Posted by Dan Bolas in Interfering With Play on Tue 31 Aug 2010
Welcome to this week’s Interfering With Play. I sit here typing this slightly gutted by the end of the Master League Beta which closed on Sunday. For those of you that took part, I wonder how many of you who are in the same boat of simply not wanting to play PES 2010 anymore, having experienced what is to come? The fact remains that Master League Online is a very good game mode that will arguably rival anything else currently on PES. I can not comment for anyone else, but in my experience I had no lag at all, I could only blame my own inability for mistakes that were made and apart from a couple of dodgy animations, was very please by the whole experience. If you haven’t played it, I think its pretty fair to say commenting on the game is a bit silly and once you have your views will be as valid as anyone’s, love it or hate it. I haven’t spoke personally with anyone who has genuinely disliked the game in its current build, and this looks a positive step for the launch in October! Whilst I will touch on the mode again later on, let’s crack on with this week’s Interfering With Play.
“That Interview”
I would like to take the opportunity to thank Jon Murphy for taking time out of what is a very busy schedule to do the interview for PES Gaming. Under no circumstances is this me sucking up or flattering for the sake of flattery but fact remains he took the time to answer questions, and that I appreciate.
The answers he has given range from the straight forward to the slightly more awkward and I am hoping that whilst you may not agree with everything he has said, at least he has come out and given his opinion on the issues made. I will quickly look at a couple of these questions now, taking on board what you guys have said in the comments section too.
Like a bad smell, the net issue is seemingly not going away. I have made it perfectly clear to everyone who wants to listen the nets don’t bother me at all. I think this is the impression 60% or so of the PES Gaming community have too, however, the 40% have the right to have their say, and I believe Jon was just as surprised as myself by how many of you actually do care about the issue. Simple fact, the mode will not be featured in PES 2011, and by the sound of the feedback I assume it will be reviewed to be featured in PES 2012. Is the lack of net editor going to make a blind bit of difference to the way the animations, the AI or the game plays, of course not. However, it is (for many people) an important cosmetic addition similar to boots, balls and stadiums and in the current ‘editing’ generation needs to be included. Fact is now, following the feedback and the interview, the voice regarding nets has been heard and registered.
The frequency of downloadable content is something that concerns me slightly. If the previous years are anything to go by, we are going to be waiting nearly a month to get anything near an up to date squad list for PES 2011 following release, and this simply won’t do when playing online. The fact it is free shouldn’t be used as an excuse, and whilst I can understand the ‘once every couple of months’ philosophy on Konami’s DLC policy, it needs to happen quicker after real events occur.
The weather is one issue I feel could really work, and am a bit disappointed it has been overlooked again this year. Whilst I do agree that certain aspects are more important, I would have personally put dynamic weather effects that genuinely change the way the game plays would have benefited the all-round experience as opposed to a stadium editor. Playing against Russian sides in the snow or Brazilian clubs in the sweltering heat would have made for much more realistic and accurate in game challenges, and the addition of further conditions (snow, wind, or humidity levels) would have adverse effects on certain team’s styles or tactics. Again, it is interesting to see Konami looked at it and looked past it, but as long as it’s on their radar, it was be included in 2012, once the 2011 issues (if any) have been ironed out.
They are my views, but I would be more than happy to discuss any views you guys have via e-mail. The address is at the bottom of this article.
“S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G, We’re Shopping”
Already the novelty features in the PES 2011 Shop are getting ridiculed. I for one never purchased them on previous games, as the appeal of a horses head or riding a dinosaur just wasn’t there, and I feel they are a strange addition to add to the western version game. In Japan, novelty features in games like this are much more common and almost expected. Nothing ruins the drama of Resident Evil 5 more than Shiva in clubbing attire, and games such as Tekken or Street Fighter are littered with novelty modes. For the European market, there are no such easy fixes when it comes to unlockables, as we tend to ask for something that enhances our game experience as opposed to adds a bow or gives it a new coat of paint.
These additions, whilst petit and trivial would only have taken minutes to add to the game. A feature such as a net editor or dynamic weather would have taken days, as they are more than just cosmetic overlays. Different styles of nets would have to react differently to when a ball hits them, a player runs into them, a player slides into the, etc, whereas the barrel ball is simply a ball that looks like a barrel, using all the same properties as the original match ball.
The issue was raised that many people asked the return of the PES shop, well aside from classic players and teams, what kind of features did these people really expect to be included in the shop? New stadiums or editing options perhaps, but as a general rule the quick add-on features were always going to be there or thereabouts.
“It’s Over”
For those of you who didn’t get in the Beta, I am offering an opportunity for simple questions about the whole experience. With the demo to be released soon, and the game just over a month away, it isn’t too long for you guys to wait, but if you have any questions about the incarnation of PES 2011 I have played, please get in touch and I will do my best to give you an honest and frank answer. Please ask the questions via e-mail and I will either get back to you directly, or in the form of an acknowledgment in next weeks column.
“It’s Out Of Date”
Finally this week, I will leave you with one big concern from the PES 2011 beta. Whilst yes, for the most part it has very much been a case of roses and puppy dogs, the one issue that is unavoidable is the current state of the game’s database.
The online beta only featured the English, Spanish, Dutch, Italian and French leagues, and therefore being a team from the Europa League or South America wasn’t an option, however the teams featured on the game were grossly out of date when it came to squad lists. Newly promoted teams were on the game (Tangerine Dream is Blackpool for anyone that is interested) but the players at each team, including the newly promoted were the same that ended at their clubs last year. Manchester City had no Silva, Yaya Toure or Milner, Arsenal still had Sol Campbell and Real Madrid were yet to receive Ozil. This obviously didn’t matter too much in the mode we were playing as you were using fake players to start off, and you would just search for the signings you were after, however this does not bode well for the first week in October, especially as the domestic transfer window closes today.
If Jon’s comment is true about DLC, we may have to wait until November, 3 months after deadline day to play with anything that resembles accurate squads online, and for a game that is meant to be the real deal this year, this simply won’t do.
That’s your lot for this week, with quite a few interactive points to get your teeth into. Comments are welcomed as always, and e-mails can be directed to inteferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk. For universal football gaming news, make sure you check out www.soccergaming.com and next week will see the return of the Interfering With Play Player Of The Season awards.
Thanks For Reading
Posted by Dan Bolas in Interfering With Play, PES 2011 News on Sat 28 Aug 2010
I have got back from my Holiday to receive the responses from my interview with Jon Murphy. I will discuss the topics raised in more depth during this week’s Interfering With Play, however, below is the interview in full.
Question from community member MagicaRoma – PES has always been developed in the Asian market, which is obviously a very different culture to the Western markets, in particular Europe. In your opinion do you feel PES is limited by the way Konami operate centred in this location, and do you feel that a European developer would do things differently? (in particular relating to the game’s development stages)
I think you can look at it both ways. Obviously for years we had a big advantage in terms of gameplay, which has only recently taken a knock. That’s down the skills of a first rate team of Japanese developers. On the other hand it’s taken them longer to get to grips with online play because fiber optics are common and they tend to use it in different ways. One way we were suffering was listening to feedback from fans and I hope that situation has got much better. You can certainly seen the results in the product this year.
