BGS are working on the newest installment of the Championship Manager series, for Eidos. Well, not really, they're writing a new game, to continue the old license, really. The actual sequel to CM 03/04 will be Football Manager 2005, written by SI and released by SEGA. For info on this game, I direct you to the FM'05 info sticky.

This thread is open for discussion, and all new features will be added to this first post when brought to the public.

FAQ, dated 22nd january 2004 (from www.championshipmanager.co.uk)

1 When is CM5 being released?
The simple answer is ‘when it is ready’. At the moment we’re aiming for a
pre Christmas release – but stop! We will only let you play it, when it is ready.


2 What can I expect from the next CM?
We’ve spent a lot of time investigating what it is that makes Champ Man so popular.
As a result we’re going to make sure that CM5 will be the most realistic, detailed
and addictive football management game ever.

We’re also working on the technical aspects of the code. Following the release
of CM4, game speed has become an issue. Rest assured that CM5 will do a whole
lot more number crunching in a fraction of the time – so you’ll be able to immerse
yourself in the world of Champ Man without the painful loading times.


3 How many leagues and players will there be in the next CM?
The CM5 team are dedicated to produce the most detailed and realistic management game yet.
To this end we have carried out meticulous focus testing to determine exactly
what people want. At this early stage in development, it is impossible to give
a definite answer on the final number of playable leagues, but we’re working towards
including the whole world of football. This will ensure we deliver the intricate detail
and realism that has made Champ Man the game it is.


4 When will more information and screenshots be released?
We’re committed to keeping the fans up to date and involved with the every step
of the development process, so news updates and screen shots will be made
available as a soon as is humanly possible. Stay tuned for regular bulletins on
the latest progress.


5 Will there be a playable demo of CM5?
But of course! Not until it is ready you understand!


6 Will CM5 be released on any consoles?
Stay tuned for an announcement!


7 Will CM5 have a 3D match engine?
The possibility of a 3D match engine for CM5 is something that was carefully
considered, but the answer is:
No.
However, the coding of the CM5 match engine enables it to calculate 3D movement.
This means that the 2D match engine will
A) Be more realistic than before,
and
B) That a 3D match engine is a possibility for future releases. But due to our
commitment to the CM scene, we’ll gauge the opinion of the CM community before
taking any major steps.


8 Will CM5 be released in my country or language?
If you purchased the last CM in your country, you should be able to get the next.
And in our continued quest of world domination, CM5 will also be available in English,
French, Italian, Portuguese, Polish and Spanish.


9 Where is the player data from?
As CM fans, we know that realistic, detailed player data is the heart of the game.
As a result, we have recruited the services of an agency that specialises in providing
player info and statistics to professional football clubs.


10 I want to be a beta tester or a researcher, can I help?
We’re really keen
to get fans involved in the development of CM5. However, we’re yet to make a
final decision how best to use the burgeoning community. If you’re interested in
helping out, stay tuned.


11 I have some suggestions for the next CM, can I help?
You certainly can. We’re keen to listen to sensible and constructive suggestions
on the game, after all, we all want CM5 to be better than 01-02 and 03-04 put together.
Any suggestions you might have should be directed towards the suggestions forum/page.


12 Who is developing CM5?
‘Beautiful Game Studios’ is a new development studio set up to deliver the best
Champ Man experience to date. The studio employs 30 staff with over 100 years
cumulative years development experience with over 90+ published titles
– 66% of them football titles. So when it come to football these guys know a thing or two ;-)
A profiles section will be coming soon, so you can see who is behind the next CM
(and laugh at their photos).


13 Where can I come for customer support for CM?
Customer and technical support for all versions of Championship Manager is available at
http://www.eidos.co.uk/support/index.html


14 What will be in the new www.championshipmanager.co.uk site?
The new site will be the definitive site for all Champ Man addicts. We’ll keep
you up to date with the development process on the new game, and there’ll
be an opportunity for you to tell us what you’d like to see in CM5. Along with all
the usual downloads and forums, we’re planning on revolutionising the
CM community. Watch this space…….


A recent interview (9th july 2004) on

eurogamer.net (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=56011):
Championship Manager 5
by Kristan Reed


One of the great shake ups in gaming history occurred last year when Sports Interactive upped sticks from its long-term publishing partner Eidos and set up a long-term deal with Sega, leaving Eidos with the brand name, but no-one to develop it. Realising the massive brand awareness of the series, it knew that it had to do all it could to keep one of its most valuable franchises alive.

But how? It'd be like EMI trying to forge a new Beatles out of a disparate set of session musicians surely? Just how much awareness does the public have of game developers, or do they really ignore those logo screens every time they boot the game up? Whatever the rights and wrongs of keeping the brand alive, Eidos went out and forged a team roughly twice the size of SI, called Beautiful Game Studios, and is currently in the latter stages of getting out its first Championship Manager, to be known as Championship Manager 5.

Who's in the team? All manner of experienced old hands who've worked on a truckload of footy games for the likes of Anco and Silicon Dreams to name but two. But hang on, aren't they action footy games, as opposed to management games? We'll leave the doubts and cynicism aside for now and give them centre stage to talk about what they believe will be not just as good as the old CMs, but actually better, with vastly improved loading time ("about four times the game for your money" says Eidos' PR chief) leading to more time involved in the action and less time trotting off for another cup of tea, not to mention claims of a more intuitive user interface and more accurate data. Bold claims indeed, and ones that their rivals over at Sports Interactive will be especially interested in as they gear up to release their game - also in time for Christmas...

Eurogamer: What's new in this version of Championship Manager?

Dave Rutter: What we've done in this version is address three of the main concerns of the ChampMan fans, which is the speed of the game, the user accessibility and also the depth and accuracy. I've selected 59 divisions from 25 nations; at this point I click confirm which generates a full detail match with all of that information in it. I should be standing up to have a cup of tea, however - that's it - it's loaded now, full detail and everything there, so that gives you an idea of how quickly it will generate it.
Now, whether those leagues are actually the ones we go with in the final game we can't quite say yet. It'll be somewhere around that region.

The other key difference is the user interface and the way that's working. We've only got the top bar and bottom bar now - we haven't got the side bar anymore. The reason for that is basically we did some research into academic user interface, and basically there was a lot of unnecessary mouse movement, so we've done away with that so it's a lot more user friendly.

Eurogamer: How have you sped up the loading?

Dave Rutter: Because we've started from scratch we've come up with architecture for the game that allows us to do a lot of background processing. What we're not doing is waiting until it's loaded everything in. It's pretty much all done in the background while no-one's looking.

