New Arrivals: FIFA Manager 12 [PC]

I mentioned about a week ago that I got the demo for FIFA Manger 12, and surprisingly enjoyed it, and was going to get the full version>

Well, it arrived, I now posses the whole PC FIFA 2011/12 game "collection", all 3 games!

I haven't got too much to say, so I'll just show you the photos:




This is a very odd story about the photos, but I promise, it's true, when I originally transferred (not copied, transferred), and when I went to upload them, they disappeared, I couldn't find them anywhere, not even if I did a search it's as if someone has hacked in to delete it, just to take the p*ss. It's not the case that I forgot to transfer them, because the files didn't appear again. I had to retake the photos again.

A few weeks ago, actually, on my college computer, there was suddenly a computer created called "im watching you", could they both be linked? Hm...

Whoever it is, they're wasting their time doing this, they're just as well just revealing themselves and have a go at me.

Retro Diary - 27/5/12 - "We're going to play MSR in a whole new time zone!"

Dear Diary,

I decided that instead of writing the entire thing on the Sunday, I'd write it as it happens, so some of the stuff may be in present tense, probably not, but just a warning...

---

Friday 25th March 2012

For a while, I've always wanted to try out FIFA Manager 12, because I already had FIFA 12 and UEFA Euro 2012 (Both physical copies!), and it seemed as though if I had manager, that would be the PC collection complete!

So after looking a bit on Origin, I found there was a downloadable demo available, as well as Sims 3 and pets, so I downloaded them, and gave them a go.

I surprisingly enjoyed FIFA Manager, I previously tried the Football Manager 2012 demo, and I found that boring, this was pretty fun, though, even if it's pretty glitchy...

I really enjoyed Sims 3 and pets as well, the Sims 3 "Teaser", as they call it basically give you a minute trial of an area and you move to the next, you get to go to 3 areas, the pets demo is basically just the create part, nothing else. Although now I'm considering getting both games, but I can't, as I'm saving up to pre-order FIFA 13 and PES 2013 on both PC and PS2...

---

Saturday 26th May 2012

My sister came into my room while she was visiting, and she asked if she wanted to play Tony Hawk's Underground for the PS2, so I let her, and she was playing for about 10-15 minutes, even though she wasn't doing any tricks, and was hardly jumping, she seemed to be enjoying it for a while.

---

Sunday 27th March 2012

This morning, since I recently got a new ISP (O2, we used to have AOL), I thought I'd try FIFA 12 and PES 2012 online, before hand, it just didn't work at all, I was lucky to play half a match on either, but with the new ISP, I played several full matches without a problem!

I won my match on FIFA 4-2, we were both Barcelona. On PES 2012, however, the people there are complete ninjas! The first match, I lost 8-2! Not only that, my 2 goals, were my only shots in the whole game, the other guy had, I kid you not, 22 shots! Another Barcelona, Chelsea moment... The second match I played was even worse, I lost 13-2! I would've rage quit, but if I did, the game would restrict my account, it's nice to know that system works...

It was PS3 week at grans today, we only played FIFA Street, me and my brother, played 2 matches of "Last man standing", which, if you score, the player that scored gets sent off, and player who send their entire team off first wins, he won both times.

The me and my cousin, Giancarlo, played a 5-a-side match, which I won 6-2 I think. Then me and my other cousin, Steven, had a game, I don't remember the result for that.

After that, I left.

Steven came up to our house not long afterwards, and we played a bunch of games!

We decided to try a challenge, and attempt to play all of the consoles that night, we just called it: The Console Challenge, it's good enough, plus it has alliteration.

We started off by playing FIFA 12, in celebration that FIFA 13 was coming to PS2, widescreen and in 60Hz! I went as Barcelona, and he went as Athletico Madrid. We enjoyed it, despite the game being completely different, but not for the better, and the game kept slowing down, we played a match, I won, but I don't remember by how much.

We then played PES 2012 for the PS2, in celebration of PES 2013 coming to PS2, I went Barcelona again and I think Steven went as Manchester City ,more of the same here, except the game had no widescreen mode, not that it's that important.