Question from Emmanuel Ekem – Is PES 2011 going to see the return of snow on the PS3 and X Box 360 versions, along with accompanying animations (visible breathe, patches on pitch etc.) Further, will the weather effect the way the game actually plays (players slipping, ball moving in the wind etc)
Sorry, but no. At the start of the dev process we had to pick vital areas to improve and put as much effort as possible into those. Gameplay and animation were essential. Master League Online, Stadium Edit and Tactics all out ranked weather. The other issue is that we wanted to get gameplay spot on before altering it with dynamic weather. It’s something we’ll consider again next year.
Question from Kevin Scott – Is PES2011 really new code with brand new animations and passing system or is it an update to the current game engine with new animations and the R2 + “x” passing mapped to the straight “x” button (PS3)?.
PES2011 is based on the last version, we aren’t hiding that. However, the animation system really has been ripped out and almost entirely replaced. Actually 100% manual passing is still in the game, but mapped onto L2 at the moment I believe. I hope when people get a chance to test the demo you’ll experience all the big changes we’ve made but also feel it’s PES at the core. That’s no bad thing.
Question from Kubilay Canalty – Will Konami create a system to encourage players to choose a variety of teams online? I have asked the PESGaming community if they would like such a feature, and more than 91% of them have replied with “yes”. (Poll Results available on request)
We certainly need to do more in this direction. It’s an online and offline issue. In football these days there are real super powers of the modern game which have a clear advantage in almost every game they play. How we reflect those qualities without spoiling the balance of the game is becoming more and more important. The same goes for super star players. Send the feedback and I’d be very happy to pass it onto Seabass and co.
Question adapted from Stormrider – Did Konami change player development in the master league to be more realistic this year and if not is this something Konami would be willing to have a look at in the future?
As I said before we had to pick key areas to work on. With Master League we went for the online element. We also made improvements to Become A Legend, as those were needed. We made more improvements with PES2010 with offline ML and we’ll certainly look at improving the mode in the future. At this stage it’s too early to say exactly what.
Question asked by over 50 people on both PES Gaming and Soccer Gaming. Goal nets have always been a talking point amongst our community members. Many gamers feel that they style of the goal nets on PES are both unrealistic and do not offer enough differentiation between stadiums. With the addition of the stadium editor, why have the goal nets been overlooked once again? Why do we not have the option to edit the goal nets (both in colour and style) along with other parts of the stadium, and why do the goals on PES not reflect the goals used at the real life grounds (Old Trafford, Anfield etc.) Images Attached To Highlight Different Styles
I don’t think the team were really aware of how seriously some people took this issue until it was too late to have an effect on PES2011. Having said that we also honestly feel that it’s more important to fix areas such as gameplay and animation first.
Konami is seemingly famous for removing popular features from one game to the next. This includes the ability to mix and match shirts and shorts on the strip selection screen, random select mode from PES 6 and even the PES Shop (Returning this year!) Could you give us some insight into the reason why popular aspects from previous games are removed on an annual basis?
Because they haven’t had feedback on if such items were well received. I’m trying to put an end to that.
Goalkeepers get a lot of stick on PES due to being accident prone. How are Konami looking to address this? Many fans would like to see them treated as individual entities with their own set of stats, is this something Konami have or will look at for the future?
From what I’ve seen goal keepers have been fixed. Certain errors crept into the game, such as the way they were beaten so easily at the near post, general positioning, leaving their goal line etc. These have now been fixed. They’ll still make errors according to their stats, because they do in real life. They already have some key stats, but I can’t say if we’ll be extending these next year.
On a similar note, the refereeing has come in for a great deal of criticism on PES 2010, especially when it comes to penalty kicks. Has this been addressed in the 2011 version of the game, as would offering a database of referees all with different characteristics be an option for future series?
This is another area I’ve discussed with the team and passed on feedback from forums. Last year you felt that cheating wasn’t punished. We’ve improved the ref AI this year, but I do think we’d also benefit from a selection of refs.
Online has been done to death on many message boards and forums. Along with the current Beta taking place, what other (if any) procedures are in place to make PES 2011 the strongest offering online?
In addition to the current Beta which is specifically for the ML we ran online tests earlier in the summer. Improvements have actually been made since the ML Beta. The games I’ve tested online seem much better when you suffer from a squeeze in bandwidth. Play slows down, but the response times don’t, which means the game remains playable. I haven’t seen any warping at all. It goes without saying that the big test will be on release.
Konami have shown a commitment to downloadable content in the past two instalments of PES. Will this continue into the future and will we begin to receive more frequent updates?
DLC remains and it’s still free. It’ll be similar to last year in terms of frequency.
Just a couple of quick fire personal questions to end up.
Your favourite ever player? Zola
Your favourite team on PES? Classic Holland
Your favourite video game away from football? On the current gen, Oblivion
Your favourite instalment of PES? The first one I worked on, ISS Pro 98
Your one dream feature in a football game? To get everything right.
Funniest question ever about PES? I still get people asking why we don’t have correct player names.
Posted by Dan Bolas in Interfering With Play, PES 2011 News on Fri 20 Aug 2010
As mentioned in this week’s IWP, I am off on my holidays over the next seven days, and therefore said I would post my impressions of the PES 2011 Master League online beta. The Jon Murphy interview has been sent and sorted, but due to a hectic week with Gamescon will take longer to turn around than we both hoped. I will post the interview on my return, and yes, I did mention the goal nets!
So moving on to the Online Master League beta, and more importantly my own first personal taste of PES 2011. As soon as receiving a place in the trial, the following note is thrust in front of you via e-mail
This Beta is to test aspects of Master League online Gameplay only. Please be aware
that Gameplay is based on unfinished code and aspects such as goal keepers, referees,
animations and online are still being updated.
Perhaps this is a get out of jail free card, but fact is that at least Konami are there, acknowledging areas which people want to see improved. The beta also gives very little indication of AI, as you are always playing against a human opponent. Whether this code will be the one released as the official PES 2011 demo code, or the more recent Gamescon code may be used remains to be seen. However, with the above all mentioned, here are my views and findings from my time playing the game.
Online Master League is not the same as a regular master league season. In fact, there are no seasons at all. The premise runs very similar to a fantasy football league. You start with the default master league players, and £500,000 in the bank. From day one, you can sell your players for the going market rate (between £100,000 and £1.5 Million) and use the money to buy any player from the game’s extensive database. Again, players values are slightly lower than the current transfer rate, but are still expensive enough to make it tricky to assemble a top side from the off. In my first few games, I purchased Lee Cattermole for around £2 Million, having released around 7 of my first team squad (Ruskin, Dodo etc.)
This mode is an excellent way of playing on a level field. You are not going to be coming up against Barcelona and Real Madrid every week, and whilst some players will have better players, a perk of playing the game for longer, you will still have games against players with weaker sides or even equal sides to yourself. A team featuring the likes of Darren Fletcher and Flamini looked world beaters compared to my basic squad, but then my signings have played a big part in defeating other newbies, something which is slightly a right of passage. Another perk is that player values fluctuate. Some players will decrease in value after you purchase them, others will shoot up. The more people owning a player, the more expensive that player becomes, meaning player Messi or Ronaldo every match becomes more and more unlikely as more gamers play. This is Konami listening!
Each game you play costs you a virtual fee, which a portion of is recouped depending on the result. Win a game and you make money, lose you will end up a few thousand down, however quit and you end up losing the whole fee. This is an excellent way of deterring serial disconnections, as you simply won’t have enough money to carry on. Tournaments are also an excellent way of making big money. You are pitted against teams from your league (the division based on your experience and rankings) and then have the opportunity to progress through the rounds, signing better players as you go. These start at real world times, and are around every hour, which is a brilliant feature.
