It's incredible to think it's been 15 years since the FIFA game dynasty began. FIFA 09 is a far cry from the blocky graphics and rigid gameplay of the original, 16-bit version. But, of course, the question is, how much better is this one than FIFA 08?

The answer, in short is: a little. The graphics in FIFA 09 have been refined, with more photo-realistic captures of the superstars of soccer, and some great new animations both on and off the ball. The presentation of the game is as exquisite as ever, with new match intro sequences featuring the players warming up in the tunnel, crowd chants specific to each club, not to mention the cool new 'widgets' system on the menu pages, where various online and offline stats are displayed at all times. Unfortunately, it was impossible to test the commentary in FIFA 09, as it's not included in this demo version.

In terms of its gameplay, FIFA 09 offers a smooth ride, although there are few changes to the way the game handles other than a few new tricks and the addition of more realistic collisions. I could've done without these clashes, as sometimes it takes your player a long time to get up after a heavy hit. In fact, one of the new gameplay enhancements in FIFA 09 is the physical presence of some players, which means large defenders are more likely to bundle you off the ball, requiring more cunning to get past them.

While this demo of FIFA 09 is limited to four-minute demo matches between a choice of six clubs, the full release looks set to really raise the bar in terms of its online modes. I'm particularly excited by the new Adidas Live Season mode, where player information is updated dynamically depending on performances in real life.

FIFA 09 is undoubtedly a great football sim, although unless you're particularly interested in the online aspect of the game, you may not see a great deal of benefit in upgrading from 08 (other than, of course, the updated transfers).

Whether it'll prove better than Pro Evolution 2009 is a matter of extensive debate, but FIFA 09 is definitely the best version in the EA series to date.

Download FIFA 09 in Softonic

When Softonic programmers are tired of working and need a break, they usually play a quick game at the table-football the company has installed in the coffee room. But now that I've found this game, they won't have to leave their desks to play their favorite pastime!

Master Kick is a fun arcade football game that's already been available for a while on different portable devices (Palm, Pocket PC). It's not exactly like other football sims you may have seen before: actually, it's a table-football (or foosball) game, meaning you play with football players attached to bar that you can move up and down to play the ball around the game field.

I don't know if it was because I'm hopeless at table-football, or because the game's AI is too high, but I found scoring goals quite difficult even in the easiest playing mode. On the upside, the game in itself is quite elaborate, with a varied selection of fields and even some crowd cheering sound effects in the background. You can play either a quick match or a complete league, and also try different team layouts. The only thing I missed was the possibility to play against another human opponent.

Master Kick is a fun table-football game, more like an arcade than a simulator. Pity it doesn't have a multiplayer option!

Download Master Kick 1.4.1 in Softonic

When you first encounter PPLive it seems like someone’s playing a sick joke on you. Upon first installing the application you’ll almost certainly be thinking this is the most annoying, pointless program you’ve ever seen and will be ruining the time you wasted downloading it. The reason for this being is that at first glance it just looks like a very poor media player and the entire interface is in Chinese.

These problems are made all the more frustrating by the riches promised by the program. The shareware app boasts to offer you the ability to watch free television from across the world on your PC, including live sport, live news, the latest episodes of top dramas and comedies, and a host of brand new movie blockbusters. The software integrates advanced peer-to-peer technology so it can provide the users with the smoothest TV programs with no interceptions, meaning every user becomes a broadcaster, saving the cost of traditional streaming media.

Not being fluent in the Eastern language and uninspired by the drab GUI we were all set to uninstall and even thought about removing the program from the Softonic site altogether to save you visitors from the worst ten minutes of your life. Then something happened – after stumbling across a site devoted to PPLive we realized that was a way around the frustration.

ESSENTIAL USER TIP: How to change the interface to English

By loading up the PPLive TV Engine and right-clicking on the fourth option from the bottom (the one that looks like a squiggle) you’re presented with the chance to change the interface into English. Hallelujah! Unfortunately, opening the Channel List menu gave us even more Chinese to try and decipher but luckily the Football4Less site contains the full list online, as does the PPLive site.

The list of streaming feeds is pretty comprehensive, and although many are in Chinese, it’s possible to dig around and find some great programs such as Desperate Housewives, English Premiership football games, American Idol, WWE wrestling, and a host of new films . Clicking on the link in the ‘Currently’ category on the listings page brings up the schedule of programs for that particular channel for the day, although many repeat the same show or movie all day. You can also search channels by category, such as sports, movies, news, cartoons, etc.

The task of finding western movies and shows is made all the more tricky by the Chinese-to-English translations of the programs, which can be a little baffling until you get used to it. To give you some clues to start with: Friends is known as ‘Six person of like’; Desperate Housewives becomes ‘Crazy Housewives’, and Brokeback Mountain is curiously known as ‘Breaks arm mountain.’