Then we played Timsplitters, and trying to figure out what to do! If you don't know what we mean, the game's objectives are very simple, literally, every objective is take something, bring it back, me and Steven have an in-joke of pretending that we don't understand the objective! We couldn't pass the level we were on, because we had no idea where the item in question was and there were too many guys pumping lead into us.

Then we went up a step, and played Timsplitters 2! We were on Neo Tokyo, where you had to follow someone without her noticing you, we finally passed it!

Then we played Vib Ribbon on the PS1, I challenged him to complete a 'Weird' Al Yankovic song on it, as I mentioned to him it was almost impossible, he couldn't do it!

Then we played the revolutionary Rise of the Robots for the Amiga CD32! We played a couple of matches, He won the first, I won the second.

Then we played Sonic Adventure 2, we played a Kart Race, I don't remember my position, but Steven came last. Then we played a couple of action stages, I won both, which was enough to show him the levels we never played in before.

Then we played Metropolis Street Racer, we set the time to the console default (midnight 1st Jan 1998), but we set the time zone to a random one to mix things up, and it landed on GMT +9, then Steven said "...and now, we're going to play MSR in a whole new time zone!" Brilliant! At that moment, I knew I was goign to use that for this diary's title.

We played a couple of races, both of which I won, the first one, which was in Tokyo, by quite a margin, 20 seconds between my finish, and Steven's, the second one, which was in London, was close, but it was still clear who won.

Then we played Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 on the Xbox, so we could get our Horse of the week, we played in the airport level, where it all started! The "horse", was wVjlYSfRR4! I won it despite my handicap! 11-5 to me!

Then we played Mashed: Fully Loaded on the Xbox, we played f*ck knows how many matches, we got addicted for a short while! We had force ourselves out to play something else!

Then we moved onto the Saturn to play Sega Rally Championship we had a race, unfortunately, I won the race...

Then we had a game of FIFA 97, also on the Saturn, and it was awful, but in the awesome kind of way! We soon realised why the Sega Worldwide Soccer games got so much praise back in the day and still to this day has a fan base... this was the alternative!

Then we played Forsaken on the N64, the game is fun on single player, not so much on multiplayer, pretty disappointing, especially since the N64 is the system for multiplayer games!

Then we played 007 Goldeneye, on, what else, the Sega Saturn! Oh wait... We played a game of licensed to kill slappers only, as always, but we had turbo mode on, which, as you might have guessed, speeds up the players, and it was a lot of fun, I expected it to be frustrating, because you might not be able to hit the players, that was the case, but it was still fun! Then, for the first time in a long time, we had a proper gun match, with turbo mode on, but still, and we had an absolute blast! We should do this more often!

Finally, because all we needed was the Gamecube to have completed all the main consoles I have, we played Beyblade V-Force: Super Tournament Battle, once I finally explained to Steven how to launch the Beyblade in the game, once that was over and done with, we played a proper match, and we enjoyed it, well, at least I did.

We were about to play Sonic Heroes on the Gamecube, but Steven had to leave unfortunately, so we weren't able to, obviously.

Before we left, I showed him my recently acquired key chain Beyblade and launched it, and asked him "Doesn't this bring back memories?", he said "Aye, it does.", just thought I'd tell you that.

Here's what we played:

In the order we played them:
• FIFA 12 [PS2]
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 [PS2]
• Timesplitters [PS2]
• Timesplitters 2 [PS2]
• Vib Ribbon [PS1]
• Rise of the Robots [CD32]
• Sonic Adventure 2 [DC]
• Metropolis Street Racer [DC]
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 [Xbox]
• Mashed: Fully Loaded [Xbox]
• Sega Rally Championship [SS]
• FIFA 97 [SS]
• Forsaken [N64]
• 007 Goldeneye [N64]
• Beyblade V-Force: Super Tournament Battle [GC]

It was a fun week overall, next Sunday, we're having party for my brother's communion at my house, and all of my cousins are going, it's going to be a frantic week!

The week afterwards will be Wii week, because it's been far too long since we played a game of Wario Ware Smooth Moves!

Article By: Cobra!
Recall help provided by: Steven

If youse thought FIFA 12 was glitchy...

...You've seen nothing yet, few of you would probably know there exists another FIFA franchise exclusive to the PC, called "FIFA Manager", I downloaded the demo for the 2012 edition, and it's a really good game, but the 3D match parts, the new feature to 2012, is, I kid you not, even glitchier than FIFA 12!

