BOBS MASTER LEAGUE ONLINE

Hi all, it's Bob here again!

I have been so caught up with life, fun and PES that I have lost track with posting here in THE PRO EVO MASTERS LEAGUE blog! My apologies go out to all of you that visit, and also to those that visit regularly.

So first of all, I thought I would fill you in on some of the new things that have happened with the blog and also what will be happening from here on in.

Some of the regular visitors may have noticed that the look of the blog has changed. I have changed the layout, design and also added a new header at the top. Within the header, you will probably notice that there is also a new addition to the team as well. I have not yet formally introduced the new member of the team, so here goes.....

Please welcome "THE MIDNITE KID" ! A fellow PES enthusiast, who loves nothing better than getting stuck into a good game of PRO EVO, especially online. He plays PES on the XBOX 360 and lives in Ireland. You will be seeing more from him, so if you have any questions regarding PES on the 360, feel free to ask any questions by posting comments on his posts. I play on the PS3, so in the same regards, please direct any PS3 related PES questions to me in my posts. In general though, any questions will be answered by either of us.

We are currently working together to bring you a better blog relating to PES and hope that if you have any ideas, you can let us know. This will help improve the blog for us, but most importantly for all you Die-hard players out there.

Posting days are going to be shown once we have decided when the schedule should be, but we need your support to make this one of the best PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER  sites on the net.

Now on with the post...........

I have been currently playing around with 3 modes in PES 2012. ML online, ML offline and BAL. Obviously, I cannot play all of these at the same time, and can only make so much progress with each one, but I wanted to make sure I had a decent start before 2011 was out.

In Master league Online, I have grown my team from the lowly 15mil default, to a fairly decent 38mil force. I have not yet had much real luck with my strikers, but from the funds I could use, there have been a few that have filled the slots when on form. I have strengthened my defence as much as my funds would allow and bought better players  by selling current 'out of contract' players and using some accrued income.

Income from games has grown from 600k (loss), 800k (draw), and 1.2m (win), to 900k (loss), 1.2m (draw), and 1.8m (win). So to round up, the more expensive your team, the more money you will receive, regardless of how the game ends. I think it has been programmed like this, to allow you to TRY and keep some of your more expensive players, even on a losing streak.

Sometimes it is hard to build your team further, especially on a run of defeats and when your players are all seeking new contracts at the same time, but you can allow for this by buying new and extra players when contracts run out in these positions. Other players may have different suggestions, but this seems to have worked for me.

I have not played anywhere near the same amount of games as most players have, due to concentrating on the other modes from time to time. This has left me undeterred though and I am quite happy sitting in division 4 with my current team. I have good and bad days when my run of games leaves me happy or not, but I always manage to bounce back from a run of defeats. I try and set my matches to play against a similar level, but instead of doing this, the game seems to give me a much higher division opponent with a team worth at least 10 times the amount of my own. I believe it all comes down to the rating which can change dramatically with a win/loss streak. This is wrong and should be addressed by Konami, and I am sure going to contact them about it. The similar level should be linked with the statistical value of the team and monetary value, not with the ratings. Seeing players with a team of top class players in a division 4 cup or even div 5 is wrong, because those players may have purposely lost games so they can easily win cups and gain money.

Is any of this fair? I will let you be the judge of that, as you know I have my own thoughts.

But without sounding too defeated, I will keep trying, and keep playing. I play honestly and will try my best. I am not the best player in the world, but I always like a challenge, especially a fair one. What is the point in cheating?

Well that is all from me for today my PES friends. Keep checking back for more updates on a future posting schedule, and I look forward to your questions and comments.

BOB

PSN RESTORATION

It has now been a month since the PlayStation network was hacked, but many users have now been told of the process for the restoration of accounts. This is the latest message concerning these findings. 

Sony Computer Entertainment introduces increased security measures ahead of PSN service restoration.

Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI, the company) will today begin a phased restoration by region of PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. The phased restoration will be on a country by country basis beginning in the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.
The first phase of restored services for North America and Europe will include:

• Sign-in for PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, including the resetting of passwords.
• Restoration of online game play across PlayStation 3 and PSP.
• Playback rental video content, if within rental period, of PlayStation Store Video Store on PS3, PSP and Media Go.
• Q Music Unlimited, for current subscribers, on PS3 and PC.
• Access to third party services such as VidZone and MUBI.
• 'Friends' category on PS3, including Friends List, Chat Functionality, Trophy Comparison, etc.
• PlayStation Home.

Increased Security Measures
As the result of a criminal cyber attack on the company's data centre located in San Diego, California, USA, SNEI shut down the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services on 20 April 2011, in order for the company to undergo an investigation and make enhancements to the overall security of the network infrastructure.  
Working closely with several respected outside security firms, the company has implemented new and additional security measures that strengthen safeguards against unauthorized activity, and provide consumers with greater protection of their personal information.
The company has made considerable enhancements to the data security, including updating and adding advanced security technologies, additional software monitoring and penetration and vulnerability testing, and increased levels of encryption and additional firewalls. 
The company also added a variety of other measures to the network infrastructure including an early warning system for unusual activity patterns that could signal an attempt to compromise the network.
"I'd like to send my sincere regret for the inconvenience this incident has caused you, and want to thank you all for the kind patience you've shown as we worked through the restoration process," said Kazuo Hirai, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation.
"I can't thank you enough for your patience and support during this time. We know even the most loyal customers have been frustrated by this process and are anxious to use their Sony products and services again. We are taking aggressive action at all levels to address the concerns that were raised by this incident, and are making consumer data protection a full time, company-wide commitment."
"During the past 18 months, we've seen a dramatic rise in the volume of cyber attacks, their sophistication and their impact on businesses. Thwarting cyber-crime requires an evolutionary approach to security that is well integrated, reduces risk exposure and improves efficiencies," said Francis deSouza, senior vice president, Enterprise Security Group, Symantec. "Today's cyber crime attacks are proving to be more covert, more targeted and better organized than those we've seen in years past. In working with Sony on the move of their data centre, it's clear they're implementing measures to reduce security risks moving forward." 
As an additional measure, Fumiaki Sakai, president of Sony Global Solutions Inc. (SGS), has been appointed acting Chief Information Security Officer of SNEI. In addition to his current role at SGS, Mr Sakai, in his role at SNEI, will work to further reinforce overall information security across the company's network infrastructure. 
Mr Sakai will lead the recruiting effort in finding a new and permanent CISO for SNEI. As CISO, Mr. Sakai will report to Tim Schaaff, president, SNEI, as well as to Mr Shinji Hasejima, CIO, Sony Corporation. 
"While we understand the importance of getting our services back online, we did not rush to do so at the expense of extensively and aggressively testing our enhanced security measures. Our consumers' safety remains our number one priority," Hirai continued. "We want to assure our customers that their personal information is being protected with some of the best security technologies available today, so that everyone can feel comfortable enjoying all that PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have to offer." 
The restoration of the services across the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East are beginning, and consumers will be able to enjoy some of the online functionality provided by both the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. The company expects to have the services fully restored by the end of May 2011. 
The company will be offering customers a "Welcome Back" package of services and premium content to all registered PlayStation Network and Qriocity account services.  
The details of this program will be available at eu.playstation.com shortly. 
Before you start using PlayStation Network again...
In restoring PSN, we have introduced a safety measure which means you will need to update your PlayStation Network account password before you can start using PSN again.

If you've got a PlayStation 3, you can do this by updating to system software version 3.61 and then signing in to PlayStation Network from the XMB™ (XrossMediaBar) Menu once the service is restored in your country. Find out more at eu.playstation.com/ps3psn.
Otherwise, you can change your password by visiting https://store.playstation.com/login.gvm on your PC. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes and if you'd like more help you can follow the step by step guide at eu.playstation.com/psppsn.
Please contact us at uk.playstation.com/psnoutage should you have any additional questions. For more information about the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services intrusion and restoration, keep an eye on PlayStation.Blog at blog.eu.playstation.com, twitter.com/PlayStationEU and eu.playstation.com for the latest updates.

Hopefully there will be more to say about pro evo in the next few days. My time spent with PES 2011 since the crash has been focused towards my offline BAL and Master league modes.

I will be writing a couple of posts in the next few days regarding how I have been getting on.

Please feel free to leave comments as I will reply regularly.

Tell me what you think about Pro evo or how you have been affected by the Network Outage on the PS3.

PSN NETWORK DOWN.......

The last few days have been a bit dull for my online gaming. I had been hoping to make up some ground on my progress with MASTER LEAGUE ONLINE, but being a PS3 user has left me in a bit of a pickle!

At first, I believed that I had been having problems with my wireless router, or my general Internet connection. When I turned on my PS3 and logged in with my user account, I was receiving an error message which notified me I was unable to connect to the PlayStation Network and was logged out. I did the usual procedure when web connections seem unable to connect and turned each gadget off, all the way to my modem. I then turned each one on, starting with the modem, but left at least 30 seconds between each.

Did this sort the problem? Nope!

The process got repeated a few times, but yet I was still getting the same message! Gutting! So what was I to do next?

I decided to check my PC connection to the web. This turned out to be fine, so I knew there was no problem with either the modem, or the router. Still wanting an answer, I then turned to the net itself and searched for the latest feeds related to the PSN. 

Low and behold, I had found the answer. Apparently the network had been hacked! The official PlayStation site had released a comment regarding this, but the only news they had, was the network would be down for at least 1-2 days while they worked on getting it back online.

Well as you can imagine, I have been pretty annoyed with the fact that my progress with MLO has been officially halted, but I am sure they are working as best they can to rectify these problems. Until then, I have reverted back to playing my offline master league and BAL modes. These have kept me occupied, but I still can't wait to get back online. 

