After what seems like an eternity i have returned to the world of the Blog, in the hopes that i can once more be ridiculous for a moment.
Today is a landmark day in my life, for today i have finally turned the corner and realised it's time to make a change. Many a year i have revelled in the creative freedoms that Pro Evolution Soccer has afforded me in the editing suite, but that is no longer enough to keep me faithful to Konami's version of the beautiful game.
Wednesday September the 8th saw a bunch of listeners attend the 50th IGN UK podcast recording and i was fortunate enough to be amongst the lucky few. At this event we were treated to a demonstration of Playstation Move (It didn't work) and also had the chance to play FIFA 11 against each other.
For as long as i remember there have been two camps in the football simulation market, those who play FIFA, and those who play ISS/PES. ever since ISS 98 i have fallen into the Konami camp, preferring how a game played over the official licences it held. When ISS became PES it added something else to the mix which cemented my loyalty to the brand, Full kit editing. Last year i played both games at the demo stage and was sorely tempted by EA's game because for the first time in a long time it was more fun to play and actually felt closer to the real thing. Despite this i maintained my loyalty to Pro Evo more out of blind faith than logical reasoning.
This year will be no different in as much as i will play both demo's to see how they are to play, however there is one big difference that could play a vital role in which game i purchase. This year I'm buying the game i enjoy the most and leaving blind faith at the door.
Now onto my thoughts of the game i played today.
FIFA 11 plays beautifully, the passing is crisp and precise when you get it right rewarding you with a defence splitting pass that puts the opposing goalkeeper at the mercy of your centre forward. That's not to say that the computer does the work for you, you still have to direct the pass and choose how hard to strike the ball with the familiar power gauge.
Tackling is challenging but satisfying, meaning that you'll get as much out of a clean sheet as you will scoring at the other end. When playing with the ball at the feet of Marouan Chamakh or Robin Van Persie i never felt like being barged off the ball as easily as you can be in PES 2010. Trickier customers like Andrey Arshavin were easier to barge off the ball in a physical tussle but nippier and more nimble in and around the penalty area.
Graphically this years FIFA is a definite improvement on last years entry, players looked spot on in the game i played (Man Utd were emphatically beaten by a rampant Arsenal 3-0) The shirts looked as vibrant as they do in the real thing and the Stadiums are painstakingly duplicated in all their majesty. Pro Evo has had the edge as far as looks are concerned for the last few years, but now that FIFA has bucked it's ideas up in that area it'll be interesting to see how PES responds.
Finishing chances off has long been a gripe of mine when it comes to EA football games, but on the limited play time i had with the next one it would appear that the chances of pulling a Chris Iwelumo and skying the ball from 2 yards out have been drastically reduced. Great news for me, less so for my opponents.
Oh and as far as commentary is concerned, even though the game i played had commentary turned off FIFA has always beaten PES hands down in that department so i'll take it as red that Mark Lawrenson is still putting through Konami's own net
So how are we doing for reasons to buy this game?
Graphics - Check
Game play - Check
Official Kits and Licences - Check
Commentary - Double Check
The only thing that has me slightly reserved is that EA have still not really come up with a Master League killer and as i understand it you still can't play as your own imaginary team in FIFA. True, you had to edit PES United or Winning Eleven FC if you wanted to play as Brentwood FC in last years Pro Evo, but you could still design your own shirt, crest and sponsor.
I guess old habits really do die hard...
Robinho.
At the risk of turning this Blog into a collection of football related articles, i would like to take the time today to reflect on the latest news coming out of Old Trafford.
It was announced today that the level of debt that Man Utd's owners find themselves in has risen to £1.1 Billion. That's a whole £400 Million more than was previously believed, and a great deal more than any Football club should be saddled with. I should point out that not all of this money is secured against The football team, but if Glazer defaults on repayment they may well be the first port of call for creditors looking to get their money back. A spokesman for the Glazer family has since come out and stated that they hold over £2 Billion in assets (First Allied shopping Malls and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), however Andy Green (a disgruntled Man Utd supporter and City analyst) has discovered that 63 of the 64 First Allied shopping malls have already been mortgaged and most are likely not making enough money to cover the interest on the payments.
