Huge thanks to Vinnie, and a combination of Johnson from the boards, and MASSIVE credit to the guys who run the Bundesliga creation thread on PESGaming.

As ever the file is created for the UK version of PES 2012, BLES 01406. People asking for other versions should check our editing section for help. Being based in the UK, our work is focused on that version.

The team pack includes (as written by Vinnie):

All 18 Bundesliga teams, (Bayern and Leverkusen have been added for the reasons below)

Almost every player has the correct appearance,(Only a few players are missing the right appearance)

Every player has the correct stats, as best I can make or adjust

Every player has the correct accessories, as best as I can fit to images I have with the boots etc in game.

Every team has the best formation and tactics I can find to give them

Every team has been given their real stadium name, and been allocated a default stadium as best I can fit.

Each team has been allocated the default German fan-chant, there is a MUSIC file in this download with around 500 fan-chants that I have been able to make/get hold of in the last few years.

Every team has the correct kit, I had added some third kits and alternative GK kits instead of the standard away or GK, to minimise clashes.

A few youngsters for Bayern and Leverkusen are missing but the DLC should sort this out!

I have used every player in the default PES league and a few left over from the Div. 2, once we finished the championship teams, so there shouldn’t be too much for people to do when importing but they are advised to keep some create player slots available just in case.

When the DLC arrives none of these players will need base copying, all in game players who have transferred to the Bundesliga have been base copied already and added using created players, so no one should disappear!

Download this awesome file by clicking here. For a guide on how to add team packs, click here and scroll to the bottom.

Huge thanks again to everyone involved!

Surveys. They’ve become a prominent thing publishers are using to gain feedback. Thing is, they usually are vague, and never give you the confidence that they understand the key issues as the things you want to feedback are never really brought up.

Scrap that!

The latest PES survey from Konami is fantastic, touching on a variety of elements we all have a say on. Online, GoalKeeper animations, Pass support, Edit Mode improvements, DLC etc etc, everything I know you all want to feedback on.

So please, take the time to fill this out, it won’t take long and I’m sure you’ll feel satisfied once complete. Click here to start.

Thanks.

Welcome to my official Facebook fan page. Bear with us while we get this sorted, but there will be a huge amount of behind the scenes info from PES past, present and future in the coming days and weeks! Thanks, Jon.

The first post from Jon’s Facebook page advises content that is sure to interest many a fan of PES could be on the way in the not too distant future. Personally, I would love to learn more about the past as well as future developments so giving the page a like was a no brainer. Click HERE to do the same and stay in the loop.

Full press release below, but simple terms, if you purchase and play the game for 3 hours before Feb 1st, you are put in a draw to win luxury suite tickets at the Emirates. Also other prizes to be won.

full information on the offer here, and below.

OnLive Kicks off Launch of KONAMI’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2012
with Play 2 Win Giveaway

BT-sponsored sweepstakes features Emirates Stadium luxury box tickets as Grand Prize

London—24 January 2012 — OnLive, the pioneer of on-demand cloud gaming, announced today that KONAMI’s highly anticipated game Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 is now available for instant play on the OnLive® Game Service. To celebrate, OnLive has partnered with BT to offer a PES 2012 Play 2 Win Kickoff Giveaway for the first week that the game is available, enabling gamers to win an incredible array of prizes just for playing the game on-demand using OnLive.* Gamers who play for more than three hours between 24 January and 31 January will be automatically entered to win a pair of BT luxury box seats for a top-level fixture on 10 March, among other prizes. But gamers and football fans can also win OnLive Gaming Packs just for playing the free demo—instantly on-demand, on nearly any type of device, with no purchase or commitment necessary. Coming shortly after OnLive’s UK debut, the game’s launch not only adds the first KONAMI blockbuster to the 200 premium video games available for instant play on the ever-expanding OnLive Game Service, it sends a clear message to UK gamers: OnLive won’t leave its UK fans on the sidelines.

