Posted by dougiedonut in PES 2009 News on Thu 23 Oct 2008
So a week on from launch, I’m almost dreading asking people what they think.
I’ve been monitoring initial comments from last friday, which have been a mixed bag.
But with a week’s worth of play, more concrete opinions are being formed by you guys out there no doubt.
I am still working my way through the game, and haven’t sampled the master league, become a legend or much in the way of online play. I want to take my time doing so, to form as complete a view on the game as possible.
I expect to offer a review of what I think of it in about 3 weeks time.
I think for a lot of people, the two key factors to measure success are the gameplay and the online playability. If these two factors are up to scratch, then most people will put up with other less satisfactory elements of the game.
I would like to offer an initial impression of the game, but by no means is it my final opinion of the game. I should also point out that my point of reference is PES6, since PES2008 didn’t exist for me.
I think I would describe the game as aesthetically pleasing (certainly a mark up from PES6 on the 360!). I am not too sure I like the dribbling abilities in the game. I seem to be able to find it fairly easing to jink into the penalty area from my own half with any player fairly easily - this being on top player mode.
I will play it a lot more to decide whether or not this is something that is commonly done, or whether my initial playing style is permitting me to do so. I hope you guys understand what I mean!
I think this is a very attack focussed game. Defending is very hard. I find I can’t press the man on the ball with physical presence, to force their direction of travel. In PES6 I could force a winger to play the ball out with pressure on the touchline. This isn’t quite as easy now.
The whole dribbling at right angles at pace and ease of turning between players is a little offputting for me. Perhaps as I play it more this will grow on me, but for now, its a bit strange.
That’s all I will say on the game for now, since I don’t want to appear negative about the game, especially since I don’t think I’ve given it a fair crack of the whip. I want nothing more than to be able to declare this THE footy game for me, but I want to do so in a methodical, clinical fashion - not like a loved-up little puppy.
I’ve also been suffering from a cold since the weekend, which has meant that I’ve not been as mentally astute as I would like to think I normally am. As I reach normality, I think I should be enjoying the PES experience a little more.
Now that PES has been launched, we will be expecting a fair amount of churn on the site. This is to be expected, since many people only check PES sites for details of the game pre-launch. But we at pesgaming.com would really appreciate it if you could show us your support through comments to let us know that you guys appreciate the PES experience we offer you. If there is any type of improvement you guys think we could make to the site, then please let us know, and we’ll see if we can do more to serve the PES community at large.
Our goal is to be THE place for PES, and that is only possible with your help. So help us to help you!
Thanks for reading.
Dougiedonut
Posted by francis in PES 2009 News on Mon 20 Oct 2008
Community Spirit
Ever since I started blogging for Pesgaming.com, I’ve been very impressed with the community spirit that there seems to be present here. Racist comments and insults apart, it’s always nice to see people commenting on each other’s points of view and coming up with ideas for new and existing versions of Pro Evolution Soccer. Now that the IP banning is in full force, I’d like to re-state how we’re taking a hard-line approach to racism with anyone that uses racist words or comments being banned within 24 hours. On the other hand, I’m starting to notice some of the regulars who leave insightful, well written and thought out comments, and I’d like to thank the thousands of people who read the column over the week for simply visiting the site and supporting pesgaming.com!
Release the Hounds!
Now that Pes ’09 has been released, the comments sections have filled up with reactions on the game, and I’m pleased to say it seems 8 or 9 out of ten people are very happy with it! The online exhibition games seem almost fixed lag-wise, and as far as I’ve seen the Be A Legend online game is flawless. I’ll refrain from commenting on the new version fully for a couple of weeks however, until I’ve given it a thorough testing. If you play on Xbox 360 and would like to organise a game or two against me then feel free to email me with your gamertag to the usual email address, which is listed as usual at the end of the article. Don’t be annoyed if I don’t get back to you, as I receive numerous emails each week in response to the column, and I unfortunately cannot reply to them all. With regard to an online league, Dan as you might know runs the IWP league, and when he’s ready I’m sure he’ll be setting it up. Watch that space! Dan does his weekly blog ‘Interfering With Play’ off his own back, and creates the option files and packs for free, we don’t get paid here at pesgaming.com and nor would we expect to; let me just thank Dan for all the effort he goes to, to ensure Pesgaming.com continues to be the top Pes fan site on the internet.
Bringing the Lol’s
I like to highlight a comment now and then, and this week’s is ‘Chevs285’ who commented on Dan’s ‘IWP Option File Pack’ post (Comment 92 if you’re interested). It reminded me of a MasterCard advert, which could read something like this;
Xbox 360 - £159.98
Pes 2009 - £27.00
Entry into the tournament against your mates - £5
Shipping the girlfriend off for the entire evening? Priceless.
