EA Sports Ruins World Cup, Puts The World In A Red Fury

June 4th, 2010 | by: chris |

spain euro 2008

Well that’s that. The World Cup is over. EA Sports, on one of its engines, has played out the whole damn thing and declared Spain will win the World Cup, while also proclaiming the hosts utter rubbish. Their trek will include a final win over Brazil, “a quarterfinal 5-4 penalty shootout victory over Italy after an absorbing 1-1 draw, and a 2-1 win over Argentina in the semi final”. Italy ‘absorbing’? Absorbing what, goals? (You’re not a true Azzurri fan unless clinically depressed before a major tournament – it’s in the rules.)

Which means either they know something we don’t or the whole thing’s a sham. A sham!

I put zero stock in any of this for one reason: the last time I played a video game more than 5 minutes was before the last World Cup; that game happened to be EA Sports’ FIFA, and the one thing I recall was Alberto Gilardino being un@#$%ingstoppable – he was officially The Business. To the point he was off-limits in our apartment, beyond the likes of…well…pick anyone.

So obviously video games are rubbish predictors of the true future, because Gilardino’s good, but he’s a lot closer to recreational activity than The Business.

But it still makes for a good read, because you need something to do on a Friday and EA Sports needs more free marketing.

• World Champion: Spain
• World Cup Final: Spain 3 Brazil 1
• 1st team to be eliminated: South Africa
• Golden Boot winner: David Villa (Spain), 7 goals
• Golden Ball winner: Kaka (Brazil)

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Tags: Brazil, David Villa, Kaka, Spain, World Cup, World Cup 2010

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Bense235

The EA Oracle. Proved not to be worth jack ever since 1998. Well done EA for not even producing it for the PC. MF EA.
Cyp h3r

Netherland wins 3 games, but gets 7 points. how does that work??
Jonathan Moss

Wouldn't put much stock in it. Notice all the favorites win the groups, in the round of 16, all the teams who advance won their groups. Zero upsets. Would be a boring WC.
Andrew Aispuru

Hmmm, Artificial yes but intelligent I think not...... Correct me if I am wrong but they listed Uruguay as having 1 x Win, 1 x Draw and 1 x Loss so why does the table show them only having 3 points, I am not a maths wizz but 3 + 1 = 4 yeh?

And how did Australia manage to get 5 point by drawing all 3 group matched, 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 yeh?

EPIC FAIL!
Tbone04

Ha! I love it! I didn't even pay any attention to the list.

Maybe this is one of those internet rumors created by a guy who had nothing better to do than play EA sport's video game to predict the World Cup outcome.
Andrew Aispuru

Totally and you have to wonder what he was smoking when he wrote the results down in his Astro Boy leather bound notebook???
Tbone04

Are they serious? Artificial Intelligence cannot account for human correction or human error. Human error is one of the main factors in futbol. One wrong move could cost your team a loss or elimination, thus you could end up like Rooney in Nike's "Write the Future" commercial.

No one should be alarmed by this faulty prediction and no gambler should base his bets on the info above. There is a fire within any player's soul and spirit that no machine can account for or reproduce.