After the jump I will be throwing some ideas out there as to how this vital component of any football game could be addressed.

The keeps in recent instalments of PES have been by and large pretty poor and in this players opinion plunged new depths in PES2010 on next-gen. Who can honestly say that they have even the slightest degree of confidence in there ‘no.1′ between the sticks when the opposition are in and around the area even with manual keeper control at the players disposal? In PES2009 they were not the greatest but having gone back to that game for a spell I can safely say that their overall performance far outshines that of what followed in PES2010…yet they still don’t play like a real goalie should and are susceptible to making truly horrific errors. Keepers are prone to making mistakes in the real sport granted, but not anywhere near the shocking regularity as can be found in PES of late.

I think the problem within the game is that goalkeepers are basically programmed as outfield players with the ability to use there hands(though not very well) and are equipped with some bare-bones animation and a unique default stance to see them by. Now you could argue that this is not dissimilar as to how a keeper performs in the real sport anyway – a player whose only discernible difference is his ability to handle the ball within a certain area in the field of play – and that it is only size, agility and a modicum of positional sense that differentiates one from another and helps define their quality as a result. Okay, so I have perhaps dumbed it down a tad there but you are reading the words of a man who over the years has watched some keepers to whom this basic description is akin to proclaiming them the van Gogh of their ‘art’!

So how can Konami solve this potentially game breaking issue? Well for a start there has to be more variety in keeper animations, and perhaps even some player specific animations to boot. What certainly needs to be looked at is keeper stance, movement and command of their area. One particularly jarring thing about the manual keeper control this year is how your keeper moves – he just runs in the chosen direction – when perhaps it would better to have him move and ‘make himself big’ in the way keepers often do. Pressing triangle orders your keeper to rush anyway, so the manual control you feel would be better suited to allowing the player to fine tune positioning.

Under the hood what Konami could look at is more keeper specific special abilities. I am thinking along the lines of abilities like ‘GK Strong Hands’ which would mean the keeper in question is strong in the parry and handling, ‘GK Reflex’ which could enhance a goalie’s ability at dealing with point blank headers etc. along with his response on the rebound, and ‘GK Area Command’ which influences a keepers likelihood to come for crosses and even improve his team mates positional awareness at set plays. Keepers could also do with some additional base stats to go along with special abilities such as handling, agility, diving, reflex and positioning all ranked out of 100.

So in closing, Goalkeepers are truly a unique breed and as such Konami would do well to realise this and innovate upon this analogy. A football game can have it’s illusion of realism completely destroyed if the men between the sticks are not fit for purpose.

Your thoughts on this topic are welcome as always.

MCV reported on Konami’s profit drop year on year, but with it gave us some details on how the PES series is doing. Totally unsure how well the number is compared to previous years, but going off general performance in the industry, 7m copies is massive!

To put it into perspective, THQ were in serious financial pressure before UFC 2009 came out. 3.5m copies sold later, and they’re doing just fine.

And while PES has no doubt taken a battering from FIFA, you need to look at the bigger picture. Some people said I was in Konami PR mode when stating the sales figures of both EA and PES were incomparable due to overhead costs. Looking at it now months later, I’m hoping you start to understand what I mean. Taking in mind things like development costs, marketing costs, and even licenses, you feel Seabass & Co aren’t in such a bad place – even though many would like you to think otherwise.

With 3 years on the new systems under their belts, and a full year of fan feedback ringing in their ears, I’m extremely confident we’ll see them eclipse that figure comfortably in 2010.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to see it!

It’s awesome to see this sort of thing going on still, and perhaps puts the negativity that the series has got in recent times into perspective.

Thanks to janus909 for the heads up!

P.S. Podcast out tomorrow, should be a little bit special ;)

Secondly they have an interesting face-off between FIFA 09 & PES 2009, discussing how they stand against the test of time.

Other than that nothing new here – Gamescom it is then!

Obviously, the new look is a massive bump in quality.

Safe to say, the Graphics aren’t something we should be worrying about this year…

The next week and a bit will go by so slowly, but it’s a wait that will be rewarded!

This time, its something we have already seen. The same article was postd a few days ago, quoting the same text from the Italian Konami site. What this proves is that google translater isn’t so bad after all, as the text is pretty much the same as the one translated!

Just a little confused why Mr Nagai has posted a screen of PES 2009, and used the game in the title – when he obviously is trying to talk about the improvements in PES 2010.

Read the full article here!

Read the full article here.