Pro Evolution Soccer 6

Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (also known as Winning Eleven 10 and Winning Eleven X for Xbox 360 in Japan, Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 in the United States) is one of Konami's highly successful Pro Evolution Soccer franchise. Released on 27 October 2006 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and PC platforms and following on the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable on 1 December 2006, Pro Evolution Soccer 6 is the 6th edition of the series for the PlayStation 2, 2nd for the PlayStation Portable and 4th for PC. This year features Pro Evolution Soccer 6 making its debut on the Nintendo DS and the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 version features improved graphics, but retains gameplay similar to the other console versions. The edit mode has been stripped down for the Xbox 360 release, due to time restrictions. The graphics engine on the PC does not utilise the next-gen 360 engine but will again be a direct conversion of the PlayStation 2 engine.

A Bundesliga license was supposed to be a feature of the game but Konami were forced to remove the Bundesliga license, which means the Bundesliga is not present in PES6, not even as a series of unlicensed teams, with the exception of FC Bayern Munich who were fully licensed with the omission of their shirt sponsor T-Home.

International Challenge Mode
PES6 marks the first time the International Challenge Mode has been included on the PES Series. Usually this is seen on the Japanese version - Winning Eleven - where you play as Japan and take them through the qualifiers to the International Cup and then attempt to win it. On PES, however, you have the ability to choose any playable nation on the game. The user can only play the qualifiers from Europe, South America, and North/Central America. Although the tournament is not licensed, the qualifiers have a lot of similarities to the FIFA World Cup qualification process: Team selection can be changed before each game and the player can choose from any player with the eligible nationality.
 * A cross-playoff is used between a South American team and an Oceanian team, and a North American team plays an Asian team.
 * There is the same number of qualifiers on the game from each region as there is in the real World Cup. e.g., 14 qualify from Europe.
 * The qualifiers from South America are the same - 10 teams play each other twice with the top 4 qualifying and 5th place entering the cross-playoff.
 * The qualifiers from North America are the same - 6 teams play each other twice with the top 3 qualifying and 4th place entering the cross-playoff.

It should be noted that there are many more unlicensed national teams available in International Challenge Mode featuring full squads. Still those teams can not be selected to be used in International Challenge or any other game mode. These teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Israel, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, Jamaica, Bolivia, Venezuela, China, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, North Korea, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain. The International Challenge mode is only available in the PlayStation 2 and PC versions of PES6. The Xbox 360 and PSP versions do not include this mode.

Random Selection Match
Also new to PES6 is the Random Selection Match. In this mode, the user can pick either four clubs/nations or one region/league. Once selected, the computer picks a random selection of players from the teams or region for the player's squad. The lineup is selected automatically, although players can choose to let the computer to pick another random selection. This was not included in the Xbox 360 version, presumably because of time restrictions.

PES shop

 * Players are available as always, but there have been many more added (all unlicensed, but based on real players). It's not only retired "legendary players" that can be bought, although Kerlon and Freddy Adu, who are still active, are both available.
 * Costumes can be bought. The Ostrich and Raptor costumes have the players riding them. The Penguin costume has the player in a penguin suit. When riding the raptors, they shoot, header, control, pass and do all the hard work, but their shooting ability is much less than a normal player.
 * Gameplay frames, new hairstyles, new goal celebrations, and new stadiums are other new features available in the PES Shop.
 * The PES Shop is present on all versions of the game, with the exception of the Xbox 360 version

Network
Groups have been introduced on the PES Network. A player can join/create a group that can gain points by playing together. Groups can play each other in rival matches. If a player creates a group, they manage who's in and who's out, the team name, and who else can allow others to join and matches. A player can join a group by applying to join or accepting an invitation from another player. If the leader accepts, they are in the group. Only ten are allowed in one group at first, but there can potentially be 30 in a group at one time. Groups can reach levels with the highest level to progress to is Level 14. When you achieve higher levels, you will unlock different costumes (penguin, dinosaur, and ostrich) and classic national teams. Also, you can achieve extra member spaces in your group when you go up in level.

