Admittedly, we haven't been too communicative about the release of the 2nd version of our 2012 DB.

But - well, here it is! In short, we have been working on adding more of the same. This means that while the number of teams and races are basically unchanged, there's plenty of 2012 stuff to get from this.

Obviously, stats and rosters have been updated. But you will also find lots of extras - new jerseys, new accessories, a lot of new equipment, even more 2012 stage profiles, several new variants and more.

Also, thanks to TankNL, cancelled races are now finally gone from the DB, races have been moved to their correct dates, and race participation has been improved in general.

Before skipping to the download links, give lluuiiggii some praise. While there hasn't been a formal announcement, he has officially taken over the leadership of the PCM.daily databases. This is his first release, and he's done an excellent job updating the V1 - that's for sure.

Anyway - you can get the V2 Public Beta Update here. Please note that the V1 is required to use the V2 Public Beta.

Please report any bugs that you find in this thread.

The Public Beta session is set to last a week, meaning we're aiming for a final V2 by the end of next week. This will be the last release for PCM11 before we change focus to PCM12.

Yesterday, Cyanide arranged a fanday in the company's headquarter in Paris where fans could get a chance to come and try out the upcoming Pro Cycling Manager 2012.

Thankfully it seems that the participators have been allowed to share some details from the day, and photos from the event have surfaced on Cyanide's Facebook account - one revealing the new race interface that has been mentioned by the team in previous interview (see below).

One forum member mentions that the calendar has been changed. You now have to plan your season earlier - e.g. registering riders to races - and as we already knew, it's possible to do recon on stages. It's also mentioned that the stage profiles now look more like the ones we know from Tour de France graphics/design wise. Minor change, but pretty cool.

A few race changes are also mentioned. For example, you can ask a rider to try to maintain a certain position in the peloton, e.g. you can ask Cavendish to place himself at around the 20th position. It's also possible to monitor the distance between to riders - handy feature if you are in yellow and want to keep a close eye on your rivals.

As expected, PCMFrance has published the 2nd part of its interview with Aitor Roda, the lead designer of Tour de France, Cyanide's console game for XBOX and Playstation.

There's not a whole lot of new details, but it is mentioned that the game has "more licenses than ever" (I'd assume that this also counts for PCM for PC).

As expected, stages are still played in sections rather than full length - according to Aitor Roda due to the consoles not being strong enough - but it's said that there will be more playable sections per stage than in last year's game.

The game is titled Tour de France for a reason - no other races than that one will be available. Cyanide do hope, though, that they can release Paris-Nice as an extra add-on "during the Tour".

Release is expected to be at the start of the Tour de France, Aitor Roda says.

You can read the 2nd part of the interview in French at PCMFrance.

Multiplayer and revised, more realistic gameplay are the two main features to look out for in the upcoming Tour de France 2012 for XBOX and Playstation.

That's the conclusion of a PCMFrance-interview with Aitor Roda, the lead designer of the game.

In the interview, Aitor Roda explains how especially the gameplay has changed since the first version was released last year. Time trials are said to have changed dramatically. Players will have more control of riders' lanes (trajectories), and there will be several different methods to get to the line the fastest.

Like in the PC game, the AI is now more likely to consider more tactical stuff. For example, the 2nd placed in a GC is unlikely to help the rider in yellow. "The number of possible combinations and situations is incredible," Aitor Roda says.

It's also mentioned that the control system has changed. The previous one where a lot of commands (e.g. getting refreshments) were hidden in sub-menus is gone and has been replaced with a more intuitive system, Roda explains. That being said, there will be more team commands available.

PCMFrance mentions that this part of the interview is one of two - expect more news next week when the 2nd part of the interview is published.

Over the last 5 nights 21 PCM.Daily members have been battling it out in a battle of epic proportions.

There were (no) breakaways, except for MitchNL doing a break every so often, there were tears as Ste put the presure on the peloton in LBL. There was panic as riders got dropped. BUT we have a winner. Read on to find out more...

As you might expect, Cyanide are currently working on the database for the Pro Cycling Manager 2012 game - and they have contacted us on Twitter looking for any Danish, Norwegian, German or Eastern European helpers to help them on the database.

Their criteria is as follows:
- Can communicate in French or English
- Have a good overall knowledge of the PCM11 game e.g. how the different stats affects the racing
- Good knowledge of the smaller continental teams and lesser known riders
- Follow race results from WorldTour to .2, for this year and previous years

We already know that the game will now be split into WorldTour, ProContinental and Continental divisions with more teams and races - and clearly Cyanide are keen for these new teams to be accurately represented.

If interested, you need to go to the topic on the official forum and then send a message to freire on there.

Several interviews have already been published about Pro Cycling Manager 2012, and while we did know Cyanide planned on a new version of its Tour de France game for XBOX and Playstation, neither of the two games had been officially confirmed by Focus.

Well, that has been changed now.

Both have been confirmed in a press release by Cyanide today. The press kit also comes with the official covers, logos and info sheets of both games. Nothing really new is revealed, but there's five screenshots of the Tour de France game.

It does appear, though, that Cyanide have revealed the new "play mode" they talked about in one interview:

"Brand new multiplayer mode with scheduled competitions to challenge friends online. Assemble your dream team by collecting rider and equipment "cards" and fight for victory in intense multiplayer games!"

You can download the entire press kit here. You can see the five screenshots of Tour de France 2012 right here.