Although in it's defence, it's supposedly the first game to have this feature, and it is the demo, so I'll give it some slack, but unlike even the first 3D FIFAs, there's not one match I've been through where a glitch doesn't occur.

Ready for a glitch-fest showcase? No? Well, tough! I'm showing youse anyway!:
















Aside from this, it's still a very good game, I ordered the full game off Amazon, I hope this glitch won't be in the full version...

What's odd, but in my opinion, Awesome, is that to download the game off Origin, it's going to cost you £35, yet to get the physical version off Amazon, it's only £15 with free delivery!

Good on youse EA! Fighting the digital download invasion!

Retro Diary - 20/5/12 - "'Lawl!' *Pique face*"

Dear Diary,

Not much happened this week.

It was Xbox 360 week this week, me, my brother; Riccardo, and my cousins: Giancarlo and Steven, played a 4-player match of FIFA 12, it was me and Riccardo as Barcelona against Giancarlo and Steven as a team called "Lods", I think they're Portuguese, I could be wrong. The first half ended 3-1, I think.

After the first half, Steven's big brother took over Giancarlo, and scored against us. We scored 2 back, so the match ended 5-1.

We had another match, this time it was me and Riccardo as Bayen Munich against Steven and his brother as Manchester City, for both halves, we tied, and went to extra time, where they scored against us, and won.

After that, Steven was constantly playing Halo with my little brothers, who are, dare I say, Halo junkies.

After that, we left, not a whole lot happened this week, I never though I'd say this, but I hope PS3 week will be more fun.

"Retro" Arrivals: Left 4 Dead: game of the Year Edition [PC]

I realised something, most of my "pick up" articles, aren't actually about things I've pick up, but rather just arrived in the post.

I decided for those types of situations, I'll just call them "'Retro' Arrivals", a little more fitting, isn't it?

Anyway, my copy of Left 4 Dead: Game of the Year Edition arrived in the post today, I still haven't opened it up yet because I'm writing this stupi-I mean "Retro" blog.

Anyway, I'll just cut to the chase, I got this because I've been wanting it so badly, so I ordered the Game of the Year edition off of Amazon.

Here are the photos:

Retro Pick-Ups: Starblade [3DO], FIFA 97 [SAT] and Forsaken [N64]

I went into G-Force again, which is a shop I sometimes go to on my way home from college, for those new to this blog.

I noticed the old games weren't where they usually are, I thought they threw them out, but it turns they did almost the opposite, they now had a whole dedicated to them, not only then, they had more games for more consoles, like 3DO, NES, SNES and they had more Saturn games!

So I thought since my EMA came in that week, I thought I'd buy some stuff, and I found that a lot of the game were quite cheap, the NES games went for only £5 each, they were loose carts, but that still doesn't sound bad.

and that was the NES, that apparently did awful over here, I found a few games I had wanted for a while, I had always wanted to play Starblade again, I used to play it in Tekken 5, and I knew for a while there was a 3DO port, and was apparently the only version to make it outside Japan, I could be wrong though, and luck would have it, the store only had one 3DO game, and it was none other, than Startblade!

I think it's a US copy, I could tell by the CD being pretty thing, in the US, they had Big boxes with little jewel cases inside them, over here, I believe we just had jewel cases, but they were the double CD cases you used to get.
However, on the back of the case, it said "This title displays in letterbox format on the 3DO PAL System", and on the bottom it said "Made in UK", hmm...

I also got FIFA 97 for the Sega Saturn, I normally wouldn't have bothered, but it was only £2, so it was a why not.

Last, but not least, I got Forsaken for the Nintendo 64, my friend said he loved the game back in the day for the PS1, and the N64 version is supposed to be the same, but with more levels, nice!

This really isn't a "Pick-Up", but I thought I'd post it here anyway, my copy of Back to the Future the Game on PC! Unfortunately, I got impatient and opened the seal before I took the photos, but hey, look at the bright side, I can show you what's inside now.