Clicking on a show will open your media player and begin playing the show or film from the start. You can choose to use the built-in media player (which is rather limited in features), or open in Windows Media Player or Real Player. The program uses P2P technology to share TV shows, so the more people are online the faster and more reliable the access will be, and we were pleasantly surprised by the speed in which most of the streams are buffered and the quality of the video. Unfortunately, like many P2P apps, the program turns out to be riddled with malware which installs itself in your temporary drive - so be warned!

Although it’s about as easy-to-use as a rubber saw, PPLive is certainly worth investing a bit of time and patience in if you want to watch TV for free online, and once you’ve figured it out it becomes a very addictive way to spend your time.

Download PPLive 1.9.21 in Softonic

As the world of P2P TV continues its expansion, new kid on the block is TV Ants. The increasing unreliability of its Chinese cousin PPLive means that increasing numbers of users are changing to this simple but highly effective alternative.

The installation is fortunately pretty simple as everything is in Japanese – it’s simply a case of clicking on “Ok” a few times and away you go. The channel list appears in a simple window and you can reveal more by clicking “Renew”. The channel list is a bizarre mix of Japanese, public and private channels. If you want to find out how American troops keep up their morale in Iraq, check out “TV Pentagon” (the US army’s official channel) or if you’re looking for something a bit more scenic, there’s “TV Canada Tourism”.

Streaming is steady once it gets going and image quality is as good as anything you’ll get on PPLive. There are literally hundreds of channels to choose from although most are obviously of little interest to English viewers. The program is actually a project of Zhejiang University hence the plethora of mainly Asian channels. Its popularity lies in the fact that like most P2P TV apps, the channels broadcast live European football much to the chagrin of the The Premiership, La Liga, Sky Sports,etc.

Other channels include music, movies, news and fashion, mostly from Asian sources. Most of this can be found on Shanghai TV, Gungdong TV and Goal TV. Schedules can be found on various P2P forums around the net such as Free Football and you’ll certainly need them to get the most out of TV Ants.

Download TvAnts 1.0.0.59.0834 in Softonic

They said it would come but I never believed them - live TV on the Internet, that is. Zattoo brings genuine TV to your PC via peer-to-peer technology, indicating the appropriate selection of television channels based on the country you live in, something that no Internet TV app has done successfully to date. After registering for a Zattoo account online and installing the client, you'll get an overview of the available TV stations in your locality.

For viewing things like live sport, Zattoo is a dream come true. You simply click onyour desired channel and the transmission begins within a few seconds. Providing you have a quick Net connection, the streaming of the broadcast will work very smoothly, with only a few seconds delay from the live television show itself.

Zattoo finally brings genuine live TV to your computer, after a very long wait, and because the program provides channels local to you, you don't have to endure commentary in gobbledegook. Although the image quality leaves a lot to be desired, with a fast Internet connection, Zattoo gives you genuine live television in a way no other application can do at the moment.

Download Zattoo 3.1.1 Beta (2000/XP) in Softonic

They said it would come but I never believed them - live TV on the Internet, that is. Zattoo brings genuine TV to your PC via peer-to-peer technology, indicating the appropriate selection of television channels based on the country you live in, something that no Internet TV app has done successfully to date. After registering for a Zattoo account online and installing the client, you'll get an overview of the available TV stations in your locality.

For viewing things like live sport, Zattoo is a dream come true. You simply click onyour desired channel and the transmission begins within a few seconds. Providing you have a quick Net connection, the streaming of the broadcast will work very smoothly, with only a few seconds delay from the live television show itself.

Zattoo finally brings genuine live TV to your computer, after a very long wait, and because the program provides channels local to you, you don't have to endure commentary in gobbledegook. Although the image quality leaves a lot to be desired, with a fast Internet connection, Zattoo gives you genuine live television in a way no other application can do at the moment.

Download Zattoo 3.1.1 Vista in Softonic

Stream TV allows you to access TV channels from across the world from the comfort of your PC via the internet. Now more than 700 completely free live and pre-recorded TV channels are available for fast streaming.

You do not need a TV card because the TV channels are streamed throuh an internet connection. Stream TV provides you with the most popular TV channels from around the globe from the German 3-Sat to DW-TV and English channels such as BBC News and C-Span. FIFA World Cup football (soccer), Formula One racing programs are already in full swing on many of both English and non-English channels.

Download Stream TV 4.2 in Softonic

MotionClip! game film analysis software is designed for for coaches of any team sport. If you coach American football, soccer, baseball, or basketball, etc. then video game review software, statistical analysis and scouting software is a must. With MotionClip! software you can perform effective game film analysis, easily identifying each play with a simple mouse click. You can capture the plays from video tape or live at the game using our single key recording feature and any video camera.

