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.

To promote the upcoming release of FIFA 09, EA Sports came up with a remarkable way of advertising the new version of the game. During halftime of the Chelsea against Man United match last weekend that was televised on Sky Sports in England, EA debuted a four minute TV commercial starring Wayne Rooney and Gonzalo Higuain.

The peak UK audience for last weekend’s super Sunday match was 2.2 million. A perfect audience for EA’s new game, I’d say.

Rather than creating a four minute infomercial, the advertisement plays more like a short film featuring Wayne Rooney in the backyard of a northern city playing the game on a giant screen TV, while Real Madrid star Higuain and his adoring fans watch him play in a Spanish square.

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FIFA 09 Preview? We’ve got it here including the official preview, a trailer from EA featuring Maurice Edu and a couple of fan videos showing actual gameplay.

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Electronic Arts must hate the August transfer window. With their FIFA series being released in early September, EA has no time to include the latest big signings such as Robinho and Berbatov. Thankfully updates should take care of the transfer switches.

FIFA 09 is scheduled for release in Europe on October 3, 2008 for the PS3 and Xbox 360. The North America release date is October 14.

The commentators featured in the English-speaking versions will include Martin Tyler and Andy Gray.