Something a bit sporty to kick off your week - Atari and Konami have joined forces to announce a November 2nd release date for their soccer (yeah, 'football', I know) title Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, for PS3, Xbox 360, PC and PS2, with versions for both handhelds (DS and PSP) following a month or so later.

One of the most anticipated titles of the year, PES 2008 is set to revolutionise the football genre. The new and adaptive AI system, Teamvision, means that the game can monitor the movement and passing of the gamer, and actually learn to counter them. Each match is carefully and constantly analysed, leading to the game adapting its own strategies to best combat the gamer's moves.

This is also the first release in the series specially made for PS3. The next-gen incarnation boasts amazing detail - stunning recreations of players, not just in terms of the original models, but each one is matched to precise animations that mirror each real-world player's idiosyncrasies, individual running styles and play moves. There's also carefully crafted facial animations for each, and if you look closely you might even see the player's kit ripple while they are playing a match.


As with previous Pro-Evolution football games, 2008 benefits from the series' realistic, intuitive control system. The ball is treated like a separate entity, giving players complete control over the timing of their shots. Each kick takes into consideration the ball's movement, the proximity of the player and their own abilities, and various other factors that ensure the game is as fluid and realistic as possible.

While the game is doing all that, it's also instructing the new clever AI defenders to close down space and block goal attempts - as well as moving your own team players into the appropriate space available to them when gamers want to pass the ball. Dribbling the ball has been enhanced with more control - and subtle moves have been inserted into the game in order to bypass defenders and move the ball into open space.

The introduction of the Teamvision system has meant that every particular of on-field play in PES 2008 has been revamped and fine-tuned to perfect the balance and recreate the strategic play of a real high-level match. Users now have full control over the number of players and the position of the defensive wall - useful as they are also now capable of nominating taller players to come up for corners or free kicks, and all set-pieces have been improved. In fact, a wider range of set-piece options are now being given to gamers - in order to make best use of the specific talents within the team.


Konami is anticipating that PES 2008 will have the most sales from the series, with demand calling for several million copies to be shipped to European territories.

Kunio Neo, President for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH, comments:

"Demand is massive for what is easily the best Pro Evolution Soccer title to date, and we anticipate record sales as we bring the series to PLAYSTATION3 for the first time, and unleash stunning versions for all leading formats."

In Australia, it's just a month and a bit away from kick-off, if you're a fan, better mark November 2nd in your diaries now.