Features of MotionClip!:

• Unlimited game and play event definitions - works with any and all sports
• Capture and tag plays from prerecorded video files, video tape, or live at the game
• Associate free form textual commentary with every play
• Video analysis tools including slow motion, reverse playback, and drawing tools
• Sort and filter plays to focus on any aspect of the game
• Instant "SmartStats" logic gives you statistical data on every play or scenario
• Create highlight movies containing filtered & sorted plays with optional lead in screens
• Export your videos and highlight movies back to DV or VHS tape
• Create DVDs or VCDs for playback on any DVD system

Download MotionClip! 6.0.7 in Softonic

Whether you’re a football fan or not, you can’t fail but notice that the World Cup is fast approaching. An exciting way to prepare is to predict the scores and the ultimate World Cup winner. You decide how many goals are scored, who finishes at the head of each group, which teams go on to the second round, and who becomes the next world champion. The most exciting part of it is to compare your predictions with the real scores when the World Cup will be underway. You can try out the official Fifa Predictor Game or you can test this alternative, My World Cup 2006.

The program consists of a form on which you can see the 8 different groups and all 48 first round match ups. As you fill in the scores, group statistics and standings are automatically generated. Once your group matches are done, move on to the second round and keep entering scores till you come up with a winner. You can save or print out your score sheet and consult it during the World Cup to see how close you get to actual results. It only takes a few minutes to fill but you can come up with thousands of different possibilities.

When My World Cup 2006 starts up, choose your favourite team to highlight its name on the form and follow its results. My World Cup includes extra information on the international competition, like pictures for all of the stadiums in Germany and links to the city and stadium official websites. You can also check out the date and time each game will be played by going to the view and schedule menu.

Unfortunately, My World Cup 2006 completely overlooks the social factor by not letting you save multiple score sheets or sending your predictions to your friends. This is what usually makes sports pools an exciting and durable experience whether with work colleagues or friends.

My World Cup 2006 is nothing more than a score predictor and you’ll enjoy it if you have five minutes to waste. With an integrated schedule and stadium information it packs a bit more options than regular predictors, however it’s a shame that the program doesn’t let you interact with other users. Still, anybody excited by the upcoming World Cup will find it fun.

Download My World Cup 2006 1.3 in Softonic

NFL Head Coach is for the hardcore football fan who tells himself that if he were in charge of the team, he'd take them all the way to the Super Bowl. It's got the strategy and realism that real fans crave, combined with easy-to-use controls and assistance for more casual fans. It's the first 3D strategy sports game that challenges you to build and manage every aspect of a football team, from the ground up. Try to build a winning organization, year after year!

Download NFL Head Coach Demo in Softonic

EA just can't get enough, and apparently neither can the paying customers who continue to get excited and fork over their hard-earned cash for yet another Fifa Football title that promises to bring the realism and emotion of the World Cup to their living room. If there's one thing that EA has succeeded in achieving with the FIFA licence down the years, it's presenting glossy looking titles that take full advantage of its rights to use the true player names and all team strips, etc.

The intro and cut scenes are impressive and strike the perfect note to get you in the mood for some slick football. However, once you get down to the pitch you suddenly notice how jagged everything is when compared with the beautiful graphics that had you drooling in anticipation when you booted up the game. You decide that graphics aren't what make a game and get stuck in to the match proper. The speedy pace of play reassures you that this is a Fifa game worth having, but you quickly find that it gives you the same experience as the regular Fifa 06, and for that matter, 05. What's going on? Those rascals at EA have done it again. Taken their successful franchise, slapped on some new packaging and suckered us for our naivety.

Before you go out picketing however, there are some redeeming factors that should be considered. Firstly, at this stage EA must feel pretty much obligated to bring out a World Cup edition every four years if only to cater for the football-crazy fans that use it to commemorate each tournament. What's more, it lets the developer experiment with ideas that may just revolutionize future releases. For example, there is a new penalty-taking system in this version that accounts for players under pressure with the shot becoming slightly more difficult the longer you delay. There's also the new shooting engine, whereby holding the shoot button doesn’t adjust the power, but the trajectory of the shot. The power comes from the position the player is in as he takes the shot and whether he's moving, stationary, or under pressure from opposition defenders. These innovations really do make interesting changes and for most people will be an improvement on what came before.

As in previous World Cup releases, you can go back in time except this time to play classic moments from the history books such as the final half hour of England’s 1966 match against Germany with them trailing 1-0. Unfortunately you've got to do this with the present-day players and this takes away from the feeling of authenticity of the experience.

Fifa World Cup 06 does make a good souvenir to remember the championship by, but will probably only last as long as the tournament does, and in our opinion that doesn't justify buying it. On the other hand, if you haven't got a Fifa game from the previous two years, then this will provide you with enough spectacular goals and World Cup trivia to keep you occupied between matches.

Download 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany Demo in Softonic