Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.co...computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php(que)id=97021
Some random notes I got from the interview.
1. Rosters are out of date again. What the fudge is the use of the BB unit if you can't update the roster because of licensing reasons.
2. No ONLINE any time soon.
3. KCET is at its limits with the PS2. Don't expect anything major changes to the series until the PS3 comes out.
4. Some tough questions were asked but not enough of them.
Some random notes I got from the interview.
1. Rosters are out of date again. What the fudge is the use of the BB unit if you can't update the roster because of licensing reasons.
2. No ONLINE any time soon.
3. KCET is at its limits with the PS2. Don't expect anything major changes to the series until the PS3 comes out.
4. Some tough questions were asked but not enough of them.
Wednesday 1st October 2003
EXCLUSIVE: KONAMI GRILLED ON PRO EVO 3!
The greatest football videogame in history just got a whole load better on PS2 and PC. But what happened to online? Find out about this and more in our unmissable, exclusive interview with KCET inside
19:43 Forget FIFA; forget This Is Football; in fact forget every other football game ever released, as the Pro Evolution Soccer series - now in its third iteration on next-gen - has consistently run rings around the opposition, to provide the most terrifyingly accurate, orgasmically thrilling representation of the beautiful game money can buy.
FIFA might have the glitz, the glamour and the big names, but Pro Evolution Soccer gives you the heart and soul of football, and for serious fans of the sport, nothing else comes close to the meat pie-and-Bovril genius of Konami's undoubted masterpiece.
With PES2, Konami came closer than ever to toppling EA's phenomenally successful FIFA franchise in Europe, providing the first serious challenge to its seasoned dominance.
And with Pro Evolution Soccer 3, due for release in Europe later this month, (with a first ever PC version to follow) markedly superior to the its predecessor in all departments, the gap must now surely narrow further...
Or perhaps not; as for every last atom of gaming brilliance Konami has squeezed into PES3, the disappointing lack of any online functions on either PS2 or PC could mean it's advantage FIFA once more, which boasts full online play on PS2 in Europe.
Is this serious corporate short-sightedness on the part of Konami or an astute tactical decision from a company wishing to bide its time and strike back decisively and ruthlessly at the opposition? We sat down to discuss this very point and much more with legendary PES overlord and series producer Shingo 'Seabass' Takatsuka.
What are the main improvements you've made over Pro Evolution Soccer 2?
Takatsuka: As for the modelling side, I'd say the biggest improvement was acquiring six club licences and to make the kits as real as possible. We have also been able to design the original club kits in the game.
We also changed the camera to make it behave more like a real-life live football camera - it's a small detail but that was a big improvement for us over the last version. Also, there are more polygons for the players and more detailed faces.
In terms of the game engine, we used Renderware last time, but for PES3 we've used an original Konami game engine, therefore the graphic level has gone up a lot. Everything has been adjusted and improved.
Was it hard to make it play the same when replacing the engine?
Takatsuka: It was kind of difficult; however there were no real disadvantages as since we had access to a greater memory capacity, we could apply it to AI in the game. In this way it was good for us.
What about other changes?
Takatsuka: Another aspect was not necessarily AI, but stadiums. We've added four new stadiums and enhanced the existing ones from PES2. The second biggest point is probably the Master League, which we changed the concept of: we wanted to represent the European Champions League a little better this time.
The AI has been boosted; we just wanted to make it more realistic. Also, we have changed the awareness of attackers and defenders a lot. For instance, there are now two types of awareness you can give to your players on the pitch, whereas previously you could only set one direction - i.e. left or right. Now you can have both, so tactically AI has been enhanced dramatically.
For the first time ever you're bringing Pro Evolution Soccer onto PC, which we're all really excited about. Did you encounter any difficulties in the transition and can we expect any kind of online or LAN play from the PC version?
Takatsuka: It's basically a port; the biggest enhancement on PC is the graphical upgrade over PS2. As for online, it's not yet implemented in the PC version at all, however I predict that since we're experimenting in producing our online element, you'll probably see it first in the PC version in our future titles.
So if the next version is most likely to be online on PC, does that mean you're unable to confirm that Pro Evolution Soccer 4 on PS2 will be online in Europe? People are obviously disappointed that PES3 has no online functions.
Takatsuka: Sooner or later, we will go online. It's likely PC will be quicker, but that does not mean PES4 on PS2 won't be online. We experiment all the time and sooner or later we will go online.
FIFA is obviously your key competitor, and while those in the know seem to be in agreement that PES is a much better game, it seems all the good work Konami has achieved with PES over the last couple of years in Europe, in terms of catching up with FIFA, has been undone by not being online.
It's almost like you've handed the advantage back to FIFA, which is online on PS2 this year...
