ONM are crap and E3 is cancelled!!??

First off, Official Nintendo Magazine (UK) is on my list of crap stuff that i regrettably was interested in and stuff, their first mistake following their re-design is the false info on the Wii stand which is also a power supply, which was proven wrong. And now, they fucked it all up by claiming that their magazine would have supposedly exclusive information which failed to reach print.. the game in question was Resident Evil Wii due to their little hint that they posted.

And now, it has been stated there is NO information and that it was all a stupid ploy to force people to buy their next magazine in the hope that there may be something good in their magazine.. but nada. Their reply to all this was that people looked into their sneaky article last month too much and that they didn't say it was for the next issue.. <_< Poor poor ONM and their excuses.

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E3 cancelled next year.. and in the future apparently.. why? Next-gen biz article below

Senior industry sources have revealed to Next-Gen.Biz that the E3 industry event, in its present form, has been cancelled for next year and the foreseeable future.

Image The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) shindig has been a staple of game industry life since the mid-1990s. However, we understand the larger exhibitors have jointly decided that the costs of the event do not justify the returns, generally measured in media exposure.

Publishers believe the multi-million dollar budgets would be better spent on more company-focused events that bring attention to their own product lines rather than the industry as a whole.

Well placed sources say the news that larger exhibitors were pulling out had prompted urgent meetings among publishing executives. They decided that, without the support of the larger software publishers and hardware manufacturers, there would be no point in continuing.

ESA president Doug Lowenstein will likely announce the news some time within the next 48 hours, possibly on Monday. It's possible that the ESA will seek to limit the damage by organizing some form of lesser event in May, but it's clear that the days of an industry event attended by all the major publishers, spending big money, are gone.

Source: http://next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3538&Itemid=2

So due to business/financial reasons for many of the companies, E3 was not a feasible option for their game to be promoted.. <_<.. ok, i understand where they going but for some reason it doesn't work. The publishers/developers will have to rely on other sources of publicity like mini-events or more advertising to push their game across to the public.. and not use E3, possibly the biggest games event of the year (next to TGS) and one that the pblic will know about (unlike TGS).

I fully understand some people having mad thoughts about this.. the word 'WHY?!' comes from many gamer's mouths and many people point the blame on the top names, especially Sony, espeically with their disastrous E3 conference, which was more for media appeal than appealing to the consumers.. $599?! U fucking joke. But wait, its got power and CG movies, its gonna be good.. pur-lease.

Media Create Software/Hardware sales (July 17th-23rd)

Hardware

DSL 262,453
PSP 35,938
PS2 22,288
DS 6,344
GBASP 2,953
Xbox360 1,472
GBM 1,410
GC 1,076
GBA 20
Xbox 0

Software

1. (DS, Nintendo) New Super Mario Brothers - 145,095 / 2,401,965
2. (DS, Nintendo) Shaberu! Oryouri Nabi - 126,530
3. (DS, Nintendo) More Brain Training - 72,327 / 2,824,538
4. (PS2, Bandai) Battle Stadium DON - 49,085
5. (DS, Nintendo) Brain Training - 44,499 / 2,584,420
6. (PS2, Konami) Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 13 - 44,242 / 196,148
7. (PSP, SCE) BLEACH Heat The Soul 3 - 35,476
8. (GC, Bandai) Battle Stadium DON - 35,399
9. (DS, Nintendo) Animal Crossing: Wild World - 35,121 / 2,972,162
10. (DS, Nintendo) English Training DS - 28,905 / 1,289,633

Comments: Wow, just wow, just look at that hardware sale, so amazing, so unbelievable.. oh and the DS Lite is killing everyone off again. I was referring of course to the X-box = 0 (ZERO) sales for this week, a new record for the machine im sure, that ZERO speaks volumes to me.. like, yeah.. its dead.. like it has been for the past year and a bit.. but it also means that the Japanese are finally accpeting the X-360.. right? WRONG! its still got a fairly standard (for X-360) sales figure for the week..
This week's DS Lite sales increase is due to the new colur and Cooking Navi game that came out, which increased the software sales for other DS games like Animal Crossing and Brain Training.. Nintendo, you really created a monster.. stop it.. stop it now!

Anime Review: Gantz 2

Well, well, well.. Gantz 2, After the terrific first season where it was so different, unique in style and content, very dark and had plentiful of (less than memorable) characters, Gantz 2 had some shoes to fill.

First off, i have to say that this series is pretty much one BIG arc, the buddhist statues of death are enormously big and take up much of the series time with their relentless killings and stuff.. but despite the huge number of deaths in the first bit, theres a bit of repetitiveness towards the whole thing and i felt the whole thing really really dragged on. Its like this, Gantz assigned the lucky contestants to kill off 2 specific aliens, they do that, then out comes multiple small versions of these buggers.. they die easily, then one humonguous one, that dies. The team splits into two groups to hunt off the last statues, and most of them die without a hitch until they come to one bitch of an alien that is cheap beyond beneath (basically, fast, master at close-mid-long range, regeneration, alien blood acid and has a whole array of instant kill weapons).. after that is 'killed', another alien comes out and starts causing havoc.. but at least not as tough as the other one. Despite telling you all that (pretty much a basic idea of the first arc), i started to think why drag out the number of aliens in this, when Gantz (whatever the hell that is) only wanted the first two aliens killed.. *sigh* cheapness which makes me mad than happy.

At least, the second half is good, despite being 'filler' ish..

Overall, Gantz 2 suffers the same problem as the first series, action is essentially a stale affair but stylish in some scenes, the humanity scenes in the first series is pretty rare in this one, the number of deaths have increased but the entertainment hasn't. This is a good series and looking intently for a third series after it finished off pretty poorly and inconclusively. Gantz, i salute you, well done, just try not to be cheap on the bad guys ok?

Overall: 7/10
Grade: B-

Current Anime Status

I make it short and snappy, since my last anime status, i've completed a few anime titles yet also started some new ones. Stuff like Suzuka, Fate Stay Night, Gantz 2 are some of the things which i've completed, while some others i've started like Higurashi, Melancholonly of Haruhi Suzumiya (hope i got that title correct, because its too long and hard.. im gonna call it SOS Brigade from now on) and Utawareumono. Then others whcih are stop and start, like School Rumble, KARAS, High School Girls, Naruto and Bleach. Then there are ones which i really didn't make a start at all despite wanting to like Soul Link, Disgaea and Inukami!

*sigh* coupled that with new releases like Honey and Clover 2, Choco Sister (yes i know thats not the real name) and the upcoming Kanon remake, i got a fair bit of anime watching to do.. oh yeah, add in Mai Otome and Ichigo Mashimaro to my list of currently watching.. *sigh* thx goodness i don't have a job otherwise i have no time watching all this stuff.

Media Create Software/Hardware sales (July 10rd-16th)

Hardware

DS Lite - 140,858
PSP - 35,283
PS2 - 23,927
DS - 11,821
GBA SP - 2,619
Gameboy Micro - 1,581
Xbox 360 - 1,105
Gamecube - 928
GBA - 28
Xbox - 10


Software

1 Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 13 151906 (PS2) 151,906
2 New Super Mario Bros. 119190 (DS) 2,256,870
3 Persona 3 116682 (PS2) 116,682
4 Million Monkeys 57255 (PS2) 57,255
5 More Brain Age 52024 (DS) 2,752,211
6 Project Hacker 37165 (DS) 37,165
7 Loco Roco 31848 (PSP) 31,848
8 Brain Age 31549 (DS) 2,539,922
9 Naruto 26518 (DS) 26,518
10 Animal Crossing: Wild World 25746 (DS) 2,937,042

I guess the only note worthy thing here is that LocoRoco pretty much failed to meet the hgih sales that Sony were expecting, heck even Project hacker beat it and that gained pretty much zero advertising from Nintendo compared with the marketing forces of Sony's division. With sales as consistent and high as it is, Sony must be praying for some kind of miracle to help them in Japan for the handheld market at least. Oh, Xenosaga 3, Tekken DR and Megaman ZX are out of the top 10 charts after 1 week.. Oh dear. No legs compared with games like Animal Crossing DS which just manages to get in. Just..

Pink DS Lite out in Japan today

.. just a follow on from my previous entry about the power of Nintendo and the DS Lite, today saw the release of the Noble Pink DS Lite colour.. of course, with such a colour change, it can't possibly generate the hype and sales as its predecessors... right? WRONG!

A quick glane as several source sites, of Kotaku and Famitsu show that there were lines (not humonguous ones though) and guy and girls gamers were queuing up for a new colour, something thats rarely seen in the western world im sure.

Sources with picture:
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/top/japan-bathed-in-noble-pink-lite-188576.php
http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/2006/07/20/103,1153367945,57195,0,0.html

Wow, the power of the DS and Brain Training

Let me set the scenario, imagine your ina room with your relatives and you are possibly the most tech savvy-game-knowledgable person the in the room.. then suddenly, you get asked "Hey, whats your Brain Age?!".. you have the game Brain Training but didn't know your cousisn also got it, you reply "20".. Some of the cousins are shocked. They proceed calling you 'Cheater!' and the like, trying to demean the perfect score.

Suddenly, your bro gets his DS Phat out with Brain Training inside and shows off the game and the console to the cousins, in the first minute or so, pretty much all your cousins were looking at the dual screens and the maths questions, with each member of the family trying out the 20x maths questions and getting stuck on some questions like 5x7 or 5+2! This is the power of Brain Training.

I never liked the game, its a great concept but too 'non-game' for my liking, i have had a few games on it before and managed to get a score in the 20s on my 2nd day of training.. not too shabby... Anyways, yesterday was another thing, i was amazed how Brain Training convinced my whole family (large family as well) that the DS Lite and Brain Training were good, even one of my cousins who has a PSP was thoroughly impressed with the DS Lite's design, brightness and sleek look.. he and her sister was gonna get one, along with the game as well.. but i wonder why? These games are basic, they're basically maths questions or cool little quirky questions that would look out of place on any game, there had to be other reasons.. i analysed further.

I checked their reactions, and alot of them were from the touch-screen usage, people were writing scribbles that hardly looked like numbers and still got the right number. Hand-writing recognition, a genius of an idea, not new but well implemented. But even then, some hand-writing didn't go well and others had to spend 5-10seconds re-writing. Which isn't a bad thing.. it allowed hilarity to the whole thing.
One other thing, multiplayer, my cousin didn't know Brain Training had multiplayer, i demonstrated to them with the simple 30xmaths competition, this was a blast, family member vs family member, old vs young.. everything was done to perfection.. This was done well, and on one cart as well, lots of hilarity ensured with the wrong answers and the audience calling out the right answers, some young members even shouted the answers that old members couldn't get right.
And finally, the simplicity, sounds ovbious right, the game is no different from the usual exam/comprehension games u usually get at school, and this is noexception. No need for a complicated 10-button command system just to drive a car and shoot some people, this is pure simplicity. Pick up the pen, write down the answers.. ANYONE can do it.. no need for an unnecessary 5-minute detail on how to play the game, all i did was tell them to write down the answers and they got it. Simple pick up and play, no hassle fun. The way some games should be.
With all this happening just last night, im very impressed about the whole thing, very rarely have i seen anything like this happen to a group of people, especially with my family members and on nintendo consoles. Oh, and a shout out to me for beating all my cousins at multiplayer.. better luck next time :)

Film Review: Superman Returns

Lets get this out of the way first, Superman has never been one of my fave superheroes.. in fact, he is one of my hated kinds, super-strong, super-fast, pretty much impossible to beat, and he is a god in some respects. But, without taking that into account, Superman Returns is a nice movie, it has the charming and cheesy atmosphere the originals had and its a joy to see Superman on the silver-screen again. (i dont watch Smallville/New adventures of Superman so i cant compare etc)

First off, high priase must go to Lex Luthor, aka, the one and only Kevin Spacey, he was deep in his role and though more screen-time was needed for him imo(because he made the film good), his presence definetely lifted the film's overlong drama on Superman's return. Taking that into account, theres no real sence of urgency in the film, Lex Luthor is back and his plot is devilishly evil yet over-complicated, it just felt that Superman was just superior to him and his plan in every single way, even the dreaded Kryptonite wasn't enough to stop Superman.

However, i guess the basis of this film is not on the evil mastermind plot or anything, but the impending return of Superman and his reunion with Lois Lane. This was the highlight of the film and its great seeing their first meetup on the plane as it landed on the baseball stadium, the whole film was basically how the relationship between Lois and Superman/Klark developed and in some respects, it worked well.. abeit a bit cheesy but definetely worth mooting over.

Unfortunately, the rest of the movie weren't that great, it was good at some parts, while terribly boring at certain stages, it plodded on a slow but even pace, different from most superhero movies i've seen and eventually it just boiled down to the fact, Lex Luthor was just a plot device which wasn't really needed compared with the premise of the film, it dragged on too long and it felt uneccessarily boring at points.

Overall, a good film, not great, but worth watching due to the fact its a Superman movie.

7/10
Grade: B-

Media Create Software/Hardware sales (July 3rd-9th)

Hardware

DS Lite - 149,454
PSP - 31,959
PS2 - 23,332
GBA SP - 2,818
Xbox 360 - 1,610
Gameboy Micro - 1,379
Nintendo DS - 1,009
Gamecube - 934
GBA - 20
Xbox - 13

Software

1. (DS, Nintendo) New Super Mario Bros. 134568 / 2137680
2. (PS2, Namco) Xenosaga Episode III - 123847 / new
3. (DS, Nintendo) More Brain Age - 50634 / 2700187
4. (PSP, Namco) Tekken Dark Resurrection - 49426
5. (DS, Nintendo) Brain Age - 33771 / 2508373
6. (DS, Capcom) Rockman ZX - 33,652 / new
7. (PS2, Konami) Winning Eleven 10 - 31228 / 932027
8. (DS, Nintendo) Animal Crossing: Wild World - 26234 / 2911295
9. (DS, Nintendo) English Training DS - 21956 / 1239164
10. (DS, Nintendo) Super Dragon Ball Z / 21355 / 116437

Ok, any new business.. this week saw the release of two titles which could shake up the software charts this week, Xenosaga III and Tekken DR.. though both did well to get in the top ten, its not enough to break some of the DS titles like NSMB or Brain Age.. even Rockman (Megaman) ZX did ok enoguh to get in the top ten.. but still, this week is another DSomination. Hardware sales hold no real surprises, PSP sales are growing due to some key software titles.

Also some special data:

NPD US monthly hardware sales.

DS 593,000
PS2 312,000
360 277,000
PSP 221,000
GBA 189,000
GCN 51,000
XBX 24,000

The huge DS sales are due to the fact DSLite was recently released, PS2 still managing to sell a bomb despite the next-gen madness of X-360.

Source: GAF and M-create sales.

Bleach DS 2!!!!!

OMG! One of my fave DS games now has a sequel.. no not, Jump Superstars (with sequel coming soon) but Bleach DS. I for one dont like the anime but the Bleach DS game is truly a work of genius and brilliance, if you never played Bleach DS before, you are definetely missing out on one of the top titles for the DS. Coming out later this year (Winter), here's some scans courtesy of ngcfrance.

http://www.ngcfrance.com/images/news/ds/bleach_2/scan_02.jpg
http://www.ngcfrance.com/images/news/ds/bleach_2/scan_01.jpg
http://www.ngcfrance.com/images/news/ds/bleach_2/scan_03.jpg
http://www.ngcfrance.com/images/news/ds/bleach_2/scan_04.jpg
http://www.ngcfrance.com/images/news/ds/bleach_2/scan_05.jpg

Pokemon Scans and why Pokemon is still king

Thank to neo in neoGAF, a whole collection of scans have surfaced and i like to say WiFi Battles!!!! That is enough to get the new pokemon game, it will be the shitz and hopefully will beat PSP to the ground.. even more!

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3811956&postcount=1

for even more screens, check here: http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/diamondpearl.html

Whats awesome is the characteristics between female and male pokemon, i.e. Butterfree male and females have different wing markings. etc.. very awesome idea and now pokemon like Slowbro or Slowking female versions look different ;)

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With all that, i have to say why Pokemon is still one of the best franchises i've played of recent generations, theres no denying that most of its success goes towards the cutesy game with its characters which you would love to own in real life. But that is part of the charm of Pokemon itself, who wouldn't like to own their own 15 foot dragon that can breathe fire on your enemies, or have a giant Tortoise that you can surf on. The idea of Pokemon's fantasy world is great for children with great imagination who loves to do these sorts of things but can't.

That said, my fascination with Pokemon started with the first games, Pokemon Blue/Red.. this was a time before the hype of the internet and stuff, and the games were instantly addictive on the get go.. i still remember my first pokemon, Charmander who i named Firey (imaginative eh?) and he kicked ass, he scratched, embered and tail whipped to victory. All this without knowing too much about rpgs and stuff, i was just absorbed by its addictive and simplistic gameplay, nothing demanding, nothing stressful, and it felt so right to kick virtual monster's ass with my own party of 6 pokemon. This was truly a brilliant game, simplistic, addictive, non-threatening and with a rooster of over 150 characters, theres variety and stratergic purposes as well.

Now, with each transition of the pokemon series, they improved on number of characters, graphics, gameplay mechanics and added mroe depth to battling when it came apparent that battling each others pokemon was the true holy grail of this series. Charactersitcs, natures, IVs, EVs, Item attaching, team battling, weather, mroe moves and more types are some of the greatest features that Nintendo has managed to add on to the series and each have improved the battling in a way that very few rpgs can rarely, they still kept the same old formula, but improved it with neat little features that doesn't scare away non-rpg fans and still challenges those hardcore gamers.

Theres no denying that + million sales on each pokemon game (for the handhelds at least) says a lot, Nintendo has created a successful WORLDWIDE franchise that very few companies can produce, Pokemon is Nintendo's creation and with that, if Nintendo ever happens to die out, Its going to bring along Pokemon with it and the whole world will suffer because of it.

Film Review: Pirates of the Caribbean 2

Hey There Mateys! Today's review is for the recently released PotC movie which has managed to sweep through the charts with ease, but now, for me, i never bothered with the first one, maybe i didn't have the time, or maybe i find the idea boring, but in this case, there's a sign that i really should watch the first movie to truly appreciate the second.

Of course, i liked the movie, its superflous action, its epic sea voyages, its cliched-heavy but nicely designed characters are my top draws for this movie, Captain Jack is a hilarious character and his chemistry with the lovely Elizabeth is a strange but entertaining one. The 3 man fight on the Wheel is breath-taking part of how action choreogrpahy should be done, with so many things happnening and so many thoughts to keep hold off, that was the biggest highlight of the film for me. Though the enemy creatures are somewhat nasty and breathtaking menacing, like the Kraken or Davey Jones, there is no shortage of imagination on what the enemies look like.

However, this movie fails to bring to life the main point of the story, the story isn't bad per say, it just took a long long time to get there.. the first hour and a bit was spent on a comical feature with Captain Jack and tribesmen.. which was fun to watch but overall a pointless side-quest. Really, with that shown, the whole movie felt really overlong and way too stretched for its own good.. that was my biggest complaint and i feel it should stand despite the epic feel of the movie.

