Ronaldo's back for another stint on the cover

We’ll get to dissecting Pro Evolution Soccer 2013’s actual announcement in a moment, but first let’s deal with the gigantic elephant in the room. Despite launching on PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2, there will not be a Vita version of PES 2013. We suppose that could change as the game’s autumn release nears, but it’s not looking good is it.

What is looking good is the actual game. Konami’s aiming to return Pro Evolution Soccer back to its roots with 2013. Gameplay improvements include better ball control and dynamic first-touch passing and shooting. The speed of dribbling has been reduced, while a FIFA 12-esque jockeying system has been introduced. Other tweaks include improved goalkeepers and more realistic ball distributions.

European team leader John Murphy said:

This is an exciting time to be part of the PES community, and PES 2013 marks a new level of playability with the return to our key ethos of utter control and freedom.

Football is all about making magic happen with skill and precision, and PES 2013 truly encapsulates this. Fresh faces within the development team and some very exciting ideas will breathe new life into the PES series, and we look forward to showing what we can do in the coming months.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 will boast an improved AI system and PlayerID technology – the latter of which will focus on the individual characteristics of specific players.

There’s a debut trailer for the soccer sim embedded below. Does anyone still play PES? Obviously it was king of the genre in the PS2 days, but FIFA has gotten so good is hard to imagine how Konami can ever catch up.