I had the recent pleasure of getting my butt handed to me by our resident soccer expert, Justin Calvert (who, by the way, has been on an absolute footy tear of late, previewing World Tour Soccer 2006 and reviewing FIFA Street). In preparation for his review of the PC version of Winning Eleven 8, we tried a few online games via the office LAN where I was reminded of two things:

　　1) How bad I suck at soccer games.

　　2) How badly the WE series begs for decent online play.

　　As far as #1 goes, the game includes some great tutorials that will help you develop your in-game skills, and may teach you a few things about that other game of football in the process. In terms of online play, however, the WE series still has a long way to go. While the PC version does let you play against opponents from all over the world, there is no match-making built into the game--the only way to connect to another player is if you know his or her IP address. And while there are third-party programs out there to help you find matches online, the game tends to suffer from unacceptable lag.

　　Of course, WE8 isn't alone in its absence of online play. FIFA Street shipped without online play too. Yet what the WE series has that FIFA Street doesn't is a rabid fan base, one that has been clamoring for online play for as long as the game has been coming to America. Perhaps Konami will come to its senses for WE9.