FIFA 13 will be coming to the Wii U, but without a few features that are currently seen on the Xbox 360 and PS3. According to producer Matt Prior, FIFA 13 will ship without the First Touch system and the FIFA Street skill system, in addition to "tweaks and tunes" that were made to the PS3 and Xbox 360 version.
"Some of the later improvements on 13 we weren't able to get into the game," Prior told Eurogamer. "So we've got version one. They've got version two."
For those unfamiliar, First Touch Control eliminated near-perfect touch for every player on the pitch, therefore creating variety and uncertainty around ball control. Several factors impacted a player's first touch, creating more opportunities for defenders to win back possession. It was just another feature that added to the realism of FIFA 13.
According to prior, much of the development time was spent "building the foundation" for FIFA 13 on Nintendo's new console. Whereas Vigil Games described their porting of Darksiders 2 to Wii U as relatively easy, Prior said it was a more difficult challenge for EA to bring over FIFA 13.
"It was a challenge because it's something that's been written for a different machine there's a lot of work getting it to work. There are different processors, CPUs and different libraries," he explained. "One of the challenges is we have to pick a point in time where the code base is stable and bring it over. That's probably the most challenging thing."
"In terms of the game, if we're making FIFA 14 on the 360, we've got a solid platform and we know what we're working on. We can devote most of our time to new features. There's nothing that needs doing. You can just build on top of it," Prior added. "With us, the vast majority of our time was building that foundation."
The reason for not including FIFA Ultimate Team, however, wasn't due to a time crunch, but instead Nintendo's young online network.
"We don't have Ultimate Team, purely and simply because Nintendo's online is in its infancy," he explained. "It's building. FUT took five years to appear on 360 and PS3. They're very complex features. It's potentially something we could do further down the line. But in terms of initially getting the foundation set, that wouldn't have been technically feasible, because it is such a complex mode."