As a mode overall, I was very sceptical about the online master league. I was expected masses of game worlds, limited players and a shoddy menu system. Instead we have a game mode that is exceptionally addictive, easy to play and has a lot of scope for improvement and development throughout the next 12 months.
But this of course is all irrelevant if the game is unplayable online. Over the past 3 years the game has gone from horrifically unplayable to simply a lag filled, bug ridden online experience. At the time of writing this article there are around 1,040 gamers taking part in the beta, and I have not experienced one game in the 30 or so I have played that I would consider to be a lagging experience, anywhere similar to that which PES 2010 threw out on a regular basis. This may be down to low numbers playing online, it may be down to my connection or it may be down to luck, but I have played against gamers from Italy, France and Germany with no problems to note, something which hints it is not down to location. One of my games was slightly slower than the others, but this didn’t really effect my control of the players, nor my opponents, and the game played out a fair 1-1 draw. Again, I am not preaching online is fixed, or sorted or anything of the sort, but these are my findings, and I would be interested to see if anyone echoes these sentiments,
I am not going to dwell too much on the game play for the simple fact it will more than likely be redundant now, with the new build out and about. In my experiences however, the game felt new and fresh, especially with the passing and dribbling, yet still like a PES title. Defending is much more about timing now as opposed to just wanting to win the ball, and jockeying or dropping off is sometimes a much better option. The option to block players runs is also a huge boost, meaning defenders who are less than nimble can use their physical dominance of the smaller, lighter speed merchants. The passing system is a lot different, but a definite plus for me, and you only have yourself to blame for a poor pass now. The power bar is far from intrusive and actually feels very natural (something which I am surprised to say) and running with the ball should only really be done in space, with dribbling being a very key part of the game now. Knock and rush doesn’t really work (especially with the players I have at my disposal) and this will hopefully put an end to one player running through your team.
The negatives, which of course there are some, all seem to relate to the age old issues. Whilst there are a lot of new animations in place, some of these are not implemented properly (YET) and this makes some things look a little awkward. Shooting at times seems to feel a little uncomfortable, but these are both issues I feel will be sorted prior to release. Keepers, in my experience were worse than ever for pushing shots into the net. If a shot is hit hard straight at their body, they should not let it pass through their hands whilst moving out the way. This didn’t happen to me on PES 2010 and only very rarely on 2009, but has happened on several occasions already online in 2011. This is something Konami said in the disclaimer, and therefore I will give them the benefit of the doubt. Here we are not talking about super keepers just ones that do a job. Finally, I have absolutely no problems with the refereeing. Couple of yellow cards here and there, I gave away one penalty which definitely was and haven’t had any decision which I have been angry about. Hopefully this will continue to be worked on in the final few weeks.
So there you go. My honest views. To conclude I am happy with what I have played, but still here that same disclaimer ringing at the start. If that game lands on my doorstep as the finished product I would be a bit disappointed, mainly because it doesn’t feel finished. However, that can’t really be a criticism because simply, its not finished! I am excited about playing the final demo and eventually the final game, and if it builds upon the promise of the build I have played, I will be a very happy man in October.
Thanks for Reading.
Posted by Dan Bolas in Interfering With Play on Tue 17 Aug 2010
Welcome to this week’s Interfering With Play. Slightly different format over the next couple of weeks for the column. Due to a ‘much deserved’ holiday next week, I will hopefully be several miles away from any Wi-Fi connection. Therefore, I am compensating by doing an IWP Special about the Online Beta, and will hopefully have the Jon Murphy interview available within the next 5 days. Yes, it is not the weekly instalment of the column, but it will hopefully give a fair few talking points for you guys to have your way with until I return. With that information at hand, lets crack on with this week’s Interfering With Play.
Wife Beta
Tacky subheading aside, the fact remains that Konami have offered an online beta for the master league game mode. This is a huge step for the company, who are seemingly admitting that online was not tested properly in previous incarnations of the game! Truth be told, I was in two minds about taking part in a beta as a PES fan, but due to my role on the site, I have put my name forward and actually gained a place, so over the next few days, I will be testing out the format. At the time of writing, I am yet to do so and have no early impressions to fall back on. The actual game at this stage is still playing second fiddle to the fact that Konami are openly allowing gamers to play their product in advance of its release prior to an official demo. This is either a sign of confidence or quite possible an acceptance that the company needs to move into the 21st Century. I hope it is a combination of the two.
So, if you were unlucky and didn’t get a place in the beta, I do not intend to rub it in. Instead I hope we can provide a good feel for the game as it stands in this state, and also hopefully offer some genuine insight into how online Master League is going to work. If you did get a place in the beta, I would love e-mails (NOT COMMENTS) with your findings. A paragraph or so would be ideal, and just highlighting small issues or features you like or dislike about the game. These will be printed as written (with obvious exceptions for abuse or bad language) and posted as part of my own personal views later in the week! The e-mail address is interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk
“Nettie”
My inbox has been inundated with pictures of nets, goals and post designs and styles. Thank you to everyone who took the time to find out these images and provide them to me. I was shocked to receive over 30 e-mails on the subject, an issue which proves there is a great demand for net / goal editing to be included in future versions of PES. I will address this to Jon during the interview, and hopefully get a straight answer on exactly why it’s not present in PES 2011, especially with the much discussed stadium editor finding a place
The fact remains that whilst to some people the mode isn’t a big issue, to many it has been a major request for a few years now, and if Konami are deemed to be listening to feedback, this is pure pay dirt! Once again, a thank you goes out to all of you who spent your time finding images for me, they will be put to good use!
“World Of My Own”
Ian Horne wrote an article over on Soccer Gaming last week about the stadium creation option, the link to which is http://www.soccergaming.com/pro-evo/1152/the-pes-2011-stadium-editor-%e2%80%93-at-a-glance/. First thing that stands out here is the sheer depth Konami are looking to go into, especially incorporating images. If all of the above turns out to be true, features such as editable advertising hoardings and alternate stand styles makes for a truly unique experience at every ground.
In PES on the current generation consoles, we have been a bit short changed on the stadium front. Whilst PES 2008 on PS2 managed 35 grounds, we were treated to just 19 on the PS3! Whilst we are nearing the 25 mark now, there is still a long way to go in the variety of styles featured of the in game arenas, and providing the space is made available, there is a huge level of scope for what ‘could’ be created. I am decent with the editing tools on PES, however some members of the community are exceptionally talented, and can make things look near perfect 99% of the time. I know that should these tools be put to good use, the actual designs of these grounds will be mind blowing, and this is something that makes me take notice.
What I will find interesting is how Konami deal with saved data this year. Bundling it all together into one huge file now has proven to provide limitations both for the company and for creators. The fact that squad updates (official) completely ruin edited squads means that come the first update, no one will be updating to play online due to the hours of creating the Portuguese / Belgian / German Premier League. Hopefully Konami will allow us to keep each team as an individual entity, its own unique save. The same for stadiums. This would allow a easy way of sharing files, keeping the ones you want and deleting those you don’t. Will this happen? I genuinely don’t know, however it is definitely worth speculating with release now just two months away!