Speaking of, here are the photos:

Retro Pick-Ups: PS1 (Old Model)

I was at that charity shop near my college today, the first time in ages, the first thing I noticed with an old PS1 model, I have no idea why, but I feel in a sense, attracted to the old PS1s, even though they have the dull grey colour, and they don't last as long as slim models (they tend to go out after 7 years), I've always wanted one, so I asked how much it was, the shop keeper said it was £5... I only had £5, which would be enough, but I needed to keep at least a pound, just in case I lot my train ticket for when I go back home, to buy another.

The shop keeper then said "I'll give you it for three.", I thought she said "Free", so I got a little exited, then when I was about to go out, she mentioned that I've still to pay, so I gave her the £3, then I realised, "Oh, she said she'll give me it for Three".

I looked up the same model to see how it went for, they go for around £10, so I didn't get a bad deal! I also discovered that when I said newer models lasted longer, it turns out that that didn't just mean the slim PSones, but also later versions of the original, and luckily, the one I bought was one of the later versions, so that's good news.

The console didn't some with any controllers or even a display cable, but I already had enough of each, so that wasn't a problem.

If anyone wants to know, the model I got was a SCPH-5552.

So I'm going to give youse my first impressions of it and tell youse the advantages and disadvantages of this compared to the slim I already have.

Advantages include that it operates much quieter than the slims, I'm so used to heard the PS1 make noise as it loads, but this one didn't so I assumed that it was broken, but when I flicked the TV to the PS1 channel, it worked fine.

Another advantage is that the memory cards load and save much faster than the slim, almost as fast as the Dreamcast! I know it depends on the game, but I remember the game I tried on it saving and loading slower on the slim.

Speaking of, the game I tried: Formula One Arcade, actually ran slightly faster on the fat model than it did on the slim.

Finally, this is minor, it has a reset button, the slim doesn't, so that's useful.

The only disadvantage, is that, obviously, it's bigger, it just barely fit on my shelf of consoles, and had no room for my multi-tap, it's not a huge problem, as there's hardly room for 4 people to play in front of the TV.

Here are photos I've taken, excuse my awful photography:
















Now I'll be off, I have a date!

...I meant I was going to play the PS1, if course I don't have a real date, I probably never will, especially not that I have all of these old games and consoles... it's worth it though!

Retro Diary - 13/5/12 - "SlllooooowwDoooowwwnnnnnn!!!!"

Dear Diary,

I've had a more exiting week than usual, although that's not saying much.

---

Monday 7th May 2012

For some reason, we were going to grans again, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to take a console.

I decided to keep it a surprise until my cousins, Steven and Giancarlo, came into the sitting room, where we usually play the games.

The console turned out to be... The Sega Saturn!

Sadly, I can't remember what games we played and in what order, so I'll give you what I can remember, We Played:

In no order:
• Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition
• Sega Rally Championship
• Sega Touring Car Championship
• Virtua Fighter 2(.1)

Our games of Sega Rally and Daytona USA were pretty much the same as they always are.

I remember while me and Steven were playing Sega Touring Car Championship, we kept saying "SlllooooowwDoooowwwnnnnnn!!!!" and "5 Frrrraaaammmmmmeeesss aaa ssssseeeeccconnnnnddd!!!", because the game kept slowing down!

I remember Virtua Fighter 2.1 most fondly, me and Giancarlo were playing it, we discovered they had an option called "Slow Mode", so we enabled that to see what it was like.

It turns out it was just an underwater stage, it slows down the game for realism, as actions done in in water are usually slower than in air, that much is kind of obvious, so I guess they didn't lie...

We had a lot of fun with it, though, while we were playing it, were talking about imagining movies done underwater, like Back to the future underwater, with a submarine "Delorian", and Die Hard done underwater!

Overall, it was a lot of fun!

---

Saturday 12th May 2012

At long last, I have Scooby Doo and the Cyber Chase on PS1 again!

I've been wanting that game for literally years now. Why? You may ask, well I used to have it back in the day, it was pretty much the last out of the nostalgic PS1 games I had, I have just about every other game I had from my childhood.
After playing it, I realised it had almost no resemblance to the movie, it seemed more like a quick buck game, after all, it was based off of a direct-to-video film for starters.

