EA's World Cup Begins In April

Get your flares ready, because EA Sports has just announced that its 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa is hitting stores on April 27 in advance of the international soccer tournament that starts in June.

This standalone title features all 199 countries that took part in WC qualification, as well as the 10 official stadiums being used in South Africa for the tournament (plus other stadia used around the world for qualifying). Accordingly, players can take their side all the way through the qualification process to earn the right to play in the world's biggest event. EA is promising the game will contain all the atmosphere of a WC match, and the early screens already show an emphasis on the crowd.

EA's FIFA series has been making strides in the last few years, and one area in which it has done very well is in online. 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa takes that up a notch by offering international online World Cup tournaments.

The game is available on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PSP, and mobile. The Wii version features a special Zakumi's Dream Team mode where you build your own custom team by beating all 32 countries in the Cup and selecting players from each team along the way.

In the past I've railed against EA for making people buy an additional WC FIFA title every four years instead of including it in that year's FIFA. Then again, I admit that I'm going to be totally excited when this game comes out because I'll have WC fever anyway. What about you? Does having to buy a separate game bug you enough not to get it? And do you think the U.S. can get out of the group stage this year? Bring on England!