With the real cycling season approaching the end, I'm guessing some of you intend to fill the void by starting a new or continuing an already existing PCM career. Either way, this article should hopefully bring you some good news regarding those plans!

Patch 1.0.4.0. (hopefully) out by Monday

As most of you probably already know, the anticipated new patch fixing some of the major bugs in PCM13, is estimated to be released this Monday. This information comes from Cyanide team member Izno. Please note that this is an estimate rather than a promise, so don't go smashing them if it takes another day or two. ;-)

Jesleyh wins PCM.daily's Velogames Vuelta league

After alexkr00 at the Giro and Smowz at the Tour, it is Jesleyh who becomes the third and last winner of our own PCM.daily league in a Velogames Grand Tour. He managed the impressive feat of foreseeing the surprising overall winner Chris Horner, while also including other riders with good scores such as Alejandro Valverde and Joaquím Rodríguez, and eventually ended up just 5 points short of 8000 - almost 200 more than 2nd placed Peter.

All we can do now is look forward to next year and the classics game, I guess!

2013 betting champion all but decided

The real life racing and the Velogames races aren't the only things leaving for a few months - the betting system will also take a hiatus over the winter for obvious reasons. With that said, there are still a few races left - the world championships for instance. The betting champion title looks to be out of reach however, as mbjerten is looking safe - with over 24000 PCM$ in his account!

It may sound almost unreal, but it's really just a few cleverly placed big pots behind his success. After gaining 800 PCM$ at Paris-Nice thanks to Porte, he continued by taking 1000 PCM$ from Roubaix with Cancellara before really breaking clear thanks to Froome's dominance in Romandie, the Dauphiné and the Tour (around 9000 PCM$ in total) before topping it off with 4000 PCM$ from Quintana on stage 20 of the Tour. Along with some smaller wins, that has added up to the current number.

Man-Game goes mountainous

As the title indicates, the climbers are currently thriving in the Man-Game. While many PCT and CT teams are off racing either Volta a Portugal or Vuelta a Burgos, the PT is currently in Colombia for 12 days - of which 8 include climbing of some sort!

And as if that wasn't enough, there's more coming up! First the Tour of Hellas in Greece, then also Tour de Vineyards on New Zealand and also Tour de l'Avenir for the youngsters. All before the end of August! If you like hard mountain stages, make sure to keep an eye on the Man-Game forums in the next few weeks!

In the Weekly News #89 we stated under "New patch finally under way":

"Among the bug fixes included are, for example, getting the resistance stat working properly, making WT teams participate in Continental Tour races all season long and a solution to the currently not working world championships races."

We have now been told that the list we posted was merely a member's list of changes that he'd like to see. Cyanide has now published a list of what is included in the upcoming patch so far, and on this list there's no mention of the buggy resistance stat.

While the list is not final, PCM.daily has learned that Cyanide has no intentions of fixing the issue this time around.

Instead, this is on the cards (as translated by PCM.daily member MartijnVDD - thanks!):

CAREER
- WT teams will participate in CT races again
- Leaders' morale won't drop as easy as before
- Riders will be more optimistic about their personal goals
- Double (KOM-)points will be handed out on TDF mountain top finishes
- Vuelta's got correct bonifications

3D
- World championships will be fixed
- Riders wearing jerseys (yellow, green, polka dots, white, red, pink, blue etc.) will start at the front

INTERFACE
- Messed up fitness chart in second season will be fixed
- Reset button in fitness planning will be fixed so that it will automatically generate a planning according to the rider's objectives
- You can only select a single leader and a single sprinter at the start of a race
- The scales of the rankings on the rules page have been fixed

ARMADA
- Legendary cards will be activated

Still no mention of when we can expect to see this released, though.

Feeling sad because the weekend is over or because a certain rider won the Vuelta? Perhaps a new edition of the news can cheer you up!

Plenty of new races and teams in upcoming Daily DB

We're all getting more and more excited about the soon-to-be-released full Daily DB with every passing day, but you'll have to be patient for another little while and wait for the new patch to be released first. In the meantime, lluuiiggii and his crew continue adding new features to the DB every day. As it currently stands, no less than 92 new races have been added to the game, along with 5 new teams - making the total number 100!

