New games: Mega Man 9 and PES 2009 demo
I downloaded a couple of demos on Xbox 360 today; Mega Man 9 and PES 2009. Mega Man 9 is everything I hoped it'd be so I bought immediately; very hard but fantastic retro action. PES 2009 on the other hand has left me disapointed so far. I've only played two games but I don't notice much of an improvement from PES 2008. I'll almost certainly buy it (unless the FIFA 2009 demo is amazing), but I'll probably hold out for a couple of days past release date to see if they've finally sorted out online. I bet they haven't.
The game is a cash cow to Konami now; they're throwing fewer resources at it as they know it'll sell regardless. I hope FIFA spanks PES in sales figures this year in order to force Konami to take the series more seriously. None of the 3 "next-gen" versions so far can be described as taking the series further than the PS2 games. In fact, PES 6 on the PS2 is still my favourite version of the game; they had the feel and speed of that game spot on. So far, each of the 360 versions have felt "clunky" when it comes down to the controls and speed of the game.
Maybe the PS3 version plays better. Maybe the full version on 360 plays better. Maybe I should stop typing as I'll buy it anyway in order to prevent cisnky scraping victories against me with the 4th best team in England. I do hope that it's a grower regardless, as otherwise Konami should be ashamed.
P.S. The music tracks on the demo seem even worse than PES 2008, which is quite an achievement.