High in the pristine, snow-capped mountains of Switzerland, nestled snugly in the cosy backroom of an ice-encrusted wooden hotel sat a group of eager, football-loving journalists, and the team behind the finest football series ever, and some of the best games of all time. In attendance for the European Pro Evolution Soccer 2 Finals, this game the team and attendees opportunity for detailed discussion.
Since its first titles on PSone, KCET has rapidly become the name in football title for hardcore fans. From a mainstream point of view, EA's big-budget, flashy FIFA series has long been the most popular choice. But word has slowly spread and the popularity of PES has grown and grown, culminating in PES2 beating EA's FIFA 2003 to the top of the charts when released in Europe last month.
With PES2 widely regarded as a masterpiece, the big question is: "Where next?" Online seems an obvious option, and effervescent director Seabass and executive producer Inamoto-san addressed this issue and many more when we conducted the interview.
Pro Evolution Soccer 2 has recently shipped one million units in Europe - what's your reaction to this?
Inamoto: Since it's the year of the World Cup, it was upsetting for us that we couldn't release a game during that time. However, after discussions with our sales force in Europe it was decided that we deliver the game for the end of October, which is high season for the games industry itself.
We're happy the game has reached a million units in Europe itself, as we didn't expect to accomplish that this year. As you know, we also hit a million units with Winning Eleven 6 so it's almost like winning The Double. We're really pleased and happy.
Can you tell us a little about the development process. Other football games seem repetitive next to yours, so how do you achieve the variety?
Inamoto: There is no formula. We can only say that, within the team, we always play the game with lots of people and try to create as many variations as possible - just like real football.
How do you decide what changes to make between when making the transition from Winning Eleven to PES? Many hardcore fans of PES2, for instance, actually prefer Winning Eleven 6.
Seabass: We do not think of creating a Japanese version or a European version. After Winning Eleven 6 we had about four months to develop PES2 and that included the actual World Cup. We were inspired by some of the matches we watched and implemented some of the things we saw.
EA receives a lot of criticism for releasing FIFA every year without major updates - is there a danger that you will fall into the same trap?
Seabass: We will release the game and I can assure you it will be upgraded. I can't say when, but every time we release the game users will be satisfied. Specifically referring to the next version, we'll renew the graphic engine, upgrade the Master League considerably and gameplay-wise, of course, there will be more evolution.
But from ISS Pro to ISS Pro 98 to PES on PSone each game feels completely different, whereas the transition from PSone PES to PS2 PES and PES2 is essentially the same engine. Can we expect a major upgrade for PES3?
Seabass: The core gameplay will remain the same, however I have a couple of concepts I want to accomplish this year in terms of gameplay. One is the one-on-one battle between defender and attacker - I want to deepen this point as much as possible. At the end of the day, we hope it will feel like a different experience although the core game remains the same.
Things I would like to redo from scratch are doing new motion capture sessions, and implementing new moves. Another point is that, in the past we've tried to cram in everything in the allotted time, without leaving time to actually balance and tweak the game. Therefore this time we're planning to finish up as quickly as possible to allow more time to adjust the game's balance, by playing it within the team.
PES seems more of a realistic simulation than PES2 - have you consciously tried to make PES2 more arcadey?
Seabass: We have tried to create a game with new moves and motion capture. But I realise that, compared to the past, the balance is tilted a little more towards attacking than defending, so I would like to go back to the drawing board, motion capture new moves for defenders and implement them.
Licensing aside, are there any other features in competitor's games that you would like to include in the PES series?
Seabass: My personal feeling is that the detail of players is lacking when compared with the FIFA. Secondly, individual moves such as Beckham's free kick, we have but our competitor has more variety. Thirdly, the atmospheric sense you get in PES is weak compared to other titles, so they are my main areas of focus. [pauses] Also, commentary is another area... [laughs]
So you are aware of how much problematic the licensing and commentary are?
Seabass: Yes. [laughs]
Can you assure us that these are high on your priorities list?
Seabass: Yes, definitely. Concerning the commentary, we have a disadvantage because we are a Japanese developer. But we're always trying to find a way to make it better and with next year's version we'll have to find native speakers to help the team. Also, acquiring good voice talent is important.
In terms of licence, we feel we need to obtain one other than just FIFPro, and I've already raised awareness in Konami that we should aggressively pursue others. If we lack these two points, I'm aware our sales will drop, so it's very important.
With reference to the online side of things, Winning Eleven 6 Final Evolution on GC and PS2 has downloadable content in Japan. Can you guarantee either this or full online play for PES3?
Inamoto: I'm sorry to say we can't guarantee the online option for PES3. This is not slacking on the R&D side - it's more to do with the infrastructure of Europe, which is a little complicated when compared with Japan and the US and depends on how SCEE wants to do it.
If the network is there, we'll definitely do it, but there's still much research to be done and we'll see how successfully SCEE launches its plans.
Is that with reference to downloadable content of full online play?
Inamoto: Both.
How close do you feel you've come to the perfect football game?
Seabass: When the game gets closer to the goal we have in our minds, the goal stretches out so we never get close. We quickly realised that we're still a long, long way from accomplishing what we really want to do. From the next game, we're visualising the whole concept of football rather than just individual moves, which will takes us back to page one again. So I'll probably never be satisfied!
In real football, defenders often race up the pitch to score goals, but this is very hard to achieve in PES2 - is this something you're looking to include in future?
Seabass: I find that defenders overlapping and scoring is a really fantastic thing and I want to recreate this, but a defender's top priority in the game is to defend, so to balance that is really difficult. But in Final Evolution, the flow has been restructured so you might see defenders attacking more.
Furthermore, in terms of set-piece AI, on corners defenders in PES2 hang back, whereas they're far more likely to rush out in real life...
Seabass: The person in charge of AI isn't here today, but we are aware that set-piece AI is a little bad compared to in-game, so I will go back and give him feedback> But we are aware of that.
In terms of other formats, WE has released on GameCube and PS2 in Japan. Although we're aware of your relationship with Sony in Europe, Western GC and Xbox owners would love to experience PES. Do you have any immediate plans to take the series multiformat?
Inamoto: Yes, we are definitely thinking of going multiplatform. However, this is something we would like to consider steadily, in terms of our relationship with Sony. It's not as simple as what we do in Japan we'll do in Europe, but I can assure you that in the near future we will make an official presentation on what were working towards in terms of other platforms.
Can you confirm that PES3 will be a PS2 exclusive?
Inamoto: I cannot say right now!
PES sarjahan vaikuttaa ilmestyvän noin vuoden välein ja PES3n kerrotaan ilmestyvän vuoden 2003 viimeisellä neljänneksellä. Ja tässä vähän listaa uusista ominaisuuksista: