The small improvements I would like to see in PES 2013
Written the 2012-05-28 @ 10:15:17 and have had (0) blogg.se comments
Recently i updated my twitter with some improvements I'd like to see for PES 13. I dwelve a bit deeper in this post on them.
1. Twitter: Please let us play with South American teams in the normal online mode in PES 2013. Motivation: Because of license issues Konami could not let Copa Libertadores teams be playable in exhibition friendlies against European clubs online. The question is still why you could not chose to play only Copa Libertadores teams vs Copa Libertadores teams? And why could you participate in an online Konami cup with these teams? Did Konami just not have time to do a seperate exhibition mode for the license. Weird. It must be in 2013 though. I'd love to play Brazilian and Argentinian teams vs European one's. It would be very nice if they added Los Angeles Galaxy and New York Red Bulls too.
2. Twitter: Fixes needed for PES 13 - goalkeepers, cursor change in defence (through balls) and on corners (automatic change), more yellow cards shown for fouls that obviously could have rendered in a clear chance. Motivation: Konami have officially already said that they are redoing the keeper from scratch, therefore I am not worried about this part of the game. I'm sure they will be solid.
Cursor change is a little worrying though, it has always been hard to get that exact player that you want in certain situations. In PES 2012 this was especially noticable at through balls on the ground and air where you had to change in the right time to control a player and take the ball. Many times you miss even if you are just right next to the ball. It's very frustrating. Corners are another issue where you select a man in the middle and then the computer change your player when the corner is taken, gaahhhh.
Yellow cards should be handed out for clear chances being held up. As it is now players can take an easy foul in situations that are dangerous and they would not render in anything. The only cards that are handed out are ones for sliding tackles. Situations, especially in counter situations where fouls are comitted should be awarded with more yellow cards.
2. Twitter: Fixes needed for PES 13 - goalkeepers, cursor change in defence (through balls) and on corners (automatic change), more yellow cards shown for fouls that obviously could have rendered in a clear chance. Motivation: Konami have officially already said that they are redoing the keeper from scratch, therefore I am not worried about this part of the game. I'm sure they will be solid.
Cursor change is a little worrying though, it has always been hard to get that exact player that you want in certain situations. In PES 2012 this was especially noticable at through balls on the ground and air where you had to change in the right time to control a player and take the ball. Many times you miss even if you are just right next to the ball. It's very frustrating. Corners are another issue where you select a man in the middle and then the computer change your player when the corner is taken, gaahhhh.
Yellow cards should be handed out for clear chances being held up. As it is now players can take an easy foul in situations that are dangerous and they would not render in anything. The only cards that are handed out are ones for sliding tackles. Situations, especially in counter situations where fouls are comitted should be awarded with more yellow cards.
3. Twitter: No assisted passing. Motivation: Would equal out the odds for the players that want to comepete on the highest level. At least passing assistance in online play should be the same for everybody. The offline PES League should also have a certain manual passing so that players show real skills when playing. Assisted passing is for beginners.
4. Twitter: More kits to chose from and the ability to change socks, shorts and shirts individually when you face an opponent. Motivation: More kits to chose from should have been available already in PES 2012. It's such an easy thing to put in there and now with the edit function solution online everything could be perfect. Instead we're stuck with two kits of green for some teams, a mistake that only annoys you. For PES 2013 I hope you can change thee three different items individually.
5. Twitter: ML Online where you can face a friend or play in leagues with friends. 10 vs 10 online play. Better matchmaking. Motivation: You should be able to play the Master League Online in groups with your friends or at least with people in the same region of the world. Like Nordic, Northern Europe, UK, Southern Europe, etc. To be able to start at the same level, only playing friends, would be great.
Also 10 vs 10 play has been available in FIFA for three years now. It's time Konami introduced it in PES so that we could create our own clubs and start proper team building in communities with different individuals building on team work.
