Interfering With Play 04/12/07
Posted by Dan Bolas in Interfering With Play on Tue 04 Dec 2007
This week’s Interfering With Play is, as always, filled with points, which will require some interaction from you, the reader. With PES2008 having been in stores for coming up six weeks now, the initial hype, excitement and in some cases, disappointment has subsided and what is left is still a very strong football game. Over the next few months, I am looking to compile a letter to Seabass and Konami regarding the future of the PES franchise, but more on that letter in the article. Lets get going.
Talking Bout Next Generation
There is no doubt that in spite of a graphical improvement in the PES series, the 360 and PS3 versions of PES2008 do not feel particularly ‘Next Gen’. With Sony’s console almost a year old in the UK, and the 360 entering its third year, I feel it is time that games begin to move towards the standards of those expected by many gamers. I would like to point out that for many years, my PS2 was used for Pro Evolution Soccer, the latest WWE title, and then either Grand Theft Auto r Metal Gear Solid, depending on whichever was newer at the time. I would have defiantly put myself in the ‘casual gamer’ bracket and was quite content to stay there. However, upon purchasing a PS3 with Resistance: Fall Of Man, my eyes became open to a whole new gaming world. Yes the graphics were impressive but the game play was a new experience for me, and as a result it felt very ‘Next Gen’. Since then, I have taking my interest in gaming to a new level, playing games such as The Darkness and Heavenly Sword through to completion and even trying my hand at games like Stuntman: Ignition and Warhawk, games that are far from new ideas, but had been given a fresh look on the new consoles. The purpose of this section is really to look at two sections. Firstly, how far behind are football games, and in particular PES in relation to other gaming genres. Whilst both PES and Fifa 2008 have impressed me graphically, there is defiantly a world of difference from the facial animations of say The Darkness, or the lighting effects used in Heavenly Sword. These games are designed for next gen, and at the risk of being unpopular does this mean that Konami should forget about creating for PS2 and PSP, and start looking towards the future. Your views would be much appreciated on this. The second point is simply down to PESGaming.com visitor’s favourite games. With Christmas fast approaching, and a great variety of games available for both next gen consoles, I am asking which games you have played over the year which you would recommend as a gift for Christmas, and which you would avoid like the plague. Obviously games like Call Of Duty 4 and Halo 3 will be on most peoples lips, but any other gems you have played which you would like to share would be greatly appreciated, with potential for a follow up in next weeks column.
Moaning Makes The World Go Around
As PES has been out for a while, and the latest news is no longer of exciting features or interesting images, sites such as PESGaming.com are susceptible to criticism for lack of features or information. As a result of this, some sites will start rumours about the latest patch, or brilliant new option files, or even claim to have exclusive interviews with PES creators, in order to boost hits on their website. Having been visiting this site for many years now, and writing this article for over 3 months, I am proud to say that Peter Willis and the rest of the PESGaming.com team stick to the facts, and provide credible sources and quality background for any stories posted on the main page. As a result of this, there may be days on end when no news is posted and as a result, the site has been taking some stick from ‘loyal’ visitors claiming that we are going downhill. In response to this, I would like to ask these ‘loyal’ visitors to stop taking the easy way out and start doing some constructive with their time. There is a lot of editing to do regarding PES2008, and should they have managed to get hold of a top option file, please fill the rest of the community in on it, otherwise they could spend their moaning time working on making the most realistic PES2008 experience possible. The same is to be said for people saying how ‘rubbish’ PES2008 actually is, instead of suggesting ways in which is could be improved that are both implement able and likely. It is easy to say something is so bad, but its more difficult to pick out exactly where is goes wrong and how it can be made better, and as a result, this is my challenge to all the moaners out there.
Someone Press Play.com
A subject, which was all the talk of Play.com, and has now seemingly died out, is to do with the Play.com £50,000 tournament taking place in December. There was a lot of hype about this on message boards that if you purchased your game from Play, you would be automatically eligible for this tournament, but since the games release, and poor online experience, news of it has dwindled out fast. Anyone who knows any more on this subject would be asked to post a comment explaining the situation, along with the status on the actual tournament.
