The Beautiful Game

[Jimmy G-Force]

I've written an article for Pro Evolution Elite Leagues, and thought I'd share it with folks on Evo-Web. There is a full PES history within it, and also a history on football video games. Not a bad read for those of you who are as old as myself, and fancy a trip down memory lane......

- The Beautiful Game -​

It ignites a burning passion from within, evoking a myriad of emotions that although seldom understood, captivates the mind and soul of its fanatical advocates. It transcends cultures, unites nations, and converges denominations. It is universally acknowledged and widely recognised as the world’s definitive language. Football is more than just a sport; for it’s disciples it’s a religion. A complete way of life in it’s own unique entirety.

The late great Bill Shankly summarised it best when he delivered those immortal words that will forever be echoed within the sanctuaries of soccer; "Some people think football's a matter of life and death. I can assure them it is much more serious than that". And for every devotee of the game, never has there been a truer word spoken.

With its history dating as far back as the 5th century BC with the Shang Dynasty in China, the modern game’s inception and its subsequent roots lie firmly within the shores of Great Britain. The worlds first ever Football Association was founded in England at the Freemason’s Tavern in London’s Great Queen Street on October 26th 1863. With the inauguration of the code of practice in place, the first official football match between Sheffield and Nottingham (now Notts County) kicked off in 1865.

The FA Challenge Cup followed in 1871 with great success, and the brainchild and vision of Aston Villa’s director William McGregor, ensured the conception of league competition in 1888, collaborating eleven other clubs into the equation. The first true national First Division was initiated in 1892 with the merger of the Football League and the Football Alliance, both of whom previously, had governed the north and south of the country respectively.

The first ever-recorded football match to be played outside of Europe was officially recorded in Argentina in 1867, and involved English workers plying their trade on South American turf. British natives were paramount in spreading the beautiful word, and during the beginning of the 19th century, football went global.

The Italian Football Federation was established in 1898, although the first Italian League didn’t follow until 31 years later in 1929. The Spanish were graced with their first official football competition in 1902, courtesy of the Copa del Rey, with La Liga’s introduction to world football commencing in 1928.

With football gaining worldwide popularity at an alarming rate, the game required a regulating governing body. In 1904, a French journalist, Robert Guerin, founded the Federation Internationale de Football Association, or more commonly known, as FIFA.

In the summer of 1930, the birth of the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ was delivered to the world, as Uruaguay hosted the inaugural edition of the FIFA World Cup. This historic event was granted by FIFA to be played out on South American soil mainly due to the fact Uruaguay were the current Olympic Champions, and their respective bid, for many reasons, outweighed those of Italy, Sweden, Holland and Spain. All the matches took place within the Uruguan captial of Montevideo,with the majority of the games played within the stunning confines of the Estadio Centenario - A stadium built purposely for the World Cup, and to commemorate Uruaguay’s Centenary of Independence.

The 1930 World Cup Finals were unique in many ways, most prominently because it was the first and last tournament to be held without any prior qualification stage required. Every country affiliated with FIFA was invited to compete, and although huge interest was shown on behalf of the South American based countries, the European teams were reluctant to make the trip. With less than eight weeks before the start of the tournament, no teams from Europe had officially entered. It wasn’t until FIFA’s now legendary Honourary President Jules Rimet intervened, that Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia eventually made the trip by sea to particpate.

(Such was Jules Rimet’s influence regarding the instigation of the first World Cup, in 1946, the World Cup trophy was renamed the Jules Rimet Trophy in his honour.)

The World Cup final saw hosts Uruguay lock horns with their South American adversaries Argentina, in a repeat of the 1928 Olympic final, in which Urugauy had edged the bitter argument 2-1 after a replay. Both teams had written their names into the history books, and the first ever World Cup final, with emphatic victories in the semi-finals. Uruguay had hit the United States for six, quite literally, with one conceded, as Argentina matched the feat with a 6-1 thumping of Yugoslavia.

