What's to be gained when you cheat against other players in Pro Evoution Soccer 2008 (PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, DS)? A lot, apparently. There's cash, bragging rights, and other sick pleasures to boot. Fortunately, Konami Digital Entertainment and Play.com are doing something to keep the rats off online matches. Read all about it in the full article up next.

Konami, one of the more prominent names in the video game industry, has released its financial reports for the nine month period from April to December of last year. They report the strong success of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 as well as the Metal Gear series. More in the full article.

Soccer fans, be confused no more: Konami decided to unify the Winning Eleven series under a single, consistent name - at least in the Western front. The company has confirmed that the title for Winning Eleven Soccer for US fans will now stay similar to the European version, Pro Evolution Soccer. If Konami were to keep the name for one more year, it's latest title would have been Winning Eleven Soccer 11. More at the full story.

Media Create has posted the Japan Software sales from January 21 to 27. Like the previous report, Wii Fit has hit the top of the list while Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (known as Winning Eleven: Ubiquitos Evolution 2008 in Japan) for the PSP and Lucky * Star [DX Pack] for the PlayStation 2 have taken second and third place respectively.

Check out the top ten list for yourself in the full article.

Who would've thought that Michael Owen would still look his best on the handheld versions of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, DS).

Fans who are expecting to see him and their other favorite club players won't have much longer to wait as the premiere soccer sim from Konami is set to kick off early next year for the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS handhelds. Read more about the details of the game after the jump!

Konami has put up a new website for the PSP version of the Winning Eleven series, called Winning Eleven: Ubiquitous Evolution 2008 or Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, as it is otherwise known in the UK. While the site is currently pretty sparse, there is one good thing coming out of the website right now, and that's a release date for the Winning Eleven: UE 2008.

The Japanese release date after the jump!

Konami's general manager Pete Stone congratulates the UK major retailers for staying true to their word, and not selling copies of Konami's hot Pro Soccer Evolution 2008 (for the PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, and PC) before its official October 26 launch date, even when some other retailers broke the street date.

Stone also recalled some cases of games being sold days before the launch date, saying that Konami does not condone the act, and that it creates damaging anarchy in the market.

 

The results are in for ChartTrack's top games in the UK All Format category for the week ending October 27, and it is a favorable one for soccer games for all platforms.

As expected the latest title under Konami's hit soccer franchise, Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, and PS2) is topping the charts. Quite remarkable for a game that was released only last October 26. The former chart topper Football Manager 2008 by Sega for the PC and Mac OS X is now sitting on third place, while EA's FIFA 08 (for the PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, DS, PSP, Wii, PC) is still holding on to its second placer spot from the previous week, after getting kicked unceremoniously by Football Manager 2008 on the week ending October 6.

As for games from other genres, Nintendo's hit portable adventure The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is also not moving from its fourth spot since last weeks's charts. Bungie Studios' Halo 3 is still riding the waves of its popularity (though a bit subdued), and is now occupying the 8th spot in the current charts.

Here's the list of the top ten games that made it in ChartTrack's All Format category for the week ending October 27:

1. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami)
2. FIFA 08 (EA)
3. Football Manager 2008 (Sega)
4. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo)
5. Ratatouille (THQ)
6. The Orange Box (EA)
7. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Nintendo)
8. Halo 3 (Microsoft)
9. High School Musical: Makin' The Cut! (Disney Interactive Studios)
10. Crash of the Titans (Vivendi Games)

Finally we get something to ogle at. Screenshots for Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 for the PSP. [cue screams of glee from the Michael Owen fangirls]. Lucky for them, this screenshot update features none other than one of Konami's cover boys for the game: Michael Owen himself. Lucky for the rest of us, the screens paint us a pretty picture of what we can expect in the game. The graphics look great, that's for sure.

The game gets released in Europe on November (along with its DS version). Meanwhile the console versions (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PC) arrive earlier, on the 26th of this month. It couldn't come at a better time for Europe too.

Considering that EA's FIFA 08 just bumped Halo 3 out of the top spot this week, some of you have deduced that Europeans do love their football soccer indeed. Could PES 2008 make a dent on FIFA's sales? We'll see. But in the meantime... Michael Owen, if you please.

 

More screenshots behind the Full Article link!

  

Heads up soccer fans, Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 is flying into stores in Europe on October 26 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, PS2 and mobile phones. The handheld versions for the PSP and Nintendo DS will be arriving on November.

The game features an all new adaptive AI called Teamvision. The AI constantly adapts to the gamer's style of play, building new ways to attack and counter and to learn from past mistakes. Konami president Kunio Eno made the announcement, expressing his own enthusiasm for the game saying:

[I reckon it's] the greatest football game of all time. Demand is massive for what is easily the best Pro Evolution Soccer title to date, and we anticipate record sales as we bring the series to PlayStation 3 for the first time, and unleash stunning versions for all leading formats.