The other cool thing we've got at the moment is what we're calling 'Constant Gameplay', so if I click 'Continue Game', whilst we're actually processing the match, in the background we're generating fixtures. I can cruise around the front end, and conclude discussions with players. It's still processing, and I can take a look at, for example, Ashley Cole and back to the Arsenal team and do all of those things while it's generating stuff, which is pretty cool.

Another massive improvement we've made over previous ChampMans is the fact that the training has been overhauled.

What we've done is look at the schedules, and get Mervyn Day, our football expert, to help do that for us. We've got quite a number here - fitness, injury, recovery, etc and all of these have been set up by one of the highest qualified coaches in the world, which is cool.

Eurogamer: Will the data be as accurate as previous Championship Managers?

Dave Rutter: We've taken a three pronged approach. We've approached PFS, a professional outfit, to provide us with information and they've worked with teams like Real Madrid for example. We also have an in-house research team, and what they're doing is shaping that to make sure the PFS are happy, and also some of our regular forum users and people from the community as well contributing, so we've got lots of secondary checks to make sure that it's there. We believe it's the most accurate you can get.

Eurogamer: You mentioned in the presentation that people who may have stopped playing Championship Manager for whatever reason will want to play this one. What will it be, essentially, about this version that's going to make them want to come back?

Dave Rutter: The speed more than anything. Speaking from myself, I'm a married man - if I was still playing championship Manager at home, I wouldn't be a married man. I think that it's the amount of time that's spent playing the game - a lot of that time is spent not doing anything. Now we reckon we get 50ish per cent more time playing the game, doing what you want rather than sitting down waiting for things to happen.

Eurogamer: Is that partly due to the improved loading time and the fact that you can do stuff while the match is going on?

Dave Rutter: Absolutely. It just helps that you can just get with stuff. We've addressed that and also just the finding your way around the front end and making sure it's the same. On the training, you can go into each of the schedules and tweak things bit by bit, for example on a half hourly basis for each day of the week. Alternatively, what you can do is set up things based on light medium and intense training, and it will generate a training schedule based on that. All of this has been designed by Mervyn Day, our football expert, and so it's been a pleasure learning about base running!

Eurogamer: How did you get him involved? Why was it him and not someone else?

Dave Rutter: We wanted to make sure that the football expert we got involved with was someone who not only was accessible to us and based in this country, but worked for a top club and knew their stuff. Not just old fashioned training or whatever, but was completely up to date. Obviously Mervyn, from Charlton Athletic, I think their performances this season have shown what a relatively small-ish club without the huge budget of, say, Chelsea, can achieve with experts. With his UEFA Pro License he's one of a handful of people who've got that.

Eurogamer: What's the recommended spec for running the game on?

Dave Rutter: We've got a minimum spec of PIII 700 with 128MB of RAM, and that's what we're aiming at at the moment, and it's perfectly playable. It still faster than previous ChampMans loading and processing. With any application, the more RAM you've got the better, but because of the way the architecture works, it's processing stuff in the background it doesn't have as much of an impact on the game as you might do otherwise.

Eurogamer: What hard disk space will it take up?

Dave Rutter: We're not sure at the moment. The big deal for hard disk space is obviously saved games, and we're minimizing the size of saved games at the moment by basically procedurally regenerating them, so rather than having to store every little piece of information we can regenerate it from the play disk reference number - things like that.

Eurogamer: What games have you worked on in the past?

Dave Rutter: Everyone likes to point out the fact that I've worked on Lego games, so I worked in Football Mania/Soccer Mania. Before that I worked on a number of football titles for Silicon Dreams, so UEFA Champions League licensed games, World League Soccer, and a few others as well.

Eurogamer: What's your role on this?

Dave Rutter: I'm senior producer - it's a lot of pre-production, making sure that the team's in place, the schedule's in place, and at the moment it's mostly to do with chasing up issues, looking after localisation, a lot of testing, glorified pizza delivery boy...

Eurogamer: In the 2D match engine, why did you choose to slightly elevate the pitch?

Dave Rutter: We felt it gave a nicer perspective on the match. You can see the height of the ball well. It's an aesthetic choice really. We've got a number of different speed settings, 2x, 4x, 6x, 60x. One of the key improvements we made in this version with regards what you can see is the action zones which is basically a statistical representation of where play is happening and who's winning in those areas.

Eurogamer: What about the tactical changes?

Dave Rutter: Within tactics, we've got a couple of choices now. Rather than just having off the ball runs, we've also got some feeds, so I can feed the ball to a particular player, or I can feed it to a specific place - so you could get him to play a ball into the box as much as possible. We've also got a lot more zones we can placed the player in.

Eurogamer: Are you looking to extend this out onto the Xbox eventually?

Dave Rutter: We've got no plans currently to do console versions.

Eurogamer: You're looking to release this when...?

Dave Rutter: In the Autumn.

Eurogamer: Are you looking to make this an annual game?

Dave Rutter: I would have thought so. It's probably going to follow a similar release schedule to previous versions in that there will be a full review and then a seasonal update, although we're at the remit of Eidos, basically, they'll say 'we want this', and then we'll go away and think about it.

Eurogamer: How do you think this will rate against Football Manager?

Dave Rutter: I hope it's rated favourably. I think there are obviously great expectations, not just from Eidos, but from the community at large. There certainly is from me and my friends and from the team as well, as we're all keen to do it well. Equally we're all looking forward to playing Football Manager ourselves and see what they've done, and hopefully they will play two great games rather than one.

Eurogamer: How many people are working on CM5 who've worked on previous CMs?

Dave Rutter: We have two people who've worked on CM before. Having said that, it's a team of 30, 18 programmers. I think every single person has worked on at least one football game.

Eurogamer: How many researchers have you got?

Dave Rutter: Internally, eight researchers on the team, and then we have the company PFS - but I don't know how many people work for them, and then we have a number of correspondents as well from the community.

Eurogamer: Sum up CM5 - why would you want to buy it?

Dave Rutter: It's faster, it's more user friendly and it's more accurate.


From ChampionshipManager.co.uk (http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/shownews.php?id=92), dated 2nd august 2004:
EIDOS ANNOUNCES CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER 5 FOR PLAYSTATION 2 AND XBOX
by Keir Edmonds - 02/08/2004


Eidos, one of the world’s leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, announces that the number one selling football management series Championship Manager is to appear on Xbox and, for the first time ever, PlayStation 2. Championship Manager 5, the latest instalment in the series, will be released in spring 2005 on both formats. The game is being developed by Gusto Games.

(...)PC version of Championship Manager 5 will be released in October 2004.(...)

Jonathan Kemp, European managing director of Eidos says:
“This is a great opportunity for us to build upon the phenomenal success of the Championship Manager brand by taking it to a whole new audience. We have long been aware of the great demand among PlayStation 2 owners to experience the world’s most successful and realistic football management game. Our new technology being developed for Championship Manager 5 has been designed in a way to enable a faithful recreation of the Championship Manager experience on PlayStation 2 and Xbox.”

