Basically are games too complex for games companies to test sufficiently to ensure there are no major bugs?  Before the current generation of games consoles, there was no real possibility of redressing major issues with gameplay once a game had been released.  There was no internet connectivity to automatically download a patch to resolve issues.  Games that were broken remained broken, and as a consequence, many games died very early after launch.  This put more emphasis on producers to ensure the games were tested properly, as they couldn’t afford major issues to occur.

Today we have a different arena.  We now see many major releases which suffer glitches/bugs/undesirable exploits which can ruin gameplay.  We need look no further than the juggernaut that is Modern Warfare 2 (MW2) as a perfect example.  Just how many patches have been released already which have had to fix fundamental issues which really should have been play tested properly during development?

What I’ve drawn from the present model of gaming, is that either games are too complex to just rely on inhouse testing, or inhouse testing just isn’t mature enough to cope with gaming today.

Software testing in industry now is pretty well established, and is a vital part of development.  But what state is software testing in the gaming industry in?  I don’t think games are too complex to test.  I firmly believe that testing in games companies needs to be taken seriously and to employ structured testing techniques to improve quality. 

I am going to ask Konami what their testing model is.  I believe that they currently may not have the required skills/personnel to adequately ensure the product quality is sufficient.  I would be doing them a disservice to openly accuse them of not testing properly, so will invite them to respond to my question.

I would also like to point out that it is unfair for us to judge Konami in isolation, when the industry norm may not be well developed.  But I will certainly try to find out just how they test games.

Given the nature of some of the fundamental issues we have witnessed and had to endure in PES2010 (like the shocking state of referees as a prime example) I think we have every right to question them about PES.  I for one will welcome more open days for not only the likes of us to playtest the game, but for open feedback sessions from general gamers to give the game a bash and tell them directly what they thought of the game in production at that stage. 

It could well be that they have a team of testers who are either too focussed on sub-areas of the game, or not appraising it holistically to ensure it doesn’t compromise it’s integrity.  But no point speculating on these questions  – we’ll try to find out the answers for you.

Something else which bugs me about all these games companies requiring us to download patches to fix their games – they are eating into a valuable commodity of ours called hard disk space!  Xbox 360 owners in particularly will understand this point, since they pay a premium for their hard disks, but no-one really complains about having to give up 50MB for an update to fix a game.  The sizes of patches for games do differ, but ultimately they eat up space.  I don’t mind space being eaten up for DLC – that’s what we’re paying for – but there are plenty of games for which I don’t want additional storage space taken.  I know we can just get larger disk drives, but that’s missing the point – why are we paying for fixes (in disk space) for issues which should have been eliminated during development?

I will be trying to push for open day test sessions for fans of the series with Konami.  Whether or not this will be possible, I can’t say, but I think it’s essential for the series to survive. 

One thing for sure with PES is that we deserve better.  It’s time for Konami to show us some PES love.

Thanks for reading.

Dougiedonut

(dougiedonut@pesgaming.com)

“It’s Not Getting Easier”

On a slight detour to start off this week, but has anyone else noticed the huge change in the ‘Fake Shot’ trick on PES this time around. In the past, the ‘old square – x’ would be a sure fire way of getting past a defender in PES, or rounding the GK on a one on one, with a ridiculously high success rate of around 2 out of 3. In PES 10, the trick is far less potent, and in a trial game, only worked on wrong footing a defender 1 out of 5 times.

Your views on this would be greatly appreciated. As far as tricks go on PES, the majority are more for show than genuinely affective ways of getting past a defender. The scissors step over looks brilliant, but doesn’t really commit an opponent. The spin is even more cosmetic, as most human players will just take the ball with ease. So the fake shot was a decent trick when attacking, especially in wide areas for cutting inside. However, it being too successful made beating players too easy, especially against lower level opposition. At the moment, do you feel Konami have struck the correct balance? Do you feel the trick needs to more effective, or even less effective? Leave your comments in the usual way, or via the regular e-mail address.

“Get Set”

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago about my admiration of EA Sports for their inclusion of a set piece editor, and how I would love to see it in future PES instalments. I have changed my mind slightly on this issue, and now believe it is crucial that Konami look at implementing such a feature in the franchise, as with little effort, it would offer a whole new way of playing the game.

There is a lot of emphasis on this site about working on the passing system of PES, and I am personally a strong advocate of the passing game. However, I have mentioned many times recently that only a handful of teams are actually good enough to play passing football on a regular basis, and that the majority of teams in the Premier League rely on set pieces, especially away from home, as a means of scoring goals. A prime example of this would be Aston Villa, who win a lot of free kicks in and around the box, then use Milner or Ashley Young to provide quality delivery for Dunne and Collins to attack.

This is a perfectly acceptable tactic, and one that with a set piece editor would be quite logical to play. At the moment, we rely on the AI to make the runs in the area, with our job being to put the ball into the right zone for scoring. This may mean one of the smaller players ends up at the near post looking for a flick on, or a winger ends up in a prime position for an attacking header. Not ideal, and definitely not realistic.

PES already uses a shoulder button/face button combination to relay pre determined tactics during open play (Counter Attack, CB Overlap etc.) so when the ball is dead, there should be an option to call on four free kick or four corner plays to try and create yourself some space. It would still rely on your own ability to deliver the ball into the right area, but now you know if you get it right, you will have the best possible player meeting the chance. No more bullet headers for Nani whilst Vidic stands on the edge of the area bemused! Implementation would be pretty simple, with the player having a training field with 11 players on and the option to switch to a top down 2D view or real camera 3D view. Players could be dragged into a position from which they start the move and then given arrows where to run to. Each arrow would be numbered, and then that is the order they move. So for example, Terry is number 1, Alex and Drogba number 2. Terry would make his run first and then when he stops Alex and Drogba would make their run together. You can choose at any point during the routine to take the kick, meaning some players will get a running jump whereas others may not have started their run yet.

To counter this, especially when playing against Human opponents, their would be an option on the style of defending from set pieces. You could choose specifically to go zonal or man to man, and even select which player each is marking. I am aware that you can do this in open play at the moment on PES, but it is a feature missing from set pieces, something which is a weekly occurrence in real football.

Of course, the delivery is the key, and if Konami get it wrong, it could mess PES right up. But with a demand for Konami to include a variety of playing styles and different ways of approaching the game, surely it is a risk worth taking?

“It’s Been A Long Time Coming”

The first batch of IWP League invitations are out. Out of the first 30 contestants, I have received 16 confirmations, and four declinations. This means that the second batch will be going out this weekend. If you have received an invite to take part in this year’s competition, please e-mail me your response as soon as possible. I understand that some people do not check their e-mails daily, but failure to respond by Saturday 13th March will make your invitation invalid and your place will be offered to someone else. The friendly phase will begin the first week in April, with a mid-April start pencilled in for the final league.

“Shameless Plug”

I am a PES fan. That is no huge surprise at all, as for the past 30 months, I have been working for this site as a columnist. However, I do love football gaming in general. I play many hours of Football Manager on a yearly basis, and also love playing the retro titles of yesteryear, mainly to appreciate just how far the franchises have come in what is a relatively short time.
I am currently involved as Senior Editor of Soccer Gaming, the world’s original and longest running football gaming website. I am using this opportunity to draw the attention of the PESGaming.com community to the site, which features news about all football gaming along with friendly discussion, banter and chat from the world of ‘real football’. It also has comprehensive forums and a downloads section, which feature a great deal of modifications for the PC version of PES 2010.

The site, www.soccergaming.com is currently looking for a Senior PES journalist, who will be in charge of reporting all of the latest PES news. As part of your role, you will receive the latest PES news as soon as it goes on general release, and have access to the latest videos and screenshots when they become available. There are also opportunities to write columns and articles, similar to IWP should you wish to try your hand at what I do! For more information, please check the site out and click the link ‘Jobs’. As I promised, shameless plug!

“Whoa, We’re Half Way There”

Finally this week, the crux of the column and it’s the opportunity for you guys to be a bit creative. In the past, we have taken the views of what PES 2011 needs to be very seriously, and rightfully so. We all crave a more advanced AI, we all want a better set of animations and greater difficulty settings and we all now expect a vastly superior online mode. All of these issues have been discussed on the board, and will be formulated into sensible points for Konami to examine quickly and with ease.

However, PES was always the game that went the extra mile. It was the first game to include coloured football boots and the first to offer varying hairstyles for it’s players. It has always been the ‘little things’ that made Pro Evolution Soccer the franchise that it is today. So my question to you is what minor detail, no matter how trivial, would you love to see in PES?

As I have said, the major issues will not be ignored, and they will take priority in all correspondence with Konami, but with them excluded, what features do you want to see. I have petitions for 7 a side or 5 a side football for a long time now, and I would also love to see the ability to adjust manager appearances, especially as the generic ones are so far off the mark its untrue! But this is genuinely fantasy land. Anything that is both applicable and viable can be included, from Female players to the ability to rename the Master League players to even create teams of under 15s for youth matches. Playground football, floater or sponge balls or the ability to actually referee the game yourself, it’s totally up to you to pick your football game fantasy and put it out there.

You can either e-mail them too me directly or alternatively open yourself to the ridicule of the community and post them as a comment.

That’s your lot for this week. A fair bit to chew your way through there. The e-mail address is interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk. Feel free to get in touch direct, as I do try to respond to each mail whenever possible. Please keep checking your e-mail inbox for IWP League invitations. Anyone who has played in previous leagues but had not received one needs to get in contact with me ASAP if they wish to take part.

Thanks for Reading

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/debut-trailer-pure-futbol/62631

Whilst there isn’t too much detail of actual gameplay there, it is at the very least confirmation that they are entering the arena.

They are differentiating themselves by concentrating on a 5 a side game – hopefully nothing like the FIFA Street brand of joke football though!  I’m sure we’ll get more details being released on it shortly, but we have another another player in the market.

This is a good strategic effort from Ubisoft, which should allow them to make their mark in the footballing arena, and if the response to the game is positive, then we can expect them to branch out to developing a full on series over the coming years.

What will be interesting is the impact the game will have on both FIFA and PES.  It could be argued that the weaker position PES finds itself in would mean it is in more danger of being ousted from the genre, but I think this just presents more challenges for Konami to raise their game more.  This new game could be a breath of fresh air to the genre, if we see the implementation of a more fluid, open control system which doesn’t try to mimic current models of football gaming. 

So now that we know there will be a new game coming out shortly, how many people are interested in it, just by virtue of knowing there’s a football game coming out that isn’t made by Konami or EA?

I have to say I’m slightly dissappointed this isn’t an old school overhead game being released by Ubisoft.  I seriously think that there is a market for someone to create a footy game that concentrates on gameplay and advanced controls over looking good.   We have too many games these days that are just style over substance.  You need only look at any movie tie-in to see that they can make very good looking games, but they are complete pants to play.  People equate decent games with graphically pleasing games.

I’d happily play with players that looked like spuds with straw legs, but who could play football with proper control and freedom of movement, passing and shooting any day of the week.  But that’s just wishful thinking on my part.  I guess more people expect superb realistic graphics as well as gameplay these days – which isn’t a bad thing, unless the actual gameplay is compromised.

Thanks for reading.

Dougiedonut

(dougiedonut@pesgaming.com)

“Simply The Best”

I think it’s fair to say that for me, there is only one way to play Master League, and that is with the original ‘Master League’ Players. This year, Konami have definitely opted for a more realistic experience, using real divisions and real currency to make the game feel, well more life like. However, to me Master League has always been taking a team of nobody’s and turning them into a footballing master class, wheeling and dealing on the way.

This first question I ask today is therefore quite simply, how do you play your Master League? Do you take control of your favourite team with its proper players and act as real manager would? Do you take the helm of a foreign club that you have little or no knowledge of, and take them from there? (Shout out to Dave O and Wolves for that one) Or do you like me take charge of a random team and put the Jaric and Valeny boys in, and build up from scratch? Playing on Top Player, I know which one is the more taxing game mode, and the bigger challenge, but personally, I wouldn’t have it any other way!

“Bright Eyes”

As mentioned, dedicating this as somewhat of a Master League special, and having spent the best part of 8 hours on Master League over the weekend, I have come to notice the plethora of new features the mode has to offer. In some cases, these are vast improvements, other the jury is very much out and finally, there are some features that simply need to be dropped and never looked at again. I will deal with each in turn.

Firstly, the positives, of which there are a fair few. The first being currency, and knowing that this was a huge issue for some gamers; I feel it has been implemented into the game perfectly. Values may seem low at first, but realism dictates you will still pay a great deal more than the ‘market value’ for a player, a figure which is grossly underestimated. However, a concern of mine was that the monetary values would take away from the mode, something I am pleased to say has not occurred! Another excellent addition is the injury system. Whilst there are still no specific injuries, players are now picking up knocks during training and more importantly missing realistic periods of time for these knocks. I have had quite a few 1-3 week length injuries, which are common in the footballing world and I can fully tolerate. The bonus of being able to choose specific aspects for improvement in training also adds value to the game mode. Now buying players can be seen as more as an investment to sell them on than to just look for huge stars straight away, and this feature adds to that. Whilst these are only small issues, they make the game run very smoothly, and are actually very welcomed to the Master League experience, which was already very strong.

