Soccer posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Konami extremely confident in PES 2010, ships 3 million to Europe

by David Hinkle { Oct 24th 2009 at 12:00AM }

Look, we know you Europeans love your ~~soccer~~ football, but GI.biz is reporting that Konami has shipped three million copies of PES 2010 to the region today. Three million -- that's like Halo 3 numbers, people!

While we're willing to bet you Euros are chomping at the bit for more pitch play, we're curious if PES 2010 needs such a hefty initial shipment -- especially since FIFA 10 has been out and selling really well. Have footy fans had their needs fulfilled? Apparently not, since Konami expects the game to "become a million-selling title at launch."

"Global sales for the PES series to date are over 55.5 million, and we expect a very strong performance from what is easily the best PES in a long, long time," says Martin Schneider, Konami's European marketing director. He credits the rise in quality and buzz to the latest iteration to the fans, whom he expects to stick around as Konami starts charging toward DLC for the game.

Konami 'aggressively' looking into motion control for PES series

by Griffin McElroy { Oct 5th 2009 at 1:00PM }

Shingo Takatsuka, the progenitor of the long-running Pro Evolution Soccer series, recently had a few choice words to share with IGN on the subject of incorporating motion control into the franchise. Though the producer of that other soccer game has stated his indifference to motion control schemes, Takatsuka explained Konami is highly intrigued by Project Natal and the heretofore "officially" unnamed PlayStation Motion Controller -- intrigued to the extent that he's "looking at integrating those devices into our games very aggressively."

As we all know, soccer is the most fatiguing activity any human can participate in, so we expect that a Natal-ized version of PES would be appropriately taxing. However, given the sport's limited employment of hands, we'd be curious to see how Sony's motion-sensing peripheral would be utilized. There are few pieces of gaming hardware we'd outright refuse to give a fair shot, but shoe adapters might just be beyond our capacity for humiliation.

EA Sports: 'How big can football get?' Us: 'Pretty big, we guess?'

by Ben Gilbert { Sep 21st 2009 at 7:30PM }

Showing the far reaching effects of football ("soccer" for us Americans) fandom in a succinct two minute video, EA Sports asks UK residents in its latest ad for FIFA 10, "How big can football get?" From the looks of the insanity in the commercial (found after the break), we're going out on a limb here and saying, "Substantially large." Would you care to up that wager with a "significantly enormous?" Maybe a "demonstrably massive?"

Gallery: FIFA 10 (360/PS3)

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FIFA 10 demo up on XBLM (except for you, America)

by Alexander Sliwinski { Sep 10th 2009 at 1:00PM }

Imagine our excitement upon seeing Major Nelson announce that the demo for footy fiesta FIFA 10 was available on XBLM. Now, imagine our excitement being boiled like a Fatal Attraction bunny as we discovered the demo wasn't available in Japan ... or North America. That's outrageous! We live and breathe for the sport!

Apparently, the excluded regions will have to wait before taking their linebacker down the field and scoring a run in the other guy's hoop. The whole thing makes us want to scream like an athlete on an EA Sports cover.

Gallery: FIFA 10 (360/PS3)

Here's a beautiful FIFA 10 trailer from GamesCom

by Ben Gilbert { Aug 19th 2009 at 1:15PM }

We may not know much about the athletes on the various covers of FIFA 10, but we do know that this trailer looks damn impressive. In fairness, the game often looks rather stunning, but the sizzle reel that EA has whipped up for GamesCom (found after the break) is specifically meant to show off the game to its most active market -- which certainly comes through in production quality. Though we don't watch a ton of sports (and we play even less) we're legitimately looking forward to EA's next entry in the FIFA series, set to release this October.

Gallery: FIFA 10 (360/PS3)

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EA reveals UK lovefest with FIFA 10 cover athletes

by Ben Gilbert { Aug 6th 2009 at 2:00AM }

We've been known to dabble in a FIFA game from time to time, though cover athletes aren't really our forte, if you will. Rather than address our ignorance dead-on, we'll simply tell you that Frank Lampard of Chelsea, Theo Walcott of Arsenal and Wayne Rooney of Manchester United are donning the cover of this year's footballer.

Believe it or not, the game will feature more than just players from English teams. (Yes, we're just as shocked as you by that possibility.) The game is set to land in the UK on October 2, and Amazon and GameStop are putting the game's US release on October 20th.

Gallery: FIFA 10 (360/PS3)

FIFA 10 hits the pitch October 2 in the UK

by David Hinkle { Jul 15th 2009 at 1:35PM }

MCV confirmed with EA that its latest entry in the long-standing soccer franchise, FIFA 10, will arrive at UK retailers on October 2. There's no mention of a release date for North America, so we've put in word to EA to see just when we Yanks will receive the game. We'll be sure to update you as soon as we hear back.

SCEE renews UEFA sponsorship to last until 2012

by Majed Athab { Jun 16th 2009 at 3:45PM }

According to MCV, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has renewed its contract to continue sponsoring the UEFA Champions League until 2012. SCEE has been with the European football league for over nine years, bringing PlayStation products to footy fans.

For all the Americans reading this, wondering: wait, they play football in Europe?, here's a little clip to get you up to speed. Oh, that football.

