The Premier League season has ended, FA Cup Final is over, Europa League has a champion, the other big leagues of Europe have also finished. With just the Champions League final left, there is an unpleasant empty feeling that comes from a weekend without Premier League games that I haven’t felt for 9 months (minus international breaks).

Luckily, it is a World Cup year and we have something to look forward to starting up in just a few weeks now. This might make it easier for some of us to cope with the off-season, but for me the excitement of the World Cup is making me much more anxious than if it was a non-World Cup year. With so much more to speculate about than just transfers, I can’t get the game out of my head. So here’s some things I’ve been doing to get me through to the World Cup, and hopefully it will help you all as well.

1. Read soccer books. I just finished Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski. I thought it was great to read just before the World Cup, it gives a great perspective to many aspects of the game. Also, check out The Gaffer’s Ultimate Guide to the Best Soccer Books for more.

2. Play soccer video games. A great way to spend some time normally used to watching games, also perfect for playing with friends or family. FIFA 10 and PES10 are the two current games to be released for multiple systems that have many of the leagues around the world, but last month EA released its Official 2010 World Cup South Africa game which is specifically for this summer’s tournament. Featuring a complete simulation of the World Cup, but also 199 national teams which you can take through qualifying and to the World Cup Finals.

3. Watch matches on your DVR/Tivo or old season review DVDs. If you’re like me, you have probably saved the best matches of the season on your DVR/Tivo, or maybe even all of your favorite team’s games. Watch them again, watch season reviews of the last 3-4 years. Watch with a different eye than you would have before. Now that you know who has qualified, which groups they’re in, and for the most part which players will make their squad, watch with an eye of how this person will impact their team in the World Cup.

4. Get out and play soccer. My favorite on the list. Get out and play with your friends. Have some fun, wear your kit, have a cookout afterwards, and get some of that great fresh air and exercise!

5. Get your home theater set up for the World Cup. You now have less than 25 days to get your viewing place for a month to your liking. Get the new HD-TV you’ve been saving up for ready, and make sure you have it set up correctly. You don’t want to wait for June 10 and be waiting for the cable or satellite guy to show up!

6. Listen to podcasts, read articles, and stay up to date with World Cup news. EPL Talk and World Cup Buzz have big plans for the summer, stay up to date with all of the news and analysis heading into and through the World Cup.  Daily podcasts and articles will provide you with interviews and analysis of the tournament. Also, follow EPL Talk and World Cup Buzz on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with all the news, as well as the sister sites for that leagues respective national team coverage. Which other podcasts and blogs from around the Internet do you like?

7. Give your family and friends some time. Use this time to do something that you’ve wanted to do, but didn’t want to leave for a weekend because you didn’t want to miss a game. As reader John Griffin posted to our facebook page, he said he was going to take a beach trip. Perfect opportunity to take a break and return to the World Cup with a fresh mind. However, not to stray too far, John also mentioned watching some other forms of the game such as the “Football League playoffs, Magners League playoffs, Guinness Premiership playoffs, Super 14 playoffs” and of course the Champions League final. Thanks, John. Also, thanks to reader and commenter, Jason has mentioned paying more attention to the MLS. With the other leagues throughout the world coming to a close, the MLS runs through the summer, and has a chance to come center stage for the soccer viewing community until the  big tournament starts.

With less than 25 days remaining til Mexico and South Africa kick-off World Cup 2010, we can get through this just as we do every year, we just need to stick together. What will you all be doing to get your soccer fix until June 11?

EA Sports’ FIFA franchise strives for realism, to approximate the experience of being a footballer or managing a club. When you see the gaudy, arcade style interface of FIFA 10 for the Wii, you realize this will be a very different game.

Creating for the Wii constrains developers. The game needs to be simplified. The Wii’s processor is not as powerful as the XBox 360 or the Playstation 3. It can’t handle the graphics. The controls cannot be too intricate for the Wiimote. The target audience is more casual. Most serious console gamers would buy the game for another console.

FIFA 10 for the Wii is essentially an arcade game. There’s little strategy. The difference between players and teams is negligible. It resembles a generic early 1990s style sports game, but with real players and better graphics.  It does looks nice.  Even if it’s a cartoon Fernando Torres, you can tell easily that it’s a cartoon Torres.

It plays entirely differently. In traditional FIFA games you must aim your shot, on the Wii, a mere shake of the wiimote will sends a Michael Essien-style missile straight into the net. There’s no artistry in scoring goals. The only skill, if it could be called that, is finding a modicum of open space to launch.

This game should never be played alone. The more intricate game modes aren’t realistic enough to be worth it. It’s best head to head with a friend in a simple exhibition.

Though, it’s only a short time before you both figure out to slide tackle like a mad man and launch shots from anywhere inside the opposition half. More often than not, there’s a striker waiting to pick up the rebound.

While FIFA 10 was intriguing to mess around with for a few hours, I would not recommend buying it. Even for a Wii aficionado looking for a multiplayer football game, Super Mario Strikers is more fun and more intricate, if you can stomach playing as Luigi rather than Leo Messi.

The interview about FIFA 09 with Aaron McHardy from EA Sports is now available on the EPL Talk Podcast.

Interviewed by Johnathan Starling, McHardy discusses the latest features of FIFA 09 as well as answering questions from you, the readers, and chatting about his playing career which included participating in a World Cup qualifier match for Jamaica.

The episode, number 107, marks the debut of Johnathan Starling as host of the EPL Talk Podcast. Starling is a chief contributor at EPL Talk who many of you know from hosting the EPL Talk Chat, writing for the site as well as being the host of The Third Half Podcast, which is available via the EPL Talk Podcast stream at iTunes and the podcast website.

The Third Half is released on a twice weekly basis, while the EPL Talk Podcast will be released on a frequent basis based on the availability of interview guests.

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FIFA 09 will be released in North America this Tuesday. To coincide with the launch, EPL Talk’s Johnathan Starling will interview EA Sports Gameplay Producer Aaron McHardy. If you have any questions about the new game, what it’s like behind the scenes at EA or anything else FIFA 09-related, please post your questions here before midnight Tuesday October 14, 2008.

McHardy is no stranger to football. He played for Jamaica in a World Cup qualifying match. He was selected as a member of the PAC-10 all conference first team in 2001 when he was at Oregon State University. Born in Vancouver to a Jamaican father, McHardy played as a striker.

The interview is now live on the EPL Talk Podcast.