The Big Question
A simple yes or no question this week. Do you think that Konami have done well with Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, especially with expectations mounting every year?
As always you can email me at francis_newall@hotmail.co.uk and comments on your preferences to what I talk about, whether you liked it, or just general comments on the article, are all very welcome.
Thanks,
-Francis
Posted by Dan Bolas in PES 2009 News on Fri 17 Oct 2008
By now, most people have picked up a copy of the game. I am not going to speak to much about it here, but one of the biggest requests I have had is regarding how to import music into the menu screens and over the post match highlights. Only having access to PES 2009 on Playstation 3, I am only able to give a step by step guide for this medium. If anyone has an accurate and proven step by step guide to the process on either X Box 360 or PC, please e-mail it to me on interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk and I will post it up on here.
In order to create your own play list, you will need some MP3s saved on your Playstation 3 system. If you have CD’s you can easily import these using the PS3, but if you want to use MP3 files from your PC, you will need a USB pen. Simply transfer the files onto the pen, then copy them across onto the PS3. You may have to click ‘display all’ if no files are being shown when you insert the USB pen.
Create yourself a play list on the PS3’s music section. Call the play list KONAMI_PES making sure there are no spaces at the end of the title.
Import your selected tracks into the play list. You can add or take tracks away from the play list at any time, but when first creating, try and have at least 6 songs in the list. The only time people have had problems inserting music is when they have included a play list with minimal songs.
When happy with your play list, start up PES 2009 and go to the Gallery section on the menu. Then select play list editor.
Scroll across until you reach MP3, and then your list of tunes should be readily available for you to sample. To import them, simply press square, and then choose which menu screen you would like them to feature on. You can view the play lists for each menu screen by using the shoulder buttons.
Hope that helps.
Posted by Dan Bolas in PES 2009 News on Fri 17 Oct 2008
As promised, here is the Option File Help Pack available for download. The pack features up to date squads for all Premier League, Championship and League One teams, as well as team badges and strips for all English teams. There are also a few extras on there including some helpful links, stat converters and one or two extras.
If you are printing any information out, i recommend using the Adobe fil for the Premier League teams, as all the data is pretty much straight forward.
Please Note: This is NOT an option file for use with PES 2009. This pack simply gives you the information to aid you with editing your own copy of PES2009, or create your own option file.
The link is http://rapidshare.com/files/154730835/Option_File.rar.html
Enjoy Pro Evolution Soccer 2009
Posted by dougiedonut in PES 2009 News on Thu 16 Oct 2008
Gentleman, (and the few ladies that might play PES) I need not remind you all that we are counting down the final hours to getting the single most important footy title to date.
We are talking about a defining period for PES games here on. The last year has been tough, as we have vented frustration on Konami, PES and probably even loved ones because of the disappointments suffered.
As we prepare to take on the latest installment of the beautiful game, please let me remind you all of how our love for PES has evolved over the years.
I don’t intend on naming all the previous reincarnations of the game, but merely to remind us all that over the years PES has year upon year delighted us. Every year we used to say this is the best PES ever, and somehow it always built on the previous version that we loved. And so we saw steady progress in the game, whilst somewhere in the shadows, year upon year FIFA laid out superficial games which we always felt was unworthy of our attention. PES was always the connoisseur’s choice.
But we have now reached a point where it appears that both PES and FIFA titles have reached a landmark era. PES, once unchallenged, unrivalled in gameplay, stands in the dock awaiting judgement from us. Whereas FIFA, from which little in the way of genuine competition was ever really expected, is now turning heads.
Many people out there have felt bitterly let down by Konami, and the daggers are definitely out for them. Will this PES live up to our expectations and set a marker for future games?
Will we once again say with conviction that PES is the only game worth considering for a proper footy session?
I think that Konami are now running out of steam with the franchise, and are in need of a change in philosophy towards the game. PES has long been the people’s game, but it is sadly in danger of losing touch with the people.
I will be making it a personal crusade to launch a new Pesgaming.com + Konami initiative aimed at giving them quality feedback not only on PES2009, but on where we, the fans, think the game should go from here. If Konami want to take on and beat EA, we are going to be key to that success.
Some of our regular site viewers will be aware of Dan’s attempts to deliver our collective gripes with PES2008 early this year, and how it fell on deaf ears. This time we will hopefully make a breakthrough in forging a tighter relationship with Konami to give them the sort of feedback that will make a difference to their game.
Konami can no longer afford to rest on its laurels.
