Zygalski
Administrator
Interview with the maker of PES/WE games:
ThomasGOAL said:
During our trip to Tokyo, we were lucky enough to sit down with Shingo “Seabass” Takatsuka, the producer for Winning Eleven 9 for his first ever US interview.
Game Informer: Now this is the fourth iteration of the title to be released in North America. Can you talk about some of the new additions you’ve added to the game?
Takatsuka: Well from Winning Eleven 7 to Winning Eleven 8 you probably noticed a lot of the differences right off with the graphics because we enhanced the graphic part of the game at that time. This time from Winning Eleven 8 to 9, actually we couldn’t do that much enhancements in terms of graphics because of the hardware spec limits of the PlayStation 2.
However, what we can assure you of is that we spent more time brushing up on the AI, and we took a lot of time with this and made some really wonderful enhancements. Frankly, our games reputation is basically - the core part, the game part – in the first place so we’re really satisfied with the AI improvement we did this time.
GI: After playing the Japanese version the game seemed even more difficult. Do you agree with that?
Takatsuka: Well yes, you are right. Maybe what you felt with the difficulty is correct. When you play with your friends maybe you’ll have a different impression. Maybe you’ll have a little bit different experience and a little bit more fun. But, actually, yes, I think it’s easy to say we made it a little more difficult than the previous version.
GI: The difficulty is good by the way.
Takatsuka: I’m not sure about that. (laughs)
GI: Well, I think it’s more fun with my friends because I’m better than they are since I play against the computer. (laughs)
Takatsuka: I’m not satisfied with Winning Eleven 9 this time.
GI: Why?
Takatsuka: I had a good reputation as a very strong player, but with Winning Eleven 9 I can’t win as much as I used to. (laughs) So I’m not satisfied.
GI: You added a second striker to the game. What was the reasoning behind that decision and are you happy with how it turned out?
Takatsuka: Well we of course watched and acknowledged in real soccer there are many types of forwards and attackers existing in the real world. Some players are strikers - purely scoring goals. Some players just try to create space or good last passers. Since Winning Eleven always pursues creating the most realistic soccer game, we added the second striker to add characteristics. If we just had a forward and attacker as we previously had, and if that attacker doesn’t score or is a good last passer, it doesn’t look real when users play our game. That’s what we thought adding this would solve – becoming one step closer to the real game.
GI: Obviously the Xbox in Japan isn’t very strong yet, and Winning Eleven is pretty much strictly PS2 here. Do you have any problems porting the game over to Xbox, and how do you like working with the Xbox hardware?
Takatsuka: Well, as I said with the PS2 we have run into graphic limitations. But if we used the Xbox as the main machine, we could go even further. So as a pure R&D point of view, we would like to work with Xbox as our main console in that aspect. However, we cannot say the same with business and political issues. As you said, Xbox is not successful in Japan and is not as successful in other countries as well. We basically do not think about which platform. It could be Xbox, it could be PS2, or PC. We really don’t care about the platform itself. We try to do multiplatform because there are needs there. Finally, we have our R&D teams set up so that we can do it this way. So it doesn’t really matter whether it’s for the PS2 or Xbox – we’re ready if the market is there. If we can do it, we’d really like to do it on all platforms.
GI: In Japan you’ve got a Nippon Challenge Mode in Winning Eleven 9, and you play as Japan. How are you going to change this mode for the North American and European release?
Takatsuka: Unfortunately, this is for Japan only. We do feel there is a need for the North American version and European version in the near future. Due to timing and limited space of the hardware, it was quite difficult. Maybe in the next generation of platforms there will be plenty of space. And we feel the need from the North American and European users as well. So we think we can get Nippon Challenge Mode in there. Also at the same time, we are trying to find and create space for the PS2 version as well. Currently, Nippon Challenge Mode is only for Japan.
GI: It’s a very cool mode and I like it a lot. That’s too bad.
Takatsuka: Well, especially for Europe it’s particularly difficult because there are so many countries in Europe. For the U.S. it’s only one country. It would be much easier to introduce that mode for the U.S. version.
GI: That’s not saying I’d only want to play as the U.S.. I might want to play as a European club, or basically anyone.
