First of all, the online play on next-gen PES2008 is completely broken, at least on the PS3. I understand it’s slightly better on the 360 and more or less playable a lot of the time. So keep trying it. I’ve got a 360 but my PES2008 is on the PS3 (and on PS2 and PSP, but that’s another, developing story). I won;t be getting the game for my 360 I’m afraid. If you have a read through many of my posts, you’ll find that I became severely disenchanted with the game after several months’ play.

As for strategies… don’t be afraid to dribble. It’s almost impossible to dribble in FIFA08, but in PES2008 it’s almost impossible not to. Shooting and scoring is best from medium-range—you should create many, many chances with some good passing. One-twos are massively effective. Don’t forget that you don’t have to play the return ball straightaway or even at all. Aerial through-balls are great down the wings, over the top of the CPU defender(s). The list goes on. If you still have one of the last-gen consoles, I recommend getting hold of one of the old PES/WE games as well, just to see where the series has come from.

Since you play both…what are some tips/tricks I should know about PES08? Major differences…strategy wise…especially defensively? Best areas to score from?

What’s up with the PES08 online play? I played a couple games yesterday and there was some serious lag. The ball was jumping all over the place…nearly impossible to play. What’s your experience with it?

So far I’ve enjoyed playing PES. Bigger field..more space…passes are made to space and players run to ball…pass angles actually make sense. PES is more flexible, less linear. Fifa at times feels like it’s straight up and down, not a lot of side to side with the player movement. My biggest complaint of FIFA is that it is work… So far PES has been fun. Gameplay wise. Menus wise/ease if use/navigation it sucks…but I’ll take gameplay any day. Plus I’m sure there’s a learning curve.

I just started a Master League…I’ll have to spend some time figuring out how to work everything. Should be fun…hope online play getters better or Konami releases a patch.

Rich. My gamertag is Rich0107 if you ever feel like playing either FIFA08 or PES08. Or anyone else for that matter.

I’ve had a quick look back through the relevant posts from my last season in my first ML career - this one shows my full squad listing back then: http://peschronicles.wordpress.com/2007/12/04/pre-season-negotiations-2012/

I really had a team of galacticos and was winning everything in my 5th season. I won the Treble with ridiculous ease and scored 135 league goals in the last season of my last career.

I restarted with the new team and a set of House Rules. I’m not allowed to have more than 25 players in my squad right now, and at least 5 of the squad have got to be original default players. I’m not allowed to have any wonder-dribblers (players like Elcherino, Melengue, etc). I’m not allowed to do anything, basically, that would make the game as easy as it was for me back then.

That, in a nutshell, is the history of the past few months.

ck & paul - Getting the PS2 version is just a thought. I’ve got the PSP version on preorder and I am very keen to get that and occupy my spare moments going to and from work. The PS2 version as well would be overkill. But I might still do it. I really am down on next-gen PES2008 right now. Maybe things will pick up this week.