Better matchmaking when you look for opponents. You have got to be able to search on other criterias than user language. It would be better with a region search and then you should be able to ask for a game with an icon flashing on the screen for the person that is invited. In the quick search you should be able to tick off certain areas of the world like for example South America, Middle east, and also request to have an extra connection verifier so that the game most certainly is not laggy.
6. Twitter: Direct upload from saved goals to video service like youtube. Motivation: Konami entered the world wide web last year with their Facebook stats application. It was a nice addition. But where is the goals and highlights uploading function. Konami should go into co-op with a big video service site or create their own with only focus on goals and highligts, with rankings of the goals from the users. The videos should be available to browse in PES and on the net.
7. Improved continous play. Motivation: Well this is sort of my baby. I introduced the idea to Konami Germany a long while back and was happy to see that there was at least some ambition to put it in PES 2012. You can see it at throw ins while playing a friendly offline as the player run after the ball in a cut-scene and then play just continues from where the ball did exit the field. More of this please in all situations where the ball exits the field.
All these things mentioned are just improvements to things that are basicly already in the game. It's the small things and changes that matters. Roll on PES 2013.
/Caniggia
The new PES 2012 patch gives Konami a lot of credability back.
Written the 2012-05-01 @ 12:58:33 and have had (0) blogg.se comments
Patch 1.06 is a massive step towards rebuilding Konamis credability with the customers.
Not only did we get the Copa Libertadores 2012 in a 2011 released game, but we have probably got a taste of what PES 13 will be like . With that I mean that the next game will probably have the same core as with this patch. For me who has been really annoyed with Konami Germany when negotiating a new contract this is a salvation from Japan. Thanks.
So what does the patch do?
It lets you aim, it lets you shoot, it lets you take advantage of being more in possession, with a lot of improved goalkeepers and fluke goals are less likely. All in all it s a quicker pace which resembles real football more. With this patch Konami have showed me that they can do what it's all about, and it is creating the best possible football experience on the field that there is.
Old PES fans can crawl up from within their caves of football gaming rejection. This is it.
PES 2012 with Patch 1.06 points the franchise in the right direction and it's forward and upwards. Giving the fans something like this 6 months after the original release is not a common move in the gaming business, Konami should have a lot of credit for that.
Lights shine bright on the PES world again.
PES 2012 Review
Written the 2011-09-22 @ 08:50:07 and have had (4) blogg.se comments
The full game is the same as demo 2 to my knowledge.
Positives.
- General feeling of the game (It feels good nowadays, with the player switching solved it is a great update from last years game which I also liked the style of)
- The active AI (Amazing stuff that gives you so many new opportunities)
Positives.
- General feeling of the game (It feels good nowadays, with the player switching solved it is a great update from last years game which I also liked the style of)
- The active AI (Amazing stuff that gives you so many new opportunities)
. The control of whatever player you want at free kicks, corners, throw ins and goal kicks is an amazing new addition, opens up entirely new situations and adds a new dimension)
- Import teams! (YES finally I will be able to add a team I made at my friends house and only that team)
- Export teams (Great addition, but hmm one team at a time Konami)
- Import prequel teams (so that you can just import last years optionfile and have it all there from the WENB one! Great, Includes club logos, strips, name changes and formations I believe.)
- Being able to change players more easy with two options L1 and R. (It makes the game more easy to play)
- Training mode/challenge is educative. (Great to have it back with instructions for novice players)
- The AI will provide a challenge for career mode I'm sure. (With this sort of difficulty the game will be hard in Master League and other modes)
- Referee is much better with fouls and allowing play to continue. (Thank god for being able to put in a good tackle and not getting caught for nothing by the referee, also, yes, just try to catch me, I'll be on my way until you knock me to the floor) =D
Negatives
- Goalkeepers, for me it is a game breaker because how lousy they act on shots and with some of the animations that do not really fit in with a goalkeepers actions in real life.
- Crossing/passing, why did they take away the possibility to cross balls to wherever you want and overhit them on occasion, same goes for ground passes. If it ain't broken in PES 2011... then...