That’s your lot for this week. I am working away now at the interview which all being well will be on PESGaming later this week. I am also going to go and grab a cup of tea before sitting down and testing out PES 2011’s online Master League. I will get my impressions up and online as soon as they are formed. interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk is the place to direct your e-mails, and as always comments are more than welcome.
Thanks for Reading
Posted by Dan Bolas in Interfering With Play on Tue 10 Aug 2010
Welcome to the 150th edition of Interfering With Play. I would like to start this week by thanking both Double D from PES Gaming and Ian from Soccer Gaming for their honest and well constructed reviews of PES 2011 taken from the recent play test. Both individuals have gone on to answer your questions about their experiences with the game, and hopefully have been able to at least satisfy a couple of itches you may have been having. For me, perhaps the most exciting addition away from the actual game play is the promise of masses of editing space. For PC and PS3 gamers, this gives a huge opportunity to create and share huge numbers of teams and stadiums, which in turn may allow for the most comprehensive PES ever. For 360 users, I am hoping Konami have found some way to allow for edit data to be shared more freely, however with game play being a priority, I wouldn’t hold my breath. This week, I intend to look at some of the points raised from the previous weeks, and as demo day draws nearer, test the water as to where you guys see PES being right now. With that said, lets crack on with this week’s Interfering With Play.
“Netting Up”
Following last week, I would like to once again go back and speak about the net issue. I don’t wish to dwell on this, and I believe there is quite a split in the community as to its importance but the fact is that some people out there are genuinely unhappy with the goal nets in PES. Whilst not being one of those people, as the game now promises to feature a stadium creator, a multitude of customisation options for players and teams, the feature to edit goal nets does seem a logical inclusion. I am not for one second say take this feature in place of another, but when adding the ability to edit an entire stadium, the goals, one of the few pieces on ‘decoration’ that are physically involved in the game should also be able to be edited to a certain extent.
With this said, and with the interview with Jon Murphy coming soon, I would love one of these ‘net fans’ to do some leg work on my behalf and support your argument. Grab me some photos of different styles of goal from around the world, and send them me via the usual e-mail address. If someone comes out and does this, I will include it in the questioning, using the images provided as examples. It would be very interesting to see that if the PES goals are ‘nothing like’ the goals used in European or World football today, where they (Konami) actually got the design from.
“Game Breakers”
I am still playing PES 2010, and enjoying it. Just today I had a cracking couple of matches against a mate, someone who usually runs me pretty close to the wire if not beating me every time we face off. In today’s two games the first saw me beat him 4-1 after going 1-0 down and the second I managed to sneak a 2-1 victory, having again given him the lead. In both games, I managed to create double the chances he did, dominate possession and even begrudgingly, he would admit the better team won on both occasions.
However, in my delight, I felt slightly hard done by as both goals I conceded would have categorically fallen into the ‘Goalkeeping Error ‘bracket that has been so widely used when describing PES. The first goal saw my keeper run along Rooney as he sprinted past him, making no effort to dive and stop the eventual shot nor get a hand to the ball before the Manchester United number 10 could get his shot away. It was simply a case of watching Wayne run past him. In the second game, Goran Pandev hit a free kick from inside his own half which would have bounced in the 6 yard box. My keeper stood firmly on his line, and watched as Milito rose unchallenged for a free header from point blank range. Both issues didn’t cost me the game; however the feeling of conceding goals outside of my control was more than slightly frustrating.
These kinds of issues could be simply edited by spending more time dealing with GK AI and in turn the much sought after collection of goalkeeping stats. In the first case, stats for bravery and rushing out would have determined whether my keeper would have even come off his line, and then whether he would have dived at Rooney’s feet. A high bravery stat, for example may have seen my keeper come diving out, but would have allowed Rooney to flick the ball over him or even fake shot round him. Lower ratings for each may have seen the keeper stay glued to his six yard box, only to rush out when I command him to do so. The second instance would have been solved by a crossing / catching / punching stat, whereby the goalkeeper would have been able to come and claim the cross or punch it away depending on his numbers. If you are playing with a keeper less comfortable claiming crosses, this would in turn make you defend deeper, letting your CB’s deal with the first ball and hope that your keeper will pick up any spills or make a reaction stop.
One issue I am slightly in disagreement on though is the handling problem many people speak about on this site. Yes, it is hugely frustrating when your keeper parries a ball into his own net. For me, this might be a one in 50 occurrence but by the sounds of things, it is much more common for some of you. On the other hand, I would hate to see super keepers that hold every shot and get every shot away. Just looking at the Community Shield on Sunday saw Van Der Saar spill three or four shots back into his six yard box, which didn’t result in goals due to the reactions of the CB’s. Again, I concede very few goals from rebounds, especially against AI, and I find that the players who do are the ones who constantly press using multiple players, resulting in a free man in the area. Depending on the angle of shot, there are some occasions when the ball should be pushed round the post, but for anyone who has ever donned the sticks, you will appreciate it is very hard to get a shot that is fired across goal around the post.
With that all said, the views of the play tests seem to see keepers change very little from PES 2010, which for me isn’t a game breaker. Of course slight improvements to AI will always make a game more challenging, but if the game makes it harder to actually get shots away and create the space required to get into good positions, then the keeping issues may not be as noticeable. As for GK stats, I won’t be holding my breath!
“I Am Not A Robot”
The fan boy tag is something particularly common with football titles, and the fact that most of us guys on this site can’t win. I give my honest opinions on PES and I a dubbed a fan boy, Double D stats facts about PES and he is dubbed a fan boy, and either of us mention FIFA and we are immediately abusing our power on this site! It is borderline laughable! However, the next paragraph may be slightly bordering towards the excitable, so feel free to stop reading now if you wish!
Still here? Good. As mentioned earlier, the promise of a much greater memory bank for editing data has definitely peaked my interest in the potential for PES 2011. Imagine playing a Premier League season using all 20 replica stadiums. For lower league fans even, imagine playing against accurate representation of your local teams weekly opponents, with photo accurate faces, kits and emblems. The depth is finally here, with the potential for the committed editing community to actually make the entire English Football League system, and even allow space for all the unlicensed Champions League Teams, Europa League Teams, Fantasy Football sides and your own school / pub team! It has been a known criticism of PES for the lack of licenses since day 1, but a solid edit mode has made up for this is many peoples eyes in recent years. If PES 2011 delivers on this promise, and doesn’t take anything away from the existing edit mode, we are looking down the barrel of the biggest, deepest and most accurate representation provided by Konami ever. That is something to look forward to, even for those people who are very focussed on game play and AI.
“It’s Not Ready”
There are still some concerns about online. Concerns that are founded on hard evidence. PES as a franchise has been very poor as an online product. The amount of column inches the subject has received supports this. However, it is uncommon for games to add online until the offline mode is finished. Of course there are exceptions to this but until graphical and AI targets have been met, there is very little point in spending time taking the product online, as the process will simply have to be repeated once the game is finished.
I am not making excuses for Konami, nor am I saying that PES 2011 will work online. What I am saying is that we are still at a very much ground zero stage with the process, and until it is experienced, it is impossible to comment for sure either way on how online will play in the latest very of Pro Evolution Soccer.
“Are You Ready”
So my final point this week is really just to re-evaluate where you guys are with PES 2011. A few weeks ago, opinions were quite mixed, but optimism seemed to slightly be taking the lead ahead of anger, nerves or disappointment. Now, following a variety of play test opinions and more official Konami footage, has your opinion changed? Are you excited or dreading it? With the demo a matter of weeks away, most people have been saving their opinions until the game has been played. But have you gone one step further? Have you already pre-ordered PES 2011 or told yourself you won’t be spending your cash this year? The floor is yours!
