Whisper

I dunno why this game gets such bad reviews to be honest. I'm enjoying it a lot. The option to play the full county season is awesome. But I guess it's like the whole Fifa/PES debate. I'm a huge football fan and I worship PES, whereas the casual fans will go for Fifa. I would guess that the more avid cricket fans would go for Brian Lara over EA's games. Anyhow, i'm getting a bit better. Finished my first season game earlier, in the Frizzell Championship or whatever it's called. I'm Lancashire and I lost by 10 wickets to Somerset. Lancs 1st Innings - 122 All Out Somerset 1st Innings - 298 All Out Lancs 2nd Innings - 182 All Out Somerset 2nd Innings - 8 for 0 I'm actually finding the batting ok but I make stupid mistakes by going for too many big shots when i'm actually doing well. I have yet to hit a six and everytime i've tried to use the six hit button it has ended miserably. Bowling is strange though, in all the reviews i've read it said bowling was easy, yet I struggled for a long time in that game with Somerset. They were over 200 for 2 at one point, I find it difficult to get a batsman out when he's got a high confidence level up. Trescothick made 98 and some other guy made 91... their partnership was nearly impossible to break down. Question, if I change the difficulty level will it also apply to my saved games? Just curious cos I don't want get a good way into my season, start winning easily on "Easy" and have to abandon my season just cos I can't up the difficulty.

Right so playing FF8 yesterday got me wanting to play new RPG's... so suggest me some. Old or new, I dont mind.

I just got this game and i'm actually enjoying it immensly. Alright so it's not as good as Brian Lara 2005 will be but for someone with only a passing interest in cricket, like me, it's perfect. However, as with all sports games of sports which I don't follow too well (See: NHL, NFL), I suck. I have it on easy and i'm still finding it incredibly difficult bowling wise. My current game for example I was out for 122, should've been better but I made about 5 dumb mistakes. But my opponenets are currently 164 for 2... Although i've got two wickets I can't seem to pressure them into actually playing a stroke instead of defending. So yeah, anyone who plays this have any tips?

I watched the match against Hong Kong this morning and overall it was a good performance. We won 2-0 for those that don't know. Guiseppe Rossi scored again and Dong Fangzhuo scored on his debut. Park looked more impressive today than he did in the other two friendlies, Jones looked good again too. Ruud missed a couple of sitters. Rossi, while not as good overall as he was against Peterborough, played well and bagged a goal. It was the first i'd seen of Dong Fangzhuo and he was impressive. His goal was excellently taken and he was one of the best players on the pitch. Man of the match, without a doubt, was Alan Smith. He played the Midfield holding role again and he was awesome. I'd definately give him a chance at playing there before buying anyone else. . EDIT ~ Public Enemy beat me to it

Football is the only sport I play properly and I have actually played every single position at some point in the 12 years i've been playing. I was a centre back up until last season when I played right back for the men's team and centre midfield for my U18's team. Midfield is my best position, the Roy Keane holding role.

I'm beginning to see what you mean Godfatha. I've created a mini-empire, taking over Laos, Cambodia and Thailand but there's too much to do already :s Still, it's enjoyable since i've just acquired nuclear technology. Oh, I solved my other problem, I just had to raise my overall generation level.

thanks for the advice guys. getting the hang of it now. I made the playoffs in my first season with a 10-6 record. Lost in the Conference Championship match against the Eagles. Terrell Owens tore me apart EDIT ~ oldskool, I didn't known about the glitch. It doesn't seem to have affected me so far but thanks for the heads up. I tend to save after every game anyway since it takes a little while to play a game and I constantly get interrupted and have to switch off part of the way through, VERY annoying when you haven't saved.

So i'm playing as Vietnam and i've just conquered Laos. Now i'm trying to build more advanced aircraft and satellites. Now despite having aircraft designed I can't seem to build them (note that these were designed at the start of the game, not by me) and it wont let me even design at satellite. I know it's got to be something to do with research and whatnot, can't quite get my head around it. Any help would be appreciated. On a sidenote, if anyone does play this game, what d'ya think of it? I borrowed it from a friend and I'm enjoying it, it's prett cool considering i'd never heard of it.

since there's no point starting a new topic just for this.... In NFL 2k5 is there any way to play the Pro Bowl? I just finished my first season and couldn't find a way to play it.

So I picked this up today along with NHL 2K5, both are awesome but i'm seriously getting frustrated with NFL. I started a franchise, now fair enough with the Lions who suck, but on pro I lost each of my pre-season games easily, I think my best result was losing 28-17 or something like that. So being 14-0 down to the Bears in my first regular season game I decide to switch to rookie. I go on to win 21-14. Point is, I'm finding it too easy on rookie but too difficult on pro. I seem to get murdered by passing plays, can't seem to defend against em. Anyone have any tips/opinions on the game?

Since when did Federer win all the grand slams?

Ummm... that's the same 15 year old that got to the Quarters of the French and beat Venus Williams on the way (Y) Murray was outstanding today. If he plays to that level again I'd fancy him to beat Nalbandian or Kucera and since Nadal's out he wont be meeting him if he gets to the 4th. Who knows? Could make the second week.

