PES 2016. How to start myClub with a bang.

Last week I received my first ever internet pre-order game, Pro Evolution Soccer 2016. Normally this time of year I’m at a supermarket at midnight picking up FIFA but the shambles that was FIFA 15 really didn’t inspire me, whereas PES 2015 did.

I bought PES 2015 in February 2015 (after giving up with FIFA) and started playing its myClub mode. After six months of enjoyment, great players that I could only dream of owning in FIFA and very little in-game frustration, I knew I made the right decision jumping to Konami and away from EA, so far 2016 has not disappointed.

This ‘guide’ will give you an idea of how I started in myClub 16. If you want a year of PES enjoyment you’d be wise considering this ‘guide’ as a potential way to start/keep afloat.

Before we start, there are two types of in game currency, GP (like coins) and stars, (FIFA points).

Much like on FIFA FUT you begin PES myClub with very little. However unlike FIFA there is no player/consumable market. The only way to access players without paying is to play games; each game giving you 1 free scout. That scout then lets you play roulette with a spinning wheel of coloured balls; black, gold, silver, bronze, white. Black being the best.

So let’s say you have 5 scouts, you spin them all and you get 1 of each type of ball. Black balls are the best (80+ overall), gold are second (75-80), silver is third best (65-74) and bronze and white are under 65. Most people who play the game want all the black balls, but there’s a cost trade off.
In PES contracts have a set price, unlike FIFA where you buy them on a marketplace.

Neymar for example might cost you 300GP a match, fine, but if you have 11 players of Neymar’s quality and your team earns 1800GP a game, you’re soon going to run out of GP to play the whole team! You can of course pay for them using real money and the coins system, but I won’t be doing that and any money I put in will be for a manager. Though you don’t need to do that for a while as unlocking tasks gets you loads of coins. Save them.

So that is a basic look at the player economics, to succeed you need to have enough GP to pay for contracts.

But that offers the question, how am I going to afford all my stars contracts in one team? With some planning it’s possible.

I want to give some background to the rules of success –

Players can be trained; you might get a level 1 Neymar. His normal level is 30 but you can train up to level 50. Prices of contracts increase as the player increases his level. So does his ‘cost’ to the manager.

Managers have contracts but also costs,  a cost stat which translates to your teams strength. If your manager can only manage up to 250 costs then you can’t have a team of Neymars whose cost might be 80 each. You need lower rated players. Or a blend of players, I believe they call it a team.

Managers also have contracts, though they can be extended by hitting targets like X amount of points, or you can pay for them with GP or coins. When you get a manager they always come with a generous 25 game contract, renewal is 25 games too.

So with these things in mind you need a manager who can actually afford to manage your team.

This is my manager –

And this is my main online team -

If you look at the team I have high team spirit, 1020 team strength, all the players are low rated silver balls and Ventura who is selected is at level 22 and 71 rated. His maximum at level 30 is 73. He also has a manager cost of 6. He has 46 contracts.
The manager (on the left) can manage costs of 250 but my team spend is only 96.

My team started life at a much lower cost but by playing with them their ‘team strength’ or the players themselves have improved and so now they cost more to manage, as do their individual contracts.
However I planned for that and my manager can probably manage this team even if all players hit level 50.

I have my team but with every game they get more and more expensive, so I pick players I know I can afford.

PES myClub is a long term project and before settling on these players I played around 100 games and spun 100 scout balls to get a team I thought could win games. To do this I played tournaments against the CPU and used an ever rotating bronze/white ball team.
I also developed a second silver ball team that I use for SIM games. Same manager.

But I’ve still not told you about building up GP with minimum effort. Well here’s how I have 300,000GP, over 1200 coins and three really fun main teams. After 7 days. Btw I work full time ;)

Three competitions are your friend, all against the CPU. The ‘Novice Cup’ the ‘Team Spirit Challenge’ and ‘SIM seasons’.
You could go and win each tournament; it’s only 3 games in Novice and Team Spirit. Plus you get a 500GP bonus if you win them. But if you’re just looking to maximise time, team spirit and GP you’ll only play two games of each tournament.

The reason? The third game you actually have to play to win, the first two you only have to play until you score, then pass to your free player and put the pad down.
When you’ve played those two games exit the tournament and start the other one.

So this is what you do, you play those two tournaments religiously with your most useless players got from the free spins. If you score a few with low rated player you will gain you around 1780gp every game, plus a scout.

After 10 games you’ll have around 18000GP and 10 scouts. The next decision is up to you.
You can either renew your crap players contracts or open the 10 scouts. I do a combination of both.

Renewing cheap player’s costs between 350 and 500GP each. If you renew your whole team it will cost you around 5500GP so you’re left with 12500GP profit and 10 scouts. Not a bad return.

Can you guess where I am going with this?
That’s right, play, play, play. If you put the time in you can end up with a major amount of useful GP.

So you’ve now got a lot of GP, you are building up your scouts and you have some great players. Should you spin the best agents for 10000 coins? Well it’s up to you, I haven’t spun one top agent (apart from the Day One specials) and this is the team I have but haven’t played with.

Notice the same manager from earlier cannot afford to manage this team. My team spirit is 99 but when I add Neymar it all becomes too costly. The bench counts toward your final cost.
Notice that Neymar has a cost of 44, whereas Ventura from earlier has a cost of 6. Top players cost a lot more.

Certainly not a bad team, and here is the second ‘team’ that eventually I'll use casually or in SIM games with a view to using players as trainers.

It just needs a few more players, not sure about Chamakh at centre back.

It’s a week since release and I have a whole season ahead to add stars, why waste GP now?

Instead I’ve used my GP on other things.
1. Extra player slots
2. Extra scouting slots
3. Player contracts for players I am committed to playing with/developing

Player slots because you get so many scouts through playing you might as well use them. Scouting slots, because at some point you’ll have too many players and then run out of scouting slots, and contracts because as players levels increase their contract costs go up.

As an example, after my 75 rated level 1 Lampard went to level 2 he cost me an extra 20 coins per contract. Now at level 3 he is costing me 1780 GP to renew and not 1680 GP. I know I’m going to play with him so I put on 50 contracts This will save me GP in the long term.

However this is where planning comes in, shortly after putting the contracts on Lampard I got Renato Augusto, a great AMF.  If I’d have got Iniesta I might not have used Lampard so I’d have wasted all that GP on his contracts. I then understood the importance of being patient.

With this new found knowledge I built an affordable good silver team for online play (the first team), while picking up GP and scouts using a low silver, bronze and white ball team.

Many of the players in my high silver team started at an overall rating below 68 and came with low contract costs. Because of that I increased their contracts to 60.
All in all I spent around 30,000 GP on the silver teams contracts and now I have a team which can play 60 games without needing a contract extension.
For now this will be my main online team and I only need to win 19 games to break even.

A good tip is to put your online teams players on your novice and team spirit teams bench, their team spirit will improve with that manager so if you use him again for the online team they will automatically have high team spirit (chemistry, if you’re coming from FIFA).

So to recap, the ‘farming’ of GP from the novice and team spirit tournament allows you to start building your club. While doing this you build up GP and players from the free scouts and when the time is right you’ll have enough GP to give your top players a lot of contracts.
The maximum contracts you can give is 100 (thanks Geninho from the PESfan forums), so kitting out a top blackball team with 100 contracts will cost anywhere between 200,000 and 350,000GP. You also get a free contract renewal with every winning season, though these can only be used when a player is out of contract.

In PES you’re rewarded for merging your purist love of football and gaming. The game requires planning and thought like a good RPG and like the real game a successful team doesn’t always have to be bought.
This article barely scratches the surface of the game, with training a major aspect of any long term plan. However if you farm and plan at the start you’ll have a great year of PES ahead of you and you’ll wonder why you ever spent your free time trading for cards when you could’ve been playing for greatness.

Update -
Recently I've been SIMing games and moving up the divisions, at division 8 I am gaining 2000GP per win. While you're not guaranteed to win every game it's a good way to farm and use up those players you don't care much for. This season I've won all my games and drawn 2. A nice return.

Also the higher your team the more coins you will get so consider putting your highest rated player on the bench when you farm. If it's a level 4 team you'll get near 2200GP instead of around 1800GP.

PES 2016; myClub menus and the surprise Football Manager fans might enjoy.

PES 2015 was a gameplay success but much of its finer pieces like the myClub menus, were a convoluted, frustrating laggy mess. In PES 2016 things seems to been changing, while throwing in some surprises along the way.

When you go through the learning process you quickly discover that lag has mostly gone. Menu’s are swift and loading is adequate for a server based game, but more importantly things you want to do, you’re allowed to do.
Then you’re treated to something new, something different; training. 

Many years ago we watched a flashing bar tell us how our custom team was doing, then we got dots running around a field, and now we have a side on view of good animation. But something was always missing; sometimes you wished you could control your team.
PES 2016 gives you a taste of that, it lets you make your favourite underdog better, perhaps even tp exceed your expectations.
We will see whether it’s too artificial as the year progresses but if you were that ‘FM’ or ‘Champ Man’ kid who loved his adequate greats, PES might make you smile.

Rather than making an essay out of improvements I’ll list them.

- Faster menus and much less lag

- Players are now easy to recognise without a need to look right for their basic stats

- You can release a player straight after signing them

- SIM mode now uses other peoples 'cloud teams' so you always get a game. Also has a football manager look and feel to it. Very nice.

- Players start at different levels, you could get a level 1 top player who needs to play to improve…bit like the football manager top youth….

- All players can improve! Holy crap…is this football manager…

- Players can improve by training. They even improve more when they have links to the trainer, eg: same nationality, club, position….no wait…is this football manager?….

- Reserves are now accessible from the main menu without the need to go into a separate menu….this is definitely football manager….tenuous…

- Managers can earn contract extensions by you winning. Eg – 5 points in divisions

- In the ‘train player’ menu you can convert players into trainers; you lose that player for good.

- Though the trainer face doesn’t appear you can see their basic stats before using them.

- Managers have 25 contracts.

- You can change a player’s position tactics wise, so a CF can play as a SS. That position must stay within the attack/midfield/defence section.

- Gamepad buttons are more customizable with each action being able to have its own button

Probably a lot more improvements but I have work to do. Brilliant that Konami gave the non-match experience some serious thought and development.

For me this makes the gameplay debate the only one. Rumour has it FIFA is plodding along without much desire to make a simulation game, for my football game wants it can only be PES. I guess we’ll have to wait a few months until EA decides their final crippling/perfecting patch.

PES MyClub, the game for football purists

PES isn’t the perfect game, in fact it’s clearly like FIFA 14, a game in the development phase. However unlike FIFA 15, which continued building on FIFA’s mechanical animations the PES 2015 focus is clearly on user input. In this article I want to compare the mechanics of both games as well as explore how PES must change for 2016. I’ll even rank which one I feel is better, just for some controversy.

If we compare the techniques both games employ to replicate the beautiful game it’s clear to see one wants to put the user in control and the other relies on sharing this desire with artificial intelligence. Where you sit on that fence is the type of game you enjoy, I know where I used to sit but my new chair is very comfy.

Gameplay

Short passing
Short passing is a staple of PES, in fact as a FIFA player who sees a good through ball I’ve struggled in using short passes in the final third. In PES you’re able to pass short in most scenarios, it’s realistic because certain players are better at passing quickly, body position is key, and making space is imperative. In FIFA it’s very hit and miss, there seems to be little difference in passing very short and short and mistakes are rarely user generated. In FIFA when you get a move truly going passing can be perfect, so much so that you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re not Barcelona. The commentary highlights the problem ‘they’re passing like it’s a computer game’, and they’re right, we are, because FIFA is mechanical and the opponent isn’t part of this set of numbers.
PES follows a different route, your manager helps your team play a certain way, possession for example, but don’t expect to flow up the pitch in a perfect sequence of short passes, you must beat the opposing line and draw them out of position to even get the chance to find your triangle. It’s football as it should be.
Winner – PES, it’s integral to the game. That’s how it should be.

Long passing
Long passing on PES is tricky but it allows you to utilise a variety of attacking options, for example if you have a target man a high long ball really will act like a long ball, not just a random punt. Long passing to a small wide player also produces great results too; they will take a great touch if the ball is low but lose headers regularly. The game mechanics are user influenced and both the attacker and defender can play to their strengths. In FIFA these mechanics are not all that present, a pacey player will win as many headers as they lose, perhaps more, because long passing is either hit or miss, it’s either going to your man or it isn’t. Player positioning and attributes do little to influence this outcome, a great example is Giovinco’s agility to win headers.
Winner – PES, no contest. The long ball works how it’s meant to, it’s more than a chance weapon and using it requires attention to detail.

Through balls
Through balls have become an integral part of how football games produce goals, in FIFA the long through ball has been abused and never reeled in thus causing defenders to topple and strikers to take perfect touches, quite literally nothing like real life.
In PES through balls can be just as dangerous but defenders actively spot passing potential, attacking players first touches are less influenced by pace and agility and more on ability and only the best players play the perfect pass. Then we have attacking options for the through ball, in PES you can influence the run your player makes and a well timed pass produces what you’d hoped for, in FIFA it produces what you’d expect, the difference is agonisingly obvious and a PES through ball sets up important not percentage chances.
Winner – PES, from a purist point of view FIFA isn’t even in this contest. If you’re just looking to throw some hail marys then head to FIFA, pick a pass with PES.

Shooting
FIFA has become so aim and shoot it’s agonising, in part due to some appalling programming in the goalkeeping department. Near post shots still produce goals for fun, long blasts are 50/50, headers are actions and finesse is a joy, not in a good way. The only shooting similarities are in chipping, where both games do an excellent job at making it feel realistic with chances very user focussed. Shooting on PES however is fun, really fun, you’re certain to miss and at times you get the feeling it’s never going to happen but it’s largely about attacker, keeper and defender positioning. With time and space you have a great chance but with a narrow angle you need to shoot early or find the top of the net; defenders really do influence accuracy.
Goalkeepers are integral to you not succeeding, and while there are some horrible animations that appear that the ball has hit the centre of the goal, 1 ft from the goal keeper, the frequency of this type of shot allows for the anomaly. Similarly running on a 45 degree angle toward the goal produces all too often, it’s just a good job keepers close well and good defenders snort at attacking agility.
Winner – PES, but not by much. It’s difficult to really judge FIFA when goalkeepers are so dire, I used to play on the 360 where keepers were better but on the Xbox One they can be superb or laughable, on either occasion this is pretty frustrating.

Dribbling
FIFA feels forced and clunky, especially with defensive pressure, but PES can feel slow to respond. Where FIFA is very much about stop start or skill PES lets you choose a variety of movements to beat the man and encourages a few well timed skills rather than a sequence of animations to beat the mechanics. The FIFA update ruined dribbling for me, but in reality it was too overpowered anyway.
The new mechanic destroyed dribbling unless you used a few key skills though I suspect a lot of this was down to AI pressure creating poor touches. Turning circles are now huge.
In PES body position is very important, stopping and starting is at play but if you run a yard away from your man he misses you and doesn’t home in unless he’s a few feet away ready to tackle. Dribbling for the best players is fun but the aim is to beat a man and get into space, you cannot simply dribble or skill your way through two players. It’s realistic, and when well timed a really fun exercise which makes you feel you actually beat a man rather than escaped the AI animation.
Winner – PES, again it’s about context because they both stutter a bit in this department. They’re both imperfect but then dribbling in football is very measured, very few players have ever possessed enough skills to beat a whole team and PES recognises that, playing against Messi examples this.

Skilling
FIFA is a mixture of animations bringing success whereas PES is about timing and surprise, where I love the ease at which they occur in FIFA I loathe the mechanics and enjoy the PES motivation of using them precisely.
Winner – Draw, different strokes for different folks. Neither are impressive enough to win me over.

Defending
This is another no contest. PES has a quality which leaves you panicking in your own box and able to defend space outside it. It’s not perfect, players movements are too slow for the gamer to fully defend space but it’s very user intensive and relying on the AI leaves a lot of space. In FIFA the AI control is incredible, even when the user is rushing in, 5 yard forcefields are not fun and high pressure/aggression makes it a game of ping pong. Football at its absolute worst.
PES also has two other bonuses, you can learn to beat a team by getting used to a management style (defending or attacking), and you can see whether your opponent is using the AI to rush in or whether they are tackling themselves. This has proved really beneficial in an attacking sense and a superb piece of simple programming.
Winner – No contest, PES. FIFA is a mess in defence, it needs a complete overhaul with the user input being more important than AI.

Player movements
Both superb; player runs are great, supporting positioning is brilliant and it’s always nice to set a player on a run. PES does have one improved feature, choosing and timing your supporting players run, it’s a nice feature, but then FIFA is so pretty.
Winner – Draw, both do a great job at making you believe that even Agbonlahor can make a quality run.

MyClub vs Ultimate Team

Menu’s

Loading speed
MyClub is dreadful, really slow, makes you worry that your connection is dying. It’s basic and judders and in general very primitive. FIFA is superb, the menus are a joy, especially after playing with PES, the developers have done a fantastic job at making sure everything looks and acts brilliantly and quickly.

Usability
I might prefer the tactic and manager approach of PES, which for gameplay purposes improves on FIFA, but the information delivery, for example player/game stats is appalling. Adding or removing players to a squad is a palaver, further frustrated by slow loading, it feel extremely primitive and nothing like the gorgeous, sweeping simplicity FIFA delivers. FIFA will have you wanting to check stats, enjoy the concept squads and tempted to explore, in PES you focus on getting it right because making a mistake, for example with your team sheet, takes time to rectify.

Winner, FIFA in a completely different class. PES, this isn’t 2005 anymore!

So you want to play a game

Menu’s, gameplay, they’re just the flesh, what about the bones! Why are you playing? Ultimate Team created a monster, one I wanted to be part of but it limits the user by advocating micro transactions and not gameplay. PES does the opposite, your squad is your squad, you’ve earned it and playing has unlocked its potential.
That to me is a joy, plus Konami regularly give meaningful gifts when things go wrong, for example my 50k gift was saved for the final weeks of the Champions League where I picked up some top quality black ball players thanks to a 70% chance of success.  Packs in FIFA are fun but they’re awful and demoralising, whereas in PES you look forward to getting a new player, especially in the early months of gaming. Though many believe the spinning balls of PES are decided from the outset it’s a good way to play, and building up agents simply encourages this because it’s about improving your team, hopefully adding one or two better players and not just making a whole team of world class talent. The best of the best can be beaten with the right average team!
Agents after every game is a masterstoke, and I’m very happy if 60 agents later I get 3 gold players and a black one.

Squad size limits on PES could be more generous but this should be offset with improved contract sizes, for goodness sake Konami encourage us to play with the limited squad and not scrimp to do so. In FIFA the contract system is great even if the market is a disaster, but you can build a team like a sticker collection which I always enjoy. The marketplace is great fun, even though you’ll never really try the top guys unless you pay, but those same players are available in different modes so in my mind MyClub is a real Ultimate Team competitor.

Tactics are important and while I appreciate what Konami are trying to do with manager style I do prefer the flexibility of FIFA, however if PES bothered to tell us how to unlock the highest managers this wouldn’t really have mattered. Microtransactions for a better manager, that’s a very EA thing to do.