That’s your lot for this week. As always comments are welcomed in the usual format or simply e-mail me on interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk. I am looking to have another fantasy football mini league set up in conjunction with Soccer Gaming, so if there is anyone who would like to get involved in this process, please get in touch on the address above.
Thanks for Reading
Posted by Dan Bolas in Interfering With Play on Tue 03 Aug 2010
Welcome to this week’s Interfering With Play. Like many of you, I am waiting with baited breath for Double D’s impressions of PES 2011 so far. I hope that this will give you guys some genuine insight into the way Konami are heading with the game’s development, and at the same time let you know of the current issues or problems the development team are facing. The embargo is scheduled for the 4th August 2010, so until then we have a bit of a lull, which will hopefully allow me to address some issues raised on the site over the past seven days. With that said, lets crack on with this week’s Interfering With Play.
“An Apology”
I would like to start this week by retracting the statement I made surrounding demo code of PES 2011. A lot of websites and gaming magazines have now tested and played PES at various press events held by Konami for the past couple of months. I had been informed on good authority that this was the only way to physically play PES 2011. However, some sites, including those with an official link to Konami, have actually been issued with their own copies of the game at various stages throughout the development. I got this wrong and would like to go on record apologising for this false information. As you are aware I try and keep PESGaming.com full of official news, and in spite of having it from a reliable source, I must admit that I was wrong about the availability of copies to certain forms of media.
“Tough But Fair”
With the situation regarding comments slightly improving, I would like to take this opportunity to raise two further issues. Firstly, to the individual posing as Adam from WENB on the comments section, I would politely like to inform you once again that I speak to Adam from WENB, and that at no point has he commented on the main page of this website, in the same way that I have never commented on WENB. Therefore anyone posing as a staff member from another gaming site will be blocked and their IP address be blacklisted. Whilst some may genuinely believe imitation is flattery, I personally believe it is both immature and belittling.
Secondly, I have personally been vetting the comments this week to ensure that we are keeping on topic for the most part. I have said before I am all for freedom of speech on this site and also am quite happy to feature long comments on the site, however I have deleted the same post by someone claiming to be Amateur around 8 times this week. The IP address is now listed as spam, and a copy of the address will be kept on record for any future competitions or events run by PESGaming.com. We are not looking for apologies or robotic comments, however it ruins the site for the people who show the community the correct respect, and copying comments is both pointless and will not be tolerated any longer. As I said before, both myself and Double D are not paid to run this site, and any time spent dealing with comments is time taken away from working on bringing news and information surrounding PES 2011. Simple as that.
“It’s Question Time!”
Just as a brief follow up from last week, I was quite surprised with how many people offered suggestions for questions to Jon Murphy in the comment section of Interfering With Play. I am only considering questions for Jon that have been submitted by e-mail to the usual address, interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk. I have had around 6 questions submitted in this format, and will leave the option open for another 7 days before closing it as the interview needs to be sorted as soon as possible. The second portion of the interview will be a quick fire q and a with Jon, and will feature issues that can be answered with a one word response. Once again, if you have a question you would like to ask Jon in this format, please send an e-mail with your question.
The reason for using questions via e-mail is two fold. Firstly, we have a proper name and person that can be included in the interview. In turn I will include e-mail addresses in the text to Jon, so if there is a desire for a personal reply, you may get one. Secondly, as mentioned above, the comments section is a little bit hit and miss at the moment, and would rather use a secure and manageable format such as e-mail, especially as I can then cross reference e-mail addresses with IP addresses.
“Back Of The Net”
I must be missing something about the goal nets. For me, I have absolutely no problem with the way the nets look on PES, and never have done. I am involved with a lot of football, and as long as the net determines the ball staying in a location once it has crossed the line, then it is serving its purpose. Goal nets across the world vary and perhaps on this level different style nets for different stadiums is something that would be beneficial from a graphical level, but other than that there are several other features such as varying ball types, weather conditions and pitch styles that would have more effect on the in game action that the cosmetic appearance of some nets.
Perhaps I am wrong here, and that the goal nets are a huge issue. I mean there have been some exceptionally vocal individuals supporting the goal nets over the years, and with a stadium editor on the cards, surely the ability to change goal nets seemed a shoe in. However whether it will be seems to becoming more and vaguer and the actual inclusion is a real grey area. So I ask, to the fans who are screaming for this feature, what is it you want? Do you want to be able to edit the colour, the pattern, the stanchions, the number of pegs, the colour of posts? Try and help me understand the feature, and I will in turn relay it back to the community next week!
“Two Can Play At That Game”
One official piece of news that was posted by Jon Murphy last week was that you can not take control of a computer controlled team in a league or cup competition. So in other words if two players are playing, they can be on the same team for a Champions League match, but they can not oppose each other by simply switching control settings. I know this is a feature that will annoy some people, as in league seasons, people like to play against their mates from time to time, however I can actually understand the logic. In a world which is built upon trophies, achievements and stats, it should not be possible to ‘cheat’ to obtain an award. If you wanted to gain a quick trophy, you could set yourself in control of the opposition in the Champion’s League final and win 12-0, only to change back and collect the accolades. Any feature that stops this is a good bonus in my book; however I know other people see it differently. Your views, as always are greatly appreciated.
“I Got Your Shopping”
And finally this week, as many of you may be aware, the PES Shop will make a welcome return to PES 2011. I am opening the community up to suggested unlockables. I expect the usual classic teams and players, along with a couple of novelty features, but what would you like to see as an unlockable? Perhaps some unique ground styles, such as school playing fields or park pitches, or new game modes such as random team mode a la PES 6. Completely open to suggestions, and with the shop being a returning feature, I have no idea which angle they will take with it! Comment in the usual manner.
That’s your lot for this week. If you have any questions for Jon Murphy please get in touch via e-mail on interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk. For any other topics feel free to comment, and I hope you will check back on the 4th for the latest press releases regarding PES 2011.
Thanks for Reading
Posted by Dan Bolas in Interfering With Play on Tue 27 Jul 2010
Welcome to this week’s Interfering With Play. Following last week’s shorter column, I would like to address some of the issues raised at slightly greater detail, coupled with responses to new events that have occurred in the past 7 days. During my down time, I managed to get a fair few games in on PES, and changed my camera angle to refresh the whole gaming experience. I am now playing on Broadcast, and find it really offers a different feel to the game. Anyone who is getting a little bit fed up with PES graphically should give it a go, as I feel it also offers a different challenge in terms of ball flight and player control. This feeling may just be limited to my own experience, however for a cheeky exhibition game or training session, is there any harm in it? With that said, lets get cracking on with this week’s Interfering With Play.
“It’s Oh So Quiet”
In case you missed the below post, Double D has played an up to date code of PES 2011. That is to say it was up to date at some point, and I am sure that since then, the code has advanced further. It will be interesting to see exactly which code the PES community get in terms of a demo on X Box Live and the PSN at some point. Anyway, the issue that remains is Double D will respect that embargo, currently set at Wednesday 4th August, which means no matter how many questions are asked and how many points are raised, Double D can not comment or make a statement, even if he does know the answer.
