News : FIFA 12 - Gameplay Trailer

In a slightly earlier than usual move, EA Sports have released the latest FIFA 12 footage in the form of a Gameplay video. The clip highligths several new match mechanics, most notably the close control ‘precision dribbling’ system when attacking, and the updated containing and defending systems. Following the slightly oversold Player Personality system of last season, it will be interesting to see how FIFA 12 implements these new modes. Due to techincal issues we are currently experiencing, we can only provide a link to the EA Sports website which features the video. Hopefully this will be rectified in a couple of days.

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Previews : Football Manager 2012

Most people who know a little about me know my opinions of Football Manager. I think the game is addictive genius and I probably have equated the best part of 3 months of my life playing thee game solidly, a feat very few titles can brag. I know I am not alone in this praise, and to the loyal, passionate and ‘in rehab’ Football Manager fan, I bring warning of the imminent release of its latest instalment, Football Manager2012.

In a plethora of information, please find in this very article a copy of the official press release along with a couple of videos straight from the developers themselves. For me, the videos never do the game justice, however the new graphical improvements seem to be decent, and the higher resolution screens are a welcome addition to those on iMac or with large monitors.

SPORTS INTERACTIVE SET TO SCORE AGAIN WITH FOOTBALL MANAGER 2012

First Details for Football Manager 2012 Revealed.

LONDON (August 11th, 2011) – Sports Interactive Ltd. & SEGA® Europe Ltd. today unveiled the latest version of their successful football management simulation series, Football Manager™ 2012. Planned to be in stores before Christmas, Football Manager 2012 will once again allow you to take charge of your favourite football team and put your managerial skills to the test.

The award-winning Football Manager series has now sold in excess of 7 million copies worldwide and has topped the UK and many European PC charts for the last seven years, with over 108 weeks at no.1 in the UK to date.

“We’re delighted to finally be able to start talking about Football Manager 2012” said Miles Jacobson, Studio Director at Sports Interactive. “It’s another year of evolution, with some revolution thrown in for good measure so we’re pretty sure our dedicated communities, and hopefully lots of new people too, get to play and enjoy the game when it’s released later in the year.”

Counting over 800 new features, not including changes to the rules of the games 50+ leagues,Football Manager 2012 promises to be the most realistic, immersive and playable football management simulation ever for any fan who has ever dreamed of making the big decisions, both on and off the field.

Key new & improved features for Football Manager 2012:

Transfers & Contracts – significant changes to the transfer and contract systems, including loyalty bonuses, better implementation of amateur and youth contracts, an improved transfer centre and the ability to lock areas of the contract negotiation when you aren’t prepared to budge. This helps you to manage your budgets and gives you flexibility in what you offer money hungry players, or agents, as incentives.

Scouting improvements – using several real life scouting reports, a new in-game report has been devised which includes squad analysis, tactics information and information about goals scored and conceded alongside lots of other scouting improvements, giving you all the information you need to prepare before kick-off and throughout the season.

3D Match Improvements – new animations, a whole new crowd system, improved weather system, more stadiums, plus two brand new cameras - “Behind Goal” and “Director Cam” as well as all other camera angles being reversible - meaning you can watch and analyse every aspect of every game.

Manage Anywhere, Anytime – the ability to add or take away playable nations in your saved game as often as you want. Manage in that country at the start of the next season- meaning you don’t have to stay in the nations which are chosen by you to be playable at the start of your career.

Tone – a whole new level has been added to team talks and conversations, with the new tone system, which allows you to specify the way you want to say things – be as cool as a cucumber by saying things calmly or throw tea cups around by saying things with passion. There are 6 different tones to choose from with specific comments per tone.

Intelligent Interface – a new adaptive layout system, which means the higher your screen resolution, the more info is easily at your fingertips. The new interface also contains new filters, customisable columns, a new tactics screen, and lots of new overview screens.

Brand New Tutorial – standing separate from the main game, a mode to help new players find their way around the game easily, whilst also offering tips to experienced managers on how to get the most out of the game, as well as a new in-game “how to” system.

On top of these key innovations, there are lots of areas of the game that have had huge improvements, such as the media system, press conferences, the youth system, newgens, the social networking options, friendlies, international management and many more which will be detailed in a series of  video blogs over the coming months, alongside more information aboutFootball Manager 2012.

For further information please go to www.sigames.com or www.footballmanager.com.

For assets, please visit www.sega-press.com

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Previews : Pro Evolution Soccer 2012

In professional wrestling, the WWE pay-per-view that ends the month of January begins what is referred to as ‘The Road to Wrestlemania’, essentially a 2-month period of matches and promos which act as an extended build-up to the hottest wrestling event of the year. The first demo to PES 2012 was released recently and i’m calling it - we’ve just entered ‘The Road to Footiemania’.

