Every fan of football video games had their breaking point — that moment when you finally crossed that forbidden line… from Pro Evo to FIFA. In the PS2 era it was barely a competition, I didn’t even bother with FIFA, but at some point — probably around FIFA 08/09 — I made the migration, and I never looked back.
Back in January, one of Lionel Messi’s teammates on FC Barcelona let slip that the football superstar greatly enjoyed playing EA Sports’ FIFA series. At the time, he was the three-time cover star of Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer, from its 2009 to 2011 editions.
When the Nintendo 3DS launched, Pro Evolution Soccer, or World Soccer Winning Eleven as it’s known in Japan, launched along with it.
Acknowledging that they’ve rested on their laurels as EA Sports’ FIFA siphoned off their fans, Konami’s gunning “to win back the hardcore”, with Pro Evolution Soccer 2011, a senior executive vows.
When the football World Cup begins later this year, EA’s FIFA series will be cashing in with an officially-licensed World Cup game. And what will competitors Pro Evolution Soccer be doing? Why, releasing an unlicensed World Cup game, of course.
EA Sports exec has stated that the company is working to appeal to Japanese gamers. That work appears to have paid off: FIFA 10 is a hit in Japan. But could that be for a deeper reason?
Curious as to just who the hell Lionel Messi is, America? He’s the long-haired, Argentinian midget that stars in this debut trailer for Konami’s Pro Evo 2009. While my patience with the Pro Evo series is wearing thin – with both current-gen releases doing nothing to improve on the PS2/Xbox years – I’ll at least give them credit for this trailer. While it’s had a few (dozen) more rendering passes than the actual game will boast, as you can see by the stilted player animations, that’s at least in-engine footage.
Sometimes the PR people just completely beat you to the best possible headline. In this case, Konami has just announced that Argentinean forward Lionel Messi will be the face and voice of the latest installment of their beloved Pro Evolution Soccer franchise, PES 2009. Now that I’ve stolen their headline and seeing as I know absolutely nothing about soccer, let’s just skip straight to the required loving the game, proud to be a part of it quote. “Most modern players are aware of the realism and skill of the PES series,” commented Messi on the deal. “It is a game that truly mirrors the pace and control of real football, and as a die-hard fan of the series, I am delighted to be working with Konami on the latest version.”
Wait, delighted? What kind of sports personality uses the word delighted? You’re supposed to trash talk other games, players, teams, etc. Tell you what Messi, go read the bit Kevin Garnett did on NBA 2K9 and get back to us, okay?