Taking The Law Into Your Own Hands
This past weekend, I decided to start on the long and exceptionally arduous task of editing PES2008 myself. I have not gone to the extent of changing letters from upper case to lower case, but have began work on the Premier League team kits, and making sure that all formations are in check. I also created Kenwyne Jones for Sunderland, and used the FM to PES stat converter to create the most realistic model possible. Of course, I could download an option file from the Internet to save me the time, but having unlocked many features, and am proud of my own Win-Loss record, I have decided to do it myself. With so many problems with uploading X Box 360 option files, the photo kit feature being far from perfect, and the loss of all personal data when installing a new option file providing mammoth reasons for editing the game yourself, I am sure it is an avenue more PES gamers are going to be looking towards, especially this year of course. The PC game is exceptionally editable, and anyone who has access to a high spec PC would be better playing the edited game upon it, but those who are committed to their console version and want to do the editing themselves, I am sending out an invitation. I would be looking to be involved with a site that provides the information on how to edit the game as well as possible, alongside featuring stats and appearances for players that may not be featured in the game. This would include things like correct names for all hidden players and certain national teams, updated transfers or dealings that occur in the continental circuit and even information for local sides not featured in the game. Anyone who is interested on working on this project should contact me on danbolas@hotmail.com any time within the next seven days, as I will be looking to sort a site out in time for the January transfer window’s opening.
Dear Mr. Seabass
Finally onto the letter mentioned at the start of this weeks column. Like many people out there, the news that Seabass is taking a lot more time when developing the next PES is music to my ears, but I am sure they will still miss out fundamental things which will both frustrate and annoy gamers well into 2009! I am therefore looking to put some options, ideas and suggestions together, using the PESGaming.com visitor’s opinions as the main purpose of the letter. PESGaming.com is one of the biggest PES based websites available, so much so we have attracted the attention of the Premier League, and have Play.com the largest UK online retailer as a sponsor. We are gaining a reputation for being an honest an informative place to find out the latest PES information, and receive thousands of hits and hundreds of comments a day, as well as having a very long running and popular forum section. The opinions of PESGaming.com’s visitors will more than likely mirror those of the general football gaming nation, and as a result, it would be in the interests of any developers to at least take them on board when making a game. Over the next few weeks I will be taking suggestions via e-mail or on this site for things which PES2009 should feature, or things that you feel would make the game better. The best or most frequent requests will then be built upon in 2008 and the letter will be hopefully compiled and sent by the end of February. As I said, this is your opportunity to get your view to Seabass whilst being supported by one of the biggest PES websites in the world, so make your ideas good, and I look forward to hearing them.
That’s your lot for this weeks Interfering With Play. It was great to see some of the debate regarding Mourinho for England in last weeks comments, and the divide of the north and the south, both having very different views on Liverpool and Man United fans. This is the area to event you opinions, and I welcome all opinions, although from a personal point of view, I am more likely to take on board those not filled with cheap insults and overuse of swearing. It doesn’t express the point further and sounds much more immature. If you want to get in contact, do so via the comments on here, or via my e-mail danbolas@hotmail.com, especially anyone interested in working on an editing site.
Thanks for Reading
enjoyed reading that i just cant get over the fact that people are still playing this crap, i have high powered pc , pes6 all patched up , its the only way for me .
I think on pro evo 2009 they should have like a proper scoreboard in the corner,like on a tv presentation, instead of just two floating badges, they should have a tv style box round them. Also they should try and include some more international teams like lithuania,iceland and bosnia etc so you can play a proper European qualifying championship,etc
forget the scoreboard i would settle for a game that is actually playable
Just a few things that I would like to see addressed in the next version of PES:
- I would like to see more licensed teams, especially the ones in the Premier League, but I am not sure whether that’s realistic.
- More teams in general, and potentially including teams from the lower divisions in England.
- Master League: more leagues than just two: it would be great to start with a useless team in the third division and to improve them to even reach the Champions League in the end
- Master League: the same cup tournament for all divisions and no longer a separate division 1 and division 2 cup
- More editing functions: in case it will be impossible to add more licensed teams from the big leagues, this would enable users to create these teams by themselves
- Master League: making it possible for the player to get approached by other clubs so that you don’t have to play with the same club during the entire Master League
- Having the win/loss records etc. stored in a different file than the option file, so that users don’t lose them when they use a different option file for the game. Perhaps this should also be done for the PES shop so that users can decide themselves whether they unlock the items or not
- Real currency instead of points
- More stadiums, ball types, shoe types
- A “road to World Cup 2010″ incl. the World Cup itself, like the International Challenge in PES6, so that users can already play with their country to qualify for the World Cup.
Correct me if iam wrong but Wikipedia stated back in the summer that PES would include championship sides this year, i was well impressed until i found out that this was all bullshit.
