Pro Evo 2010 will be a return to realism, says producer

Somewhere along the line, during my time here, I got pigeonholed into doing posts about soccer games, even about franchises I’m not familiar with. You’d think that it would be Samit’s responsibility (since he’s the “sports guy”) or Jim’s (since he’s British), but you’d be wrong. Neither of them can stand the sport — which is funny, since Jim has rececntly (and unwittingly) moved to the most soccer-crazed city in Mississippi.

Enter Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2010: long considered the superior soccer experience in Europe and Asia, it never really caught on in North America. And with EA Canada producing several quality entries in the FIFA series (with another apparently on the way), PES has been struggling to retain dominance in recent years.

According to a developer video embedded after the break, PES 2010 has made a real push to make an accurate simulator: “I know European users want more reality in PES,” explains producer Shingo “Seabass” Takatsuka, “I keep in my mind and I put my effort into polishing up AI and tactics settings.”

A few interesting things about PES 2010 that caught my eye:

• Players now have “instantaneous stamina” that affects ball control (translation: spamming the sprint button will work for about 10 seconds before you get wrecked).

• Free kicks are now viewed from the kicker’s perspective, and an on-screen pointer will help players add curl and backspin to the ball.

• Players will have the ability to move several teammates to a place on the field at once.

I’m not very familiar with the PES series, so I’m not sure how many of these mechanics are new, but it seems like Konami is in a good position to start re-claiming some of the marketshare from EA. For a more in-depth look at the game’s new lighting and tactics — including the “slider” and “card” systems — hit the jump for a developer video.

PES 2010 will hit shelves on October 19th, two weeks after its arcade-y North American comepetitor.