Beginning with the game’s launch this morning at 12:01 A.M. GMT, anyone who plays PES 2012 on the OnLive Game Service before 1 February 2012 will be entered to win break-away prizes through the BT-sponsored PES 2012 Kickoff Play 2 Win Giveaway:

· Gamers who play for 3 or more hours before 11:59 P.M. GMT 31 January will be automatically entered to win one of two Grand Prizes, a pair of luxury box seat tickets to a top-tier match at the Emirates on 10 March. Runners Up prizes include an Option 3 BT broadband line, with free broadband for 12 months (5 winners) and an OnLive Gaming Pack, including the winner’s choice of an OnLive Game System or a recently released Universal OnLive Wireless Controller, Full PlayPass to any game (excluding pre-order promotions), OnLive beanie and PES t-shirt (3 winners).
· Gamers who play the free demo or play for less than 3 hours before 11:59 P.M. GMT 31 January will be automatically entered to win one of 10 OnLive Gaming Packs, including a Universal OnLive Wireless Controller, a copy of PES 2012, an OnLive beanie and PES t-shirt.

PES 2012 is the latest edition in KONAMI’s top-selling football franchise, and continues the series’ growth throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America and the United States. The game extends KONAMI’s partnership with UEFA via its exclusive UEFA Champions League™ and UEFA Europa League™ competitions and also boasts the Copa Libertadores license. PES 2012 improves on past versions with features such as an all-new Active AI system, which sees players behave more realistically on-field in creating space and making key runs, while the game’s more fluid gameplay and new Teammate Control system gives players unprecedented control of the action.

Harnessing the power of the cloud, OnLive is the first-ever gaming platform to enable high-performance games like PES 2012, which would normally be limited to high-end computers and consoles, to be played on devices like tablets in addition to PCs, Macs® and HDTVs. Gamers can now jump into the game anytime, anywhere, or jump seamlessly from device to device without losing achievements or progress. And, with the new Universal OnLive Wireless Controller, gamers can retain a console-quality experience no matter what device they’re on: tablet, PC, Mac or HDTV.

In addition, OnLive has many one-of-a-kind social features that promise to add unparalleled dimension to the game, such as a massive spectating Arena with trans-Atlantic voice chat, and the ability to record and share videos of your best and worst gameplay moments. Gamers can instantly broadcast goals, fouls, runs and saves to friends on Facebook, along with achievements or a heads-up that they’re looking for friends to play. Friends can click in instantly from Facebook, to join a game or spectate as they play.

“We are excited to be working with KONAMI on another of their incredible games,” said Steve Perlman, OnLive Founder and CEO, “and even more excited to be bringing a new dimension to this highly demanded game, for OnLive players on both sides of the Atlantic.”

“We are delighted to be able to offer PES 2012 via the exciting OnLive format,” said Jon Murphy, PES Team Leader for Konami Digital Entertainment GMbH. “PES 2012 is a game best played against a rival, and OnLive will offer users a welcome taste of its incredible realism and stunning simulation elements, and will also provide them with a wealth of like-minded fans to try their luck against. It’s great to see a competitive game such as PES 2012 debuting on such a socially minded format.”

OnLive is available through www.onlive.co.uk on virtually every PC and Mac through a simple browser download, on Android™ tablets with the free OnLive app, and on HDTVs via the OnLive Game System. All OnLive games are available across all devices with no additional charge: simply log in and play wherever you are.

PES 2012 is now available for on-demand instant play at www.onlive.co.uk. For official rules and details of the PES 2012 Play 2 Win Kickoff Giveaway, please visit www.onlive.co.uk/pes2012.

*Giveaway Official Rules Apply

About OnLive
OnLive is the pioneer of on-demand, instant-action cloud computing and instant-play video game services, delivering real-time interactive experiences and rich media through the Internet. With groundbreaking video compression technology, OnLive harnesses cloud computing to provide the power and intelligence needed to instantly deliver full-featured, media-rich applications and the latest, premium game titles to tablets, smartphones, PCs, Macs and HDTVs via the OnLive® Game System or Google TV or connected TVs. OnLive is available in North America and the UK and will continue expanding into Europe and Asia. OnLive’s technology is backed by hundreds of patents and patents pending. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. OnLive investors include Warner Bros., Autodesk, Maverick Capital, AT&T, British Telecommunications (BT), The Belgacom Group, HTC and Juniper Networks. More information is available at www.onlive.com and www.onlive.co.uk.

About KONAMI Group
KONAMI CORPORATION was established in 1973, and became a holding company of the Konami Group on March 31, 2006. KONAMI CORPORATION covers the fields of “Digital Entertainment Business”, “Gaming & Systems Business”, “Pachinko & Pachinko Slot Machines Business” and “Health & Fitness Business”. KONAMI CORPORATION went public on Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1988, the London Stock Exchange in 1999, and the New York Stock Exchange in 2002. Home Page URL: www.konami.co.jp. Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH is a wholly-owned subsidiary, responsible for popular franchises like Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill and Pro Evolution Soccer amongst other top sellers. Konami Group is also the manufacturer of the wildly popular Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME, which has sold more than 25 billion cards worldwide. For more information concerning Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH and its products, please visit www.konami-europe.com.

