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Konami 'aggressively' looking into motion control for PES series
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Oct 5th 2009 at 1:00PM } 
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.
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.
[Via press release]
PES 2009 demo hits Europe this week
by Majed Athab { Sep 29th 2008 at 11:15AM }
PS3 Fanboy hands-on: Pro Evolution Soccer 2009
by Majed Athab { Sep 17th 2008 at 7:30PM }
Getting right into the footy action, we chose which countries were going to duke it out and then proceeded to pick our sides. Interestingly, PES 2009 makes good use of the PS3's maximum number of controller ports -- which is seven. That means seven people can play a match offline at the same time. Moving onto the gameplay, in general, it's solid as usual. The ball doesn't gravitate to a player's feet and contains some of the most realistic physics for ball movement. Speaking of physics, player motions are some of the best to be seen in the series. They're incredibly lifelike, making such visuals as dribbling fun to watch (and fun to control); bone-cracking tackles can look pretty sick both in a good (realistic) and a bad (makes you pity the player) way.
Gallery: Pro Evolution Soccer 2009
Another lengthy wait for next Pro Evolution Soccer
by Chris Greenhough { Aug 1st 2008 at 1:49PM }
Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 on the Wii was released some five months after other versions enjoyed their worldwide debut, and that won't be changing for the 2009 update. While the Xbox 360, and PlayStation editions will launch this fall in Europe, "Spring 2009" is officially the launch window for the Wii game, making it that rarest of things: a sports title with the correct year on the front of the box. It'll also be fronted by Barcelona and Argentina star Lionel Messi (above).
Even a five-month wait is worth the hassle, for PES 2008 on the Wii turned out to be an admirable and unique soccer experience all of its own, and the good news is that Konami will be keeping the same system for the 2009 game -- we're off to fight rival supporters and perhaps smash up a café to celebrate.
[Via press release]
Wii scores a Pro Evolution Soccer follow-up
by Chris Greenhough { Jul 9th 2008 at 11:45AM }
Against all of our expectations, Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 for the Wii was a brilliant reinvention of an already brilliant series, so here's some brilliant news: we'll be getting a 2009 edition. Konami has the Wii version listed on its own site for a "Winter 2008" launch (as World Soccer Winning Eleven 2009, the Japanese name), which should come as a relief to those who caught an earlier press release that didn't mention the Wii at all.
Indeed, the news brought about an impromptu Mexican wave amongst the Wii Fanboy staff. Or it would have done, if we didn't all work in different rooms in different countries.
[Via Go Nintendo]
Konami kicks off Japanese rental program with Pro Evolution Soccer
by Candace Savino { Jun 21st 2008 at 2:00PM }
Even so, Japanese gamers won't be able to test out the title in full. Instead, trial versions of the Wii game will be offered for free at Tsutaya stores. It's kind of like downloading a demo, only you have to go and pick it up instead.
We're interested to see if this has any impact on Japan's gaming industry, and if Konami will expand their "rental" service in the future.
[Via Game|Life]
Free online PES magazine is a good way to kill some time
by Candace Savino { Mar 27th 2008 at 7:00PM }
Why else would the company team up with GamerZines to make an online magazine completely dedicated to PES Wii? Oh right, promotional reasons. At its core, this mag is just an attempt to hype up people for PES 2008. Even so, if you're a fan of the game or are thinking about buying it, you might find a few interesting things in this free zine.
Aside from pictures of happy people who are supposedly playing the game, the magazine offers gameplay videos, as well as an interview with PES 2008's Wii producer, Akiyoshi "Greyhound" Chosogabe. There's also an entertaining little game-like quiz/competition where you have to identify five soccer players (which this blogger failed at miserably).
All in all, there's not that much to it, but current and potential PES lovers might find reading it to be a nice distraction.
[Thanks, Dave]
Wii Warm Up: Hey, batter batter batter, swing, batter
by Candace Savino { Mar 23rd 2008 at 10:30AM }
What do you think, though? Do motion controls add an extra layer of immersion to sports titles? Or, do you prefer to play your sports games without waggle?
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 3/10-3/16
by Candace Savino { Mar 21st 2008 at 4:00PM }
It was also nice to see Metroid Prime 3: Corruption stick around, as the Nintendo FPS nabbed the number eleven spot for this week. Other than that, the only noticeable difference is that Smash Bros. dropped to fourth. What's interesting is that Brawl is no longer the best selling Wii game, either, as Wii Fit reclaimed that honor. We also learned that you can't keep the big three (Wii Fit, Wii Sports, and Wii Play) out of the top ten for long.
In hardware sales, the Wii fell a smidge behind the PSP, and did only slightly better than the DS.