In a packed out Estadio Centenario, it was a tense encounter between the two arch rivals before Uruguay scored first to take an early lead to settle the nerves. It was to be a false dawn as Argentina responded in kind with two goals of their own to silence the predominantly partisan Uruguayan crowd, just before the stroke of half time. The battle resumed after the interval with Argentina coming very close to taking a two goal advantage, only to be denied by the heroics of the Uruguayan goalkeeper. The hosts then pressed and attacked in numbers, eventually finding the equaliser courtesy of Pedro Cea. With Uruguayan now in the ascendency, and the 93,000 supporters in attendence driving them on, they got their 3rd goal ten minutes later. The fourth goal on 89 minutes was academic, and did nothing more than rub salt into Argentina’s wounds. Uruguay were subsequently crowned champions elect of the inceptive FIFA World Cup, and etched their name into the hallowed turf of world football.

Fast forward 80 years to modern day, and football has evolved quite dramatically in status, holding the accolade as the most popular sport on the planet. A simple game, based around angles and percentages, currently amasses the largest fan following in the world, with 93 countries adopting the game as their national sport. The English Premier League and the UEFA Champions League are the two most popular leagues in world football, with their respective matches alone beamed live to half a billion people in 202 countries.

 

[Jimmy G-Force]

Continued .......

Football’s jewel in the crown, The FIFA World Cup, is the largest and most financially lucrative sporting event in the world, rubber-stamping the game’s credentials as the richest sport on earth. To emphasise football’s prevalence, the German hosted 2006 tournament featured 64 matches, involving 32 nations, providing television coverage in 214 countries, with an astonishing cumulative television audience of over 26 billion people. Testament and justification to the fact, that in a Sport popularity contest, football has no peers.

With the launch of the video game industry in the late 1970’s, it was only a matter of time before the world’s favourite past time was represented on a computer-based interactive platform. The first ever football game to grace the digitised screen came in the mid to late 70’s, courtesy of Binatone/Grandstand, and their respective console. In 1979, the birth of Intellivison Soccer revolutionised the industry with its 3D offering of the Beautiful Game.

Intellivison held the acclaimed mantle as producer of the most advanced soccer simulation for the next few years. It wasn’t until 1983, and a programmer named Andrew Spencer, created a football game that raised the benchmark to a whole new level. International Soccer for the Commodore 64 ruled the division for a further five years, and was practically untouchable. It was the first ever football game to offer a massive 9 computer skill levels, as well as the groundbreaking bouncing ball. International Soccer was a revelation, and conquered Europe like no football game had done before.

Much in the same way Xbox rivals PlayStation modern day, the Commodore 64 battled the ZX Spectrum in the 1980’s in similar fashion. ZX Spectrum owners cried out for football game to compete against International Soccer. When Arctic Software announced the imminent release of World Cup Soccer, expectations were very high. Unfortunately, the game proved to be very poor at best. It wasn’t until 1985, that Jon Ritman of Ocean Software answered the prayers of all the ZX Spectrum’s football fanatics, when he released the now legendary Match Day. This was the first football game to introduce the shot power bar, and although it couldn’t match the visuals of International Soccer, the Spectrum’s footballing fraternity welcomed it with euphoric adulation. Ritman followed up his success with Match Day 2 in 1987, only this time it was no longer a ZX Spectrum exclusive, as both Amstrad and Commodore 64 owners reaped the benefits of Ritman’s own unique interpretation of the Beautiful Game.

Twelve months down the line proved to be a landmark in football video game history, as Audiogentic released Emlyn Hughes International Soccer for both the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum. This outstanding offering once again raised the bar to a whole new level and set the benchmark for any future game in its genre. The title itself was basically an updated version of Andrew Spencer’s highly acclaimed International Soccer, with added frames of animations to the player models, ensuring a much more polished and fluid experience. The menu system within the game defined the era, and the option of slide tackles, long and short passing combined with incredible shooting, gave the user more control than ever before. It was also to be the swansong football title for the 8-bit machines.