"I've selected 59 divisions from 25 nations; at this point I click confirm which generates a full detail match with all of that information in it. I should be standing up to have a cup of tea, however - that's it - it's loaded now, full detail and everything there, so that gives you an idea of how quickly it will generate it.
Now, whether those leagues are actually the ones we go with in the final game we can't quite say yet. It'll be somewhere around that region."
I won't believe this until I see it, but if it's true, I'll surely get CM over FM. That would be just amazing to have it load so many leagues that fast, I hardly have the patience to load up 5 leagues, let alone 59! :confused:

Yes, and that's on a PIII 700MHz with 128MB RAM.

Of course we don't know how extensive the DB was at the time of this test. They might have played with a total of 2000 players in those 59 divisions.

They tackled the speed problem first thing, and they seem to have succeeded. The SI team did the same though, so no real decision can be made, towards CM5, from that.

I have a cunning plan, I'm getting FM and my neighbor CM, so I can try both. If FM has the same speed reductions then it'll be great. The new 2.5D match engine in CM0405 is just strange tho.

And I'll be getting TCM2005 as well :$(H)

Originally posted by champdave
And I'll be getting TCM2005 as well :$(H)
Ok... who's bringing the guillotine to dave's house?:crazyboy:

please dont spam in here, the whole idea of a sticky is to higlight confirmed stuff, not useless banter.

New Screenies released on 30th July 2004

http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/shownews.php?id=89

also, the new logo:

http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/shownews.php?id=88

TROD.

Oooh! The colours! :D

CM5 will be coming to PS2 and Xbox. (Spring 2005)
There are also rumours that BGS will release the demo in September.

Yes, and the PC release date has been narrowed down to october 2004:
From ChampionshipManager.co.uk, dated 2nd august 2004:
EIDOS ANNOUNCES CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER 5 FOR PLAYSTATION 2 AND XBOX
by Keir Edmonds - 02/08/2004


Eidos, one of the world’s leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, announces that the number one selling football management series Championship Manager is to appear on Xbox and, for the first time ever, PlayStation 2. Championship Manager 5, the latest instalment in the series, will be released in spring 2005 on both formats. The game is being developed by Gusto Games.

(...)PC version of Championship Manager 5 will be released in October 2004.(...)

Jonathan Kemp, European managing director of Eidos says:
“This is a great opportunity for us to build upon the phenomenal success of the Championship Manager brand by taking it to a whole new audience. We have long been aware of the great demand among PlayStation 2 owners to experience the world’s most successful and realistic football management game. Our new technology being developed for Championship Manager 5 has been designed in a way to enable a faithful recreation of the Championship Manager experience on PlayStation 2 and Xbox.”

Sweet! (H)

CM on playstation... it's like when pornos started coming on dvds! (H)

really hope they enhance the game closer to CM01/02 in terms of match realism.

I'm sick of having strikers scoring 20 goals in 10 games and midfielders 1 goal in 20 games

I guess you're better of with FM for a realistic match engine. With this being their first CM-type match-engine and all. It might turn out good, but it's a lot harder for BGS than for SI. 't Would be a tremendous achievement if they DO create a realistic one. :)

Dammit! Eidos are for sale because of some stock-issues....and rumours are that EA would take em over. :( Bye bye CM5.

(Ruud, check http://www.soccer.gamez.nl/artikel.php?sectie=artikel&sid=1480 :p)

Originally posted by willem
Dammit! Eidos are for sale because of some stock-issues....and rumours are that EA would take em over. :( Bye bye CM5.

(Ruud, check http://www.soccer.gamez.nl/artikel.php?sectie=artikel&sid=1480 :p)

I can read that too :ewan: Not only Ruud:p

Would be interesting if TCM and CM came together though IMO.

No it wouldn't... SI would be a monopolist again. TCM has a very different target public from CM.

Anyway: BGS is a semi-independent developer, so the sale of Eidos doesn't necessarily mean they go to EA. Their contract may be released if EA doesn't want CM. A third option is the cancellation of CM, but I think they'll sooner cancel TCM.

Ubisoft (Football World Manager (PC); Alex Ferguson Player Manager 2002 (GBA)) are also in contention, btw ;)

Originally posted at gamesindustry.biz
Eidos confirms rumours of takeover talks (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?section_name=pub&aid=3912)
Rob Fahey 12:12 03/08/2004
Share price on the up as buyout prospect looms on the horizon


British publisher Eidos Plc has confirmed that it is in preliminary talks with a number of companies regarding a possible takeover bid, responding to recent speculation which has caused the company's share price to rebound.

In a trading update issued this morning, Eidos said that "preliminary discussions with a small number of parties in relation to possible business combinations" are taking place - but warned that it was not certain whether these would lead to an offer being made.

Shares in Eidos rose by over 10 per cent yesterday, carrying the company's stock price back over the 100 pence mark, and a further rise of almost four per cent has brought the price to 111 pence today in the wake of the announcement.

Eidos' share price had previously collapsed to around 90 pence after the company issued profits warnings ahead of the end of its financial year on June 31st. At that time, the company denied that any approach had been made regarding a takeover.

meh, I think CM would become crap if EA buys it. First I was converted from FIFA to CM and now I think I'm going to buy PES as action footy game instead of FIFA. So no EA in my house anymore and I think more will do the same if EA doesn't stop producing this ridiculous games.

Originally posted by Zlatan
meh, I think CM would become crap if EA buys it. First I was converted from FIFA to CM and now I think I'm going to buy PES as action footy game instead of FIFA. So no EA in my house anymore and I think more will do the same if EA doesn't stop producing this ridiculous games.

I like Need for Speed though:p

NFs is not developed by EA sports tho.. I think

Only dumb, gullible people buy TCM.

Shiny gfx all the way (that's my anti-EA slogan)

Kinda offtopic....but did you guys know the BGS logo is property of Eidos? :o :p

Originally posted by mixafendis
NFs is not developed by EA sports tho.. I think
Yeah, it's developed by Eletronic Arts.

Originally posted by willem
Kinda offtopic....but did you guys know the BGS logo is property of Eidos? :o :p Eidos also pay for their rent...

Rumours about the release date:

Dates provided by three webstores offering pre-order of CM5

www.amazon.co.uk
1st october 2004

www.play.com
15th october 2004

www.gameplay.com
22nd october 2004


Again: RUMOURS

What about the cm demo though?

No news.

