Football Manager 2009

[Scott McFly]

There's a few different places you can download it from including Steam if anyone's got that.

But I've been reading a few of the FM blogs on HMV's website, interesting stuff. There's also a countdown on Shortlist.com of some exclusive features not anywhere else. I'm not usually a fan of reading too much about a game before it's released though because then I have far too much anticipation and find it hard to concentrate on other things.

[Adam]

NOTW website? My browser freezes and completely closes after about 20 seconds on there, so I think Ill be downloading the other one.

Am I right in thinking we'll be able to carry over demo games to the full version upon release? Or am I imagining that?

[Baddar]

NOTW website? My browser freezes and completely closes after about 20 seconds on there, so I think Ill be downloading the other one.

Am I right in thinking we'll be able to carry over demo games to the full version upon release? Or am I imagining that?

Nope, I believe you can do that, just like in previous versions.

[Adam]

Good stuff, Ive not downloaded any previous demos but thought I'd read that somewhere.

[DavidMarrio]

Did not know you could carry Demo games over lol hmmmmm....

[Scott McFly]

Pretty sure you can. In fact I'm sure it said that in the e-mail...

Here's the whole thing:

The wait is almost over. The Football Manager 2009 demo for the PC and MAC is set for release later this week from the early hours of Sunday 2nd November.

There will be two different versions of the demo available for PC and MAC, a ‘strawberry’ and ‘vanilla’ version, with both providing half a season of gameplay. The saved games from the demo will be compatible with the full release of the game.

The strawberry version of the demo includes player pictures and club badges, with quickstarts for the world’s biggest leagues, giving players a chance to try out their skills in leagues from multiple countries. This version of the demo will also include all language translations for the game. The strawberry demo will be available to download from midnight on Sunday 2nd November from Steam (PC only) and via www.sigames.com or www.footballmanager.com as a torrent or direct download, with bandwidth for the direct downloaded provided by Gameshadow.

The vanilla version of the demo is English language only, and features the English and Scottish leagues, with no player photos or club badges in order to reduce the size of the download. The vanilla demo is being released exclusively from midnight on Sunday 2nd November via the News Of The World website.

Another thing we’ve been excited about showing to you is this year’s trailer. It’s live from 5pm on the SI YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/sigames. The video is all about the things a manager loves about being a manager, why he does what he does. We’re very proud of it and we hope you like it. Look out for a shorter version on TV in some countries soon!

You can keep up to date with all things Football Manager related by tuning in to the Football Manager Podcast available for free from the iTunes store and by reading the Sports Interactive HMV Blog. Shortlist.com each day this week are also offering up exclusive Football Manager 2009 content including previously unannounced game features and more video footage of the new 3D match engine.

That’s all for this week folks. Don’t forget to get your free copy of the demo this weekend and finally, happy gaming!

Indeed you can, although since the demo only comes with quickstarts you'll probably only have 1 set of leagues running which is why I generally start a new game with the full version. (Y)

EDIT: Here's the trailer, for which a shorter version will act as the TV advert

Not bad, although the fact that it shows you nothing of the game itself is a bit off. Not that it would translate well to a TV ad anyway. I'm still not keen on the back of the box which has 1 screenshot and it's of the 3D match engine. It just looks like any crappy cheap game you'd pick up in a Tesco bargain bin. I know it's a massive leap for Football Manager, but I don't think crowing about the 3D match engine all over the box is the best idea since they've been around for about 10 years, just not in this game.

Edited October 30, 2008 by Scott McFly

[Adam]

I guess they want to focus on the major new feature(s) of the game, which is fine by me. I don't really like to know loads about a game before it's release anyway, Im a bit undecided on whether the 3D match engine is a good thing or not. If I don't like it I can always revert to 2D though.

[stokeriño]

Another reason I guess would be to directly target the opinion of "lol, it's a fucking spreadsheet, why not let's play a game in MS Excel" criticism that some hold towards FM.

People who know how good the series is will give it a closer look anyway. The 3D match engine might be enough to draw some of the uninitiated in to have a go.

[DavidMarrio]

I've got them all and well i'm defo going to be getting this one anyway lol.

The thing that could end up bugging me with the 3d match engine are two things:

A) It'll probably slow the PC down alot to try and run it

B) Little details such as what player will be who. I don't want a slaphead to be Torres lol stuff like that will probably just kinda annoy me like on PES when Skrtel has hair or on Fifa Dossena's really weird sideburns.

Oh the trailer was ok not as good as this one for Football Manager 2005

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM4zHjd_s3w

[Crybaby Bunting]

I'm under the impression that most PCs would be able to run FIFA '98 quality 3D games without slowing down at all, and as these graphics may even be a condensed version of that it'll be no problem. Unless you were using other programs outside of the game (which I've been prone to do on certain essay deadline days)

[Guest deknegt]

the steam demo is out.

[Matt]

Link?

[cmb211087]

No link as you need to download steam to download the demo at superfast speeds, and by superfast I mean downloaded 1gb in ten minutes or less. Or you could wait for the news of the world link and get it at a snails pace.

[Scott McFly]

Em... run Steam maybe?

And after checking, it seems to be the case. I better be quick before they realise it's a mistake and take it off.

EDIT: Holy fuck it's 1.5Gb.

Edited November 1, 2008 by Scott McFly

[TheRossWalker]

http://www.footballmanager.net/

Vanilla and Strawberry both available, Strawberry through torrents, Steam or direct download. I've just fired the torrent up, appears to be going fine.

[Scott McFly]

It's the Strawberry version that's on Steam, which is the one with more quickstarts etc. I guess they've just launched it early to avoid a fuck-sized bottleneck at midnight tomorrow.

10% done so far. Getting about 550kb/s.

[Matt]

http://www.footballmanager.net/

Vanilla and Strawberry both available, Strawberry through torrents, Steam or direct download. I've just fired the torrent up, appears to be going fine.

So i downloaded steam but cancelled the install because you said the torrent was going fine... 3hrs for 1 gig is not fine

*Downloads steam again*

[TheRossWalker]

I'm not planning on playing until morning, so it's fine for me.

[Scott McFly]

42% on Steam now. It downloaded a Steam update before I started and asked if I wanted to restart it. I told it to piss off.

45%, let's go!

EDIT: Official system requirements if anyone needs them, for both the demo and the full game:

PC

OS: Windows XP or Vista

Processor: XP: 1.4GHz or Faster / Vista: 2.0GHz or Faster

Supported Processors: Intel Pentium 4, Intel Core, AMD Athlon

Memory: XP: 512MB RAM / Vista: 1.0GB RAM

Hard Drive Space: 2GB

DVD-Drive: 4x Speed

Video Card: 128MB *Supported Chipsets (see below)

Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible

Directx: Version 9.0c (included)

LAN: TCP/IP compliant

Input: Keyboard, Mouse

*Supported Chipsets - Nvidia FX 5900 Ultra or greater; ATI Radeon 9800 or greater; Intel 82915G/82910GL or greater.

Earlier cards may only display 2D Match Viewer Mode and are not supported. Laptop versions of these chipsets may work but are not supported.

MAC

Intel Processor, OS X 10.5.5, NVIDIA GeForce 7300 / ATI X1600 Radeon, 1GB System RAM

I have no idea what graphics card I have...

Edited November 1, 2008 by Scott McFly

[Matt]

Edit: Nevermind, don't know what I was thinking.

Edited November 1, 2008 by - Matt -