On the eve of the release, I hope I haven’t sounded too pessismistic for the future of PES, but I want to prepare people for the worst. As one of my favourite sayings goes – plan for the worst, hope for the best.
Finally, if PES2009 doesn’t deliver what we’ve been waiting for, then ask not what PES can do for you, but what you can do for PES.
Thanks for reading
Dougiedonut.
Posted by Krishna in PES 2009 News on Sun 12 Oct 2008
You might be thinking what’s the point? No one cares about PS2 anymore, but there are some without a Next-Gen console so you have to feel for them.
It looks exactly the same as PES 2008 to me! The menu is new and that’s all I noticed. The video is from a demo version of the game. It looks pretty real to me but then again it could be a fake. Click here, for the video.
So, what do you guys think? Real, fake or just a poor effort by Konami?
Let us know what you think!
Important: We at PESGaming do not tolerate any type of abuse at all. If you have insulted someone, sworn at someone or racially abused someone in the comments, you will now have your IP banned and you will be unable to comment again.
Please treat everyone with respect.
Thank you!
Posted by francis in PES 2009 News on Sat 11 Oct 2008
Six Days ‘til the Prize
With the release of Pro Evolution Soccer ’09 in less than a week, and the demo having been out for almost ten days, we’re starting to see and hear more about the full game. This is a PES fan site where people from all around the world can talk to one another in the forums, read the PES news, and generally be friendly and polite to one another. One big issue recently has been that of racism which has no place on this site. Dougie’s great post a couple of weeks ago was very well received, and just to warn you, IP banning has begun. This eradicates the need for usernames and passwords, so please don’t come on this site and spout racist or homophobic slurs, because your IP will be banned straightaway with no second chances.
Preferences
The general consensus from last week’s article is that for Pro Evolution ’09 the gameplay speed seems good, the ball physics are a lot more realistic, but that the shooting is a lot more difficult. Some people saw this as a challenge - and liked it - and some people were of the opinion that it was far too difficult. Everyone can see that there are far less opportunities to score per match (especially compared to Pes ’08), and some noted that with the need to play a lot more possession football, a ten minute match simply wasn’t long enough. This is a view I agree with on first impression, and I think that when the game is released and I play it with friends, a fifteen minute match could become ‘the norm’! This is however, something I’ll have to comment on after a full fortnight of owning the full game.
The ‘Voldemort’ of Football games
I bought Fifa ’09 on the release date, played about thirty games online, and then simply stopped playing it. Out of respect for a Pro Evo rival, it is a good football simulation, but of those 30 games I played, I won 25 simply by holding a good back line and then (as Justin commented last week) just playing the ball forward to a quick striker for a one on one with the goalkeeper, then slotting it into the bottom corner. Is there anyone else who has bored of Fifa already? I’ll be selling mine on EBay (a move to surely anger the Fifa fanboys) to fund my purchase of Pro Evo ’09 on Friday!
The Big Question
This week’s Big Question was actually raised by ‘halfway’ last week in the comments section. He asked whether it is ‘perhaps up to the developer to balance realism against fun’. This echoes slightly my point a couple of months ago about the perfect football simulation. I asked whether the ‘perfect’ Pro Evolution game would simply be like watching a game of football on television, but with you controlling the players - this I mused, would be the perfect game simulation/graphics-wise, but would the fun be taken out of the game? With this year’s Pro Evo seemingly being the most realistic so far, I think the question of realism vs. fun must pop up sometime, and this is something I’ll address in a few weeks having had the chance to play the full game for a lengthy period of time. So; for you personally, is it preferable to have a completely realistic football simulation, or a really fun one? Or do those go hand in hand do you think?
Oh, by the way, this blog will be published on Saturdays and no longer on Fridays.
As always you can email me at francis_newall@hotmail.co.uk and comments on your preferences to what I talk about, whether you liked it, or just general comments on the article, are all very welcome.
Thanks,
-Francis
Posted by Krishna in PES 2009 News on Fri 10 Oct 2008
Here are some videos of PES 2009. Some are of gameplay you haven’t seen before and some are a few glitches from the game to make you giggle. One video is of skills and tricks you can do in the game. Thanks to everyone in the forums who posted these videos.
Click here, for the New Skills.
Click here, for Cristiano Ronaldo freekick bug.
Click here, for Pirlo penalty glitch.
Click here, for Tokyo Game Show gameplay.
Click here, for More Tokyo Game Show gameplay.
Updated:
Click here, for “The Chop Down Kick”. (Thanks Hamstr)
Click here, for Chelsea vs Man Utd over at VideoGamesZone. (Thanks sub85)
Click here, for a confused referee.
Click here, for a strange own goal.
