I’m now moving into a position where I’ll be looking after both FSB and WENB at a managerial type level. This means a more intimate relationship with EA and FIFA, and the obvious need for diplomacy from myself. Without the same forceful passion on show, the need for a new face for WENB was apparent. Lucky for us we have a natural replacement.

Therefore I’m happy to announce Alan Curdie is now the Senior Editor at WENB! He’ll become your best friend and ally when it comes to news and Konami correspondence. Alan’s been doing many editorials and reviews for us for a while now, and has earned the respect from the fans many months ago. I’m sure you’ll all welcome him into his new, more prominent role.

Like we’ve always said, things are changing here at KMN. I can assure you only for the good. Make sure you check out FSB on Wednesday to see just how much.

Staff member Roigafni has kindly took time out to go pretty in-depth with his own take on the title and is available available for all’s consideration after the jump.

“Well, to start and to give you the desire to read what my impressions are, I would like to say that Winning Eleven 2010 Aoki Samurai no Chousen (hereafter: “ASNC”) is a good game. It’s A tweaked version of WE/PES 2010 with not too much improvements but the important ones are there*.

As to the response: I love it. It’s so much better than before. With the game is less stiff you guys will really enjoy from this improvement. Player react much faster now to most of the time and it does add a lot to the experience.”

“The Pace: it’s still fast especially when playing against the A.I though there is some improvement in that area. But, while playing against a friend or in online mode (which works great by the way!!!) The pace is slower and very enjoyable.

Shooting : Better and more accurate.”

“AI – huge improvement. First, The A.I attack more and not just passing the time by passing the ball to each A.I teammate (I played on top player). Second, when you in possession you have more space to move with the ball as the A.I defense not closing you down like crazy bastards as before. Though, when I played with Arsenal against Barcelona the A.I puts a lot of pressure in the middle of the field in order to gain control of the ball. One thing that I really liked is to see my A.I teammates running to open space when I’m in possession with the ball. It’s not happen too much but it’s there.”

“Referees : what do you know? In my first game I won a penalty! Can you believe it? I can’t remember the last time I had one. The referee appears stricter now and delivers more yellow cards than before though sometimes it’s really annoying when he ignores fouls committed against you.”

“The G.K: Much better. It’s harder to score a goal now though sometines their reaction is just too much and unhuman.

Edit mode: There is no change”

“Conclusion: ASNC is better game than PES/WE 2010. Don’t expect to 9/10 because it’s not as it’s the same game. It’s just more tweaked and polished game as we all thought it will be.

*based on almost four hours of playing”

Thanks again to Roigafni and all the WENB forum members who have posted up their impressions of the game thus far. You will even find feedback on the PS2 version and a lengthy PSP review by Armando Dona in the games dedicated thread HERE Excellent work gentlemen and your efforts have not gone unnoticed by the community.

More after the jump!

After a few days of play it strikes me that the Wii’s version of Blue Samurai is the more complete game and natural successor to PES/WE 2009 than what PES/WE 2010 proved to be late last year on the system. This is the third Wii title in little over a year yet the differences between this game and what has come before it are pretty dramatic and are most encouraging indeed for the series future on Ninty’s machine.

First of all, the big one! 360 dribbling/movement arrives on the Wii version of the game is somewhat of a triumph. It is such a triumph in actual fact that this feature in itself is more or less the reason the Wii version is getting some front page TLC from WENB.

This is no simple layering on of 360 dribbling/movement on top of the classic PS2 based engine. It is something that feels as though it has been worked on for some time in order to get it just right. It works well both with/without the ball and the off the ball movment of players seems to have improved. It certainly is far better implemented than it was in PES2010 or even FIFA10 on next-gen in this individuals honest opinion as it actually adds to player individuality. Get a Messi, Kaka, Robinho or Iniesta on the ball and there is a great feeling of power and natural flair to be had and it is all possible via some simple prompts of the stick in conjunction with R1 or R2. No trick stick or similar shenanigans here and it all feels very natural and can generate some genuine “wow!” moments as Messi wriggles his way through two or three opponents with deft little direction changes and feints. It is almost like the game has opened up completely. Even a player like Pirlo or Xavi operating from deep seem to have benefited as you can confidently hold the ball up and twist and turn with subtle movements in order to keep the unwanted attention of your opponent at bay….most of the time.

Yes, Live Energy makes it return and is still not without some minor annoyances. The positives are that there is a largely well balanced physical side to the game that is represented well visually, thanks to some additional animation(there are a quite a few wee welcome additions in the animation department generally it should be said) but there are arguably too many fouls called for innocuous challenges(if you can even call them that sometimes) that can break the ebb and flow of play. Some fine tuning is still needed here but the game is heading in the right direction.

