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Shingo 'Seabass' Takatsuka Speaks Out
PES producer lifts the lid on next-gen versions of Konami's critically-acclaimed soccer series.
by Alex Simmons
UK, September 1, 2006 - Nicknamed after his love of fishing, Shingo 'Seabass' Takatsuka is the mastermind behind the greatest football game series ever created, Pro Evolution Soccer. Having established PES as the critic's choice on current-gen consoles he's now turned his focus to next-gen development, with Pro Evolution Soccer 6 looking to retain the crown when it's released on the Xbox 360 in October. He took time out from his hectic schedule to talk exclusively with IGN about PES, drawing inspiration from classic games and his ongoing love affair with football.
What has developing on next-gen technology enabled you to do with PES?
Seabass: Five or six years ago when PS2 was just starting to take over from PSone, the change from one console to the next enabled us to upgrade the graphics and the AI and that's a similar change we're now going through for the Xbox 360. Additionally we can make a lot more of the online features because the online infrastructure around the world is much further advanced than it was even just a few years ago.
Did you start from scratch when development began on PES6?
Seabass: All of the PS2 stadium models simply won't work on a next-gen platform so they have all been created from scratch. As for AI, we've worked hard on it in previous games and it's a very precious asset to us so we didn't want to start from scratch. Instead we've taken the basic AI from previous games and improved it.
There are three main areas of the game that have been improved. We've worked hard on improving formations and tactics, specifically on the way players now overlap and make smarter runs. The goalkeeper has also been reworked so they now position themselves much more intelligently. It will therefore be harder to score from long range because the keeper will play much more like they would in real-life.
The third and most important improvement we've made is to the defender support system. When you're controlling a defender it's important that the CPU players back you up, so we've fine-tuned the AI so they're more reactive. However, this means they'll now move out of position to cover for your player. Also, when you attack you'll really feel the difference between PES5 and PES6. In the last game you could run up the wing, pass it into the middle and score an easy goal. That won't be possible in PES6.
Have the improvements to the keeper and defence made it harder to score?
Seabass: Some might think it's harder to score, others will think it's easier. It all depends how a person plays. As an individual player you have more responsibility because you need to cover for a CPU player who's moved out of position to make a tackle. Good players can therefore create gaps in defence. Similarly, if you rely too heavily on CPU players you'll let goals in more easily than you would if you use the players as a team.
FIFA outsells PES in the US partly because of the number of Latino gamers who buy it for the Mexican leagues. Is this something that PES might include in the future?
Seabass: Our first priority is to include Europe's six major leagues but that doesn't mean we're going to stop there. We're always looking for opportunities to maximise sales and marketing. Mexico has a strong football following and its leagues are top of our list for inclusion. In fact I'm planning to go to Mexico soon to check out the scene.
Do you think the fact that PES6 is exclusive to Xbox 360, at least initially, will help console sales in Japan?
Seabass: There's been a lot of confusion about the Microsoft announcement. We never said that it would be exclusive for a year on 360. We said 2006, so for this calendar year it will be exclusive to 360. But from 2007 onwards we're free to work with the other consoles. At this moment in time I cannot officially say that we're working on a PS3 version but we might be, and that's a strong might.
Are there plans to allow players to trade custom content such as option files via Xbox Live?
Seabass: The opportunities that Xbox Live and Marketplace offer are very tempting to me as a developer. However, I regret to say that it won't be available in this version because we're busy focusing on the other elements needed to create a next-gen game, plus we want to make the online game much better. In the future we hope to include more Marketplace options if there is the demand. We're also considering updating rosters, although that depends on licensing issues.
Which licensed teams have already been signed up?
Seabass: We have secured teams from four of the six major European leagues in the game. At the moment we don't have teams from the Bundesliga or the Premiership and securing them is not an easy task because EA has exclusive rights to both leagues. But we're not giving up and we will keep trying to get the rights to include the teams in the game.
Including the proper teams is very important to me. If we never get the official licences I don't think we can ever properly compete with EA and FIFA. I'm not just talking about the European leagues either, we want to expand the game to include other franchises too.
Are you looking to develop PES for the Wii?
Seabass: Ever since I played Wii at E3 I've never stopped thinking about developing games for it. The controller is so special. But if we developed PES on the Wii and used the controller for, say, a manual pass people would get tired of it very quickly, so I'd want to do something different. I cannot confirm that we're working on a Wii version but if the demand is there we'd definitely work on it.
Which format is leading the development?
Seabass: In the past we focused on the PS2 version of PES first but with the switch to next-gen everything is now led on PC and then moved across onto Xbox 360 and PS3, so the formats are now treated very equally. As for the DS and PSP, we're not attempting to squeeze the full version of the game on handheld because it wouldn't work. Instead the game will have the same simplicity of PES1 and PES2 but we'll add all of the new features to make it play like the latest versions on the other consoles.
Playing PES on a Xbox 360 pad feels very different from playing on PS2. Has that been an issue?
Seabass: I acknowledge that at the moment playing PES on a 360 pad feels different and rectifying this is a priority for us. For example the d-pad is totally different from the PS2 d-pad. I've even been speaking to Microsoft and we're talking through ways of making it work better.
What games do you draw inspiration from?
Seabass: I play a lot of games but I still get the most out of playing classic NES games. I really like the direct control they offer the player and these days games are much more complicated. That's why I always strive to give my games the same level of control offered by the old games. I also play FPS games like Halo and Quake a lot and am inspired by the way they work as online games.
What is your ultimate vision for PES?
Seabass: When I first started working on PES I just thought I was creating a game - I never really compared it with real football. But these days it's not rival football games that are a competitor to PES but the real game itself. I want to recreate goals in PES that I see on television so it will be an ongoing battle to create a game that's as close to the real thing as possible.
In the past I said that we have reached 40% of what I wanted PES to be. I actually feel it's much lower than that now because there are more opportunities to make the game more life-like than ever before.
Re: Pro Evolution next generation
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