It’s started already. Actually, it never really stopped. The PES vs. FIFA ‘war’ is an ongoing battle without any clear objectives, no end in sight, and battalions of disgruntled troops on both sides, permanently shelling the other side. Brace yourselves for the appearance over the next few weeks of the traditional annual articles that compare the two franchises using the conceit—wait for it—of a football match played between the two of them! Thus, PES kicks off and is brutally tackled by FIFA; then FIFA goes on a mazy dribble and knocks one into the net; then PES comes back with a forty-yard curler into the top corner… aaaaaand so on.

The peculiar thing about this year is a growing band of deserters from the PES side. I’m kind of one of them, I suppose. Yes, I would have to admit to that. I’m loose and I’m drifting in no-man’s-land. I’m uncertain where I really belong. I have not gone over to the ‘enemy’ as such—not yet, anyway…

PES and FIFA forums are always an interesting read if you have an interest in net culture, and particularly in how people talk about, argue about, and generally enthuse about their favourite computer games. It’s a very long time since I was a regular poster on any internet forum. Nowadays I’m mostly an observer. I just haven’t got the time or (frankly) the interest any more in spending 20 minutes composing replies to, oh, MadDogz1991 or whoever, about the precise meaning of the word ‘arcadey’ in relation to next-gen PES2008, for example.

One of the most noticeable things that has happened to PESfan.com over the past few seasons is that its forums have dipped a little in quality. Back when I first discovered the PESfan forums, they were very much like PES itself: sensible, mature, thoughtful—all of those disreputable things… Nowadays the PESfan forums are still like PES, but not in a good way: they’re fast, crude, and pretty youthful. The old guard are still there, and there is still a lot of quality discussion going on. But it tends to be drowned out nowadays by the generic internet OMG ROFLMAO crowd. We all know who they are…

The official FIFA forums are no better. In fact, they’re a good deal worse—which is perhaps reflective of FIFA’s traditionally younger fanbase. At any one time most of the posts on page 1 of the official FIFA09 forums are absolute drivel. Pure, unadulterated drivel—some of the very worst drivel you could ever (not) wish to see anywhere on the internet. I’m not trying to be unkind or supercilious about it. I don’t regard my own output, here or elsewhere, as being much more than a different kind of drivel. But the average contents of the FIFA09 forum (and, to a lesser degree, of PESfan’s General Discussion section) at times makes my stuff look like War and Peace. So I suppose I should be grateful. Everything is relative. Everything.

I’ve slightly drifted away from the actual subject I wanted to talk about. I tend to do that. I tend to drift. What I wanted to talk about was the way that partisans in both camps—PES and FIFA—are once more positioning themselves for a face-off. Who will take the crown (or ‘da crown’)  this year as the bestest ever football game?!?! That’s what they’re all talking about, in various forms, on both boards.

It’s a very important topic to lots of people. I shouldn’t scoff, because I’m just as fascinated by the unfolding debate as the next football gamer. PES vs FIFA is an important issue for me too, although I suspect in a different way. I’d like both games to be great, with the question of ‘which is the best?’ really coming down to personal choice, as always. The best possible outcome for football gamers this year is for there to be no clear winner in the latest battle. Two eqaully great football games with pluses and minuses in each, complementing one another, facilitating a year-long feast of football gaming—this would be the dream scenario. Surely?

You’d think so. But, alas, the kids have invaded, and one of the hallmarks of kids (of all ages) is that they like to band together into groups, and they like to belong to the best gang. I want to stress here that, although I’m a hairy-arsed thirty-something, I’m not placing myself above this petty squabble. I’ve done my time in ‘the best gang’ (PES). I’ve spent most of the last 10 years feeling superior to the fools who played FIFA. I’ll admit it.

But this year I’ve found myself playing FIFA08 and enjoying it. I’ve played it pretty regularly all year. It’s been eight months since the PS3 version of PES2008 last appeared on my TV screen. After everything that ISS and PES games have meant to me over the years, it does feel like a betrayal. I still can’t get over it (or stop bleedin’ talking about it) even now, almost a year later…

I think most players of computer football games are still very much loyal to one or the other. There are PES players for whom FIFA is anathema, for whom any suggestion that it might be, well, pretty good lately, is merely a sign that yet another so-called PES fan’s soul has become hopelessly corrupted.

PES vs FIFA is a battle that will probably be fought for as long as the two games are around. It’s human nature, and it actually boosts the profiles of both games in the gaming world. There’s always something to talk about when there are two football gamers in a room, real or virtual. But it has to be borne in mind that this ‘forever war’ is actually a phoney war, simply because it can never really end. It’s part of the hype, the culture, the marketing of both games. If it was a real war then there would be a definite winner and a loser. There never can be, despite what the kids—of all ages—say on the goddamn internet.