Fifa 13 - Lionel Messi on the Cover

Messi is the best footballer in the world. And now he will finally be on the cover of the best and most popular sports video game on Earth.

Messi will grace the cover of FIFA 13, which is scheduled for release in late September. EA Sports released of the official cover of FIFA 13 with Messi and the new FC Barcelona kit in late June.

Leo used to be under contract with Kanomi’s Pro Evolution Soccer franchise for a few years, including making the cover of PES from 2009-11. Not to be outdone, PES 2013 will have Cristiano Ronaldo on the cover.

David Rutter, FIFA 13’s executive producer, said via press release that "FIFA 13 will capture the drama and unpredictability of real-world football.”

“These are game-changing innovations that will revolutionize our artificial intelligence, dribbling, ball control and collisions to create a true battle for possession across the entire pitch, and deliver freedom and creativity in attack.”

What you can expect in the new edition of Fifa “[Complete Dribbling] puts you in a situation like Lionel Messi in the real world where you’re facing up defenders in these 1v1 battles, but now you can easily go left or right, making quick decisions while simply using your left stick. Simply by changing the orientation and the facing angle of the player who is moving, we can put you in a much better position in these 1v1 battles, enabling you to better beat people off the dribble.”

According to EA Sports, Attacking Intelligence will allow your player to analyze space and think ahead, making it easier to break down the defense. First Touch Control eliminates near-perfect touches for all players and allows the defender to take advantage of the loss of focus and poor touches to win back possession.

If you have Kinect for Xbox 360, FIFA 13's new voice recognition will allow you to control your team with your voice. You'll be able to substitute players, change your formation and talk/control your teammates just by speaking. One of the funnier innovations is the "referee feedback feature" which will recognize when you are frustrated with one of the ref's call via the sound/tone of your voice.

One of the funniest features of FIFA 13 on Kinect is this: If you say a profanity, the referee feedback feature will recognize it, and you may be given a yellow or red card for it.

But it's too much fun.

FIFA 13 hits stores on September 25 in North America and September 28 in Europe and the rest of the world.