[Via VG247]

Hands-on: Academy of Champions

by Kevin Kelly { Jun 13th 2009 at 11:30AM }

Ah, soccer ... the sport of kings. Oh, wait. That's chess. Or maybe that's the game of kings. Anyhow, we're talking about soccer. Well, soccer here in America, "football" to the rest of the known world. Ubisoft has a new soccer game coming out for the Wii called Academy of Champions, and despite the awkward combination of Pele (a legend) and Joel McHale (a goofball) at Ubisoft's E3 presser, the game is actually fun. Especially when you're playing with friends.

You can see new screenshots from the game below before heading beyond the break to read our hands-on and see the new trailer for Academy of Champions. It's a bit like a Hogwart's for soccer, except without all the death and killing and such. But is there magic? Oh yes ... you can actually play as Sam Fisher in full-stealth mode. Find out more inside.

Gallery: Academy of Champions

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Ubisoft to answer the question of how MotionPlus-enhanced soccer works

by JC Fletcher { May 20th 2009 at 4:30PM }

The MotionPlus peripheral provides more fine-grained motion recognition for hand movements. The defining characteristic of soccer is that the hands are not used. With that in mind, we can't wait to see how the new Academy of Champions arcade soccer game is going to make use of the device. It also supports the Balance Board, but that's a lot easier to figure out.

Academy of Champions is a new Wii soccer game that will feature soccer stars Pelé and Mia Hamm, as well as that kid with the weird-looking face. The game features a "rich, story-driven adventure" taking place in a fictitious soccer-centered school. Players "improve their skills, recruit new team members and build the best possible squad," making the game sound rather like a soccer-themed RPG (which isn't that outlandish).

Gallery: Academy of Champions

UK chart get: Wii Fit still on top, FIFA 09 takes 2nd spot

by David Hinkle { May 18th 2009 at 4:00PM }

Wii Fit has been selling extremely well, taking the top spot for the seventh week in a row, Chart-Track data shows. In fact, a record of nine weeks in a row was set by Who Wants to be a Millionaire (no platforms mentioned), and Nintendo's Balance Board bundle is on pace to tie that record should it frequent the top spot for the next two weeks.

Unsurprisingly, ~~soccer~~ football game FIFA 09 managed to take the second spot, pushing last week's second place holder, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, down to third. Interesting to note is the inclusion of Battlestations: Pacific on the list. The game only released in the UK last week for Xbox 360 and PC, and managed to win the battle for last place, taking up the tenth spot.

PES 2009 trailer includes footage of 'digital soccer'

by Xav de Matos { Mar 31st 2009 at 12:00AM }

Whether you're a fan or not, soccer is the world's most popular sport. So, for a console that has seen a lot of success from sports games, the Wii is probably going to see some frantic action in the sales department for Pro Evolution Soccer 2009! Well, maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Joking aside, the latest trailer and word around the campfire points to Konami hitting the nail on the head with another great installment of the soccer franchise for the Wii. Interested? Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is in stores now.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 scores with fresh media, screens, trailer

by Chris Greenhough { Oct 10th 2008 at 6:13PM }

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 makes its western debut next week on most consoles, but Wii owners will have to wait a little longer -- like last year, the Wii iteration of PES 2009 will be released next spring.

Better news: it'll be keeping the same point-and-drag system that proved such a hit, and adding a few frills. There'll be a "new defensive system" in place (or: holding "Z" now sends your nearest player towards the man in possession), a fully licensed UEFA Champions League tournament, and a co-op mode which supports the Classic Controller. Even betterer news: it's PES. If you care one iota about soccer, you should care about PES.

Hit up the gallery for the first Wii screens, including shots of cover star Lionel Messi, "savior" of U.S. soccer David Beckham, and lots of screens of Manchester United, a.k.a. the Greatest Soccer Team in the Woooorld.

Gallery: Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2009

[Via press release]

Level-5 releases first Inazuma Eleven Break screens, still refuses to reveal platform

by JC Fletcher { Sep 26th 2008 at 2:30PM }

Professor Layton/Dragon Quest IX developers Level-5 held their "Level-5 Vision 2008" event this week, revealing new games for PSP, DS, and mobile phones, as well as the previously announced Inazuma Eleven Break, a spinoff of their DS soccer-RPG series. For some reason, they didn't specify what platform Inazuma Eleven Break was to be released on.

We find this odd -- and we're continuing to write here about this unknown-platform game -- because these screens look very Wii-like. It could be a very cheap 360/PS3 game, maybe, or a really nice-looking PS2 game. Maybe it is Wii, but they don't want to go into details yet, because they want to spring a "Surprise! It's WiiWare!" on us. In any case, we shouldn't expect news on Inazuma Eleven Break's platform until 2009, according to Level-5.

Supergrafx game leads Japanese Virtual Console lineup for October

by JC Fletcher { Sep 26th 2008 at 12:38PM }

Surprise! A new system is being added to the Japanese Virtual Console lineup -- the NEC SuperGrafx! Except Nintendo and Hudson aren't treating it like a new system, and are instead treating SuperGrafx games as 800-point PC Engine games, with no other indication of the system of origin. The lack of fanfare may be related to the fact that the whole released SuperGrafx library is seven games. In October, what may be the best-known SuperGrafx game, a quite good version of Ghouls 'n Ghosts, will be available for download.

Also good news: another Kunio sports game, known in the US as Nintendo World Cup; Castlevania II, a year after the US got it; and Enduro Racer (yay!). The full list is posted after the break!

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