Interfering With Play 04/03/08
Posted by Dan Bolas in Interfering With Play on Tue 04 Mar 2008
Welcome to this week’s Interfering With Play. More so than ever this week, I feel like I have spent a great deal of time reading, writing and having conversations about the state of PES2008. The Seabass letter, now completed is being sent today, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the hundreds of people who have been any way involved with its compilation. I have featured a slight section about it in this weeks Interfering With Play, but am hoping the next time it is discussed, it will be with regards to a Seabass response. With that said, let’s get going.
The Seabass Letter
As was expected following the posting of this letter on PESGaming.com, many people seemed to air their views about the style of writing, and in some cases the points that have been featured. I am well aware that some people are very annoyed with this years Pro Evolution Soccer offering, especially it being the first multi format next generation release, and would have preferred a much more aggressively written letter. I have tried to get the general opinions of the game, coupled with an overall overlook from the PESGaming.com community. Seabass himself knows issues such as lag and online play are far from acceptable, and doesn’t need another rant or even over critical e-mail landing in his inbox, fresh for deleting. For all those who are infuriated and downright hate the new PES, there are many who are still playing the game, and many who feel it needs tweaks more than complete overhauls. At any given time, my friend’s list will feature at least 2 people playing Pro Evolution Soccer, be it 9 am or 11pm, and I personally have had a number of multiplayer evenings and spent a good couple of hundred hours playing the game. Yes, it is frustrating it’s not a better game, but Seabass has come out saying PES2009 will be a complete overhaul, and knows what is wrong with the fundamentals. I have tried to write it from a point of view, which reflects conversations, comments and e-mails I have received, and hopefully have constructed a letter than will give Konami and Seabass food for thought.
“I Can See Us Holding Hands…”
For mother’s day, I bought my mother a Nintendo DS with Brain Training, thinking it would be a nice change from the regular perfume and chocolates that have been given pretty much every year! Since then, I have played Brain Training regularly and find it an excellent novelty idea, even though it doesn’t really class as a computer game in my eyes. It is aimed entirely at the casual gaming market, an area which Nintendo have pretty much sewn up over the past 18 months, and a market that will either get tired of the trend and disappear altogether, or will begin to find the majority of the hardware’s titles unfulfilling and move on to the more intense Sony or Microsoft gaming experiences. But since looking at the DS as an overall product, I am shocked it has received so much acclaim and success ahead of the Sony PSP, a product that I have owned for the past 3 years. The DS has a touch screen, which can be very appealing to none gamers or for certain game types and a limited Wi-Fi chat ability. Compare this with the PSP, a system that allows MP3 and Video play back, full Internet Browsing and Internet Radio via Wi-Fi, the ability to connect a Camera and Microphone for video chat, and a much clearer screen, with familiar Sony controls. Couple the above with the ability to download classic PS One games onto the handheld from the PS3, and a gaming catalogue featuring a wide variety of established classic titles, such as Worms, Grand Theft Auto, Crazy Taxi, Pro Evolution Soccer, Metal Gear Solid, Football Manager and Tomb Raider and you have what is seemingly a winning formula. Even the price of the PSP is very reasonable, retailing in similar fields to the DS. Have I missed something amongst gamers that the PSP is a poor piece of hardware? Is it due to its slightly bulky size, a problem that is more apparent with so many modern day gadgets ‘slimming down’? Or has is just been completely missed by the gaming community? As I said, I am a proud owner of the system, and would highly recommend it to anyone. The ability of playing Football Manager on your lunch break or Pro Evolution Soccer on the way home from work is too good to miss, and it works well as an MP3 Hi-Fi or watching downloaded videos! Any comments about the system, as always are very much welcomed.
Handbags And Glad Rags
Just a quick point regarding Frank Lampard’s sending off at West Ham on Saturday. Throughout this season, there have been a number of horrendous, dangerous and downright dirty challenges performed by Premier League stars that have gone unpunished, or in some cases received cautions. Both Lampard and West Ham’s Luis Boa Morte were up for the contest, the former due to his early days with the hammers whilst the latter had been involved in skirmishes at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season. Lampard did rake his studs over the back of Boa Morte, and the Portuguese kicked out at the Chelsea man, which probably should have seen both receive the same punishment. A yellow card for that incident would have clamed down what was turning into a fiery encounter, and kept meant that Chelsea kept there full contingent on the pitch. The referee could have applied some common sense, as opposed to wanting to make a name for himself as ‘The Man who sent Lampard off at Upton Park”. In the context of the challenge, with Dirk Kuyt’s kung fu kick vs. Everton, Joe Coles horrible Achilles lunge against Man United or even Makelele going over the top on Faubert later in the same match, the skirmish was a non event, and wasn’t even worthy of being a talking point. Neither Boa Morte or Lampard were in danger of being out due to serious injury as a result of the incident, and the FA need to concentrate more on cutting out the tackles that are going to, sooner or later end someone’s career.