Sounds good, doesn't it? Now we just have to hope that the new patch arrives soon!

Downloads section flooded with new files

FTP admin Rin has had a busy week updating our downloads section with recently released DBs, graphics and other things made to improve your PCM experience. PCMFrance's updated FCM DB and CYMSpain's V2 DB are two of the bigger things now available for download, alongside Jacky Durand's latest sponsorkits pack and a couple of graphics packs from Deksel and KenL.

Close at both top and bottom of Man-Game ProContinental Tour

The Man-Game season is slowly but surely approaching the end of the season, but as the latest rankings update shows - it's still far from decided which of the PCT teams will promote to Protour and which will drop down to Continental level. Rothaus-Aegon and roturn are currently at the head of standings, while brownwm and Repsol-Cativen are looking a lot less secure at the other end. However, as mentioned earlier - there's still a lot to play for during the remaining three months!

In the division below, things are a little more clear in terms of the leading position. DubbelDekker has proven to be a real mastermind with the planning ever since the start of the season, and his Gazelle team is looking unstoppable with a 500-point advantage over the clear 2nd, Iberia. Catch the remainder of the season to find out which teams will join them in PCT next season!

New patch finally on the way

A couple of months have passed since the release of PCM13, but several fairly major bugs and other problems have made it hard to enjoy the game as much as you'd like to. Luckily, some of these issues are about to be sorted out in a new patch from Cyanide in a few weeks time.

Among the bug fixes included are, for example, getting the resistance stat working properly, making WT teams participate in Continental Tour races all season long and a solution to the currently not working world championships races. An official list of everything that will be fixed can be found here.

#1 Story of the Month winner: Nordic Cycling

In a thrillingly close vote, the title of August's most popular story goes to Atlantius and Nordic Cycling! With 8 votes out of 28 in total, he tops valverde321's AC Sparta Praha by the slimmest possible margin: 1 vote!

Though perhaps a surprise for some that a PCM11 story steals the show from some of the newer ones, it is without any doubt a deserving winner. The thread passed the legendary 100 pages-milestone already a few weeks ago, and has made it as far as 4 seasons into the career - which all story writers know is a very impressive achievement!

Along with this, the official winners thread has now also been opened!

Mini Man-Game opens in Brazil

The 24 teams offered to new managers two weeks ago were quickly claimed, and after a short preparation process - the Mini Man-Game racing began yesterday, with the flat Copa America de Ciclismo classic in Brazil.

As expected, every quality sprinter in the division was present - leading to a big clash at the mass sprint finish. Who came out victorious, then? Have a look for yourself, rather than allow me to spoil the excitement for you!

It's been a rather quiet week around here, but here's a small news update nevertheless!

Elect the "first" Story of the Month-winner

After being one of two big subjects (along with the Mini Man-Game) in the news for a couple of weeks, the storied award has made its official return today. Now it's up to you to decide who will be the first winner since the revival!

And the nominees? Have a look in the thread if you haven't already!

Add a new level of enjoyment to PCM with Stylus' Giro

Just over a month after uploading a terrific variant for the Giro, native Italian member Stylus has used his knowledge of the terrain Italy offers to add another Giro to his showroom. This version is quite possibly the most impressive I've personally ever seen, not to mention a well balanced route - which among other places includes a finish on Colle di Bettaforca, 2670m above sea level!

Even if you don't feel like downloading right now, it's definitely worth visiting his thread through the link above - just to look at the amazing screens from the race!

Norway next stop for the Man-Game ProTour

The Tour de France may have come to an end, leaving the Tour of America as the only remaining Grand Tour this season - but there's still many races to enjoy before the year is over. The biggest teams in the game are currently in Norway, where the first stage of an 8-day stage race was ridden today.

Norway's own superstar, Edvald Boasson Hagen, looks like the top favourite after winning both Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne earlier this year, but there's a long line of other strong riders present as well.