In 1989, the first 16-bit machines were introduced to the gaming world in the form of the Commodore Amiga and the Atari St, subsequently replacing their 8-bit counterparts. The arrival of these high powered machines were instrumental in providing a superior platform for developers to up the ante with regards video game production. Enter Steve Screech and Dino Dini, the combined brainchild behind Anco Software, creators of the revolutionary Kick Off series.

“The original Kick Off took us about eight months to produce which is not very long at all", explains Steve Screech, "Dino and I were inspired by Ocean's Match Day 2 but we wanted the players and pitch to be correctly scaled ... allowing players to show real skill."

Kick Off and Kick Off 2 went on to become one of the most critically acclaimed football series ever released on either home computer or console. It was deemed pioneering on so many different levels, and once again redefined the way football games were designed. Contrary to any of its predecessors, the game was played from a top-down view; as opposed to the side-on view adopted by all previous incarnations. It was also the first football game in which the ball didn’t stick to the player’s feet. This added a whole new dimension to the genre, and also an increased level of difficulty that required skill to master. Add into the equation it was the first football game to offer original features such as player individuality, referees with varying moods, injuries, action replays and tactics, and you have an award winning title that will forever hold it’s place in football video game history.

If Anco Software reinvented the wheel, then Jon Hare and Sensible Software undoubtedly polished that wheel and created a stunning alloy. The year was 1992 and the game was Sensible Soccer. It remains arguably the most famous football simulation in video game history, and was affectionately known to its fanatical followers simply as ‘Sensi’. Inspired by Anco’s Kick Off series, Sensible Soccer adopted a similar top-down view to its predecessor, and even today retains its own cult following nearly 20 years on. In 1994, the sequel, Sensible World of Soccer or SWOS, received recognition as one of the Ten Most Important Video Games of All Time by the History of Science and Technology Collections at Stanford University.

SWOS became a pioneer in video games when it attempted to encompass the entire professional footballing world into one game. Featuring numerous divisions from many countries around the world, it featured a twenty season career mode which allowed players to manage and play as thousands of different clubs from across the globe. The transfer system alone became the trademark of SWOS, a feature years ahead of its time. Such was it’s
popularity, in 2007, a remake of the classic game became available for download on Xbox live.

In 1993, Electronic Arts,under their EA Sports label, released Fifa International Soccer for the Sega Mega Drive to world-wide acclaim. This was the first football game ever to receive an official licence from FIFA, and also the first representation to use an isometric view of the pitch combined with stunning graphics and animations. FIFA has become EA Sport’s longest running series, spanning an impressive 17 years to date, and still going strong. EA Sports own rendition has always aimed to target the casual fan or younger audience,and is widely regarded as the best arcade football title on the market.

 

[Jimmy G-Force]

Continued .....

Arguably,the most significant date within football’s video game history can be retraced back to 1994, when legendary Japanese producer Konami unveiled to the world their own unique interpretation of the Beautiful Game. Initially released in Japan for the Super Nintendo under the guise Jikkyou World Soccer : Perfect Eleven, the name was changed to International Superstar Soccer for its world-wide release in 1995. The game itself was a revelation, and provided the initial base for the greatest football simulation series ever created.

Over the years, Konami’s in-house team of developers re-wrote the blue-print on how football games were designed, and their subsequent innovations set the benchmark for all to aspire.A conflict of interest regarding the simulated progression of the series within Konami,saw the development team split into two seperate entities. KCEO (Konami Computer Entertainment Osaka ) the original development team behind the International Superstar Soccer series continued to produce their branded games with a more arcade orientated approach, whilst KCET ( Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo) headed by Shingo "Seabass" Takatsuka, seeked to create a simulation based, and ultimately more realistic rendition of the sport.


On November 21st, 2001, Konami released Pro Evolution Soccer to the European market( also known as Winning Eleven 5 in Japan) for the Playstation and PlayStation 2, amidst critical mass acclaim. Shingo "Seabass" Takatsuka and his team had created a work of genius, that encapsulated the true essence of football. For the first time in their decorated history, Konami were able to include the FifaPro licence, ensuring a large portion of the players within the game retained their real names, as opposed to the restricted imitations forced in previous incarnations. It was deemed a huge leap forward for Konami. Although limited in their use of official team and player licences, a situation forced upon them by EA Sports exclusive rights, produced a far deeper simulated experience on the pitch. Pro Evolution Soccer became the footballers choice, leaving EA Sports FIFA for the casual gamer.

