Official PlayStation 2 Magazine flew to the Swiss Alps for a summit meeting with KCET. Get the inside word on licensing, online play and everything else from Pro Evo's producer, Shingo 'Seabass' Takatsuka.
What were the main gameplay aspects which the team concentrated on improving this year?
We started the AI from scratch. You can see it especially on the defending side. So it's much more difficult to score now than it was in Pro Evo 2. The best way to describe the defence is 'thicker', as opposed to last year's which was 'thinner'. When you play the new game you will realise that you must now try to penetrate that 'thick' defence. And once the defending side was enhanced, we also had to modify the attacking so you could break down this 'thick' defence. The strikers move more realistically now - like in real football. The animation of the players has also changed a lot. For instance we didn't like the style of dribbling in PES2 so we've changed that. We've also added fun features like the Marseille Roulette, which is the spin that Zidane does. Overall the gamplay has changed a lot.
The shooting has also altered quite a bit too, what was thinking there?
I totally forgot to mention that! [laughs] We have experimented with the ball physics to make it more like real life, which affects the shooting. Like in real football, if you hit the ball with the right timing it will be a low fast drive - like Paul Scholes does for England or Oliseh does for Nigeria. This is why the shooting feels different this year.
Is that key to the Pro Evo philosophy - concentrating on the way the ball moves first rather than the players?
Well the key is trying to make the game as real as possible, and the ball physics is key to that.
We think that the gameplay in Pro Evo 3 is already pretty close to perfection. Where do you plan to take the series next?
Firstly, thank you! Our ultimate dream is 11 against 11 online play, with each person controlling one player. But there are still a lot of areas which don't feel completely like football yet - for instance team patterns and player movements. There's much more to experiment with and implement. We've already started work on the next project, and the current highlight is the work we're doing on the header system. In PES4 you will have much more control of how your player heads the ball, so that's one of the key points for the future.
Do you think online play is likely to make it into PES4 then?
Yes, I plan to make an announcement about online next year. It's becoming closer.
The other thing which comes up again and again in the emails we've been sent is the licensing issue. What progress is being made on that front?
I can tell you it isn't going to get worse. [laughs] We're already moving ahead, and acquiring more licenses. The team's dream is to have every licence. It's not as though we don't want it to happen on our side, but it's maybe a bit political within the company. The future is bright, though.
Can you imagine what the game might look like in a few years time, possibly on the next generation of hardware?
Going online is one of our biggest goals. For instance you could create a team with your friends, and just practising together might be fun. The second thing to think about is the offline gameplay. We still think there's a lot of area to expand on, change and improve. One example could be having one unique move for each player. So we'll keep on pursuing those dreams.
Can you tell us about the Winning Eleven Tactics game which was recently announced at the Tokyo Games Show?
In this game you are the manager, but not like a Premiership manager. Here you are just concentrating on the team selection and tactics. It's more like an Italian coach, so you will have some input on acquiring players but you won't have to deal with exactly how the club is run or financed. The emphasis is on winning the match, and the interesting point is how that improves your standing as a manager. So maybe a big club will offer you a job. It's a career game created by the same team as Pro Evo. We haven't decided yet whether to make a Premiership version as it would require quite a lot of tweaking.
Finally, do all the player statistics really get used to determine the outcome of each pass, shot and tackle?
Due to memory constraints we can't factor every single stat into every single move, so some patterns are used. However, our thinking is now to differentiate the style of play between European, African and Asian players. For instance European players tend to dribble differently, and we would like to represent that in the future.
What were the main gameplay aspects which the team concentrated on improving this year?
We started the AI from scratch. You can see it especially on the defending side. So it's much more difficult to score now than it was in Pro Evo 2. The best way to describe the defence is 'thicker', as opposed to last year's which was 'thinner'. When you play the new game you will realise that you must now try to penetrate that 'thick' defence. And once the defending side was enhanced, we also had to modify the attacking so you could break down this 'thick' defence. The strikers move more realistically now - like in real football. The animation of the players has also changed a lot. For instance we didn't like the style of dribbling in PES2 so we've changed that. We've also added fun features like the Marseille Roulette, which is the spin that Zidane does. Overall the gamplay has changed a lot.
The shooting has also altered quite a bit too, what was thinking there?
I totally forgot to mention that! [laughs] We have experimented with the ball physics to make it more like real life, which affects the shooting. Like in real football, if you hit the ball with the right timing it will be a low fast drive - like Paul Scholes does for England or Oliseh does for Nigeria. This is why the shooting feels different this year.
Is that key to the Pro Evo philosophy - concentrating on the way the ball moves first rather than the players?
Well the key is trying to make the game as real as possible, and the ball physics is key to that.
We think that the gameplay in Pro Evo 3 is already pretty close to perfection. Where do you plan to take the series next?
Firstly, thank you! Our ultimate dream is 11 against 11 online play, with each person controlling one player. But there are still a lot of areas which don't feel completely like football yet - for instance team patterns and player movements. There's much more to experiment with and implement. We've already started work on the next project, and the current highlight is the work we're doing on the header system. In PES4 you will have much more control of how your player heads the ball, so that's one of the key points for the future.
Do you think online play is likely to make it into PES4 then?
Yes, I plan to make an announcement about online next year. It's becoming closer.
The other thing which comes up again and again in the emails we've been sent is the licensing issue. What progress is being made on that front?
I can tell you it isn't going to get worse. [laughs] We're already moving ahead, and acquiring more licenses. The team's dream is to have every licence. It's not as though we don't want it to happen on our side, but it's maybe a bit political within the company. The future is bright, though.
Can you imagine what the game might look like in a few years time, possibly on the next generation of hardware?
Going online is one of our biggest goals. For instance you could create a team with your friends, and just practising together might be fun. The second thing to think about is the offline gameplay. We still think there's a lot of area to expand on, change and improve. One example could be having one unique move for each player. So we'll keep on pursuing those dreams.
Can you tell us about the Winning Eleven Tactics game which was recently announced at the Tokyo Games Show?
In this game you are the manager, but not like a Premiership manager. Here you are just concentrating on the team selection and tactics. It's more like an Italian coach, so you will have some input on acquiring players but you won't have to deal with exactly how the club is run or financed. The emphasis is on winning the match, and the interesting point is how that improves your standing as a manager. So maybe a big club will offer you a job. It's a career game created by the same team as Pro Evo. We haven't decided yet whether to make a Premiership version as it would require quite a lot of tweaking.
Finally, do all the player statistics really get used to determine the outcome of each pass, shot and tackle?
Due to memory constraints we can't factor every single stat into every single move, so some patterns are used. However, our thinking is now to differentiate the style of play between European, African and Asian players. For instance European players tend to dribble differently, and we would like to represent that in the future.
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