Next to the issues which I am still not sure about. I don’t know how exactly to feel about the staffing issues, as I am still in the early stages, but I feel that especially in the transfer market, you backroom staff have far to much say in dealings. The option should be there to leave negotiating transfers to staff, but there should still be an option to let the terms be negotiated quickly by yourself, at the risk of getting a weaker deal. I know that real manages don’t deal in transfer fees themselves, but the Master League is more about running your club than just tactics, and I feel this is important to keep control of. The condition arrows still continue to do my head in too. With the new random injury factor, these arrows are beginning to lose meaning, and the fact they affect players performance in such a way is both unrealistic and improbable. Foque scored a brace for me one week, and come to the next match his arrow was purple! If these arrows are to dictate form, they need to be realistic towards the player’s previous performances. The other feature I missed was the random leagues. I know there is the option to make up leagues yourself; however, these are named La Liga and Seria A, which makes using Arsenal or Chelsea in there seem a bit of a joke. All leagues should be re-nameable, just to allow for those who want to have fantasy leagues to do so.

Finally the negatives, the things that need to be changed. Probably the biggest disappointment for me is the decision to lose stat tracking for your squad, and see how many goals, assists etc. your team has managed over the season. Maybe I have missed this mode and urge people to pick me up on it, however I have been unable to find it by my own devises. Master League should be looking to involve stats more, not less and this is a real kick in the teeth. The other real negative I have found is actually the way the opposition play in Master League. It has taken a few hundred words to even speak about game play, because as a whole the issues about it echo the sentiments of my words in previous articles. However, in major Master League games, the opposition don’t seem to want to win games, and stick 10 players in their own half just passing the ball, even when losing or at home. This may be realistic for one or two teams, but not the case for nearly every match. It is different when playing friendly games of even in a League or Cup, as the other teams want to win, but it has been really noticeable that sides set up for a draw and don’t care if they are home or away or the importance of the match.

Master League is currently my video gaming life, and has put Heavy Rain and Uncharted 2 back on the shelf. That statement in itself holds a great deal of weight, but I am hoping that the improvements to come in future years make the mode even better, and the above issues support some of my findings early on.

“It’s Up To You”

Which leads me almost seamlessly to what you guys think! Master League has always been, in my opinion, the people’s game mode. There are very few modes in video games that cause so many great pub based / common room conversations as those from Master League experiences. But really, it can still improve. Would you like the ability to switch teams or even manage national teams during you Master League campaign? Would you like to see an online Master League occur in the future, in a similar way to Football Manager Live? Do you feel the mode is good enough but presentation needs an overhaul?

This is your point to say you loves or pet peeves over Master League. I appreciate the minority may not play the mode, but for the thousands that do, let us know exactly what you like and what you hate, and the most common points will be passed onto Konami. E-mail me on the address below or alternatively just leave a comment.

“Then I Turned On The TV”

I haven’t ‘completely’ forgotten about my cry for PC gamers a few weeks back. I have recently come into contact with some individuals running the mod sites, patches for PES 2010 that make the game look stupidly awesome. The patches include everything from new stadiums to ad boards, kits faces and boots. By a show of opinion, I was wondering how many PES PC gamers edit their game, and is there a demand for this kind of information to be made regularly available on PESGaming.com. If so, I will use my sources to good effect and keep you guys updated. If not, I don’t wish to detract away from the PES 2011 news and updates. Get in touch in the usual way.

That’s your lot for this week. If you don’t like Master League, it’s fair to say this week’s IWP wasn’t for you! However it is a topic I have held back on for a few months now with a view to speak about it after giving the mode some real game time. If you have any comments about anything read on here, interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk is the place you can send them direct, or you can be public and post them by clicking below. I have had to ban one individual and delete all content from another over the past 7 days, so keep it clean and on topic!

Thanks for Reading

Q1: “How can you sit in your chair and say PES2010 is the best installment of PES and then openly admit that it doesnt even hold the mantle of being the best football game on the market.” From BarcaFC

Thank you for your comments BarcaFC, but just because this is the best incarnation of PES to date, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the very best a football game can be.  PES is getting back on track after a couple of very wayward years.  But in my opinion it still requires a major rethink in direction.  There are so many different concepts of footballing which neither PES or FIFA address which I will discuss further later, but many of you will understand what I mean already.

I totally agree with you that Seabass said that they had tons of ideas which the PS2 architecture just couldn’t cope with.  And yes, we’ve still yet to see anything truly groundbreaking from PES, which really uses the computing power available on today’s consoles. 

FIFA hasn’t changed much in the last few years – FIFA 09 was the defining version, and from now on I fear there will only be tweaks to their concept of football, rather than truly advancing future versions. PES has had it’s period of stagnation, but I truly believe and hope that Konami have turned a corner.  I don’t want to bore people with repeating myself, but PES2011 is going to be the true make or break year for many of us hardcore PES fans.

Personally speaking, I’d go so far as to say that should PES2011 be a minor update to the current version, I will give up on current gen football games altogether.  I don’t like the FIFA school of football games, and unless they improve many things in the game, then that’s never going to change.  This may just help me finish many games that I traditionally never complete due to PES!

Q2: “How can you seriously say that fifa10 is boring and predictable and hasnt moved the genre on when its clear to most football purists and the hardcore that it clearly has both in gameplay and cosmetic terms” From Dopecoil

Firstly apologies for nearly causing you to choke!  I hear what you’re saying about FIFA being a decent game, but I argue they’ve merely beaten PES to becoming what we expected of PES!  But I strongly beleive that PES should have been streets ahead in terms of gameplay today, than it currently is.  So FIFA should have been the inferior product by virtue of PES’ progress.  There’s just so much wrong with FIFA for me, that I can’t get into it.

Sorry but the player animations, the same bog standard cut scenes, the lazy high def cut scenes to glamourise the game all stink of corporate crap!  It’s formulaic football.  I can’t find spontaniety in it’s play.  Goal variety doesn’t happen for me.  PES gives me variety, a wide range of goals, unpredictability and goals that have me getting up out of my seat at times – particularly the late, late equalisers or winners.  This is of course my take on FIFA, I’m sure others will express whether they can relate to my opionons.

Q3: “What are you going to dream up next how cod4 is more story driven and less linear then bioshock.Wake up and smell the coffee bud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” From juventus

I hear what you’re saying about Seabass apparently being impressed with the FIFA game engine, but if you re-read my article from last week, you’ll notice that I’ve actually said that both EA and Konami haven’t really taken the genre to the next level.  I hope Seabass isn’t going to try to just mirror FIFA and think that will suffice for the PES masses.

If FIFA is the future, then I’ll be taking up knitting!

OK, question time over. 

This week I was going to ask a simple question of you guys.  Who would welcome the entry of a third football title to compete against the big two?  There have been unsubstantiated rumours for a while now that Ubisoft are planning to enter the genre.  Whether or not they do, who would want a third game?  Would you want a game which attempted to do what both PES and FIFA are doing with their football concept, or would you want a different kind of football game?

Personally, right now I think the genre needs some serious reinvigorating.  Some of you may laugh, but right now, I would back a game which was a cross between Dino Dini’s Soccer mechanics with Sensible World of Soccer’s depth.  I think many of us would rather have a game that had game play variety with instant response to player movements/dribbling and shooting.  I don’t care about the graphics and having players that are the spitting image of their real counter parts.  Playing an overhead football game again would make player likenesses easier to deal with, as they’d just need accurate hairstyles!  As much as we have enjoyed the graphical upgrade to PES, it’s not essential, and certainly not something which is important to us. 

An overhead game which allowed you to zoom in/out to your preference, and had ball physics which had the ball behaving like a real entity, and players battling to control the ball and play the game is what I think would really do right now for me.   

Now before I get asked what the hell I’m doing on a PES site if I’m saying I’d rather play a Kick off like game, than PES – I’d like to point out that this is a “what if” scenario.  Having another game which just tried to do what PES and FIFA do right now would be pointless.  But a game that went in a different direction and concentrated on realism and fun would be the way to go. 

I hope I don’t come across as someone losing faith in PES either.  I really do hope that the next version answers it’s critics big time.  But how likely that is, is the big question.  Noises so far from Konami have been positive, but then we’ve been there before.  There is a lot of pressure on them to perform this time round, and we’re only a couple of months away from seeing the first glimpses of the next version. 

So for now, I’ll keep my knitting needles safely locked away.

By the way, before I go, I’d just like to say that I’ve just had an impromptu online session with wayneos on my www.pesgaming.com community on PES, and the games played were fantastic.  Wayneos lost his connection for some reason part way through our first game – something he assured me has never happened before.  But after that we had around 4 games of uninterrupted, highly responsive online games.  No button lag to be seen.

I’m not sure if the latest update had anything to do with it, or whether the online game is just better generally.

If you haven’t played online recently, then I’d urge you to try it again now, and see if it’s improved at all.

You may also want to sign up to the www.pesgaming.com community online, and perhaps take me on.

Thanks for reading.

Dougiedonut

(dougiedonut@pesgaming.com)

“You’re Big In Japan”

My first point this week is actually thanks to PESGaming.com’s contact with Konami. I have said from day one that we are still very much an independent fan site (something which I hope my next topic will validate) but we do have people from Konami who we are in regular contact with. However, there will still be people who will read that first sentence and claim we have sold out or don’t care about the game anymore. That’s fine, but those people can stop reading right now, because obviously I am a liar!

Still with me, ok, good. Following a fair few e-mails from various communities members, I have been in touch with Konami about getting a copy of Winning Eleven 2010, the Japanese version of Pro Evolution Soccer. The word was that the game was superior to PES in a number of ways, and was a better product. Having heard this, I found myself angry that Konami were treating the EU gamers with contempt and releasing a weaker product in the West. Konami responded, and a couple of days later I was holding a copy of WE2010, complete with Japanese instruction manual and unreadable case!

May I go on record saying, that during the several hours I have spent with the title, there have been no major noticeable differences at all. The game feels near enough identical to Pro Evolution Soccer 2010, with maybe a slightly different animation or two. The only one of these I noticed was one when a player was reaching out for the ball when dribbling to change direction. This animation seemed slightly more fluid. The other difference was the inclusion of the Superstar difficulty, a feature which MUST be included in the next instalment of PES.

On Superstar difficulty opponents defend realistically, goalkeepers react much better to certain types of shots and attacking players try different ways of getting in behind your defence. I have never seen the AI use the long ball tactic as much in PES as I have in one game of WE, especially when losing the game. The defenders still do silly things (head the ball back into their own penalty box) and there is still no blatant penalties being awarded, but at least the game is challenging to a veteran player, something which is slightly lacking in PES 2010.

Of course, people are fully entitled to their opinion, and if having spent a lot of time with PES, you buy Winning Eleven and prefer it, all the more power to you. In my opinion, I am quite good at noticing when something isn’t there, and I don’t see much difference at all between the two games. If you can get your hands on a loaner copy, or have money to burn, it is worth trying Winning Eleven simply for Superstar difficulty, but other than that, the core game play, graphics and AI is the same. A huge note to Konami, and the one that I will include following playing WE is that Superstar difficulty has to be included on future PES and a minimum, and maybe even one more level above too!

“We Are Broken”

For those of you that are unaware, the latest downloadable content was made available by Konami last week. You way wonder why it wasn’t reported on PESGaming.com’s main page, but the simple reason is, it’s a complete waste of time. Most people will have done more transfers themselves in the January window than Konami managed with an actual development team, and the new pair of boots is quite simply embarrassing. The whole update reeks of laziness and quite frankly incompetence on the developers part, and it would have been better not doing an update at all that offering what they have done so far.

Tottenham were active in the January window, with players like Robbie Keane, Kaboul and Hutton all moving around. None of these transfers have occurred on the update, and if you made these changes yourself, the update moves the players back to their old clubs! Konami even put upon downloading the update the warning that ‘not all transfers are up to date’. That is ridiculous. It is like buying the box set of a DVD and when you get to the counter, the cashier saying ‘there are some scenes missing on this DVD’.

Now I am a realist. I know that boot manufacturers are holding off releasing their new lines, as the World Cup is only a few months away and they have the best PR opportunities available during this time. That’s perfectly acceptable and whilst the one pair of boots from Konami isn’t great, at least they have offered something. I also understand the DLC is free, so it’s not like we have had to pay for it. But these are not excuses for incompetence. If you have not downloaded the content yet, and don’t play PES online, I strongly suggest you boycott the download until Konami ‘pull their finger out’ and provide an update worthy of your time. Personally, updated Champion’s League squads and even new licensed teams would go along way to appeasing my frustration about this recent offering, but as I said, I am a realist, so all up to date transfers is a start.

“Must Be Something In The Atmosphere”

Does anyone notice anything different about any of the stadiums in PES when you take away the graphical appearance? I know this is something I have discussed before, and will do in greater detail another time, but to me pitch sizes are all the same, ground textures are all the same and even crowd noises are all the same. The variation occurs by the teams playing not by where the game is taking place.

