PES 2011 announced, detailed

Konami has announced that PES 2011 will be released for PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii and Xbox 360 this autumn and promised "the most radical revamp in its history".

Yeah yeah, they always say that, but to be fair the press release is packed with things that sound like substantive changes to the developer's approach.

For a start, the game has all-new animations - over 1000 of them - developed from over 100 hours of motion capture.

It also sounds harder and more simulation-orientated than its immediate predecessors, which had started to drift into the FIFA series' slipstream.

Plus Konami is introducing Master League Online, changing team management options, and has come up with a new commentary recording process.

The difficulty has been increased, and you won't be able to rely on the AI of team-mates as much as before - passes will not automatically go to the nearest player, and you will need to react manually to threats.

New AI routines mean defenders will hold their shape better, and it will be harder to break them down thanks to tougher dribbling and close control. Konami suggested clever runs and passing triangles would be very important.

Individual players will have their own power bar to define exact strength and placement of passes and shots. They will also have shot and stamina meters to measure levels of fitness, and by the sound of it performance will drop off more than ever if you simply tape down the sprint button.

The pace of the game has been rethought, with Konami promising a "more considered pace of play, which varies dependent on situations", coming to life on the counter-attack, for example.

On the control front, it should be closer to 360 degrees of movement and distribution than ever. "Balls can now be spread absolutely anywhere with utter precision," said the press release, "with long balls into space, short passes to feet and intricate one-twos allowing the player to dictate play and control the tempo of a match."

It will also be possible to re-map your favourite feints and turns to specific controls, rather than having to learn a complicated language of tricks to call upon in the heat of the moment.

On the team management front, there will be some sort of drag-and-drop mechanism for looking after your charges across squad management and elsewhere.

There isn't much more detail about Master League Online beyond it being the Master League mode with an online element: Konami said it will have "players bidding against each other for the world's best players, and attempting to build a squad that can compete with the best against online peers all over the globe".

"We've continued to work closely with the fans to pinpoint what it is about football that PES didn't do," European PES Team Leader Jon Murphy said. "Total freedom was the priority and all-new animation a must."

Other details include reworked refs and goalies (visually and otherwise), Lionel Messi on the cover and motion blur during replays. Ace.

Check out the announcement trailer below and look out for more on the game very soon...