After getting used to the controls, however, I found it was actually a very enjoyable game, the controls are solid (although they f*ck you over from time to time), the game is actually challenging even playing it now, the levels are pretty cool, and the music and sound effects are great and memorable, for years I had some of it's tracks stuck in my head without realising where it came from!

I almost feel I shouldn't be enjoying it as much as I am, like I said, it seems as if they quickly put the game together to make a quick buck, as guess you could call it, a guilty pleasure? I seem to have a lot of games like that recently, maybe I should make a top 10 list...

---

Sunday 13th May 2012

It was Gamecube week this week, unfortunately, Steven couldn't be there, due an accident he had with his lip.

Unfortunately also, Giancarlo didn't know it was Gamecube week, so he didn't bring his games, he asked what games I had, I mentioned Mario Kart Double Dash and Marvel Nemesis, and then he said "Say no more, we're sorted!".

For a while, I was playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 with my brother, we also played Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure for a short while, too.

The me and Giancarlo played a bit of Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects.

Then we played a bit of Mario Kart: Double Dash, I brought the strategy guide (yes, I actually have it.), to for a joke, say we have the full experience, the funny thing is, it actually came in handy! Sort of. Giancarlo wasn't sure how you boosted in the game, so we looked it up in the strategy guide, and it had the info we needed! I never worked for me, but it worked for Giancarlo a few times, so I know the guide was right.

Then we played a little bit more of Marvel Nemesis...

Then we tried out Beyblade V-Force: Super Tournament Battle, it took a while before Giancarlo figured out how to launch the Beyblade, after that, eh, it was alright.

Then we played some more Marvel Nemesis... While we were playing it, we were talking about those companies like Capcom and EA, who are just in it for the money, I mentioned since it was recently released on PC I thought I might try out Street Fighter X Tekken, and he surprised when I mentioned it, it turns out he hadn't heard about that, odd, I thought he'd be the first to know about it.

Then we tried out WWE Day of Reckoning, the controls were easy enough for him to learn, so we had a one on one hardcore match, which I won.

...and finally, we finished off with another game or two of Marvel Nemesis!

In short (tl;dr), here's what we played:

In the order we first played them:
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
• Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure
• Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects
• Mario Kart: Double Dash
• Beyblade V-Force: Super Tournament Battle
• WWE Day of Reckoning

My auntie had to drop me off since my mum left ages before, before I even had to chance to play the Gamecube with Gianni. It turns out he was in the same car, so me, him, and the other cousin who was in the car, were talking Michel Jackson and Weird Al Yankovic songs!

So yeah, despite the major drawbacks, we still had fun, or at least I had, next week is Xbox 360 week, I hope Steven will be better by then, because he's the one that's supposed to bring it, if he isn't, which I reckon is unlikely, then we'll either move the PS3 week then back to 360 week, or until Steven is well enough, I'll select random consoles to bring until Steven is well enough.

He'll probably be better by then, but just in case...

Retro Arrivals - Scooby Doo and the Cyber Chase [PS1]

I've noticed that almost none of my recent "Retro" Pick-Ups, are never about old games, in face they're usually about games I pre-ordered that didn't even come out at the time, so they're literally the complete opposite.

I thought this time, I'd actually do one on a Retro game, as I just got one today, I've been wanting the game for literally years, it was my 2nd PS1 game ever (The first being Harry Potter and the philosophers stone), and I've been feeling very nostalgic for it, as bad as it may sound looking back at it.

The game of course is Scooby Doo and the Cyber chase, I remember loving the game so much, I got the movie on VHS shortly after (Yeah, that's how long it was ago!) and realised they're almost nothing alike! It game seemed more than anything an opportunity for THQ to get a quick buck, but I still enjoyed it.

I first tried to get my hands on this game again 2 years ago, along with a bunch of other games for my birthday, but sadly, that was the only thing that arrived, I got a refund though, of 1p!

I tried again on Wednesday along with Left 4 Dead and it's Strategy guide. and funnily enough, this time, was the only thing to arrive, the other items were out of stock before they could dispatch them, seriously sellers, if your items out of stock, don't sell it, simple as that, I'm sick of being told my item's not available a day or so after I order it!

Anyway, here are photo's I've taken of the game:




Now if you'll excuse me... I'll be having my lunch!