Playing Ashes 2009, you know when the game is taking place in India by the atmosphere, the weather, the pitch, the outfield and the fans. You play on a different golf course in Tiger Woods, you feel the difference in the way the ball moves and rolls. You go to Wimbledon on Virtua Tennis; it feels a heck of a lot different from New York. So why are football games so backwards? Looking at the San Siro, it’s a completely different prospect to a half full Reebok Stadium. Going to Moscow or Zenit is a much colder experience than travelling to Brazil or Spain, yet on PES, they could all be the same thing! Your comments on this are greatly appreciated.

“It’s All About The Game”

I was going to hold off writing this final piece until next week; however I believe Double D’s column has lead onto it nicely. I have spent a lot of time over the last few weeks with FIFA 10, hoping and trying to understand where all these people were coming from. I have more years of gaming experience than I care to remember. I was the kind of person who would sit for hours in front of the text screens of Championship Manager 93/94. I was the one who would wait 20 minutes for the cassette to load on my spectrum to play just one game of Emlyn Hughes Soccer. I love my football games with a passion, irrelevant of who develops them, and what format they are played upon.

Last year, I wrote a review saying that I believe FIFA 09 was the best the franchise had ever produced and I thoroughly enjoyed certain aspects of the game. It had improved immeasurably over the past few years, and that is was simply a matter of opinion as to whether or not you preferred it to PES, which had improved, but by no means at the same rate. So, along comes FIFA 10, and for the first time, I actually looked forward to a FIFA game. Gone were the buzz words of the PR campaigns and new features that you knew would be on the scrap heap the following year. ‘Let’s FIFA 10’ Simple, to the point, and watching the PR videos, I was optimistic. Do not get me wrong, if FIFA 10 was my preferred video game, which is the one I would be playing, not PES. I have said before, I am not going to waste my free time doing something I don’t enjoy just to be stubborn. It really isn’t my style.

There are certain features on FIFA 10 I love. The set piece editor is something that makes a huge difference as it adds a completely new dimension to the game play, especially when playing against your mates. Now, you know that if you get a corner or a free kick, you have a specific plan from scoring, and will be able to outsmart your opponent. Get good at doing this, and you can build an entire game plan on being a side like Villa, sitting back, counter attacking and knowing that from set pieces, you are going to get your chances. I am more than willing to say I wish the feature was in PES, and it is a feature that Konami need to copy from EA Sports.

I also am a huge fan of the way FIFA has developed its online modes, in particular its Be A Pro mode. Personally, I feel that EA Sports, Konami or a third party need to dedicate an entire gaming franchise just to this one player on the pitch experience to truly get the best out of it, but for the time being I find FIFA’s offering to be much more advanced than the one featured on PES, which still feels far to arcade like.

But onto the pitch, and this is where my view remains the same. I feel FIFA 10 and FIFA 09 are all too similar. Yes the introduction of 360 movement adds something, but for me, I find FIFA to be monotonous and at times, a little boring. I have turned a number of games off half way through for the simple fact I wasn’t enjoying playing them, and these were games I was winning! I find the way the AI attacks unrealistic and bland, and find myself playing the same way with every team.

Of course, these same criticisms can be thrown out into PES as well, but the difference is for me, I enjoy playing PES. My opinion of FIFA is that it is still not as enjoyable to play as PES, either short term or long term, and this can not be confused or mistaken as fact. A fact would be that FIFA has improved over the past few years, due to its new features and game play. A fact would be that FIFA outsells PES. But my feelings and opinions make me find PES a more enjoyable, playable and even realistic football gaming experience. I believe that in PES, I can choose whether to place the shot, chip the shot or go for power, using the shoulder buttons. I can chose which foot my player strikes the ball with depending on my angle of approach and on the % success rate based upon my positioning in relation to the goal and space/time I have. I personally find FIFA’s shooting bland and unrealistic, and find the % of chip shots on one v one opportunities rivals the homing missile on the great Worms 2!

I fully respect everyone’s opinions, whether they differ from my own as some people’s do, or are pretty much the same. As I said, I am not playing blind, I have spent a fair amount of time with FIFA and find it a good game with some nice features, many of which were available in FIFA 09. I don’t believe myself to be a fan boy because I will only play PES as long as I feel it offers me the best football gaming experience. I welcome people discussing all aspects of football gaming on this website. I know Double D’s opinions may differ too, but at the end of the day, football gaming choice is totally down to the individual, and you can’t really argue to change that, it’s not something you or they can be write or wrong in.

That’s your lot this week. Quite a bit to read and digest there and I expect to be writing a follow up to the FIFA section next week, regarding a variety of views. interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk is the place to direct your e-mail to. I am always up for a little one on one discussion about topics on that e-mail address via MSN Messenger too. As I mentioned last week, I am still looking for contributors for a new project, in particular PES fans, so if that is something that might interest you, make sure you drop me and e-mail on the above address.

Thanks for Reading

I’d like to start this week’s column off by having a go at both EA and Konami.  I think both Konami and EA are guilty of not advancing football games fundamentally beyond the PS2 architectural era.

FIFA2010 plays ok, but is very predictable, boring and fundamentally is a superficial game.  Yes it has better individual player movement and passing control, but I argue it’s very similar to PES in how it plays the game.  They’ve both not advanced sufficiently given we’re very comfortably into the current generation of consoles.  FIFA I think are resting on their laurels and it would seem like they think they’ve not only hit on the right formula for a football game, but given Konami’s inability to stand up squarely to them, I think FIFA feel they’ve achieved their goal of becoming the number one football title.  Now that they are number one, I can’t see them progressing the genre much more than they already have.  Perhaps they’ll tweak the animations, improve some aspects of control, and heaven forbid they ever work out ball physics. 

The list of features that they listed for the World Cup edition of the game due out shortly was for me, real evidence of where they will be looking to just add joke features to the franchise.  Adding features such as the hats fans wear in stadiums, throwing of paper onto the pitch, and it remaining there for the game, as well as a whole list of other ambience related additions just stinks of milking the formula further.  I can’t see FIFA2011 being much of a jump from FIFA2010 which was a marginal jump from 2009.  Perhaps they’ll add off the pitch crowd trouble, or streakers for good measure.

In the meantime, we have an ideal opportunity for Konami to make the comebacks of comebacks on to the scene.  I recall some comments recently from some EA goon referring to Konami as a small company challenging their superiority.  It had the hallmark of that charming man Peter Kenyon all over it.  If ever there was a time for the pheonix to rise from the ashes, this is it.  EA not only are celebrating their success, they feel they are invincible, and have dismissed Konami as some old has-been. 

There have been some noises made about a Famicom interview that Seabass gave which hinted at some serious overhaul of the game for this year.  Now the cynical amongst us, and I have to say even I am beginning to join them, will be thinking we’ve heard this line over and over from Seabass for a few years now, and will not pay much attention to this.

If the fact that PES2010 was very poorly recieved in Europe, has truly hit home with Konami, then there is real hope that we will see more than mere cosmetic changes for PES2011, as nothing else will do. 

Konami are now guilty until proven innocent in many people’s eyes.  They’ve got a real battle on their hands, and nothing less than a mammoth effort on their part will suffice for many of us.

Don’t get me wrong, I have been working with Konami throughout last year, and will hopefully continue to do so this year, but I have to say we didn’t see as big a leap in the game last year as we would have hoped.  Will we again see a small set of minor updates to the game this year, or will there be a clean sweep of genre defining features for us to enjoy?

As we approach the next three months of development of the core game, we can only hope that they do incorporate more fundamental improvements into our beloved game.  Last year they did implement some of our ideas, but looking back, I’d say that most of the ideas implemented were around the periphery of the game, and not as much at the core of the game.

This year, they have already got plenty of feedback via not only their questionnaire, but also through the official forums they have on specialist PES sites to use.  They will of course also feature more periods of improvements using direct improvement from us again later, but hopefully that won’t be too little too late. 

For the record, I am personally very optimistic and excited in the build up to the first trials of the new version, and have faith in Konami to truly produce the real deal for us.  I am behind them, which is why I’m writing on this site, and causing/having arguments about the game.  But there is a niggling doubt in the back of my mind, that our ideas may be lost in translation.  Hoepfully this is just fear for the sake of fear, and that they really produce this time, because they’ve used up 99% of our goodwill to date, and this time we demand justice for PES.

Thanks for reading.

Dougiedonut

(dougiedonut@pesgaming.com)

“Just Enjoy The Show”

This may seem like an old topic, and one that has been discussed on many other sites, but when it comes to presentation in sports games, it is not Konami nor  even EA Sports that know how to put on a show, it’s the US franchise 2K Sports who are the definitive market leaders. Recently, I managed to pick up a copy of their yearly basketball franchise, NBA 2K10, having missed out on the previous two years. For those of you who haven’t tried it, I strongly urge you to either buy or rent a copy. Even if you don’t like Basketball, the design and presentation within the title is worthy of your appreciation.

From the starting menu, the fixtures are accurate to the day, meaning instead of playing random or meaningless friendly games, the matches you will be playing are the games that the real life teams will be playing over the next few days, This means all the in game stats such as league tables, player stats and scoring charts are bang up to date. It also means that when the game breaks for a time out or pause in play, the charts that pop up on the screen are real life accurate representations of the sport. LeBron James top scorer for the Cavaliers, no problem that’s there, you opponents keep on scoring three points, a quick check of the stats will tell you which players are the most dangerous from ‘down town’. Just like EA Sports Live Season, these stats are updated on a daily basis, but unlike FIFA, its all free and part of the package.

The in-game presentation is like watching a TV show. I know this is a claim that I made regarding NBA 2K7, but I must retract this after viewing what 2K10 has to offer. Whilst some of the graphics aren’t as good as they should be, the way the game uses replays and stadium atmosphere gives the true illusion you are playing a real game of Basketball. At the end of each quarter, the game puts together an accurate highlights package of the best dunks, shots and interceptions, and accurately follows each player. At the end of the game, you can select a player, and watch his personal highlights, be they rebounds, blocks or points being scored. Just imagine being able to do that with Wayne Rooney or Didier Drogba, something which Sky Sports and Match Of The Day both do. Also, the in game branding feels very natural too. Never mind tagged on adverts for ESPN or whatever is Konami’s flavour of the week, features such as the T-Mobile half time report, Sprite players to watch out for or the Gatorade stamina bars probably earn the franchise as much money as any Konami do, but also feel genuine and part of the game.

Of course, I understand the numerous differences between Basketball games and Football titles, and nor do I believe 2K Sports would be the right people to create a Football game. At a push, there are 50 teams, each fielding a squad of 15 players. These stats can be tripled and doubled respectively for a weak line up in a football game. This makes stat tracking much more difficult. Also, the NBA is limited to one licensed league, whereas PES currently has a mix of licensed and non-licensed teams spanning over 15 leagues. Take into account editing, and you suddenly begin to lose a way of keeping track. However, production values can not be taken for granted. The 2K Sports team have produced a franchise renowned for it without sacrificing realistic and addictive game play. This is the blue print for football gaming to follow within the presentation field, and I urge anyone to check out NBA 2K10, as it sets the bar for where I believe both PES and FIFA should be heading in the presentation stakes. Your views, especially those of people who play NBA 2K10, are greatly appreciated.

“Calling All Cars”

My next point is a personal one. I believe we have some very creative minds on this site, but more importantly than that, I feel we have open minds too. I know there are a group of people here who are die hard PES fans, whereas there are others who can see the gaming world objectively. I know we have FIFA fans who visit the site, and I am also aware that we have some people who would claim themselves to currently not be into football gaming due to the current selection available, I also know we have many fans of the Football Manager franchise, we have fans of Retro football games and I am also pretty sure we have a fair few flitted in between.

In spite of my strong PES roots, I have owned every instalment of FIFA football since its inception, and spent time with all the major franchises such as Sensible Soccer, Actua Soccer and This Is Football. I like to believe I know my football gaming. I am looking for a couple of good people who know their football gaming as well to take part in a new project I am currently working on. The roles are very much open, and I am looking for fans of all franchises, both past and present.

If this seems something that may interest you, please contact me on the usual e-mail address (posted at the bottom).

“It’s Not For Gaming”

I am constantly speaking to different people regarding football gaming at the moment, and I was just wondering a simple question. How many of you guys play your PES on the PC version of the game? Personally I used to own the PC version each year alongside the PS2 version, as it was an easy way of playing online, adding new teams and creating a more visually realistic experience. However, now I am a laptop user, I have stopped updating my PC making it borderline redundant for gaming (bar Football Manager). I just wondered, mainly by a show of posts, if there are many if any PC PES gamers out there. Make yourself know, either via e-mail or comments, as I have a few pieces of information regarding PES on the PC. However, I am not going to waste time on it if it’s falling on deaf ears.

“Was It Worth It After All?

Finally this week, I go back to an old gripe, trophies. For those of you new to the site, I am a huge fan of trophies/achievements. I feel they add an extra dimension to some games, and add lifespan to others. When done properly, and linked with unlockable content, they can make completing a game all the more rewarding. To earn a Platinum trophy (on ps3) requires a level of skill and commitment that takes it one step further than just completing the game and spending loads of time on it, something which I can testify to with my recent 100% completion of Assassins Creed 2. Other games require a huge commitment to the online portion, something which quite honestly I don’t have the time for, but understand the developers thinking when including these trophies.

