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This year's birthday surprise - here it is!
Last year, PCM.daily announced on its birthday that we'd be making a 2008 database for Pro Cycling Manager 2007. It later went on and became one of the most downloaded databases (for PCM07). Since then, the project hasn't been followed up by any other released PCM.daily projects despite several being in the making with PCMFusion being the most remarkable one.
But that's going to change with this announcement. PCM.daily will release a 2009 database for Pro Cycling Manager 2008 and follow up on its predecessor's success. But unlike last year's DB, this has another focus.
Previously, PCM.daily and PCM.daily-involved projects have been released in May. But not this one. Several versions are planned, and the first one will be released in about one or two weeks. The first beta was released one week ago, and the 2nd and final beta will be released at some point this week (tomorrow or Sunday). When it's been tested properly, we're going to release the first version to the public.
How? Yes, we do realise that several shirts haven't been revealed yet, not all transfers have been done, etc., etc. But we also realise that there's lots of people out there who can't wait with getting started on their 2009 careers with 2009 teams, riders, etc. Therefore, several shirt makers have contributed with fantasy shirts which will be "place takers" in the DB until the real shirts are revealed. Once the official ones have been made available, we'll put out instructions how to change it in-game, so you can play with the real shirt without having to restart your career.
And as said, the first version is due for 1-2 weeks' time. Until then, we'll be more open towards information than we've previously been. We also have 2 further versions planned: one for January (correct team shirts, more teams, more races, ....) and one for March (the usual known quality of PCM.daily releases).
But since the 1st version is 'near', let's talk about that. The DB currently contains 70 teams which is also the amount that we expect to release it with. However, one or two teams may be added depending on the amount of time we've left. Along with this, we've added several new races (including more new national championships), 2009 race dates for all races, several corrected profiles (e.g. some races having profiles that were 3 years old being replaced with 2008 profiles), 400 new secondary sponsors, new equipment, the CQ Ranking instead of the Superprestige, fixed Pro Tour / Continental point scale and, more importantly, revised stats for all riders (no exceptions). There's probably more, but the point is that we've done very much to 'higher' the playing experience.
I've made the very first screenshots available in a new photo gallery which you can view by clicking here. But if you're interested, you can actually get to play this 'thing' before everyone else. As I mentioned previously, the 2nd and final beta will be released this week, and since we'd like to release a polished and as-good-as-bugfree DB, we're searching for more beta testers than just the crew members. If you're interested, send me a PM, and I'll get back to you once reviewed.
I'll make sure to release the exact team list and other details throughout today on PCM.daily's birthday, but I can say as much as it has the usual PCM.daily focus when it comes to teams. You'll find Bissell, Team Type 1, Rapha Condor, CandiTV - Pinarello, OUCH and other British and American teams along with a mix of some of the "best of the rest" Continental teams such as Differdange, the new Vacansoleil and more.
Lastly, I'd also like to say to everyone else doing 2009 databases that we're always open to working together. Our aim is to create the best possible databases, and we believe that this can best be done by working together with other communities. So if you're making a DB and is interested in a joint effort, feel free to contact me. If not, that's fine too ;)
Since today is PCM.daily's birthday, why not celebrate it by 'teaming' up and meet online for a Birthday Tournament? At 20:00 GMT +1 today I'll host a game at GameCenter named "PCM.daily Birthday Tournament" with password being "bday".
We're going to play 1 round of 30-laps Scratch, 1 round of traditional elimination and 1 round of 10-laps Scratch. The points will be added together, and the player with most points after the three rounds win the birthday tournament and can call himself the Birthday Champion - wow, what a name ;)
There's 16 spots open for the game, and you can sign up by commenting this news item.
After the game, I hope everyone wants to stick around for a couple of more games, although there's no titles on stake ;)
Today, I returned from a 4 day trip to London. 2 years ago, I was in New York, and with a press on a button, PCM.daily was opened to the public after months of hard work prior to the opening - and that's something we are definitely going to celebrate today!
PCM.daily's 2nd year has without a dount been the most remarkable one. We reached the 10.000 members mark, we were on the verge of closing in the summer when we had server trouble -- but more importantly, PCM.daily was one again first with the news on PCM. With exclusive interview(s) with Cyanide, and the first ever review of PCM08, PCM.daily proved that this is the site to find the latest news. We're certainly going to prove that again next year when PCM09 is getting near.