This is the latest message from the Official PlayStation site:

"We sincerely regret that PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have been suspended, and we are working around the clock to bring them both back online. Our efforts to resolve this matter involve re-building our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure. Though this task is time-consuming, we decided it was worth the time necessary to provide the system with additional security.

We thank you for your patience to date and ask for a little more while we move towards completion of this project. We will continue to give you updates as they become available.

Follow us on Twitter @PlayStationEU for live updates.

Thank you for your patience."

I will try to keep an update of their progress over the next few days and lets all hope they get it sorted!

Thanks for visiting,

Bob

MASTER LEAGUE ONLINE - WORTH IT?

As I sit here writing this, I am thinking of changing the whole outlook of the posts. My career on my offline master league has no doubt been fun, as is BAL. But the truth is, I have played these modes in all the other versions (where available). The fact of the matter is, YOU don't want to be reading what my progress is against the computer AI. What you really want to read is......................

MASTER LEAGUE ONLINE!

I never played the beta version that was released of PES 2011. I had however seen plenty of posts from people who had. Most seemed to like the game, but you are bound to have a few that didn't.

The general hype that surrounded MASTER LEAGUE ONLINE had pushed me to buy the game and have a dabble!

When I first received the game, I was excited about the new modes that awaited and couldn't wait to get the wrapper off! Although MLO was first on my mind, I did not want to jump into it straight away. I played a season on BAL and started playing a master league (offline) just to get used to the new style of play.

When I did however start MLO, the team you get is the usual default from ML offline mode. The interface was OK to use, and games did not lag like previous versions did.

My first point to make is not to use your original players. Sell a few of the players with most value, until you stop at the 16 player minimum. You should have around 6 million to buy a few decent-ish players that will get your new team off the ground.

I will be making regular points in future posts.

The main reason for this posts is to get you up to date with the blog. You may still see the schedule for blog posting days, but this is all going to change.

With getting bored with a pointless blog about something you DON'T want to hear about, I am hoping to dedicate the remainder of PES 2011 to regular posts about PES 2011 ONLINE MASTER LEAGUE.

Anything about this particular mode will feature. It may be a few of my own experiences, but mainly about all aspects of the MLO.

I hope you keep visiting for regular updates. please bookmark this blog, and subscribe to the feeds!

Many thanks

Bob

PRO EVO MASTERS LEAGUE HAS GONE MOBILE!

I have finally done it and decided to get a new phone! It has been 3 years since I last had a new phone and I felt it was time to catch up.

There were lots of reasons for this, but the most important was that I was lagging behind! Badly.

I wanted to be able to keep up with the current trends, but also be able to get more mobile on the web. 

My phone is not a smart phone, and I did not want Internet access at the time I got the phone.

Now though, I have been getting myself more web wise, and beginning to have a presence on the Internet. I have been updating this blog regularly (although not as much as I had hoped!) and needed something more mobile that I could use for updating when I want to, not when I get chance to.

Having a new smart phone, I am now able to do this. The plan is to leave more posts on the blog, but reduce the size of each post. I will still be writing more posts that have been a decent length, but not as much as my mobile posts. 

Pes is definitely a game that has a lot to talk about, and I aim to do just that. I will be aiming for more posts on all of the modes featured in PES, especially the newer, for instance master league online.

As many of you are mentioning, pes online master league brings many challenges, but also leaves you wondering where the answers are. Come back for more regular posts on this mode and each of the others when I take them more in depth!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you keep playing!

Bob

PRO EVO MASTERS LEAGUE - GUEST POST

Sunday's is guest post day! 

Unfortunately there are no guest posts for today as no one has been brave enough to write a post.

Not to worry though, as I am sure there are a few of you that will come through and tell everyone in the PES community how you have been getting on.

The whole concept of the Guest post, is to give other players the chance of their say about PRO EVO. What are your likes and dislikes about the game? Do you have a great story to tell about your progress in your Master league, on or offline? Or do you have a group that enjoys regular meet ups to play tournaments or cups? These are just a few ideas on what you could write about.

Don't be afraid to speak your mind (just watch the language!). Pro Evolution Soccer is one of the best football simulation games on the market, and although Konami do not have all of the licences to the team kits and player names etc, you can still find decent option file updates that others in the community have kindly created and made available for free, so others can enjoy playing PES without switching to the rival game that is fully licensed.

I myself am an avid Pro Evo player, and love to participate in matches against other players. I do have gripes about the game itself, but it doesn't stop me playing! There are of course those out there that decide to cheat somehow when playing online matches. I don't know as of yet how they do it, but generally I don't see why they have the need to cheat. The whole point in playing the game is to have fun and try and win. If you have a good match and lose, but the other player is a decent individual that has not cheated and has won the match just because they have scored more goals, then I feel that is a good game. If you play your socks off and the other player somehow influences the game into letting him, or her win without putting any effort into the game, then in my eyes, that counts as a void game! There should be a way to weed out these individuals, and give the good, honest players a chance of some decent games.

Until next time peeps.......................Keep playing!

BOB

MASTER LEAGUE - BLACKBURN ROVERS vs CHELSEA FC

The master league is upon us once again

My team, Blackburn Rovers had been promoted from the Npower Championship and was on course to take the Premier league by storm, I hoped!

The first 4 games had seen them take 3 wins and a draw. Not a bad start to the newly promoted club. The players seemed to be taking things in their stride, but a bigger challenge awaited them just round the corner.

Everton and Fulham had been the harder clubs to play, but still gained 4 points between the games. The picture  to the right shows who Rovers were up against next.

Was this to be a giant killing game, or were they to be knocked senseless?

Chelsea were just below Blackburn in 4th place. Neither team had lost a game, so who was to gain another 3 points? Or were both to get even honours?

I started Blackburn's lineup as shown. Chelsea had a decent team to play against and it was not looking to be an easy game. Would my strikers play their socks off or, fumble to the pressure of such a big named club?

One thing was for sure, the players were not going down without a fight. As the many managers in BaL normally say........."were taking on a big team, try and do what you do best lads!"                                        

So the game kicked off with a formidable attack from Chelsea. They were fast, and Drogba was damned hard to get the ball away from. It seemed as though he had stuck the ball to his feet!

In the unlucky minute (you know the one I mean.......just a little superstitious!), I managed to slot a delightful goal into an open net, courtesy of Agbonlahor. It wasn't the first shot in that space of time, but I am sure you will see, it was deserved after the effort leading up to it.

I had taken plenty of shots previous to the goal, but did not manage to net any. The keeper was on a fair bit of form. I knew if I kept persisting, at least 1 shot would go in.

As the game went on, I was 1-0 up at half time. In the second half, I seemed to keep a good rhythm, although Chelsea seemed to lose theirs. Their passes were going a miss and each player seemed to be playing dumb when the ball came near. I wasn't sure of any bugs in the game, or generally if their players were a little tired.

The match was looking towards a win for Rovers as the time ran seriously close to 90 Min's. Then........under a stroke of great misfortune, Chelsea ended up with a lucky scramble in the box, to which Drogba assisted Sturridge who scored the equaliser. As the game was about to restart, The commentary mentioned that they had levelled with so little time remaining. This was very true, as when the match restarted, the final whistle blew. Chelsea had grabbed an extremely late equaliser and robbed Rovers of all 3 points. 

Not to worry, at least a point is better than none, plus the rest of the season awaited. I am sure their will be more challenges ahead!

Blackburn managed to stay in 3rd place, but Chelsea had slipped to 7th. I am sure this will change in future weeks, but until then, I am glad to be keeping my place.

Friday's post features Blackburn's first Europa league match against Fiorentina, as well as a few results from the next Premier league games.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for a round-up of Galarath's career in Become a Legend.

Thanks for visiting

MASTER LEAGUE - LIFE IN THE PREM

After the quick update in the last post, I got to work getting as much info as I could to get you all right up to date with my progress in MASTER LEAGUE mode offline.

I have been making sure not to play any more games until I am totally up to date with my blog postings, then the future of the posts will come as frequent and regular as I have been mentioning recently.

I do love to keep track of my progress within all the modes I play on Pro Evo, but today, as you can see in the schedule is all about my Master League with Blackburn Rovers.

As you may be aware from my last master league post, I have been promoted after winning the Npower Championship and also winning the FA Cup! This was a decent achievement and I was pleased to be back in the top flight. 

I haven't had a bad start and as you can see I am currently 3rd and have not lost a game out of four played.

I hope to keep somewhere in the top 7, to ensure a chance of European matches next season.

Since I got promoted, I was informed that I had qualified for the Europa league which was a shock! This is not a bad thing though as I can see more revenue on the way and chance of another trophy. I will again see how things go there.

My team has changed for the better (I hope!). As you can see, I have signed Clichy to play in the left back position. Agbonlahor and Valbuena were also new signings and I hope them to be good assets to the club. From the picture, you can see they are all performing well, which gives me hopes for the next match.

I have spent a little more than I hoped, and signed a defender - Gokhan who is an 88ovr and also promoted a youth team member called Tchite who is on 69 at the moment. Babic was also promoted from the youth team but is rated much higher at 78ovr. 

I mainly moved Babic up and signed Gokhan to strengthen my defence, although both have been on constant purple arrows since signing so I haven't played them. Tchite was promoted to grow him into a decent future star with the aim of regularly using him in the first team, but also to ensure a possible future sale. I won't sell until the time is right though. It would be good to get some decent games out of him and see how he progresses.

So now you are a bit more up to date with the progress of the team and can see how they have been doing in the top flight. 

I also want to show you how well the players have been doing. In the next few pics, You will see that Fabiano is my star player  who is currently top scorer. With him doing so well, I couldn't let him get all the glory as football is a team effort. With all good results from teams, you should notice how well other players in the side have helped to bring those results. Agbonlahor has also bagged a few goals and is also in the top scorers list.

As you can see from the other picture, Valbuena has shot up to 2nd in the assist leader board with 2 assists. 

Not to rain on his parade, and like I said about it being a team effort, you will see 5 other players grabbing 1 assist each.

Hopefully the team can carry on with the form they are showing and I aim to bring a few more decent players when the funds allow.

By doing so, I hope to have enough of a decent side to have good squad rotation and also to have enough on form players on match days to take on the bigger clubs.

The future of the club is essential, and I hope they do well in the first season in the Barclay's premiership!

WHAT'S WITH THE PRO EVO SCHEDULE?

I know, I know, its been another week since my last post.

I have been experiencing some real life problems and it has been tough for me to continue in the way that I had hoped with the work on this blog.

I did have the schedule all planned out, as you can see to the right of this post.

But the main thing now, is the need to get back to writing.

I really want to make sure the schedule I have set continues each day as I wanted it to. So as from today, minus any major life crisis incidents, I will try my hardest to make it happen.

So back to today! It is Tuesday and that can only mean one thing...........Master League progress!

The last post I had written about my ongoing campaign with Blackburn Rovers was their challenges within the FA Cup and the current progress in the Npower Championship.

I have since manged to progress them into the Premiership by winning the league, but also managed to win the FA Cup in the first season! This is all played on Top player and each match is 10 minutes long.

I am as surprised as you are to see that I managed both of these challenges in the first season, but I do hope to carry on my form and try and clinch a spot within either of the European competitions.This was a picture taken before the season had come to an end, but as you will see, Rovers were top and continued to hold the fort till the end.

In my next post, I will bring you up to date with all the current progress within my first new season in the Premiership, and from there hope to keep a much closer account of the campaign. This will be aided my much more pictures, and also the best and worst moments in the form of videos.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you come back again soon!

MASTER LEAGUE CAMPAIGN - BLACKBURN ROVERS

Due to unforeseen circumstances yesterday, I was unable to publish a post about my current master league progress with Blackburn Rovers.

So in today's post, which luckily is one of the regular post days about this area of my PES game playing, I will fill you in on everything I was going to write yesterday, as well as a little extra that would be posted today.

So on with the post.

After a surprising win in the FA Cup against the might of Man Utd, I was to continue my progress within the Championship in the hope of promotion at the end of the season.

Hull were my next opponents in fixture 7. I had a tough time breaking through their defence, but managed to weave a run with Pederson into the box. There was no shot as I got taken down and awarded a penalty. Luis Fabiano took it and scored. This was the 18th minute of the game. I managed to continue with the lead until the 58th, but a defensive and somehow AI assisted error gave Hull a clean attack and a 1on 1 with Robinson. Solano managed to lob the ball over the keeper with plenty of time to spare before my defenders caught him. The game finished 1-1 as none of my efforts were rewarded.

Looking for more wins to further my cause, I played Norwich and Bristol city over the next 2 games. Both gave me a 1-0 win and 6 points to my table tally.

The Championship was still proving to be a worthy league in respect of the opponents as I don't think I had played what I would have called 'an easy game'.

Ipswich were next in fixture 10 of the season and looked on form. This was not an easy game, but I felt I was robbed on numerous occasions in the form of Shot ratio to goals scored, and dreadful passing from my players. Well the end result was no goals scored for me and Ipswich won the points. I think the bugs that have plagued most PES users since 2011's release were the cause, but I took the loss on the chin and moved on to my next match.

The FA Cup was once again upon the team and Crystal Palace were the team to beat if I wanted a chance of furthering my chase for the Trophy. They were still top of the league and seemed a formidable force, but my players were also on form despite the previous games loss. I was glad to see my players perform so well in this match as they did the business over Palace and gained a 2-1 victory over the division's leaders.

After their victory in the FA Cup, the team seemed spurred on to play much better, although I did end up using most of the same players each game due to 'bad arrows'!

The next 5 games were much better than earlier in the season. 1-0, 1-0, 1-0, 3-1 and 3-0. 

This pushed the team much higher in the league and into a promotion spot. It was still close at the top with only 3 or 4  points between 1st and 6th.

It was time once again for an FA Cup game. This time in the Quarter Finals! High flying Rovers had earned a draw against Tottenam Hotspur. Was this going to be a knockout of a game or another notch added in the road to the FA Trophy?

Well after an exhausting defensive effort and a goal late in the 86th minute, I managed to scrape a win and progress to the Semi Finals! A result which my back line won almost single handedly. Definitely worth praise!

This is where the post will leave you today, but I hope to bring the next highs and lows of my road to promotion, and of course to hopefully lifting the FA Cup.

Thanks for reading and I hope you visit again soon!

MASTER LEAGUE CAMPAIGN - BLACKBURN ROVERS

Apologies for the lateness in the post. I had decided to give my online master league a go again after a month or so out and became a bit engrossed! I won't mention anything about that area today though, but I may write a little about it in Monday's Randomness post.