I would like to see Pro Evo make all tournaments more life like cant be bothered into detail, but i do want mud on kits for really bad weather, snow which really affects the match, but also fans being more loud! bring back pes 5 plz or iss 98
Wikipedia can be edited by anyone and everyone - I would never trust it.
I agree with you Dan on so many points, i played the pro evo series all the way through on PS2 and over last year i figured out how to patch the game, i was playing a totally edited version of PES 6 with a fantastic option file courtesy of John Lennon, it was what i thought was the pinnacle of football gaming. With PS3 on the horizon and the promise opf something special from seabass, i took the plunge and went for it, i love the console and continue to be amazed by the graphics and sound, but, seabass didnt deliver, in fact, for the first time ever, i have dicarder pes 2008, its just not a very good game, let alone a next gen title. FIFA is far better, and thats a shame, in order to get my pro evo fix i have to dig out my trusty old chipped ps2 and whack pes 6 in. Maybe expectations were too high, i could forgive the lack of sheen and gloss, but, where the hell has the gameplay gone??…and…the edit mode???…i dont care about licences, i want it to play like real football, and then i want the fun of editing and creating myself….i cant to any of these things with this rubbish!!!….I say to seabass, take your time over the next one, i dont care if its not ready for next autumn, just get it right before you release it!!!
I actually like PES08 as it is an improvement over PES6.
Improvements needed for 09:
Player selection. It cant be that hard for it to work out who I want to take control of. It could be who is goal side or who could get the ball the quickest, not necessarily who is closest. And why is manual not completely manual anymore?
Full control. Whether its programmed in to hinder your control to make the game a challenge or not; the most frustrating, pull your hair out annoyance, is when it just wont do what you are telling it to.
Cheating. related to the above. Mr Seabass can try and say that the computer doesnt cheat or have unfair advantages, but I wont believe him. Some games you are not only fighting against the opposition, but your own players and the controls as well.
All football games have suffered from these, not just PES.
@ Dan
Good to see you noticed the north south divide debate (short debate). I did try to take the lead on that one after reading last weeks IWP and had hoped it would have developed a bit more than it did rather than turn into people swearing at each other.
Wikipedia states: assache is the fouth desendant of the mogul dynesty and owns most of Suffolk! It’s true!
Anyway good IWF and hope someone continues the North South debate, sometimes only talking about PES can be a drag.
IWF Interfering with fanny! Think I got that one a bit wrong!
Weird question but does anyone know if a USB keyboard works on a ps3?
Here are a couple of small things that I dont think would cost Konami too much time or money to implement
I almost only play PES on local multiplayer so here we go…
When playing with a bunch of friends (4+) and a lot of controller swapping is going on and everyone has their own preferences, could it be possible to have a tab in the player settings where you could store/load your button settings, cursor name, manual control etc. without having to load/unload gamer profiles left and right
Player settings option to be before your pick a team/set formation. This is something which disappeared after pes5 and forces you to swap controllers back and forth when playing back to back games…
Goalkeeper running forward about 2/5 length of the pitch after a short goal kick. An annoying bug.
I can understand that the computer cant always figure out what player I want to select, so how about if you could hold down one button(f.e. the change player button) which would allow you to choose between 3-4 players closest to the ball by hitting for example Y(triangle) for the player highest on the screen and A(X) for the one lowest on the screen. This would be similar to the system used in games like NBA Live.
Master League: A fixed amount awarded for standings in the league or something to even it out as the seasons progress. The current system usually works out so the first season is a challenge, the second you have a well balanced team, third season you are collecting the superstars of the world and thrash every team. Also the option to buy players before the season starts would be welcome.
BETTER EDIT MODE!
small additions. no problems. me happy.
a realistic amount of injuries in the master league, no player can go 5 seasons without being injured once, like they can in the game!!!
and u should be able to sign players on season long loans, not just for the second half of the season
AS far as editing goes; let us edit, and add logos to the entire kit, including shorts and socks, plus balls and stadiums. Also, bring back the paint tool (I don’t have a Live Vision Camera).
I think I’m one of the few hardcore pes players who actually really likes the gameplay of the new PES; however there are big problems I’m sure everyone agrees on:
-The keeper running out for no apparent reason after a short kick out. WTF??
-Injuries; is it just me, or do players just NEVER get injured in pro 2008?
-Difficulty inconsistent: In master league the weakest teams will (very unrealistically) score from ANY chance or free kick or corner they get on the highest difficulty when they need to. Surely the difficulty should come from the AI of the opposition? It’s very disappointing to see the AI very clearly cheating in impossible goal opportunities on the highest difficulty.
