Jon opens our intimate Pro Evolution 2011 chat by explaining that the preview build available for public play during Gamescom has already been superseded by a new and superior version. With some audible disappointment he notes that just fell short of getting the newer build ready in time to hit the show floor.

Jon Murphy: The differences between the [current] preview build and the version I got this week on Monday are quite extreme actually, they've done a lot of work since the previous version. And it answers a lot of the questions that fans have had - the code I have now demonstrates that.

From our perspective - having put the excellent Gamescom build through its paces - if the latter version is really so far advanced, Pro Evolution fans can look forward to some truly great in the very near future.

We keep hearing that 'enhanced power bar integration' and 'total control' and 'scaled-back AI' are integral to this year's PES, should gamers be intimidated by 2011?

It depends. If you've played PES then no, because you will get the hang of it. It kind of returns you to a feeling of PES where you do need to do a certain amount of relearning. As a non-PES player, then maybe you should [be intimidated], because it's not easy and we're not pulling any punches.

We want it to be more down to skill, we don't want somebody who's really good at the game to be beaten by someone who's just picked up the joypad. We want there to be a big difference between learning to play the game and coming into it fresh. Players should be daunted a little bit but shouldn't worry too much if they understand the basics of PES.

You'll be quite regularly putting balls in the wrong place to start with, but you'll soon get the hang of it. What will then happen is you'll find your concentration will go during games and you'll make howling errors... which will really cost you dear. But, you know, that's a good thing. It may be mentally hard playing 10 games in a row, but you want challenge and, personally speaking, I don't think it could get hard enough for the fans.

When it comes to recent PES editions and the rise of a certain rival football franchise, would it be fair to say Konami has been guilty of resting on its laurels?

Yes, I think that's fair. It may be that we became quite pompous about the fact that we quite easily had the best gameplay and no one was going to touch us - and now we've had our arses burned, there's no secret in that.

With PES 2010, we started to decide on big that would change and we started to get a feeling of how the team were now going to treat the product. But I think 2011 is the first time we've seen [instances of] 'right, that has got to be immediately and utterly changed,' like in the case of the animation system, for example.

These aren't just small changes. I mean, literally 90 percent of the animation was thrown out and we started again. They're big things to do, and it takes quite a lot of balls to uproot the game to that level, but we've hit the point where we've got to do those sorts of things.

It's been difficult for the team, because it's a taken a 'leap of faith' for them to have reacted like that. You know, it's risky. Their feeling is that the bigger the change they make, the bigger the risk of breaking the game.

But wouldn't you agree that it's riskier to make such changes when you're leading the genre, and perhaps less risky when you're chasing?

Yeah, actually that's what we're seeing at the moment. I think it's fair to say that have got their engine to a point they're happy with, but so far I haven't seen them announcing any big changes [for 11].

Do you feel that this is the first PES in quite a while that has a real buzz building around it?

To a certain extent, yes. I think there's been buzz before around PES but it's often got to the point where we haven't shown enough [ongoing content] and that buzz has died down. But I think this is the first year where we have a buzz around the game that we've sustained.

It's so important now that we prove to the fans that we are doing what we're saying, in the way that we're saying it, and it is making that big of a difference.

It's perhaps difficult for people to put 100 percent of their trust back in the PES team to sort things out, but, touch wood, they have stuck with us. And, I think when you receive review code, you'll see that we have continued the process right to the end [and that] we really have been frank and honest about what we can achieve this year.