I’ve been covering Pro Evolution Soccer online for the past 6 years now and Konami can be pretty predictable - so here are my best educated guesses for what we are likely to see.
PES 2009 WILL BE RELEASED IN OCTOBER
Forget all the rumours you may have heard about there being no Pro Evolution Soccer until next year, PES 2009 will be released in Europe during October 2008.
England League TEAMS WILL NOT BE EDITABLE
I think this is something that has been coming for a while. For the past few years the England League has been getting on Konami’s back more and more about the Option Files that end up floating around the web and, more importantly, eBay. I dare say EA are not too happy about it either given there ‘exclusive’ deal. So I think it’s quite likely that PES 2009 the kits, at least, will be locked down for the England League teams.
THERE WILL BE ONLY TWO LICENSED England League TEAMS
At most! Konami have to buy these licenses individually from the clubs, and I believe they are allowed a maximum of 2… until the ‘exclusive’ deal EA has with the England League expires in 2010 when the rights will be up for grabs again. Don’t be surprised if the licensed teams are Everton and Aston Villa.
PENDULUM WILL PERFORM THE INTRO MUSIC
PES 2008’s choice of music was questionable to say the least. I don’t have a problem with choosing the Kaiser Chiefs, but the song just didn’t work. Something with a bit more kick to it will be introduced for PES 2009. Pendulum, best known for their hits ‘Granite‘ and ‘Slam‘, have already had their music appear in Motorstorm on the PS3 and Dance Dance Revolution Universe on XBox 360.
ONLINE MODES WILL BE IMPROVED
This goes without saying. Konami know that unless online is ten-times better than it was for PES 2008 that they are in BIG trouble. I expect there will be online leagues, or at least knock-out cup contests, and the lobby system will be modified to be similar to that of PES6.
UNLIMITED AMOUNT OF SAVED REPLAYS
No idea why you can’t do this alread.
MASTER LEAGUE TO FEATURE MORE INTERACTION
They took a step in the right direction with PES 2008 by introducing things like ‘Player speaks about recent form’, but this can, and needs, to be taken a lot further. Around 5 years ago Konami made a joint announcement with SI Games that PES and CM would be joining forces - what the hell happened to that? I don’t see any Football Manager features currently in PES, do you? But for PES 2009 I forsee the ability to interact with players such as praising them for recent performances, resulting in their moral going up. Too much of this though and other players will become disheartend. Newspaper reports linking you to certain players will require a response from you - this will make negotiations with the player in question easier, or harder, depending on how you handle the report.
YOU WILL BE ABLE TO STAND CLOSER FOR THROW-INS
Why can’t you go within 10 yards of a person taking a throw-in at the moment? I think Konami will finally see sense in the new game and allow players to go as close as they like (well, closer than 10 yards anyway!).
REFEREE’S WILL BE MORE INTELLIGENT
I think one of the most disapointing aspects of the PES 2008 gameplay was the fact the referees often spoilt the game. You would see red for a perfectly good tackle, while a last man lunge would be punishable with only yellow. Advantages will be re-introduced properly. They seemed far less realistic in PES 2008 than they did in PES6. Unless I’ve somehow missed it, referee’s won’t go back and book a player after allowing play to continue following a rough challenge. This will be addressed for PES 2009.
FERNANDO TORRES TO BE ON THE COVER
Don’t think I need to elaborate on this one.