Winner – PES, its close but I ended up preferring the delivery of quality rather than the desperation of affording it. The marketplace on FIFA has ruined Ultimate Team, where coin seller lurk clueless developers procrastinate; PES showed UT fans it could be done,  and done well.

Online

Both can be average to good however where FIFA wins is the sheer amount of players, I rarely find myself waiting 20 minutes to get a game whereas with Pro Evo that can be the standard waiting period. Also slow connecting and loading! Then we have the courtesy rating on PES, it’s a good concept but it threatens people with bans which in principle is fine but in reality can create a real headache for the honest player, especially when playing against a dishonest one. FIFA might crash and disconnect but it doesn’t penalise you by losing precious contracts and fitness, PES has some thinking to do on that front.

Winner – FIFA. PES is behind in developing an online service which represents 2015. FIFA might be down a lot but because they have so many more players people draw attention to it.

Final opinion

Overall both games are unfinished, from a development point of view PES is moving toward gameplay as its core ethos with functionality progressing on the side, whereas FIFA wants to give you an experience and change things if time allows it.
if you’re after a kick around you’re better going with FIFA, it’s the light entertainment that something like Community offers, nothing brilliant, nothing poor, passable with some moments of absorption.
If however you’re after an immersive experience that encourages creative gameplay and want to extend your hobby virtually you don’t really have a choice, it has to be PES.
In 2015 FIFA knows it has a competitor, as PES knows it has a platform. I’m really looking forward to seeing whether FIFA has stopped adding plasters in favour of making gameplay its focus or whether PES has finally matured into a gaming experience in more than gameplay and concept. 

Steam Machines, time for semiconductor manufacturers to step up.

10 years ago the PC environment drastically changed, with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 blurring the lines between PC and console gamer. This PC spec white case began chipping away at the dedication of the modder/upgrader and many started abandoning their yearly bank foray for a new graphics card/system in favour of the latest FPS or RPG; chip manufacturers began pressing panic buttons.

The next decade would see FPS and voice chat, the mainstay of PC gaming, shared, and while resolution was still a concern the then next generation made PC feel gaming accessible, sin keyboard and mouse. Fortune favoured Microsoft as televisions were going from frumpy corner pieces to sleek visual masterpieces, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 supported these advancements seamlessly especially in the case of video streaming where they even beat the SMART tv’s to the punch. Steam sat happily picking up the majority of PC gamers but users started looking for ways to be part of that ‘all in one’ living room experience.

Perhaps a little late Valve saw that changing landscape and the steam client began evolving, see Steam Big Picture, however Valve were constrained, not by user access but by software integration and while Steam client was keeping players, active or not, users started moving to consoles as a living room device. I personally stopped buying PC parts and instead spent my graphics card and RAM money on modding a white Xbox 360 to match the Xbox 360 Elite specs, £136, bargain.

For myself and others the writing was on the wall for PC gaming and while I often looked at making myself a neat living room/gaming PC I knew the cost would be horrific, especially with the slow development of small form factor power supplies and quality graphics cards.

In 2013 PC gamers still desperate for a Half Life 3 were treated by Valve, not with Half Life 3 but in the way of a PC ‘console’ named the Steam Machine. Hype was built, modders questioned the feasibility and rumours circled but in an untypical manner Valve blinked, perhaps correctly, and instead gave manufacturers and players time to digest their ambitions; they also went back to make sure their controller was perfect.

2013 also saw the next generation of consoles arrive with a bang but both whimpered when customers realised that many titles lacked that spectacular edge, to date some great titles exist but only a few are face slappingly good and many exciting titles are rehashes, for example I can’t wait for Borderlands.

24 months on and Valve have returned, just in time for a Netflix 4k debate and their return wasn’t with a couple of hardware solutions but amid 15 different Steam Machines. The Steam Machine isn’t a console but an opportunity for manufacturers to invade the living room with a powerful gaming machine. The Steam Machine doesn’t have to be your ‘console’ living room option, it can still be your own PC but with Steam OS, a linux based operating system powering it, and if loud fans aren’t your thing Valves Steam Link can stream your pictures to your TV, no long HDMI cables here. Rather than being a PC with gaming potential it’s a gaming machine with PC potential, especially thanks to the open source opportunities which may be influenced by ‘apps’ and ‘tiles’ currently being pushed by Microsoft.

Valve has announced they’re not intending to compete with the console market, even if they have a slick pad and streaming box but where they once lost regular players to consoles they might have found a way to win them back, especially with 4k a lonely technology.
There is however one roadblock to Valves momentum, semiconductor manufacturers. AMD are a classic example of the plight of these manufactures, even if they are back from the dead due to being a key component in delivering the Xbox One and PS4 they are still not the force they once were, and while Intel have reinvented themselves more times than David Cameron they’ve diversified to the mobile market in order to survive.
In reality both companies are struggling to reach the audience they once had with the bastion of their fortunes, PC’s.

On the surface it seems Intel and AMD are back on the way up, 2014 profits would suggest so, but as other chip makers dominate their other markets, streaming gaming continues to push for a TV native platform and high resolution starts to drive as a dominant factor, the PS4 guys definitely think so, Intel and AMD might struggle to unearth sustainable profit without a reinvention of their intentions.

Valve must hope that AMD, Intel and Nvidia are aware of this potential revenue stream, concurrently they could change the landscape of gaming completely but it will take a concerted effort of 

innovation and belief to draw people back to PC’s as well as offer something akin to PC gaming pre 2008. On both sides the organisations need to work together, Steam OS is built on linux and will require a strong amount of hard and software support as well as game development (porting has become a lot simpler) but the largest contributing factor will be components where power must be retained and size and heat reduced; quite the task.

Motherboards suited to small form factor exist, namely microATX and mini-ITX, but where microATX lacks case options ITX lacks real power. Both forms struggle to attract high quality motherboards and graphics cards and while RAM is cheap every other component is either expensive or slow to match higher end and thus larger devices.

The financial difference between building a Steam Machine and buying a console is still great, cost wise a decent box is £100+ more expensive and that’s just decent, but the chances of getting something size comparable is slim to none. It’s great so many companies are backing Valve by making Steam Machines that look like consoles but these machines need to keep up with development and allow upgrades when the time is right, this is where manufacturers need to realise the potential and show maturity by putting the consumer first.

In my opinion the motherboard is crucial, upgrading the CPU shouldn't require you to change the whole system, graphics cards should be more and more relevant so that a graphics upgrade gives the most benefit and cases need to reflect the consumer desire for smaller components and desire to upgrade. Intel, Nvidia and AMD have a great opportunity to take the mantle and carve a new revenue stream but they need to have continual two way conversations with Valve to make sure that hardware changes meet Valve’s ability to continue supporting upgrades  for at least a 4 year period, new gen not next gen.

Console gaming is the dominant force, that’s without doubt, but if you’re someone who once revelled in your TV’s best features finding a platform for gaming you might be looking at your black boxes with the concern that you've bought last year’s next gen.

In my opinion we will not see the Steam Machines potential until November 2016, by then we should see the first batch of upgrade questions answered, hardware manufactures showing their  hand, gain a clearer understanding of a linux OS for gaming and perhaps get some hype in the way of Half Life 3 or some other Valve hardware addition.

The future for gaming could be varied and innovative, especially on an open source platform, but without a team effort and intelligent foresight the 15 companies sticking their neck on the line will suffer, they’ve gambled and we’ll soon find out whether Valve will blink again.

If FIFA is Balotelli then Pro Evo is Milner

Football games have changed, in one corner we have the passionate about 'football commercialism' EA, and in the other we have the gameplay focused Konami. Where the debate used to be 'which game is better?' I truly believe the debate has shifted to 'football or footfall?'

Since FIFA's November patch I've completely fallen out of love with FIFA15, where user input was a direction I embraced the November patch swiftly removed this option from my fingertips and AI initiative was handed to my opponent.

