After a whole bunch of Pro Cycling Manager 2008 news it's getting more and more interesting. The beta tests are now just days away from beginning, and this traditionally means even more information. The release dates have been revealed, although not officially confirmed, and all we can do now is wait ;) The PCM.daily DB is coming up, though, and we can ensure you that it'll make the waiting time feel much shorter ;)
PCM 08 applications As we mentioned just a few days ago, Cyanide has opened up for more (and new) beta testters for PCM08. They won't be accepting them for forever, though, so now they've set a deadline: tomorrow at 21:00 GMT +01. So, hurry up, cheat a little with your DxDiag, say how much you love Cyanide, and you're probably guaranteed a spot ;)
New teams in PCM08? In PCM.daily's interview with Clément Pinget he said that it was unsure whether or not there would be moe teams in PCM08. However, on the official forum, sebduth, French moderator, has announced a list of teams which Cyanide need jerseys for. This list includes the following teams: Auber 93, Acqua Sapone, CCC Polsat, Ceramica Flaminia, DHL - Author, Preti Mangimi, Roubaix Lille Metropole, Team 3C-Gruppe and Designa Køkken. So, it seems very likely that these teams will be in PCM08. If you want to help out making them, go to this thread.
2008 stages I noticed that I certainly haven't been very good at updating the download section with the released 2008 stages, so throughout this week I've been adding the some of the larger races. This includes: Paris-Nice, the new Italian classic Monte Paschi Eroica, Omloop Het Volk and Milano - Sanremo. They are made by a bunch of various stage makers including Jaap90, Bilbo Baggins, PPDB's stage maker BuddyMulligan and the Dane, Lampert. Download them from our Stages-section - also, keep in mind that the stages msde by BuddyMulligan are originally made for PCM06, but they work perfectly with PCM07. I'll be adding more stages during the upcoming week, most of them made by BuddyMulligan.
Mini Shirts Speaking of 2008, two different styles of mini shirts have been released. First, we have the "Miya-style" 2008 Mini Shirts. They have been given some sort of 3D-feel, and they are very unlike what we've seen before. You can learn how to make them in this topic, or you can go straight to our download section and download a pack, including mini shirts of the Pro Tour and Pro Continental Tour teams. Or, you can consider the "Stanos Style" instead, made by the guy who's now named Camerluca, but who has previously been calling himself for Stanos Libre (which is why it's called "Stanos Style"). They are the official Pro Cycling Manager 2008 shirts, but now they are also available for PCM07. In the pack, you get all Pro Tour-teams, all Pro Continental-teams and a great bunch of Continental-teams. Go download the pack right now.
Audience / Public Packs Tired of having all the traditional spectators at the race? Are you tired of the fact that they never really cheer for any team? Well, here's your solution. Two so-called Audience Packs have been released. The first one was released long ago and is originally made for PCM06, but it also works with PCM07. It changes the spectators so they now wear (2007) cycling jerseys - you can download it here. PepsiLight, German graphic guy, has now updated the pack, so they wear 2007 cycling jerseys instead. Other than that, there's no noticeable difference. Go download it here. Keep in mind, though, and this counts for both packages, that some spectators also wear older jerseys, like ONCE and Telekom.
.. and another fix for the Sattlerei DB Our worst fear are being confirmed these days -- the Sattlerei DB may look good, but it's just not thoroughly tested. Therefore, the DB-team (mainly MichelinR) released a patch for the DB pack which corrects two game crashes, and includes a bunch of new things for the game, including more 2008 stages, the 2008 audience pack (mentioned above), more cyclist photos, etc.. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like it has helped much. 3 people has commented on the pack in our download section, and they are all reporting a crash on 2nd of April at the Settimana Lombardia. If you want to give it a try anyway, grab it from our DL-section. Keep in mind that you also have to download the "base pack".