Throughout today, we'll make sure to keep you, our dearest members, entertained. We have a rather important announcement to make at 19:00 GMT +1, at 20:00 (also GMT +1) we have an online track tournament starting (see details later), plus a few surprises which we'll reveil later. So stay tuned, make sure to check back once in a while and celebrate this day with us - we'd be very pleased.
.. because without you, the members, this site wouldn't be what it is today. So today is not only a celebration of PCM.daily as a site, but also as a community driven website with content made for and by our members. Thanks to everyone involved!
This edition is not exactly "Weekly News", but more "Monthly News". On the other hand, since we're now out of the cycling season, there really isn't much to report about.
2009 databases in the making You may have noticed that I a few times have critized the fact that there's tons of 2009 databases in the making. So, I thought, why not try to 'collect' them - so, here you go. I've tried gathering the numerous 2009 databases which are in the making in different communities.
At the Cyanide forum, the French guys have been surprisingly 'lazy'. In fact, just two databases are in the making, and this is actually due to the fact that a lot of the Frenchies are collaborating in making these databases. The two databases are DB 2009 Cya and Pack Complet 2009. They are both promising the exact same things, and from the descriptions and set-ups it even looks like that they've stolen the 'design' from one another.
So while the French guys have been sensible on this area, it doesn't look as good at our friends in the Benelux community. From a quick look at the forum, I found 6 2009 databases: AB'09 DB, 2009 DB, PCM Powerful Project 2009, Equipe de Dopage 2009 DB, Track and road db 2009 and u-23 en elite z/c db 2009. There you go, lots to choose from. From the teams presentations list, some of the these DBs will also include teams that will not exist in 2009, but oh well :P Anyway, among the mentioned databases, it's worth to pick out the AB'09 DB. Unlike pretty much all other databases, this DB is not aiming to add more teams and races. It aims at the exact opposite, meaning that seasons can be played through faster, the accuracy will hopefully 'increase', etc. It's an interesting experiment.
German cycling isn't exactly having its best days at the moment, and the same goes for the German PCM communities. Although they were one of the first to release a (very bad) 2009 DB (Rooney's 2009 DB), they obviously didn't decide to follow up on its "success". As far as I can see, no databases are in the making (well, maybe except Rooney who may or may not have continued developing his).
Other communities are also busy at the moment. PCMNorge is working on its own DB, and PCM-Spain are still trying to find themselves after Dankan stopped making databases for them. Instead, a guy called Jarotu is leading a DB project which does actually seem rather promising. At least the intro doesn't seem to have any "mistakes", and the calendar looks good.
So, the conclusion is: If just half of these projects make it through, you will have lots to choose from. Especially considering that there's probably more projects to come, plus some that I haven't found. For example, the Italian fansite was down when I wrote this. So -- enjoy! ;)
Interesting project by Eyolfur Eyolfur has definitely been one of this PCM-season's 'highlights' with both the official editor and the Advanced Editor for PCM08. Now he's back with yet another very interesting idea: PCM-Live DB. Basically, the idea is to create a bank of PCM DB data which you can then extract into a DB. For example, it can collect all of the 2009 databases mentioned above, put them into one, and you'd have a new DB. There's of course a lot of other factors in this. Many databases have different stat matrixes, some communities prefer some databases over other, etc., but Eyolfur seems to have thought of it all. You can read his idea in this thread at the Cyanide forum. Before you get too excited, it's worth mentioning that this probably won't be realised until PCM2009.
Other interesting databases in the making Although there's a lot of focus on 2009 at this point, it's not everyone who wants to make 2009 databases. PCM.daily's crew member Crommy is currently making a huge 2008 database which will include over 120 teams, over 150 new races and more - basically the PCM Fusion project being done by one guy. Impressive if it can be done - you can read about it here.
We've previously mentioned the Vertigo 18 DB. It contains all the best teams and riders from 1990 to 2008, and according to its status thread at the Cyanide forum, it's 80 % done. From the description, it seems pretty much like the newly released 98-08 DB by dj-cycloteck which you can download here.
Other than that, there's some information out on two more 2003 DBs (we already have 2...), Dankan's 1990 DB, a 2005 DB by PCMBenelux, a 90's DB, two cyclocross databases, a football DB and a 1971 DB. So, in near future, we might actually have 4 2003 databases on the market.
PCM.daily's birthday is coming up This is mainly just a reminder to everyone that PCM.daily's birthday is getting closer and closer. On the 28th of November 2006, PCM.daily was opened with a click from a computer in New York, and this will of course be celebrated again this year. We'll make sure to come up with some events and other things to entertain you, so I hope to see you all there.
