Football Manager 2009 (abbreviated to Football Manager 09 or FM09) is a football manager simulation video game. It was released on PC, Mac and Playstation Portable on 14 November 2008.
The demo of the game was released at midnight on 2 November via the News of the World, BitTorrent and Steam.
We have prepared a mix of information regarding the long awaited new FM version including screenshots and details about the 3D game engine.
New features
Some of the new features and box art for the game were announced via a series of videos on 3 September 2008, other new features have been released via a series of podcasts and online blogs.
Sports Interactive studio director Miles Jacobson stated that it was likely that the game would make its debut on DVD: it's looking likely that the game will need a DVD drive this year. Nothing confirmed as yet, but we were very close to using the full CD size last year, multiple CDs is not an option unfortunately, and I am 95% sure at this stage that we'll be too big for a CD.'
The handheld version will include a 2D match engine for the first time, and the game will be shipped with two skins; a light and a dark alternative.
There were errors on the release of the game, Steam causing many people aggrivation and pain. The effects on the franchise have been numerous, with Steam at the heart of the problem. Due to high traffic levels, many people were unable to activate the game, which had to be so via a product code which was sent via the SI Games website, which was unavailable.
Compounding the problems with activation & installation, all lines of communication with technical support have been in meltdown on launch day. The official website of Sports Interactive has been crippled with disgruntled users desperate to find out how to play the game. The only printed customer services telephone number has been permanently engaged or ringing out.
An official petition to boycott the Football Manager series has been created with over 12,000 signatures gathered by 3:30pm (GMT) on launch day. The nature of the unrest has fell in line with similar issues with recently released Command & Conquer 3.
Screenshots
Playable leagues and club cups
Africa
* CAF Champions League
* CAF Confederation Cup
* CAF Super Cup
* South Africa
Asia and Oceania
* AFC Champions League
* AFC Cup
* AFC President's Cup
* AFF Club Championship
* A3 Champions Cup
* OFC Champions League
* Australia / New Zealand A-League (Hyundai A-League)
* China
* Hong Kong
* India
* Indonesia
* Malaysia
* Singapore
* South Korea
UK & Ireland
* Setanta Cup
* England
* Northern Ireland
* Republic of Ireland
* Scotland
* Wales
Scandinavia
* Royal League
* Denmark
* Norway
* Sweden
Rest of Europe
* UEFA Champions League
* UEFA Cup
* UEFA Intertoto Cup
* UEFA Super Cup
* Austria
* Belarus
* Belgium
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Czech Republic
* Finland
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Hungary
* Iceland
* Israel
* Italy
* Netherlands
* Poland
* Portugal
* Romania
* Russia
* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Spain
* Switzerland
* Turkey
* Ukraine
North America
* CONCACAF Champions League
* CONCACAF Champions Cup
* Canadian Championship (Written Canada Champions Cup)
* Superliga
* United States - Canada Major League Soccer
* Mexico
South America
* Copa Libertadores
* Copa Sudamericana
* Recopa Sudamericana
* Argentina
* Brazil
* Chile
* Colombia
* Peru
* Uruguay
Germany's national team is not allowed to be included in the game due to licensing rights being owned by EA Sports' "FIFA" series, whilst the Japanese J-League and the Japanese national team are not allowed in the game at all due to Konami's purchase of the exclusive rights for their Pro Evolution Soccer series.
Steam Powered
Sports Interactive have announced that the game will be downloadable using the Steam content delivery system. This will allow gamers to have their games automatically patched to the latest version of the game. Miles Jacobson, the studio director at Sports Interactive, said "It gives us the opportunity for all of our games players to get any patches or updates that we make available quickly and easily, as well as a place for us to host any other downloads, such as demos and promotional videos, with super fast broadband speeds for download, and no issues with bandwidth, which we are hit with each time we release a demo".
First Impression
Sports Interactive have worked hard to reflect the greater impact the media has been having in recent years on the world of football, in the in-game dealings with the press. The game now features more news stories, more detail and greater media interaction than ever before, creating an even more realistic simulation of the football world.
Issues and Problems
On 14th November 2008 there were a number of complaints where gamers would mistake 0 for O and 1 for I, due to badly printed activation keys, prompting Sports Interactive to warn fans they could easily be making mistakes. Numerous buyers of the game have also expressed their frustration on FM Forums over the new online or telephone system needed to authenticate the game, as there have been many problems resulting in many fans being unable to play the game. For some, when asked to type in their authentication key, a error report will commence, claiming that 'Your free trial version has expired.' For many others, the online authentication process does not work at all, and the 'Steam' authentication process terminates before completing. For some people, all 3 of these problems appear at various states of installation. Many buyers of the game have been left flabbergasted and disgusted at the incompetence of SI Games at their almost incomprehensible manner of which they have chosen for the game to be installed, with many loyal fans of the game claiming that they may stop buying all future versions of the game if the problem persists.
Check out this post if you are having trouble activating your copy of FM 2009. Also this thread at SI forums.
A patch (9.1.0) was also released on 14th November 2008, fixing a number of capability issues.
Sources: FootballManager.com, GameSpot, Wikipedia, Play.com, YouTube