Takatsuka: Yes, I understand your point. But if you will allow me to say it, I don't believe FIFA's online is a good example of online play at all. Therefore when we go online with our games, we would like give you exactly the same experience of playing the game offline. That's why we didn't take the challenge this year as we did want to have a bad online adaptation.
Is this something that's being actively worked on behind the scenes?
Takatsuka: Yes it is; we've been working on it for more than a year now.
Winning Eleven [the Japanese name for Pro Evo] Tactics has just been announced and was shown at TGS - can you tell us more about that, please?
Takatsuka: It may be a little hard for you to imagine, but Sega has a big hit in Japan called the "Become a Manager" series - it's never been released in Europe. If you don't know the game, the best way to express Winning Eleven Tactics is, it uses the Winning Eleven engine, but you won't play it as an action soccer title.
You are the manager of the game; you have to think of the tactics, look after the HR side of things. It's a management game but you're not the general manager of the club, more the head coach role, like Arsene Wenger. That's the main concept of the game.
As you've pointed out, it's a very Japanese concept - any chance we'll see it in Europe?
Takatsuka: We haven't decided yet but of course we are thinking of releasing the game in Europe. The current version that was announced was of course based on J-League, but it's very possible, in terms of gameplay, that if we have the right licences we could release it with no problem in Europe. We have to work on the licensing aspect.
Going back to PES3, people are going to be disappointed that the player rosters are out of date again. This is particularly noticeable with Chelsea, who've had so many late changes.
Can you explain why they are so far out of date and can't be updated now, when there's still a month before the game releases?
Takatsuka: We regret the old rosters we have in the game and we understand the problem. One of the reasons is that we get the licence from FIFPro, the players association, and we have to submit the rosters in advance so we can get approval.
Therefore, even if we were allowed to make changes at the very last minute, it would take so much time to be approved it wouldn't be possible.
We knew there would be a problem, so the team has tried to make manually changing players as easy as possible, so the fans can do it themselves. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes the fans and the team understands this.
So when the game does go online, do you plan to allow players to download up-to-date rosters?
Takatsuka: Well, the Japanese version is currently online to some extent, but due to FIFPro licence restrictions, we don't update the rosters because we don't have approval for that.
Officially Konami would not be able to put such a site up, however I will try to make it possible for the users to maybe upload it. If we were to go online, you could change the rosters that way, and I expect big fans would co-operate with us on that.
Do you see that this is one of the key problems in Europe? The game is undoubtedly a masterpiece and the press eulogises endlessly on how great the game is, but in terms of PES actually moving to the next level in terms of consumer appeal and sales, it seems these are the type of things you need to get right to give the game the mammoth success it deserves?
Takatsuka: Yes, I totally understand your point. I know that EA has an advantage here compared to our games, but I do not just wish to be a sand bag and get hit by EA all the time; we are preparing to hit back in terms like licensing.
And from a programming point of view, one of the things we could do is to make it easier to change the rosters, because I feel FIFA's rosters are a little more up-to-date, even though we're aiming to release at the same time. We will not stop trying to improve the efficiency of making these changes.
Pre-order demos of PES3 are now doing the rounds in Europe ahead of release - can you give us any hot tactics?
Takatsuka: First of all, PES3 is different even from Winning Eleven 7 [the Japanese version it's based on] - the game balance is different. I would recommend using the R2 button while dribbling for instance.
Also, the crossing into the box has changed a lot - if you're someone like Figo, you should cut into the box more before putting in a cross.
You've said previously how some Japanese players approach PES like a strategy title rather than a game of football, with seven man defences and that kind of thing. Isn't this is a bad thing as it's not about football as such, and have you done anything to stop this in PES3?
Takatsuka: When I go to watch competitions in Japan, people have the weirdest formations, like having just one player on the left or on the right. That was in the past however; we've acknowledged this and tweaked the game so that playing like a football team gives you the advantage.
For instance, in terms of defending, PES3 has much stronger defence than PES2. We've been criticised a little that defending is almost too tight, but if you play the game like real football this will give you an advantage.
Can you give Xbox or GameCube owners in Europe any hope that they may receive a version of PES soon?
Takatsuka: PS2 is our main console - this will not change. However, we are near the limit of the PS2 hardware itself. We are really looking forward to creating on a PC platform as there are other areas for us to explore; and with Xbox, we're really interested in Xbox Live because it's very appealing from a development point of view.
We'll let you in on a little secret... The team has not started on the Xbox version yet, however the team is very interested in Xbox Live in terms of the technology and the infrastructure Microsoft has, but that's about all we can say today, as our President is here [laughs].
As for GameCube, it wasn't so much of a success in Japan, so there's only a small chance of us doing another version. However, we always want to keep our opportunities. But I would like to emphasise that PS2 is our main platform.
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I will sell the ps2 if the PC version of PES3 is ported perfectly gameplay wise. Will get an adapter to plug ps2 controller to PC.
