Konami blames PS3 spec change for loss of PES6 online

By Tom Bramwell Published 23 March, 2007

You can at least play offline.

Any of you hoping to continue playing Pro Evolution Soccer 6 online using your shiny new PlayStation 3 will be disappointed to learn that the PS2 version can't do this yet.

Although Konami has confirmed that the single-player and versus modes in the PS2 game are compatible with PS3, it released a statement this afternoon saying that online play is incompatible.

The publisher blamed "alterations made to the console's hardware specifications" - certainly a reference to the loss of internal chips dedicated to PS2 emulation in the PS3 units manufactured for PAL regions.

Sony's backwards compatibility site currently lists PES6 as playing "with noticeable issues". Additional advice on playing PS2 games, posted along with the compatibility guide, notes that users should avoid the use of 60Hz and network modes "which may experience noticeable graphical corruption not present in the main game".

On the plus side, Konami said that it and Sony would let us know about changes "as soon as they occur", which suggests that they're not content to leave it at that. With no prospect of a PS3-specific PES game in the immediate future, we expect a solution is pretty high on Konami's agenda.

We imagine Sony's probably quite keen too, what with Xbox 360 having a version of its own.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • trevd72 #1 5 years ago

    any good news??

  • PearOfAnguish #2 5 years ago

    I heard someone bought a PS3, somewhere. Just a rumour, though.

  • penhalion #3 5 years ago

    I think it was Jedimastermalik ;)

  • Mildew #4 5 years ago

    These are going to be like UFO sightings! ;)

  • PearOfAnguish #5 5 years ago

    The PSX-Files?


    Sorry.

  • jebus #6 5 years ago

    Well as of 8 am this morning my local game had sold 7 PS3's. Someone I know popped in to pick up STALKER so he asked them.
    LOL

  • Steroyd #7 5 years ago

    Oh so THAT's what a noticeable issue is.

    And here I'm reading in forums and such that it could be game breaking.

  • Mageme #8 5 years ago

    @PearOfAnguish

    I don't know if I should laugh or groan at that comment. Mebbe a bit of both?

  • polymorph #9 5 years ago

    Ouch!! Nice 1 Konami, first dev to say software emu is not as good as hardware. More will follow.

  • Kami #10 5 years ago

    This is exactly the kind of silliness that Sony could have avoided if they'd have spent the little extra on hardware emu in Europe, until they could software emulate that stuff as well. Knee-jerk changes to save a little may in the end cost them more in bad PR and press than just not having made changes at all.

  • Steroyd #11 5 years ago

    Didn't the hardware based B/C have the same issue?

    I'm sure there was similar rumblings in Japan or was that HDD based games.

  • spongebob #12 5 years ago

    Can't EG write the news like they don't have an opinion? Let the people in forums and comment threads do the dirty work. EG should know better and act like proper journos. These opionated "news" articles are a joke. Write your opinions in reviews and colums!

  • Rizzle #13 5 years ago

    "Proper journos" like them in the Daily Mail? No thanks. I'll take what we get here any day!

    Also: Boo. Hiss. Down with this sort of thing.

  • manic_mouse #14 5 years ago

    Considering PES6 is so bad it's unplayable on the PS3 I think the lack of online play is the least of their worries.

  • mike_mgoblue #15 5 years ago

    Konami is very upset with Sony at this point in time, due to the lies Sony has said about the Playstation 3 and Sony's failure to sell well with the Playstation 3. This is why we will see Metal Gear Solid 4 for the Xbox 360, just like Devil May Cry 4 will be released for the Xbox 360 at the same time...and how Ace Combat 6 was announced only for the Xbox 360. That was cool!

  • freedumb #16 5 years ago

    Ace Combat 6 is made by Namco.

  • Pulsar_t #17 5 years ago

    ^ Yes and Namco are Japanese, so are Konami. Your point being? ;)

  • TRUTH #18 5 years ago

    [link url=http://www.destructoid.com/ridge-racer-6-7-com parisons-27828.phtml
    ]http://ww w.destructoid.com/ridge-racer-6...[/link]

    Check this! Ridge Racer 6 (took Namco a few months to put together for 360) and a year + development for Ridge Racer 7 (Remember the PS3 was actually ready about a
    year ago, thanks to Sony manufacturing delays, the date for PS3 was pushed back - though this gave game developments more time to get more out the PS3, as had full working PS3 kits back in 2005 for)

  • HarryB #19 5 years ago

    ok

  • DB2k #20 5 years ago

    would make sense for PES to be ported to the PS3 with online play.. unless the online side is a nightmare in which case just the standard part of the 360 game.

  • msamik #21 5 years ago

    So we are back to talking about the "better online play" on the 360 with no mention that it costs USD50 a year. Or USD200 over its 4-year life.
    So essentially 2 ways of comparing
    1. ZERO online play on 360 versus free online for many titles on PS3
    OR
    2. 360, at the SAME COST with online play, has:
    multiplayer for 2-3 games extra (like Virtua Tennis 3) BUT also far less hard drive space (12GB), no HDMI, no HD, no wifi

    And since we are talking of backward compatibility, I heard PS3 already has 1000+ (and likely to grow). Could anyone remind me the figure for 360 please?

  • gamestester #22 5 years ago

    The PS3 has officially crash landed in Europe.

    Could it have expected a better outcome?

