As I mentioned in the Weekly News #9, the winner of the stage creation contest have been found. The winner can now call himself 2nd time world champion in stage making, because he also won last year - the winner is I-Chezidek, followed by Thune (who also ended 2nd last year), and newcomer Belokiller.

This is how it ended:
1 I-Chezidek (1st last year)
2 Thune (2nd last year)
3 Belokiller
4 Jaap60
5 Florentlatortue
6 Hopla
7 EdouardG

And here's the official "judgement" on the three first. Translation is (again) made by Aquarius - a huge "thank you" to him again:

"I-Chezidek :
An impressive number of AP (Altitude Points), which were maybe not all well-justified, but overall, the relief rendering looks very nice.
The roads main is almost perfect and there are various and well-realised kinds of curves. Everything is well integrated into the landscape, with even some tunnels and anti-avalanche shield tunnels alongside cliffs (even if the remarks above can apply here). The decorating elements are used on purpose, with, among others, the presence of the station at the second montain, even though some more camping cars or tents close to the top of mountains would have been appreciated.
The summits of the first and third mountains are very good, though, the second one is a tone lower.
Among the negative points, some AP way to big to render the sea (radius of 50 000) need to be mentioned, which begot a sea-flood in my game (only at me it seems, but removing those AP solved the problem). Some towns spread onto the rivers look quite ugly too. The first river is also problematic around its beginning (it begins too high) and in its end (the bridge across doesn't even stand into the water). Eventually, we regret the little lack of forests, even though we must mention that those that are present are well-located.

Thune :
Among the positive aspects, the descent of the second mountain and the general looking of the stage are noticeable. The forests are also well-mastered. The roads main is quite food, but some curves are too tight, that's damageable. The Glandon lakes are good-looking. Though, I regret the lack of the Isère river after the Madeleine as well as the summit of the Croix de Fer which isn't surrounded by AP. The cul-de-sac valleys harm the realism of the stage, and, beware, there lacks flat sections between uphill and downhill parts in the profile.

Belokiller :
Some defaults into Thune's stage are also present here : the flat part of the profile has been forgotten, the cul-de-sac valley, and the famous cliffs are closed. Except for that, the stage reaches a good level, the basic principles of staging
(© binou ) are well-mastered (except for the use of a road-map, but that has been solved now )
and the stage is very pleasant to look at, even though it lacks curves in some of the uphill sections (descents are quite winding though)"

We might have started a new week, but that doesn't mean you won't have any Weekly News ;) The tradition continues upon a very interesting week.

Compatibility problems with Vista
A lot have reported that Pro Cycling Manager 06 and Windows Vista simply don't work with each other, mainly because of the Starforce drivers. However, on Starforce's website you'll see that they advertise with their product being "Vista Certified". Therefore, it seems like that the Starforce program included with PCM 06 is outdated and will have to be updated. Currently, there's no solution, though.

Explanation of case between PCM.daily and PPDB
Some of you might have noticed that PPDB and I had a misunderstanding during the release of PPDB Europe - this is how I experienced it:
The day before the release, it's announced on the public forum of PPDB that there's going to be released a database. And since it's announced in public I suppose the DB will be public too. The following day, the database is released. Savoldelli, a forum member of PPDB, says in the topic that he's going to mirror it which makes me think that it's a public release - so I announce it at a few other sites, including PCM.daily, of course. However, it then later turns out that the DB isn't a public release, and I decide to remove links and files from the places I've posted it.

I'm of course deeply sorry of what has happened. My action does, however, in no way legimitate the things which have been said afterwards.

Updates for the PPDB Europe 2006
When the PPDB Europe was released some bugs were already known. After the release, the PPDB-team has worked on solving those bugs, and that has now resulted in three updates.

The first update was released to the public Saturday, fixing some race names which for some reason didn't work with the Spanish and Italian versions of the game. It also solved the trainer problem which was known when the database was released.
Link: http://www.pcmdaily.com/downloads.php?cat_id=1&download_id=121

The second update was released yesterday night, and it fixes the experience problem. When the DB was released most riders had 4 in experience - now, it's set to realistic levels.
Link: http://www.pcmdaily.com/downloads.php?cat_id=1&download_id=122

Last, but not least, is an update of the Rundum den Elm-race which - because of a typo - crashed. To install the update, simply extract the file to the CM_Stages-directory and overwrite the existing file.
Link: http://www.pcmdaily.com/downloads.php?cat_id=1&download_id=123

Also, there's a problem with the 2007-edition of Tour Mediteaneen:
"There seems to be a problem with the 2007 stages for the Tour Méditeranéen, in the second year of your career they make the game crash.
Untill we found a solution, please remove the following files from your CM_Stages\variant folder:
Tour Méditerranéen.rules.xml
Tour Méditerranéen_01.descr.xml

by simply removing them the problem is solved and the game will use the 2006-stages for this race. "

Winners of the Stage Creation Contest have been found
As we reported on the 5th of December 2006, Cyanide had initiated a competition to find out who the best stage maker really is - and now, the winner has been found. The winner is - for the 2nd time in row - I-Chezidek. He also won last year, and this year he followed up on the triumph by winning again.

On 2nd place came Thune, and third was Belokiller. Noticeable is it that Thune also was 2nd last year.