For the first year of including trophies in PES and the fourth year of having achievements, I must say Konami have come up with the blandest and boring set of potential trophies. Very few of the trophies actually relate to your skill as a player, as they can be achieved on any difficulty setting, and what’s arguable even worse, most require simply playing the game for a set period of time. Dedicating so many trophies to the Master League and Become A Legend section does show that not only are Konami being slightly lazy with their trophy choices, they are not actually taking into account what’s going on with the football.

Looking at FIFA trophies, you have a range of options from editing to uploading to physically playing the game and scoring specific goals. Going even that one step further and back to NBA 2K10, there are player specific trophies. Score at least 29 points with LeBron, with 8 rebounds and 8 assists. Difficult to achieve but worth it when you earn it. Imagine a Xavi trophy for having at least 40 touches of the ball, setting up at least one goal and having a pass completion ratio of at least 80%. You have to complete this with Xavi playing for either Barcelona or Spain. Then you could have trophies for ‘lesser’ players, requiring gamers to be forced to use weaker teams in order to earn these trophies should they want them. It seems simple, yet I have a horrible feeling that Konami will once again cop out and offer a very poor selection of trophies.

I asked last year, but I will open it again. If you have a suggestion for a good trophy or achievement which is both fair and tricky, please leave it in the comments section below. If like me, you have a fair few ideas, e-mail them through to me, and I will try to compile a dream list of potential trophies and achievements. Of course, some may depend on a mode being in the game (enhanced training mode or scenario mode) but as we stand, think of ideas that would work on PES 2010. The more we get, the better the selection will be, and I hope to have a list to show you guys prior to sending it through to Konami.

That’s your lot this week. As promised, I diverted away slightly from the long lists of improvements, to give both myself and Double D opportunity to ensure we don’t miss anything. intereferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk is the place to direct your e-mails to, should you wish to speak to me direct. If you would like to be involved in this new project (and for that, I look towards those individuals responsible for the longer comments), please contact me via e-mal direct. Comments or e-mails are welcome for other subjects.

Thanks for Reading

I was particularly impressed with Amateur’s contributions this week as he talks about very salient points such as a CPU dictated scripts, manipulated off the ball movement, and the fundamental game not being different from the very early editions of the game.  It’s a very valid point, as the core mechanics of the game are over 15 years old, and they need to go.  It was a winning formula for a game 15 years ago, and over the years it was tweaked and refined, with the experience getting better and better for us.  Whereas now, I think it’s fair to say that most experience PES fans are tired of the formula, and want a footballing experience worthy of the current generation of consoles.

Whilst we were using older generation machines, we were aware of their limitations, and so our own ambitions for the game were somewhat curbed as a result.  Seabass himself used to say during the golden PS2 era that they had lots of ideas they wanted to implement which just weren’t possible back then, but I don’t think we’ve necessarily seen those ideas come to fruition over the last few years on the PS3 or 360 or PC. 

Perhaps we’ve seen the best of Konami’s vision of what football games should be like.  I know that when I first started playing the old ISS/Pro games many moons ago, the gameplay blew my socks off, compared to all other football games back then.  It was revolutionary, “realistic” and hell of a lot of fun.  So the formula back then was worked on, but the  fundamentals were kept in the game.

Now that we want to move away from this core mechanic, perhaps the idea of having a different model to base the game on is too revolutionary for Konami.  Which is kind of funny, since the game is know in Europe as Pro Evolution Soccer, and evolution seems to be the issue!

If Konami change the fundamental formula, and the game is say almost unrecognisable, and very difficult to get to grips with, then what?  What if it takes weeks/months to get to grips with how to control the game and play effectively?  Would people abandon Konami for making an unrecognisable game, or would we applaud Konami for having the balls to venture outside of their comfort zone, and embrace the new game – even if it meant having to wait another year for the control to be tweaked to be more accessible?

Another issue for them would be the casual versus core gamers.  Just how many casual gamers play PES, and how many core gamers play PES?  Are Konami at risk of alienating one demographic of gamers, if the game gets very different and harder to play?  Personally I think that it’s us core gamers that count, as we are the main reason why the game has been so successful, but perhaps it’s the casual gamers that number more.  Therefore they’d have to ensure it’s more accessible to them.

I’ve said many times in the past that casual gaming is ruining the gaming industry as a whole.  Games are getting shorter and easier generally and I hate that.  But the casual market is easy money for companies, so they will always be looked after now.  My gripe is that this seems to be coming at our expense.  Take the PES control system being simplified for tricks – it’s there to allow newbies to be able to pick up and play - totally bypassing the effort:reward ratio that core gamers understand and respect. 

I said last week that I think that I think that PES is on the verge of greatness to some ridicule.  Well I stand by my statement.  The reason for this is that last year we began presenting the fans’ views to Konami, and they are listening.  I would accept that our calls for changes will have had to impact their plans, and so require changes to how they worked on the game.  Since then I’m hoping that they’ve learned how important our demands for changes are, and will be working on what we want.  Yes this demands a leap of faith on my part, but I’m willing to go on another journey with Konami this year.  For me, ~I’ve seen enough evidence to suggest that changes will happen.

“It’s Better The Devil You Know”

To start off this week, I am going to play a little Devil’s Advocate. Personally, I play a lot of passing football on PES. I believe football should be played on the ground and when watching sides like Arsenal & Barcelona in the ‘real world’ I always try to emulate their styles on Pro Evolution Soccer. When I have my Master League, I always look to build a team of technically strong players with a good first touch as opposed to just pace players, as a way of ensuring my style can be emulated correctly on the pitch. A style like this (short passing game) requires a strong midfield who have the ability to dribble as well as pass the ball quickly and accurately. It also requires the ability to create space, and when the moment arises, pick the killer through ball or hit the perfect shot. By reading the comments from the regulars within the community, I can see gamers play a similar style to myself, and therefore they want to see the midfield as the issue worked upon in future PES.

Last week, I mentioned the defensive aspect of the game which I felt needed to be improved if not completely overhauled, and yet people still believe that the midfield is the issue. In my opinion PES allows for the option to play good passing football through the middle if you so wish. PES also allows for the option to play a single target man, and hit long balls all day long looking for flick downs. Playing as Paris St. German, my tactic of hitting Hoarau with the long ball to allow for a knock down to Guily has produced many goals, and is a fully acceptable way of playing the game. Playing as Sevilla, I tend to work the ball into wide areas, to allow for Jesus Navas and Adriano to get 1 on 1 with their full backs. I would class this style of direct play, followed by them delivering the ball into Luis Fabiano and Kanoute as a genuine tactic, and one that is just as valid as any other.

By spending time overworking the midfield passing game, the fear will be that all gamers, and in turn all teams will end up playing the game through the midfield, which as a reflection of real football, quite simply isn’t the case. By starting on the defence, it allows the variety of different tactical styles a base on which to build. Upon winning the ball back, you players would then react in accordance to your tactics, be that spreading wide and long quickly in order to set up a counter attack, or flood the centre of the pitch to allow for a ball out into feet. Until defending becomes a skill as opposed to merely a side note, the development of other aspects of PES can not improve.

At the moment, chasing the ball with every player still brings up too much success. If John Terry came charging out of defence to win the ball, and it was played back, he wouldn’t carry on going in real life. Yet, on PES, the risk of bringing Terry out isn’t great enough, and 7 times out of 10, simply charging around after the ball will ultimately see you regain possession before the attacking team gets into an area whereby they can hurt you. Knocking a ball into the abandoned space would be a realistic tactic, but one the AI refuses to use. This would all relate to a more difficult game and more challenging defensive system. Do you leave the space at the risk of being caught out?

Playing on Top Player (there you go Dave O!) I have conceded 26 goals in around 100 matches. This is playing against a variety of teams ranging from top sides to less popular clubs, whilst in the same token I have scored around 200. This alone implies defending is still too easy, and whilst we all are asking for a more threatening, attacking opposing AI, a more realistic and difficult defending system would provide a genuine challenge and improvement in the gaming experience.  

“It’s Genetic”

A very interesting point raised on the boards. At the time of writing my internet is actually disconnected, so I can not give credit by checking who said the exact quote, nor from which week it was from, but it ended up being something along the lines of “FIFA will always have Gameplay issues because of its genetic problem. The issues have plagued FIFA for years are still present in 2010, and will be in 2020.”

As I said, I can’t check the exact quote, but hopefully that gives you the idea of what is meant. Basically, FIFA, and indeed PES will always be burdened by the same issues. This takes it further to people who have been saying in the comments board for the past 18 months that PES is a dated game, and needs to be updated for the next generation. So my question is to you, what are these genetic disorders that make PES struggle nowadays?

The big two that seem to have come out are the animations and the AI. These are both things I can jump on board with. I mentioned the animations in my PES 2010 review being both dated and stale, and that Konami need to revamp all the old animations to keep up with some of the new ones that have been added. I personally love the Drogba heel flick that has been added to the game, but it looks very out of place with the before and after running movements. I will take a great deal of time to discuss animations in future weeks, and the AI is an issue that will be addressed at length too, but what, if any, other genetic issues are present in the current PES, that maybe were still giving you grief 5 years ago. Issues such as real player names have been since sorted out by Konami, and licensing, whilst still far from perfect, is getting better. The biggest genetic issues for me (other than the above) are the fact Konami constantly removes features, and that online is still not good enough. But I will leave the floor open to you guys, and we will hopefully look into it next week. 

“Headstrong, I’ll Take You On”

Anyone who gets the link between this topic and its heading can have a pat on the back from me! Finally this week, I am going to just introduce a brand new concept to the world of football gaming, and indeed sports gaming. With people discussing old features such as the old one two systems in various PES and ISS games (which for the record, I pretty much despised) I looked back at a couple of my first posts in the PES Gaming forum (around 2003). One issue I spoke about was the way the ball was controlled by players and the way indeed players trapped the ball.

I am sure we have all been there. Playing PES, and the ball bobbles off your striker just before your about to pull the trigger. Of course, you blame the animated Defoe or Rooney; it’s not your fault it’s totally theirs. And you’d be right. There is no way of determining how your player controls the ball, and it comes down to a combination of body positioning, technical attributes, ball physics and seemingly in some cases, blind luck. In general, the better players do seem to control the ball with more consistency than say a Wolves centre back, but the ironic issue is that controlling the ball is pretty much out the gamer’s control.

This can be taken a step further to passing. When playing a first time pass on PES, it feels like the ball has travelled two motions as opposed to one. In other words, when passing the ball first time, it seems that your player has controlled the ball and generated the power for a new pass with the same accuracy all in one touch, something that in real football is far from the case, especially when angling a pass over a 90 degree angle. It is far too common in PES to play a ball into a CM from your CB, and have him play a first time pass to your striker whilst facing away from him, and it arrives with accuracy and quality.

At first, this may seem like an issue of centre midfield play, but it affects all styles of play. Having control over a high ball could be the difference between a target man choosing to flick the ball on or bring it down on his chest. It could be the difference in having your centre half control the high ball or hoof it into touch. It could be the difference between crossing the ball first time and taking that touch to ensure a more accurate delivery

My suggestion would be to use R2 or the right trigger as a button for controlling the ball, thus making ball control a conscious decision the gamer has to make. It is unique as no other sporting game offers this. In basketball games, players catch the ball automatically, in Cricket simulations, the fielders pick the ball up by themselves. But especially in a football game, the moment you receive the ball is the difference, and having control over how your touch is should be paramount. Imagine, as the ball travels towards your player, you press the shoulder button. Dependant on your timing, the ball may stick to your feet or bounce straight off you. The better players will have a greater margin for error, whereas the weaker player you are, the more accurate your timing will have to be. This means you will still be able to control the ball with Jody Craddock, but it is more likely he will miss-control a ball than Deco. The longer you hold the button down, the further you may knock the ball out your feet. Providing you get the initial press right, this may mean you can beat a defender with your first touch, or cushion a ball up for a volley, dependant on the height you receive it.

This would also bring hand balls back into the game. Miss-timing controlling a high ball would result in it either bouncing off your player, or your player using a hand to get the ball down. Again, it means the error is in your control, and again, there is a genuine risk reward method or choosing to control the ball as opposed to just putting your foot through it, or heading it away.

Of course, this would rely on a great detail of implementation, and ultimately would require an ultra responsive gaming system, but at the same time, it is a mode that would redefine football video gaming, and offer an entire new dimension to the way everyone plays the game. It would mean that skill and technique would have to be practised, and that even playing with Barcelona would require practise to ensure you controlled the ball before you went on a mazy run.

This is an issue I have a great deal upon, and have researched to quite sad levels, so if anyone has any questions about it, please get in touch. What I will say is I know there are gamers out there, the ones who cry for changes, may hate this idea, but it is this kind of thinking that is going to revolutionise gaming by physically thinking about the way we play the game. I am not saying this is the answer but it’s a start!