Simply put, Glazer mortgaged his only viable business, and secured money against the Football Club he was yet to buy at the height of the financial boom. The bubble then burst and he's been playing catch up ever since.
Last summer Cristiano Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid for £80 million, sparking the Green and Gold protests which have now garnered 158,000 members and also seemingly been given the support of David Beckham. The importance of this sale to the club is now self evident. Man Utd wouldn't be getting any money from the Glazers to invest in new players, and so they had to sell one of their prized assets in order to develop the team.
The outlook is bleak for a Glazer controlled Manchester United FC, at best they sell up and the new owners clear the debts attached to the club, at worst they default on their massive repayments and the creditors move in. Man Utd are in a terrible position at present, and it is only their continued success on the field which has kept them from slipping. Unfortunately with only one major asset at the club (Wayne Rooney) and no other way of raising significant funds for squad development they may find themselves quickly slipping down the league.
Lets contrast this with the situation at Arsenal. No major trophy for 5 years and seemingly about to sell the club captain and heart of the team Cesc Fabregas to his childhood team, Barcelona, for between £30m and £60m depending on who you ask.
On the surface you would say that they are underachieving, that Arsenal should have won something in the last 5 years. Everyone says that the fans will grow restless, and that the Manager will soon have to win something or leave. What a load of rubbish! Here's some points to explain my position.
- Cesc Fabregas will most likely leave this summer, but the club will make pure profit on a player that cost them nothing and has given his best every time he played.
- If Fabregas does leave this summer Arsenal have a number of alternatives to replace him. Rosicky, Nasri, Diaby, Ramsey, Wilshere, and interestingly if the rumours are to be believed Joe Cole.
- Arsene Wenger has developed Arsenal into consistent top four contenders, and a credible threat to win the champions league. The fans that were there when he was appointed have faith in him, and can understand the importance of running a club as a proper business that is sustainable.
- Arsenal FC are in debt, but unlike man Utd it is a manageable amount that is being payed back quickly and on time thanks to the new stadium that the borrowed funds helped build.
- Of the traditional big 4 teams in England two are owned by Americans that have heaped massive debt (un-related to the actual running of the clubs) onto their new play things, one is owned by a Russian Billionaire that has decided to stop spending his own money on the team, and the other is Arsenal, a team with one of the lowest proportional wage bills in the premier league and a sustainable financial plan for the future.
If the price of a sustainable future for my football club is a trophy shortage then i will gladly pay it, If you ask the same question to Crystal palace, Southend or Portsmouth fans they would agree. They would break your arm off to be in the position that Arsenal find themselves in. Chances are however that Man Utd, the team that wins things every year, will be out of business within 10 years.
In the end i'd rather have a club to support...
Robinho
It's currently 3.38pm, we're 38 minutes into the championship play-off final between Cardiff City and Blackpool, and so far it's the team from Wales that are leading 2-1 in the glorious sunshine of Wembley stadium.
Scratch that, Blackpool have just equalised, it's 2-2 now. This pretty much encapsulates what the play-off system is all about. It takes four teams whose seasons might otherwise be over, and injects some interest into the last few weeks of the season for them. This game has so far been an end to end affair with each team giving as good as they get.
It's now 3-2 to Blackpool with 46 minutes gone...
A friend of mine is a Nottingham Forest supporter. He recently complained to me that the newest member of the English Premier League family will either be Welsh, or a club with a three sided stadium. Sour grapes you might say, especially since it was the club with the three sided stadium that knocked his beloved Forest out of the play-offs this season. In truth this is regularly one of the best games of the season, and not just because the winner gets a place in the English Premier League and all the financial bonuses that come with that (approximately £90m). It's a day out, it's the sort of thing that years later you can tell people you were there.
As of this moment Blackpool look as though they will be in the Premiership next year, if the championship didn't run the play-off system they would have been 9 points short of 3rd place and have nothing to play for. Is that fair on Nottingham Forest who finished 3rd this year? No, but it makes for a much more entertaining end of season and gives 6 sets of fans across 3 divisions a memorable day out at Wembley, a place that is hard enough to get to with the premier league's dominance of cup competitions.On a side note, the Champions League Final should never have been moved to a Saturday, now i have to wait until Monday to talk about it around the water cooler...Robinho
