Saturday 22 November 2008 photo 2/2
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UK, September 26, 2008 - Shingo 'Seabass'Takatsuka has had a tough year. As the creative kingpin behind ProEvolution Soccer he has been showered with praise and, over the lastdecade, has seen the football series enjoy a meteoric rise. However,last year's iteration was widely criticised for not moving the game on,which made him and his team return to the drawing board to work on thelatest version. With PES 2009 just a couple of weeks from release, we caught up with Seabass in Rome to find out how things have progressed.
IGN: PES 2008 was criticised for not moving the series forward. How did that inspire you to create the new version?
Seabass: I'm reluctant to say but you're right about thecriticism we received. It wasn't our ideal next-gen title -- there wereonline issues and slow-down in the game. But we used those criticismsto motivate us for PES 2009 and spent a lot of time solving theseissues. I think we've managed to erase most of the problems in thefinal version of the game. Looking back, the steps we took with PES 2and PES 3 -- they were very revolutionary, and I believe they are thekind of steps we should take each year. This year I'm quite confidentwe've created a game that's revolutionary compared to last year.
IGN: How do you implement player form in the game -- are youconstantly revising individual ratings right up to the point when thegame is released?
Seabass: There are around 4,000 players in the game and wetake a lot of care of each individual stat. Luckily my team has a lotof people who take care of that side of it and they view all of theplayers from a critical eye, to calculate who's a good player in aspecific area. At the end of the day we play the game and see how theplayers work out on the pitch, and then readdress the stats torebalance them accordingly.
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IGN: Will PES ever switch to be a digital download that has regular updates throughout the season?
Seabass: You can already download PES on PC, plus PES 2009will have regular online updates. At the moment the two coexist -- thegame you buy at the stores and the download you play on PC -- but I'mquite flexible for if the trend goes more towards downloads we'd shiftin that direction. At the moment though I think most people would stillgo for the physical version they get from a shop.
IGN: What can players expect from these online updates -- will they take into account transfer window changes and the like?
Seabass: We plan to do a lot of updates, every couple ofmonths or so, and at this stage we also plan to do one when the Januarywindow closes to take into account all the transfers.
IGN: How does a team like Manchester City, which has recently becomethe richest club in the world, affect that? Does it worry you thatthey're looking to buy up so many players?
Seabass: I was quite surprised by Man City becoming richerthan Chelsea and also that the owner said they wanted to create a teamlike something from our Master League, but I think it's unlikely tohappen in that way and that all those players will go there. I'm surethat won't happen in one go, but I am watching very closely to see whathappens.
IGN: In the past, Pro Evo was regarded as a sim and FIFA a morecasual game, but that's changing and both are becoming similar. Is thata conscious decision on your part?
Seabass: One side of that is true because I get the feelingthat FIFA is trying to implement a lot of the stuff that we do, makingit more of a simulation. However, we never set out to make PES asimulation -- that was never our intention. Basically, we want tosatisfy as many users as we can, both core and casual gamers, and thathas always been our goal. No matter what FIFA does that will always beour goal.
IGN: If you could pick you're a dream team of the greatest players of all time, who would be in your squad?
Seabass: Hmm. I would probably include Gerd Muller, Zidane,Cruyff... I'd also have Dennis Bergkamp and Gattuso, plus Essien indefensive midfield role. Thuram would be in there, along with RioFerdinand, Maldini, Ashley Cole and Peter Schmeichel in goal.
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IGN: Do you have any insider tips on who to buy on the cheap in this year's Master League?
Seabass: Van Der Vaart was cheap in the previous games buthe's now quite famous. In fact there are not really any hidden peopleany more because a lot of young players are already out there. That'sespecially the case this year because of the Olympics and there werelots of young squads so everyone knows them now. Anton Ferdinard usedto be a great pick at the beginning of a Master League but he's becomefamous now too. Van Der Vaart was cheap because we implemented hisstats into the game before he made the big move to Real Madrid.
IGN: More individual player animations are appearing in the game. Were there any players you had difficulty incorporating?
Seabass: Lionel Messi was quite tricky because he can movesuper-fast and he's capable of cutting in very quickly, but if we takeit too far in the game it will make him look as if he's not human, sogetting that right was difficult.
IGN: Have you played PES with the new green Xbox pad? What do you think?