That’s your lot for this week. Slightly longer than planned but sometimes it just writes itself. Thank you as always for getting in touch, comments are always welcomed. interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk is the place to direct any e-mail to and if you have read anything you feel you can contribute to on PESGaming.com this week, please do not hesitate to get involved.

Thanks for Reading

Yes Konami have had a hard time adjusting to the demands of gamers for the current generation of machines, but I truly believe we’re on the verge of greatness with the next installation of the game.  A while ago, I did say that in my estimation that PES would require two years to really deliver the total package to us.  So this next edition of the game should reach the heights of popularity that the game has been famed for.  Naturally I think we all are going to have a huge part to play in order to get the best out of the game.

I am yet to have a proper chat with Dan to organise our joint feedback initiative, including a new venture for us in communication with the masses – a chat room for us to get some banter going with fellow PES fans.  We are aiming to try out a few new things on PESGaming.com to try to evolve how we operate.  We think it would be a great idea to get a bit more interactive with people ahead of the key period later in the year when we are on the verge of the final release of the game.  We’re still a good 5 odd months away from getting invitations to get an early taste of the latest installment of the game, so we’d like to have a decent set of communications tools established for then.

I recall reading a comment to an article a couple of weeks ago from “old enough to know better” who made a very intriguing point about perhaps PES needs to stop trying to deliver a game with so many sub games.  It’s a very intriguing idea and it’s really made me think.  Currently we have League modes, Cup modes, BAL mode, Master League and of course the online game.

I wonder how many modes of the game are still relevant to most gamers today.  Do people play the standalone League modes?

Or the single player Cup modes?  I know people have had moans about having offline multiplayer participation where players can take control of CPU teams.  But the point is, could Konami shave off some features to help them spend more time on the core modes that interest us?

I think the online mode and Master League modes are the key modes of interest, as well as offline multiplayer modes.

But I haven’t mentioned the much missed training mode that used to be in the game, where you could hone your single player skills, as well as the now distant memory of the scenarios mode which provided hours of entertainment.  There are so many facets of the game which can start arguments about what is missing from the game, that perhaps we need to consider talking to Konami to prioritise the modes that matter.  I’d be interested in hearing from you guys which modes we think are no longer relevant and so could help to focus more attention on modes that do matter.

Finally I’d like to say a big thanks to everyone that has joined the PESGaming.com community on PES2010.  I have been very busy for the last couple of months and have neglected arranging sessions for the members.  I will however be shortly looking to arrange weekend sessions on the game.  So please do join up the community if you can, as we would like to use the mode properly and see what improvements we can come up with.

Thanks for reading.

Dougiedonut

(dougiedonut@pesgaming.com)

“Sometimes, I Feel, Your Not, Listening”

Some absolutely amazing posts over the past seven days, pretty much outlining everything I have been looking to discuss over the next few months. I don’t really tend to mention just how good some of the ideas are by people on this site, but there are some genuinely impressive and implement able ideas in there, it is just making sure that these are the ones Konami hear, amidst all the moaning, criticism and backwards thinking by people. However, I do believe there is one issue that is the real road block between us, as a community site, and directly influencing the majority of aspects of the PES franchise.

I am not an expect in Japanese business, but I believe that the culture in the Eastern business world tends to rely less on market research of Westerners, and more on their own personal whims, almost turning certain companies into inward thinking shells. What I basically mean by this, is that Japanese companies in general seem to not want to take on board advice from their fans, and no more is this the case than with Konami. The European representative from Konami is a genuinely good guy, and our contact has always been excellent with us, yet you feel that the powers that be, above his head sometimes don’t take these suggestions as seriously as they should do, which is ridiculous when you take into account some of the more popular ideas that have been implemented into the franchise have been spoken about on this site for years. Custom play lists, multiple chants, upload able images for edit mode, downloadable boot packs, transfer updates and even features such as Community Mode and Become A Legend were all discussed on this site months or even years prior to Konami including them in PES, and pretty much all have been met with praise and appreciation.

When I discuss this particular aspect, I look more to features than game play itself, an issue that will be discussed in great deal over future weeks, but features such as a training camp, scenario modes, indoor or 7 a side games and custom managers, refs and stadiums would all be easily implement able into the existing system, and yet add a new dimension to the game. Yet for the past few years, the Japanese business culture has seen ignorance at times stand in the way of progress.

I can not stress enough that this is not because of myself or Double D, or the EU side of Konami’s PR, who are always improving and looking for new ways to get involved, but it is the culture of Konami itself, and unless a culture evolves, it ultimately dies out. Konami have a huge opportunity here to get ahead of the game, hit the Western world for feedback and actually use it. I just genuinely hope they do this time.

“Here’s, My, Bright, Idea”

So following the excellent feedback mentioned above, I have decided to employ the following tactic. Each fortnight, I will open a new topic for debate, ranging from AI to Graphics to Features to the dreaded Online, and leave you guys to rule the roost on that topic. I will also include a chat room which myself and Double D will regularly attend over the course of a week, to get your ideas ‘face to face’ in real time. This chat room will appear, all being well, on the regular site as if it were a post, and have opening times whereby you can meet and chat with other PES gamers.

By doing this, I hope to achieve a couple of things. Firstly, by speaking to myself or Double D directly, we can get the exact issue you are trying to raise, and not miss out on anything. It will also act as an opportunity to bounce ideas off other PES fans, and maybe pick up on something you have missed or overlooked. The opportunity to comment and e-mail will still be there, but by adding a third option, it may appeal to those people who like a slightly more human touch! The first topic will be announced later this week!

“The Real Thing”

The final one from me this week and one that has been building up for a while. Following a couple of excellent posts by regular contributor ‘Amateur’ I have been asking myself a little more about how realistic does football gaming need to be, and more importantly, how more realistic is it going to get. I may use a couple of quotes in the following topic, and I apologies for not sourcing the original contributors, however I feel it is better to just let this piece flow a little bit more. I am also going to discuss the topic regarding the PS3, X Box 360 and PC generation, and not look into the future of 3D gaming or motion sensing that may occur in years to come.

It has been a claim by some that FIFA 10 is a more realistic gaming offering that PES, a statement I am less than convinced by. On one hand, I have logged some hours on FIFA 10 and therefore can quote that in my opinion, FIFA plays more like a video game and less like a game of football, yet I have not played for the same number of hours as I have on PES, so my judgement can only by my own an not a recommendation. However, for me, it is important that football gaming still maintains an aspect of exactly that, and that the game can offer a variety of challenges and doesn’t become predictable or boring. If we take away the aspect of difficulty levels for a second, the idea of a perfect football game would seem the AI play the game using different styles in relation to the team it is controlling. PES currently sees the AI play a lot of nice attacking football passing in the middle third, but no real penetration in and around the penalty box. This is very realistic when your playing Arsenal or Chelsea, but when Bolton are keeping the ball for minute long spells at a time, you have to question the realism. Playing styles are definitely a must if we are going to talk about realism.

A second issue regards time. I know people have said that games should last longer, maybe have a minimum of 10 minutes per half, but simply this is an option that is going to isolate as many gamers as it will draw in. I know for a fact there are gamers out there that will end up playing less games of PES, simply because they haven’t the time. By the same token, simply adding to the match duration alone won’t alter the way the AI or a gamer will play, and that the option for longer or shorter matches shouldn’t play too much of a deal on the game itself. However, if you alter the physical game speed of the players, and the actual size of the pitches, then you may start to have a situation whereby a longer time frame would actually be required, as to travel with the ball.

A third issue would be the ball physics. In my opinion, PES had the best ball physics for years, going back to the Playstation one days of random deflections and spin. However, since its inception onto PS3 and 360, the physics do seem to have suffered some what, particularly when it comes to dribbling and in block tackle situations. It is crucial to remember that the ball in the most important part of football, and that Konami or whoever should be focussing on making that roll, bounce and look as realistic as possible, and definitely not be as oversized as the FIFA in game ball.

But my biggest issue of all is how the gamer is made to experience when playing a football game. In the past, we have had complaints the game is ‘cheating’ or becoming ‘unbeatable’ at certain points. However, this is something that needs to be examined more closely. Gamers may have to start getting used to spending long periods of a game defending as opposed to always attacking, and here in lies the key to creating realism. I have asked before, but how many times do you sit back and let your opponents attack you when playing PES? Or how many times do you just smash the ball anywhere when defending? Most people I know who play the game will always try to dribble the ball or pass the ball out of defence. Most will start pressing as soon as they lose the ball, and the only goals they concede are when they have simply ran out of players to press with.

This is not me being over the top, as I am guilty of it too. I rarely hit the ball long when defending to allow my team to regroup, and I rarely lose possession in my own box when being defending by simply passing it around. To increase realism, attacking teams need to make sure that if you give them half a chance, they make you pay. The risk vs. reward ratio of messing around in your own area needs to be much greater, and you would be much wiser just to hook the ball clear, put it out for a throw in and allow yourselves to regroup. This can be taken further to give away free kicks to slow down the play, or even pick up tactical yellow cards.

To improve the realism of PES, defending has to become as equal a part of the game as attacking, and not just something you do in-between attacks. It was said recently that football is like a game of chess. If you’re watching a top side working the play from one side to another, this is a statement I can agree with. The tactical movements of playing in and out, diagonal and square to create space. However, in realism, most football teams play a direct style of the game. They look for their target players early and build attacks from there. They try and win free kicks and hit the ball into the area. It’s kind of like throwing all your chess pieces at the king, and is as much a part of football as the slick passing game. And irrelevant of whether you’re a smooth passing team or a dogged long ball mechanical team, you all have to spend periods of a game defending, and therefore have to clear your lines to wait for the next attack.

That’s my two penny’s worth on the issue. If we talk about improving realism of PES, before we look at ways of improving the passing system or even new tricks and turns, the issue to address is making the game a more defensive one first of all. I don’t want to be playing out a 0-0 draw every match, but if I am Burnley and I get a 0-0 against Liverpool, I want to feel like I have earned it, not that I have just not managed to score myself following tens of shots on goal. I hope what I am trying to say makes sense, because as soon as you establish a solid defensive base, you can start looking forward to playing different styles, be that having a deep sitting playmaker who comes off the defence to receive the ball, or a centre forward who plays as an out and out target man, or overlapping full backs who provide width to a narrow midfield. Your views on this issue would be greatly appreciated, as at the moment, the defensive part of the game is far too mechanical and one route, which makes the realism levels drop.

That’s your lot for this week. A fair bit to mull over and I haven’t even mentioned my crushing cup semi-final defeat to Liverpool. interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk is the place to direct your e-mails to, or just leave a comment as so many people have been doing over the past few weeks. The suggestions from previous PES’ have been logged, and will make interesting reading in future weeks when it comes to compiling some sort of list. And if Konami are reading this and want to take a punt, I have no problems flying first class to Japan and working on some ideas to make PES 2011 the best ever!

Thanks for Reading

As you guys are aware we will be driving our next PES improvements initiative shortly, but this week I’d like to focus on what we still enjoy about the series.  Yes we all have various issues with the game, and the next few months will be testimony to that, but for now, how about we celebrate what we enjoy about the game?

What better way to start that off, than with me just going over why PES is still the game for me.

Firstly I’d like to point out that I have played FIFA 2010, and I am still considering doing a comparison of the two games at a later date.  In order for me to objectively do this, I would have to play FIFA for a considerable length of time in order to give a balanced review.  There’s no point me spending only a couple of hours on it, and then comparing it to PES.  That said, I haven’t been able to muster much in the way of energy to actually play FIFA. 

Going off on a slight tangent, I’ve recently lent both FIFA and PES to a good friend, as he has been out of touch with both games, and I have to say it’s been tough going whilst I didn’t have PES2010 available to play.  I am planning on getting feedback from my friend on what he thinks of both games, but that will be later, once I do my own comparison.  Anyway, now that I have PES back, I’m really enjoying my football fixes!

I don’t want to go into any of the issues I have with the game, so for those of you who will be wondering why I’m wearing rose tinted specs, it’s purely to savour what is great about PES - the time for moaning is coming up soon!

So then, what is it about PES2010 that has me coming back for more?

Primarily I have to say that I am really really enjoying the new Master League game.  It has me hooked big time.  My current team has been languishing in the Second Division for just over 3 seasons.  The first three seasons were spent rebuilding my team.  I used one of the default generic teams (Team B with average stat players) and have been spending time on getting in players that are out of contract, as well as to bring through some youth players.  The first two seasons were tough, as we couldn’t really match the better teams in the division, but then I have also been fielding weaker sides in some games if I came close to the top three, as I didn’t want to be promoted without winning the league.  This of course gets me into trouble with some board members and fans (yeah – this bit is in my head, there’s nothing anyone can do about it!), as they lose faith in me, but thankfully the club owner has faith in me.  The tail end of season 2 and most of season 3 I have been leaving match day to the coach.  This hasn’t gone down well with the fans since they expect the manager to be there on match day.  It’s a radical approach to building for the future which I hope will pay off.  I  have been spent with me concentrating on wheeling and dealing players – where I’m trying to get the kids off on loan to other clubs to butch up, and try to chase better freebie players. 

My budgets are low, and money is scarce, so there’s no big name players in my team.  But I have promised the fans and the club that Season 4 we will be crowned as Champions.  I’ve now fully taken over match day games, and currently have a settled side, with far too many fringe players sat doing nothing.  I’ve got to trim the club’s wage bill, and deliver the league this current season. 

At the end of the previous season we finished third from bottom.  Over the summer transfer window I only managed to get in a couple of wide players.  So overall it’s the same squad being used for Season 4.  So far we’re top of the league with stats: P9 W6 D1 L2

Slowly the fans are beginning to believe, and if we can maintain our momemtum this will be a fanstastic season that no-one at the club will forget. 

That in a nutshell describes why PES2010 does it for me.  I have many obstacles to overcome, players to keep happy, games to win, and a league to deliver.  The pressure is mounting, and I’ve got a long tough season ahead which I’m sure will have me elated and pulling my hair out in equal measures.

One of the best things about the Master League is that you can just get “sacked”, and start all over again in Division 2 trying to get back into the elite of the footballing world.

Right, it’s over to you guys to share your where your passions with PES2010 are.

Thanks for reading

Dougiedonut

(dougiedonut@pesgaming.com)

“It’s Nothing Personal”

To start this week, I will open in direct response to a comment made in last week’s IWP by regular contributor, MagicaRoma His comment can be viewed by all in the comments section of last week’s IWP, but for those who missed it, the topic was basically my lack of discussion regarding FIFA 10 this year, and how I had not posted reviews for PES 2010 and FIFA 10. I am not the kind of person to take such a well constructed and honest comment personally, and his main question was whether or not I actually preferred FIFA over PES this year, and that I was keeping it quiet because of that.

I can categorically assure you that I am 100% a Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 fan. Whilst the FIFA franchise has vastly improved since its PS3 inception, I don’t feel the progress made between 09 and 10 was all that great, and I found myself being bored after a single game on FIFA 10. It is not a bad game, and nor is that my official review of the title, but in my personal opinion, PES is a more enjoyable experience on near enough every level. Many people have claimed that if I spent enough time with FIFA, I would grow to appreciate it more than PES, but on that philosophy alone, I would end up preferring Dr. Pepper ahead of Coca Cola, or Five Live instead of Radio One. At the same time, if I genuinely enjoyed FIFA 10, my brand loyalty wouldn’t matter two bits. I spend my time working throughout the day, when I come home I want an enjoyable gaming experience, and would not suffer playing a game I genuinely didn’t enjoy just because it was made by Konami, or because I had an affiliation to this site.

PES still needs some work, I don’t think the most die hard of fans could deny that. For me, it is still the best football game currently available to play, matching the balance of enjoyment and realism very well indeed. The claims of half finished, broken or simply unplayable are a little far fetched by some community members, and for the minority who don’t find either FIFA or PES enjoyable, the solution is simply play neither. I am still surprised to see FIFA fans turning up on this site, people who play FIFA commenting on PES and even PES fans who have since turned to FIFA returning here to add their views. Maybe this is because the FIFA community isn’t as strong as this one, or maybe it is because you believe Konami have come closer than EA Sports to making that perfect football title in the past. From my point of view though, PES is still closer to the perfect end result, the Holy Grail if you will, of football gaming, and I believe that is why this site, and the franchise in general is still going strong.

In response to the review situation, I did actually pen a review for PES 2010, which was posted on this site just prior to the games release. If anyone would like a copy, I have no problem e-mailing it through to them if they get in contact via e-mail. I received my review copy of FIFA 10 in November, and after playing the game for a few hours over the course of a week, I ended up in the situation of the Yellow Light Of Death on my PS3, a problem which took near enough 3 weeks to resurrect. Upon getting the new PS3, FIFA 10 was two months old, had many reviews already out there and I simply had other issues to concentrate on leading up to Christmas. The review fell down the list of priorities, and although the game falls into the ‘played once a week to see if I am missing anything’ category, I honestly don’t think I could write an in depth review of FIFA 10 at this time and say anything that hasn’t already been said. Hopefully, that answers any questions, and if you have any further MagicaRoma, or anyone for that matter, my e-mail is at the bottom of the article.

“Screaming Infidelities”

To keep you guys informed regarding the PES 2010 crashing issues on PS3, I have actually had some pretty good conversations with Konami, having them take on board the issue and ‘pass it on to the right people’. As a community site, it is steps like this that hopefully make it all worth while, and whilst there are very few other PES sites even discussing the crashing issue, we are more than open to get it out there and hopefully put the problem to bed. I appreciate the comments made about playing the game disconnected from the internet (again, a measure we really shouldn’t be having to do) but both times I have had my modem switched off, the game crashed first time up. Maybe I was unlucky, and my game never seems to crash at Anfield or Old Trafford, which I know people have had their game crash at.

The question Konami have asked me, which I will relay on to you guys, is which Firmware are you running on your PS3? I am using the latest update version, and you can check this by going to system information on the X Media Bar of your PS3 Home Screen. Basically, Konami need to recreate the exact issues we are experiencing in order to solve the problem, so any information I can pass on to them will further help the case. Yes, it is glorified testing for Konami, but I want to be part of the solution, and should the crashing end up being eradicated, I will know that PESGaming.com have played some part in sorting it out.

“It’s Getting Hot In Here”

So, for most of you, this is the whole chase now. I have cut out two or three smaller points to allow for the big issue, and that is how to improve PES for the future, how to help play our part in history, and in doing so have the ultimate football gaming experience. Yes, we have been burned before, and yes, some people will refuse to offer their views and opinions, but I am open for one more try. One more year of seeing if we can have it all. All the old features back, all the new features in, the AI, the animation and game modes. A working online system that actually makes the game universally playable online. A Master League mode that sticks to its roots but at the same time offers a new challenge to rival the early years. An edit mode that allows the game to look more realistic than an episode of Match Of The Day. I am willing to lead the campaign along with Double D, and the road to October starts here and now!

The idea I would like to try and follow is to dedicate a couple of weeks to each specific topic, as to not mistreat any issue or end up going over old ground. Last week, I mentioned about features that have been removed from previous versions of PES, and would be welcomed with open arms back into future versions. The lists people provided ranged from the absurd to the blatantly obvious, and I will leave this topic open another week before we move onto the next issue. I feel by going through the features with a tooth comb and noticing what Konami did well on previous games can really lead the way forward over the coming months, and also give us a base for a list of improvements.

Some of the issues coming out of the previous weeks posts, and ones that will be included in future lists are
• More stadiums – The PS2 version still boasts a high 30, whereas PS3 and 360 are stuck with 22
• Scenario Mode – Made famous in the ISS series on N64, it gives an alternative way of earning trophies/achievement points and a short fix challenge.
• PES Shop – A way of unlocking a variety of novelty and unique items as and when required, and rewarded gamers for playing exhibition matches as well as competitions.
• Training Mode Challenges – Similar to scenario mode, a bit of light fun to take away from playing matches and test your skills
• All Star teams / Random teams – A way of playing against Human players with a level playing field, selecting a random team of players (PES6).
• Attendances – The ability for the stands to be empty or full, relating to the atmosphere.
• Goalkeeper Control – The ability to roll or throw the ball out instantly, in a wide range of directions and at different levels of power.

If your feature isn’t on there, it has not been ignored, but simply wasn’t as supported on the e-mail or comments. Other features will be added to the list next week, so if there are things that used to feature on PES that currently don’t make sure you let me know about them so I can include them.

One feature that I don’t understand was button sensitive passing. It has been to my knowledge that in PES, the longer you hold the pass button down, the stronger the pass, but also the longer it takes to hit the pass. For example, if I was Gallas for Arsenal, a short tap of the Pass button would play the ball to Vermarlen. However, if I hold the pass button down longer, the ball would by pass the Belgium and go to Clichy, this has always been the case for me, and I wonder what people exactly mean by the button sensitive passing. The same can be said for the loft through ball. If my CB has the ball, a quick lofted through ball is absolutely useless, but by holding down the shoulder and threw ball buttons, I can lift the ball over the opponents defence for a striker to run on to.  Maybe I am missing something, but this is surely the same thing people are asking for.

That’s your lot for this week. The return of Amateur to the community will no doubt start off a few more talking points over the next seven days, and I may even have a Second Phase column coming out in the week to address an issue raised by him in last week’s IWP. However, for now at least, I will leave you with what you have. Please get in touch with your ideas for features from previous PES / ISS you would like to see included in future PES. Bullet point lists make them easier to manage and review over at a rush, but I do read every comment, so follow your own style. interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk is the place to get all your e-mail through to me. I read it all and reply to as much as my time allows me to. Finally, don’t apologise for writing long posts. If they are well constructed and valid they will be exactly as long as the need to be! If they are offensive dross, or simply pointless and off topic, that is when they become too long.

Thanks for Reading

Single player games were once the only way to play games.  Splitscreen playing then opened up the first real avenue into multiplayer gaming (excusing the types of games where more than one player can play on a single screen – football games being an obvious example).  These days more and more games have a single player game tagged on to the real meat of the game – the multiplayer game.  As less focus is given to single player games, the amount of effort put into AI routines are reduced, since people will be playing against other people for the real challenge of the game. 

Of course football games are still very much reliant on the AI routines they employ.  PES 2008 introduced Konami’s new AI system – Teamvision.  This was a big step up in trying to improve the AI for the game.  There are many people who didn’t take to it, but I have to say I applaud the idea.  Yes people worked out how to beat the new system in no time at all, but Konami have been refining it since, and I think it’s getting there.  AI for PES is not a simple process.  We now have the sliders to help us create our own style of play, which is a fantastic move forward.  The AI routines are now configurable, and therefore giving us more options to how we play the game. 

One of the biggest challenges to the game is how to realise your own personal style of game.  There are millions of people who play the game, and not everyone plays it the same way.  There are people who can do amazing things with some teams, which other people would have no idea how to do.  To give us this ability is something that marks the progress that the AI is making.

How many people actually have tried to experiment with the sliders?  I have a feeling it is a side to the game that not too many people have tried to meddle with that much.  One problem with it is that it is not conveniently accessible.  Being hidden in a sub menu means that you’re more inclined to leave it, rather than seek it out to experiment with your team.

But, nevertheless, there must be people out there that are using it to great effect, which I think we would all like to hear about.  So if you’re a slider-meister, then please leave comments with some tips and tricks for us lesser gaming mortals.

Getting back to the AI in the game, do we have any ideas of the direction we’d like to see gaming AI go for PES?  Are you happy for Konami to work alone on how the game should play, or do you think we should have more input on the AI?  If so, then what sort of ideas do we have?  I can remember a football game on the Sega MegaDrive, the name escapes me – though it could have been called Total Football, which had a phenomenal system which allowed you to decide on where players should be on the pitch at any one time.  The pitch was split up into 9 sections.  You could define where players should be whenever the ball was in any of these sections.  I don’t recall how well the system worked, but the idea was very original, and worthy of mention I feel. 

The reason why I was talking about single player games last week, was to try to highlight a general trend in gaming to let us create the challenge for ourselves in games.  Instead of gaming companies trying to come up with more and more creative enemy AI in games for us, they now create a virtual world where we can decide how we play.  Most multiplayer games these days have a few basic modes and stop at that.  There aren’t very many games that go beyond the usual MP modes.

Football games are a different kettle of fish, unless we’re talking about playing 10 v 10 online.  Now I don’t want to get into an argument about the online system, but I think it’s fair to say that most gamers would settle for a maximum of 4 v 4 with PES.

Yes there could be other online modes – like Dan’s personal dream of getting a  5 a-side or 7 a-side games, but given the current state of play, these proposed modes are a little ambitious, shall we say?  So even if we stick to trying to get 4 a-side games, we will still have to reply on AI for non-human controlled team-mates and opposition.  Are current non-human controlled players acceptable?  Do we have people who have manipulated the sliders to give optimal control over these players in games?

Personally I think the area is probably due some potentially radical re-thinking.  I don’t have handy ideas off the top of my head right now, but I’d like to throw the floor open to you guys for discussion.  Not only that, but I would like to invite anyone out there to take centre-stage with possibly next week’s column space with your ideas.  If you’d like that, please email me at my usual address. 

As Dan as already mentioned this week, we’re going to be kicking off our official feedback sessions shortly.  My personal crusade is to bring the online system up to scratch.  I think a total revamp of the whole online system is required.  With resolutions to the online issues encountered to the whole interface and modes of play.  I would like to start an initiative whereby we could design screenshots and menu options of the proposed new solution to put forward to Konami.  If anyone would like to help me build these, then please email me and let’s get talking.

For those of you who didn’t think last week’s article was relevant to PES, I hope I’ve redressed the balance for you.

It’s just a shame some people aren’t able to make their comments known in a polite respectful manner.  It doesn’t cost anything, and can actually make for a better world – real and virtual.

Thanks for reading.

Dougiedonut

(dougiedonut@pesgaming.com)

“Where Have You Been?”