Of course, some of you may think screw the embargo, tell us what you know. Other sites may work like this and fair play to them. However, PESGaming.com tries to do thing by the book whether possible. We give you guys an open forum (an issue I will touch on in a minute) and we deliver official news. For us, the embargo is just part of following the rules of reporting, and for all the gossip and hearsay out there, very few of the major PES sites break their embargos. If they do, they simply don’t get invited back to play tests, which in turn affects the accuracy and quality of their reports.
What this does ultimately mean is that unless there is an official press release, which more than likely would include screenshots and a video, the next 7 days or so are going to be quiet when it comes to official news. We are hoping that following the 4th, business will really start to pick up, but expect a lull for the next few days at least. This is one stage, of course, where I would love to be wrong!
“Gerrard To Torres”
In my bed bound state I managed to play a fair few games as Valencia, including a great few matches against Liverpool. The mini gripe comes from not being able to play home and away matches quickly, especially after an exciting first match, and creating a two legged match would be no more difficult that selecting the match ball to use, but due to Konami’s current state, it involves going back to the menu screen, changing the controller options and swapping the teams around. Never mind away goals etc. but it would be just nice to have it as an option.
Anyway, during the games, in which I played as Valencia for the last time featuring David Silva and Villa, I found myself up against a very impressive Liverpool side. Impressive because their in game tactics actually related quite heavily to their real life counterparts. The three examples that sprang to mind are as follows. Number one was Glen Johnson’s role at Right Back. When Liverpool attacked, Johnson always seemed to be involved, especially following a slow piece of build up play. This meant that I found myself getting most joy using Silva or Vicente down my left, which was constantly left unattended. Secondly, the role Lucas and Mascherano played in their defensive midfield positions. It was my tactic to immediately apply pressure to these two as soon as they got the ball, knowing that if they got turned and played forward, we would be on the back foot. The two players picked up the ball more often that not in their own half facing their own goal, and usually ended up playing back that way unless an easy turn or pass was available. Thirdly was the Gerrard and Torres combination. As soon as the ball went into Steve, Torres seemed to make a different movement, which my defenders rarely followed. One two occasions a first time Gerrard pass created space for Fernando, one of which ended in a goal. When Torres got the ball, he also only ever seemed to pass to Gerrard, choosing to shoot if the England midfielder wasn’t in view.
I don’t lose many on PES and it was rare that the two games against Liverpool ended 1-1 and 2-2, with me coming from behind in both. I exploited Glen Johnson in the first game and relied on Zigic in the second. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the matches and looked back thinking that how Liverpool had played had caused me to re-evaluate my own performance and tactics. If PES 2011 makes this a regular occurrence, I am very optimistic. And to all those that find PES too easy, I still offer the open challenge to take a Stoke, or a Hull and go up against one of Europe’s elite on Top Player. If you win comfortable every time, I would love to see the games on You Tube.
“That’s Not My Name”
Having read the comments from last week, the underlying issue regarding posts at the moment is the use of copy and paste. I think anyone who is on these forums regularly can appreciate that people use fake names or steal other names, and whilst we have discussed accounts, I like the freedom of speech allowed on these forums. Therefore, any copied and pasted articles will now be blocked and the IP address of the individual responsible will be added onto the black list. If your IP address turns up on the aforementioned black list more than once, you will be banned from posting. Copying and Pasting old articles is not beneficial in anyway shape or form, as it comes across as lazy and usually irrelevant to the current discussion topic.
If you would like to ‘reserve’ a username, the easiest thing to do is include an e-mail address when leaving a comment. This allows us to trace a username to a user quickly and efficiently, and will allow us to delete comments by posters using that name without the linking address. It really is as simple as that. I would not wish to put too much restriction on the comments, as I believe people are entitled to their opinion, even if it negative about myself, however if it is directly abusive, off topic or quite simply not the sort of content associated with this site, comments will be removed. Your voice has been heard.
“Lend Me That Copy”
Just to clear one thing up. I do not know of one magazine, gaming website or columnist who has received a code of PES through their mailbox. Konami do not give out the game directly, but instead invite the press to events where they can try out the game. If someone is telling you they have a copy, they are more than likely fibbing and this is also the reason why most play tests occur on a limited time scale. Asking someone to do a 12 hour review would be nearly impossible, as the most time we are getting with the games at this stage is a couple of hours.
“Dear Jon”
Following my speech a couple of weeks ago, I have decided to grab the bull by the horns and cut through the garbage and deal with it first hand. In the early part of August, I will be conducting an interview with Jon Murphy on behalf of PES Gaming and Soccer Gaming. This interview will hopefully get the questions out there that really need to be answered, find out exactly where Konami are with PES 2011 and how the community has influenced the game’s development, if at all.
Of course, I want your questions, but I want it done in a way that slightly differs from other sites, to make sure this interview covers all bases. Therefore I intend to work in two formats. Firstly, if you have a question for Jon Murphy that requires a long answer, please e-mail it to me. For this I am limiting to one question per person, and I am hoping the answer will require a few lines of text at least. For these questions, I want to ask about PES’ past, present and future and I want to catch the true feeling of the PESGaming community in the questions being asked. Again, I most remind you that these questions will only be included if submitted by e-mail. The second portion of the interview will be quick fire, however I will discuss this next week.
That’s your lot for this week. interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk is the place to direct your e-mails to, and please include the subject line Jon Murphy Question when replying to that topic. This is an opportunity to get a question directly to Jon, so please take up the opportunity. As always, feel free to comment on anything you have read in IWP.
Thanks for Reading
Posted by Dan Bolas in Interfering With Play on Tue 20 Jul 2010
Welcome to this week’s Interfering With Play. This week, I am writing from my bed as I not well, and therefore this column will be slightly shorter than usual. In fact, I am solely concentrating on the fall out from the release of the latest PES 2011 video, as for the first time there is concrete evidence that Konami are actually making steps in the right direction. Following this, we are hoping to have first hand experience of PES 2011 as Double D play tests the game very soon. Unlike other sites, we call it exactly like it is, something which I know pleases many of you guys out there, so you’ll be sure that what Double D tells you won’t be false. With that said, lets crack on with this week’s Interfering With Play.
“Fall Out Boy”
Ok, so the PES 2011 trailer and screenshots released last week definitely got tongues wagging. The stadium editor seems to have excited a lot of people, although how it will work it the real mystery. I am personally hoping for different seat colours, bench styles, pitch sizes and even the bonus option of a roof, but without proof, it is still very speculation. Whilst arena customisation is not a particularly new thing in the gaming world, it is uncharted territory for football gaming and I am exceptionally interested to see how it follows through.
Perhaps the most exciting thing from my point of view is the manager options, whereby control of how your team sets up or the way AI plays looks more customisable than ever. There has been no clear image of physical managers on the sidelines or in cut scenes, however this is a second to actually playing against teams employing different tactics. As many people have said, it is going to be nigh on impossible to customise every teams style of play, but if the game starts to offer a much wider variety of tactical challenges, we are moving in the right direction. I am longing for the day when I actually have to change my defensive line because the AI keeps catching me out with the long ball over the top, or put a man marker on a player who is dictating the play. Yes, it was talked about in PES 2008’s ill fated ‘Team Vision’ but barring a couple of experiences personally, I felt I could play the same way against every team and win. The screenshot may look like something out of an eJay game, but it shows the fact that Konami are genuinely trying to implement new ideas, and they may just make it work. The introduction of a mouse pointer further identifies this.