Overall: 8/10
Grade: B+

Media Create Software/Hardware sales (June 26th-July 2nd)

Software sales

1 New Super Mario Bros. (NDS) 154299 (2,003,112)
2 Dragon Ball Z (PS2) 95082 (95,082)
3 Brain Age 2 (NDS) 54564 (2,649,553)
4 Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2) 37466 (318,976)
5 Winning Eleven 10 (PS2) 10 37342 (900,799)
6 Brain Age (NDS) 37228 (2,474,602)
7 Animal Crossing WW (NDS) 27070 (2,885,061)
8 Summer Holidays 20th Century (PSP) 26314 (26,314)
9 English Training (NDS) 23883 (1,217,208)
10 Atelier Iris Grand Fantasm (PS2) 23760 (23,760)

Hardware sales

Nintendo DS Lite - 153,566
PSP - 25,935
PS2 - 23,133
Nintendo DS - 3,504
GBA SP - 2,919
Xbox 360 - 1,897
Gameboy Micro - 1,443
Gamecube - 1,002
Gameboy Advance - 17
Xbox - 8

So anything new? NSMB still killing with high sales reaching 2million+ sales (the 4th in DS's short life so far), DSL dominating, other consoles have no chance. Fairly standard week again i suppose.. when will it change?? Probably not for a long time (November)

Game review: Exit

Pretty much on the very small list of PSP titles which Im interested in and would love to play, Exit shows the classy and stylish design that the PSP is well designed for.. with its comic-book capering as its level and gameplay design, Exit promises alot of potential on the outside.

Unfortuntely for Exit, that is its biggest draw.. the game itself is dissapointingly un-outstanding, with over 100 puzzles to get through, it can tax the players brain and with bite-size levels (time limit of around 5minutes each), this shows how a portable game is made.. except not on the PSP.. the worst thing about the game is the craptastic controls thats thrown at you, i found myself confused at which button to use at some parts, and the analogue cursor control is just a big pain to use, its slow and annoying as you have to tell your rescuees what to do etc..

Also, there does seem to be a bit of ridiculousness and confusion about the whole game, i have countless times when doing a level i do 90% of it, but the last hurdle im unable to do because i should have went one way instead of the one i just went.. even the hazards seem a bit of a problem for some respects.. small fires which are jumpable become un-jumpable.. water can sometimes become a deathtrap... or not.. etc.. its these little annoyances that make me wish that this game is worth my money and my patience but just isn't.. as sometimes i feel as though im not progressing at all in the game with no actualy reward or acheivement at all..

However, the game isn't bad, its short, got portability value, classy art style, and puzzles can become taxing, it still has a lot of flaws especially in the control department.

Overall: 7/10
Grade: B-

Nintendo to reveal price and launch details for the Wii on September

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=NTDOY:US&sid=au6z1KDVwCZc

Got to mark it down on my calendar, expecting a simultaneous worldwide launch (hopefully, dont fuck us now Nintendo of Europe) with a hefty selection of launch titles and a reasonable price (max £150)..

World Cup has ended for England

Ok, you all probably heard the news now, England are out of the World Cup thanks to a dramatic penalty shoot out by firm rivals Portugals.

In all, the match was superb despite both teams playing below par (especially Portugal) and with the big talking point in the game with Rooney's sending off, you know that England will get a lot of slack and criticisms. Here are just a few of my thoughts on why the Three Lions failed in the match and the tournament as a whole:

Wayne Rooney

Ok, Throughout this tourny and pre-tourney, alot (and i mean ALOT) of hype was put on Wayne Rooney and England's chances with him being in the team (despite being not match fit).. and even then, with Wayne playing a few games this tourney, Wayne has simply failed to produce. Few chances created, no goals, anger managment problems and importantly, too much media spotlight was on him when the whole damn sport is supposed to be a team game!
During the match with Portugal it was obvious that Rooney felt a former shadow of himself, with lots of bad passing, lots of wasted energy, miskicks and really felt fustrated to the point that he wanted to stamp on someone's groin.. oh.. he did that. Foolish Rooney, why do that, that wasn't accidental and that was painful to watch with millions of viewers at home looking with agony. Granted, the final thing to push Rooney was Ronaldo, Ronaldo did nothing but heckle the referee but what did Rooney do? Pushed his Man U Team-mate in front of the ref.. why do that? Rooney wasn't provoked by Ronaldo at all, Rooney just decided to push him to release his fustration more... But hey, good thing, with Rooney gone, England created more chances, had more spirit and more power than that media-hyped buffoon.