Less than 11 months later, and Konami, courtesy of Seabass and his team, released Pro Evolution Soccer 2, (Winning Eleven 6 in Japan and World Soccer Winning Eleven 6 in the US) the hugely anticipated sequel to their ground-breaking and revolutionary inaugural masterpiece. Building upon their initial successful base, Seabass and his team added further innovative features such as a training ground option, extra teams and another division to their Master League feature. With new commentators in the form of Peter Brackley and Trevor Brooking, Pro Evo 2, as it was referred to by it’s loyal fanatical advocates, took the series to another level. The inclusion of an editing option, not only alleviated the official team licence issue, but added a trademark feature which was to become a PES hallmark. It was also to be the swansong Pro Evolution Soccer title for the original PlayStation.

On October 24th of 2003, Pro Evolution Soccer 3 (Winning Eleven 7 in Japan and World Soccer Winning Eleven 7 in the US) hit European shores to a fan-fare of euphoric hysteria. This was Konami’s first ’Pro Evo’ to be exclusively built utilising the increased technical hardware of the PlayStation 2, and the first title to cross-over to Microsoft’s Windows operating system. The most significant change to Seabass’s plat du jour, was the overhaul to both the graphics and physics engine. Player’s now resembled their real life counterparts in both looks and playing styles, adding increased individuality to both the teams and subjects alike. New animations proved far superior to that of the series earlier siblings, and as a result, the game provided a much more fluid and rewarding experience. The Master League was also revamped, and subsequently split into regional divisions, with competitions equivalent to the Champions League and UEFA Cup added into the equation. The game itself was testimony to the giant strides made by Konami, a feat justifying the moniker for head developer Shingo "Seabass" Takatsuka, as the Messiah of the football video gaming world.

Pro Evolution Soccer 4 (Winning Eleven 8 in Japan and World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 in the US) was released on October 15th, 2004, to the European audience. This was the first Pro Evolution Soccer title to feature full leagues, namely the English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch top divisions. Although the full league licenses were afforded only for the latter three, due to restricting licencing issues. The gameplay was once again improved, although not as much of a significant leap as it’s predecessor. The Master League was again tweaked for added realism, and now incorporated Player Development. This new feature ensured that players that reached a certain age within their respective careers, would now see a decline in their overall statistics. Likewise, younger players would see an increase in their statistics as they matured and developed. The editing system within the game also received a welcomed upgrade. With the ability to add text and logos to shirts (essentially sponsors) and pixel logo editing, as well as the traditional preset shapes, meant that recreating football strips had never been easier. PES 4 was also the first title in series made available for Microsoft’s Xbox.

With less than a year surpassed, on October 2nd, 2005, Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (Winning Eleven 9 in Japan and World Soccer Winning Eleven 9 in the US) hit the European market amidst rapturous commendation. Whatever it’s most recent ancestor had lacked in evolution was instantly forgotten, as Seabass and his team fired back to prominency, with a real genuine work of art. Widely regarded by its loyal patrons as the greatest ‘Pro Evo’ ever created, Konami’s return to form was exquisite. A tweak to the gameplay engine served to deliver a far more challenging experience, with the stubborn defensive AI seemingly replicating John Terry, one of the title’s official cover stars. The adualtion wasn’t just reserved for the fans of series though, as the Official PlayStation 2 Magazine UK accredited the game a perfect 10/10 score. The now legendary title was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC, each of which were online enabled for the very first time, much to the obvious delight of the PES community.