Passing in the PS2/Wii titles has always been strong and fluid at that remains for this latest title. Whether it is the arrival of 360 movement I am not sure but there does seem to be a sense of having more freedom in passing and this proves to be the case especially in playing lobbed passes. They really are a joy now and when you have a Pirlo or Xavi in control you genuinely feel the difference in their ability to pick out players with more ‘rangey’ passes. The trajectory has been shallowed somewhat and these players can’t half arrow a long pass with precision, pace, and control. What helps of course too, is the off the ball movement, particularly when super-cancelling of the recipient. Add to this as well that there seems to be a tweaking to players ability to react and control an airborne ball(volleyed first time passes/headers for example have been vastly imporved) and you have an experience that feels very organic in nature. I still think that the game could do with a little further tweaking in this area so very subtle, short lobbed passes can be played but as it is there is little to complain about.

Ball physics have been further tweaked so that more dip and swerve seems apparent in passing and strikes on goal(shooting is still very,very satisfying) as well as feeling more lively on the bounce or taking a controlling touch. They(Greyhound and team at Konami) could however still do with looking at the ball physics more so the ball moves a bit more in the air and even on the ground.

Unfortunately one thing hasn’t seen progress in gameplay and that is goalkeepers. It is getting worrying now! I have come to the conclusion that for whatever reason, whether it is design or not, that goalkeepers are programmed too much like outfield players and it hampers the ability for them to tend to the goal confidently. With this in mind I have simply taken to making goalkeepers – at least the good ones – into very good football players overall via the edit mode(unchanged). It seems to help a great deal with their ability but again it is not a drastic improvement over what should not be broken in the first place. The problems with PES’ keepers in recent titles is well documented and I am not about to go over all these problems again but I think the whole community is in agreement that this needs fixed – not merely improved – and that keepers really do need to be their own entity with perhaps their own set of stats and abilities. If the ‘keeps were sorted for this game then you would be reading a review of the game that would be close to scoring it a “very high 9″. I kid you not. That is how important good keepers are in a football game, so please sort it once and for all Konami!

Visually the game has taken another polish with the 480p up-scaled visuals never having looked better and detail holding reasonably well in wide-cam. Crowds finally look like that – a crowd of fans – and not a terribly lo-res mash-up of coloured pixels. They alas, are not animated but hopefully PES2011 will sort this out. Animations have a nice flow into one another and I swear the running animation for players off the ball has improved. The new 360 degree movement of players also means that there are a few more little transitional moves and alike that help flesh out the overall flow of the game.

All in all the game is progressing along nicely on the Wii system and with the surprise inclusion of 360 movement making it over to what is essentially a polished PS2 version of the game, it suggests Greyhound and his team are not finished yet with eeking out as much they can from the series on Nintendos machine.

Remember folks, more Blue Samurai content and views can be found in our dedicated thread HERE, in the meantime I am off to win the World Cup with the Blue Samurai!

Check it out!

As you know we go onto new self-owned servers in a little over 4 months, and money you guys have given so far has helped majorly in offsetting large costs we stand to pay. And while the donate ad on the right hand side of the page isn’t intrusive, we’re incredibly thankful to those who went to the effort to donate.

If you haven’t donated but intend to, you still have some time ;) Donations will end mid-August, with our new site and service going live on September 1st.

Thanks again to all have donated so far then, we aim to provide you all a better service the fanbase deserves!

This work proves WENB’s commitment to editing the game well after launch going forward from here on in, and will ring much louder once PES 2011 is upon us.

On a totally different subject, Iain, his brother, and friends have made a quite extraordinary video for the Doritos ‘King Of Ads’ Campaign. Being a member of the team, I really want to make sure he wins it – or gets the recognition it deserves. Watch it here.

Please watch it, and spread the word. WENB editing team, they make commercials too! ;)

Just a quick heads up then saying we’re back supporting it and keeping it up to date. So if you use the ever popular social network site (who doesn’t these days), then make sure you join the group by clicking here.

Back from the ashes so to speak, much like the series.

Konami seem to be forever challenging us with the many updates that reset OF’s, and it caused our current editing team a headache or two over the past months – not to mention the entire fanbase. Even the most resilient editors patience was tested more than once. With no word on this ever changing, we’ve decided to combat it this year well in advance, by making the team BIGGER!

Iain (JackWho) & John (Mighty__Mag) have been serving the community for many years, and more recently have been working on the PESGaming forums showing their stuff. Iain’s kits are regarded as some of the best out there, while John’s face importing can sometimes look as good as a preset face. You can see a sample of their work in their header.

With these two well known and well respected editors joining Sean (01srainey) and Roi (roigafni), we hope to create a near perfect option file for launch. And to go with our better, bigger service come September, we hope this will create a more active editing scene on the site post-PES 2011. We’ve always supported the game as soon as it hits, but with a refocus we aim to tackle the editing scene with more authority.

Make sure you check out the guys editing thread on the boards. Iain’s kit thread can be found here, and John’s face and face request threads can be found here and here.

Fingers crossed PES 2011’s edit mode is improved further, and gives these guys the means to flex their editing muscles.

It’s been heart warming to see both fans and even the staff of Kitana Media donate to help us achieve our target. Amongst the small but just as important donations, we’ve had the likes of long term member chaos give very generous amounts. This along with staff members Gari Clark and 01srainey (of OF fame) digging deep into their pockets means this is very much a team effort.

We wanted to take the opportunity to thank every single one of you who have donated, every penny counts!