I’m a bit puzzled about your comments re. the players’ smooth movements and nimbleness – you are talking about the PS3/360 FIFA, yes? The usual complaint about the players in those versions of the game is that they’re too luimbering and slow to turn.

I’ve often thought about filming a full match between me and the CPU (on PES and on FIFA) and posting it, but I haven’t got a DVD recorder or a camcorder. I’m ’sure, though, that there must be somewhere on the internet hosting footage of a full game on FIFA09.

The goals you’ve seen will pretty much tend to come from dinked through-balls, rebounds, goalmouth scrambles etc. There are precious few distance strikes as in PES—particularly in FIFA09 (for me at the moment anyway). This is, of course, in keeping with the real game.

I once looked up the statistics from the Premier League out of curiosity. On an average weekend only about 2% of goals are scored from outside the box. This all goes back to the realism vs fun argument currently raging on several fronts across the internet.

I appreciate it may be a little wearying constantly reading me gushing about FIFA09, but I really am that enthused about it at the moment. I love the direction that EA—the former Darth Vader of football games developers—has taken with FIFA.

Having said all that I am really starting to look forward to PES2009. And don’t worry. I’ll be giving it more than a fair crack of the whip. I have left the title of this blog as PES Chronicles for a reason…

I have a suggestion for you.

Instead of contemplating in writing on how “amazing”, “incredibly deep” FIFA09 is, why don’t you HQ film an entire game you had online, and post the movie for download?

Seriously, because your argument is very compelling, and yet I can’t see the depth you describe in the FIFA09 movies. 99% of the time the goal is through a through-pass that brings a player one on one, or a keeper rebound. I’d love to see a full match played between two good players and feel the emotions you’re feeling.

I left FIFA in 2005 when PES4 was out. It was a life changing decision. Yeah that’s how big a change it was. Now, I look at FIFA and I see players that move with too much speed and flexibility. They all move with the ball like they are Ronaldos. They have no momentum if they decide to turn, and the ball can be passes in a 180 degree direction while running. Players collide excessively and don’t see to even try to avoid bumping into each other, or losing the ball.

So please how about a nice 10-min HQ online video to buy me back to the FIFA clan?

Thanks

I always remember looking at old FIFAs with scorn, and absolutely treasuring the more simulation type of game that PES offered me. Didn’t we all? Now FIFA has leapfrogged PES in that respect, which even the most die-hard PES fans are now admitting, we can see how ideology moulds perceptions.

re. the regime on WENB’s forums, I saw on their old public forums that it was starting to get a little heavy-handed IMO. I seriously doubt anybody at Konami would want them to ban all negative forum comments, so I’d say they’ve taken this tack on their own initiative.

And re. PES2009 – I still want it to be a good PES game. I’ll ask no more of it this year.