If you have decided on staying loyal to Pro Evolution Soccer this year, you’ll be pleased to hear that Konami has now slapped a September 21st release date on the game. FIFA 13 will arrive one week later on September 28 and it could be a crucial week for both companies as gamers make the big decision on which game they think will be the best football game for this year and until the end of the season in 2013 as well.

FIFA has obviously taken that mantle in the past few years with FIFA 12 and FIFA 11, but there are some whispers emerging that Konami has significantly closed the gap this year with PES 2013. Don’t forget that there is a FIFA 13 demo releasing on September 11 that will give you an important personal preview of the game, while Konami has already released not one, but two playable tasters of the game on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace.

It’s ironic that the two covers of each respective game feature the two biggest stars in world football, Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid and Lionel Messi of Barcelona – with both of them frequently a big talking point on which player is better.

If you have played FIFA 12, you are probably going to just pick up FIFA 13 without a second thought, but for the neutral player who is buying a football game this year for the first time – does the cover star come into your thought process or not?

Let us know if PES 2013 releasing one week ahead of FIFA 13 changes your decision in which game you are picking up this year. Check out an awesome FIFA 13 skills video here.

We told you at the end of last month, that the first PES demo had arrived on Xbox 360 and PS3. However, some of you may have been disappointed with the lack of Premiership teams on show, as the demo only included countries and Brazilian teams and not some of your well known favorites that were included on previous PES demos.

Konami is putting things right though with their second demo, as they’ve announced that 11 fully licensed teams will feature in the demo and although they haven’t mentioned which ones are coming, we’re guessing that one or two Premiership teams will now be available for preview at last.

The new demo will also include some gameplay improvements as well, as Konami has said that pass targeting, trajectory, shot speed, blocking actions and referee AI have all been enhanced from the first demo. If you’re interested in picking this up, it will be available to download for the Xbox 360 and PS3 on August 28th.

Unfortunately, PC owners are going to have to wait a little while longer as Konami couldn’t give a specific date yet, only revealing that it will be out sometime in September. Are you still deciding which game to pick up between the two? If so, tell us what teams you would like to see in the second demo.

The PES 2013 demo is already available for download on the Xbox 360 and PC via their respective stores, but now PS3 owners will be pleased to see that the demo is available for them as well. Depending on where you are located, the PlayStation Store update should be live now, meaning you can grab it from the store and start playing.

Unlike previous years though, there will be no UK or big European club teams to choose from. The demo instead offers countries this time around and rather bizarrely, a selection of Brazil’s finest club teams. The countries available in the demo include England, their Euro 2012 conquerors Italy, Germany and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal side.

The demo also contains a Copa Libertadores mode where you’ll find the Santos FC, SC International, Fluminense and Flamengo teams up for selection. This should interest a few hardcore fans out there as Brazilian wonder kid Neymar plays for Santos, so you can see what his stats are like in the demo before you pick up the full game.

Are you a bit surprised that the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Man Utd or Chelsea are not in this demo? Let us know if you have already tried it out on other platforms and are willing to pick the game up ahead of FIFA 13 this year. Somehow we have a feeling that FIFA is going to come out on top again.

In an exciting revelation, Konami has announced that future Pro Evolution Soccer games will be on next-generation consoles and to show that they mean business, they are going to develop them on the Fox Engine. This engine if you are not aware has been designed by Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima and his production team, and it’s also an engine that is being built specifically for the use of next-generation games.

PES 2014 on the likes of the PS4 and Xbox 720 is obviously an exciting prospect, but Konami still has the little matter of trying to take back their mantle from FIFA, which many will agree has produced the better football games over the last couple of years.

Konami has even had some words to say on that battle, as PES 2013 senior producer Naoya Hatsumi is confident that the switch over to PES on next-gen consoles could be the moment when fans start to fall in love with the franchise again. When speaking to Eurogamer recently he said:

“What we are trying to do is we are going to win back the crown when it comes to the next generation. That’s what we want to do, and to do this we need to have a new engine. That’s what we think.”

Moving away from next-gen talk though, we also have some fantastic news for Vita owners. Konami has also confirmed that a Vita version of PES is currently in development, but a release may not happen in time for when PES 2013 comes out on console. With an excellent FIFA game already out on Vita though, it will be interesting to see if Konami can top that with an effort of their own. FIFA Soccer on Vita essentially plays just like the console version so Konami has their work cut out.

What are your thoughts on the current state of PES? Is the fact that Konami are using the Fox Engine on the next-gen PES game reason to be optimistic about the series’ future, or do you still think they have a long way to go if they are going to win fans over who are currently hooked to FIFA?

Football nuts should know that Ronaldo was also the face of PES 2012 and he’s back once again as the main man promoting the new game. Konami has released a fairly impressive debut trailer for the new game, wasting no time in promising that the game has ‘returned to its roots’ – ie, the franchise that once walked all over FIFA.

The roles have well and truly been reversed now though and it’s EA’s FIFA games that everyone rushes to buy in the Autumn. Along with the trailer, Konami has also revealed some new game features, one of which is a brand new AI system called ProActive AI. Another main feature which Konami are bigging up is ‘PES FullControl’, with a heavy emphasis on a players first touch since he or she will now be able to perform a variety of moves when the ball first comes to you.

As for the trailer itself, it basically just features a lot of Ronaldo just running around, with Konami opting to keep it restricted to just cutscenes for the time being. We would have liked to see some actual gameplay, but we’re guessing that this may come at E3 2012 instead. The graphics quality of the cutscenes shown though are pretty decent, although we have to say that they are nothing groundbreaking and certainly not on the level of anything ‘next-gen’.

If you are still getting this game no matter what, be sure to read through the initial list of features that Konami has announced over on the official PES 2013 website here. Watch the Ronaldo trailer below and let us know what you think of Konami’s new effort. Will FIFA 13 still wipe the floor with this game or not?