Some people from outside Europe may have seen me and others mentioning the "PES [Pro Evolution Soccer] 2008 debacle". I just saw this article which explains what happened. This is just one of this gen's titles which appears to be affected by being rushed to the market with little concern for customer loyalty or technical excellence.
Source: http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=22944
The great PES 2008 rip-off which leaves Konami laughing all the way to the bank 
Taking advantage of consumer trust
Like many of you did, we rushed out and bought PES 2008 on release day even though our review copy was ready for dispatch shortly after. The thought of spending countless hours online with PES 2008 was just too good to miss, but feelings of excitement soon turned to anger and ultimately frustration that Konami has abused gamers trust in the franchise by rolling out a sub-standard and bug ridden game. If you buy a faulty product, consumer law in many cases denotes that you can return it for a full refund, but with retailers refusing to take responsibility unless the game disc is physically broken, millions of gamers are simply stranded with this disgraceful quick cash-in attempt from Konami. Nearly a month after launch, no platform can go online with the title, the replays are so choppy that they will give you a headache if you try to follow them closely and worst of all owners of a certain £300 console are finding that they paid for a game which features intense slow-downs and is incomplete.
The technical issues
So where is the patch for either the PS3 or Xbox 360 versions of the product? Konami has kept quiet on the matter and denies issuing any statements, while Seabass himself before the launch stated that the PS3 version has slowdowns and the team has no idea why which doesn’t exactly fill us with confidence. Instead of handling the matter amicably, and keeping millions of PES fans updated on what exactly is going, Konami seems to think that by saying nothing that devoted fans will just forgive them and like fools will go out and buy PES 2009 in the blink of an eye. Sorry Konami but us as many other gamers no longer trust your franchise and will think thrice before buying any IP from your company.
The actual gameplay issues
And as for the gaming media, did you actually PLAY the game? The official Playstation Magazine awarded the PS3 version of the title 90, while PSM 3 awarded it an 86. And while the Xbox 360 doesn’t suffer from as many issues as the PS3 version, there still are physical issues which makes us question how GamesMaster can award a score of 94 and Xbox 360 World Magazine score it as a 92 ‘even with its faults’. The last version of PES was simply a better game, but we’re all too frightened to admit it as it is ‘old’. Technical issues aside, the gameplay of PES 2008 is irate in a number of ways including –
• The light-weighted control of the players which never makes you feel like you are in control
• When the ball is intercepted/tackled, the ball flies off about 10 yards and over the nearest line
• There are too may corners awarded in a game as a result of the above and it’s easier to get a goal for nothing
• The keepers are supposed to be more intelligent? Dream on, the old keepers may have annoyingly palmed the ball off into the center of the goal but never did we see them letting the force of the ball push them behind the goal and allowing such pathetic goals
• Gimmicky marketing such as improved and responsive computer AI? Whatever Konami believe this to be, when you can consistently sprint 50 yards with a midfielder like Basinas of Greece and slot a goal home you know that the AI isn’t all that smart. Better yet, thrashing AC Milan with Manchester Utd 9-0 just by shooting the ball over to Ronaldo or Giggs on the wing and letting them cut in-side towards the box and belt one home against the world’s best defenders on the hardest difficulty setting adds further weight to the lack of AI improvement.
• Players run like hunchbacks and have less control on the ball. In last year’s PES you knew if you had Joe Cole, Robben or Ronaldinho on the ball then you had full control of the ball and just running in a line down the wing wouldn’t outwit your opponent. In PES 2008 it is hard to feel exactly who are the better players except for the ones who sprint a little bit faster but you still feel like you are lacking control over them.
• The speed of the game has been upped and along with it, the intensity of the competition has been depleted, there are more shots, more goals with no build up play and a general arcade feeling.
The Need for consumer protection within the games industry
PES 2008 is the first ever version which made us realize that PES is just a game and nothing more. When you begin messing around with the diving option and seeing who can score the best own goal by making their goalkeeper dive and roll the ball into his own net, then you know you have reached the end of your PES love affair. Thankfully PES 2008 has been slipping down the sales charts at a very quick rate, and like many we never thought we’d say it in a million years but FIFA is actually a seriously attractive alternative if you are desperate for a soccer title.
Congratulations to Konami for making millions off of the back of consumer trust, but you have just lost yourselves a whole lot of future customers and trust in your brand. Now I think we all know exactly why you didn’t release a PS3 demo of the game in the first place… How a games company in the year 2007 can knowingly put out a title to market which suffers from so many technical and gameplay issues is beyond a joke and reaffirms the need for consumer protection within the games industry.
My Mario Kart Wii friend code: 2707-1866-0957