Back to today now. As you will have noticed by now, Wednesday's are to become regular posts on my master league campaign with Blackburn Rovers. 

I have set the difficulty to Top Player, selected the original Blackburn Rovers lineup, and after the previously mentioned option file update, I have started the team off in the N Power Championship league.

As with the start of PES 2011's master league mode, after the initial team selection process, you are put through a quick tutorial on how to buy players within the game. My scout suggested on trying to negotiate a deal for Luis Fabiano.

I decided to give it a go and received the go ahead, depending on my financial status.

The price wasn't to bad, and well within my budget, so I approved the deal and signed him.

The Blackburn team was not too bad, but lacked the skills in certain areas, especially attack. With my new signing, I was happy with the squad and decided to save my money till the January transfer window in case I needed to bring anyone in.

Getting underway, I soon found that life in the Championship was going to be tougher than I hoped. 

It wasn't all bad though, as I like a challenge, hence the decision to play on Top player mode.

In my first 6 matches, I scored 6 and let in 4. There were 2 draws 3 wins and a loss to.......Doncaster!

Not a result I believed would ever be there in front of me! 

The FA Cup was going to be a challenge in my seventh game of the season as I faced Man Utd. After losing to Doncaster with players on red arrows, to having a team mostly on blue and purple against the likes of United, I had the feeling I was in for a thrashing.

The game finished 2-1 to Blackburn! I was 1-0 down at half time, but a surprisingly good performance from Jason Roberts brought them level in the 57th minute. N'Zonzi scored a stunner in the 74th to put Rovers ahead and win the game! My next opponent was to be Crystal Palace, currently top in the Championship.

I was down in 8th place, but could feel that something good was to happen for my team.

Is this the start of something special? I will let you know in Friday's post.

Until next time, Happy gaming PES fans!

PRO EVO MASTERS LEAGUE IS BACK FOR GOOD!

Hello once again to all of you dedicated readers, and of course a hello to any new ones who have happened to stumble across the site!

If you are a previous visitor to the Pro Evo Masters League, you will be aware that I have recently had a few problems with updating the content of my posts and the site in general due to technical difficulties. I had written a post previous to this one that explained my problems and my work in trying to rectify the problem. I did have a ray of hope when the life of my PC seemed to pick up and work better than it had ever done before.

Unfortunately, the new life in the system seemed very short lived and it decided enough was enough, before letting go for good and leaving me needing a new PC.

So with explaining all of these events to you all, I am sure you can understand why my posts have been very few and far between. 

I apologise for this leave of absence, but do hope you can take a short time out of your schedule to come and visit me once again. 

The technical difficulties have been sorted for good this time as I have now purchased a new system which is more than twice as fast as my old one. This means I will be able to load up my browser quicker and write my posts regularly as I had hoped.

So with the explanations over, I can now get on with telling you what you can expect to see in tomorrows post.

I had decided to change my whole schedule of the blog and write something new and different each day. I had also told you of my need to restart my master league (offline) and my Become a legend mode (offline) again.

My master league has been restarted to reflect the option files I installed. They allowed me to have the complete teams and kits for the N Power Championship Division, but also the correct names and kits for the Barclay's Premiership too. The bundesliga teams and kits have also been introduced which you should hear more about in another PES related post to come.

Tomorrows post will feature my progress within Become a legend mode with my Creation that is Galarath.

I did decide to restart the BAL mode, but on reflection of how he has progressed and how much work I had put into his career, I decided to keep playing and try to reach the end of his career.

You will find out how he has progressed and whether or not he has moved from AZ or stayed there.

A SNEAKY PEEK...................

On Wednesday, you will read about my new start to the master league offline mode and how Blackburn Rovers have been progressing in The championship.

Another look into what is to come will be shown within the site within the next few days.

So..........through all the bugs and glitches and problems that PES throws our way...........Happy playing!

Until next time.............Catch ya laters!

AN OVERHAUL OF PES 2011???

Since the likes of PES 5, the game of Pro Evo has undoubtedly moved down within its own ratings. Most of these reasons have been taken from the annoyance that is the scripting of the AI elements.

The enjoyment of playing the game has changed dramatically to the extent of a match having its own so called "story" being played out. Of course you have the satisfaction of scoring a few goals and winning a match, but in general, you simply cannot play the game without it somehow changing the course of events that are going to actually happen.

For an example, I played a game in Master League mode. My team were on good form, with mostly orange and red arrows. The opposing team were not on good form, with a few green, but mostly blue or purple arrows. Plus the opponents team were generally lower in stats than my own. 

This was all in offline Master League.

I was counter attacking any waves they were sending towards my goal, and keeping passing going very well.

Possession was high for me, giving me the chance to find a route through on goal. 

After launching a good few attacks which ended up with no goals, I continued to press on and see if I could eventually score. My shot to shots on target ratio was spot on and I had not put any wide or over. But still nothing went in! They did not have the best of defences, but always seemed to stop the ball or take it off me without a single free kick.

