Kotaku Australia » pro evolution soccer 2009

Metal Gear And Pro Evolution Soccer Power Konami’s Sales

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:30:00 +0000

Even as the global economy craters, Konami is recording strong revenues during the nine month period ending December 31, 2008.

Thank soccer title Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, stealth game Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear Online for that!

Both revenues and income were up for Konami, who reports:

We hereby announce that our consolidated net revenues and consolidated operating income for the nine months ended December 31, 2008 were ¥234,011 million (105.1 percent of the same period in the previous year) and ¥34,712 million (125.7 percent of the same period of the previous year), respectively, and we marked increases both in revenues and income.

Income before income taxes and net income were ¥31,703 million (115.7 percent of the same period of the previous year) and ¥17,826 million (117.3 percent of the same period of the previous year), respectively.

This year has been a big year for Konami — especially as other companies have struggled in this economic climate. Though, we do wonder how the company will fare in 2009.

Video Game To Sponsor Pro Football Team

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:30:00 +0000

Games companies sponsoring sporting teams is nothing new. Sega (Arsenal), Nintendo (Fiorentina) and Microsoft (Seattle Sounders) have all tried their hand at it. But a game sponsoring a football team, that’s new.

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.

New Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 Wii Trailer and Screens

Adam Barenblat — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000

While PS3, PS2, PSP and Xbox 360 owners are going to be able to experience the joys of Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 come this November, Wii owners are going to have to wait a little longer. Don’t fret though, because the guys at Konami are cooking something special for you. Other than getting some beefed up AI the Wii version will sport the ‘point and click’ interface that’ll allow you to control your player as well as the teammates around him. The Wii version of the game should be hitting stores sometime in Spring 2009. Screens after the jump.

Getting My Arse Kicked At Pro Evo 2009

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:40:00 +0000

I know, a demo’s already out, but I hadn’t had a chance to download it, so one of the first games I ran for this TGS was pro Evo 2009. Why the running? Because I’m torn on the Pro Evo franchise. Once was a time football purists would buy Pro Evo for the simulation, and everyone else would buy FIFA because it had all the major league licenses. But the last few years? Konami have gotten sloppy. Current-gen Pro Evos looked like last-gen Pro Evos with the cracks painted over, while FIFA has come on strong with a new engine and improved gameplay. In fact, FIFA’s come on so strong that many people have already declared it the winner in this year’s tussle. Me, I’m going to give the old bird one last chance to impress before doing anything drastic.

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.

New Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 Trailer

Adam Barenblat — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Pro Evolution Soccer Fans rejoice! We got a new video for the upcoming PES 2009. How does the game look? Well, pretty darn good if you ask me. While there’ll be a few new improvements in 2009 such as a new Teamvision system and better physics, there doesn’t seem to be much of an evolution in gameplay versus 2008. Though, I am sure this is for good reason since Pro Evolution has always striven for realism.

PES 2009 screens [Luke posted yesterday in case you missed them]

How Pro Evo 2009 Differs From Pro Evo 2008

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:30:00 +0000

I was bitterly disappointed with Pro Evo 2008. Like Konami had dropped off a basket full of soccer-ball-shaped lemons, and I’d eaten every last one. And I wasn’t the only one; the game sold well enough, but there was a general feeling that Konami hadn’t taken advantage of the next generation of hardware like they could/should have. Heck, they even made some parts of the game worse, crippling the team edit suite. So they’ve got a lot to prove with the upcoming Pro Evo 2009! Let’s see if they’re doing enough, by taking a look at the new/improved features this year.

BECOME A LEGEND – They’ll tell you this was a part of the Japanese versions of Winning Eleven, but really, the institution of a “control a single player as he rises through the ranks” mode is a response to those found in the EA Sports games. Still, it’s a neat addition, especially if you’re the type who likes to squeeze every last Master League match out their Pro Evo, especially since you can save your player data and use it during online matches.

SPECIAL MOVES – No more combos or specific controls for special moves. Instead, these are going to be introduced contextually, and will be activated depending on where/how hard you can yank/twist the analogue stick when performing a certain move or dribbling in a certain direction.

GRAPHICS – Konami are promising that the game’s had a “radical aesthetic upgrade”. Specifically, they say stadiums now have better effects (including LED hoardings), depth-of-field effects and “new face and body detail”, along with new facial animations. Which should be nice, but fall short of a full engine overhaul, which the series badly needs, since there’s only so long it’ll be able to polish up a stiff, robotic player animation system that was developed a generation ago.

EDITING – Ah. Some good, good news. The editing system – crippled in both current-gen versions of the game – is fully-restored for Pro Evo 2009. You’ll be able to draw your own sponsors and club crests like you used to, along with new features like the ability to import crowd noises for custom home games.

Course, none of that will matter a damn if they don’t fix the awful online play from last year, but we won’t be able to test that until the game’s out in the Fall/Autumn (unless you own a Wii, then it’s out in 2009).

Pro Evo 2009 ‘Announced’

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:20:00 +0000

It’s as exciting a decree as “sun to rise tomorrow”, but hey, these kind of announcements have to made at some point, so we may as well indulge them. Konami have released the first screens and details for Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, promising that this year’s edition will feature “a raft of extensive new additions that will further bridge the gap between PES and the real thing”. Which it would want to: the last two versions of the game have been lazy updates, allowing the FIFA series to claw back some respectability in a football market once dominated (at least critically) by Pro Evo. If Konami can’t convince us this version is a significant improvement over the 2005 edition (and sort out the editing…and sort out their inability to secure the licences for some of the world’s biggest teams), EA will be sending fruit baskets and Thank You cards to Konami HQ all year long.

Presser follows. Interestingly, there’s no mention of a Wii version. Maybe the Wii series will be permanently spun-off from the “main” Pro Evo games?

23rd June 2007

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced that it will release PES 2009 for PLAYSTATION®3, Xbox 360, PC-DVD, PlayStation®2, and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) this Autumn in Europe.

PES 2009 is the latest installment of the award-winning Pro Evolution Soccer Series, which is known by millions of fans for its superior gameplay and incredible realism. For PES 2009, Konami is already planning a raft of extensive new additions that will further bridge the gap between PES and the real thing. The new game has undergone a stunning graphical update to ensure its players look and move even more like their real-life counterparts. Similarly, all-new options allow users to tailor the game to their own tastes, while new moves, innovative new control elements and key online elements will further the realism of the new game.

“The announcement of a new PES game is always a highlight for Konami, but PES 2009 looks set to reaffirm the series’ utter superiority,” commented Jon Murphy, PES Project Leader for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH. “We are committed to extending the realism of the new game with a wealth of key gameplay additions, and will produce a football title that truly embodies all the skill and pace that is good about the modern game.”

PES 2009 will be released for PLAYSTATION®3, Xbox 360, PC-DVD, PlayStation 2, and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) in Autumn.