FIFA 12 Update Beefs Up Security For FUT Players

Last month we reported that EA had updated FIFA 12 to reflect all the activity in the January transfers market with players moving to and from different teams. Now EA have announced an incoming update for the title that will bring some changes to the game itself. This latest patch is primarily aimed at the FIFA Ultimate Team players but also brings some minor changes to the EA Sports Football Club part of the title.

The main focus of the update seems to be security for FUT players as EA attempts to protect them from scamming and phishing. A statement from EA confirms the following:
We’re committed to doing everything we can in our game to help keep you safe from phishers and scammers, and our March game update is key part of that commitment:

- It will now only be possible to send trade offers to people on your friends list.

- On entering FUT on your console for the first time after the update, you will be required to provide a unique answer to a security question.

- If anyone else attempts to enter your FUT account from a different console, they will be required to enter the answer to your security question.
Alongside the security improvements there are also some new FUT tournament types added to the game and new prize types. For EAS FC challenges, players will be able to select the level at which they want to attempt the challenge, and will also be able to use the Be A Pro feature.

The essential updates to the title are shown below:
THE MARCH GAME UPDATE: DETAILS

FIFA 12 ULTIMATE TEAM

Trading

- To better keep you protected, you can now only send trade offers to friends.
- A new trade notifications system will be deployed.
- A new design will be released for the Trade Feed.
- We have increased the maximum bid price from 10 million coins to 15 million.
Tournaments
- New Prize types have been added with additional Packs and Items.
- The prizing on offer for each tournament will now be displayed before you select one to enter.
- A new tournament reward structure has been introduced, varying the prizing depending on the number of times a tournament has been entered.
- We have introduced new tournament types, with entry criteria that allows for teams of mixed leagues, mixed nationalities or mixed clubs.
- A new tournament type will only allow users a limited number of attempts over time.
- Your team’s eligibility for tournament entry is now visible on the Squad screen, and requirements that aren’t being met will be highlighted.
- We have introduced a new difficulty level – Ultimate Difficulty. The toughest difficulty level in the game, it combines Legendary AI with a chemistry rating of 100.

Squad Building

- You’ll now find a new Squad Wizard to help build and/or fill out your squad quickly.
- Introduced the ability to copy a squad to create variations more easily.
- The chemistry links between players will now be more obvious, with a bad connection coloured red, mediocre coloured orange, and good remaining green.

Team of the Week

- You can see the full Team of the Week and navigate and interact with it.
- You can now bring up Team of the Week player bios.
- You’ll have access to new navigation to change between current and previous Teams of the Week.

Bug Fixes

- We have fixed the end-of-game disconnection error affecting some PS3 and PC users.
- A recently discovered bug that allowed an Ultimate Team player to gain control of another player’s team has been fixed.
- Coins will no longer be awarded if a user Alt-tabs away at the beginning of FUT games on PC.
- Addressed a disconnection bug if a user tried to add more than 100 cards to their Watch List.
- Fixed a problem where the user receives a Debug Text error message in the Watch List when attempting to bid on an item that has already expired.

EA SPORTS FOOTBALL CLUB

- Users now have the option to choose the Skill Level they want to play the EAS FC Challenge on. Each Skill Level will offer different XP rewards. You’ll still only be able to complete the EAS FC Challenge once, though.
- EAS FC Challenges can now utilise Be A Pro to have player-specific objectives, rather than having to play as the entire team.
- EAS FC Challenges can now start from a Yellow Card scripted sequence, so you can be thrown into a crucial part of the match from the get-go.
- The [X] Button has replaced the [BACK] button to open up the EA SPORTS Football Club hub on Xbox 360, while the [SQUARE] button has replaced the [SELECT] button to open up the EAS FC hub on PlayStation 3.
- EA SPORTS Football Club is now a selectable option in the Main Menu bar. Selecting it will open up the EAS FC hub.
- A new visual effect will now appear over the top of the EAS FC widget when you level up.

Bug Fixes

- Completing an EAS FC Challenge was not awarding XP for some people. This has been fixed.
For those players who are using the FUT web application there will also be some significant changes also including the introduction of the console security question.

FIFA ULTIMATE TEAM WEB APP

Full Screen Mode

- Enjoy FUT Web in full screen, including enhanced high-resolution graphics and all the new visual improvements. Note: Typing will not work in full-screen mode in Flash, so a keypad has been added for auction features.

Console Security Question

- The FUT Web App’s existing security question now works in conjunction with FUT on your console. You can no longer create your question on FUT Web, it must be created from your console. Your old security question will continue to function until you change it from FUT Console.
- When logging into FUT Web on a new computer or browser, or after 30 days, you will be asked to verify your answer.
- You now have the option of locking your account from the security question screen on FUT Web if you feel it has been compromised. If you do choose to do this, you must login into FUT on your console to recover your account.

Auction Info Tooltip

- All active auctions now have a tooltip that displays all relevant auction information – simply hover over the item.
Bidding Changes
- When you are outbid on an auction, the new amount will be highlighted in red beside the current bid. This is to warn you of a potential drastic change in bid prices where some people have been tricked in to losing many coins.
- The Bid button will be delayed for 2 seconds if you have been outbid. This ensures everyone has fair time to review the latest bid.
- Holding down the increment and decrement button will raise/lower the price, making it quicker when clicking.

Squad Management

- Copy any Squad directly from the squad selector.
- Your Active Squad is now highlighted on the squad selector

Dynamic Icons for Auction Search Filters

- Each search filter now has a unique icon.
- Flags, leagues and team crests are now displayed for Players.
- Player positions now co-ordinate with their respective colour, as well as the formation icons.

Active Messaging

- Replaced the play/pause controls with icons for each message.
- Dynamic messaging now appears in the Store.

Usability and Art Improvements

- You will notice a wide range of improvements to the design and usability of FUT Web, including better design elements, updated search filter options and a new filter for manager nationality. There are too many individual changes to list here, but you should certainly notice the difference.
The update will be available globally from March 13th, and the FUT web application will be offline from 7pm GMT on the same date remaining unavailable until March 16th.