‘Footiemania’ is the period of time that links the releases of the two major football titles, those that we look forward to every year. Now that we’ve got our first demo, it’s all on. And this demo doesn’t disappoint. To begin with, there is an excellent starting video which showcases the top graphics, as they do each year. Things to note: Good focus on England team, Forlan sure looks good, nice cameo from Ganso… The video focuses largely on the varying pass/ball control elements of the game so that’s what I expected when I booted it up.

The first thing we’re greeted with is the warning that “this demo is taken from a product that is still in development and as such does not represent the quality and appearance of the final product”. There’s not much time left to develop the game however, so a safe bet would be that the gameplay in the finalproduct will be very similar to this.

The menu is similar to last year’s revamp, just a lot more polished. The video is running in the background, which suggests the possibility of having videos running in the menu screen of the main game. I don’t want the PES 2012 background to be a closeup of Cristiano Ronaldo, though. Couldn’t it be used for replays of previous goals? Also worth noting is the new menu item – Football Life.

Only accessible are the exhibition and Copa America modes, which means that there are slightly more options for matches than there was in last year’s demo. You can either play as Santos v Penarol, or as one of the four following teams: Man Utd, AC Milan, Porto & Napoli. The latter two are a strange inclusion, as is the lack of Real Madrid (considering the discovery that Cristiano Ronaldo is the new poster-child).

I like the rating system under each team, showing Offensive, Defensive, Tactical, Speed, Technical and Physical ratings numerically, as well as a letter ranking, though the lack of an Overall rating is a shame. Also, how is it that AC Milan are rated so much higher than Man Utd? It seems that the slightly insane PES rankings are back in full force this season.

I opted to defend English pride by playing as Man Utd against Porto. The following screen is unchanged from last year, with a player from each team standing next to the logos, although the load time was faster and both players look very realistic – the best i’ve seen yet in a football game.

The tactics screen all looks polished. Again we’re building on the successful system put in place last year, so imagine that but with simple (yet effective) differences. A text box at the top of the screen notes what tactic the team is set to play, with the four preset ones being ‘Quick Counter’, ‘Long Ball’, ‘Possession Game’ and ‘Standard’. By selecting one of these presets you can edit many different sliders that would seemingly have a big effect on how the AI positions your players. A nice feature.

Vidic is the highest rated player in the Man Utd team; a 92 overall. Rooney follows closely on 91 (if you change his position). Overall, Man Utd only have nine players rated above 80 in their team, which is interesting. De Gea has the strangest rating – 78 overall. If you select players you can see their rating in four categories, alongside a picture of themselves and another chosen player. This makes comparisons even easier than before.

No commentary in this demo i’m afraid, but we are treated to what must be a near-final pre-match buildup. Good graphics for the players, nice crowd sounds, everything looks very slick and stylish. I can only imagine how fantastic this must look on Cup Final day. The ball is placed in the centre-circle and i’m feeling very excited to get my very first taste of Pro Evo 2012…

…and you press X to start!! Hooray! No more accidentally passing to the opposition when you’ve been playing FIFA for too long! At any rate, the first thing you’ll notice is that the players pass better. You’ve got a heck of a lot of control over through balls which really makes skill important. The game seems somewhat more forgiving than it did last year, but weighting passes correctly is still hugely important.

The mechanics for passing really make you feel proud of your goals. There’s little room for individual skill if you’re not abusing the shoot/cancel tactic, so teamwork is once again paramount. I easily scored a fantastic goal after some solid passes, coupled with a fun lob over the keeper. One of the things that makes this so great is the first touch mechanic new to the game, allowing you to direct your players much easier than before.

The auto-cross is much better than i’ve seen in any other football game… possibly too good. It really pays to cross the ball into the box now and you’ll be doing that a lot more often to get goals. There needs to either be improved AI for defending crosses or the crosses have to be made worse before the game is shipped – right now crossing can be a guaranteed goal half the time.

Nonetheless, the running animation doesn’t quite feel right and you’ll find some players move awkwardly. Some frames were dropped during certainly sequences and you can tell that this is not the final product. I’m sure these issues will be addressed in the next month. I could swear that a player did a trick automatically as well, which I do not like one bit. And despite the improved crosses, I didn’t see any real improvement to set pieces. Hopefully they will be improved though.

A final point to make on the demo is that substitutions were quick and painless. Good to see that taken care of; it may be too late to add quick-throws but at least making the time taken shorter will make some fans happy. All post-match information is unchanged.