Over the last 3 months I have tried to play FIFA 15, but from 500 games before the patch I only need my own and a friends hand to count the games played since.

Many have embraced the changes but the game has become very formulaic, and mechanical to the point of stagnant.  Where I once had to tackle my opponent I am now left with the feeling that the AI will do a far superior job, whether this is team mate press or by doing nothing I regularly miss tackles going it alone or find players sprawled on the floor listening for the AI stampede.
Videos online surfaced illustrating the benefits of doing absolutely nothing in defence, and while against the more experienced players, who use the games mechanics to their advantage, this isn’t a recommended tactic it is clear that against football players this tactic is wildly successful.
To clarify I am using the term football player for somebody who tackles themselves, tries to take control of what’s happening on the pitch and attempts to simulate the beautiful game as a virtual example.

If I offend, tough, some of us believe user input is integral to the way we play games, I lived through auto-aim on Counter Strike and it always offended.

This is the crux of FIFA’s problem, it requires the user to play FIFA and not football, this is certainly exampled by the Ultimate Team mode which is awash with hacking and coin mining to the detriment of the gamer who picks up the game to simply play and love football. A stunning example of EA's ignorance is the recent 'min/max BIN prices' which preclude 90% of normal gamers and have prices set on the coin buyers past investments. Very little EA does places the honest and true gamer first.

Like the Premier League, which is distancing itself from the football fan at an alarming rate FIFA post patch reverts back to the sodden glorified mistake that embraced FIFA 14 and FIFA 13, at least FIFA 13 didn’t pretend to be a football simulation, it was a game from first kick.

Where mistakes in gameplay changes exist, reverence to the consumer dissipates, with denial and ignorance rife. Many see the patch as not only hampering AI balance but increasing pass errors, especially short, stifling first touch and further supporting long through balls. EA does a fantastic job at shooting these down, especially in their forums where denial goes hand in hand with ignorance, but it's clear the developers have lost their way and this once football mad franchise has chosen the board room over bored football fans.

Then we have Konami, who with Pro Evo 15 have delivered a choppy glimpse at what the football fan really wants, the game has its flaws gameplay wise and similar to FIFA it wants you to aspire to using the best players to attain consistent success but it places availability and progression in the customers hands (like their gameplay), and not in their wallets, or parents wallets. That’s the standout difference, it's less likely to be their parents wallets and more likely to be those of the fan, the person who wants a leg up and not simply to buy a whole experience. In Pro Evo you’re allowed to succeed, encouraged to do so, in FIFA you’re expected to compete financially in a broken system of out of game transactions under the guise of hackers and cheats. Or of course you can buy a pack from EA, something useless of course, but they throw in a free gateway to gambling addiction for your efforts.

One system favours football fans the other favours finance, not dissimilar to the Premier League, and the very core of gameplay and enjoyment has been tainted because of it. Don’t get me wrong, Pro Evo is unfinished, it’s still building a platform to jump from, but it's doing so with the football fan at its centre and desperately seeking recognition for what is does right, not what is right by it.

FIFA is a game for children, for people desperate to prove they can compete, and for the foolhardy who think it’s a football sim. Pro Evo is a game for the honourable, the real football fan, and the once FIFA believer who has opted to play a game with heart and not vogue. The tide is turning in football games and we have two different products, one is a snowballing commercial entity hiding behind noise and spectacle and the other is an always developing player desperate to impress, desperate to be part of the scene but hoping to gain recognition and not hype.

Two Premier League players mirror the stages of these titles; one a spectacle, exuding bravado but producing very little apart from a huge bank balance, and the other has a heart, with the determination and endeavor to keep breaking the ceiling of ability.
Showmanship can only take you so far and for that reason I've always preferred Milner to Balotelli.

Edit -
Anybody see Balotelli and his penalty antics vs Besiktas? Yup FIFA all over, it's my ball, you can't have it and I'm certainly not going to celebrate with you if I score. This is my time to shine and your contribution is unimportant; next he'll be telling us he won the penalty!