Pro Evolution Soccer

The Pro Evolution Soccer (also known as Winning Eleven) football is a video game series developed by Konami (KCET) and is one of the most popular sports franchises of all time.

Related Topics:
Winning Eleven - Football - Video game - Konami - KCET - Sports - Franchises

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Originally a PlayStation spin-off from Konami's International Superstar Soccer, the first game in the series released outside Japan, ISS: Pro Evolution (based on Winning Eleven 4) was released in 2000, and later that year the American market would get ESPN MLS Gamenight, using Winning Eleven 2000 as the base. The same game was released in the rest of the world as ISS: Pro Evolution 2 (2001).

Related Topics:
PlayStation - Spin-off - Konami - International Superstar Soccer - Japan - 2000 - American - 2001

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In the same year, Japanese PlayStation 2 owners saw Winning Eleven 5 released, the first in the series for the new Sony Console, and the definite split between PES and ISS games was done with the release of Pro Evolution Soccer in Europe, released as ESPN MLS Extratime in North America.

Related Topics:
PlayStation 2 - Europe

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The final assault on EA Sports' FIFA Series crown was with the 2002 top-selling title Pro Evolution Soccer 2, based on Winning Eleven 6. For the first time, a Winning Eleven title was also released in North America, dropping the previous ESPN and MLS licenses.

Related Topics:
EA Sports - FIFA Series - 2002 - ESPN - MLS

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However, although the series dominated the PlayStation 2 scene (over competitors FIFA and This Is Football), it was not released on other platforms, with the exceptions of Winning Eleven 6:Final Evolution (Nintendo GameCube) and ESPN MLS ExtraTime 2002 for the Microsoft Xbox. When Winning Eleven 7 was released, Konami announced that the upcoming Pro Evolution Soccer 3 was also set to be released on Personal computers, featuring Italian superstar referee Pierluigi Collina on the cover.

Related Topics:
This Is Football - Nintendo GameCube - Microsoft Xbox - Italian - Referee - Pierluigi Collina

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The game fixed most parts of the previous game that needing tweaking. The PC version, however, required top-quality hardware, which hampered sales in comparison with the still low-end FIFA series, and lacked on-line game modes, which would appear on the 2004 installement, Winning Eleven 8/Pro Evolution Soccer 4.

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The game does not improve greatly over PES3, but focus on better dribble control and adds three licensed leagues (Italy, Netherlands and Spain).

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Although the series is held in high acclaim by the gaming press, it has often had numerous criticisms. The game is considered to have a very steep learning curve, and licenses have been acquired extremely slowly (many players and teams lack real names, not unlike early nineties games such as Sensible Soccer). However, later games have begun to feature an increasing number of licensed teams. Another critisism is the lack of online play in the Playstation 2 version of PES4, and the struggling Xbox Live mode in which players were not penalized for quitting games. However, a patch was released in January 2005, which rectified this problem.

Related Topics:
Nineties - Sensible Soccer - Playstation 2 - January 2005

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There is always much confusion between the Japanese Winning Eleven Series and the European Pro Evolution Soccer titles. Ultimately, there are minor changes in the two versions, although slight alterations are done for the European release.

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The next title to be released in the series is Pro Evolution Soccer 5 for the Playstation 2, Xbox and PC on the October 21, 2005.

Related Topics:
Pro Evolution Soccer 5 - Playstation 2 - Xbox - PC - October 21 - 2005

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