The second half came and brought me with a couple of options. Carry on with the style of play I was currently using, or change the tactics and move around them a different way.

I decided to stick with the same and continued to form attacks and defend as needed. After 10 Min's of the second half, I managed to score from a corner, but only just. In a twist, My star striker had been injured and ended up being subbed ( I later learned he was out for 12 weeks!).

Within a few seconds of the restart, they opponents formed an attack and passed the ball to their striker into the middle and headed towards my goal. I had 3 defenders still back and 2 were close to the attacker. When I tried to change my player to the closest one and try and close down the attack, it would not let me somehow. After plenty of L1 button pressing, I had my defender selected and sprinted after the attacker,

It was too late! The AI had been given that edge over me by gifting them a piece of scripted play that allowed them time to get through before I could defend myself. They had the keeper to beat though. Surely I could control the keeper enough to save my lead?

"Errrrr" said the keeper. 

I used the triangle button to bring the keeper out, but he moved one step, stopped and watched in awe as the player ran past him and slotted the ball in the net. This was a gift from the AI God who just wanted to give them a chance I suppose. Well the chances came thick and fast, and no matter what I did, I couldn't play the same as the first half. In the end, the game finished 3-1 and left me seething and wanting to throw the game away! I was not impressed. The other goals should not have happened either. 

You know when certain parts of the game are not right, and generally, if Konami want to keep the PES franchise going for years to come, they seriously need to sort this out. Its one thing giving AI players more individual functions and making it harder for you to play the game, but scripting the game so it allows the computer a comeback if things are not going their way is wrong. If you are a good player, you should get the goals you deserve and win the game, not have it thrown in your face by the game turning on you.

Whatever happened to a fair game and good sportsmanship?

Rant Over, but hopefully the next post will have a more positive note.

ML AND BAL RESTART PLUS NEW BLOG SCHEDULE!

Hello and welcome to the Pro Evo Masters League.

If you are a regular visitor, you will be aware of the fact that I have been using Blackburn Rovers in my offline Master League campaign. I started straight in the premiership and have currently been playing into the 2nd half of the second season.

Recently however, I have been tempted to use an option file that you can freely get hold of that contains the Championship teams, and full kits! With this in mind, my idea was to restart my Master League campaign from scratch. I would start in division 2, but start as my beloved Blackburn Rovers as before.

I am thinking of installing the kits, etc, on Saturday (22nd of January 2011). As soon as all of the correct kits, teams and the other bits and bobs within the file are installed, I will be starting the new campaign.

In addition to starting my ML from scratch, I will also be restarting my Become A Legend mode using a recently unlocked feature of the game. PES 2011 allows you (once unlocked) to play a career as a real life player. I have not checked the whole feature out yet, but I am assuming that the feature allows you to pick a current real life player within Pro Evo and play a whole footballing career as that chosen player. If this is right, I am not sure which player to start as, but all will be revealed when the first post of my new BAL is published.

MORE EXCITING NEWS! 

In other news, the blog of The Pro Evo Masters League will have many more features. 

As well as featuring posts of my BAL and ML progress, there will also be a guest post featured once a week in which a fellow PES player will get the chance to tell the PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER community of their own progress and experiences. There will also be other content on all the other days of the week which will mean visitors to the site can see new content EVERY DAY!

More news on how you, as a Pro Evo Player can be involved and what other new content I will be posting, will be explained thoroughly in another post published in the very near future.

I hope you have all been practicing and enjoying your own PES features.

Until next time....................

Peace!

MASTER LEAGUE - THE NEXT FEW GAMES!

Hello and welcome back to the Pro Evo Masters League.

Today's post is just a quick recap on my latest progress with my offline master league featuring Blackburn Rovers.

Since the thrashing of Liverpool in the first round of the FA Cup, I have managed to play another 6 games.

The fitness of my players has been a worry for me, as my squad is not that large, and I only have a few select players to choose from when it comes to match day.

As some of you will also be aware with your own master league teams, having your players above the blue arrow is a must if you want them to play. Sometimes this is not always possible and you may end up playing certain players who are under performing. If you have top class players who show a blue arrow, they may play slightly lower than their stats, but generally, this should not affect you too much. If it was a player with much lower ability, then it would be pointless to field that player, especially if you were up against stiffer competition.

With a few decent players in my master league squad, I try to use them as much as I can, and when playing an easier game, put them on the bench or not play them at all to allow for squad rotation.

Now down to the recent results. 

LF8 (League Fixture):

Blackburn 1-0 Wigan

I was happy with this result as Wigan played some good football. I managed to score just before the 80th minute with a Pederson toe poke past the keeper. 3 points in the bag!

LF9

Pes Utd 2 - 2 Blackburn Rovers

One match which surprised me very much! Pes Utd did not have good stats. They hadn't managed to buy any new players and had been promoted from division 2 at the end of last season. I had been ahead twice, but sloppy defending and non L1 control resulted in the points being shared. Good to have plenty of goals in a game, but you feel let down by stupid mistakes!

