Interfering With Play 11/09/07
Posted by Dan Bolas in Interfering With Play on Tue 11 Sep
Welcome to the weekly column that is Interfering With Play. The last week has seen a lot of positive (and some negative) feedback occur from my most recent ramblings, which is exactly the point of this whole section. If you have anything to say about the issues raised in this area, please leave comments or responses, or you can mail me direct, the address, as always, is at the bottom of the article. So lets crack on.
A Case Of Mistaken Identity
First of all, I would like to end a bit of confusion that seems to surround myself and the owner of PESGaming.com, Peter Willis. Some people believe we are the same person, and Peter is responsible for writing these articles. I am Dan Bolas, my views are completely different from that of Peter Willis’, and I write this column based on my own personal observations about the football and football gaming worlds. This leads me on to the second point, which is the amount of stick Peter has been taking on this site, because he has not been over-praising of the newest version of the Pro Evolution Soccer franchise. In my opinion, PES2008 will be the best ever, however, Peter spends a great deal of his time running and organising a Pro Evolution Soccer website, compiling reports and keeping the public up to date with the latest news about Konami’s franchise. Even if you don’t agree with some of his opinions, they must be respected, because at the end of the day, he is more in the loop than all of us. The last thing I personally want is for PESGAMING.com to become a fan site where the game, no matter how good or poor it is, becomes the law. The fact that after eleven years of creating top notch football games, we are still striving for improvements from a series that year upon year tops the best selling list of all major retailers, implies that not only must Konami be listening to its fan’s, but when push comes to shove, the fans all truly believe in Konami. And again, that is just my opinion, and while people keep seeing the videos and images, they are welcome to express their own.
The Art Of Boxes
The box art was released at a similar time to my last column, and therefore I hardly touched upon it. Two key point’s shine out of it. Firstly, it proves just how much of a great player Cristiano Ronaldo is. Here is a player who after the World Cup in Germany was one of the most hated men in football. The press had doomed him to leaving England, never to return, and been dubbed the reason England were eliminated from the 2006 tournament. I personally hoped he stayed, to see how he dealt with a 50:50 challenge from Joey Barton or a freezing January cup-tie against a lower league side, with 5,000 angry fans abusing him. Just over a year on, he is arguably the best Footballer in the world, had a unbelievable season for United, turning many draws into wins to spearhead their title success, made up with Rooney and is now the poster boy for the latest Konami offering. This can only prove that despite the events in Germany, he still has enough pulling power to draw the crowds in, and that people will buy a product with his face on the front. 12 months ago, I don’t believe the same face would have been on the front cover. Secondly, irrelevant of the above point, I find the box of Pro Evolution Soccer to be as relevant as a Glenn Hoddle team talk, yes its there, but does anyone take any notice. The early Pro Evolution Soccer games featured drawings on the front and a referee covered PES3! While it is always nice to see the new cover art, the realism is it could be a football on the front (as the Championship Manager and Football Manager franchises have proven) and people would still purchase the game. The only time you are going to see the box art is when you’re either in a shop, taking the game out its case or putting it back on the shelf, and from my point of view, the latter isn’t normally too common.
Online Gaming: Present Or Still Far Away
So much has been made of online gaming, and how the next generation consoles have made it as easy as playing against a friend on the same system. A key influence in me purchasing my PS3 the option on not having to pay an annual subscription to play games online, as opposed to the X Box 360’s X Box LIVE option, which is reasonably priced, but could add up over the years. The demon of the demon of the online gaming world however is lag. For those not familiar with the term, it’s a posh way of saying when one computer is running slower than the other, either through the fault of the internet connection or the computer itself, meaning games will play either mind numbingly slow, or eventually crashing all together. Playing online games on my PC, I experienced a great deal of lag from certain players, which really put a nail in my online experience. I believed that online gaming was not an avenue I would be going down for some time, especially for games that require quick decisions to be made, i.e. fighting or football games. Then, I played Warhawk on the PS3. Again, for those who may not be familiar, Warhawk is a combat game, which can only be played in a Multiplayer format, in other words there is no single player option. The game requires you to fight against either other users, or as part of a team against another set of users, using planes, tanks, cars and handheld weapons. Decisions need to be made quickly and the wrong press of a button can leave you lying dead, having let your side down. The game changed my whole opinion of online gaming. With 32 players on the same game all flying around firing weapons and chatting to each other using headsets, there is not a hint of lag, and very rarely does the game disconnect. I would not list this as my genre of game; however there is no denying its online ability is the best I have ever experienced.
I couple this with my online experience of Pro Evolution Soccer, a game I have been playing online since PES4, using my PC. I am fully aware that there are many successful running leagues and competitions that have taken place on PES online, however my experiences have featured far too much lag, causing match-changing incidents. The final straw of this came on PES6 for PC, when 1-0 up with five minutes to go I saw the game freeze, only to resume with me level at 1-1. Following the kick off, I passed the ball to my centre back, the game froze again, and when it resumed a replay was showing of my goalkeeper running the ball into his net! I do not have a slow PC, and have an exceptionally quick Internet line, which frustrated me even more so. I appreciate that people have slower connections than my own, which brings me to the point, where is online gaming heading. Warhawk has shown signs that even at this premature stage, online games can be both fun, and work seamlessly. Does this mean there should be a minimum connection speed for online games, should people with less than a certain line speed not allowed to access online gaming functions? Should the same be said about people with certain PC’s, with only certain processor speeds being allowed to access multiplayer games online?
This brings me to my third point on this section, one on one play for PES2008. Personally, I feel this is a very smart move from Konami. Only having two systems (either consoles or Pc’s) in the game will defiantly reduce the chances of lag, and from my experience playing 2 on 1 online is a lot less enjoyable than pitting your wits against another individual. The option to set up leagues involving all your mates would be a very welcome one, and being able to run competitions would defiantly make a really buzzing online community, with features such as cup winners cups, or even first round loser tournaments.
The Whole 10 on 10 Yards
Following from the last section, it is reported that Fifa 2008 is going to have the option of 10 on 10 online play. There is no doubt this is a great addition to any game, but my point is again, like most things EA Sports tend to do, it will end up slightly half hearted.
On PES6 one the PS3, my Saturday night could feature seven mates and two multi-taps’, 8 controllers a PS2. We would play fix mode (where we all control one player), leaving the GK and the full backs controlled by the AI, and would enter on a Top Player Champions League, featuring only the best sides. I seriously recommend if you have not tried this experience, to do so as soon as you can get your mates together. You get the feeling of a real team spirit, working for each other and not wanting to let the side down. There have been drinks thrown over players who have cost us goals, personal bets as who would finish the top scorer and the large amount of cheers or whistles every time a step over or spin worked. This is what I believe the 10 on 10 mode will become.
It is surely the future, which so many RPG’s and programmes such as Second Life have proved, an online football game will be developed. There will be clubs with an individual responsible for managing the side. Players, whose abilities will be reflected by their online performances in mini games, which can be transferred between clubs and compete in online matches. There will be leagues, resulting in Champion’s League-like tournaments and there will be awards for truly skilled defenders, great goal scorers and even best managers. The possibilities for this kind of game are endless, with the options for sponsorship and for many people to live the dream of being a professional footballer, albeit in an online world. This is where I believe football gaming is heading (and the new Football Manager, Football Manager Live, is the first step).
However, whether it is Konami, EA Sports or a completely different developer, I feel this option is a long way off. I will play the 10 on 10 version of Fifa 08 at some point no doubt, but for me, this is not a selling point to a game, because if done well, it should be a game within itself, not some add on, which is the way EA Sports seem to be treating it.
Again, I have gone on a great deal this week, and have failed to touch on a couple of points, which I will bring up next week. One final thing, if you are looking for a next gen sports game to keep you occupied until PES 2008, I highly recommend NBA 2K7 by 2K sports. It is quite low in price at the moment (due to the next version being released the same day as Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, 26th October) but it is most entertaining, and features some concepts, both online and offline to make both EA Sports and Konami jealous.
As I said above, any comments, complaints or general musings from what I have wrote are welcome in the form of a response to this article, or via e-mail at danbolas@hotmail.com. If you’re a Warhawk gamer and you fancy a game, my username is TheBolder, so feel free to add me to your PS3 buddies.
Thanks For Reading
A great read, props for mentioning the PES of the basketball world.
holy hell! 8 of you playing fix? i love that mode and could only dream of that!
anyways back on point.
very well writted and a great read. i really agree with all your point on the front cover. infact i would struggle to name the people on it and i have bought everyone of the games in the series!
Trust me mate, there is no feeling like when ur mate, who is playing as Cannavaro tried to turn the centre forward, only to cost your team a goal in the 86th minute, costing us the match and our place in the knockout stages. Its great fun!
nice post, but not very well informed. Fifa is not 10 v 10, just 5v5.
PES6 lagged even with one on one on the 360, so i wouldnt expect them to try increase this. Online feature were primative. FIFa 07 was seemless online 99% of the time. the only thing PES beats FIFA at is gameplay (which i know is most important) however it doesnt take much effort to improve presentation, online experience, licences, commentary etc, Its the best selling footy game ever, so what they spending their money on? :)
Not wishing to slate PES as im hoping its awesome, but all points towards a let down. where are the official vids? everything is being kept far too secretive, they need to wip up a storm as fifa is dominating the press and websites.
hope PES pulls it out of the bag this time.
A true legend of a game. The graphics look amazing and ive seen videos on youtube and the game flows so well.