Pro Evolution Soccer 3 announced

Konami of Europe has today announced that it will release Pro Evolution Soccer 3 in Europe in November. The game, which is currently in development at the Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo studio, is the sequel to Pro Evolution Soccer 2, which was released in North America as Winning Eleven 6 International back in March.

According to today's press release, Pro Evolution Soccer 3 will improve upon its predecessor in a number of ways, not the least of which will be options to select referees, switch player fatigue on or off, and to play matches as a single player on the field rather than switching from player to player as the position of the ball dictates. New features will also include a four-division version of the popular Master League mode and a brand-new "shop," where points accumulated in the game's training and exhibition modes can be spent on new stadiums, crowd effects, teams, players, strategies, and hair styles.

All of the players in Pro Evolution Soccer 3 will more closely resemble their real-life counterparts than ever before, thanks to a new graphics engine, and they will even move more realistically since KCE TYO is renewing more than 80 percent of the in-game animations. Players will also have facial expressions that change depending on how the match is progressing and will have their limbs strapped or heads bandaged as any injuries they sustain dictate.

Even the crowds in the game are being improved, and in addition to the size of the crowd reflecting the popularity of the teams on the field at that time, spectators will dress differently according to the weather conditions in which the match is being played. Other improvements mentioned in today's press release include referees being able to play the advantage in foul situations, better player AI, and more-realistic ball physics.

Expect the first screenshots of Pro Evolution Soccer 3 tomorrow and a hands-on report on the game from the PlayStation Experience event in London next month.