PCM Assistance, a French website, has published an interview revealing more news and information about the upcoming Pro Cycling Manager 2008. They have met up with three employees of Cyanide, and this is the first part of the interview, this time with Eyolfur, beta tester of the game. Here's the main points of the interview:
- The form and fitness things have been changed, meaning that riders won't be worn out too early in the season. It should suit both fitness freaks and those who just like playing without paying too much attention to the fitness. To be precise, there will now be training programs. For example, you can choose a Tour de France fitness program, making the rider in top form for the race. You can alos design your own fitness programs
- The potential and scouting system has been changed. You will now have to pay more attention to get the best talents. For example, there are races with youngsters which you need to look at, the scouts need to be good - for example, some scouts can be too enthusiastic about a rider. Also, there will be varying progression in the experience. Some riders will have late progression, others will become good as young riders whereas others will have totally random progression.
- Transfers haven't changed much, but the teams will now orientate more towards nationality. If a team has a Russian team leader, they will try to get a Russian helper for him. Also, some teams have secondary markets, and they will therefore try to get riders from the countries of these markets.
- There will be an easy to use Database Editor which can edit the most simple things. You can also export datas to Excel.
In PCM07, the very beloved feature "One texture pr. rider" was removed. Because of that, it was impossible to have different back numbers for the riders, you couldn't make individual faces for each rider - in general, it put a limit on the creativity from the graphic artists. Cyanide never explained why they removed it, and the first screenshots of PCM08 indicated that the feature wouldn't make its return to the game. However, the very latest screenshots are more positive for the artists. In the Rider Asking For Water-screenshot you can clearly see that the riders wear different back numbers, and that gives us hope towards seeing the feature in the game again. However, on another screenshot from today, the Gas Station-screenshot, the riders wear the same number.
So, in conclusion, we can't know for sure if the feature is back, but one screenshot does give us hope ;)
Focus and Cyanide have sent yet another screenshot of the track cycling, but this time with the interface included, meaning that you'll get an idea of how it all works. We've also included some other screenshots, for example one from PCMScandinavia where you can see the devil running alongside a CSC-rider wearing the polka dots ;) So, as I've said before, make sure to check back on our PCM 08 Screenshot Album often. It's constantly updated with new screenshots ;)
Update: As said, "constantly updated". Several new screenshots are up.
Along with the International trailer which we told you about earlier today, Cyanide has also been kind enough to send me the very first official screenshot of the track cycling part, exclusively for PCM.daily. Look below for the small picture, click on it for the large version - enjoy! ;)
Cyanide made public a trailer on Pro Cycling Manager 08/09 this afternoon. There you'll be able to check most of the improvements the Paris-based company made so as to ensure full enjoyment on the eighth edition of the best-known cycling management series, such as the new landscapes, the brandnew animations and the track mode. In order to see it, just click here.
