Hattrick

No not the number of goals I scored playing 5's last night(scored much much more :-) ), but a online foootball management game I've been playing lately. It is a far cry from the detail of Football Manager but has it's own challenge. At a glance it does seem a bit simplisitc and lacking in depth but on the plus side it isn't time consuming at all and there is more to it than initially meets the eye. Although you need a bit of patience as to start with your team is shite to such a degree that even Paddy Kenny's Dunfermline could probably take them just now. Well maybe.

I'm just starting my second full season, still locked in the lowest tier of Scottish football and no realistic chance of promotion this season. Still things are ticking along nicely and depending on who gets relegated down into my division next season I might have a shot then.

The basis of the game involves signing young players and training them and selling them on to make money to build a more rounded team. You can only train in one skill area at a time, so if you choose to train playmaking then whoever you have in goals, up front and in defence won't get the benefit. Winning games is also helpful as it gets the fans interested and as more join you find the money starts to come in and allow you to go from strength to strength.

Well worth a look if you want to kill a few moments here and there at work or wherever.

I wanna play football soccer....

...football soccer the greatest game of all.

That is the main lyric of the cheesiest song I have ever heard in my life, it plays a lot in the menu screens of the latest Pro Evolution Soccer incarnation. I fear it may slowly drive me mad over the next 12 months, if anyone spots me singing it just shoot me no warnings it would be a mercy.

Anyone that knows me will know of my love of the Pro Evolution Soccer series of football games. I have been playing since it was International Superstar Soccer Pro on the original Playstation. I didn't buy the SNES versions which I believe were meant to be pretty good. Anyway PES 2008 is out and I've been play the X-Box 360 version with added glossy shiny next gen trimmings.

I have some reservations, yes initial impression is that the main game is true to the spirit of the series and that is one of the most important things. I'm still getting to grips with using a 360 controller over the PS2 one, but I can't help think it's a little rough around the edges. The much trumpeted improved AI I don't see many signs of yet, how it interprets some passing options is a bit shaky. Not dreadful, it is possibly just that one has to take even more care to things like your players body shape and what foot he is using than before and that when fully acclimatised to the new version these things will not happen. There is still a lot of promise and it is infinately better than the bodged 360 version of PES6 which I had the misfortune to even play at all.

Other less important but still annoying grips include the editing system, it is quite frankly poor. In theory the amount one can shape the players face should allow great flexibility but in reality I find a lot of the players just end up looking rather similar. In previous versions one could use this build face option or choose one of many different stocked images. It was fairly easy usually to find someone that looked a bit like who you were trying to imitate and get a reasonable likeness. What would be ideal would be allowing ayou to choose from a list of templates and then aloowing you to use the tools provided to tweak these images into something a bit closer to desired effect.

The choice of templates for strips is also smaller, about 12 basic designs to choose from. To edit in a Motherwell team I had to use something that was like a 1950's throwback. That said the abilty to scan in images and use them could drasticaly improve this aspect, I haven't yet investigated how to utilise this side of the editing process.

The harshness of some of the referees is also beyond a joke, cards a flying for next to nothing. Red cards for slightly late challenges with player in corner. The new dive option I approve of as it is part of the game but ref books you for it 95% of the time, which I would object to if real refs were only so consistent. But in reality play should just be waved on more often. You can't seem to choose the referee and the number of stadiums seems to have been reduced. Like the classic teams maybe more can be unlocked as you achieve success in cups, but the PES shop has been done away with for straightforward rewarding of success.

Every new one takes some time to get used to and it is more positive than negative so far, I'm sure once mastered the game a bit better these minor niggles will seem trivial. One improvement is the replays seem to be a touch longer incorporating just that bit more of the build up to goals. Mind you on the downside the first showing of any replay is strangely jerky and annoying, only for goals once you get to the bit where you can control it can you truly enjoy the repeat of your masterful play.

Oh what might have been!

A bit disappointed with my showing in the Pro Evo tournament last night, but it could all have been so different. It started well, actually it started badly, the previous night one of the main organisers broke his ankle toboganing at X-scape and the whole event was for a while in danger. As it was it was a bit of a shambles at the beginning but despite getting off a bit later it got going and I started my first game well.

2-0 up inside the first ten minutes, my opponent pulled one back before half time. An early goal in the second half put me right back in the driving seat but my opponent wasn't for chucking it and fought back and with about 15 minutes of the match(pro evo time not real time) managed to force an equaliser. I looked in danger of blowing a game I had twice led by two goals. In this goalfest though I always felt confident of scoring again and duly did with about 7 minutes left and closed out the game to win 4-3. Sadly it would be the highpoint of my tournament.