In what seemed the quickest passing year in football video game history, the much anticipated successor to Hall of Famer PES 5, landed on European shelves. The date was October 27th of 2006, the game, Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (Winning Eleven 10 in Japan and Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 in the US). Improving upon the previous years masterpiece was certainly going to be a tough act to follow, but Seabass and his team certainly gave it their best shot. Pardon the pun. One of the most appealing aspects of PES 5 was it’s unforgiving nature that truly challeged the player. The flip-side to that coin, was that the game in effect suppressed fluid attacking football. A double-edged sword if you like. Konami addressed the latter concern in PES 6 with added tricks and feints and a less stubborn defensive line. The general consensus with regards the merits of both titles have been open to debate for many years, with fans of the series split over which was the better game. Either way, Seabass had created a title that was deemed good enough to warrant such debate. Other new additions to PES 6 included the French Ligue 1, which was now officially licensed alongside it’s Italian, Spanish and Dutch counterparts. This was also the first PES title to grace a next-generation console, namely the Xbox 360.


The day was October 26th, 2007, and without question Konami’s darkest hour. It was billed as the revolution, unfortunately, it was anything but. The release of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 turned out to be the most anti-climatic moment in Konami’s history. The magnitude of hype surrounding the game proved highly inconclusive upon it’s release. It was meant to be Konami’s finest hour, a true next-generation PES, built specifically to utilise the power of Sony’s new console, historically Konami’s favoured platform for development. For whatever reason the PlayStation 3 proved problematic for Seabass and his development team. As a consequence, the game suffered massively from frame-rate issues, and was quite rightly labelled a failure by fans of the series.

Less than a year later, October 17th ,2008, and Konami were back on track with their release of Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 After a difficult year, strewn with criticism following the disappoinmment of PES 2008, Seabass and his team saw a welcomed return to form. Finally Konami, and the fans of the Pro Evolution series had a game worthy of its next-generation tag. Featuring Lionel Messi ,the worlds greatest player as it’s cover star, PES 2009 was everything it’s predecessor should have been. With full high-definition graphics, smoother animations, slower-paced gameplay and improved AI, the game was a huge step back in the right direction. New features which included the Become a Legend mode, which involved guiding a single player throughout his whole career, proved to be a huge success. Konami also included a much improved editing system, a feature severely lacking from the previous years release.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 was officially released in Europe on October 23rd, 2009, and is the latest adaptation of the series. Building upon the success of PES 2009, Seabass and his team have arguably produced their most accurate represention to date. With a focus primarily aimed towards a more simulated approach, Konami’s current title recaptures the kind of magic associated with the critically acclaimed PES 5. With stunning graphics, vastly improved AI, heavier ball physics, and a wealth of tactical options, Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 has redefined the next-generation football simulation. The addition of the new ‘Teamvision 2’ system, Player Cards and tactical variations, has given the user a far deeper experience than any variant previous. . Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 for the first time offers a fully licensed Champions League and Europa Cup added to the Master League, as well as a stand alone competition in it’s own right.


The footballing philosphy adopted by Shingo "Seabass" Takatsuka for his Pro Evolution Soccer series over the years has been nothing short of pure undiluted genius. Never in football video game history has any development team recreated the Beautiful Game in such a frighteningly realistic manner. Understanding the fundamentals of football, and the respective techniques within the game have been paramount for Konami to achieve their unparralleled success. The key factor, and the ongoing hallmark of the series lies within the emphasis on player individuality. In order to truly imitate and reproduce football on an interactive video gaming platform, you need to simulate what you covert. Konami have always held this philosophy in high regard, and thus produced a database of players, each of which, are independently exclusive to the next. This idiology has ensured that no one player ever comprises the same skillset, this in turn guarantees that you always have 22 individual players collectively combining to create a completely unique team. The infinite amount of variables this system can deliver assures limitless eventualities. This secures the magical ‘No game is ever the same’ feeling, a longstanding trademark of the Pro Evolution Soccer series. The sheer unpredictability factor of football is what Konami have understood and replicated perfectly. This in turn is what produces the classic ‘jumping out of your seat moments’ that have become synonymous with the brand.