PCM.daily's DB and Graphic Team Not long ago, Dankan announced that PCM.daily will form a real DB and Graphic Team (like the PPDB). We've been working on getting this team together, and I can say that we've already "hired" a few, very competent people. However, there's always room for improvement and more people as long as they are skilled enough. So, if you're interested in joining a team which will definitely set it mark on the PCM 08 DB-scene, read the original news entry. We're looking for all kind of "talents", including shirt makers, graphic designers, stage makers, etc.. We hope to hear from you! :)
Earlier, we've reported that the beta tests were to start this week. This was "kind of" confirmed by the fact that Cyanide opened up for applications for beta testing PCM08. However, I've been told that Cyanide experienced a "massive computer crash" yesterday which has now resulted in them postponing the start of the beta tests until next week. I suppose this means that there's still time for you to hand in your applications if you're interested in beta testing PCM 08 - so, go ahead! ;)
Although nothing official has been said yet more and more websites are starting to report release dates for Pro Cycling Manager 2008 which could very well be true. As always, there are different release dates depending on where you live, but these also follow a pattern we've seen before.
Denmark and Norway will, according to the publisher KeMedia, get the game on the 4th of July. Sweden and Finland will probably have to import the game as they have been doing since 2005/2006 since KeMedia obviously hasn't decided to change its strategy. According to Vurp's "Video Game Upcoming Release Program", the game will be released on the 20th of June. I suppose they mean that it will be released to the "traditional" countries on that day, meaning France, Benelux, Germany, Italy and Spain. Concerning the British release date, well, I really don't know. It's usually published by Digital Jesters, but they have closed down, and I don't know if they've found a new one. They probably have, but I'd expect the game to be released around the same date as in Scandinavia.
Update: Seems like Cyanide wants you to wait with applying. They have written on the French forum that they should "wait a little longer", so, well, wait ;)
For the first time in many years, Cyanide is actually opening up for new beta testers. There's not a whole lot of spots left, but there's a few, so hurry up and apply right now.
bdufourd wrote:
Pro Cycling Manager 2008 beta-tests are about to start and the team is not complete yet. If you want, you can become a beta-tester.
To become a beta-tester:
Code:
- Pseudo: - Email address: - Interest points (carrier / run): - Experience on PCM (which opus, time spent): - Motivation to become a beta-tester: - DxDiag* :
* : We need you DxDiag to know your hardware configuration... but just one part is interesting. Generate your DxDiag but copy-paste just these parts: System Information, Display Devices (until Driver Date/Size) and Sound Devices.
As mentioned ages ago, PCMBenelux.com have been working on an interview with Clément Pinget about PCM08. Although it's been very silent lately it has now finally been published. It's currently only in Dutch, but we're working on a translation as fast as possible :)
You can read it in Dutch on PCMBenelux' website. For now, you can use Google's website translation system. It doesn't translate it "optimally", but it does give you an impression of what to expect. Read it in "look-a-like" English here. (Look below)
Update, 18:28 (GMT): Mrlol has been doing a really good job, and thanks to him, we can now present the full English translation of the interview by PCMBenelux. Go read it in English right here.
Update, 14:49 (GMT): After a quick read-through, here's what seems to be the most important "points": - PCM had some good sale figures in pretty much all countries except for Germany which were influenced by all the doping scandales - There will not be any major improvement to the media part of the game - Riders will now also have nationality as a factor when deciding to move to a new team - It will be possible to set your own team at the World Championships. However, some riders may refuse to participate. - All licenses for Pro Tour-teams (also Astana) - No major improvement to the calendar - No graphical differences between riders (such as height, weight, etc.) - There have been some rumours about being able to unlock legends in the next PCM, but Pinget has denied this rumour. - No official database editor, unless an "external" programmer is interested in doing the job for Cyanide. - There will be a lot more IsolatedBuildings for the stage editor. Also, they have been working a lot on improving the stability of the editor. - More rider animations - There'll be sixteen track riders in the database with three stats: stamina, acceleration and resistance - No major changes to the multiplayer mode.
