'Drag is non-linear, not a flat dull curve of the ball. By changing the simulation of drag we found we could kick the ball harder and impart more spin. That gives us lots of different flights of ball including a low rising shot and the dipping shot."
Key additions - especially for those who want to replicate goals from Steven Gerrard or Gareth Bale - and the ball physics extend beyond just shooting and allow for complex floated long balls over the top, for instance.
Our worry about this is that it could see a fairly retro 'aftertouch' mechanism where good players can launch a hopeful long ball and then bend it into a more accurate offering after the decision has been made. It's something that the developers are no doubt experimenting with.
So how do these changes manifest themselves on the game as a whole? Again - we can only go by what we have seen and not played, but Channon believes it adds realism and, the all important word, fun.
"Previously the game [could] be very quick from one end to the other and we were thinking about how could we change that because it's not as realistic," he says.
"Modern football tends to see build up through midfield so we looked at what changes you can make to think about how to…take away cheap goals.
"We talked about Barcelona['s playing style] quite a lot. If you look at their movement and at clubs like Manchester United and Arsenal, they move it around midfield, switch sides - the best teams attack from everywhere and that's something we want to bring in. So there are some major changes around shooting and build up play [ to create] this incredibly rewarding finish."
With the game not traditionally set to arrive until Autumn, and EA Sports making it abundantly clear they are only talking about PS3 and Xbox 360 versions at the current time rather than the next gen or handhelds, there's a long wait until we see the results of this new direction.
But in the meantime we're going to have to start watching how Drogba shields a ball on the run and work out just when he's pressing his brain's left trigger.