But on to the action itself. The promise of a 1000 new animations is very good, but hopefully the majority of these are in game animations and not celebrations or cut scenes. The Tevez booty shaking celebration brings this concern to me. In the game, is exceptionally hard to tell what animations are new for the simple fact the camera keeps panning around and changing direction. The on screen text showing which tactic a specific team is employing acts as another diversion, but without the game actually being played, player animation is very much still a open book. I do like the jump out the way motion, although again, its implementation is very much make or break!
Finally, the talking point regarding skill moves or tricks. My philosophy on tricks remains the same as it always has, they are there as an option. You don’t have to use them, there is no one forcing you to do so, and when playing against AI players such as Ronaldo or Robinho, it is only right they use the skills as their real life counterparts do. I can’t see PES going overboard on the skills because quite frankly its not their style and as long as the tricks can be stopped with a well timed tackle, I am all for it. Its like the diving feature, if you don’t want to use it, don’t!
That’s your lot for this week. I am back off to sleep with a cup of tea and a good film. interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk is the place to send your information too if you want to e-mail me direct, or alternatively you can leave a comment here in the usual fashion. Next week’s IWP will be longer, and hopefully offer some insight into Double D’s experience playing PES 2011
Thanks for Reading
Posted by Dan Bolas in Interfering With Play on Tue 13 Jul 2010
Welcome to this week’s Interfering With Play. I would like to start this week’s column by congratulating Spain for their victory in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Irrelevant of personal preferences, nationalities or allegiances to certain countries, very few football fans will be able to deny that the quality of Spain’s football was of the highest standard, and as a result it was truly a case of the best team winning the competition this time round. In a final that saw the Dutch play very physically and on the borders of the rules of the game, it was pleasing to see ‘Pure Football’ prevail and is a fine example that if you stick to your principles and play to your strengths, you will always have a chance. The fact that the Spanish’s strength is superior to the majority of other teams is just a huge bonus! This week sees very little new PES news, and unsurprisingly gossip and rumours have started to surface; however the promise of new news on Friday (16th) will hopefully keep many people appeased. With this said, lets crack on with a slightly shorter Interfering With Play.
“Sound, Mate”
Thanks to all who got involved regarding the commentary points raised in last week’s IWP. The fact remains that in spite of featuring full game commentary for the past 14 years, Konami are yet to really make groundbreaking strides in terms of improvements with both scripting and delivery. Without dwelling on the issue too much, there is one further point I would like to raise, in relation to some issues raised by both posts and e-mail last week.
The fact is that players on PES are treated as individual sprites linked to one piece of text or fact. There is no follow up link between a player and that text, and therefore very little way of commentators linking information about that player’s season or career to the player who has just scored. For example, we may occasionally get a ‘he needs one more goal to become the league’s top scorer’ but this is pretty much it. There is no reference to him recently being left out of the team, no link to the fact he has only scored once with his head this season or that he has been out for two games due to suspension. Couple this further; there is no banter between commentators using generic facts about a specific player, for example Bellamy’s erratic temperament or Cristiano Ronaldo’s incredible tricks. This is masked by standard pieces of text for each player with certain ability, for example ‘This Player Is Hard To Shake Off The Ball’.
Compare this to a non-football specific game, such as NBA 2K10 (Yes I know I kiss it’s ass but it deserves it). Here with a game that takes the well known facts of the majority of its stars and then recycles them at relevant points throughout the game. A 30 second blurb about Kobe Bryant’s shooting ability or Shaq’s power in the paint makes for not only a more realistic broadcasting of events, but also breaks up from the monotony of simply calling the action on pitch. Of course, it would take more time, but it would require research into commentary styles and actually looking at the scripts as opposed to just writing what people ‘think’ sounds like football commentary.
Of course, I know it’s all a moot point, as I would be very surprised if Jon Champion even records any new commentary for PES 2011. Whatever happens, I believe, like many of you 90% of his comments from PES 2010 will be included in the game, with Jim Beglin having to just work around it. Feel free to carry on your issues with this, and hopefully we will hear a little bit more about what kind of commentary PES 2011 in the coming weeks.
“Here’s Johnny”
I like Jon Murphy, and I think he does genuinely care about the PES product. I think like many of you guys and I, he gets frustrated when things don’t occur as planned, and then ends up looking like he is contradicting himself at times. This is one of the main reasons I have personally avoided posting the interviews he has put up online over the past few days. The fact is, he is the man responsible for giving information to the English speaking markets, and without being legally allowed to give too much away, this results in the majority of his comments either being 1. Misconstrued/twisted into being something they are not, or 2. His comments sounding the same to different questions and as a result making everyone very angry!
Closer to the release of the game, I will post a few of these interviews with the Konami staff, and will keep all official press releases coming through, but at the moment there is far too much out there that is being speculated, and we have always tried to run PES Gaming as a place for official news not rumours. At the moment, there is no news, and therefore making stuff up, scrapping barrels and pushing rumours doesn’t benefit anyone.
“It’s A Matter Of Fact”
I find it pretty amazing that even now, 9 months after their release, the debate about FIFA 10 vs. PES 2010 still rages. We have done it to death on this site, and whilst I openly admit to owning FIFA 10, the football title that I choose to play is Pro Evolution Soccer 2010. I enjoy the experience much more than I do playing FIFA, and I know many people out there are the same. I do not begrudge people who play FIFA, they are welcome to do so, and it is a decent game. It is not perfect, it is flawed, but so is PES. The crux of the matter is that I choose with my free time to play PES.
The problem is that some people in this debate still choose to confuse fact with opinion. It is not a fact to say PES is better than FIFA or vice versa because it is simply a matter of taste. It is a fact to say that online on FIFA runs better, because that’s true, and it is a fact to say PES has a much more in depth edit mode, because that is currently true. However, I go back to my initial point, do not argue using a statement that is not a fact and pass it off as one. It belittles your arguments and ultimately makes them invalid. The majority of people on this site have always understood this, and hence we have some excellent comments scribed on a weekly basis, but to the few that are missing the point I ask you to reflect on your comments before posting, they are totally valid as long as your opinion is stressed as exactly that, your opinion!
At the same time, I very rarely defend myself on this site, but I will continue to mention FIFA if I feel it is appropriate to do so. Ignoring the presence of the only other major football game would be short sighted and an insult to the community’s intelligence. This site is PES based, but I try and make it honest too, blind support of a product is wrong and if I personally enjoyed EA Sports’ game more, you can be damn sure I would say so!
That’s your lot for this week. Some amazing comments left last week that I simply don’t have time to discuss. As always, I am more than willing to give one of columns or new ideas a try on this site, so if you have wrote a long comment or a piece you would like featured on the main page, please get in touch via e-mail on interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk and we can take it from there. I will post the new news regarding PES 2011 on Friday, all being well, and we will have Phil’s Do I Not Like That Column on Thursday too. I am off to put on my floral dress and play Buffy The Vampire Slayer, whilst listening to Ellie Goulding. Apparently!