- There is still that bug with player switching just when having a corner against you. Before the opp. take the corner you select one man, but when the corner is taken the comp. switches your man and you have to switch back manually.
- Continous play falsely implemented on throw ins, come on, a cut-scene fools no-one and even if you are behind a goal the thrower just walk up to the ball like he had all the time in the world. (FIFA just stole my continous play idea and has implemented it fully now. It's fantasticly implemented in their game)
(Online play does not go active until release I guess)
- Import teams! (YES finally I will be able to add a team I made at my friends house and only that team)
- Export teams (Great addition, but hmm one team at a time Konami)
- Import prequel teams (so that you can just import last years optionfile and have it all there from the WENB one! Great, Includes club logos, strips, name changes and formations I believe.)
- Being able to change players more easy with two options L1 and R. (It makes the game more easy to play)
- Training mode/challenge is educative. (Great to have it back with instructions for novice players)
- The AI will provide a challenge for career mode I'm sure. (With this sort of difficulty the game will be hard in Master League and other modes)
- Referee is much better with fouls and allowing play to continue. (Thank god for being able to put in a good tackle and not getting caught for nothing by the referee, also, yes, just try to catch me, I'll be on my way until you knock me to the floor) =D
Negatives
- Goalkeepers, for me it is a game breaker because how lousy they act on shots and with some of the animations that do not really fit in with a goalkeepers actions in real life.
- Crossing/passing, why did they take away the possibility to cross balls to wherever you want and overhit them on occasion, same goes for ground passes. If it ain't broken in PES 2011... then...
- There is still that bug with player switching just when having a corner against you. Before the opp. take the corner you select one man, but when the corner is taken the comp. switches your man and you have to switch back manually.
- Continous play falsely implemented on throw ins, come on, a cut-scene fools no-one and even if you are behind a goal the thrower just walk up to the ball like he had all the time in the world. (FIFA just stole my continous play idea and has implemented it fully now. It's fantasticly implemented in their game)
(Online play does not go active until release I guess)
I would like to say that IF the keepers get a good fix then the game is going from 7.0-7,5 (somewhere between depending on your taste and how much you value keepers) to an 8,0-9,0 for me (depending on how realisticly they'll act after the patch). That is how important it is for me to have them fixed. Jon has said that there will be a patch for this and we should all trust that this will smoothen their overall performances.
Also, I've learnt my lesson in grading the game. I do not think I can put in a justified score for the game until the last patch is released or until I've played a lot of matches against different people and online. It is not until then that whole game shows itself and the stability of the gameplay unfolds. I am NOT a master league player au contraire to Adam . I'm an online hunter who has built communities for playing online, my focus will always be put on how the game works in multiplayer.
My opinion is based on how well the game performs in exhibition mode on top player with all settings to manual.
Also, I've learnt my lesson in grading the game. I do not think I can put in a justified score for the game until the last patch is released or until I've played a lot of matches against different people and online. It is not until then that whole game shows itself and the stability of the gameplay unfolds. I am NOT a master league player au contraire to Adam . I'm an online hunter who has built communities for playing online, my focus will always be put on how the game works in multiplayer.
My opinion is based on how well the game performs in exhibition mode on top player with all settings to manual.
I've played the previewcode of PES 2011 for the first time (360)
Written the 2010-08-04 @ 23:27:10 and have had (14) blogg.se comments
First, let me hand it to Erik at Level7 for inviting me to his place for this game session. Without him I would not have been able to publish these impressions. We also agreed on many things about the new game. You can read his impressions at Level7 here (swedish).
Sunday I was sitting calmly on the porch zipping on a café, enjoying the company of many friends at a big house outside Stockholm when suddenly the phone rang. It was Erik @ Level7. He invited me to come and play PES 2011 the next day at his house. Thanks Erik. Konami could unfortunatly not set me up with a gaming session themselfs altough many times I have asked them to do so, for example they could give me a debug unit so that I could help with promotion in Denmark and South of Sweden where the game almost never gets any publicity. But enough about that *small* problem and more about the actual game.
