Xbox Gaming in South Africa

Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 will kick off on 22 October in South Africa, exactly twenty days after EA's competing footie title FIFA 10 lands on store shelves.

PES has been losing ground against their biggest rival over the past two years or so, with FIFA making significant advancements while Konami's franchise lost momentum. Obviously the plan is to change gears with the next installment, with Konami working hard to secure a couple of new licences to their game, at both International and Club level:

All the major national teams are now included, with officially-sanctioned versions of the likes of England, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Brazil and Argentina, plus the newly-added official German national team.

At club level, PES 2010 will also include the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, and Konami is currently negotiating to feature as many of the qualifying teams from these two tournaments. Some teams – including Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United – have already been implemented, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.

In an effort to make this years PES title more realistic than ever before, Konami has added a number of gameplay advancements, including 360-degree control, allowing players to accurately exploit gaps in the defence. A more natural animation system is also in place to make the game appear more fluid on the pitch.

Local distributor, Ster Kinekor Games, mentioned to XG that PES 2010 is an important game for them, and they are in control of both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation versions this year, so we won't have the same release issues which plagued PES 2009 in SA.