That’s kind of how it feels at the moment, the season is done, all the hard work has been finished, its that almost pointless void at the end of the season where clubs play half-baked friendlies and go on globe trotting tours around the world playing exhibition matches as a way of improving fitness and as a marketing campaign, and so it is with my gaming habits.
You may recall before I went on holiday mid June, I was about to lead England into the Euro Championships, as an extension of my career mode, well I did, and it’s really not worth reporting on.
Group B saw us pitched with Poland, Germany and Romania, I lost the first 2 games both 1-0, and beat Germany 1-0 in the final group match to finish bottom of the group with just 3 points, and therefore eliminated at the first hurdle.
Whether it was the 3 week break between playing, or the jump up to Legendary difficulty that I made a few games from the end of the domestic season that caused such a dismal performance I don’t know, but that was that, and with it, my career mode in FIFA 19 came to a conclusion.
11 seasons, spanning almost 9 months, picking up 13 trophies, including back to back Premier league titles, FA Cup wins, League cup wins, and the Champions league, taking Nottingham forest from a mid table Championship team back to the pinnacle of European football, all in all It was a thoroughly enjoyable career and FIFA 19 has given me some of my most memorable footy gaming moments to date.
I mini-pseudo FIFA 19 review below, purely coming from a career mode focused opinion.
Now that the summer months are here, and its generally warmer and lighter, I don’t feel as much appeal to play games in the evenings, so gaming has been sporadic, but am currently dipping in and out of a few games, playing FIFA 19 Online Divisions, World Snooker 19, and soon to start Detroit:Become human, David Cage/Quantic Dreams latest story based offering along the lines of Heavy Rain from a few years back which I loved.
Here is a nice little goal I scored in an online divisions match against yet another player who was being a total bellend:
Been passing an eye over the E3 games news, specifically Cyberpunk 2077, due to release in 2020, but also of course the PES 20, or eFootball PES 2020 as its now affectionately named, and some of the new master league additions and changes could be decent, but will purely rely on Konami implementing these new features and mechanics properly, which they so often fail to do, so will reserve judgement for the demo at the end of July.
The new camera angle does look very nice though, and I do miss the ability to design kits and chop and change them with sponsors as the season goes by, and of course with PES 20 releasing a few weeks before FIFA 20 (some updates on FIFA 20 new additions here: FIFA 20 New additions), I could well be tempted to start PES 20 first again this year, but it will have to meet expectations for it to last, no messing around wasting time on a half-assed game again this year.
I have already decided that either way, I shall be taking Championship newcomers Luton Town on a career mode journey this year, up the hatters!!!
As I mentioned Snooker 19 earlier, I thought I’d leave this here, a nice little safety shot I played in a qualification match for the Welsh Open:
Over the next few weeks leading up to the release of the new footy games I’ll be posting random gaming snippets, thoughts and musings.
FIFAFX.com 
Very precise percentages, I take it the overall is a weighted average?
Since your mention of a snooker game a few weeks ago, I’ve been happily playing Snooker Stars by Giraffe Games. Some people really get annoyed when you play a decent snooker 🙂
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Yes Chris99 – the OVR is a weighted %.
I play that too, have been doing so for a couple of years, very good graphically but dont like the ‘first to need snookers loses’ approach.
Most people treat it like pool, whereas I play safety and defensively when needed, they attempt pots from ridiculous places.
for the record, the online rage quitting and cheating occurs here too
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Chris99 – iSnooker is worth a look, a proper PC game with solid snooker mechanics, and of course the whole host of opponents who think every player is morally obliged to go for every pot no matter how ridiculous, and will give you an ‘lol’ in chat if you play a great safety when appropriate to do so. PEOPLE RUIN LIFE.
Paul – a great safety shot indeed, and would have got you a ‘vgs’ from most players on iSnooker.
Lovely online goal too btw – and your online moniker ‘xJPRx’ has the very nice appearance of looking like Chinese at first glance.
Welcome back to blogging and I would love to see you post an entire match or two from the online world. Post a good ‘un and a bad ‘un together.
I think I’ve just about played enough FIFA19 to qualify to do an End of Term review of my own. I’ll get to that in August of course – possibly after my own excursion online with Ultimate Team, who knows.
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Cheers NG – Will get a couple of matches up next chance i get to play, probably weds night or over the weekend.
I did check out iSnooker but didnt like the top down gfx.
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I remember you saying about iSnooker top-down look, which is only on the choose a shot. It does switch to a variety of 3D angles when the shot is played. I don’t play online anymore but I do have the app on my PC and often mess around on my own on the practice table, and have just recorded this:
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That’s me doing the standard breakoff shot that everyone used to do on iSnooker back in the day – as you can see it leaves little or nothing on. I then go for a shot to nothing that I would never have gone for in a competitive match, but which 90% of all your opponents would. Online gaming. Where games go to be gamed.
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Thanks for that NG, I didn’t realise it had 3D view too.
I may check it out on my Windows VM on the mac sometime, I only really play snooker games when sat on the bog or when have a few minutes literally of downtime on my phone so getting the mac out, firing up the VM and loading the game then finding a match would probably take up the whole allotted time usually allowed for a quick game.