Tactics.. by Sven Goran Erikkson

Who's idea was it to do a 4-5-1 formation.. it doesn't work for England simply put. A lone striker is only good in some teams and circumstances, but with a team like Portugal, England shouldn't have done that. Granted, England's strike force is crap (point will be made next section) but the fact is, putting a lone striker just doesn't work without any decent front support. Though Sven has never tested a Rooney + Crouch combination, it would have been better than anything else they got. As for the midfield strength, Gerrard and Lampard are great players.. but they have similar traits and dont play well together at all..
Defence strength, strong enough already but i wonder why Paul Robinson isn't as strong as he used to be.. maybe nerves? But still no complaints in that department aside from set-pieces which they seem to be fixing.

Player selection... by Sven Goran Erikkson

Theo Walcott.. nuff said really.

ok, 4 strikers seems to be plenty.. if they are fit and experienced! Rooney.. broke his foot weeks before tourney.. not match fit
Owen.. broke his leg this year.. played very few games for Newcastle.. not match fit.
Theo Walcott... Errr.. who?..
Crouch... The only decent one and was the star striker of the tourney for England.

Ok, another aspect was the midfield stars.. sure.. on paper its fine but it doesn't work for some reason, as mentioned before, Gerrard and Lampard dont work too well together because of their tendencies to play more attacking roles than support. Beckham has been playing different positions all season so his role is slightly mixed up though he played pretty good this tourney.

Defenders have no problems with in terms of player selection as well as goalie.

Plus points this tourney include Lennon, Hargreaves, Ferdinand and Crouch, all played exceptionally well.. unlike most of the team.

Sven Goran Erikkson... by Sven Goran Erikkson

Ok, similar to Wayne Rooney post i made, too much emphasise was made about his chances, his tactics, his devotion to the club.. etc.. in fact, what made this worse was how critical the fans and media made him out to be.. one day he is a £25million a year jerk, the next, a Swedish idol who has the potential to take England to the Finals.. please fans and media, make your mind up on whether you like him or not as it is ridiculous.

Ok, another thing, im trying to understand if he actually likes football at all.. at the post-match interview.. really no sheds of tears from him, no red-bloodshot eyes, no sadness.. just his usual grinning face explaining why England lost or underperformed.. imo, i dont want a manager who feels no sympathy for the fact England lost in one of the greatest tournaments in the world. Including that, the tactics and player he selected really questions whether he understands good fast flowing football.

His usual, depressed/bored look at the dugouts explains everything.

Finally.. Spirit

The team in general lacked spirit.. despite pre-match hype and talk about how England is going to go through to the finals and win the cup, England really failed to convince anybody.. during the group stages, 1-0 wins against T&T and Paraguay showed there really was nothing between the teams except a cheap shot at goal than managed to go in.. England players were drained by the heat and the pressure of the tourney and only came across as lucky winners. 2-2 draw against a mighty Sweden showed how tougher opposition can upset England, and in some respects, Sweden could have snatched the game away in some circumstance.. not the most convincing performance of course. 1-0 against Ecuador.. ok again unconvincing.. but got through to last 16.. well done.. but England needed stronger opposition to test them. Then Portugal arrived.. both teams were crap and England's spirit were so low that it really needed a man sending off before they can jack it all to high gear and show Portugal what England are really made of. In fact, England really shouldn't have had a man sent off to get their passion and spirit up, but managed to show that Rooney actually proved some worth in the team by giving the rest of the team much more hardwork and passion to pressurise Portugal.

All in all, a dissapointing England performance as everyone said, England can do better and definetely will especially with SGE gone.