    It's more expensive in Europe than the rest of the world.
    It cannot play all PS2 games like the rest of the world can.
    It cannot play Europe's most important PS2 game properly, and not at all online, whilst the 360 can (PES6).
    It cannot play the best PS3 sports game online, while the 360 can (VT3).
    etc etc...

    There are reasons to want a 360, Wii, DS, PS2...

    I can see not a single reason to want a PS3.

  • effinwooly #23 5 years ago

    it actually costs £30 a year more in electricity to power the PS3, so there is LIVE paid for.............

    true, i will find a link !

  • myiagros #24 5 years ago

    it actually costs £30 a year more in electricity to power the PS3, so there is LIVE paid for.............

    true, i will find a link !

    If you were to use the 2 machines for the same amount of time, you would have to use them for 91 hours per day (impossible), for the xbox360 to be £30 a year cheaper to power!!

    Xbox360 uses ave. 185watts
    PS3 uses ave. 194watts

    9watt difference

    for 9watts to = £30 per year, usage must equall 91 hours per day!!

    edit: link added http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-356-2.htm
    Edited by 1 at 24/03/07 @ 16:12

  • trevd72 #25 5 years ago

    if you are clever, like me, live! only costs £4 for the year.

  • effinwooly #26 5 years ago

    explains why i couldnt find the link .......

    :o(

  • effinwooly #27 5 years ago

    i only paid £19.99 this years LIVE subs.........not too bad

  • Kami #28 5 years ago

    "And since we are talking of backward compatibility, I heard PS3 already has 1000+ (and likely to grow). Could anyone remind me the figure for 360 please?"

    If you buy that figure then you're rather gullible. I think with all regional variants on the list the current list of games that can run on a PS3 settles around the 50% mark. Which is certainly not bad...

    ... but the X-Box only had a few great games that people would have cared about. The PS3 currently has dozens of great titles like FFXII and Okami etc. that run with "Noticable issues" - i.e. consider not bothering at all. Not to mention classic titles not working and even PS1 games that worked fine on PS2 software emulation not working.

    X-Box 360 was a bit weak but at least it had some damage limitation in the simple fact that it really didn't need a huge amount of backwards compatability. PS3, sadly, isn't that lucky - with an extensive range of popular PS2 titles and indeed, cult classics from days gone by. The fact that the majority don't work or work with "Noticable Issues" is quite a problem for Sony... the reality that some of the more recent titles that are doing quite well for themselves fall into this bracket is, in my eyes, a bit of a travesty...

  • chupachups #29 5 years ago

    "So we are back to talking about the "better online play" on the 360 with no mention that it costs USD50 a year. Or USD200 over its 4-year life.
    So essentially 2 ways of comparing
    1. ZERO online play on 360 versus free online for many titles on PS3
    OR
    2. 360, at the SAME COST with online play, has:
    multiplayer for 2-3 games extra (like Virtua Tennis 3) BUT also far less hard drive space (12GB), no HDMI, no HD, no wifi "

    Msamik, you're missing the point.

    Yes, the PS3 is a really great value bundle IF YOU WANT EVERYTHING IN THE BUNDLE.

    The problem for Sony is that most people don't want everything in the bundle.

    Most gamers only want a games console, but Sony is forcing them to pay twice the price of their rivals for stuff that most of them don't want.

    I don't have an HDTV so blu-ray and HDMI are completely useless for me, and I also very rarely play games online. If I buy a PS3 I'm being forced to pay £200 extra for things I either don't want or can't use.

    At least with the 360 you can just buy the console without being forced into buying online or the HD DVD drive.

    By the way, I'm in the majority. Most people don't play online and most people don't have HDTVs. That will probably change in the future, but it's likely that most people still won't have HDTVs by the time the PS3 is being replaced by the PS4 in five years time.
    Edited by 3 at 25/03/07 @ 14:46

  • JonFE #30 5 years ago

    "And since we are talking of backward compatibility, I heard PS3 already has 1000+ (and likely to grow)."

    So, I take it, you are not actually bothered that PS3 owners over the Atlantic or in Japan currently have 98% success on backwards compatibility, while Europeans have to settle for 1000+ games, many of which with noticable issues?

    Answer on a postcard please...

  • numptyboymatt #31 5 years ago

    @ chupachups

    I agree with what you are saying - I DO have a hdtv and I DO play online, but I know most people dont and fully appreciate that not everyone can afford to or wants to - I still get really annoyed that it is assumed that everyone nowadays MUST have access to the internet, especially as far as the whole downloadable content and online updates/patches are concerned. In view of this, I am also adverse to the concept of paying for things included in the package that you dont want or cant use.

    I have a 360 and an HDDVD drive and at the moment, there is nothing on the PS3 that interests me games-wise (apart from maybe Resistance, but then I still have a FEAR and Rainbow Six yet to play on my 360 so I will wade my way through those first) and none of the movies I watch are likely to come out on Blue-Ray for a looooong time (if ever) so I have no immediate need for one.

    I was in my local GAME today, and had a quick browse over the PS3 games and within about 10 seconds a member of staff came running over trying to sell me one. They blatantly had several consoles left in stock as they were piled up behind the counter.

    Also, we have a "sony centre" in our town, and it was shut today, which I thought was a bit odd 2 days after the PS3 launch, and there was no mention or advertisement for it of any kind in their window. VERY odd situation in my opinion.