A piece running on Yahoo! News Japan (translated by AltJapan) summed up the difference between Western and Japanese games: "There is a big difference in the way emotion is handled in Japan and abroad. Abroad, hero characters tend to be portrayed as powerful males, but in Japan squashed and cute little boys are the norm. The Japanese preference for see small-statured pretty-boys wielding big swords seems to be greeted abroad with a resounding 'no way.'"

This paradigm does not hold true to sports game, the article notes. So when Japanese developers depict real teams and real players, the only option is to depict them realistically — and the vast majority of professional athletes are not small pretty boys!

Thus, Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer franchise is a big hit in the West, and ditto for EA Sports title FIFA 10. Neither title carries the cultural baggage pervasive in other genre games.

Fantasy and Football [AltJapan]

“Most modern players are aware of the realism and skill of the PES series,” commented Messi on the deal. “It is a game that truly mirrors the pace and control of real football, and as a die-hard fan of the series, I am delighted to be working with Konami on the latest version.”

Wait, delighted? What kind of sports personality uses the word delighted? You're supposed to trash talk other games, players, teams, etc. Tell you what Messi, go read the bit Kevin Garnett did on NBA 2K9 and get back to us, okay?

PES 2009 gets Messi

Argentinean forward announced as the pan-European face of PES 2009

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced that Argentinean forward Lionel Messi is to be the face of its forthcoming PES 2009 title for PLAYSTATION®3, Xbox 360, PC-DVD, PlayStation®2, and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), Wii and mobile phones across Europe.

Messi is one of the most exciting and paciest forwards in the modern game, and is an ever-present in both the Argentinean national side and for his club side, FC Barcelona. Having played for Argentinean sides since he was five, Messi moved to Barcelona when he was just 13,13 working his way through the CatalanFC Barcelona side’s youth and reserve teams, before making his full debut in October 2004 as the youngest player ever to play in the Spanish top flight. He made his debut for Argentina against Hungary in 2005, and has been a permanent member of the squad ever since.

As part of the new agreement, Lionel Messi will grace the box of all versions of PES 2009 when it is released later this year, and will also feature in promotional materials for the game. PES 2009 is the latest installment of the award-winning Pro Evolution Soccer Series, and will boast a wealth of extensive new additions to enhance the series’ reputation as the most realistic football game available. The new game enjoys a stunning graphical update wherein its players look and identically to their real-life counterparts, while new moves, innovative control elements and key online enhancements will further the realism of the new game.

“Most modern players are aware of the realism and skill of the PES series,” commented Messi on the deal. “It is a game that truly mirrors the pace and control of real football, and as a die-hard fan of the series, I am delighted to be working with Konami on the latest version.”

“Lionel Messi is an incredibly exciting player, and one who enjoys a world-wide reputation for skill, pace and all-round ability,” commented Jon Murphy, PES European Team Leader for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH. “As such, he is the ideal player to front PES 2009, and his enthusiasm for the new game is certain to shine as we work closely together in the promotion of what will be the most advanced PES title to date.”

Konami will be announcing further enhancements and player contributions to PES 2009 in the coming weeks.

PES 2009 will be released for PLAYSTATION®3, Xbox 360, PC-DVD, PlayStation 2, and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) and mobile phones in Autumn, and for Wii in Spring 2009. For more information, please contact…

All copyrights or trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used under license.
© 2008 Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.

Also on hand will be Koji Igarashi to present Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles on the PSP, and Silent Hill: Origins lead William Oertel will be there to "unveil the future of the series". Spooky.

Sounds like Konami is gearing up for a really big show. We'll let you know how that turns out when Kotaku visits Germany later next month. For now, the press release calls to you.

Games Convention 2007: First details about Konami's product line-up in Leipzig

The football game for a new generation: Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH invites visitors to play PES 2008 for the first time

9:00am on August 23rd will mark a historic date for football fans and games players across Europe, as Konami uses the Games Convention in Leipzig to show the PLAYSTATION®3 version of PES 2008 for the first time.

Visitors to the Konami stand (Hall 4, Booth B11) will be the first people to get a hands-on play of the eagerly-awaited next generation football title, which is just one of dozens of big new titles from the publisher. With more details to follow, Konami has whet appetites with the announcement that key members of its development teams will be on hand to present new titles, including Koji 'IGA' Igarashi who will be showing Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles for PSP® (PlayStation®Portable). Similarly, William Oertel, who is overseeing Silent Hill Origins for PSP® will unveil the future of the series.

PES 2008 will be released in Autumn and introduces 'Teamvision', a unique system of artificial intelligence that adapts according to an individual's style of play to create the balanced and strategic play of a high stakes match. Player detail and animation have also been taken to incredible details thanks to the high-definition power afforded by the Next Gen hardware, and visitors to Games Convention 2007 will also be invited to play the game on PC, Xbox 360 and more.

"We will witness one of the most exciting system changes ever at this year's Games Convention," commented Martin Schneider, Sales and Marketing Director Germany for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH. "We can promise visitors and gamers in Leipzig that Konami will play a major role in this year´s gaming year - delivering new games and additions to popular franchises, while producing exciting games for new systems and established formats."

To say that I don't care for soccer would be an understatement. Seeing screenshots of FIFA makes me sleepy. Even hearing the words Winning Eleven makes me nod off quicker than a good armful of heroin, but apparently Europeans like this sport and like playing "footie" on their consoles.

It was considered quite a coup for Microsoft when they announced they'd wrapped up the next-gen rights to both FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer (nee Winning Eleven). Unfortunately for MS, their Euro soccer reign may be shorter lived than they'd like us to believe.

According to PES producer Shingo Takatsuka:

The presentation was misleading. We never said exclusive for one year on the next-gen platforms. We said this year. We were agreed that it was this year.

It seems that no PS3 Konami footballing in '06 is just a product of development time, not an infusion of cash. Michael McWhertor

Konami Calls Foul on Microsoft [1UP]
Xbox 360 Owns Football, or FIFA07 and PES6 to Sony Denied [Kotaku]