Nadal is a huge star already, with a Grand Slam under his belt, 6 titles this year, is without question one of the two best players in the world right now, and the ONLY person out there who Federer hasn't looked great against in the last two years. Murray is 3-2 on the season, so for you to say that the gap in talent isn't that big just seems ludicrous. Hell, the gap between Federer/Nadal and the rest of the top 10 right now is huge, and Murray's not even in the top 100. There's no guarantee any player will get better over time, so I'm not trying to look at potential, because that's ultimately a crapshoot. ← I'm not disputing that Nadal is a star. However, I don't think that many people can doubt that Murray will become a top 50 player at least. If you look throughout the top 50 there isn't a great deal of difference between number 2 and number 50 in terms of ability (obviously this excludes Federer since he's a class above everyone). I certainly wouldn't say Nadal has more technical ability than a Grosjean or a Coria. Point is, they are all top class tennis players and all have the ability to beat eachother. What makes certain players more succesful are the physical and mental sides of the game.

I wouldn't say there's a huge gap between Nadal and Murray in terms of ability. There's a gap certainly but it's not that big. The big difference is the size, for a 19 year old Nadal is huge. He's so much more powerful than anyone else around his age, that's why he stands out so much. Murray will gradually get stronger, he is only just 18, and as a result he'll improve. But yeah he is overhyped, but that's no different to any other semi-decent British sports star. Take a look at football, as soon as England win a game convincly (see: Northern Ireland) we're world beaters all of a sudden.

I actually see Park fitting in well over here. From what i've seen of him (which admittedly isn't a huge amount) he seems to be someone with a lot of energy and a good workrate. Those are pretty essential qualities for Premiership football. Whether he has the technical ability to match though i'm unsure, we'll have to see if he's good enough to make the step up. I'm with public enemy on the Fletcher issue. I like him, i think he was very good towards the end of the season and I see him becoming a much better player over the next few years. He just needs to keep clear of injuries.

Robinho was my replacement for Van Nistelrooy. I'd recommend either him or Bojinov. Ryan Babel is also decent cover i've found. Robinho would be my main choice, his first season in my team he scored 37 goals, shouldn't be too old in your game, around 26 or so...

bwahahaha. This is awesome just for the sheer amount of people it will piss off. Personally, I'd agree with the decision. From everything i've seen on the case it seemed to me that it was just people trying to get money. I agree the guys a wacko, but he's not a paedo. Also, whoever mentioned breaking out the thriller album to have a party, that made me laugh for some reason, so good job.

Mafia ~ 9/10 (PC) Why the hell has it taken me until now to hear about this game? It's pretty old and yet i've heard little about it and not played it until this weekend. It is awesome, in the GTA mould for those who don't know, and I'm actually enjoying it more than GTA right now. Pretty good story so far too. Links 2003 ~ 8.5/10 (PC) Yeah, dug this out as well earlier. Very good golf game but now I remember why it it was buried away with other old games... it's bloody hard! Having played about 8 rounds my best score is 3 over par, with my worst at something like 22 over. Still, it's enjoyable as long as you're in a good mood, if not then avoid it or you'll be throwing the mouse and punching walls quite often. Pretty similar to Football Manager in that respect actually.

If George Best hadnt been Irish and had played in World Cups then he'd have been the best no doubt. The things he could do on the ball were unbelievable. As it is, i'm gonna say Pele and Maradona are the two that stand out but my favourite player from the past is Marco Van Basten. The guy was an outstanding finisher, his technique was probably the best i've ever seen for a tall(ish) striker. Just look at his volley against the USSR for proof of that.

"The pope has got it and so do you" - from the "Aids" song in Team America.

Agreed on Solskjaer. But how can you not rate Alan Smith? Start of the season he was our best player by a long way. No one works harder or holds the ball up like he does. He's the perfect strike partner for Rooney which is why i'm hoping we hold onto him for when Ruud packs it in. Obviously it's difficult to leave players like Ruud or Rooney out but I thought Smith should've been given the chance when Ruud was playing shit (See FA Cup Final). A lot of it comes down to Ferguson, if he would just play 4-4-2 then I think any combination of our 4 (5 if you include Solskjaer) strikers would work. I also read in the paper this morning that we're going after Van Der Sar for £2 million. Apparently officials from both sides have already met to discuss it. Eh, I rate him but he's 34. Niemi's the better option IMO.

If we're including the Republic of Ireland then i'd have Given plus 10 English outfield players. If not then Rob Green. GK: Shay Given/Rob Green RB: Gary Neville CB: Rio Ferdinand CB: John Terry LB: Ashley Cole CM: Frank Lampard CM: Michael Carrick CM: Steven Gerrard AM: Wayne Rooney CF: Michael Owen CF: Alan Smith Subs Ryan Giggs Joe Cole Sol Campbell Robbie Savage Jermain Defoe Shaun Wright-Phillips Phil Neville I don't really rate much of the Welsh, Scottish or Irish players to be honest. The only others I would consider from those countries are Fletcher, Ferguson and maybe Earnshaw.

to answer the question from before. I don't want Liverpool to win because I know that Liverpool fans weren't supporting us when we won the Champions League in 99. I hate Liverpool, therfore have no reason to support them. Besides that, i also love watching Milan.

Question, why the hell is Gattuso still on the field? If that's a penlaty (which it clearly was) then he has to go, Gerrard would have scored surely. I'm with Reil.... the ref is shocking

NO WAY! THis is getting ridiculous. Penalty to liverpool HA! THe way this game has gone he HAD to score from a rebound didn't he?