Originally posted at championshipmanager.co.uk (http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/shownews.php?id=98)
Championship Manager Strikes Adidas Deal
by Keir Edmonds - 24/08/2004

Eidos, publisher of the record-breaking Championship Manager series of football management games, today announces an exclusive partnership with the world’s leading football brand, Adidas, for the hotly-anticipated October release of Championship Manager 5.

Championship Manager 5 will be the only football management game to have exclusive rights to the use of Adidas merchandise for product, packaging and in-game purposes.

World-recognised images such as the Adidas Roteiro ball used in Euro 2004, Adidas Predator Pulse boots and the Adidas trademark will be available for in-game screen backgrounds.

Eidos and Adidas will also be providing an exclusive football-based competition via the game’s box insert as well as on www.championshipmanager.co.uk.

The final boxart that will be on the shelves in October:
http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/images/98_2_L.jpg

"The world's number 1 football management game"? We'll see about that when december comes.

god Eidos are thick, lets team up with Adidas, bar SOME advertising id love to see how thats going to affect the game

TROD.

It says right there: in-game backgrounds, and box cover and insert.

lmao, nice one eidos ;)

nah i uppose they can get beckham and co to advertise it now

TROD.

I don't think he falls under "Adidas merchandise" :p

oh but he does, lol

TROD.

Now we'll have the roteiro during the match on the 2.5D pitch of CM. Whoop di doo.(H)

Short statement, based on extrapolation of atmosphere:

The scene's morale at the moment can be abbreviated to this:
"Geez, you have to love the amount of info we're getting. The release is no more than 2 months away, ffs."

who said that?

TROD.

I did, you like? :)

yeah its nice, they still wont do anytthing, there is no way that game is getting released on time, and if it does.....

CM4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TROD.

is anyone here helping out with some of the research for CM5?

no i aint, BGS do their own i think

TROD.

They hired an institution, but do accept some voluntary researching. Don't know if anyone on here is involved.

are you sure they do ruud, im sure they dont :confused:

As we were saying on MSN Ruud, "All quiet on the CM Front" lol

TROD.

http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?threadid=2314

They do :)

stop boasting, lol

TROD. :p

I wanted to know cuz i sent them an e-mail a while back complaining about the Mexican league on CM :p ... and they forwarded my e-mail to the research dept, who then e-mailed me asking if I wanted to volunteer. :D

Get ready for some shock and awe (http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/shownews.php?id=101):

Championship Manager 5 will be playable at the GameStarsLive event (http://www.gamestarslive.co.uk), that is held from this wednesday until sunday, somewhere in London. If anyone is going, do not miss this one.

wicked! i'm hopefully going to that on Sunday! :p

Are SI and Sega gonna be there with FM aswell?

I'll report back with details... :p


wooh! i'm kinda excited now....

No, no SEGA at GameStarsLive :(

CM5 for PS2-X-box, but no for GC, pff that sux ._.

yup, btw that has already been said on the first page

TROD.

CM5 Development Blog; 03/09/2004 5:00:29 pm (http://development.championshipmanager.co.uk/?n=development)

LukeDidd Entry

CM5 going gold is fast approaching! Over the last few weeks we have been spending our days and nights working hard, eating loads of delicious food, fixing and balancing the game.

We have also been working on creating the CM5 demo. The CM5 demo reveals key improvements and additions. The first version of the demo was at Gamestars. A few of you have seen this demo and posted comments on the forums. Yes the scorelines are currently high and the reasons for this are:
- Formation - 0-8-2 is being used meaning there are no defenders and plenty of attackers so loads of goals are being scored.
- Goalkeeper fumbles - The goalkeepers seem to be fumbling the ball to often and sometimes even into their own net.
- Defensive covering - The defenders were not closing down the ball in dangerous situations correctly, meaning a more clean cut opportunities for attackers.
- Ruff up - Players are often giving away penalties as the AI seems to like this option and apply it too often.

Rest assured, we do know what the issues are and are working hard to resolve them. Please wait for the demo which will be available soon.

I took a trip down to Gamestars on Wednesday and the people I spoke to were very positive (some negative) about the game. It was nice to see our competitors playing the game too. I hope they enjoyed it!

Anyway, back to work for me now! Got to make sure we get this demo and game finished so you can all have a go¡K I hope to post some more news soon.
Well, they seem to be working on it, but the problems they list are major flaws. I do hope they get something good out of it still :S

******* hell, they release a demo of the game that was THAT bad, the match engine is gonna be SO flawed.

TROD.

jeez... those aren't flaws... those are catastrophies... goalkeepers fumbling balls into their own net, defenders letting strikers practically dance into the goal. jeez...

i saw it at the Gamestars live thing, didnt play it very much, got kinda confused with all the menu bars around the whole thing and crap :S

So... may I conclude from that, that the feel of the game is a little different??

well i dont believe the game is finished yet :p dont care what anyone says, i think they've just scrapped the match engine, lmao

TROD.

Release dates on amazon . . .

CM5 - 1st October
TCM05 - 12th October
FM0405 - 1st December

I hope SI have just not set a date yet . . . if it comes out in December then they'll be entering an already-exposed market.

well... i actually wouldn't mind that date. cm would come out 2 months before, and i would have sufficient time to test it out ( 90% of my time is devoted to work, school and football ) so when fm rolls around, i can test that too. i will probably be getting the latter one but i dont know

Play:
CM5 - 15th October
TCM'05 - 15th October
FM'05 - 19th November

Game:
CM5 - 22nd October
TCM'05 - 15th October
FM'05 - Q4 2004

Gameplay:
CM5 - 22nd October
TCM'05 - 15th October
FM'05 - 3rd december

No set dates yet, for the important games anyway. TCM seems to arrive on the 15th.

I dont mind if there is a gap between game releases it allows me time to play both

I think the same, but I doubt CM5 will keep me interested for 2 months. I might have to revert to 03/04 again sooner.

You can test out the FM beta demo 23rd September it comes with the magazine, download should be up around that time as well.

Yeah, who knows, the FM demo might be more interesting than the retail version of CM5...

woohoo, FM demo comes and I'm in Paris with school, niiiiiiiiiice :f***: :f***: I want FM

FM > Paris.

I've been there anyway.

Originally posted by rpvankasteren
I think the same, but I doubt CM5 will keep me interested for 2 months. I might have to revert to 03/04 again sooner.


well i don't think it will keep anybody intersted for 2 months... but it should give us enough time to thouroughly examine cm before we hit fm. at least in my case.

lol... you guys have so much money to waste... Buy a game that you know it will most probably suck :(

I'll wait for reviews before buying CM5.

I'll buy it and return it to the shop a day later.

Originally posted by mixafendis
lol... you guys have so much money to waste... Buy a game that you know it will most probably suck :(


i didn't hear anybody say that they were gonna "buy" it :p

Thank god my friend has a kick ass ADSL and he loves BitTorrent clients (i dont think i should be saying this...:crazyboy: ).