As promised, here lies the start of the future. Over the next few months, the PESGaming team are going to gaining ideas and asking for the views of the community to be passed on to Konami, regarding PES 2011. Whilst PES 2010 has only been out just over three months, we believe that by getting our points out there early, we can genuinely affect the development stage of the future PES. Personally, I have been burned by Konami in the past, but having actually spoken to them first hand, I have renewed faith in that we, as a group can actually make a difference, and furthermore, I look at some implementations in previous versions that were exactly what was requested. Things such as genuine music play lists, the ability to import multiple chants per team, expanded editing capabilities and downloadable boot packs are all things that were discussed on this site 18 months ago, and whilst they may fall into the coincidence category, the power of community should not be underestimated.

This year, however, I have decided to go with no letter or formal request statement, but instead put together a list based on a number of events that we will hold, to determine priority features as well as new additions. This will allow us to get a feel for not only what the majority of the community want to see, but perhaps as importantly which features are only desired by a handful of people, and would not be seen as a big issue in the overall picture, especially by a company such as Konami.

So where to start? The obvious grumbles about online modes, enhanced controls and animations will definitely come, but to start off, I want to take a trip back down the line. As mentioned before, people all have their favourite PES, and in some cases these even go back to the days when ISS was still tagged on the front. In all of these game modes, there were features, some big and some small, that have seemingly vanished from the modern version of the game. This can be something as simple as the fact shirt pulling has been removed from PES 2010, after being present in the 2009 version, to something greater, like the PES Shop or Penalty Shoot Out mode, both firm favourites from PES gone by. Instead of me carrying on and firing off a 20 or 30 strong list, I open the floor to the PESGaming.com community, and ask what features you want to see from previous PES gamers in the next and future instalments.

Originally, I was going to try and limit this point to simply the older PS2 versions of the game, but I think it is important we look back at the ISS franchise on the N64 too. These games had some very enjoyable ideas ranging from Scenario mode to Story mode, and whilst they lacked club teams and were produced by a different developer under Konami’s wing, they were still top football titles produced under the Japanese company.

So the topic is open for debate. I am looking for features that do not feature on the next generation version of PES 2010 (PS3, 360 and PC versions) that you would like to see, which have been removed from previous instalments of the game. You can get in touch via e-mail, which is included below, or comment on the article in the usual way. The best and most popular suggestions will be discussed further in next week’s IWP.

“She Loves Me Snot”

Bit more of a trivial topic, but one that I find exceptionally interesting. Over previous versions of PES, I have always found myself to have bogey team, a side that always seems to get a result against me when being controlled by the AI. Back in the olden days, this used to be Cameroon, and then throughout the PS2 years, Fiorentina did me over more times that not. In fact, I would go onto to say that when Nuno Gomes played for Fiorentina, I would be guaranteed a tough time, and usually end up being eliminated in a cup competition by his head or right boot. At the moment on PES 2010, I haven’t found my bogey team, and the past couple of years, there hasn’t been one side that have stood out to cause me problems.

So I ask, is there a side out there that cause you constant problems on PES 2010? Of course, I would rather they not be a Real Madrid or Barcelona, I have enough of playing against them online, but a side from either Other Teams A or a less fashionable side from one of the leagues that always seem to give you a heck of a battle. I expect that certain players struggle against different sides, but just to get a feel if there are one or two notoriously tricky matches available if I am ever in the mood for a quick challenge. Get in touch in the usual way.

“League Time”

Just a quick one regarding the IWP League, the planning is pretty much over now. In the next 2 weeks, you will receive an e-mail with someone else’s PSN id on. You need to add this person and play a match against them online. The rules to the match will be included in the e-mail. At the end of the match, both parties will need to include the match score, and answer a couple of questions about their opponent’s ability and connection status. This will allow me to better judge the quality of the league as well as pick up the better connections. It will also let me judge which gamers can follow the rules correctly and deal with e-mail correspondence. At the current time, the league looks to start in April and run for 2 months. If you are unable to take part in the league for any reason, please respond to the upcoming e-mail so an alternative arrangement can be made for your opponent. If you have any questions regarding the IWP League, please feel free to e-mail me on the usual address, as I do not respond to comments discussing the league.

“Never Gonna Get It Right”

I had to smile at some of the comments from last week. People going absolutely off their rocker that I failed to mention the crashing issue. The same crashing issue that has had nearly a thousand words dedicated to it in the previous three Interfering With Play columns. The same crashing issue that I have been dealing with e-mails about for the past month. I can only assume that these people do not read IWP on a regular basis, and therefore I will give you an update on the situation.

For the past few weeks, I have left the door open to people to get in touch if they experience PES 2010 crashing during the tunnel sequence. When the camera pans down the starting line up, the game freezes and a hard rest is required to sort it out. The issue only occurs on the PS3 version of the game, and in my experience only occurs at certain stadiums. The simple way to avoid the crash all together is to press the start button straight away, skipping the tunnel sequence and pre-match screen, something which insures you will not have a crash occur during a Master League match or online game.

However, this is 2010, and this is obviously not acceptable that a game periodically crashes. I for one enjoy watching the tunnel scene, as it provides a build up to larger games. Therefore, I asked people to get in touch if they experienced it, of which there was a huge number, in fact I would go to say that most people who regularly communicate with me either via messenger or e-mail said they have had it occur to them. I have since been given a number of different suggestions as how to stop this happening. Some claim a custom play list causes the crashing, other claim using an edited option file. Some even say that playing with your PS3 disconnected from the Internet will solve the problem. All of these are false, as I have experienced the crash despite following these rules. An e-mail has been sent to Konami this week informing them of the problem, and its unknown causes, which is where our part in the journey ends. If Konami address this issue with a patch in the future, it is both proof the system works and that Konami take this site seriously. Any other response will no doubt draw negative criticism towards the company, which may I say is fully justified.

I would finally like to point out that we are the only PES site (to my knowledge) that have addressed the crash on their home page in any way shape or form, at that any relationship we currently have or will have in the future will no way affect my own personal honesty towards PES or surrounding issues. The day that PESGaming is being constantly edited by Konami is the day that IWP is finished, of that I assure you.

“Look At The Stars”

Pretty cheesy tag line, but my final point this week simply asks the question that will hopefully lead into next week’s column, how many yellow cards on average do u receive a match. If this is easier to work out by simply going to your stats page and checking your games played and yellow cards received, that’s fine and I will do the math. The more people who get in touch with this number, the better, as it will hopefully lead to helping make the referring more accurate in future PES games.

That’s your lot for this week. A great deal to mull over there, and a heck of a lot for you guys to get involved about. Please let me know your favourite features from old versions of PES that you would like to see returned, and furthermore if anyone has a sure fire way to beat the crash! interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk is the place to direct any messages straight to me, and whilst I do read the comments, I obviously have no way of responding directly to them.

Thanks for Reading

This week I would like to discuss a topic which whilst initially may not seem particularly relevant to PES, will hopefully come together.  Recently I’ve seen a few single player games in the gaming mainstream which around 3 to 5 years ago I would have snapped up without a shadow of a doubt.  But these days I find myself hesitating to do so.  No I’m not tiring of gaming, or getting that deadly disease called “growing up”, but just find myself questioning the validity of single player games these days.

One of the games I am hesitating to get is the new Batman Arkham Asylum game.  It has been getting rave reviews on metacritic, (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/batmanarkhamasylum) but I haven’t bought it because of the challenge factor in the game.  What I mean is that playing against AI is not challenging for many people any more.  Plus add in the factor that thanks to the likes of Nintendo we now have a new demographic for games – casual gamers, because of whom, games are dumbed down for everyone.

Because these people can’t handle proper games, everyone suffers if you ask me.  Games are shorter and easier – even on the harder settings, which I’m sure many of you out there can testify to.  Batman’s detective element for me summarises exactly what is wrong.  Everything is laid out on a plate for you.  Where to go and what to do.  Where’s the intellectual challenge exactly?

Uncharted was another game which dissappointed because of the monotonous theme to the game.  Endless mindless enemies, although to be fair, they at least ducked and dodged and threw grenades at you if you stay in a stationary position during battles.  We need only look at one of the worst offenders for me – the COD series – particularly since COD4.  Completely moronic enemies that just charge at you.  Proper cannon fodder.  Then consider the length of the single player game.  Shockingly short and very very much on rails.  No room for developing a sense of achievement in how you complete objectives.  No options on how or what to do, just follow the arrow for idiots and keep shooting.  Job done.  (Uncharted 2 is another game I’m considering but hesitating to get)

Maybe I am getting older, but is that all there is to games now?  Can some of you older gamers remember a game called Deus Ex on the PC from around 10 years ago?  For me it is still the single most complete single player game ever.  I can’t remember how many hours I put into it.  There were various objectives in the game, from which you could pick the ones that you wanted to develop.  You could also enhance your character with a skills base that you chose, and made moral decisions at strategic points to enhance your experience.  With several different game endings thrown in, the play time for the game is really massive.

I’m going to go off on a quick tangent, but please bear with me – I think it’s worth it!  In Deus Ex, you can take drugs and drink beers too.  During the story I went into a bar, ignored the barmen and got plastered on beers.  When you do this, the effects in the game made your character’s head (it’s played in FPS mode) whirl round and round, and the colours on screen went funny.  It actually made you feel physically nauseous, and when you tried to walk, you would stammer around!  I then pulled out a bazooka I was carrying and wielded it, to the horror of the people in the bar!  They were screaming and running everywhere.  I couldn’t shoot straight and so was letting off random shots.  It was fantastic, but indicative of an experience which I still don’t think can be matched today. 

Can anyone name a game that even sounds remotely as feature rich as Deus Ex today?  That is my point!

What has this got to do with PES I hear some of you ask?  Well a fundamental gripe people have with the game is that the AI is not challenging enough.  Which is a fair criticism to have I believe.  But to be fair, we really need to consider just what was possible with football games 10/15 years ago, and what is possible now.  10/15 years ago, we accepted that we couldn’t expect there to be many different ways the AI could be programmed to challenge us.  We had to accept that a basic formula was used with some tricks to help the AI get almost undefendable goals against you, to try to help create the challenge. 

Nowadays we are tired of the formula and want the AI to interpret how we play and what we do, and to work out how to stop us.  Sorry if this is ignorant, but isn’t that incredibly hard to do?  We’re pretty much asking for human levels of interpretation of dynamic playing situations to give us the challenge we crave in single player games! 

So back to my original question – are single player games relevant any more?

I remember a few years ago, I only ever played PES games in single player modes.  I hardly ever played against human opponents.  When I would play against friends, the game changed considerably.

A good friend of mine would always have the upper edge during games because he knew how to play against humans more than me.  I would play the game as though I was taking on AI, and the difference was there to see. 

 So where am I going with this question?   Well, I’m certainly not advocating we lose the single player game that’s for sure, but wondering whether we need to see a new direction in how AI plays against us.  I don’t know how much it has changed on the current generation of games.  I personally find how AI plays very robotic (in both major footy titles for the record), and not enjoyable really.  Would people say they would like to see changes in how AI fundamentally challenges us?  With increased computing power, surely rethinking the whole apprach is worth thinking about?

Thanks for reading.

Dougiedonut

(dougiedonut@pesgaming.com)

In fact, the Master League started way back in 1999, meaning that for the past decade, people have been building up their teams, selling on their stars and conquering the virtual football world. As a result, the game mode has at times felt dated and is still searching for that overhaul that made the football gaming community stand up and take note at the end of the 20th century.

The purpose of this feature is to capture some of the stories, the events and the magic moments of the PESGaming.com’s communties Master League experiences. This could be anything from a young signing who went on to be the world superstar after a shakey start with your club, or the journeyman midfielder who went on a 6 game goal streak to carry your team to the title. The stories are up to you, and whilst I have a fair few of my own, I would rather be publishing your features and tales from the past 10 years of the Master League.

The rules are simple, send your story, which can be no less than 250 words but no more than 500, to interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk. Make sure to include your name (either real name, screen name or both), your location (city and country) and which version of PES you are talking about. Other details such as you age, console and any other information can be included if you so wish. Try and make you story enjoyable to read, as I will do very little editing to them unless necessary. This feature will run for around two months, until the start of the Interfering With Play League, and will act as an alternative to the focus this site will be putting on PES 2011 over the next few months. Get your stories penned, and to get the ball rolling…

Dan Bolas, Wolverhampton, England.

Pro Evolution Soccer (Playstation One)

My story relates to my very first Master League, on the very first PES to include the feature. I was in charge of Inter Milan, and had a very shakey start which included the flop signing of David Trezeguet. During the first season, a mid table finish was my realtistic aim, and the second season saw a top 6 finish, as a steadily built my squad. I had brought a very attacking side, and unlike nowadays, purchased superstars such as Ronaldo and Beckham to help me achieve my aims. Anyway, last game of the season, I was at home to Juventus, requiring a win and it to be better than AC Milan’s result for a title win. I started very badly, and went 1-0 down early on, and a second half equaliser seemed to be the best I could muster. With the clock ticking into injury time, I managed to work the ball out to Beckham, whose near post cross was headed well clear by the Juve defense. However, there was no whistle as the ball floated into the path of Denilson. I had been playing the winger just behind my strikers, and as the ball was travelling towards him, he stuck out a left leg and brought the ball down almost instantly, as it hit the floor, the ball bounced up perfectly for the Brazilian to hit a first time side volley, which flew into the top corner! This goal proved to win me the title, as AC Milan only managed a draw at Lazio, and I won the league by a single point. The goal is saved somewhere on a PS One Memory Card, and made me intstantly addicted to the Master League game mode. This happened around 10 years ago, so is obviously an incredible moment for me to remember all this time!

