Konami offer the possibility to download the new England kit for Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 on the day of the England kit launch on 28 March.
At the same time as England’s eleven step out to take on Slovakia at wembley, you'll be able to kit out your virtual England team in Umbro's new threads on PS3, Xbox 360 or PC via an official download.
“Konami is extremely proud of its status as the official video game of the England team, and this download showcases the strength of our relationship with The FA and Umbro,” commented Jon Murphy, PES Team Leader for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH.“Our Japanese team has been working closely with both parties to ensure the innovative new kit is faithfully recreated in the game, and we are delighted to be able to offer it as a free download to our millions of fans on the day it is revealed for the first time.”
“The FA is delighted to be working with Konami and Umbro to deliver fans of the England team the new strip in an inventive manner,” said Sean McAuliffe, Head of Business Development at The FA.“This further demonstrates our ability to leverage our commercial relationships in creative and engaging ways.”
“We are extremely excited to be working with Konami on this project and being the first to launch a new kit download during the season in PES 2009,” added Tim Parkinson, Umbro Chief Marketing Officer.“Umbro has a rich heritage in football and innovation has always been at the heart of the brand. The exclusive download with Konami is just another innovative step for Umbro. This and the ongoing relationship with Konami presented an opportunity to do something radically different around the launch of the kit.”
Fans of the series often make "option files" which modify all player names into those of their real life counterparts, as well as including transfers from the latest transfer window and, occasionally, altered stats of more obscure players whose in-game attributes do not precisely replicate their real life skills.
More experienced gamers often use "patches", editing the actual game code and modifying the graphical content to include accurate kits for unlicensed teams, new stadiums, and footballs from Nike, Puma, Umbro, etc, as well as more Adidas balls.
Most patches also contain licensed referee kits from FIFA and the official logos of the various European leagues. Since these patches are technically a breach of copyright, and are often sold illegally in territories in the Middle East and Asia, Konami have become less tolerant of this kind of fan editing in recent years, and now encrypt the data pertaining to kits and player statistics in each new release. However, fan communities invariably find ways to crack this encryption, and patches still appear once this has been achieved.
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