It’s compatible with the UK PES 2012 PS3 version (BLES 1406)

Each team has:

• Up to date kits, as far as I can find decant images of. Angola have been improved as I wasn’t too sure about the formula or colours used on the original team pack and I think they look better now
• Up to date formations, as per a site I use for all my formations
• The African default fan chant, which I’ve noticed includes the vuvuzela at times too
• Correct names and shirt names given to all fake players who don’t have duplicates and any doppelgangers have been removed and replaced with the club version, I have removed Adebayor from Togo as he has retired from International Football
• All 8 participating teams have the squad that they have announced for the tournament. Some players have been created to do this. Therefore, the advice is that if anyone is told by the game, when importing, that these players will overwrite players they already have, they should say yes and overwrite them, it won’t affect anything, only remove some players that were fake named anyway

Download the file here (LINK UPDATED 24 Jan WITH TEAM/KIT FIXES). A guide to import teams can be found here.

If there is one thing that has remained consistent with PES in this generation even if the games themselves haven’t always delivered, it is the excellent output from a passionate editing community. Whether it is kits, teams, player appearances or stadiums, those editing obsessive’s have always delivered as authentic looking experience as possible for the wider community to reap the benefits of.

The editing community consists of more than just these wonderful artists and their wonderful creations, however. Delve deeper into the editing scene and you will find tactical maestro’s who manage to eek out (some would say ‘’fix’’) more from the game that can enhance user experience further thanks to the tactics and strategy options available which although relatively deep, could offer more.

I wish to shine the spotlight on the work of an editing community figure whose work is something of a speciality in itself and always seems to breathe new life into the gameplay experience for me just when I need it most year in, year out. His efforts are not something you see, more so feel.

Super Monkey’s Ball

Chimps – with – Quiffs has specialised in extensive stats edits on the PES series for some years on PS2 and PS3 and such is the quality of his work it can often feel like a PC-like gameplay patch in itself. The tweaks he performs are not wild increases or decreases in values of players certain stats across the board either, with the focus being on improving gameplay balance, response and overall fluidity while also looking to capture the playing styles found across the globe. Essentially, he is looking to make the game play more like a simulation and where a FIFA or NBA2K has gameplay sliders to look to achieve similar (though 2K’s efforts blow EA’s clean out of the water regards impact) Chimps treats each players stats as gameplay sliders in themselves. No mean feat which must take hours upon hours of testing to get it feeling and playing just right, which it does.

Chimps has said that his tweaks on this PES2012 have produced some of the most satisfying results in all his years doing this gameplay edit work and I would tend to agree with him.

Playing the game on -1 speed and with 0 bar passing assistance, matches play out with more of a tactical edge on Super Star difficulty, with the COM showing a great deal more patience and creativity than found with the default settings. While the game plays slower, it feels more responsive and I don’t know what magic Chimps has performed but player individuality is better overall, while being far more grounded into the bargain. Worth noting as well that the R2 dribble does not feel as sticky which is always going to make me happy and although the game may well be slower, the games better passers and dribblers still have that little more zip in their play. Finally, playing on Super Star difficulty, my opinion is that the AI doesn’t cheese it in the way it is known only to well for with ‘’vanilla’’ values. Most games I have played of late have been decided by only a single goal which keeps things very interesting.

Slider Tackling

It begs the question if PES should in fact look to implement gameplay sliders for future releases and make the work of Chimps and others who may wish to get involved in such tweakery far easier. I’ll be blunt and say that I found EA’s slider solution implemented rather cack-handedly, with it lacking the scope required to make it work, thus putting me off the idea completely. It should also be said that I have a level of mistrust of what the merits of gameplay sliders are and have been of the opinion that they are designed more as a developer work around instead of them just getting it right out of the box.

It has been only since I have started playing 2K sports’ marvellous NBA2K12 have I seen the merits of gameplay sliders. Where FIFA’s brush strokes via slider manipulation are broad, 2K have it so as players careful adjustments of a wealth of variables can result in a gameplay experience that allows for a full, real-time simulation of a game to play out to near but not quite perfection in terms of flow, incident and post-game statistics. That is mighty impressive considering it is but a mere videogame simulation of the sport in question using 6year old hardware. Players and even coaches have tendencies sliders as well, so you can essentially customise their behaviours independently of their attributes and formation/tactical/strategic assignments. Imagine something like that in PES where each team could have an AI coach that works in tandem with assigned tactics/strategy and could even change things up. Deep, and maybe contrary to my belief that a realistic real-time 90min match would not be achievable nor a desired gameplay experience, it could well prove possible if those in the community are given the tools to do the job.

