PES4 to debut at Game Stars, with Dutch teams?

Konami reportedly confirms a licence to use Dutch sides, and announces plans for Pro Evolution Soccer 4 to make its public playable debut at Game Stars Live.

News by Tom Bramwell Former Editor-in-Chief

Updated on 6 Jul 2004

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Konami has reportedly reached an agreement to include Dutch footballing sides in Winning Eleven 8, the Japanese sister series to Pro Evolution Soccer, from which we can infer that the recently-announced PES4 will most likely also include them.

Previous iterations had included fudged names and even numerical alternatives for Dutch players, which didn't help matters for fans - most of whom presumably couldn't be bothered to sift through editing everything. Whether this new agreement applies to players plying their trade outside the Netherlands however remains to be seen, but a list of licensed teams has already aired, and you can find that further down.

The publisher has also this morning confirmed that Pro Evolution Soccer 4 will make its predicted playable debut on September 1st as part of the London trade show season - and there will be a tournament structure to keep fans amused.

The time period is predictable, of course, but the venue perhaps less so; Konami is seemingly elbowing aside ECTS in favour of Game Stars Live, the public games exhibition going on at ExCeL in Docklands alongside new trade show the European Games Network.

There's currently no word on whether PES4 will appear at any of the other events, but then there's no reason for you to care about that particularly. You can get into Game Stars Live with a minimum of hassle; tickets are £10 in advance or £12 on the door, with more details available here.

And while you're there, you'll be able to marvel at the various new Dutch sides, including some or fewer of the members of the Dutch national side, which crashed ignominiously out of the European Championships this week to eventual runners-up Portugal. [We won more games than them, too. -Bitter English Ed]

Ah well. Here's the full line-up of reported Dutch newcomers...