Red27 Studios would just like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and extend festive greetings to one and all.  Enjoy this special day.

Awesome Soccer has been reviewed at OutOfEight PC Game Reviews (where, unsurprisingly, the maximum score awarded is 8).  We scored a slightly dissapointing 5/8, with the reviewer citing the control system’s simplicity as an area for improvement.  Reading between the lines, the cross/lob function kept accidentally being pressed to his chagrin.  Here’s the summary:

The Good: Simple controls make it easy to bend shots, many teams with real players, custom tournaments, formation and team editors

The Not So Good: Terribly imprecise one-button controls are too simplistic

You can read the entire review here.

You may have noticed that the Red27 Studios website now features a  brand new button in the top right hand corner…

….and now, at the touch of a button, Red27 Studios.com can be translated into 52 different languages!

This is all down to a great new utility from Jon Raasche over at TranslateThis (http://www.translateth.is)

Jon has used his technical wizardy to leverage the power of google translate, but has done so in such a way as to make it an absolute doddle to implement on your website – it’s great – and we love it!

Check it out – and kudos to Jon!

We’ve been redesigning the Awesome Soccer Configuration Dialog to make it easier to access the Team Editor & Formation Editor, and this is the result:

New Awesome Soccer Configuration Dialog (Mac)

It will be available very soon, in either Version 1.0c, or very possibly straight into Version 1.1. Watch this space…

Awesome Soccer - but just what is the connection to Simon Cowell?

Well, it’s been the X-Factor Final here in the UK tonight (a Simon Cowell production, essentially the UK version of American Idol), so congratulations must go to the winner, Joe, and commiserations to the runner up, Olly.  I’m sure both of them will go on to have successful careers regardless of the result (and I suspect Danyl will also, who was a worldwide hit thanks to his first audition getting about 1m YouTube hits!)

…and it’s all down to Simon Cowell!

An interesting fact about Awesome Soccer is that the game has been written by Peter on a laptop whilst he sat on a couch next to a certain female, who, being a massive fan of reality TV shows, would watch X-Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, Big Brother, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, etc etc etc…!

So without those shows, Awesome Soccer would never have seen the light of day…

….so we’d just like to take this opportunity to thank Simon Cowell personally!

Awesome Soccer has been reviewed within “PC Games And Reviews” and came away with a very respectable 74/100.

Awesome Soccer Screenshot at PC Games & Reviews

“Put simply: It’s the easiest-to-get-into soccer game I’ve played so far.”

“So overall if I were to try and sum Awesome Soccer up in a few words it would probably be: A very decent arcade Soccer game”

“Final Words: Awesome Soccer Indeed! Great arcade feel!”

You can read the full review here: http://www.pc-games-and-reviews.com/awesome-soccer.html

We are considering allowing Awesome Soccer to be played using the more modern multi-button approach as well as the old-school single-button-does-everything control system.

Default Player 1 controls might be the Cursor Keys for directional movement and Z, X, C for Pass, Shoot & Cross.

Alternative Control System?

Your opinions would be welcome…..we’ve created a poll in the Awesome Feature Request Forum for your votes, or alternatively post your opinions here…

…especially now the draw has been made!

What about Group A?!?  The cliche about “Group of Death” will no doubt be aired for the next 6 months…

And how about the prospect of England .v. USA….will it be a repeat of the 1950 shock result….?  Will David Beckham know which goal to aim for…?  We’ll find out next June!

Find out more at the Fifa World Cup Website.

Awesome Soccer has been reviewed over at CaptainD’s Gaming Blog, scoring a very favourable 7/10.  Here are some of the review highlights:

“Overall Awesome Soccer is a simple but very enjoyable game…..the vital fun factor is definitely there and the game’s charm mainly lies in its complete accessibility right from the first time you play it. Don’t be fooled though – while it’s simple to play, mastering it completely is going to take you quite some time!”

“For the quality of game and length of gameplay you can expect from it, the price of $14.95 is very reasonable.”

You can read the full review here.

You can now follow Red27 Studios on the ever popular Twitter.

Check out our pearls of wisdom at http://twitter.com/Red27Studios, or click on this rather fine icon below: