Dude, Football Fans like you really annoy me. Do you really think PACE is more important than SKILL?? Because by that logic, we would have 100s Cristiano Ronaldos by now, myself included.
The modern game?? What about it? You think because is faster it makes pace more important - news flash for you; Cesc Fabregas, Juan Roman Riquelme, Diego, Del Piero, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, John Terry, and many more are (were) SLOW. Truth be told, both Pele and Maradona would make Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka look like amateurs - today. The modern game!! people say it like if it was an improvement. Football has simply changed, it hasn't improved - watch some damn match footage from the 1980s and 1990s, SKILL is and always will be more important than PACE.
And by the way, if you think PES 2008's game play is good.. I feel for you dude, really. The players move in a FIFA-Like way, the Game Play is boring as hell, scoring goals is depressing, Defending is a myth, the online play is ridiculous, the editing modes are useless, the list keeps going and going. And hey, if you like that - That's fine with me, you're the one who'll get scammed time and time again. We moan because PES 2008 is not close to being a good football game, let alone a Next Gen Football Game.