The game that was supposed to bring back the good old days. On the pitch, oh yes. Off the pitch? Deary me…
So, as most of you know after hearing the last podcast, my time as the face of WENB, and the content I provide for the site is at an end. Well, it will be after this editorial. Going forward Asim Tanvir and Nico Di Maria will be looking after the site along with Alan and the fantastic moderating team. With this in mind, I thought I’d get my final thoughts in before I hang up my boots and pass over the keys to the manor.
It was a tough decision, but what happened with PES 2013 made it inevitable. The game plays a solid game of football, the best we’ve ever seen, at least on this generation. Many of you know I still go from previous versions to the recent games as much as I used to, and what PES 2013 has become is a game that ticks most boxes that the likes of PES5/6 don’t. The problem is, as a predominately offline gamer, there’s simply nothing to keep me playing beyond countless exhibition matches.
The league mode omission is a final nail in the coffin for gamers like myself, where the changes to ML merely dug the earth for the coffin to be laid. I’ve tried guys, I have truly tried to put all the boots and stat boosting aside, but the fact it’s there goes against my personal principle of what football should be. Because of that, I find it difficult as a football fan to ignore.
It’s the concept and the ideology. I don’t know, maybe I’m a bit of a snob, or maybe I just don’t love the brand as much as I used to, but I have standards. A quick look over to FIFA and the offline options are breathtaking and totally engrossing. Problem is, FIFA 13 plays horribly, but that doesn’t make me automatically gravitate into letting personal standards slide and play ML.
First and foremost, I’m a football fan. I watch most games from every single league in the world, often staying up until 2am in the UK to watch Neymar/Ronaldinho etc do their thing in the Brazilian league. I live and breathe football, and I supported PES for so long because it captured football inline with what I expect. Sure, it hasn’t been as good as we wanted it to be, and ML hasn’t been the simulation experience, but what happened this year made me realise we’re moving further away than getting closer.
With that in mind, I felt it was only right to step aside, and allow a newer generation to control the defacto PES site for the fans. Sure, we should all be able to portray our grievances with the game freely, but as the face of a site which welcomes true fans first and foremost, I felt my personal issues would get in the way of this. And hey, I’m not getting any younger. We have a new generation of gamers, people who started with PES later than me and who are more focused to online gaming. We need to move with the times, and the old fart in me is very much stuck in their ways.
So a new start, with fresh minds and more acceptance in changes that Konami will make in the future.
I’ll be here posting on the front page with news, and answering people on the comments section when I get time, but it’s very much goodbye from me as a community leader. The podcasts and impressions will be taken over by the new team, and I hope you guys support them 100%. Our relationship with Konami is as strong as ever as a network, so our content and insider information won’t change. We’ll stay no. 1, don’t you worry.
If you want to keep an eye on my thoughts with football games, as well as the footballing world, you’ll be able to catch me on Total Voetbal. WElovePES has changed to this, so you’ll see me and close friends blogging on a daily basis about the things we love based around the sport we closely follow. Be warned though, expect extreme language on a continual basis!
So, please keep visiting, and please keep supporting the site. The future is very bright, lets hope the new engine brings us everything we want!
Speak soon