Retro Diary - 6/5/12 - "The REAL Xbox!"

Dead Diary,

On Friday, I got the new FIFA 12 Euro 2012 DLC... Through the Post! Yep, I got a download code in a case, this is actually official, I would've though since EA made Origin, their own digital store, they'd put it there, and only there, knowing them, but surprisingly, they made it also available in physical, no disc, (even though, strangely enough, they left the CD holder, like I said strange, but I'm not complaining...), just a code, which can never be used again, but hey, you can actually hold it, look at the back of the case in excitement, and leave it on your shelf and be proud to have it in your collection, looking at it in admiration, and that, you can't do with digital downloads!

---

It was Xbox weeks at our grans this Sunday, and no, I don't mean the Xbox 360, I mean the real Xbox, the original and best!

We started off the week by Playing 007 Nightfire, one of the games that made Xbox week, Xbox week. We had fun as always, but this week, there wasn't really anything worth of note. Except for the fact my 8-year old brother played despite being way too young, he also played the next game...

Then we played Timesplitters: Future Perfect, again, we had fun, but nothing of note happened except for... erm... Oh yeah! That's right! I actually won a match!!!

Then we played Mashed, we gave one on our Uncle, as it was recently his birthday, a shot of the game, and after played a few matches, he seem to have got the hang of it, and actually won a match, and then he mentioned that he thinks he's got addicted to the game, I don't blame him, it's Mashed!

Finally, we played Raw 2, we played a quick match, Steven kept punching me, and you can't reverse in this game! Luckily, I finally got a chance to run off, so I did, and got out of the ring, then Steven grabbed one of the steel steps, then I grabbed the other, and we kept going at each other, until eventually he pinned me for the 3...

We were about to play a Tony Hawk game to get our horse of the week, but then we had to go...

The games we played:

• 007 Nightfire
• Timesplitters: Future Perfect
• Mashed: Drive to Survive
• Raw 2: Ruthless Aggression

Overall, it was a fun week, but it could've been more so.

We haven't decided what to do next week, either we extend Xbox week once more to play more games, or just move on the Gamecube week, find out next week...

"Retro" Arrivals - FIFA 12 - UEFA EURO 2012 [PC]

Something arrived today in the mail, you wouldn't believe what it is! Which is partially why I put it in the title!

Euro 2012 is an Expansion/DLC for FIFA 12, which adds a new kind of career mode and new HUD, teams, players, etc., I saw the trailer for it, and I remember thinking that I might get it, then I learned that you for the PC version, you can get the download code in a case, in other words, you can actually own the DLC! That sealed the deal!

You see, I hate downloading stuff, it just doesn't feel right, you don't get the excitement of going to a game store buying, drooling at the screenshots and description at the back of a case during a long trip home and finally putting the CD/Cartridge into your console/PC and finally playing it, or ordering it online and waiting eagerly for it to arrive, get thrilled once it does arrive! With Digital Downloads, that feeling's gone, I'm fine with downloading trailers, demos, and even DLC if I really want to, but full games? It just feels wrong, you know what I mean?

Not to mention, you can't put downloaded games on a shelf, can you? Most likely as well, your shelf can hold more physical games, than your hard drive could store downloaded games, like me probably, even though I have a big hard drive (2TB).

Now, can someone answer me this, on the PC, why is it that EA, a bunch of cheapskates, are putting their DLC in physical form, but Sega, a "real" games company, aren't even doing it with their full games!?

Anyway, I'm trailing away from the point here, I'm very thrilled that EA have done this, this will fit snug along with FIFA 12 on my shelf, and also, I can show you photos!


Now if you'll excuse me, I'm itching to open up this to see what's inside...

Update:

I have to post this, I just opened up the case, and my initial reaction was a laugh, I expected a case with the CD holder taken out, but just with a code inside it, in a piece or paper, or even on the other side of the label, as a see through case, or even replacing the CD holder with a card holder and the code will be on the card, similar to how you can get Microsoft Points like that.

I've never expected it to be in CD form, as the case says "Download Code", we never got a CD but...



Wow... I expected EA to at least take out the holder to save money, but nope, they were too lazy to even do that, not that I'm complaining, now I have a spare Disc holder but still, damn...