Please stop denying this every year Seabass! Anyone who plays ML on top player I’m sure encounters this problem.
-Goalkeepers; am I the only one who finds ALL the goalies in the game AWFUL? The amount of rubbish goals scored and given away from shots straight at the keeper are ridiculous and go some way to breaking the realism ’spell’ of pro evo.
-I don’t think anything else needs to be said about the editing; its clear its the last thing they worked on with this game and was clearly rushed, unfinished out the door.
-MASTER LEAGUE! I’m sure a lot of players here agree that it’s by far the most important aspect of pro evo and is also the least improved upon every year. Come on Seabass! It’s not rocket science. Look at real football, look at popular football management game and copy some ideas. I’m sure we all agree there are so many things missing from ML.
Player transfers: more options like offering bonuses, player morale (for example your star striker’s confidence could be affected by signing a new striker), REAL MONEY! It’s not hard. At all. dollars, euros, whatever. Last time I checked, there was no licence fee or copyright on using real currency in a game. Even if the numbers dont 100% match real life, its still better than random ‘konami money’.
Loans - very under-developed; it can’t be hard to introduce a ‘Wenger-style’ system of buying up young players and loaning them out to other teams to get their stats up; rather than have one option to tranfer list a player, all you need is to add the option to ‘loan-list’ him. This would have a HUGE impact on the ML. Lots of teams around europe do this and I think this is a big loss in pro evo.
These are the first and most important things that spring to mind.
Seabass stop making excuses! He says the team is doing all it can etc and its only so big etc; how much money does Konami rake in every year from pro evo?? Increase the size of your team! I know its not as simple as that, but a lot of the things players want are fine-tuning things like options that don’t take a 200 man team to implement.
Play have just releasied an email!!
guess what the final isnt being played on PS3 but on xbox 360:
PES2008 TOURNAMENT: YOUR ENTRY DETAILS
Hi There,
Your chance to win £50,000 is now even closer! Below you’ll find details on how to enter the exclusive PLAY.COM PES2008 Tournament,
with the best 32 players competing on Xbox 360 for £50,000 at ‘PLAY.COM Live’ at Wembley Stadium on Saturday March 15th 2008!
How to enter:
1) Visit www.pesrankings.com/play
2) Enter the email address you use to access your play.com account (e.g. yourname@youremail.com)
3) Enter your unique tournament code:
4)Select the format you wish to play the tournament on. You can choose between PS2, PS3, Xbox360, PC.
(Even if you have purchased PES2008 on PS3, you can choose to play the tournament on another format, however you must have a copy of the game on that format to do so)
5)Click ‘Enter Competition’ and proceed through the following PES Rankings’ pages to complete your tournament registration.
N.B. If you are not already a member of PES Rankings you’ll be taken automatically through the registration process.
Once you have successfully registered, PES Rankings will communicate with you regarding the tournament and final.
Good Luck!
PLAY.COM
From free kicks it should be easier to do a short pass to one of your players. Quite often it will try to pass to the incorrect player and be intercepted.
Goalkeepers often throw to the wrong player who is quite clearly marked, or just straight to their players.
Bad and average teams seem to be able to keep the ball forever like liverpool of old. Better marking without having to resort to man marking is needed. I often find it harder to play poor teams to top teams. Which is just not right. (master league)
I want to be able to change the player cursor settings in game again!!
Me and mates can’t have a proper 2 player league anymore :-(
You should to be able to select more weather conditons, like light or heavy,rain/snow, and you should be able to select the wind speed. Also they should make the presentation better, and you should be able to do press interviews in the master league n stuff,like you actually control what you say. Also they could have this cool option of going to a wee studio like on tv, before it kicks off, and at half time and full time, they could have match analysis, by like mark lawrenson n gary lineker etc, but youd be able to turn this on and off.
what i would like to see is a fix for the horrible league mode
- believable and realistic outcomes for cpu matches
- more statistics on players and team for the league
- more leagues so you can actually move up from a 2nd league into the first
- realistic uefa-cup and champions league competitions for league play
- the ability to switch control so you can play a league with 2 ppl like in PES6
some menues that dont suck would also be nice, and when chances are replayed you should see the player names like in PES6
what a would like to see:
yout ma’s flaps
More injuries to players and more realistic scorelines between cpu matches. Why is 1-0 the most common scoreline in PES2008. I have never seen a scoreline bigger than 3-0. Very unrealistic especially when i’m beating teams 4-3 and 5-2 every game on the hardest setting.
how do u load my team onto my friends game