It's good for the patches SI release indeed, but how this would help for CM5...

* Sorry, no talk at all about warez, not even as innocent as this was. *

Originally posted by rpvankasteren
Get ready for some shock and awe (http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/shownews.php?id=101):

Championship Manager 5 will be playable at the GameStarsLive event (http://www.gamestarslive.co.uk), that is held from this wednesday until sunday, somewhere in London. If anyone is going, do not miss this one.


i know someone who went to it, although he told me that the lines were so long that he would have missed alot of other things, i don't think he missed much tbh,

oh it gets better this Ruud, you know the other day on msn we were talking about advertising :p :p :p :



"Championship Manager 5, the latest instalment of Eidos' number one selling football management series, has signed a six-figure deal with Sky Media to become the exclusive sponsor of Sky One's groundbreaking sports entertainment and reality event The Match. The integrated deal, which represents Eidos' first ever broadcast sponsorship worldwide, will include sponsorship of a dedicated interactive television (iTV) area which will give viewers the chance to win Championship Manager 5 games and interact with the show.


On 3rd October 2004, a squad of 18 celebrities will enter Newcastle United's Football Academy, where they will live and train under former England manager Graham Taylor. With viewers monitoring their progress, interactive voting will decide the starting line-up for The Match on 10th October, a live charity game against a 'Legends XI', comprising some of the most famous names in football history, including Paul Gascoigne and Bryan Robson, marshalled by former Newcastle United and England boss Sir Bobby Robson.


The Match's iTV service will launch on 27th September with a preview site and competitions to win tickets to the event, Championship Managers 5 games and other prizes. The service will have a 24/7 presence on Sky One's Interactive Service Menu until 10th October."




hehehehehe. So while SI are releasing a beta demo BGS are going for the publicity trick!

TROD.

Eidos has a 6 figure amount of money left to advertise CM5 :O

I thought they were just about bankrupt :p

what are we going for next Ruud?

i think they may try advertising at an actual game, like get loads of stuff out on the pitch before the match, lol

TROD.

btw, unsuprisingly CM's release date as been put back to November, according to various websites its going to be on the same as FM05 OR later.

TROD.

If they do they have thrown their last chance of success in a deep, deep sea.

agreed.

TROD.

http://corporate.eidos.co.uk/eidos/media/news/release.jsp?ref=96


Check it out, doesn't look too good :(

hehe, probably should have gone in the sticky, but thanks anyhoo.

TROD.

No worries, relocating is not much work at all.

(...) Eidos is continuing to work towards release of the PC version of the game shortly before Christmas, although this may extend into the New Year. (...)
So, the official release date estimate is now at "before Christmas 2004". Wasn't that what SI first said? :S

Originally posted by rpvankasteren
No worries, relocating is not much work at all.

So, the official release date estimate is now at "before Christmas 2004". Wasn't that what SI first said? :S

i never got to merge threads when mod :( :p

SI said Q4 but BGS did indeed say OCTOBER

TROD.

SI say "before Christmas 2004" and release on 5/11/2004; BGS say october and are now likely to release in Q1 2005. :S

Strike 2,9999999 you're almost out.

well SI got it right, you dont build up peoples expectations, BGS got it so terribly wrong.

TROD.

Well, there's one way to make it all right. Release a game that isn't as bad as TCM 2004. In realism, that is.

Let me put it this way:

As an independent developer creating a soccer game from the chairman's viewpoint, the way that I will get people to actually play the game is for them to try it and like it, which means creating a more than decent product.

The same rings true for CM5. They'll get a lot of people to try it, based on name recognition and advertising alone, but how many people will actually play it?

Look how many people signed up on the new CM forums because of the promise of a decent soccer management game, which now is being severely questioned. It's not easy to create a soccer management game; it's even harder when the expectations are incredibly high.

i believe there will be a numbers of people giving a try on this game. may be thats the reason why they didn't come out an actual demo ;) afraid of the sales of final product? :p

think you have a point, a demo may kill of their chances.

TROD.

they do have adidas official lisence, don't they? (H)

i haven't seen anything suggesting that... do you have a link to adidas?

sorry, I stuttered

They do, lemme get it for you: here (http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/shownews.php?id=105)

"News"flash:

From an article on Gamesindustry.biz (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=5660)
The statement also revealed that Championship Manager 5, the first game in the popular series since Eidos parted company with veteran developer Sports Interactive, has now slipped into 2005.

The game, which had originally been scheduled to launch in October in direct competition to Sports Interactive's new title, Football Manager 2005, is now scheduled for the second half of the financial year, which runs through to June 30th.

Well, at least it's official now...

bang!! This game was just shot in the head, and is from now on officialy dead (H)

June 30th? Then it's time for a new CM 6 hejz. WTF are Eidos doing?

Second half of the financial year is a broad statement. They'll still want to release it before April. :)

u seem to be happy :crazyboy:

hahaha, oh god this made me laugh.

TROD.

this made me : :rolleyes:

LOL. who knows maybe they'll surprise us and it'll be better than FM. they're prolly just gonna spy on FM and see where they went wrong so that they can improve it and make it 'perfect'.

I'm really not sure that that will happen... it's really hard to make a SMG, making one with no track record is even harder.

all quiet on the CM front.

No news for a few weeks, and the poll has been the same for 2 weeks too :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

TROD.

It's going like I predicted. CM 5 won't ever come out. Hopefully SI can get the name back. They deserve it.

CM5 will definatly come out, mark my words

TROD.

Yeah, Eidos won't let the millions upon millions they've already spent on the game, and the online version, go to waste.
They weren't going to make the big release date before christmas, and the next would be before the summer holidays. They thought it best to wait and make the game playable before releasing it. Not THAT bad an idea.

oh its not, i just think almost of all of the core fan base will have already migrated to FM.

TROD.

plus the season can be already over when CM 5 should come out.

yegnold, webmaster of Assistant Manager.co.uk (http://www.assistantmanager.co.uk), has been selected, amongst others, to bèta test CM Online. He has put up a (short) preview on his site (http://www.assistantmanager.co.uk/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=90&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0).

He's promising a complete review on the day of CMO's release (somewhere in january 2005, speculation aims at jan 5th, 'malevolent' rumours say january-june).

After that short first glance, yegnold now brings us a longer review of the CM-Online bèta (http://www.assistantmanager.co.uk/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=92&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0).

Most important conclusion is that both the tactics and match engine aren't up to full strength yet. He says it's not fair to say anything about them, as they're not finished; I dare say that, in a bèta, or even alpha, these two -most important- features of the game should be done. Yes, the overall picture may look good, but, without those in place, there is no game. At least make available what you have, so the scene can give feedback on what's not working right. I do hope some of the other testers will report that.