To close this quick op-ed, I would encourage UK BLES code PS3 users to try out the game with Chimps tweaks. Special mention of course must go to Goalgerd and Klashman, who are behind the kits, stadiums, formations and tactics in the wonderful European Club Soccer file in which Chimps’ efforts compliment. Links Below…

Base file (required for kits, emblems, rosters) – HERE

Chimps – with – Quiffs Edit File – HERE

As always, we encourage you to get involved in the discussion in our forums or use the comments section below to share your thoughts.

OnLive is something that surely gives an indication of where the games industry is heading. Streaming games through a solid internet connection, never having to store physical media in your home again.

The service has captured Konami’s latest football game, and is looking to entice new users to give the machine a go by offering a free box with every PES 2012 pre-order. The game will be £29.99, so that not a bad deal.

If you want to take them up on their offer, click here.

It’s just shame it’s appeared so long after launch, with most people having enjoyed their fix already.

Let us know what you think.

Today Konami posted on their facebook page they are trying harder to combat cheating in PES 2012 online competitions, and have successfully banned people already.

Read the full statement below:

IMPORTANT MESSAGE REG CHEATING: We play PES 2012 Online in the office and at home and just like you continue to experience some really bad sportsmanship. Let’s be clear on this: Cheating, intentional disconnecting, scoring own goals, none of this should be tolerated. We have to do and will do more to stop players ruining our experiences.

It’s an issue that runs deeper than PES, but we have already banned some cheaters and we’ll crack down harder. We’re also looking at additional measures so we, the real fans, can have an enjoyable online experience. We’ll report back, but in the meantime play fair and square even in the face of cheaters – for the love of the game!

Yes we love all PES news, even if it does make us a little jealous of the fans living in Japan. Konami have today revealed WE 2012 is getting the arcade treatment, something we just don’t see over in Europe much – due to the lack of an arcade scene more than anything else.

Some info here. Oh, and a video here.

PES2012 is quite possibly bipolar. Konami’s latest is a game which can inspire elation and frustration in equal measure yet has a nasty habit of the player seldom experiencing both emotions in one individual match – let alone one sitting – as your understanding evolves (pun intended) over time. In one match it can all click into place; not only for the player and their input, but how the AI responds too and it can result in an admittedly technically lacking but very pure –though far from perfect – football experience. The next match it can – and often does – seem to fall apart entirely and feed back to the user something that is miles away from that purity experienced a mere 10mins prior.

‘’That is football’’ many will say and yes, football , specifically a videogame simulation of football, should try to present the ugliness – the war of attrition that is so often apparent – in the sport and it is something that contributes to the overall beauty of the sport we all love, albeit in a somewhat perverse fashion. PES2012 can realise this ‘’ugly beauty’’ make no mistake, yet it is found more often than not in those matches when the game fully clicks into gear as mentioned previously. It is a vital ingredient in inspiring the much required sense of involvement which in itself is key to enjoyment of any videogame in any genre. It would therefore appear the problem PES2012 is unfortunately one of stability – one of balance – and it permeates throughout the entire game, lurching from the near (but not quite) perfect to the ridiculous from match to match.

Football is a sport in which random factor plays a huge part but the basic rules and regulations remain consistent from game to game, refereeing decisions apart of course. It begs the question : what are the rules and regulations in football videogame terms and by extension who acts as referee? Also, who takes responsibility for the random factor which needs to be present in order for that immersion to manifest? This will all read as WENB thinking out loud and yep, even walking the fine line between bleedingly obvious game design theory and outright pretentiousness, but let us try and answer these questions; see if we can make some sense of it for your consideration. As always, your feedback is encouraged.

The Rules and Regulations

Football has its own set of rules and regulations that are needed in order to ensure – or at least try to ensure – balance and consistency in professional competition. It goes without saying that a football videogame needs these same laws of the game to be present in order to realise any simulation aspirations at a base level. With that in mind, a football videogame therefore requires its own set of ‘’laws’’ that will help achieve a balance and consistency in experience. This would perhaps fall on the technical assets to supply them, and I don’t think it would be too assumptive for us to say that PES’ fans (and non-fans) are in agreement that Konami have not equipped their game with technology that is either ambitious or completely stable.

