What better way to escape the mundane routine of clan life than to sit and play one of the most popular sports series created. When the pressures become too much in any of the FPS action games available, why not turn to the entertainment of playing a game that grips the average sports enthusiast. However, for the last few years, football fans have been graced with the choice of which light-hearted game to retreat to. The battle between Pro Evolution Soccer and Fifa has gripped players all over the world as Konami and EA Sports provide new features and stunning graphics every year in order to overtake the other as the leading branch.

This battle for supremacy has not always been and it was not until Pro Evo 3 that the series began to attract a large audience. Before this time, Fifa was the dominant choice for most and EA never really had any strong competition to take their throne as No.1. The history of Fifa originates back to Fifa 94, but it was four years later that the saga took off. 'Fifa 98, road to world cup' gave the user the chance to take control of pretty much any National team in the world and guide them through some perilous qualification rounds in order to arrive in France for the world cup. Winning the trophy became the next step and seven straight wins in the worlds supreme tournament would bring the cup home. Fifa 98 was instantly recognised as one of the all time greats for that era and because of its advancements in the sports game world has become one of the most successful in that genre.

EA Sports continued to launch a new game each year and introduced new aspects of play into every release. Fifa 99, 00, 01 and 02 continued the trend of fast paced, tactically-aware football and even brought in new leagues and formats for the gamer to compete in. The Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Die Bundesliga became the most popular features where gamers could compete with the best of Europe and win every trophy they can lay their hands on, from the league title, to the prestigious European Champions league. Later releases added extra leagues such as the MLS giving a much more varied approach to consider playing.

It was on the 9th instalment of Fifa that Pro Evo really came into the action. With Japan's influence in the gaming world already with games such as Tekkan drawing in a huge audience it wouldn't be long until they spread their power further to cause a stir in the sports genre and with the country sharing the 2002 football world cup with Korea in the 'real world,' sports fans began to associate Japan with an up and coming decent football team. Pro Evo 3 hit the stores in 2003 and with its cheap price compared to the Fifa releases, it had already hit a certain audience market. However, this factor alone would not make Pro Evo into a genuine contender to overthrow Fifa. The previous year 'Fifa 03' was a huge success. With its state of the art graphics and gameplay, it took a significant leap forward from the '02' version.

So, we arrive at the turning point in modern sports gaming as we know it. Fifa's previous launch became a phenomenon and everyone expected the latest arrival, Fifa 04 to be even better. Infact, most, if not all, were bitterly disappointed with the outcome EA Sports had delivered. The game itself had no improvements and some even suggested it was weaker than its predecessor. Although a lot of 'hardcore' Fifa fans stayed loyal, playing the game in its own right, many began to look for a new challenge. Now, Pro Evo had been around for many years but under a different name, 'Winning eleven.' Known as this name in Asia, but European manufactures changed its name to Pro Evolution soccer. It was always overshadowed by Fifa and to some extent 'This is football.'

Gamers started to acclimatise themselves to the PS2 and its great new features, but most importantly its superb graphics in relation to the PS1. Pro evolution 3 provided intense, faster paced gameplay that Fifa 04 offered and the games began to accumulate a fan base. The main difference to behold in Pro Evo was its brand new, never before used competition mode known as 'The Master League.' Taking charge of a team of unknown players such as 'Barota', 'Miranda' and 'Castalo,' the gamer must earn promotion to the higher tier division, Division 1. The task from here, was to ascertain a top six finish in the league in order to enter the WEFA Championships, where your team is pitted against the best from the other leagues, parallel with the one you currently compete in. This new format added a new dimension to gaming and gave sports-game fans a chance to escape the norm of 'The Premier League.'

The biggest drawback for many was Konami's failure to gain licensing for the team names and players. When playing the game, names such as 'Merseyside Red' instead of 'Liverpool FC and 'North London' instead of Arsenal are typical examples of Pro Evo's failure. However, even with this huge blow to the Konami production, it was made up for with cracking graphics. Some of the players faces had a lot to be desired, but from the normal camera position, it was a much better viewing than the latest Fifa game had given its fans. At last, a game had rivalled EA Sports in the footballing market and given audiences a choice i what to play. Of course the Fifa fan base was still far greater, but each year Pro Evo closed the gap until 'Pro Evo 05' was released and the tide began to change.

EA released the same type games year in, year out and hardly improved on any of the features they had to offer. Konami on the other hand used their growing fan base to advantage and produced more breathtaking advancements with every instalment. More and more licensing became available and like EA, Konami began to create the individual National leagues to give the players more of a choice, as well as keeping the much acclaimed Master League. Another aspect attracting more crowd into the Pro Evo side, was the simple fact that the games brought a greater sense of realism. In Fifa, scoring long range drives was a simple task, or dribbling the ball past half the opposing team just by sprinting in a straight line became a major flaw for the versions it was pumping into the market. Pro Evo brought a sense of team play where players had to vary between quick passing and long balls even create a scoring opportunity.

Essentially the main factor for the change in super-power was that Pro Evo Soccer gave something new to the player each year, raising the bar of expectancy from the audience and leaving in its wake a trail of unhappy Fifa players. The trend continued thus forth for the next two years and although many Fifa fans did stay loyal to EA, many more joined the Pro Evo community each year. As the latest Fifa game is always released a few weeks beforehand, it became known that, players would buy Fifa, play for a few weeks, then use it as a trading card for Pro Evo. EA Sports loss of fans had to cause a ripple effect throughout EA in general and eventually, the issue had to be addressed as to how they would compete as the best football producing game manufacture once again.

This brings us to present day 2007. Just over a month ago, Fifa launched '08' and a few weeks later, PES08 also hit the market. The first key difference to the Fifa game was the difficulty scoring was on medium difficulty. Had EA finally produced something worth playing? The graphics were stunning, a vast improvement on the '07' release and looked even better on the new and fantastic PS3. Gameplay was, how can it be said, almost lifelike. The elegance in which players control, flick and pass the ball was superb to watch and playing the game was as enjoyable as any Pro Evo game to date. So, what would the guys back at Konami produce? Another master class production was expected and many anticipated the new game. The hype surrounding the game was massive and surely unquestionably so. But...unfortunately the game itself failed miserably in meeting the expectations of the audience. Perhaps because there was so much hype, fans expected more than usual, or perhaps the simple fact that Konami had taken the last Pro Evo and repackaged it into a new snazzy box. Flaws began to unfold, like the goalkeeper deflecting a shot into the on-coming attacker...every time.

Pro Evo had lost its edge in the sports market. Simple as that. Fifa enthusiasts began to ridicule the latest production of it, realising that Fifa had produced a far better game, improving tremendously on the previous release. Once again, even if only slightly EA had asserted their dominance on the gaming world. i32 saw another successful Fifa tournament and although a lesser event, still attracted audiences. Its slick graphics make use of the powerful PS3 whereas Pro Evo appears to have exactly the same standard of graphics - apart from perhaps tweaking some of the well-known players faces.

Fifa's rise to power has been clear over its fourteen year lifespan, from the Sega master-system, PS1, 2 and 3. Even though between the year of 2004 and 2007, Pro Evo Soccer had become a strong enough challenger to overthrow Fifa's dominance, EA hit back with an all time best. The future battle between these two superpowers has yet to be seen, but all fans of both games will hope that the two organisation will do their upmost to out-do the other, creating some superb footballing games; even if it is just to pass the time.

Too bad there wont be any new releases to play while Euro 2008 is on TV.

Next week: Championship Manager vs Football manager - oh wait, they originated from the same company, who then had an argument and split, with Football manager taking the best of the bunch and leaving CM a hopeless wreck. No contest there then...