The Network capabilities have since been relinquished.

Emulated Servers
If a user is playing via a PC they must now edit their "hostfile" in order to join an emulated server of which there are currently three:

1: www.PES6J.net, The fastest of all three emulated PES6 servers, and the one with the largest userbase of 45,000 players (As of May 2010). This site and server are run by a player of the name Elpinfi, and the staff/workers which can include unpaid moderators consist entirely of other PES6 players. The staff number is small as the workers have little real life responsibilities as they are made up of mostly adolescents.

2: www.Goalservers.com, The first ever PES6 emulated server can be found here, as of May 2010 Goalservers had only 100 active members. The community is run by three men: RedDwarf, Matiaz and Masterz and boasts the most development month by month.

3: www.PES6.org, the soon to be re-released PES6 emulated server. Based on Goalserver 2.0 technology, this site now promises a full ladder system to complement the server. This site is run by Enda_of_Eire, the overall emulated server communitie's number one player, which he accrued when he defeated the number one player of www.PES6J.net "Lancaster_X" 4-0 after which he retired from the PES6 battle scene. Due to his unique position as the Number One PES6 Player in the World - (NOPPW Title) www.PES6.org's userbase may be considerably large from an early date after its re-release.

There is some debate among the community as to whether these Emulated servers are of an Illegal state. The developers of the two main server technologies both claim to have wrote their software from scratch and not edit any part of the original PES6 game files thus exempting them from any Liabilities.

Users on the PlayStation 2 platform can also play on the PC emulated servers, but this required an open PS2 (non-official firmware), and the means to copy their game disk to PC as an ISO, edit via a hex editor the values of the server IP (pes6gate-ec.winning-eleven.net) and the PES6 stun server address (we9stun.winning-eleven.net). The player must then burn the edited ISO to disk. All of this may however be Illegal to actually perform depending on ones country so this article will not go into depth explaining the HEX editing part or any part.

Features missing in the Xbox 360 version

 * Ability to edit team names
 * Ability to edit kits
 * Ability to edit player appearances
 * Ability to edit boots
 * Ability to create players
 * Ability to rename leagues
 * Ability to move club play
 * Ability to assign national team players
 * Random Selection Match
 * International Challenge Mode
 * Reduced Number of Stadiums
 * Other training modes removed
 * PES Shop
 * Replay Save feature, despite being listed in the game's manual as being assigned to X button
 * Online co-operative play
 * Snow weather condition removed
 * Match Analysis removed
 * Classic players

Features missing in the PSP version

 * Ability to edit kits
 * Some PES Shop items
 * A selection of gameplay frames
 * A selection of referees
 * 35 stadiums (the only stadium which was left is the Blautraum Stadion (Schüco Arena))
 * International Challenge Mode
 * Random Selection Match
 * No separate leagues in the Master League - only three divisions
 * The ability to edit team positions in the Master League
 * Match Analysis removed
 * Most camera angles. (Only the three "normal' angles and the "wide" angle remain)
 * Replays of highlights showed after the match has finished
 * Player development in the Master League

Features missing in the Nintendo DS version
Features are as PSP version except:
 * Only 16 team International Cup (not 32)
 * No master league
 * Less club teams
 * Unable to save replays

Features added in the Nintendo DS version

 * World Tour

The PS2 version has no features missing.

Critical response
In 2006, Pro Evolution Soccer 6 got a perfect 10/10 score in the Official PlayStation 2 Magazine UK, which beat FIFA 07 (9/10 in the same magazine). However, the PSP version of the game ranked beneath the FIFA 07 PSP version due to slow loading times and an incomplete editor. Hyper's Eliot Fish commends the game for its "tighter dribbling [and] refined Master League" but criticises it for its commentary.