Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced that its forthcoming
PES 2010 title will benefit from the most exhaustive raft of new
features in the series’ history, with every aspect of the game
benefiting from key improvements. Major gameplay additions will make
PES 2010 the most realistic football simulation available.
PES
2010 is scheduled for release on PLAYSTATION®3, Xbox 360, PC-DVD, PSP®
(PLAYSTATION®Portable), PlayStation®2 and mobile phones in the Autumn,
and follows months of analysis and feedback monitoring to enhance the
game in every area. PES Productions, Konami’s Tokyo-based development
team, has collated feedback on the series’ strengths and weaknesses via
fan forums, both ardent and casual PES players and press comment, and
has incorporated a wide range of requests in the new game. The result
will be the most challenging, realistic and satisfying PES to date.
Konami
has spent the last year expanding the development team’s numbers, and
created a number of dedicated departments, each striving to further
improving their respective parts of the game both in the short and long
terms. Key additions for PES 2010 include:
• Gameplay: PES 2010
focuses on enhancing the excitement of matches between players, making
for a truly challenging experience that will constantly test the
player. Intuitive zonal defending will cover spaces and players need to
look constantly for new ways to attack. PES 2010 focuses on being a
real football simulation, as it requires both strategic play and quick
reactions, as in real life. In addition to key out-field elements,
goalkeepers are more versatile and with abilities matching those of
modern shot-stoppers. The game’s referees have also been reworked, with
smarter AI elements allowing them to make more balanced calls during
matches.
• Improved Visuals: PES 2010 has undergone a major
visual revamp, with its celebrated player likenesses and animations now
even closer to those of real-life players – including live player
expressions to be depicted with an improved lighting system which
differentiates between various conditions! Stadium detail is also
massively improved, with the grass and other in-stadium elements finely
depicted.
• All-new animation and moves: Animations now dovetail
into each other seamlessly, with dribbling and shots on goals worked
into dribbling animations. More individual skills are also on show,
including new flicks and tricks that have a definite showing on the way
a game flows. Several elements have been completely reworked, with the
dribbling, turning and kicking animations greatly enhanced, while there
is a noticeable change in pace when a player passes a ball from a
standing position than from within a run.
• Match-Day
Atmosphere: Crowd reactions to the on-field action are now more varied,
with all new chants and cheers. The subtle difference between Home and
Away matches will be reproduced, and the crowd will react spontaneously
to specific situations in a game, showing their disdain or pleasure as
fouls are committed and goals scored. Likewise, the commentary has been
altered to offer a fresher, more concise overview of the game.
• Enhanced
Master League: Master League has been thoroughly renewed with the
enhancement of managerial aspects, which enables users to enjoy
managing a team for a longer career lifespan. Seen by many as a key
contributor to the series’ success, the Master League elements in PES
2010 have been bolstered by far-ranging and vital new additions,
dedicated to enriching the mode. Further details will be announced
shortly.
• AI: The Tokyo team has worked to improve the AI of
the game, with Teamvision 2.0 implemented. Midfielders and defenders
now work together to cover open space and close down attacks, meaning
that cover can be provided for lower-ranked defenders. This also has
the additional effect of removing soft goals, thus returning PES 2010
to its simulation roots. In terms of attacking, players can also now
move several players once, sending them into different areas, opening
up more goal-scoring possibilities than ever before. As such, PES 2010
necessitates a new level of control from the player. Strategic thinking
is as important as quick passing, but the new system greatly opens the
way the player oversees control of the team. In free kick scenarios,
for instance, players can now instigate the runs of the players
awaiting the ball in the penalty area.
• Individual Play
Characteristics: In previous PES games, the team formation has
determined the movements of the players. PES 2010 introduces a new
system wherein the individual attacking and defending nature of the
players is integral to the way they play. Each player enjoys unique AI
tied into their best abilities, and is reflected in the actions of
their team mates – i.e. if a player who is known to be a good crosser
of the ball is in possession, more players will flood the penalty area
to receive it. Similarly, if a player is known to be good with close
control, defenders will work to cover their stronger side, while lone
strikers will be automatically supported by midfielders on receipt of
the ball.
• Strategy Use: A new power gauge system allows users
to balance their strategy in a quick, but wide-ranging way before a
match. Every element – pass frequency, movement, the line of defence,
width of play, or the position of the front line – can be altered to
match those of a favoured club: Juventus Turin are a dangerous side on
the counter-attack, for instance, while FC Barcelona use width in their
attack. These formulations can be altered at any point, too, with Home
and Away matches forcing different circumstances on the user, as does
the rigours of a Master League season.
• Penalties: An all-new system has been implemented, offering greater control, placing and accuracy.
• Enhanced
Online: A new dedicated section of the Tokyo team is committed to
improving the online side of PES 2010. More downloadable content is
also planned. Konami has supported PES 2009 with the release of new
licensed teams, transfer updates, etc, and this support will grow for
PES 2010. Team and content updates are planned throughout the game’s
lifespan. These will make the game even more bespoke to the player’s
match day needs.
Konami has strengthend its relationship with
UEFA and can announce it has secured the exclusive video game rights
for the Europa League Licence (formerly known as the UEFA Cup). In
addition Konami will be enhancing and developing the use of the UEFA
Champions League within PES 2010 to make even better use of the best
club football competition in the world.
Further details of these
new features will be released in the coming months. Konami has also
confirmed that Lionel Messi will also be a key endorsement player for
the new game, and will feature in the promotion and development of the
game later this year.
“We have been monitoring feedback and
comments on the progression of the PES series for some time now, and
PES 2010 will see us implementing a great deal of the ideas players
have been requesting,” commented Naoya Hatsumi, Producer for PES
Productions at Konami Digital Entertainment Japan. “We aim to make PES
2010 a more user-friendly, immediate experience that places the
emphasis on getting straight into the gameplay for which the series is
famed. PES 2010 will look better, will play better, and will recreate
real football as closely as the current hardware will allow.”
“The
preparations for PES 2010 have been in place for some time now, with
the reorganization and increase of the Tokyo-based studio allowing
expert teams to concentrate on their particular area,” commented Jon
Murphy, PES European Team Leader. “We are now in a better position to
implement the greatest raft of changes and improvements to the series
we have seen, and thank the PES community for their input.”