We will have much more information on the results when the offical statement has been translated to English ;)

Until then, you can try out the stages by downloading them from PCM.daily.
Link: http://www.pcmdaily.com/downloads.php?cat_id=7&download_id=124

RSM News DB 1.3 released
The most popular 2007 DB is currently the RSM News DB. It has now been updated to 1.3 which means that it now has even more transfers and is even more realistic. In the new DB you'll also see a new team, Amore e Vita, and you will notice that all transfers up until the 6th of February are included.

Download it here: http://www.pcmdaily.com/downloads.php?cat_id=1&download_id=120

RSM Profiler updated
The stage creation tool, RSM Profiler, has been "dead" for long, but its author, Arkon, suddenly aroused it. The program is used to create profiles of the stages which can be done with only very few clicks on the mouse. With the update, the program is now fully compatible with the latest patch.

Link: http://www.pcmdaily.com/downloads.php?cat_id=12&download_id=117

In a press release by Freire, graphical leader of Cyanide, it's said that Cyanide is currently searching for a temporary programmer to work on the upcoming game, Pro Cycling Manager 07. Here's the full release (thanks a lot to Aquarius for the translation from French to English):

"Looking for a temporary programmer to work on Pro Cycling Manager

Founded in 2000, Cyanide is one of the European leaders in video games developing. Today, 35 persons work in their studio, and a dozen of games have been released. After making its reputation in sports simulations (CyM, PRM, HRM) on PC, the studio is now reaching a key stage by making a move to new kind of games (action games, RPG games), as well as new consoles (PSP, and other next generation consoles).
As we're evolving, we're looking for a temporary worker :

Programmer (Male/Female)
Your mission :
Within our team, you'll take part in the renewing and the integration of PCM menus new graphical aspects. You'll base yourself on the new graphical system and on the new pages organisation. You'll do the re-enginnering of the graphical menus, as well as you'll update the program code.

Your profile :
You're an engineer, or you have at least a 5th year of university degree in computer programming. You master the C and C++ languages very well. Mastering the English language is also an advantage. The job will take place in Nanterre (District 92, near Paris), and will start as soon as possible, for a 4 to 6 months length.

To get more details about Cyanide studios : www.cyanide-studio.com .To gather with us, send your application via email, with the reference PROG/01 at jobsATcyanide-studio.com ( <- replace AT by @ )."

We're back with another update on this week's news - and this week, we've quite a lot new and updated databases for you :)

PCMGeeks releases their first DB
Even though the Danish website, PCMGeeks, has had quite a few database projects they had yet to finish one. That, however, changed when the new crew-member, Aab'eren, released "PCMGeeks 07DB" which is a pretty ordinary 2007 database. It contains the updated teams with their new jerseys, including the new Tinkof-team with Tyler Hamilton - and that's pretty much it. If you don't need extra teams and a lot of graphical work, it's worth a try.

Lots of historical databases
At this point, it's actually the historical databases which are the most popular. Lots of different historical databases are currently being released, and this week is a perfect example of that.

First of all, Nono29 released a 2002 DB which are based on the Tour de France of 2002. Therefore, it does of course also contain the tour of 2002 which are true to real life.

We can also welcome the "1903-1996 DB" to the family of historical databases. This DB collects the best riders through the times from each country and places them in their national team. This means that you'll now be able to find out if Armstrong really was a better rider than Eddy Merckx and Hinault ;)

And if you're still not tired of the old stars you can try out the new 1976 DB which - as the name says - brings you back to 1976. It "only" contains the teams and riders from back, but it's still an experience.

The second version of 1997 DB by JanUllrick was also released this week. Like JanUllrick's other historical databases, it contains almost everything to make the game look as much like 1997 as possible. It contains several stages from back then, the original photos, lots of other graphical work - and the teams and riders, of course.
We've also uploaded the latest versions of his two other historical databases, the 2003-one and the one from 1996. Both seems pretty completed, and I don't think we'll see more updates on those two. Both packs contain exactly what I mentioned when I described the 1997 DB - and both are also really worth a try.

Basso will win the Giro 'd Italia 2007
Today, our poll concerning the Giro 'd Italia 2007 ended. And 48 % of you have predicted that the new Discovery Channel-rider Ivan Basso will win the Giro for 2nd year in row. However, according to you, Damiano Cunego will also have a chance. Last year, Damiano Cunego declared that he'll focus completely on the Giro this year which means that he's ready to burn out completely. Ivan Basso, however, will also ride Tour de France which is his primary goal - and that might give Cunego a chance. He got 37 % of your votes.

You can see the full results here: http://www.pcmdaily.com/infusions/member_poll_panel/polls_archive.php

PCM.daily sponsors 1980 database
Today, we decided to sponsor Capstardk's new project, a 1980 database. This means that Capstar from now on will keep you, the visitors of PCM.daily, updated on his project through PCM.daily. Also, PCM.daily will release the database exclusively when it's done.

Capstardk is currently seeking for people to help him with making jerseys. Read more by clicking "Project information".

Site updates
A new poll has been added to the site. Naturally, you can now predict who wll win the Tour de France 2007!

We're trying to improve the website as much as possible, and this week we've made a new function available for you. For those of you who're using RSS-Feeds you can now also add our website. We've added RSS to our News and Downloads-section which means that you can now watch the 10 latest news and downloads without even having to open up the site.

We've also decided to close our Downloads section for non-members. You will now have to register to the website to use our downloads-section. All other functions which were available for guest before are still available without registration, though.

In addition to the 1980 DB which is now a PCM.daily-sponsored project, we will soon be able to present another project. It is still top-secret, and we can ensure you that you will be surprised positively when we present it.