For all that the great FIFA v. PES debate offers up many a polarising view on each games merit as a true simulation of the sport, you would be hard pushed to find many who believe EA have not blessed their franchise with great technical assets. Sure, you will find opinion out there that questions the realism (exuberant tricks/ebb and flow/variance in play) or quality of execution in some areas (the impact engine comes immediately to mind here) but it is near impossible to argue that so far as pure look in player movement and for the most part player interaction and physics go, FIFA looks like football. Consistently. Whether it plays like football is for another discussion.

PES2012 can look like football as well (not as good as EA make it look of course) but it is more oft than not dictated by certain criteria being met to make it so. Such things as camera angle, stadium selection and even lighting condition impacting on proceedings more than they should. Since football videogames have introduced such variables as stadium, lighting conditions and even the shade of the grass users will always have their favourites and of course, some environments prove to be prettier than others. Even in those tattie* field like surfaces that looked as though they were ploughed by a farmer eating too many of his own funny mushrooms that were found in some arenas in the PS2 days of PES, you never felt like the game wasn’t moving like it should or that control/response or physics felt a little off. This happens in PES on current-gen and, along with the already limited tech., makes the user experience all the more inconsistent and genuinely off-putting. PES needs this righted moving forward – it needs it’s technical and visual assets to act like the ‘’laws’’ of the real sport and provide as consistent an experience as possible.

The good news here? Well, the murmurings are that Konami are on the same page with users and are pro-actively looking to meet the demands of the fanbase. These murmurings are not coming exclusively from within the community either and well informed sources are hinting that “a nice shock might await”.

The Referee

Okay, hear us out on this one. The referee in the sport is tasked with controlling the match and ensuring the rules and regulations are applied and adhered to. PES, naturally, has it’s officials in place in order to tick a simulation box and are equipped with their own AI that is instructed to apply the laws of the game, for better or worse. In football video game terms however, would it be completely ridiculous to assert that the user is the referee? After all, they are the ones who are in effect ‘controlling’ proceedings and like the referee uses the set laws of the game to help them do this, the player has his own rule-set at his disposal – the controller and the executable actions available to them….and switching the game off being the equivalent of a ref sending a player off!

Naturally, with the referee being only human they can get it wrong or uncertainty can creep in to their decision making in spite of them having their own instructions, or ‘controls’, available to them. Sounds a little familiar to us PES players, no? Like the real sports referees, errors in judgment or decision by the user in PES are or should be forgivable…in some cases. Picking the wrong pass, misjudging the right pass, using a lofted pass when one across the deck would have been better, shooting with a players weaker foot, ballooning a strike at goal – these are acceptable errors that should be present in any football game. What unfortunately is also comparable in PES to referees/officialdom in the real sport is the ambiguity, lack definition and interpretation of some of the ‘’laws’’; the controls to be exact. In PES2012 the weird logic and confusion surrounding some of the control and instruction requires streamlining as well as better explanation. You know where we are going here – both passing and shooting need looking at moving forward.

Passing has improved from how it was initially since patching and is much closer to how it operated in the preview code we had the privilege of experiencing in August last year. However, the strange decision to have a five-tiered assistance setting remains and it not only causes some of the more OCD players among us to tear our hair out in frustration trying to find the best setting as we jump between the variables on offer, it lacks any real definition or explanation as to what actually changes. That and the fact the passing game can be pretty damn inconsistent makes it somewhat of a war of attrition, for all the wrong reasons. Looking ahead, it seems to be the general consensus amongst the community that the developers would do well to streamline the settings so as the default is PES2011-like in its freedom, while still making player individuality key, with the other option being full manual which of course would still have player individuality impacting on execution in some way. When the passing game is good, it is very good in PES2012 and the progress made in off-the-ball movement – both AI controlled and team mate controls – should be held up as a large step forward if not quite entirely perfected.

Shooting is where the next game – or indeed, hopefully a new patch for PES2012 – should see some focus. Let’s be honest, in PES2012 it just ain’t right at all, with placement being the biggest bug-bear for all. There is nothing wrong with the theory of having player individuality, preferred foot and alike impacting on results but users need a model which offers more in the way of placement. Players wouldn’t have an issue with ballooned or wildly inaccurate efforts on goal if they have a sensation of control over it all. It’s a shame as a great deal of what happens in the build up to a strike on goal can be very satisfying.