So, to summarise…

Pros:

Ball control, passing, moving, first touch, shooting, improved AI. Passing again. I can’t stress enough just how fantastic it is to pass the ball in this game. You’ll want to pass it through defenses rather than go it alone all the time just because it’s so fun. It’s also far more effective, unless you’re substantially better at the game than I am!

Cons:

Free kicks/corners seem relatively unchanged. Some animations are still very sloppy, although that could be changed before release. Shooting is weighted well, but there is something to be said about how many of my shots are going off-target at the moment. Just a thought.

What it needs:

Quick-throws would be nice, and i’m really hoping that the set pieces are improved as well as the AI for defending crosses. Other than that, Konami have yet to offer anything that mimics the fantastic Arena mode from the FIFA series, so something of that ilk would go down a treat.

And finally….

Remember when we thought Neymar was going to be on the cover of PES 2012? And it turned out to beCristiano Ronaldo? Maybe a deal went wrong somewhere, because Neymar is rated terribly in this game - 78 overall. How utterly odd. As always, leave comments in the comments box and tell me what you think about the demo!

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Previews : Gears Of War 3 Trailer

ORIGINAL STORY: A new trailer for Gears of War 3 will be coming to Machinima tonight, and national television this weekend. The video, called “Dust to Dust,” touches on each of Marcus Fenix and Delta squad's exploits in the three games to get players stoked for the third installment.

Gears of War 3 hits Xbox 360 on September 20.

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Reviews : Call Of Juarez The Cartel

All the uppercase ideas in the concern don't needs pass for a zealous scheme. Framing in point: Call of Juarez: The Cartel. This cooperative-focused first-person marble has few refined concepts, but makes mistakes so significant you strength excogitate how close this business may tally been, acknowledged a few many months of developing indication. Armchair philosophers can disputation such hypotheticals. The Cartel is free now, and it doesn't lively up to its assure, though that doesn't convey inaccurate in each place's nooks and crannies--and moldiness do so without being caught by your nosy comrades. It's an inspired thought in keeping with the innate suspect among these ternary slippery sorts. But what The Cartel required wasn't inspiration--it was improve. The gamy is open and buggy, particularly on the PlayStation 3, where pauses and hitches too often disrupt the movement. Only with pc games strategy.

The Cartel also required much liked leads and gambler discussion, which isn't to say there isn't shack for complete antiheroes in line stories. (The pilot spirited's Reverend Ray is a polishing information of an antihero through good.) But the trio leads here--the LAPD's Ben, Kim with the FBI, and DEA businessperson Eddie--gush obscenities and sneer so oft, you reverence their faces may detain in that post permanently. There are a few attempts to increase their personalities, much as a quieten shot in which Ben contemplates a recorded message from an old quaker. But most scenes con {separate them from the goons they're combat. Remaining cinematics are so dry as to quieten you to nap, such as an expository cutscene largely devoid of stable personalty and punishment, in which regime reps sit around a fare and set up the occupation's suppose.

Both aspects--the drilling and the obnoxious--come unitedly in a surround in which the leash partners bloodthirsty up a reference in the average of a laboring highway. When activity cooperatively, you and your buddies have turns delivering a raging biff or bound with a exclusive add press--one after added after other. The environs goes on for so longstanding you statesman to look worthless for the guy on the position. Yet your reference (and thus, the camera) stares at the connecter instead of shadowing the fierce acts of your comrades. The environs las broke marihuana textures author than the violence your team visits upon this curve. It's an uncomfortable mix of action and monotony.

Nevertheless, uniting tierce unfaithful agents from threesome opposite agencies is a commendable foot, and The Cartel tries to urinate reputable on it by giving apiece of the three playable characters a uncomparable restore of panorama. The game, in which this unmated team attempts to discontinue a web of treatment trafficking, is the said disregardless of which case you music. But each drama online with added player or two filling in for the AI, this tale style adds an intriguing dimension that nicely parallels the escalating trait among the unit. When a mate receives a play, you centre exclusive his root of the conversation. And the cryptical one-sided word substance that you undergo that trait along with your personation.

The strain of distrustfulness carries over into those inward missions themselves. Concealed missions may refer nabbing a radiophone phone or destroying a object, and each stratum contains unseeable objects that you, and only you, can store. Your companions, meantime, screw distinguishable duties to action and divers items to nab. The illusion, withal, is not feat caught. Should you thieve an fact in range of a commie, you don't get title for taking it, though your chum gets impute for espial you. Successfully accomplishing a task earns you see, as does spotting a double-crossing relation. And earning participate helps you realise levels, which in reverse gives you accession to wagerer guns at the start a aggressive turn.

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