After a short break I was back for my second match, buoyed by having got an early win I went into it full of confidence. Wintry conditions were order of the day and a tight and tense affair was soon under way. My opponent in this game was a harder nut to crack but I also was keeping him at bay, I'd went closest to scoring but with 5 minutes of the tie left a 0-0 draw looked inevitable. Still I forced a corner and was looking for the one goal that would surely win it when disaster struck. The screen went blank and resolutely remained so, the judge was called for and the overworked and clearly stressed out official looked unsure what to do and ordered a replay. Needless to say the replay didn't go so well, another tight affair was on the cards and 35 minutes in the pattern was much the same when my opponent managed to get in behind my defensive line but the attack seemed thwarted as my came came out and collected the ball at the edge of the box as my defenders harried and denied a clear shooting opportunity. Then it happened, my keeper stood up, ball in hands and crept to close to the edge of the box, dropped the ball right at my opponents strikers feet and he didn't look the gift horse in the mouth and crsiply stroked it home for 1-0. Open mouthed in shock I couldn't believe it, I had looked away to make a comment to someone, I don't think it mattered but a crucial advantage had been gained. As I chased the game I conceded a second midway though the second half and it was all over. Feeling slightly hard done by I could only shake hands with my opponent who had played well and made the most of the rub of the green.

At this point I'd have liked a short break to compose myself but before I could rise from my seat my next opponent was ready to play and it seemed churlish to refuse. Again no mug at Pro Evo he secured a 3-2 win to almost certainly put me out of the contest. With one game left I really only had pride to play for, I won my last game 2-1 which left me tied with two other players on 6 points but alas my goal difference wasm't good enough to scrape the second place needed to progess. A 0-0 draw in the second game would have been enough.

So I can't deny I'm disappointed at how it went, it was still enjoyable but I felt I was good enoguh to be in the last 16. In my opinion everyone in my group was a capable player, but none truly outstanding. I include myself in that assessment, the biggest disappointment was that in the next stage I would have been scheduled to play one of the two players that went on to contest the final. I didn't expect to beat them but I wanted to test myself against them and a dodgy PS2 or copy of the game denied me the chance. Am I bitter? Nah its far to trivial to get that upset about, but if it ever comes up in conversation you can be assured I'll moan like a champion about it given the opportunity :-)

Pro Evo 6

Probably my favourite computer game, until PES7 comes out anyway, and testing my skills in a tournament tomorrow. It's being organised via a Motherwell FC fans website, so I know a few of the other entrants though I haven't played against many of them at the game. I'll be quite happy to get through the group stages and not shame myself but I'd be more than a bit pleased if I managed to win it. However I know that one of the guys entering isn't to shabby at all at this game seeing as he got his picture into the instruction manual for PES5 after winning a national tournament, he is clearly the hot favourite.

I think I'm not to bad at the game myself but my biggest weakness I think is my lack of human opponents, I only played against two different people outside of one player mode lately and people tend to be a completely different kettle of fish. I remember back playing original PES or PES2 and caning the game and a few casual players I'd played against only to come up against an opponent who played considerably more multiplayer action and got caned 3-0. A hard fought 1-0 win in the second game restored some dignity but again spanked 3-0 in the best of three decider. A dose of reality was served up but at the same time it was great to step up and play someone better at the game, it helps lift your own standards.

So I'm hopeful that if I get a decent draw in the group stage I can get through whilst getting some good practise in against human opponents and make a decent stab at getting to the final. I suspect there will be a good few decent players in there though and anything from last 8 onwards I wouldn't be to upset with.

Nintendo Wii is great....

....editing is tedious!

That really says it all, but I'll elaborate. After much searching and frustration an available to buy at reasonable price a Nintendo Wii finally landed in a shop near me, a worry over a corner of my credit card having snapped off turned out to be no big problem as the important chip was unharmed and the Wii was secured. It's tremendous fun, Wii Sport, Wario Ware and Tiger Woods 07 providing hours of entertainment already. Had it more than a week now and it is far more fun than editing my book for submission, not that it's a great deal of rewriting or anything, it's just a bit bitty and slow process. How i wish I had double checked earlier and not used so many quotation marks for dialogue, not really sure how important it is but after more closely looking at other books I think it's important to tidy things like this up a bit.

I'd really rather be playing my Wii, or even writing something new I can't wait until i finished this editing process one way or other to move onto a new project. I really can't reccomend the Wii enough and in eternal debt to the person who strickly speaking bought it for me my girlfriend who actually likes it too, despite generally hating computer games.

pro Evo 6 hasn't been touched since I got it, barely went a day without playing pro evo of some sort in 6 years! Says a lot, though still playing Final fantasy 12, once i'm finished that might free up a little time for Pro Evo to reclaim it's place in my affections.