To summarise, if indeed the user is like the ref, then give them clearly defined laws and instructions to work with – shorn of ambiguity – that allow them to control the game for the better.

The Random Factor

This aspect of the real sport is apparent to a reasonably good degree in PES2012 and no, we wouldn’t say entirely in a negative sense. It is safe to say the development team reigned in some of the unwelcome random elements that were apparent in current-gen PES up until now. Again, they haven’t eradicated all that is unwelcome regards random elements (as the previous segment touches upon) but progress has certainly been made.

When looking at the real sport, the random factor is what keeps us interested and while the sport does carry some level of predictability when looking at results and title winners, out on the field the second by second predictable… erm… unpredictability of how play can develop is still very apparent. It’s just the chaos of nature, man!

For a football videogame, PES specifically, to look to realize yet more of the welcome random elements it requires that balance of ambitious technical assets to work in tandem with intuitive control and excellent AI. Let us not forget the importance of player individuality too in the mix – a vital ingredient in not only allowing for more random and organic play to occur but one which is key to making a great PES game, period.

The overall theory of prioritizing advancement in AI by the WEP team will go some way to producing a more organic experience for the user in PES but the general opinion is that the AI can in fact prevent PES2012 from producing a match experience that ebbs and flows with a wide variance in patterns of play. The reasoning offered by the community is that the COM AI is too efficient at shutting up shop and executing its defensive duties near flawlessly that it gives the impression of the code by-passing or overriding player/team individuality in favour of tactical solidity. While not being as clear cut as that, the more you play, the more there appears to be some sort of AI override in place. Such tactical awareness and efficiency by the COM AI should not be entirely discounted as being a negative. The challenge it presents is more than welcome but it lacks context due to the stamina model not being what it should be and the aforementioned sense of player/team individuality being compromised resulting in AI teams being near telepathic in their play as a defensive unit that it would make the likes of Arrigo Sacchi proud. It can heavily impact upon final third play as well, with it sometimes feeling as though you are being rail-roaded to play a certain way to succeed. PES shouldn’t be about that unless the situation/context demands it. It shouldn’t define the experience.

At the other end of the pitch we have the AI scripting. This is a thorny issue as there is a case for the defence of such scripting needing to be in place in order to mirror the reality, the random element present in the sport. The irony. The opinion held by some at WENB is that COM AI ‘’god-mode’’ can be neutered to some degree by playing somewhat agriculturally when defending. This in itself is realistic as it is a requirement of just about any team in real life at some point – the need to defend ugly – though it can be counter intuitive as to what gamers are used to – the ability to out game the game. That said, the coding seems to be such that it can interfere with the users choice to play in such a fashion anyway, with many a user having tales of players inexplicably buggering up a simple clearance as the code cruelly initiates ‘’late drama’’ mode.

Is there a way to eradicate scripting from a football game entirely which doesn’t compromise on the immersion and sense of drama? EA claim their game is completely unscripted and it could very well be but what has happened there is heightened COM AI response, which impacts heavily on gameplay balance itself.

PES2012 : Some Perspective

For as much as a lot of the above reads as a complete deconstruction of PES2012, it is important to offer some perspective here. The simple fact is many within the community – this includes some very outspoken folks in our own community as well as others – have racked up hundreds of games each on PES2012, this WENB contributor can be included. Playing any football game hundreds of times would suggest it is doing something right to keep us coming back for more. It should also be said that this does not mean those players are blind to the fact the game has its flaws and plenty of them in actual fact. Some of the best (and in some cases most scathing) feedback comes from these players and while we can’t speak for others, putting in that much time with a game surely isn’t down to blind loyalty, a desire to punish one’s self or stubbornly refusing to ”move with the times” . Maybe it is just a balanced approach to what the game does (and doesn’t) offer.

2012 promises to be a big year for PES and that includes the immediate future. The J – League DLC for Japanese users has been announced which although not looking likely to surface for fans across the rest of the globe, could point to how the game could be supported in a variety of ways in future releases. It will be interesting to see what in fact the J – League content will add to the gameplay, if anything at all. It certainly has many curious and should it prove that this new content adds to the gameplay in any fashion it could see a spike in imports of Winning Eleven 2012. Needless to say that WENB will be sure to provide content and comment on this and other developments as we progress throughout the year. It just remains for us to say…

Happy New Year! And be sure to share your thoughts below or in the forums.

*Potato