Konami: PES isn't a videogame

Wednesday 4 July 2007
We always knew that Seabass, AKA PES producer Shingo Takatsuka, was serious about football. But with Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, he's more earnest than ever about the simulation's real-world ties.

And this extra-level of realism means, as Seabass tells PSM3 magazine in this month's issue, that gamers ought to be thinking outside their console boxes. PES shouldn't be played like a 'videogame', Seabass believes, as it's much closer to real, flowing football - and so needs constant tactical thought, rather than an approach that aims to 'beat' or 'break' the game's AI or programming.

Above you can see a fresh new screen from the game, taken during a match. There's even a picture-in-picture feature showing the bench - whichagain heightens the sense of realism, of a living, breathing team and management existing within the game.

Hit our updated gallery and you can see another new screen, this time showing off a neat new animation - that favourite of outpaced defenders, the shirt-tug.

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.