Erik had the 360 version of the game and it looks like the editing capacity is as good on the 360 now as on PS3. You could for example customize arenas. I also saw that you could import things. Well actually my point of mentioning that we played on 360 is that I usually play on PS3, my only games on 360 is Table Tennis from Rockstar and Sensible world of Soccer from Live Arcade.
Fresh Fresh!
First glance gives you very good looking menus. You can customize the main menu by investing PES points in the returning PES-shop. This gives you an individual feeling to your game. You easily go back and forth through the menus and everything feels smooth. The tactics screen now look a lot like the Football Manager one, and the question is if it would not be more simple to navigate with a mouse in this menu because you are dealing with small dots that mark players. I think Konami has been trying to replicate Greyhounds innovative Wii tactics screen but there it is more natural with the wiimote. It works quite fine anyhow and there is a nice depth when arranging your tactics, for example you can create a gameplan that is split up in intervals, first part you can chose to go on the attack for 10min, then for the next 20 you can chose to lay back and play it safe. This is definently interesting for me personally and I'm looking forward to see how it affects BAL and your coach at the team where you are playing.
First impression when arriving at the scene of the crime
When you start a game the old introscenes show up, they've been tweaked with some minor detail but nothing special. The crowd is present in their old fashion zombie way. Standing still, no movement whatsoever, no colors or flags, no animation, just pure boredom. Queitly you think to yourself, with a starter like that, the rest of the game must be pure fun! AND... when the camera goes from the stadium to the actual players on the field then we think, what a difference. Graphics are sharpened, animations are smooth, let s take this hunny for a ride.
Some additions and plus and minuses
Sunday I was sitting calmly on the porch zipping on a café, enjoying the company of many friends at a big house outside Stockholm when suddenly the phone rang. It was Erik @ Level7. He invited me to come and play PES 2011 the next day at his house. Thanks Erik. Konami could unfortunatly not set me up with a gaming session themselfs altough many times I have asked them to do so, for example they could give me a debug unit so that I could help with promotion in Denmark and South of Sweden where the game almost never gets any publicity. But enough about that *small* problem and more about the actual game.
Erik had the 360 version of the game and it looks like the editing capacity is as good on the 360 now as on PS3. You could for example customize arenas. I also saw that you could import things. Well actually my point of mentioning that we played on 360 is that I usually play on PS3, my only games on 360 is Table Tennis from Rockstar and Sensible world of Soccer from Live Arcade.
Fresh Fresh!
First glance gives you very good looking menus. You can customize the main menu by investing PES points in the returning PES-shop. This gives you an individual feeling to your game. You easily go back and forth through the menus and everything feels smooth. The tactics screen now look a lot like the Football Manager one, and the question is if it would not be more simple to navigate with a mouse in this menu because you are dealing with small dots that mark players. I think Konami has been trying to replicate Greyhounds innovative Wii tactics screen but there it is more natural with the wiimote. It works quite fine anyhow and there is a nice depth when arranging your tactics, for example you can create a gameplan that is split up in intervals, first part you can chose to go on the attack for 10min, then for the next 20 you can chose to lay back and play it safe. This is definently interesting for me personally and I'm looking forward to see how it affects BAL and your coach at the team where you are playing.
First impression when arriving at the scene of the crime
When you start a game the old introscenes show up, they've been tweaked with some minor detail but nothing special. The crowd is present in their old fashion zombie way. Standing still, no movement whatsoever, no colors or flags, no animation, just pure boredom. Queitly you think to yourself, with a starter like that, the rest of the game must be pure fun! AND... when the camera goes from the stadium to the actual players on the field then we think, what a difference. Graphics are sharpened, animations are smooth, let s take this hunny for a ride.