If your going to buy PES 2009, rumour has it that Tesco will be selling it at £28.97, at all stores! How cheap is that!? Be sure to get to a store near you when the game is released. Or if your lazy and money is no object, pre-order it at Play.com or Game. HMV are selling the PS2 version at £17.99. But it is always best to search around for the best price (if you can be bothered).
IGN have reviewed PES 2009 and it scored a little less then PES 2008, check out the review for yourself, here.
If you have downloaded the demo on PS3, 360 or PC, have you come across any type of bug or glitch?
Let us know in the comments.
Posted by dougiedonut in PES 2009 News on Thu 09 Oct 2008
As we draw ever closer to the final push for Pes 2009, with the number of days left to launch in single digits (if I’ve done my maths correctly) we can expect the buzz factor to reach fever pitch.
At the risk of sounding like a party pooper, I’d like to discuss something which has been quietly niggling away at me: DLC - paid content.
FIFA’09 will feature that Adidas live update doo-daa to make player’s stats reflect their real counterpart’s performances in game for a fee. That is something which grates with me, but since I’m not getting FIFA, it shouldn’t bother me too much, but as a gamer it does because they’re testing the water.
Konami are planning a DLC drop in February with more than likely transfer updates from the January window. I don’t think its clear whether they intend on charging it.
But if they did charge for it, along with say some additional boot packs, a couple more stadiums thrown in for good measure even - how would you guys feel about it?
I have to say that I only want to be paying for my games in one single hit, and personally I detest these micro transactions for extra stuff. The cynic in me tells me that this “additional content” more than likely was withheld from the original game, to enable extra dosh to be squeezed out of us. Other publishers have managed to make extra money, so why shouldn’t EA and Konami get a slice of the action?
Well we purchase these games annually without fail (unless we have an unprecedented pile of crap that was PES2008 - sorry to those who loved it!!) and are practically a permanent market.
Why should we be punished for being so loyal to their products? We should be rewarded with extra content, not penalised for being staunch supporters.
Now this may be a storm in a tea cup, but I think its better to side with caution, and consider what our collective response will be to such actions from Konami, should they take place.
Am I alone in objecting to paid DLC, or would more of you guys out there welcome DLC that you had to fork out a few quid for? Personally I think after the mess of last year’s version, Konami owe us big time, and should be making it up to us big time!!
I can inform you guys now, that we are taking steps to establish a formal relationship with Konami. This should enable us to have a proper voice for PES fans out there. More details on this will be released in due course, but I thought I would let you guys know for now.
Thanks for reading
Dougiedonut
Posted by francis in PES 2009 News on Sun 05 Oct 2008
The Beautiful Game
I’d like to start with thanking everyone who left feedback on last week’s column about the implementation of technology into football. With most people agreeing that goal-line technology would be a good idea, most people also thought that using technology for incidents such as penalty appeals, offside calls and so on would slow down the pace of the game a little too much for their liking. I liked Masi’s idea of having the three calls in a game where each team would get three possible challenges of the referee or linesman’s decisions as in tennis. I think it could work, but what if some hot headed player took it upon himself to make all three calls in a match which subsequently were wasted, and then there was a clear penalty incident which the referee misses? Maybe the manager could be the one ‘calling the three’!
Excitement All Around
Now that the Pro Evolution Soccer ’09 demo is out, I’ll take Dan’s example and not comment until a couple of weeks after the full release. With Fifa being released on Friday, do people think that Konami have left it a little late with regard to releasing a) the Pro Evo ’09 demo, and indeed b) the full game? I’m only a lowly blog writer, and I’m sure Konami have done background research etc. as to when would be the best time to release it in relation to Fifa’s demo release and full game; but what do you guys (and girls!) think?
Money Talks
With the ‘never-out-of-the-news’ takeover of Manchester City by Abu Dhabi, I don’t think that big influxes of money into the game are such a bad thing. You’re always going to need a quality manager, and a team of great individual players who can gel as a unit and get what they need to do, done. This doesn’t mean that big money signings aren’t the way forward to winning a title; it’s just my opinion that the idea of spending as much as you like - on whoever you like - is ultimately not going to work unless you have a great manager and indeed a good attitude and morale from your players.
The Big Question(‘s)
The demo; your opinion. Do you like
a) the speed
b) the shooting?
c) and the ball physics?
Finally, my apologies for the column being a couple of days late, I’m having a big of a busy month but I still endeavour to get the column out on or as close to Fridays as I can!
As always you can email me at francis_newall@hotmail.co.uk and comments on your preferences to what I talk about, whether you liked it, or just general comments on the article, are all very welcome.
Thanks,
-Francis
