Age Of The Lariat

The WWE Universe mode will probably get me to buy this game after I didn't even bother playing last years. It sounds like the story mode from Smackdown 2 with elements of SYM and HCTP thrown in, and SD2 was my favourite story mode from any WWE game. I spent ages as a kid creating stables and getting a giddy thrill when you'd get a "Now Loading" screen to indicate an incoming cut-scene (which the random cutscene feature in SVR2011 sounds exactly like) as I hoped it'd be one of my stable hanging out or beating someone up. I mean, 9 times out of 10 it was "HARDCORE HOLLY HAS ARRIVED AT THE ARENA", but the 1 time when it was my created stable doing a Nexus-style beatdown was worth it.

TheWho87's pic pack is really comprehensive and of good quality. You can find a link to it and to his Photobucket (useful for adding new pics or any missing pics to your existing PICS folder) in his sig. I've been using his pictures for ages, and would highly recommend it. (Incidentally, keep up the good work TheWho. Thanks)

It's good to have the season start again. Norwich vs Watford was a fun watch last night. I've rated Danny Graham as a player for some time now and he shone. Norwich don't fill me with fear. I'm venturing up to Scunthorpe on Saturday to watch our first home game against them, and I'm considering it one of our must-win games if we want to survive. I was very surprised we beat Reading away today 2-1. Our first opening day away win for 10 years. It's too early to change my "we will definitely get relegated" belief, but we do have immense team spirit which will carry us to some good results this year. Derby vs Leeds kicks off on BBC1 in 10 mins in case anyone didn't know. Should be a decent watch.

That's true. Lee Turnbull is our chief scout responsible for unearthing gems and Nigel Adkins' positive man-management helps to get the best out of players (Beckford being the prime example. Loaned to us by Leeds after a dire loan spell at Carlisle, scored goals for us, played with confidence, and now look where he is) but Hooper and Hayes were the reason we survived last year, given our useless defence. I'd have been fine with losing Hooper if Hayes hadn't have gone to Preston, since Hayes set up around 75% of Hoops' goals, and would work with any Hooper replacement in a similar way. We've bought Dagnall from Rochdale who did well in League Two last year, and Bobby Grant from Accrington, so hopefully those two will be next in our long line of amazing strikers. If our defence improves we have a chance of survival but won't score as many goals as last year when we were the 7th highest scorers in the division if I recall correctly. I'm pleased Sharp went to you rather than Leeds (as was rumoured), but will seethe in jealousy if Keogh joins you too (as is rumoured) and you reunite those two! You've also signed George Friend, who impressed me when he was on loan to us last season. I'll be hoping you can do a Blackpool next year.

We (Scunthorpe) appear to have finally sold Gary Hooper to Celtic for around 2 to 2.4 million. I'm sad to see him go as this pretty much means we'll get relegated from the Championship this season. It'll be interesting to see how well he does at Celtic though. He may play in the Emirates Cup this weekend.

It does feel a bit surreal to think it'll be over tomorrow. I suppose you get used to it after a solid month of football. I'm torn when it comes to tomorrow's final. I usually pick a few other teams than England to support, to make it interesting when we've been eliminated, and chose Holland and Ivory Coast this year, so I'm backing Holland, but if they play anti-football and park the bus and prevail over Spain's lovely football it will feel hollow. I just hope it's a great game.

That was much much better from England. In the first half, our passing and movement was brilliant and we should have scored more than the one we got. Terry was a rock at the back, typified by his hilarious salmon-style attempt at blocking a shot with his head. Can't fault any of the back four. Milner showed shades of Beckham with his wing-play, and Defoe was dangerous. I was again disappointed by Lampard and Rooney, though the pass that the former put through for the latter was a touch of quality, and Rooney should have scored. I'm still not hopeful for our chances against Germany (if indeed they do top their group), but today we played well, and at least showed glimpses of quality and potential.

I thought we played much better in the second half. We actually managed to keep the ball, and get Rooney into the game rather than bypassing him with long balls like in the first half. Still, wasn't a brilliant performance, but some positive signs there. Lennon and Johnson were dangerous down the right flank, Heskey was good at doing his job even though he should've scored the one on one. In future, if we can keep the ball and work openings like we did in the second half, we should be ok. It's never exactly fun watching England is it?

Robert Green... fucking hell. We were doing well until then as well, looking dangerous in the final third and defending decently, restricting them to long shots and half-chance headers. We looked dangerous in the final third when we got the ball down. I may not be a fan of how we forgo keeping possession in favour of direct long balls, but it was working and Heskey was doing well. Gerrard's been brilliant. Optimism: intact. Faith in Green: none.

Surprised by Milner and Heskey's inclusions over Joe Cole and Crouch. I'm going for a 2-1 England win, or 1-1 draw. I think USA will score first and shock us into action, causing us to actually play. Also, upon unpacking food shopping today I notice that the oranges I bought contained a pack of Match World Cup trading cards as a promotional giveaway. So I open them out of curiosity, and get Pele, Beckham, Gago, Ochoa, Bendtner, Anelka and Park-Chu-Young. Out of those 7, one was shiny. It was Nicklas Bendtner...

I'd fancy South Korea against Argentina after today's games. I think there's a good chance of an upset there, or at least a draw.

Enyeama - Football Manager great and pretty good in real life too. Argentina look decent but I wouldn't back their defence against any quality team. Nigeria could've equalised a few times if they'd been more composed and clinical in the final third.

Loved Hansen talking to Adebayor like that. I'm going for France in this one, via a moment of individual magic from Gourcuff or Ribery. 1-0. Really don't like those vuvuzelas. They were blaring them during the national anthems in this match, which is just disrespectful, and when SA scored that brilliant goal earlier, you could just hear buzzing not cheering. I know it's a bit silly to be irritated by them, but they're going to be loud and distracting in all 64 games it seems. They didn't mar a great opening game earlier though. Really enjoyed the second half, and was willing SA to win by the end, even though I originally favoured Mexico purely on the basis that their fans didn't blow horns all match.

Seconding this request please. Rapidshare/Mediafire/Sendspace are all fine. http://www.mediafire.com/?kkkz2bmxt4k