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FIFA team checking out FIFA Street features

Some of FIFA Street's features are on the FIFA team's wishlist, and may be cannibalised for the core franchise.

"When I was on FIFA we wanted to do something similar to the dribble system we have in Street, the one where you're always facing the goal," creative director Gary Paterson told Eurogamer. "But it was always a challenge for us to do it, because there are so many animations involved in that system.

"Things like that they're evaluating now, whether there are parts of it they can take. Standing ball control, is there something there? "It's a very intuitive and elegant mechanic but it's not something you see too often in real football. But maybe there are elements of it that can be shared and taken. It's something they're evaluating right now. I don't think any decisions have been made."

Paterson worked on FIFA for several years during the 2000's, as the franchise's popularity soared. On FIFA Street, he worked "very closely" with FIFA 12's lead gameplay designer, Aaron McHardy.

"We took a lot of FIFA 12 functionality. The engineers and designers were in close contact. Now, part of what Aaron and his team are doing now is analysing some of the stuff we've taken," Paterson noted.

If EA Sports is considering taking elements from FIFA Street back into the core FIFA franchise, then it must already be quite confident in the reboot's charms - but Paterson said the newly-resurrected property hasn't been locked into annualisation yet.

"There have been no conversations I'm aware of around that as of yet. Obviously we're going to have to wait and see how gamers respond to the product we put out," he said.

"If it's a success it's going to be evaluated. It wouldn't be a decision I make, but if the game's successful I'm sure there will be conversations around how that would work."

FIFA Street is due on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 13 in the US and March 16 in Europe.

Thanks, StrategyInformer.

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