The match engine is the most important part! You've got nothing if you're still tweaking it! yegnold says it's better than LMA or TCM in realism, but the realism comes with the way the results work out.

I've come to the realization that I'm not going to buy CM or FM anyways. Much too addicted to SAAP, despite the fact I can't win a bloody match with Rushden and Diamonds

champman.co.uk forum mood update...

Amongst the people angry at SI for delivering unfinished products:
We don't want BGS/Eidos to release the game yet. The game must and will be perfect when released. Release would preferably after the end of the current season.

Amongst people who are more rational:
Taking your time to improve the final product, ok, but delaying it 3 times in as many months... :nape: Btw, it's been over a month since the last official bit of info.

And the last group thinks:
WE WANT DAILY UPDATES, FFS!!!11!!1 YOU ARE TREATING US LIKE BABIES THAT WILL EAT YOUR CRAP IF YOU ASK US!!!11!!1!!!1





I think all 3 have some good points.


Discuss :(

hahaha, god i feel sorry for Eidos.

1. The first group or your classic over hypers, they're the group that expect everything, they thought FM was crap, and they hold out on some kind of falsifyed dream believing CM5 will be wonderful.

2. The people who most likely will make a rational decision between CM5 and FM05, they want to see what CM5 will be like first before making any kind of decision, yet, due to their more rational outlook will probably favour FM05 :p

3. Ah, the only faithful, however many times these people slate Eidos, they will buy the game. basic child psychology shows that when someone really wants something, they will scream and shout until they get it, at which point they will lose interest quickly. Eidos dont need to worry about these in the short term as they WILL buy the game, but dont expect them not to sell it on.

TROD.

Worst part is: the people in section 1 used to be really intelligent people... with very realistic views.

I fear the day I will become one of them, I would kill myself...

btw: it's "falsified". :(


Conclusion:
2 thirds of the scene will get CM5, no matter how crap it is. Eidos and BGS really are in a win-win (maybe a little less) situation... Plus Eidos have split the game into a "hot-seat" and an online variant, so they'll harvest even more benefits. (:/)

thats a good point, ill give Eidos that, the fact they split the game into two (effectivley) has increased their profit margin greatly, because they are focusing on the online market more than SI ever did.

But i still think in doing this they will sacrifice the quality of the game, meaning over the next few years CM will become less and less popular.

TROD.

nothing is perfect btw, i can't imagine how CM5 going to look like. addition: base on the ss, i doesn't feel i wanna play :crazyboy:

The released screenshots were pre-alpha (they claimed "beta", but I bet they went back to pre-alpha, looking at the delay in release date). Can't base much on them.

anyone who tried playing the leaked demo knew straight away they would never meet the deadline.

TROD.

Originally posted by TROD
anyone who tried playing the leaked demo knew straight away they would never meet the deadline.

TROD.

thats right. you make me even more regret for download that pre-alpha beta demo

hahaha, fair enough. Maybe im being a bit harsh

TROD.

Originally posted by ngyc
thats right. you make me even more regret for download that pre-alpha beta demo

pre alpha-beta?:confused: Its either alpha or beta. lol cant be both

Nah, BGS and Eidos called that leaked demo a beta, but it was so badly coded, with chunks missing, like half the engine, it couldn't have been alpha even.

yeah thats was the hillarious thing, once it was released to squash any rumours it wouldnt meet the release date they said it was a beta, then everyone just figured out that it wasnt... lol

TROD.

Yeah, hilarious (H)

:(

lets wonder when will the actual "demo" release before the full game out. hopefully it will not postpone again (H)

well they've been clever, they havent set a date :p therefore they cant postpone it.. just 'move' it.

TROD.

im a beta tester n ur not haha :hump:

Im a beta tester for SI and you're not :hump:

i wonder what game most people on the forum would have wanted to test for before it was released :p Go home to your wonderful BGS forums :D :D

TROD.;)

FM rulz. CM sux (never thought id say that for CM) (H)

You should say CM 5 not CM :kader:

CM Online is still scheduled for release in January 2005.

At least that's what www.championshipmanager.co.uk and www.cm-online.com state...

The Beta test is in its final stages.. Release date to be announced soon.... but then right next to it - Janurary 2005 :confused:

maybe its coming in the next week :)

TROD.

I wonder if we'll be able to offer any help at all on that game... I'm not going to be playing it. :S

ive applied for beta testing :D On the comments bit ive said i test for SI :p :p

TROD.

Didn't you get some kind of form about working for rival companies, telling you you can't do that?

http://manutd.fminside.net/downloads/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=77

A commercial for CM5. Even the commercial of FM is better IMO. FM beats CM at everything.

the ad sucks :sb9: :sb9:

Originally posted by rpvankasteren
Didn't you get some kind of form about working for rival companies, telling you you can't do that?

nah i think the beta testing is nearly up anyway, im guessing no-one has been arsed to take the form off the home page :p

TROD.

Article on www.championshipmanager.co.uk (http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/shownews.php?id=147)
CM5 Update: Kick-Off is Approaching!
by Keir Edmonds - 03/02/2005


Development Update & News



It?s been some time since there was any official news or announcements from either BGS or Eidos on Championship Manager 5. This has partly been intentional in that we didn?t want to promise anything that we wouldn?t deliver; and partly as we?ve been totally focused on delivering a quality simulation.


The launch of CM5 was moved from pre-Christmas to give it the necessary amount of time to ensure that it is of the highest quality. We believe that CM5 will be a better game because of this, and that the improvements underway will take the series forward to a new level.


We?ve taken our time to ensure that we meet the very high standards and expectations that Championship Manager fans demands. This has involved talking extensively face-to-face with fans of the game as they?ve played the new code and fed-back on how we can improve it. We?ve taken all these comments on-board ? good and bad ? and believe that we?re about to launch a simulation that is worthy of the title Championship Manager 5?the most engaging and realistic football management offering yet.


Over the course of the next few weeks we?ll be providing weekly updates where we?ll outline in detail the key developments and improvements that will be brought to you with CM5. As a taster:




Speed
The code architecture we?re adopting means that CM5 is lightening quick without compromising the depth or realism of the simulation.


Match Resolver
We?re currently optimising the spread of results and match statistics versus the real-world, cross-referencing with data supplied by Opta. At the moment we?re at 90% accuracy but looking to push that even higher.


Scouting
We?re making scouting much more reliable with improved briefing and filter features. We also have a completely new ?PlayerCam? tool which will revolutionise the way you scout players.


Training
We?ve made the training aspect of CM5 for accessible and usable with the introduction of our new Create Schedule wizard. The schedules and drills have been constructed by top Premiership coach Mervyn Day to ensure absolute realism.


