Pro Evolution Soccer Retires to the Dugout
Konami announces manager and mobile phone PES spin-offs as Pro Evo 5 launch looms.
Konami steps into the ever-growing football management game market today with the announcement that it will be releasing a manager sim tie-in to their peerless Pro Evolution Soccer game. The game, tentatively and imaginatively titled Pro Evolution Soccer Management, is being produced by Akiyoshi Chosokabe, a member of the Pro Evo dev squad. It will be compatible with the forthcoming PES5, and the two games will be able share databases, with the advantage that any dream teams you create can be played with in either title. Six European leagues will be featured.
The game will join a genre that is currently expanding rapidly. SEGA recently entered the management sim market and this week sees the release of EA’s latest in its Total Club Manager series, which has been retitled FIFA Manager 06 to tie in with the company’s long-running and well known footy franchise. Of course, the first manager game most of us played was the famed Championship Manager by Eidos, which itself has recently become available as a mobile phone game.
And on a related note, Konami has also announced that next year it will produce a mobile phone version of the mighty PES itself. Though the single-player game will understandably use 2D graphics, it will share much new AI code with Pro Evo 5.
The anticipation is building throughout Europe as dedicated fans look forward to the multiplatform release of PES 5 at the end of the month (the PS2 and Xbox versions drop on October 21 followed by the PC version on the 28th). Over in Japan, the delightfully-titled Winning Eleven 9: Ubiquitous Edition - as it is known there - has dropped down to number 10 in the charts.
With this year’s EA FIFA game having come out last week, and the accompanying management game out today, Konami’s announcements clearly have some sort of motive. We would presume the company is reminding consumers of its own franchise’s imminent release, the PR equivalent of begging you to wait another couple of weeks. And its plans send a clear message to EA that it sees the soccer game market as a territory it wishes to win for itself. One nice feature in EA’s management titles is the way they use FIFA assets to provide a 3D match video for each game your team plays. It will be interesting to see whether Konami will use the PES engine to similar effect in its managerial spin-off.
Konami has proven its deep understanding of our national sport in the PES games this generation. Do you expect similar greatness from its management game? We’d love to know, so tell us as much in the forum below.
The game will join a genre that is currently expanding rapidly. SEGA recently entered the management sim market and this week sees the release of EA’s latest in its Total Club Manager series, which has been retitled FIFA Manager 06 to tie in with the company’s long-running and well known footy franchise. Of course, the first manager game most of us played was the famed Championship Manager by Eidos, which itself has recently become available as a mobile phone game.
And on a related note, Konami has also announced that next year it will produce a mobile phone version of the mighty PES itself. Though the single-player game will understandably use 2D graphics, it will share much new AI code with Pro Evo 5.
The anticipation is building throughout Europe as dedicated fans look forward to the multiplatform release of PES 5 at the end of the month (the PS2 and Xbox versions drop on October 21 followed by the PC version on the 28th). Over in Japan, the delightfully-titled Winning Eleven 9: Ubiquitous Edition - as it is known there - has dropped down to number 10 in the charts.
With this year’s EA FIFA game having come out last week, and the accompanying management game out today, Konami’s announcements clearly have some sort of motive. We would presume the company is reminding consumers of its own franchise’s imminent release, the PR equivalent of begging you to wait another couple of weeks. And its plans send a clear message to EA that it sees the soccer game market as a territory it wishes to win for itself. One nice feature in EA’s management titles is the way they use FIFA assets to provide a 3D match video for each game your team plays. It will be interesting to see whether Konami will use the PES engine to similar effect in its managerial spin-off.
Konami has proven its deep understanding of our national sport in the PES games this generation. Do you expect similar greatness from its management game? We’d love to know, so tell us as much in the forum below.
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Comments
Radiant 7 Oct 2005 16:48
1/2
I've been playing a review copy of pro evo 5 and I must say it's still head and shoulders above fifa.
The most noticeable thing that has been upgraded (apart from the very Nike Ad-esque intro and requisite techno music) is that the players now have a really big presence on the field so you no longer just run past or pass past players like they are not there like in pro evo 4. If you try to run through players now you're more then likely to bounce of them and you really feel like you're fighting for posession.
On the downside they have messed with slightly with slide tackiling and have the fifa curse of actually slowing down on a slide as opposed to the lunging slides of before.
I still can't score for s**t with my beloved AC Milan though :(*
The most noticeable thing that has been upgraded (apart from the very Nike Ad-esque intro and requisite techno music) is that the players now have a really big presence on the field so you no longer just run past or pass past players like they are not there like in pro evo 4. If you try to run through players now you're more then likely to bounce of them and you really feel like you're fighting for posession.
On the downside they have messed with slightly with slide tackiling and have the fifa curse of actually slowing down on a slide as opposed to the lunging slides of before.
I still can't score for s**t with my beloved AC Milan though :(*
The_Moss 7 Oct 2005 17:28
2/2
I can't wait for it. The best thing about PES is that you can't sleepwalk through it. Lose concentration for a moment and you'll be in disarray in seconds. Even what little you have said has me excited - sounds like it will make things more tactical. Apart from the sliding - you had to be careful enough sliding in in 4 as it was.
Still, 4 had plenty of changes over 3 i didn't like - free kicks for one. I think a lot of the changes are because Konami want you to have to relearn it a bit so they make these changes that will throw you off and make you think more.
Still, 4 had plenty of changes over 3 i didn't like - free kicks for one. I think a lot of the changes are because Konami want you to have to relearn it a bit so they make these changes that will throw you off and make you think more.