “Oops, just bumped into someone” stance that happens on occasion.

On that note, players who have been injured will now behave differently depending on where they’re injured and how badly the injury is - a small knock to the shoulder might just have him tenderly rubbing it for a bit.

While we’re all sure to enjoy the physical edge of football, the interview also brought up a ton of new features all worth a look:

  • A new system entitled ‘AI Vision’, which is set to drastically improve passing realism. Passes made to players who aren’t even visible on the game screen will ultimately be much less likely to meet their destination. The practice was particularly annoying in online play, so hopefully those days are in the past. Personality Plus - in which real-life personality attributes are mimicked - is much more developed. More-Human AI, which means thats AI players of different talent levels will play more in-tune with their own statistics and faults. Similarly, the AI will be able to recognize the most dangerous opposing players. OPM describes “new presentation” of matches in FIFA 12, which are said to be inspired by English football crowds. A new lighting engine which was simply described as “Impressive” by OPM France. the left stick will also be given a new ability, making a short dribble possible. A new View mode which features an angle much closer to the ground than other options. Refined menu that is much more streamlined and intuitive than in the past.

What do you think about the list of new features? Is there anything in particular you’d like EA Sports to focus on for FIFA this year? Let us know your thoughts!

FIFA 12 is set tentatively for a Fall 2011 release, and is already confirmed for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

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Source: FIFA-Fuma (via CVG)