Tactics
The all-new tactics section has again been designed in collaboration with Mervyn. It now offers more default formations, greater customisation and more player / team instruction options.


Countries, Leagues & Competitions
Our objective has always been quality over quantity, ensuring that the data and competition rules in CM5 are the most accurate and realistic. We can now confirm that there are 26 playable countries, so 26 playable league structures. That equates to 137 competitions comprising:
61 League Levels (76 ?Groups?)
45 Domestic Cups
13 International Club Competitions
18 national Team Competitions


So stay tuned for more details on these and other aspects of the simulation, plus a few other surprises along the way!




The Championship Manager TeamAt least they speak...

Good old Mervyn (H) :(

They seem quite intent on drilling it into our heads that they have high standards which this game will meet :(:$

dont know what the hells going on with your sig Ruud, but im guessing its something to do with Holland.

Anyhoo, as i said on msn, i find this VERY sceptical, i think they have got so so much abuse for not saying anything, they decided to fill the masses with irrelavent bull****.

The only thing i can really find thats new in this 'news' is that they have included some new words or phrases :p such as 'playercam' and 'create schedule wizard' :rolleyes:

Ive been playing CM for years, i know when i smell bull****, this is bull****. Eidos has problems.

TROD.

How this all sounds to me:
It?s been some time since there was any official news or announcements from either BGS or Eidos on Championship Manager 5. This has partly been intentional in that we didn?t want to promise anything that we wouldn?t deliver; and partly as we?ve been totally focused on delivering a quality simulation.
{We know our alpha sucked, we tried hard to fix as much as we could}


The launch of CM5 was moved from pre-Christmas to give it the necessary amount of time to ensure that it is of the highest quality. We believe that CM5 will be a better game because of this, and that the improvements underway will take the series forward to a new level.
{Really, we know it sucked, and we've been working our asses off}


We?ve taken our time to ensure that we meet the very high standards and expectations that Championship Manager fans demands. This has involved talking extensively face-to-face with fans of the game as they?ve played the new code and fed-back on how we can improve it. We?ve taken all these comments on-board ? good and bad ? and believe that we?re about to launch a simulation that is worthy of the title Championship Manager 5?the most engaging and realistic football management offering yet.
{We listened to the fans, because we had no idea what-so-ever what to do with the crap we had on hands ourselves}


Over the course of the next few weeks we?ll be providing weekly updates where we?ll outline in detail the key developments and improvements that will be brought to you with CM5. As a taster:
{We will write some articles like in november, talking crap about stuff you already knew}

(...we'll see about those in the upcoming weeks then, right?)

So stay tuned for more details on these and other aspects of the simulation, plus a few other surprises along the way!
{Check back, you might get a free sticker, like SI gave you}

Bland? exactly...

Speed
The code architecture we?re adopting means that CM5 is lightening quick without compromising the depth or realism of the simulation.
Basically we've cut out lots of important match data from games across the globe, but dont worry, yours will be fine :)


Match Resolver
We?re currently optimising the spread of results and match statistics versus the real-world, cross-referencing with data supplied by Opta. At the moment we?re at 90% accuracy but looking to push that even higher.
We've basically copied what SI have done and used it ourselves, we feel by including lots of usless irrelevant data it will attract fans :)


Scouting
We?re making scouting much more reliable with improved briefing and filter features. We also have a completely new ?PlayerCam? tool which will revolutionise the way you scout players.
We have a 'technology' that allows you to see more stats about the player.. maybe.. some hidden stats or something.. .. ..


Training
We?ve made the training aspect of CM5 for accessible and usable with the introduction of our new Create Schedule wizard. The schedules and drills have been constructed by top Premiership coach Mervyn Day to ensure absolute realism.
We've changed the training so that it has more effect on the game.. of course it will probably have an amazingly unrealistic effect, but it should please our chav-friends who will buy the game :)


Tactics
The all-new tactics section has again been designed in collaboration with Mervyn. It now offers more default formations, greater customisation and more player / team instruction options.
im pleased with the fact ive written this down and im going to get away with posting NO new information about the tactics :)


TROD.

The first of those new articles has appeared on www.championshipmanager.co.uk (http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/shownews.php?id=149), explaining quite a bit about the match engine.

Some quotes definitely worth reading:
Our engine fully calculates all the matches for all fixtures being played. There’s no ‘pre-calculation’. All matches are played in ‘real time’, but because of “Clever Coding ^TM” the matches can be played out at an unbelievable speed. At present a ‘behind the scenes’ match is being calculated in about a second. This means that we can make full stats available for every single fixture.

At the moment any league you manage in has all the games that you’re “in contact” with being played in “Extra Detail”. You can click on the scoreline for these matches, even for other teams, and watch the game play out if you want. Extra Detail is expensive though – so don’t get carried away with this with many leagues. Interesting, really, but I don't see myself checking all of the other games after my own match, do you? It is good in combination with the player cam for players you want to scout, as you can read below, but wouldn't that limit scouting to the own league? In other leagues you'd only get to see highlights still, and those don't say much about weaknesses of the attacking players.
The speed thing does sound good. They don't simply calculate a match before it's played, but during the game proceedings. With the advantage that it slows down calculations for closer to 'real time' matches, and will thus be less strenuous for the CPU, leaving more calculation time for the graphical part of the engine. We'll have to see how this will affect the effect of stats on the game.

This next bit explains the "player cam" feature, especially for Tom:
Our proudest addition to the match engine is ‘PlayerCam’. Highlighting a player and then selecting this option will allow you to watch highlights of all the action that the player selected was involved in. Want to scout your potential new striker but don’t want to watch a full 90 minutes? Highlight him and switch the Player Cam on.Tbh, if that's the thing they're most proud of, they should've spend more time on the rest of the engine. It's a cool feature, but I think the realism of the engine's workings should be the thing to be proud of :S

you can do that on FM... how is that new? :confused: just get the player who you want, and simply look at match reports and click on his name :rolleyes: takes about... ooh.. 10 seconds longer.

Personally i dont think they've said much there than they havent said before, we all know that one of the big things is that it doesnt caluclate matches beforehand, and its a nice idea, just hope it works well.

TROD.

Oh, latest bit of news I managed to filter out of the CM.co.uk board (posted 16/2/05):

Eidos have failed to reach an agreement with the MLS, so we'll see no Chris Armas in this game.

I have a jolly good feeling that this game will suck even more then Football Masters 98 :)

It may suck more than Premier Manager '98 :p and that was delayed about a year, practically Premer Manager '99 by the time it was released, awful game..

TROD.