Thanks for Reading
Posted by Dan Bolas in Interfering With Play on Tue 06 Jul 2010
Welcome to this week’s Interfering With Play. Slightly quieter week on PESGaming this week. Whilst grainy and unclear videos are being made available on various websites and forums, at the moment I am personally waiting to see what Konami offer next. For the past 3 years, we have tried to second guess how PES will look, feel and play and ultimately, been lead down garden paths. I am hoping that as the development stage progresses, more information will be released officially, and hopefully coupled with more HQ videos too. We don’t generate lies in our blogs, instead we discuss the facts and hopefully provoke debate on both Footballing and Video gaming issues when PES news is running dry. With this said, there is still plenty to talk about on PESGaming as we address the issue of goal line technology, speak about the quality of PES commentary and then finally the angle of PES 2011 With this said, lets get on with this week’s Interfering With Play.
“Talk Is Cheap”
It’s now pretty well documented that Mark Lawrenson has left the PES franchise, and has been replaced by ITV (UK) colour commentator, Jim Beglin. After hearing this, I spent some time going back over old copies of PES, and having a listen to arguably some of the most woeful examples of play by play commentary I could ever wish to hear, and I have been watching the World Cup on the BBC! With EA Sports providing the kind of audio coverage at home on Sky Sports, the age old question remains, do Konami really have the foggiest idea about football commentary?
The main issue facing any video game audio is the script. If you play any game that features repetitive actions, you are ultimately going to get repetitive audio triggers. There are few better examples than Buffy The Vampire Slayer on X Box. Here is a game that featured the vocal talent of many of the TV show’s stars, and had a witty and well planned script. However, after you have heard all the one liners a couple of times when killing an enemy or struggling to solve a puzzle, the quips became tedious. This is only magnified during football games, whereby the same actions may appear 10 or 12 times in a single game, and that repetition is ultimately inevitable. This is a development issue, and not strictly the fault of the commentators.
Following on from this, it is the placement of the sound bytes and what exactly triggers each action is a huge let down for Konami. “The Keeper’s Failed To Hold It & His Defence Has Had To Help Him Out” is one of the more common sayings, when the actual in game action has seen the stopper make an excellent point blank save. “Both Teams Haven’t Made Any Changes” is another belter, following half time, yet I had made one change due to injury in the first 10 minutes! Having a decent script is one thing, yet using the right pieces of audio data at the right time is equally important!
Another gripe is pointless information! Yes, commentators are renowned for talking rubbish from time to time; about the stadium, the city, the fans or a player’s taste in boots, but at least all these things are the truth! “The Wind Has Gotten Considerably Stronger During Half Time” is a complete waste of time. There is no wind on PES, it doesn’t affect the game, and Jon Champion may as well have said, there is a 26 foot alien standing just outside the stadium eating fish and chips, because that is just as accurate and unfortunately, just as likely to be included in a Konami game as interactive weather!
Of course, this may be deliberate. Having listened to Mark Lawrenson a fair amount on both Radio and TV over the World Cup, there is no denying the terrible one liners, dodgy calls and awful pieces of word play are part of his every day routine. Compare this with Andy & Martin on FIFA & Sky Sports, and you have a decent baseline for what we are talking about. I am genuinely not nit picking here, as the commentary script for Konami has always been terrible, and yet each year is seems to get a tiny bit better without really improving! Whether it is simply a case of bringing in more commentators, writing better scripts for the existing commentators, ensuring the link between the in game action and the audio is more appropriate or simply a combination of all three, the truth is something really needs to be done.
I open the community to pick up their favourite one liners from the current PES, and also reflect back on previous versions of the title, leaving comments and e-mails via the usual channels.
“Don’t Forget”
I am not ignoring or forgetting the iPhone version of PES 2010. My phone has been playing up over the past few weeks and therefore I have been unable to test the game out. I expect it to be up and running in the next couple of days, and intend to post and honest review when available. If you have the game, and I know some of you do, please feel free to leave your own thoughts in the comments section. Alternatively, if you would like to write an honest and fair review of the game, please get in touch via e-mail and I will have a chat to you.
“It’s A Goal”
The World Cup has thrown up a the debate once again of technology within football, or in its current state the lack of it. Incidents such as the Lampard Goal, the Kaka dismissal and Tevez goal against Mexico have all drawn attention to the fact that referees cannot humanly see all the action that goes on during a game, and that a certain amount of doubt and guess work plays a huge part in each and every decision. Some may say that these decisions even themselves out, and that ‘justice’ will be done, but surely with the money in the game at the moment, the in game ‘evening out’ may not result in financial par. Personally, I am split very much down the middle of the debate, and would like to offer both sides too the argument. I genuinely am not sitting on the fence here, but instead am looking objectively and not being able to find a point to hitch my horse to.
In my argument for, I believe that sport is evolving. We look at the majority of the world’ major sports, Tennis, Rugby, Athletics, Cricket and Horse Racing. All of these use technology to iron out contentious decisions. The money that a glaring error may cost a team, or the opportunity it may deny the side should surely not be left to a wrong decision, and there is not better example than the Ireland in Paris last November. As many people rightly pointed out, the Henry goal put France through, and had it been disallowed or simply not happened, Ireland still had to score or win on spot kicks. However, they were denied this by an incident of cheating/instinct/madness, and a goal line camera could have detected this within a matter of seconds. There was no doubt when seeing the incident on replay, even on one showing! It’s not like it is even open to interpretation, did he dive? Was he interfering with play? The incident was a blatant foul and the goal should have been chalked off. Placing two cameras either side of each goal, with a view of the goal line and six yard box, and you have cover for any contentious incidents near the goal. We all love a debate about football, but the game provides plenty of talking points without these moments of madness, and FIFA, UEFA and the international governing bodies for each nation need to come together and make a common sense decision.
On the other side of the coin, football is a game played in parks all over the world. To many it is still seen as a game that can be played by anyone with a ball and some jumpers for goalposts. As footballers become more out of touch with reality, it is important the sport doesn’t become less accessible. We don’t want non-league or amateur clubs shutting down because they can not afford the appropriate technology to keep their club in line the FIFA rules, and furthermore, we don’t want semi pro clubs fitting hand held camera on the goal lines and showing images to amateur refs, demanding they take a look at the footage! Whilst the English, Spanish and Italian Leagues all have good funding, other European and World Leagues are less fortunate, and some countries may also have trouble implanting the system due to finances. Going away to Sweden or Finland in the Europa League, to a ground which is unable to have goal line technology and then have a good goal disallowed will further raise issues, and in turn alienate the smaller leagues in Europe. On top of this, referring is a difficult job at the best of times. Your usually making a decision that will cause disagreement, and then to have the power of your convictions questioned by technology, which again still may not be conclusive will cause even more problems. If you refer an incident to the cameras and you make a decision after inconclusive video footage, the unfortunate team the decision goes against will have grounds for appeal, something players do not need in this day and age!
Please feel free to comment on the continuing issue, and keep topics clean, structured and respectful!
“What The Future Holds”
The PES Play tests will be creeping up on us soon, and in the world of embargos and cloak and dagger, PESGaming will be ensuring you receive the official news first when it is legal to do so. The question I ask now, is after seeing what you guys have done online, what are your impressions towards PES 2011 so far? Ideally, if you could sum the game up so far in a sentence (15 words or less), what would it be? I appreciate this comes from not having played the game, seeing videos and reading hearsay, but it is always interesting to gauge a reaction prior to play testing, and it will help Double D and myself structure our reviews and findings on the game.
That’s your lot for this week. A little bit to chew over there. I apologise for the lack of Do I Not Like That last week. Phil’s column will return again this Thursday. interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk is the place to direct your e-mail to, and as always feel free to comment or visit www.soccergaming.com for more football gaming news.
Thanks for Reading
