PES Chronicles

(Ha, see what I did there? I made a joke about the name of a games console sounding just like the informal English term for a common toilet function.)

It’s Sunday on PES Chronicles, my officially-designated Other Football Game day. And what do we find? That I haven’t actually played any other football games this week…

I didn’t even put in a token appearance on Football Manager Live. For various reasons this was unavoidable, but I still feel quite bad about it as I was so happy to be picked for Beta testing. I hope its makers, and my fellow managers, can forgive me. Next week I’ll report about what effect, if any, my week-long absence has had on my team and my overall experience. As I said last week, it’s crucial for me and FM Live that I’m able to be absent from the game for long periods and still feel that I’m getting a rounded experience. I think that lots—perhaps most—future FM Live players will only be able to play casually.

FIFA08? Sensible Soccer? LMA Manager 2007? Subbuteo? No, no, no, and no. For a few weeks now I’ve only had eyes for ‘last-gen’ PES2008 on my PS3 and my newly-beloved PSP. After a while you just accept the PS2 graphics and get on with it.

What I do want to talk about today is the imminent Wii version of PES2008 and whether or not I’m going to get a Wii console to play it on.

I’ve heard mixed messages about this game. The screenshots don’t fill me with a burning desire to play it. All of those arrows look very colourful and pretty. You point the Wii’s pointy thing at the screen and make the players go on runs into space. But is it what we have come to recognise as a football computer game? Is it PES? Or is it just some kind of re-imagined Missile Command? If it’s something wholly other, does it work?

The WENB boys certainly seem to think it works. Their latest podcast is over an hour long and is all about their hands-on preview of the Wii version. Adam and Suffwan always put together an extremely listenable-to production, and this one is no exception. Their enthusiasm and excitement for the Wii game comes across loud and clear. (It’s all in marked contrast to the dark mood and tone of their podcasts immediately after the release of next-gen PES2008.)

So I’m intrigued about the Wii version—really I am—but am I going to go out and get a Wii console to play it on? No, is the short answer. Definitely not.

But it’s got nothing to do with the game. I just have to draw a line somewhere.

I’ve got too much else on. For one thing, there’s my reinvigorated love affair with the original PS2 version of PES2008 itself—that alone will, I predict, take up 90% of my gaming time from now until October, as it damn well should. The remaining 10% of my gaming time will be occupied with the likes of Metal Gear Solid 4. I also have an array of Xbox360 games to play that I’ve hardly even touched yet. Not to mention the likes of FIFA08, which I will have to blow the dust off at some point. There’s no room at the inn for another football game.

So getting a Wii with its unique version of PES2008 is on my wishlist for the future—but nowhere near the top. It’s quite a way down, in fact.