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Real life football just died….from Rafa Benitez to Steve Bruce. There are now numerous campaigns to dissuade people from going – quite something up here, although I’ve not gone for years. Consequently I haven’t the heart to pick Newcastle for any kind of ML, career, etc until it’s over. If I ever return to footy gaming (and Skyrim continues to offer ridiculous depth) then I’ll need my own Luton Town.
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Its just yet another day in the ‘normal’ football world Turf.
Ashley hasnt got a clue how to run a football club so Benitez was always going to leave, Newcastle is a bigger club than Sheff Weds so Bruce was always going to leave…… rinse and repeat.
Football is the only sport where you can be a total failure as a manager, get sacked and still walk into another high paid job at another club.
Sucks for loyal Toon supporters to lose a coach of Rafa’s ability, but thats clueless owners for you.
Only have to go back 5 or 6 years, when Hicks and Gillette owned Liverpool, took us to the brink f ruin, we were months away from going into administration, the club had no direction, was buying mediocre players, and now look.
Owners with a clear business sense with a passion for the sport, turned it all around.
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Just seen that Bruce is a rather generous 5/2 on to be the first sacking of the season. Solskjaer at 4/1 not far behind. One of those two for sure, by the end of October. I can’t wait for the new VAR-assisted season, particularly how it impacts the famous unwritten ‘1 penalty per team per match’ rule. VAR can and will spot all the instances of grappling and nudging that should be penalties, so the question is will they be awarded. ‘But you could have 10 penalties each every match!’ No – 1 or 2 penalties per match will continue to be the unwritten rule, and the rest are simply going to be ignored the same way as they always have been. I’m eager to see the inevitable early-season match where a ref goes ‘crazy’ and awards most or all of every penalty he could award… and will be lucky ever to ref another game again.
Paul – I have iSnooker on my PC but never actually play online. I just knock the balls around amusing myself these days. the practice table is a worthy pastime in its own right.
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NG – VAR will definitely be interesting, with conflicting views between UEFA chief of referees Pierr Luigi Colina stating VAR should be used for every breach of the law under the games statutory rules and in any competition which falls under the official header of a UEFA tournament.
But the Premier league have stated they wont be using it for retaking of penalties due to keeper movement breaches or other such instances.
from the official premier league website:
All 20 Premier League grounds are equipped with the technology which will allow decisions to be assessed from the VAR hub in Stockley Park, west London.
VAR will be used for ‘clear and obvious errors’; in four areas – Goals, penalties, straight red cards and mistaken identity.
This will lead to changes in the viewing experience for fans:
Television: Viewers will be able to see what the video assistant referees watch, including an ‘over the shoulder’ angle of the officials in the studio. The VAR team will be announced in advance, as per the on-field refereeing group. Broadcasters will be keen matches do not extend too much over the regular 90 minutes, particularly Sky when it has double-headers, with matches kicking off at 14:00 and 16:00 BST.
Stadium: Information about a VAR check will appear on the big screens at the 18 grounds which are equipped with them ie ‘Checking red card’. When a decision is overturned, a video of the incident will be shown when appropriate. At the two grounds which do not have screens – Anfield (Liverpool) and Old Trafford (Manchester United), announcements will be made via the scoreboard and PA.
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Really, Anfield and Old Trafford don’t have screens? Blimey, never knew that.
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Chris99 – yeah they’re older more traditional stadiums and don’t really have the space to accommodate several big screens, they both have narrow strip style scoreboards
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As requested NG – heres 2 full length Online Divisions matches from last night.
The first one here, the guy was actually a decent player, me (Independiente) vs him (Fiorentina) in a close match
The this one, a bit of a knobjockey, not the biggest A-hole I’ve ever played but enough of one.
Notice the constant messing around, showboating, playing back to keeper and dribbling out etc, watching full replays, and the pointless 3 full 30 sec pauses right after his first goal, in which he made no changes whatsoever , and he got lucky with 2 of his goals.
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Paul – thanks for delivering on that, two fascinating games. I watched all the first one over my breakfast, and clicked around in the second one from dickish moment to dickish moment. What do they actually get from the showboating and spoiling tactics?
You played well in both and got caught out and punished loads for dwelling on it at the back.
It strikes me that long-range goals, along with fouls, are confirmed once and for all as yet another casualty of the online era. They’re allowed to thrillingly flash past the upright, or rebound off the woodwork, or be tipped around the post etc. But they’re not allowed to go in. Or if they do it’s such a ridiculously low % that most players rarely try them.
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NG – the second guy was probably a 6/10 on the dickhead scale, I’ve played far worst.
I actually hit the post twice in succession with long range shots last night and had my opponent score one against me from about 25 yards, they are still in but the way most players play with very compact formations, ultra high pressure and flooding the box means the chances of success are low because its almost a guaranteed deflection/rebound of the first defender.
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Don’t really have space is questionable. What you mean is they’ve chosen to cram in as many seats as possible.
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Chris99 – Not really as they dont put seats high up on the stadium walls or cladding or roof, where the giant screens sit.
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