I just came to work by a friend's bicycle. I covered a 14km (1km = 1.6 miles) distance at 40 minutes. It was the first time I tried it and I have to admit I feel great right now. Morning exercise is refreshing. Maybe, I'll go buy a bicycle and leave my car at home when it's not raining. The only problem is I am cycling in a highway (3 lanes here in Greece, not like the US ones) so it's kind of dangerous plus I am breathing polluted air while cycling. I'll have to think about it.

I have bought my first blu-ray game which is PES 2008 or Winning Eleven 2008. I have it since last Friday, retailers here in Greece released it almost a week before the official release date. My feelings are mixed... The game has made some steps forward since last year's game which I was playing on a PS2. The graphics are obviously better and the animation, oh god, it's amazing. It's like you're watching the real thing. I love this game, it's the best football (or soccer for the americans ) game I've ever played. So close to reality. BUT. Konami developers, at least the studio working on this particular game, pffff, they suck. The graphics are optimized compared to PES6 but they aren't jaw-dropping, they aren't what I'd be expecting by a next-gen football game. It's not an ugly game, but it could be much better. The crowds suck HARD. They are PSX level, or even SNES sprites level... OK, who cares about the crowds someone could say. I could agree with him...

BUT, there's more to it! The game has frame rate issues. Serious problems to be honest. First time I played it wasn't playable. I was disappointed. Then I saw at the settings an option to install it. Thank god, it saved me. After that the frame rate improved. But it still has some issues, especially when I play a long ball from my defense towards my attack and generally when the ball is lifted high in the air with a lot of players in the screen. PES6 had some problems too, in corners or fouls when most of the players were on the screen at the same time. But the situation here is worse. And there's no excuse to it, because the graphics aren't as improved as the power of the system I am playing the game is... I am playing on a ps3, which is MUCH more capable than a ps2, a game that it's the tweaked version of a last-gen soccer game. There are no excuses for the developers of the game. Even the producer, some-jap-name "Seabass" Takatsuki or Taka-something has announced that the game isn't what they wanted to create. And they have now announced that they are working on a patch for the PS3 version, to improve both online and offline play. I forgot to mention that the online mode is even worse than the offline. Players transfer through time and space, disappear and reappear in different places I hope that the patch will make this game playable, or I am gonna return to the first soccer series I played, FIFA. FIFA 08 demo was awesome. Nice graphics and NO FRAME RATE ISSUES. Plus that it's more realistic than FIFA games were in the past. It still isn't PES but it heading towards the right direction. PS3 version isn't the one that's problematic though. I've read the reviews about the XBOX360 version too. The developers there, have implemented an ugly and cheap trick to solve these issues probably. The terrain's quality is variable, lol. It's good where the camera focuses and drops the quality elsewhere. 2 horizontal lines that seperate the quality levels are visible on the grass.

Anyway, I wrote too much, I am gonna eat my lunch now Devs at Konami, wake up guys, you won't be our first choice for too long if you keep it like this. PES 2009 will be your last chance. And hurry up and make a patch for the unfinished version of the game you released...

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