Reason we bring this up is that Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 will be taking centre stage on Italian Serie A club Lazio’s jersey for their game next week (and that game only) against Inter Milan. Just in time for the Christmas shopping rush.

It’s a smart move on the part of Konami. FIFA has beaten Pro Evo at both the sales register and the reviews circuit for the first time since, oh, ever, so the more exposure the series gets in front of die-hard football nuts, the better.

PES 2009 e S.S. Lazio dal calcio virtuale a quello reale

Siglato l’accordo tra S.S. Lazio e Digital Bros S.p.A., distributore esclusivo per l’Italia del videogioco PES 2009, per la sponsorizzazione della partita Lazio-Inter del 6 dicembre p.v..
PES 2009, il videogioco di calcio edito da Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH, si conferma “il più amato d’Italia”, attestandosi al vertice delle classifiche di vendita italiana ed internazionale.
Continuando la tradizione, infatti, anche quest’anno PES surclassa il successo delle edizioni precedenti registrando, ad un mese dal lancio, oltre 675.000 copie vendute solo nel nostro Paese.

Grazie alla partnership con S.S. Lazio, oggi, PES 2009, raggiunge un nuovo record: è il primo videogame ad essere main sponsor di una squadra di calcio per una partita di Campionato di Serie A, passando così dai campi virtuali a quelli reali.

In occasione della 15° giornata di campionato, infatti, i biancocelesti indosseranno una maglia speciale – un vero “pezzo unico” – che riprodurrà il marchio di PES 2009.

Per Digital Bros e PES 2009, la collaborazione con la S.S. Lazio, rappresenta una scelta importante che apre un nuovo orizzonte sul mondo del calcio i cui dettagli verranno spiegati nel corso di una speciale conferenza stampa congiunta, che si terrà venerdì 5 dicembre alle ore 12.00 presso la sede della società sportiva a Formello (Roma), via Santa Cornelia, 1000.

5000円以上お得！ 『ウイイレ2009』PS3本体同梱版のパッケージはド真ん中にメッシ [Famitsu]

New licenses coming in PES update [CVG]

Before we begin, know a few things: I was playing the game on the PS3. Against some Japanese kid. He beat me 4-0. My flimsy defence being that I’ve never actually played the game using a PS controller (Ive only ever used Xbox/360 pads), but hey, it could just as easily have been my flimsy defence.

First thing I noticed? My goodness, Konami have actually changed some things. Important things. While it’s not a completely new engine, the player animations both look, and feel, different. This is not a cheap reskin of Pro Evo 5, as 6 and 2008 were. Your players move with a great deal more fluidity, and the ball is even more of a separate entity from the player’s feet, adding a surprising level of realism to play when moving through crowded spaces.

Players also seem slower, but in a good way. Because they’re more fluid, and there’s more animation (players now move in more directions than the old eight-way turns), the game takes on a more deliberate pace, as old tactics of putting your head down and running through defenders didn’t work anywhere near as well as they did in 2008.

One totally new thing I noticed was that players would extend their legs to reach for the ball. This was for defenders making tackles, but also midfielders who were clashing over an unpossessed ball. So instead of having to crash your entire player into the other to initiate a challenge for possession – or to gain possession – they’ll flick a leg out in front of them, getting the job done quicker.

As for the licensing, I opted for Liverpool (sadly, Villa didn’t make the cut for the demo), and my opponent went for Barcelona. Player likenesses looked better than last year’s, particularly on the more high profile guys like Messi and Torres, while the kits look a great deal more detailed. The Champion’s League licence was also being rammed down our throats, with the competition’s logo and theme song used at every possible opportunity. Feels a bit strange, to be honest, as that level of licensing is something you’d expect from EA’s FIFA, not Konami’s offering.

And…that’s all I could get out of a 20-minute match. Oh, that and the realisation anyone thinking this year’s FIFA v Pro Evo matchup already over is being more than a little premature.

Pro Evo 2009 Gallery

I figure I need to get this disclaimer out of the way. The last soccer game I played dates back to the Sega Genesis days (Fifa 97, I think), so I am in no means claiming to be an expert on this type of game. I also have never played any of the previous PES games, either. So I realise that most of what impressed me about this game may in fact have already been done in previous iterations. Just please bear with me.

My first jump out of the gate with this was a rough one. I didn’t quite get the controls down until after about 10 minutes of turning the ball over and over. But when I did get the controls, oh baby was it smooth sailing! With sports games, especially hockey, the players never respond like they should on their respective playing surfaces. In hockey, if I have the puck, I can skate however and whenever I want and I’ll never lose control of it, forget the fact the players themselves never feel like they’re skating on ice. But with PES 2009, the players look and play like they’re on a surface kicking a ball around and don’t have a float-y feel like in other games.. You’ll quickly realise you can’t get the ball and speed boost past everyone or make blind passes and expect them to connect. This isn’t the type of realism that’s annoying, either.

If I decide to sprint with the ball, I leave myself open to defenders having a much easier time stealing it from me. Likewise on defence, I can choose to try and slide on the ground to kick the ball off an oncoming attacking player’s foot, but I run the risk of potentially tackling him at the legs and getting carded. There was just this sense of strategy I’ve never caught in a sports game before. Like every time the ball was moving up field, it would turn into all these mini chess matches to see who makes the first move.

Everything about this game seemed really polished, from the framerate to the animations and controls. I now know why PES (or Winning Eleven as some folks call it) consider the series to be the best among soccer games. If you’re familiar with the series already, then this years version probably seems like another $60 roster update. But if you’re like me and new to the whole PES thing, you might want to check this out if you need a new sports game to play.

It is all very well for EA to say that FIFA is making great strides, but general opinion suggests that they still have a long way to go before they can match the intuitive and absorbing gameplay of Pro Evolution Soccer… That is not to say that we are resting on our laurels, though. PES 2009 has a vast number of new additions that elevate it far beyond anything anyone else is doing.

Yep, Konami just told EA “nice try, keep going, kid”. For the upcoming Pro Evolution Soccer title, Konami secured the Champions League licence for four years, plus signed deals with Premier League clubs Liverpool and Manchester United. It’s also the official video game of the England national team.

Full PES 2009 details revealed [MCVUK]

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 gets release date [VG247]