I used to feel stiff but now I feel fine
The feeling of stiffness that were chained to the players in PES 2010 are gone. It is maybe the most pleasure filled feeling about this game to me. You move, your players move. And they do it with change, it does not feel repetitive. What will definently symobolize this years' PES second to animation is the passing. I played the ball around several times with neat passes strung together between three players and made my friend Erik work hard to get the ball. Because of the manual passes and the powerbar, you have to be more focused than ever before, it's your responsability to make every pass arrive where it should, if you put in the wrong power then it is all your fault. I'm very pleased with this about the game and there is no delay whatsoever if you want to play a direct pass.
Through balls and defense
Something my friend Erik spoke about before we started playing was the through balls. He thinks that they will be of greater importance to this game than any of the three latest games. The through balls often landed perfectly in front of the feet were they were sent and so it was very hard for defenders to break a through ball, especially at the last third of the pitch (?). But au contraire to these through balls PES has been improved with a more responsive defense system. Push the button and your player will try to break the ball, no delay, also the collisions are better so you can practicly run into players and feel the physical difference to PES 2010. The game also features much better animations in the tackling department and several times I lounged into british style Dennis Wise/ Roy Keane tackles and got myself a yellow one. Rightly so. But the satisfaction of tackling the crap out of the player was worth it and great animation wise.
How the new cautious defending worked was above me in my short time of trying the game out. I got to get some more hours with the game to try that out.
The feeling of stiffness that were chained to the players in PES 2010 are gone. It is maybe the most pleasure filled feeling about this game to me. You move, your players move. And they do it with change, it does not feel repetitive. What will definently symobolize this years' PES second to animation is the passing. I played the ball around several times with neat passes strung together between three players and made my friend Erik work hard to get the ball. Because of the manual passes and the powerbar, you have to be more focused than ever before, it's your responsability to make every pass arrive where it should, if you put in the wrong power then it is all your fault. I'm very pleased with this about the game and there is no delay whatsoever if you want to play a direct pass.
Through balls and defense
Something my friend Erik spoke about before we started playing was the through balls. He thinks that they will be of greater importance to this game than any of the three latest games. The through balls often landed perfectly in front of the feet were they were sent and so it was very hard for defenders to break a through ball, especially at the last third of the pitch (?). But au contraire to these through balls PES has been improved with a more responsive defense system. Push the button and your player will try to break the ball, no delay, also the collisions are better so you can practicly run into players and feel the physical difference to PES 2010. The game also features much better animations in the tackling department and several times I lounged into british style Dennis Wise/ Roy Keane tackles and got myself a yellow one. Rightly so. But the satisfaction of tackling the crap out of the player was worth it and great animation wise.
How the new cautious defending worked was above me in my short time of trying the game out. I got to get some more hours with the game to try that out.
Referees, skills and goalkeepers
The referees in the game seemed well balanced and even awarded a penalty once, altough still, they do not hand out yellow cards after a foul situation where play has continued.
I also tried out some skills and tricks with LB + analogue, there is a whole bunch of combinations, which makes Street Fighter come to mind. These tricks will probably, after what I saw in this preview version, not be overeffective, but instead we'll have superspeed Messi that turns quicker than any other player in the game.
Taking a shot in the game felt unfamiliar to me, I had troubles with taking shots through my whole session and I balooned it over the bar on several occassions. It felt as the goalies had gotten more animations and my goalie, in several different teams, made supersaves just meters from goal as Erik put the powerbar to max. Sometimes after making a save they put the game on very fast too, with long throw outs. The so called free passing game does not include goal kicks where you still only can pass a short pass to one player or shoot a goal kick that does not change despite how hard you push in the button.
The referees in the game seemed well balanced and even awarded a penalty once, altough still, they do not hand out yellow cards after a foul situation where play has continued.
I also tried out some skills and tricks with LB + analogue, there is a whole bunch of combinations, which makes Street Fighter come to mind. These tricks will probably, after what I saw in this preview version, not be overeffective, but instead we'll have superspeed Messi that turns quicker than any other player in the game.