Hardware:
- PSP: 57,651
- Wii: 55,845
- Nintendo DS: 53,266
- PlayStation 3: 14,934
- PlayStation 2: 9,930
- Xbox 360: 1,744
Metareview: Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
by Chris Greenhough { Mar 20th 2008 at 7:00PM }
Thanks to its point-and-pass mechanics and Mii integration, the Wii version of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 can safely be described as the biggest upheaval of the series in years. But have such sweeping changes to one of the most finely balanced franchises in gaming been for the better? Well, the critics certainly seem to think so ...
Official Nintendo Magazine UK -- 90%: First out of the tunnel with its views is the UK edition of Official Nintendo Magazine, which suggests that persevering with the new Wii controls will pay dividends: "Easily the best football game on a Nintendo system. It takes a while to get used to the new controls but once you get your head round them, they become second nature." [March 2008, p.58 -- excerpt found at Metacritic]
IGN -- 86%: IGN's Matt Bozon argues that the Wii controls play a crucial role in creating the "most strategic" soccer experience ever: "The integration of IR into a sports game has been extremely minimal so far, but is absolutely ideal in this situation, allowing players to not only play the ball specifically, but direct traffic and precisely move every player on the field in tandem, making for the most realistic, strategic, and intuitive soccer experiences we've ever seen."
1UP -- 75%: And it's more of the same from 1UP's Andrew Pfister, who expresses surprise that the Wii version is so superior to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions: "It's always refreshing to see a unique application of the Wii's motion controls, and it's even more encouraging to see a new idea that's not only functional, but something that really can't be done any other way. We're not sure what's going on over at Konami's PES team: on one hand, there seem to be some major issues in regards to PS3/360 development, yet the less-technically apt Wii version ends up being the game to move the franchise forward."
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 3/3-3/9
by Candace Savino { Mar 14th 2008 at 6:00PM }
To most of us, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is old news. The U.S. has had it since last summer, and even Europe has been enjoying the game for a few months now. It only debuted in Japan last week, though, and we were happily surprised to see it make the top five. It only sold 32,000 copies in its first week, but that's still not too shabby for a Metroid game in Japan. Hopefully, the game will have some legs and not plunge off the charts after its first week, like many other first-person shooters tend to do.As for other software, the Wii didn't have too many games in the top thirty -- only eight, in fact -- yet it was still the second most represented gaming system on the charts. With the exception of the aforementioned Metroid and Everyone's General Knowledge Training TV, all the Wiis top games have consistently stuck around for (at least) a few weeks.
In other news, Smash Bros. once again failed to take the first place spot. The game beat out last week's chart champ, the new Gundam for the PS2, but fell behind the newly released Yakuza 3.
In hardware, the Wii claimed the top spot once again as Japan is clearly so over the Mint Green PSP (that was so five minutes ago). You can check out the hardware and software numbers for last week in Japan after the break -- we recommend that you do so.
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 2/25-3/2
by Candace Savino { Mar 7th 2008 at 5:00PM }
Well, the answer is, no. The new Gundam game for the PS2 managed to end Brawl's reign, and end it convincingly. In fact, Smash barely stayed in second, with Wii Fit being right up the fighter's grill.
The Wii itself also lost the top spot last week, overtaken by the PSP in hardware for the first time since Brawl's release. Aside from those major changes, though, everything looks to be what we'd expect, with Winning Eleven and Family Ski continuing to champion the cause for third parties.
Go on and take a look at the numbers after the break ... or else.
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 2/18-2/24
by Candace Savino { Feb 29th 2008 at 1:30PM }
Super Smash Bros. Brawl hung onto the top spot last week, but not by much. For the first time, the king of Nintendo fighters was actually close to the game behind it, with a lead of less than 10,000 units. Considering that Brawl has dominated for a month and is already over the million mark, though, we're not surprised to see a little less dominance from the title.A lot of new software was released last week, which finally caused Super Mario Galaxy to fall out of the top thirty. Winning Eleven: Play Maker 2008 was the Wii's new game, debuting at the number six spot. Family Ski also managed to jump up five spots, despite the plethora of new titles.
On the hardware side, the Wii continues to reign in first place. The PSP and DS aren't too far behind, but the Wii is outselling the PS3 4:1 with the help of Brawl.
You can check out the listings and sales numbers -- they're posted after the break.
Winning Eleven changes its name
by Candace Savino { Feb 6th 2008 at 10:30PM }
As IGN points out, this is unfortunate timing. Had the newest game kept its Winning Eleven name, it's title would have been Winning Eleven 11. Only Japan will have that glory now.
We at Nintendo Wii Fanboy tend to prefer Winning Eleven to Pro Evolution Soccer, but at the end of the day, what's in a name? At least this change might serve to cut down on some confusion.