If you have a story for Master League Moments, please send it to interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk

“It’s Not Difficult”

Firstly this week, I would like to address the issue regarding difficulty of PES I touched upon last week. When playing alone in friendly matches, I usually play on professional difficulty. This is not because I struggle on Top Player, in fact its quite the opposite, I find that the opposition actually try harder to score on the Professional difficulty, and even sometimes hit hopeless long balls into the box, whereas possession and laboured build up is the name of  the game on Top Player. This does mean teams commit fewer men forward and as a result it is harder to create goal scoring opportunities, but it also makes it less likely for you to concede a goal, resulting in many 0-0 draws.

Following my comments last week, I believe I am not alone in this suggestion, as many gamers also believe that this is the truth. If you are finding Top Player too easy, try and have a drop back to professional and see how you go. It does however drill home the issue that Konami must address the difficulty settings in future PES games, especially as the Game Play system has been so similar for the last few games. On one hand, Konami probably do not want to alienate gamers who lose every game, but they also need to realise that PES is a 12 month game, and that gamers need a challenge to progress to and aspire to beat, especially with online mode still being far from perfect.

One other topic is the so called ‘Supermen Players’. The Cristiano Ronaldo’s and Lionel Messi’s of this world that can simply turn a game with a moment of brilliance. I will openly admit that in my many years of PES gaming, I have occasionally resorted to giving the ball to one of these superstars and letting them run at my opponents, safe in the knowledge that they had the ability to provide the spectacular more than say a Gary Neville or a Wayne Bridge. This is a tactic that many professional teams use, isolating their stronger players in one on one situations against a weaker opponent, for example Robben at Chelsea playing on the right hand side, cutting in on his left foot and taking the left back onto their weaker right. This is a tactic, and if a player has that ability, why not exploit it. If you don’t like a player having that ability on your team, don’t be that particular team, but you can’t moan or complain if someone else uses it. It is less of an issue when someone is Tottenham and lumps the ball up to Crouch all day, but it is exactly the same premise, just easier to use players than are quick and good dribblers.

Football at any level is a game about speed, both physical and mental speed. Players like Fabregas may not be super fast over the ground, but their mind works so quickly, whereas stars like Messi and Ronaldo have the physical pace to devastate opposition. Anyone who has played football at a decent standard will be able to tell you how dangerous pace is, and therefore I believe this is represented accurately in PES 2010. There have been years when pace was too much of an asset and unrealistic (ISS Pro Evolution Soccer 2 for the PS One being a prime example) but this year the balance is as close to perfect as it has been for a while, so just because players are quick in real life, they shouldn’t be punished for it on the game.  

“Is It Me Or…”

Two little points that I have noticed this week, mainly about the shirts the players are wearing in PES 2010. The first is the fact that I haven’t noticed any distinctive shirt pulling in PES 2010 with the matching animation, something which I was really impressed with in PES 2008 and 2009. Yes, it is slightly unethical but it is a part of football, and if Konami have removed it, surely this must be seen as a graphical step backwards. Anyone who has noticed any, please feel free to get in touch, either via e-mail or comment below.

The second point, and one that definitely caught my attention, was regarding the Sporting shirt. Before I go any further, I would like to point out that it is no longer politically correct to call them Sporting Lisbon, and therefore I will be addressing them as simply Sporting for this piece. Anyway, playing as PSG against Sporting in a winter match, I noticed that the majority of Sporting players seemed to be wearing base layers or ‘Under Armour’ shirts under their tops. I went in for a closer inspection and it definitely looked as if the players had their club shirts on with a long sleeve top underneath, as opposed to the long sleeve shirt option. Whilst this may only be cosmetic, it is a great step forward graphically for Konami as they are starting to catch up with the times regarding player styles and fashions, features which will only enhance the games realism. If you wish to make your own mind up, you can do so by playing for or against Sporting in a match set in the winter. I’ll leave that with you guys, make your own judgements.   

“He’s Been Brought Down In The Box”

If I am entirely honest, I have failed to notice the mass improvements brought about by the recent patch. I have enjoyed PES 2010 since the game came out, and therefore I am not entirely sure what the patch is deemed to have improved. What I will categorically say, however, is that when it comes to penalty kicks, the referring is awful. Challenges all over the pitch are pretty realistic, with soft fouls occasionally being given and firm flying tackles missed by the ref. This is part of football, and I would go on a limb to say the refereeing from penalty box to penalty box is pretty fair. Sliders and unique refs aside, I am pleased with what little improvements Konami may have made.

In the area, however, it is a completely different story. Blatant fouls are ignored and late tackles that stop goal scoring opportunities mean nothing other than cheating is deemed acceptable. A ridiculously late challenge from Hughes of Fulham on my Arsharvin, which would have seen Hughes walk for a second yellow cost me during a recent league match. The ball was gone, Arsharvin was one on one and a tackle from behind was ignored and the ball rolled out for a goal kick! In fact, during however many matches I have played over both my PS3 consoles, I am yet to have seen a penalty during normal play, either for or against me. That must be close to 60 hours of gaming if not more and not one spot kick. There have been over 55 penalties on the Premier League, this season, yet I have not seen one on PES! This is not realistic at all, and I would go on record as to say I would rather have soft penalties as opposed to none at all!

If you have the time, I would ask you to go onto your Gallery screen, and check you own personal penalty number; I would love to see if anyone has managed to get into double figures yet! Comments and emails in the usual way! Even better, I would love to see a video of a penalty actually being given, just to prove that it actually can happen.

That’s your lot for this week. I have had to cut myself short slightly due to another project set to be released on PESGaming.com later this week. As always, interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk is the place to send your e-mails to, and your comments about anything you have read here are more than welcome. Double D is having some technical difficulties at the moment, and should be up and running again with a new laptop in a couple of weeks. Finally, the PES 2011 campaign and the IWP League process will both be up and running over the next 6 weeks.

Thanks for Reading

“What’s Going On”

Two weeks off, and I for one and personally itching to get back in the saddle. I have received many e-mails regarding a number of issues, and thought it would be best to address the plans for this site over the next month or two. For regular visitors, the January to March time is usually the quietest period in the PES calendar. Excluding the post-January transfer window update, there is usually little official regarding news from Konami, with April and May seeing the announcement of a new instalment to the PES franchise. Therefore, we usually use this time to put together a structured suggestion list for Konami for future improvements for the next game, and this year, I genuinely believe we have a chance to make a difference.

Like many of you, I was exceptionally disheartened two years ago with the lack of response to my own personal letter to Konami. I felt let down by a company whom I have supported as a customer from the 90’s.  However, the last few months have given me renewed hope a sincere expectation that we can actually make a difference, and striking whilst the iron is hot and the game is very much is its infancy is the way forward.

I will personally look at a couple of different ways of taking your views on board, with the option of holding a couple of chat room events to let people get their points across in a PM style environment. On top of this, I am sure Double D, the man responsible for most of the direct Konami contact, will have many ideas as of ways to get your ideas and formulate them into a working plan.

But this site won’t just become an ideas base. We support PES, and therefore will offer a number of different articles, features and competitions designed to get you, the PESGaming.com community involved. PRO-ve Your Skills will return in June, with the opportunity to show off your unique PES playing talents, whilst there will be a number of other events and tournaments taking place throughout the next 6 months, which will lead us nicely to the summer, when the hype begins all over again.

I would like to remind you that this site is up to you guys, if there is an issue or topic you feel needs discussing, let us know and we will get it out there. My e-mail address is located at the bottom of this column.

“Don’t You, Forget About Me”

Needless to say, I haven’t forgotten about the IWP League either. I am in talks with a couple of sponsors for the league this year that may or may not be able to offer some form of prizes. Until this is decided, I am reluctant to sort out drawings, groups and even the format of the league itself. With so many entrants, there will have to be a cut off, and a reserve list. I can only apologise in advance if you don’t make the league this time, and urge you to try again in future years.

What I will say as a quick reminder to those that have applied to the IWP League is that there are no ‘major’ teams involved. There will be no Real Madrid v. Barcelona dribble fests in this competition. I contemplating using unlicensed teams this time, for the first time, and maybe even upgrading the pay packet to include teams like Liverpool and Juventus, however if I feel a team would make a huge difference, and allow a weak player to outclass a far stronger one, then I will make sure they are not featured in the competition. If there are teams people would like to see added into the reckoning, please feel free to place them in a comment or e-mail, and I will take a look at them personally.

“Stop Me, Oh Stop Me”

Thank you to everyone who has got in touch with me regarding PES crashing. The problem seems to relate to the PS3 system only, and occurs whilst the players are waiting in the tunnel pre-game. This is completely unacceptable in this day and age, and whilst games may experience occasional glitches and crashes, especially in volatile online environments, to have an offline error constantly crash the system is not good enough, and this will be relayed back to Konami during our next correspondence with them. The problem does seem to be limited to certain stadiums, with Monaco’s home ground seeming to crash for me every single time, making the trophy for playing at all stadiums inaccessible

My nature; however is to solve problems as well as moan about them. At the current time, PES crashes before certain games, but I am not going to stop playing the game if I can avoid it crashing. My tip is pretty simple, and whilst not ideal, seems very effective. By pressing start as soon as you select Start Match, the PES starts come up in the bottom corner of the screen. This means the game is loading, and will cancel the cut scene as soon as the game is ready. Every time I have done this, the game has gone on and played perfectly, without a glitch. Yes, it is far from perfect, and I for one look forward to the big game atmosphere the pre game cut scenes bring to the table, but it does mean that in the short term, you won’t be penalised online or suffer any punishment from your Master League crashing with Cheat Prevention enabled. If this works for you, fantastic, and let others in the community know that you’re having joy, or in some cases failings with it. I believe it doesn’t matter if you have n option file installed or not, and that you lucky 360 gamers don’t have the problem. Any news let me know on the issue.

“It Hurts To Be This Good”

For those of you who don’t know, I am very partial to a bit of Fix mode with my mates on PES. This means we all control a single player on a team, and battle through a Champions League or World Cup sticking with that player, and allowing the AI to control the relevant other players. For people who play this game mode, the positives speak for themselves and on a slight deviance, how annoying is it that before each game, you have to once again reassign every player to their AI team member, a feature that used to be stored automatically on PES 2009. I now sympathise with those people complaining about not being able to play as opposition in Master League or League matches. Whilst this weighs no significance to me personally, it is the removal of good features that are some of the most annoying things Konami do.

Anyway, I digress. Following a disastrous with Liverpool in the Champions League (Fiorentina, a personal bogey team for us, knocked us out in the first knock out round), and a gutting loss in the semis as Portugal on Christmas Day, we approached the Champions League with Manchester City, both with a lack of confidence and missing one of our usual 7 players. Please bear in mind that we never managed to win the Champions League on PES 2009 in fix mode, losing once in the final on Penalties and 3-2 in another final, both to Inter Milan.

After a 3-1 hammering at the hands of Juventus in the first group game, some of us were making plans as to what we would be doing after the game, it being 11pm and knockout would have meant some of us could still hit the nightclubs. However, since that point we never looked back, and went on an unstoppable run. Usually a defensive midfielder on the game, I took charge of Adebayor, and managed to bag a very impressive 13 goals, although most were simply being in the right place following a free flowing move. We made it through to the semi finals following a brace by myself against Barcelona at the Nou Camp, with Chelsea standing between us and another final. We did play well, but to win the first leg away 6-0 really killed the tie off as an affair, and the second leg’s 2-0 defeat didn’t matter. It led to a final against Inter Milan, and arguably the biggest game of the year. We had maybe managed 12 evenings of this nature throughout 2009, and this would have been the final one of them. Inter had defeated us twice in finals before, a feeling that hurts when you realise it has take 4 and a half hours to get there and to lose thanks to a penalty kick.

We won the final 6-1, I managed to bag a hat trick, and we lifted the Champions League trophy. Yet it felt empty, we felt like in spite of playing well, we were given victory. I have never once complained about PES being too easy before, and believe it is the challenge you make it, but there is no denying that the difficulty level needs to be upped again for future years. I hate losing matches on PES, but I hate winning them without trying either, and the term anti climax was the best one to describe that Champions League. If you play the game mode, you may know how we felt, but a 1-0 victory in a cagey affair would have been much more realistic, and I dare say more satisfying too!

That’s your lot for this week. interferingwithplay@hotmail.co.uk is the e-mail address on which you can reach me. I hope that this year provides as many talking points, debates, arguments and laughs as the past year of PESGaming has done. There will be more news about more features coming up over the next couple of weeks, and feel free to leave a comment about anything you have read here, or anything you have the desire to discuss.

Thanks for Reading