Taking a shot in the game felt unfamiliar to me, I had troubles with taking shots through my whole session and I balooned it over the bar on several occassions. It felt as the goalies had gotten more animations and my goalie, in several different teams, made supersaves just meters from goal as Erik put the powerbar to max. Sometimes after making a save they put the game on very fast too, with long throw outs. The so called free passing game does not include goal kicks where you still only can pass a short pass to one player or shoot a goal kick that does not change despite how hard you push in the button.
Slowdown and play it cool
The in-game pace this year can be switched between -2 and +2 where 0 is default. The default setting worked perfectly fine for me but I will probably experiment a bit between -1 and 0 to see what suits me best. A not so pacy game can mean a lot to the online game as the response issue has to be considered. Hopefully the pace will be automaticly set between -2 and 0 depending on the connections. The slower pace made you feel like you had more time on the ball in defense, you don't feel so pressured in the building phase which is a good thing considering the constant pressure that has been on in the last three games.
In three games I didn't manage to find the goal once (damn it), I blame it on the fact many things felt new. But no time to cry for lost milk, I'll have a new chance soon. I will be heading south in two weeks to visit Gamescom together with finnish community legend Lazyitis. You can watch our Gamescom PES 2010 video from last year here.
Disturbing camera on 360
The cameraman (only in the 360 version, appearantly) seems to have had a beer too many before coming to work. The camera does not follow very well when you steal the ball and counter. It takes way too long time to get a good view on the pitch and we were playing in wide cam. This was maybe the biggest dissapointment, how can Konami send out a version for the journalists that works like this. It should be an easy fix though, but it is quite embarrasing if the versions differ like this.
In three games I didn't manage to find the goal once (damn it), I blame it on the fact many things felt new. But no time to cry for lost milk, I'll have a new chance soon. I will be heading south in two weeks to visit Gamescom together with finnish community legend Lazyitis. You can watch our Gamescom PES 2010 video from last year here.
Disturbing camera on 360
The cameraman (only in the 360 version, appearantly) seems to have had a beer too many before coming to work. The camera does not follow very well when you steal the ball and counter. It takes way too long time to get a good view on the pitch and we were playing in wide cam. This was maybe the biggest dissapointment, how can Konami send out a version for the journalists that works like this. It should be an easy fix though, but it is quite embarrasing if the versions differ like this.
Some additions and plus and minuses
Other news include about 40 new licensed copa libertadores teams. Great work. And also included is a stadium creator/editor, it's a nice addition and will give the fans an option to create stadiums for their option files. Expect the option files to become bigger than ever this year.
+ Animations linked together delightfully
+ Passing and the feeling of freedom
+ Slower building phase
+ Better physical contact
+ The tactics
- Still that funeral feeling at the otherwise good looking arenas, no confetti, no supporter movement, the visual athmosphere is not fulfilling.
- The camera (360)
- Set pieces feel boring, it does not feel like you have enough alternatives (can't take away people from the wall, can't hit a manual pass)
- The computer still clears the ball automaticly
+/- Lots of tricks. Not everyone can do them depending on skills.
At the end of the rainbow
This is of course the best game of PES next-gen has ever seen (PS3/PC/360). Would be weird if any of the last three next-gen games would have been better. The game finds its' way back to the passing feeling of the old games, so does the animations which are varied and have a good flow. The graphics become a little sharper, editing freaks like myself can dwelve even further into replicating our teams and their home arenas and with lots of teams to overwrite it will be an exciting year for the communities.
What is missing is a visually present crowd who provides an atmosphere. What I think the PES community want is a feeling of either playing home or away and seeing it visually in the arena. Even a derby feeling every match would be fun. I mean I want that pulsating feeling to be present in every game I play with my mates. I loved that camera that for example was behind the crowd and you could see their hands and arms waving as the goalscorer celebrated. That created a great feeling even though it was only in black.