Seabass: I don't really think it's changed that much but I'mextremely thankful for Microsoft because every year it comes to us andoffers to make changes, which it does. I'm really thankful for itsefforts, it really puts its heart and technology into it. Although itmay not show at this stage I think it will in the future. In the Becomea Legend mode the default camera is quite different and the 360controller is really good in that mode, because it's more analogue thana digital direction pad.
IGN: PES 2008 was criticised for not moving the series forward. How did that inspire you to create the new version?
Seabass: I'm reluctant to say but you're right about thecriticism we received. It wasn't our ideal next-gen title -- there wereonline issues and slow-down in the game. But we used those criticismsto motivate us for PES 2009 and spent a lot of time solving theseissues. I think we've managed to erase most of the problems in thefinal version of the game. Looking back, the steps we took with PES 2and PES 3 -- they were very revolutionary, and I believe they are thekind of steps we should take each year. This year I'm quite confidentwe've created a game that's revolutionary compared to last year.
IGN: How do you implement player form in the game -- are youconstantly revising individual ratings right up to the point when thegame is released?
Seabass: There are around 4,000 players in the game and wetake a lot of care of each individual stat. Luckily my team has a lotof people who take care of that side of it and they view all of theplayers from a critical eye, to calculate who's a good player in aspecific area. At the end of the day we play the game and see how theplayers work out on the pitch, and then readdress the stats torebalance them accordingly.
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IGN: Will PES ever switch to be a digital download that has regular updates throughout the season?
Seabass: You can already download PES on PC, plus PES 2009will have regular online updates. At the moment the two coexist -- thegame you buy at the stores and the download you play on PC -- but I'mquite flexible for if the trend goes more towards downloads we'd shiftin that direction. At the moment though I think most people would stillgo for the physical version they get from a shop.
IGN: What can players expect from these online updates -- will they take into account transfer window changes and the like?
Seabass: We plan to do a lot of updates, every couple ofmonths or so, and at this stage we also plan to do one when the Januarywindow closes to take into account all the transfers.
IGN: How does a team like Manchester City, which has recently becomethe richest club in the world, affect that? Does it worry you thatthey're looking to buy up so many players?
Seabass: I was quite surprised by Man City becoming richerthan Chelsea and also that the owner said they wanted to create a teamlike something from our Master League, but I think it's unlikely tohappen in that way and that all those players will go there. I'm surethat won't happen in one go, but I am watching very closely to see whathappens.
IGN: In the past, Pro Evo was regarded as a sim and FIFA a morecasual game, but that's changing and both are becoming similar. Is thata conscious decision on your part?
Seabass: One side of that is true because I get the feelingthat FIFA is trying to implement a lot of the stuff that we do, makingit more of a simulation. However, we never set out to make PES asimulation -- that was never our intention. Basically, we want tosatisfy as many users as we can, both core and casual gamers, and thathas always been our goal. No matter what FIFA does that will always beour goal.
IGN: If you could pick you're a dream team of the greatest players of all time, who would be in your squad?
Seabass: Hmm. I would probably include Gerd Muller, Zidane,Cruyff... I'd also have Dennis Bergkamp and Gattuso, plus Essien indefensive midfield role. Thuram would be in there, along with RioFerdinand, Maldini, Ashley Cole and Peter Schmeichel in goal.
<!-- start image div -->
IGN: Do you have any insider tips on who to buy on the cheap in this year's Master League?
Seabass: Van Der Vaart was cheap in the previous games buthe's now quite famous. In fact there are not really any hidden peopleany more because a lot of young players are already out there. That'sespecially the case this year because of the Olympics and there werelots of young squads so everyone knows them now. Anton Ferdinard usedto be a great pick at the beginning of a Master League but he's becomefamous now too. Van Der Vaart was cheap because we implemented hisstats into the game before he made the big move to Real Madrid.
IGN: More individual player animations are appearing in the game. Were there any players you had difficulty incorporating?
Seabass: Lionel Messi was quite tricky because he can movesuper-fast and he's capable of cutting in very quickly, but if we takeit too far in the game it will make him look as if he's not human, sogetting that right was difficult.
IGN: Have you played PES with the new green Xbox pad? What do you think?
Seabass: I don't really think it's changed that much but I'mextremely thankful for Microsoft because every year it comes to us andoffers to make changes, which it does. I'm really thankful for itsefforts, it really puts its heart and technology into it. Although itmay not show at this stage I think it will in the future. In the Becomea Legend mode the default camera is quite different and the 360controller is really good in that mode, because it's more analogue thana digital direction pad.