The King Is Dead
I have refrained from making too many comments regarding Newcastle United over the past few weeks, as I don’t want to be seen as picking on a club I grew up loving to watch. However, there is no denying they are in a lot of trouble. Yes, they have had some difficult games, and the next few weeks will see them up against fellow strugglers, but for another season, the Geordies are going to have a trophy less season, and will definitely not being playing in the UEFA cup next term. The honeymoon period, if you can call it that was cut short, and Keegan has proven himself inept tactically once again, being unable to close off games or in a lot of cases play the kind of attacking football his side used to be renowned for. He was unable to convince Jonathon Woodgate to return to St. James Park, and will be relying on his reputation, not potential in order to make a go of it in the Summer Transfer window. He has a squad, which is not his fault that is full of players who were not good enough to play in the Top Four teams and has struggled to motivate them in the same way other managers could have done. But unfortunately, the problems stem much deeper than that. Take the example of Everton. David Moyes was brought in as a manager with a great deal of potential, and wasn’t given a great deal of money to start with. He took over an aging squad with few real stars, and a handful of youngsters waiting in the wings. As a result, he struggled to get a start in the league, and found his side struggling in relegation. Instead of panicking, the board backed him, stuck by him and supported him. He has worked things his way, bringing in young players from lower leagues that are hungry for success, and coupled them with hard working seasoned professionals that have the experience to get them through the more scrappy games. This has meant he has been able to attract genuinely top players, such as Yakubu and Arteta, without breaking the bank or gambling too much. When a player has stepped out of line, for example former Inter Milan star Andy Van der Meyde, he has thrown the book at them as if they were a 17 year old on their first day of training, and not allowed himself to be pushed around by wantaway stars. At the start of this season, Sam Allardyce told Newcastle he had a three to five year plan to make the club a top force, and got until December. It would be just desserts if Newcastle were to end up relegated this year, as a benchmark that sometimes belief and loyalty should still stand for something in this countries football, because it does at Goodison Park.
That’s all I have time for this week, mainly as I am just about to sit down and watch the Champions League. Many thanks for everyone’s contributions over the past few months as to regards the Seabass Letter, lets hope we get a response, and it results in the best PES game ever in 9 months time. Comments about anything you have read here will be gratefully received, along with e-mails at danbolas@hotmail.com
Thanks for Reading
Good read once again Dan,
What Champions League game did you watch?
Down with the Derby, Newcastles going down with the Derby, Down with the Deeeeerrrrby!!!
I have had my PSP for 3yrs as well Dan and can’t work out why it gets such a slagging either. I bought a DS last year to see what all the fuss was about and sure its fun for a little bit but it lacked longevity I thought. Ended up trading it in for some PSP games!!! ;)
Have you (or anyone) played the new PES on PSP yet? Its meant to be the best version of 2008 from what I’ve read! Can someone confirm this??
Played (Sorry - I tried playing) PES on PS3 online last night. First time in ages. It is So dissapointing. Again has anybody got the PS2 version? Does it play better online? If so I think I might swap to that version!
Hi Dan,
I fully agree with your comments about the PSP. I have had the PSP for over a year now and I really think it’s a great piece of hardware.
On holidays, it was great to follow the news in my country, watch some movies, listen to music and play either PES6 or Tekken. I just ordered PES2008 with Play.com as I heard that this game is great on the PSP this year.
Once I have received the PSP version of PES2008, I will let you know what I think.
- Jasperinho
Desserts… that made me chuckle. You can’t really compare Moyes to Alladyce, though. It’s two completely different situations. Alladyce was NOT the man Mort/Ashley wanted. He had been appointed a couple of weeks before they bought the club. They could have, if they had wanted, sacked him there and then, but they stuck with him for 6 months. No one knows what happened behind the scenes, but clearly on the field of play Alladyce was not playing the football which Mort/Ashley and paid for. You can say Alladyce picked up plenty points etc but if you look at how they were obtained, you would see there were many last minute winners or equalisers.
Keegan isn’t tactically inept. He just doesn’t have his own foundations with which to play yet. But, unlucky others before him, he will get time at the club - assuming he wants it.
Dan
I have to say, that the letter you sent didn’t really represent the many suggestions that we collectively gathered.
There were lots of ideas for various aspects of the game, which you covered every week, which barely got a mention in the letter.
Perhaps sending a follow up email with a full list of all the ideas, in seperate sections that were address by us would be a good idea, as some of them may catch Seasbass’ eye.
But in all honesty, I think we’re only kidding ourselves if we think even one of our suggestions will make the new pes. At least it killed time at work…
I think that Dougiedonut has a point there. I agree that it would be good to attach a lit of categorized requirements (you can use the same categories that you used in your different Interfering With Play posts) as that additional level of detail as an attachment to the letter could be useful for Seabass and his team if they take the letter seriously.
this site is supposed to talk about pro this whole essay he wrote is all about football in the premiership etc this is supposed to be on proe evo not real football…come on sort it out memba y ppl go on this site to talk bout pro not football in general…ass
I got a slim & light PSP a few weeks ago and I have to say it’s a great piece of hardware. I primarily got it for playing games on the move but have since found its controls very awkward, clunky and hard to use…I have therefore been using it mostly to watch movies amd listen to music. I got PES2008 for it today and presentation wise it’s a faithful incarnation of the game we love - but once again it’s the PSP’s controls that makes it so hard to play for me…The lack of R2 buttons really hampers gameplay and I just cannot get used to the tiny analogue stick! But I’ll persevere with it and hopefully I’ll e able to get the hang of it. What does everyone else think of the PSP’s control system compared to a conventional controller? And is it better to use the d-pad? One ast point is that I cannot see why Sony didn’t put Bluetooth into the PSP but all in all it’s a sweet handheld.
u need to get GOD OF WAR on the psp…its great.not out in england untill 28th this month but if u can dnwload it..its a great buy on tht!!
Mr. Bolas,
You don’t have anything to worry about, regarding the tone you used in the Seabass Letter. I don’t think that being more aggressive would have helped getting to him. As you said, he is well aware of the fundamental problems with PES 2008. He himself admitted that he was dissatisfied with the game, so he already knows where he wants to take PES. Also your genuinely respectful tone is more open to conversation, and that’s what we are hoping for. However, I am somewhat skeptical about the letter. Will he really get it? I have followed the development of the letter, and although I did not contribute to its making by emailing my ideas, I have followed Interfering With Play with a lot of interest when you first advanced the idea of a Seabass Letter. But I can’t seem to track back when you first brought it up. I believe you claimed to have his email or that of an insider at Konami who would be able to forward it to him. I know I was convinced because I religiously visited PesGaming to follow the letter’s progress. Not to sound defiant, but could you remind me or anyone who have their doubts why we should believe that this letter will reach the creator of PES? Thank you for writing this wonderful column. I hope to continue reading it for as long as you want to keep it going.
I’ve been playing Fifa08 since returning my copy of PES2008 back in November. I decided that it was time to take back FIFA & again return to PES in the hope that my initial outrage had calmed and I had got over my immense shock at the state of my favourite game. Without PESGaming.Com I would never have considered going back to PES2008, so, in my humble opinion, I would like to think that Konami and Seabass would give your letter what it deserves and take note of it’s points, as you are clearly dedicated and passionate about the game.
I have to say that I am still in shock at the state of PES2008. It’s just so fast and unrealistic. I remember why PES was the game for me over FIFA. Game play, pass and move, build up play, even to an extent, defending. All of those things are now lost in PES. You tackle, you get sent off, you pass, you wait for the idiot AI to make a run, you try to build up play, you realise you may as well just run straight down the middle of the pitch. All of those elements have been, slowly over the years, implemented in FIFA, yes the response is a little sluggish, I agree that the goal scoring isn’t as fulfilling, but, the build play possible, tactical element and overall presentation kicks PES’s arse.
I will stick with PES this time, mainly due to the fact that I am playing other games, but, also due to the fact that season upon season it would seem I become less and less interested in football, it’s becoming WWE. If what I am hearing is correct, (that Seabass rumour) PES2009 will not hit stores until late 2009, I suspect there may well be another developer in the ring producing a new footy title for us to write about (TIF HD anyone!).
P.S.
Please do not claim to have heard “industry source rumours” on the above paragraph, you know who you are!