Re: FIFA 09
well, i am pretty sure those are the game models, only difference i suppose is the difference which is like twice or triple the size in the renders compared to the ingame models.
and i can imagine the ps3 or xbox to be able to handle them - being the level 1 lod you would only see a maximum of 2 or 3 onscreen at a time, in celebration screens or line up sequences - they'd be level of detail model 4 or 5, maybe 1/100 the amount of polygons in the "normal" game cam. you allways have to keep in mind the hardware intensive "game strategy" and "ai movement" and whatever they have in the game do not have to be calculated while the goal celebrations or any other cut scenes are running, so all of the hardware power can go into rendering the models - it's not that unrealistic to see them in the final game, in my opinion.