From a technical standpoint, Pro Evolution Soccer has no peers. The vast depth of the gameplay, and the technical brilliance with regards mimicking real life proficiency, is what makes PES the footballers choice. Applying the same fundemental tendencies of the real game within Pro Evolution Soccer is undoubtabley the most satisfying way to play Konami’s pièce de résistance. The awareness of angles, posture, passing percentages, and fair play, and the utilising of the aforementioned traits, are what ensure a fulfilling and pleasurable gaming experience. If your of a likeminded mentality, and enjoy playing Pro Evolution Soccer in the way it’s designed to played. Then welcome to PEEL, the epitome of the Beautiful Game.

http://www.proevoeliteleagues.co.uk/main/​

 

[Mana Cerace]

You are maybe a bit too generous with PES 2009 and PES 2010. Otherwise, it's a very nice read.

 

[romagnoli]

There are certain very subjective bits that made me sick in my mouth, but otherwise, pretty comprehensive and well written Jimmy.

If I was being completely honest I'd have liked to see more about the early ISS Pro titles - might have been nice to have some details on the first title to have the Master League, for example.

 

[Jimmy G-Force]

Fair enough bud, you know I respect your opinion, and it was written for a PES site. As you know I'm a huge fan, but my opinion is just that, and I respect other peoples that see it differently. Thanks for the feedback, it's very much appreciated. I'm sure if you wrote a Fifa history article it would be equally as good as your extremely articulate. I may not agree on some points, but I would respect them. It's horses for courses bud.

 

[romagnoli]

Dunno, I'm a PES man until 2008 so I doubt I'd be able to do anything like this for FIFA!

 

[lehua768]

With less than a year surpassed, on October 2nd, 2005, Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (Winning Eleven 9 in Japan and World Soccer Winning Eleven 9 in the US) hit the European market amidst rapturous commendation. Whatever it’s most recent ancestor had lacked in evolution was instantly forgotten, as Seabass and his team fired back to prominency, with a real genuine work of art. Widely regarded by its loyal patrons as the greatest ‘Pro Evo’ ever created, Konami’s return to form was exquisite. A tweak to the gameplay engine served to deliver a far more challenging experience, with the stubborn defensive AI seemingly replicating John Terry, one of the title’s official cover stars. The adualtion wasn’t just reserved for the fans of series though, as the Official PlayStation 2 Magazine UK accredited the game a perfect 10/10 score. The now legendary title was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC, each of which were online enabled for the very first time, much to the obvious delight of the PES community.In what seemed the quickest passing year in football video game history, the much anticipated successor to Hall of Famer PES 5, landed on European shelves. The date was October 27th of 2006, the game, Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (Winning Eleven 10 in Japan and Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 in the US). Improving upon the previous years masterpiece was certainly going to be a tough act to follow, but Seabass and his team certainly gave it their best shot. Pardon the pun. One of the most appealing aspects of PES 5 was it’s unforgiving nature that truly challeged the player. The flip-side to that coin, was that the game in effect suppressed fluid attacking football. A double-edged sword if you like. Konami addressed the latter concern in PES 6 with added tricks and feints and a less stubborn defensive line. The general consensus with regards the merits of both titles have been open to debate for many years, with fans of the series split over which was the better game. Either way, Seabass had created a title that was deemed good enough to warrant such debate. Other new additions to PES 6 included the French Ligue 1, which was now officially licensed alongside it’s Italian, Spanish and Dutch counterparts. This was also the first PES title to grace a next-generation console, namely the Xbox 360.

 

[Chimps-with-quiffs]

Its a good read and I like the stuff about the kick off series as I loved that game, but I think pes has been the same game for years with the game play slightly tweaked and we are still to see a "good" next gen version of the game.

Pes 2010 is just 2009 with the dribbling made harder and new lighting effects.

The dribbling effect can be done my simply dropping the dribbling accuracy and speed of players. Over the years it has become more apparent that all konami do is use the same engine and player stats and edit behind the scenes some stats that interprets how these are applied and they keep doing this with all the areas of the game to fit the feedback they got from the previous release. Its something that can be done with a global stat editor very quickly and it makes me wonder just how much development has gone into the game each year