Takatsuka: (laughs) You’d rather change your national team?
GI: I’d like the option. It would be fun to play as anyone. So you said you’d like to do that for a future version. Would there be another version of the game coming out before the World Cup begins next year?
Takatsuka: It’s quite difficult to say that we’ll bring another version of the game out before the tournament because the US version is coming out in February or March. That already is really close to the June 2006 beginning of the tournament.
GI: Can you talk a little bit about the connectivity between the PS2 version and the PSP version, and how will this translate to the North American and European versions?
Takatsuka: Our near future goal is to have an exchange of data back and forth between the PS2 version and the PSP version with the edit data – the player names, uniforms, the flags you made, stadium names. But sadly this time it only goes one way, meaning the PSP version can only import the PS2 edit data.
The reason why we can’t do this back from the PSP version is mainly because of the media that the PSP uses. The PSP uses the memory stick and the PS2 doesn’t. In the future, like with PS3, that media will be united and then this will be possible.
GI: Are you pleased with how the PSP version turned out?
Takatsuka: Yes, it turned out better than I thought it would in the beginning with the alpha. In the early versions of the game it was slow and really awful, and I had some concerns about it. But the final one is much better, and I have much confidence in it. I thank my team for working hard on it and making it happen.
GI: What feature sets won’t make it over from the PS2 version of Winning Eleven 9 into the PSP version?
Takatsuka: The master league mode, and the Nippon Challenge Mode . Those won’t be in the PSP version. That’s because it’s the first version on the PSP, and we mainly focused on the ability to play with your friends. Therefore we did tune it gameplay-wise for the PSP, as well.
GI: There was talk about a Nintendo DS version of Winning Eleven. Can you say anything about that?
Takatsuka: Actually I’m not allowed to say anything about that version. It’s difficult. I won’t say we won’t be doing it. I can’t say we are doing it. I can’t say anything definite right now. But I do really like the hardware.
GI: Hypothetically, if you were to make a DS version, what kind of DS features would you like to utilize for a Winning Eleven game?
Takatsuka: One idea is using the top screen for playing the game, and on the bottom screen you’d use the touch screen to manage strategy. That would be a realistic design move. But maybe that would be too much towards simulation, and Winning Eleven is an action sports game. Maybe that’s not a good idea on second thought. But the hardware itself is great, and maybe we could do a more action oriented title for it.
GI: We were very happy to hear the announcement of Winning Eleven for the Xbox 360. How far in development is the game, and what do you think of the hardware?
Takatsuka: It’s the same as Xbox. The architecture of the machine itself and the development structure is as close to the PC as Microsoft always has been. For us, it’s quite good because we can do the development easier than completely new hardware that we’ve never seen before. At the same time we do have a great amount of pressure because – well, we’re pretty satisfied with the specs of the 360 and what it can do – however, we feel a great pressure to live up to the demands of the users and what they are imagining they can see on the 360.
GI: What’s going to happen when you get to Winning Eleven 11? Are you going to do a special version of the game? Any early thoughts in your head?
Takatsuka: If you’re talking about the name, yeah we did joke about the idea of it. (laughs) We might do Winning Eleven ², or something like that. We understand the sound of “Winning Eleven 11” is quite strange. We haven’t really talked in much detail about what we’ll do in terms of gameplay. But we’ll think of something.
We had never officially been asked this question. But it’s been a big joke with the team for about two years. (laughs)
GI: What do you think of the FIFA games, and is there any chance in our lifetime that we’ll see Konami get their hands on the FIFA license.
Takatsuka: My overall feeling with the games that EA creates is that the graphics and the look of the games are really great. However, if you look at the gameplay and then look at real soccer, there’s a lack of individual stance, individual movement of each player, and strategy. It’s just really not that in depth in representing the actual beautiful game. We pretty much feel that that part is not very well constructed. However, the sound, the graphics, and the overall atmosphere is really wonderful. We have a lot to learn about that aspect. So we really don’t look lightly at EA’s games.
Concerning your question about the license of FIFA, we’re always actively trying to get any opportunity, and we’re always trying to improve our license aspect. We cannot promise you right now, but you can never tell. We will be working hard on this.
-Billy Berghamme