LF 10

Blackburn Rovers 1 - 1 Sunderland

This game was a tough one. Sunderland had gone ahead about halfway through the first half. I had tried everything to get back into the game, with shots flying everywhere but their defence and in form keeper held the fort well. In the dying minutes of the second half, a chip through to Robinho led him free of the defenders and 1 on 1 with the keeper. He shoots............the keeper saved.............but didn't catch! Grella, very surprisingly had joined the attack and knocked the ball into the net after the keeper fumbled! He got man of the match, mainly down to his hard work in midfield, but the goal may have helped. A point saved and still without a loss!

Champions league

Blackburn 3 - 1 AFC Fiorentina

Having fielded a half decent side, and keeping a tired Defoe and Robinho on the bench after recent internationals, I had doubts about a good performance from Blackburn in this game. M Dioff and Benjani were up front and Malouda (on blue arrow) and Pederson dominated the wings. 

The first half ended 0 - 0, with most of the team truly needing a rest. However, I made no changes in the break and carried on with my game. I was gifted a 1 - 0 lead after Dioff had smashed the ball against the post and the opposition keeper and defender both went for the ball. One knocked it against the other and they had scored an own goal! Perhaps a gift from Konami, but I DOUBT IT! 

Fiorentina then levelled within 5 Min's and were clearly intent on applying the pressure. In the 60th minute (or thereabouts) I subbed Benjani and Diouff and bought on Defoe and Jeda. Robinho deserved more of a rest, so I left him on the bench. Alvarez came on for Pederson and I pressed on for a point.

In the last ten minutes of the game, Defoe and Jeda dominated the Fiorentina box and knocked shot after shot against the keeper. Eventually they managed to score 2 (1 each) and each get an assist.

So happy with the result and still top of the group!

LF 11

Blackburn Rovers 1 - 1 Aston Villa

Not much to tell really. Neither had many chances on goal, and Villa went ahead in the first half. Blackburn equalised at the start of the second and there must have been about 4 shots in the whole half between the teams. Nuff said!

FA CUP Second round

Blackburn 2 - 0 Man Utd 

With a full strength squad, Man Utd were going to be on top form, and they showed it! I let my guard down a little early as they kept possession and shots were all over the place. After the first ten minutes of this, I knew I had to do something! I set my possession game to defence and also used quick counter. If I had a corner, I just took off the defence which made my more of my players come for the ball.

It was nearing the end of the first half, and Blackburn had fended off all of the attacks and kept a clean sheet. The same was said for Man U, but both had equally had good chances to take the lead. Just before the half ended, I was graced by a wonder goal from Defoe that rocketed about 30 yards and crept straight past the keeper before he knew it! He just stood there.This was a volley assisted by Dioff. Robinho was playing on the wing which gave Dioff a chance up front and it was worth the switch.

Emerton down the wing to Robinho. He got a great angle on the goal and lobbed the keeper! Cracking goal and glad I finally manged one! (thanks to those who gave me the info!)

So rounding off 3 wins and 3 draws in all competitions, I would say that I have been blessed with luck on these occasions.

Until next time, I hope you all have some good luck with your games and hope to see you back here soon!

MASTER LEAGUE - OFFLINE

As some of you may already be aware, I am currently undertaking the challenge of master league mode (offline) with my favourite team, Blackburn Rovers. It is always a challenge of mine when I buy each new version of PES as they are not the strongest of teams in or out of the game and who better to take charge of but the team I support in real life.

I started my campaign in top player mode, classic players turned off and straight into the premier league, rather than in division 2. My first season had been pretty successful, as I finished second to Chelsea. This enabled me to gain some valuable prize money and also bag a spot in the Champions League qualifying groups. My team is still not as strong as I would like it to be, but I have got a few decent players. I also sold a few of my players in order to raise my funds, which left me with a much smaller squad than I started with. I have also promoted some of my youth players to the first team which has helped fill in the gaps temporarily.

With season 2 underway, I started with a good few wins and in the same respect a few draws, but I am still unbeaten thus far. I have also started the Champions League well, with 1 win and a draw placing me top of the group. Not an easy task with the teams strength, especially against the likes of Barca and Fiorentina. I managed to fend Barca to a 1-1 draw, and beat Fiorentina 1-0. The season is progressing nicely, but hopefully in the mid season transfer window, I hope to strengthen the defence and maybe purchase a decent midfielder. My wingers haven't been much of a problem as I have a few spare players that can easily fill in when the time comes. The same is said for the Cf's, although it would be nice to gain at least one more decent player up front. I have stayed with the 4-4-2 formation, and cannot see much need for a change. I think the best bet is just to strengthen each position as I see fit.

Below you will see the top part of the Premier League table as it stands so far, plus below it you should see the Group table of the Champions League, again as it stands at the time of this post.

My next post will be about my experience with Become a Legend Mode (offline) and you will get to see whether my player 'Galarath' gets a place in the national team.

Until next time

Have fun!