PES 2008 officially announced

Hot on the heels of the announcement that football game series FIFA would be kicking off again this autumn, Konami has announced that Pro Evolution Soccer will also be shooting into stores once more later in the year.

The latest game in the series, Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, will be coming to the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and the DS--although noticeably not the Wii.

New for this edition of PES is a new proprietary adaptive artificial intelligence system called Teamvision, which promises to learn and adapt according to the individual gamer's style of play, and build defence strategies in reaction.

A number of improvements have been made to the latest incarnation of the game, most notably an extensive Edit mode for all next-gen versions, more control while dribbling the ball, and high-definition detail including full facial animation. One of the major criticisms of the previous incarnation of PES on the Xbox 360 was that gamers had only minimal editing options, which only served to emphasise the lack of official licences in the game.

Konami said in a statement about the new game, "[Teamvision AI] will learn new ways to build attacks and to counter specific movements and previous attacking or defensive errors, ensuring games are more in line with the tactical but flowing nature of the real thing."

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 is due for release in autumn, the same time period as FIFA 08 is currently slated to ship.