That sums it up for me, I look forward to playing the game soon at Gamescom!
+ Animations linked together delightfully
+ Passing and the feeling of freedom
+ Slower building phase
+ Better physical contact
+ The tactics
- Still that funeral feeling at the otherwise good looking arenas, no confetti, no supporter movement, the visual athmosphere is not fulfilling.
- The camera (360)
- Set pieces feel boring, it does not feel like you have enough alternatives (can't take away people from the wall, can't hit a manual pass)
- The computer still clears the ball automaticly
+/- Lots of tricks. Not everyone can do them depending on skills.
At the end of the rainbow
This is of course the best game of PES next-gen has ever seen (PS3/PC/360). Would be weird if any of the last three next-gen games would have been better. The game finds its' way back to the passing feeling of the old games, so does the animations which are varied and have a good flow. The graphics become a little sharper, editing freaks like myself can dwelve even further into replicating our teams and their home arenas and with lots of teams to overwrite it will be an exciting year for the communities.
What is missing is a visually present crowd who provides an atmosphere. What I think the PES community want is a feeling of either playing home or away and seeing it visually in the arena. Even a derby feeling every match would be fun. I mean I want that pulsating feeling to be present in every game I play with my mates. I loved that camera that for example was behind the crowd and you could see their hands and arms waving as the goalscorer celebrated. That created a great feeling even though it was only in black.
That sums it up for me, I look forward to playing the game soon at Gamescom!
Going deep into the history of Konami
Written the 2010-06-28 @ 11:25:34 and have had (4) blogg.se comments
The first time I met Seabass in Leipzig in 2006 I thought, is this the man behind my bad grades in secondary school? (I was staying up until the early mornings to play a borrowed throughout the night ISS). I didn't really look for answers and just assumed that it was Seabass who had created the whole series from the beginning.
During the bad times (PES 08, 09 and to a degree PES 2010), I started to look back at the older titles and I started to question Konami for not using the old things that worked so brilliantly before in their new games. The reason is still quite unknown, but I personally link it to individual creativity of each of the producers. Repeating somebody else’s work might look bad from a Japanese view when presenting a new brand like PES for example.
The producer of Konamis first football title that arrived in Europe was Mr. Katsuya Nagae who produced Jikkyou World Soccer: Perfect Eleven (International Superstar Soccer). Nagaes earlier work includes titles like Vampire Killer (European version of Castlevania with another character and story), Animaniacs (from the famous cartoon series), Lethal Enforces (a game where you aim and shoot with a pistol) and the not so famous in Europe, but incredibly popular in Japan, Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyu (Live Powerful Pro Baseball) franchise. The latter together with International Superstar Soccer are games which he helped create from scratch and thus he can be called the creator of these games.
Unfortunately, this first producer of Konamis incredibly popular football series, passed away in 2008, at the shy age of 47. His games more than often received high scores in the press and I'm sure he is very missed in the Japanese gaming industry. The gaming industry is a rather young one and deaths are not at all common yet.
One of the few articles I found that describes him says "He was not in contact with the latest trends in game development but he had this inner fire to guide young people who were attracted by the industry". I suppose this quote is in line with the articles publication date in 2008, because Mr Nagae knew exactly what was needed in the early and mid 90's, he knew what we wanted as football fans, and it is him we should thank when we look ahead at future iterations of the popular series. He created many of the things that we have and want back in the game, the scenario mode, the continuous play, the close to life look on the players (symbolized with different hair styles in ISS), the coin toss, the arrows for form and last but not least, that magical feeling of scoring a goal, where you feel that you are rewarded for hard work, a pulsating sensation through your whole body. Many of the people he worked with on ISS and ISS Deluxe (Perfect Eleven & Fighting Eleven) helped develop the coming successful football titles at Konami. It would be interesting to hear today’s man in charge, Seabass, talk a bit about him, if they ever met.
Thanks for all this Mr Nagae, may you rest in peace.