There are reports floating around the internet that some lucky pre-release Civilization IV purchasers in the USA received a free version of the tech tree in…French. Don’t know if this is a mistake or if there are a lot of people at Take 2 laughing very hard right now.
There are many stories written about Iraq, but the stories like this are the ones that really get to me.
For those keeping score, FM 2006 was shipped, or “dispatched” as our UK friends say, to me yesterday. Should arrive sometime next week. I also got notification that Civilization IV was shipped today and I should get that on Thursday.
It just baffles me that people actually think PC gaming is dead or near death. I’m convinced that the folks who believe this aren’t playing PC games. They hop from one game to the next like humming birds looking for nectar. Since you can’t hop as many times in PC gaming as you can in console-land, suddenly the genre is headed for a downfall.
I cannot and will not be able to play all of the quality PC games that are out there.
I believe that many of the crappy PC games and their crappy ideas are going the way of the dinosaur rather than the genre itself. Everyone thinks back to the 90s when PC games were all over the shelves, but how many of those games were really worth playing? Not a whole lot. I remember as a grad student (and master of my free time) wandering through Best Buy one summer looking for any, ANY, PC game worth purchasing. There was one good football game then – Front Page Sports Football – and many bad football games. The number of bad football games is much less in 2005, but there is still only one decent football game.
Here are the games that are sitting on my shelf that I will never load in my computer or are off the play list and on my computer – the entire Rainbow Six series, Halo (started it, but only for a bit), Half Life 2 (loaded it, but haven’t had time), Battlefield 2, the entire Splinter Cell series, and the latest Tiger Woods golf game.
These are the games that I struggle to play – rFactor (setting up my wheel is a pain), PureSim, and NHL Eastside Hockey Manager. Games that are out that I would purchase, but I would never find time to play include Age of Empires 3, X3, and Space Rangers.
I’m a slave to World of Warcraft and Out of the Park Baseball. I will cram in FM 2006 and Civilization IV. Keep in mind that Civilization was the first game that I spent an entire day and night playing.
How in the world someone can play two or three online massive multiplayer games like City of Heroes and Everquest is beyond my comprehension. I’d love to check out CoH again, but zero minutes available.
So my gaming day is filled with PC games. I don’t have time for any console games even if I wanted to play them. I just wish the PC genre was this dead back in college when I had time to actually play all of these games.
Greydog Software released a new patch for Total Extreme Wrestling 2005 this weekend.
Sports Interactive announced a new site just for Football Manager 2006 information and articles, for those of you who can’t get enough FM 2006 info.
Worldwide Soccer Manager 2006 will be available after November 1st in North America. I’m not holding my breath until I see the game actually sitting on a retailor’s shelf, let me put it that way. The really big news is that for the first time, Worldwide Soccer Manager will be avaialable as a try before you buy digital download! And for around $30. It’s taken Sports Interactive a while, but they have finally listened to our moaning and groaining in the US. Americans will never have to miss a quality Sports Interactive sim again if this digital download trend continues.
Now let’s see what comes first – my CD WOW! FM 2006 or the digital download.
Shaun Sullivan and Matrix Games released a beta version of their 1.1 update to PureSim 2005 Gold Edition. This update adds a few new tweaks and focuses on real player use within the PureSim engine.
While in London I picked up CMR 2005 Plus (not sure what the plus is for) for 34.99UK (ouch). Very quick impressions – the game takes a bit to get used to because the analog is fairly sensitive, but once you get going, the game is pretty much bliss.
CMR 2005 Plus very much reminds me of CMR2.0 for the PSX, but with PS2 quality graphics (almost). The sound is exceptional – nice hearing the transition from various surfaces and hearing a broken engine. Your car progressively handles poorer and poorer if you screw the pooch and crash too much. Luckily you get to perform some repairs at various points in the rally.
Back in the day I would try to figure if CMR 2005 Plus was “realistic,” but these days I could really care less. To this middle aged gamer the game is plenty realistic. The physics engine seems plenty reasonable, and the cars behave plenty differently on different surfaces (and as I mentioned, change with variable damage).
I know this is a pretty piss poor post – short on detail and seemingly shorter on enthusiasm. Just wanted a quick “I am still here” post and to let PSP fans know that CMR 2005 Plus is worth importing. This one is currently my favorite game.
Football Manager newbies like myself will want to read through Marc Vaughan’s Football Manager 2006 guide. It contains all of the info you’ll need to get up and running in the wonderful Football Manager universe. The guide helps football (soccer) newbies understand the transaction system and league structures, along with day to day things like setting up the game, etc. The Front Office Football Central Forum has mirror links that work better than those at SIGames.
Highly recommended if you want to try the best text game currently on the market.
According to their web site, version 3.0 computer basketball game will ship October 26th.
There is a new Football Manager 2006 patch available at SIGames. The site is very slow today, so don’t be in a rush to download it.
Got a message from CD WOW! today:
Hello,
Thank you for placing your order with us here at CD WOW!
We are writing to you regarding your order for: Football Manager 2006 (CD-ROM) Windows
We are currently awaiting stock of this title and hope to be able to dispatch this item to you on the 24/10/2005.
As soon as this item is dispatched we will send you an e-mail message confirming shipment.
From the date of dispatch, please allow up to 7 working days for delivery within the UK.
Please also rest assured that the delay to this item will not affect any other items that you may have ordered from us.
We will notify you immediately if there are any further updates with regards to this title.
We hope you will accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience this delay may have caused.
Thank you for shopping with CD-WOW!
Kind regards
CD WOW! Customer Service
Out of the Park Baseball Manager 2006’s web site is under development. I wonder how long it will take for the “Out of the Park” to be removed and “Baseball Manager” joins “Football Manager” at Sports Interactive? I gues Eastside Hockey Manager kept the “Eastside”, but I’m for dropping the first four words in OOTPBM. However, BM 2006 does sound like something a small child will be working on in the bathroom next year. Or OOTPBM could accurately describe a bug filled new version of OOTP, but I digress.
CD WOW! is selling Football Manager 2006 for $39.95, free shipping included! Too bad I just pre-ordered Civilization IV or I’d be all over this deal. Make sure to use the link in this post because you get an extra $2 off, as reported in the Front Office Football forum.
SIGames is including a tutorial with Football Manager 2006. This is good news and hopefully will make their very complicated (in a good way) games easier to understand.