CM5 Update: The Need for Speed (http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/shownews.php?id=153)

There's a new article on the CM.co.uk site, about how fast CM5 is compared to CM 03/04.
http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/images/img_105.jpg
Time taken to create a game with differing numbers of leagues

by John Webb - 24/02/2005
I feel the need…the need for...well, a much quicker CM experience!


In our extensive research onto Championship Manager, one theme consistently came-up – speed! Everybody wanted the same accuracy, realism, and depth, but they wanted it without having to wait! BGS took this into account, and we are please to say that Championship Manager 5 is quick…it has va va voom as Thierry would say.

But what is speed?

Firstly, there’s the speed in loading and creating games. We’ve run a series of tests which show that CM5 loads and creates new games faster than previous versions of Championship Manager and our competition. This means that you get into the action quicker and can spend more time enjoying.

Secondly, there’s the speed of general gameplay. Everyone plays CM differently. Some of us take over 2 hours before even hitting 'continue game' for the first time!
However, there are a couple of indicators that you might be interested in!

For the AI to play one full season in CM5 takes 2 hours 22 minutes…that’s more than TWICE as fast as CM03/04 in holiday mode (4hrs 45 mins). Less waiting means more action… more decisions… more matches… more seasons. Effectively you’re getting more game!

Also, there’s Constant Gameplay. ‘Constant Gameplay’ means that Championship Manager 5 does not 'grey-out' the front end as it processes, therefore allowing you to access all screens as the simulation processes, so you can simultaneously access other features and make decisions or take actions –tweak your training regime or check out the scout reports of your next opponent.

Why so fast?

OK – so you’re saying: “This all sounds very good, but you must have made compromises, cut corners, dumbed down the simulation to achieve this!”

Oh ye of little faith! All the gains in speed have been achieved through cutting edge, efficient coding, optimising our software and using some clever architecture. Starting from scratch has allowed us to design and write the code to deliver the gains in speed outlined above, with potential for further gains in the overall realism, accuracy and detail loved of Championship Manager fans going forward.
There are no short cuts. There is no slight of hand. There is no smoke and mirrors!

So strap yourselves in for the ride! Championship Manager 5 is speeding your way soon.

Of course, there's no mention of the system they used to test this on, and if it was all done on one machine. But they wouldn't throw us off like that, would they? :S

no actually i dont think they would Ruud :) honestly, it would be too dangerous for them to do it.

Personally this news means absolutley **** ALL to me, seeing as i play through FM so slowly to make it realistic, so speed aparently is very important to most buyers, just not me :)

does it mention saving time?

TROD.

No, that's the whole article right there.

Btw, on my PIV 2.6GHz it takes ~1 min 30 secs to start a 1 league game in England on full detail and large db. So where they got 3 mins and 30 secs :S

Has anyone actually played this? I'm gearing up for it... sounds like you guys hate its guts...

I've been following news on cm.co.uk and am prepared to see what the game is like. I was told at EB release date March 1... hmm I think that is hard seeing there has not even been a demo released.:rolleyes:

Rumours are pointing to an April release, but those are in no way confirmed, not even slightly. It could still be the end of June.

i genuinly think this game will be released late april, something like April the 20th

TROD.

CM5 Release Date Announced! (http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/shownews.php?id=154)
by Keir Edmonds - 28/02/2005

Eidos and BGS are delighted to announce that the eagerly-awaited Championship Manager 5 for PC will hit retail on Friday 18th March in the UK, and Friday 1st April internationally. PS2 and Xbox versions will follow later this Spring.

Championship Manager 5 is the most realistic and engaging version ever, using a completely new code-base which offers major advances in the match engine, tactics and training. CM5 will deliver the same depth and detail as before, yet with much faster loading and gameplay. The simulation uses multiple data sources – fan scouts, internal researchers and professional agencies including OptaTM – to ensure greater objectiveness and accuracy of data than ever before.

New features:

• ‘Constant Gameplay’ means that the front end does not 'grey-out', therefore allowing you to access all screens as the simulation processes
• Player attribute scores out of 20 or 100 for more fine tuning
• View target players’ individual performances in matches with ‘Playercam’
• More realistic transfer negotiations take into account other factors than just fees or wages offered
• New training ‘Create Schedule’ wizard to automatically generate more complex training plans for you
• More default tactical formations
• Greater customisation of formations on the tactics board - place your players anywhere on the pitch by dragging and arranging to your preferred shape
• Moving players around changes their position in-line with their role
• Instruct players to play feeds as well as make runs
• More player / team instruction options including time-wasting and ruffing up
• Tilted pitch adds ball height perspective
• More match speed options in the match engine
• View performance stats for home and away sides in real-time whilst watching the match
• Highlight individual players
• Increased number of Action Zones (9) provide more information on where the game is being played and which side is winning in each area


Championship Manager 5 is speeding your way soon.


The Champ Man Team :O


Later this spring for the consoles will be April as well, btw.

how many playable nations and leagues:confused:

Hasn't been announced as far as I know.

darn still gonna give it a go i say

I'm going to do a working around to get it.

Eidos are still in talks with people as to what legal rights they have to the leagues me thinks, otherwise they would have announced it :)

either that or they really dont have many.

TROD.

CMO has 6 :)

do I need to say anything about that? maybe smilies really do speak a thousand words:

:rolleyes:

TROD.

26 nations and something like 50 playable leagues I read somewhere, let me search.

Damn, read it yesterday, cant find it anymore though. It was somewhere on their main site though (or maybe in one of the blogs)

---

CM5 Update: Wwwwhere are you?!?!?! Let's be 'aving you!!!
by John Webb - 03/03/2005

Scouting


We’ve approached Scouting differently to previous Championship Managers, allowing scouts to target specific requirements and roles, as well as to report on stand-out players. Reports come through weekly, with recommendations based on these filters as well as star players. Our new system is designed to provide greater flexibility and focus to trawl European and World leagues for new talent, whilst not bombarding you with irrelevant and unhelpful information.


Scouting next opponents also provides useful information like whether your opponents are likely to be fielding a full strength team (not likely in friendlies or early cup ties for some teams) and identifying danger men.




Playercam


A great new feature that we’ve introduced is the ability to view target players’ individual performances in matches with ‘PlayerCam’. This allows you to watch a designated player’s every move in highlight mode, so you can judge their performance quickly and without all the other action getting in the way.




Transfers


In order to build a strong team over time you need to be familiar with the transfer market; buying and selling players is a crucial part of any manager’s success. In CM5, we’ve made transfer negotiations more realistic, taking into account factors other than just fees or wages offered. This fully realistic transfer model considers loads of inputs, including selling and buying clubs finances, the player's and club's reputations and the individual player's personalities. Buying players will be more than a case of simply offering the cash, so attempting to lure Ronaldo and Zidane from Real Madrid to Chelsea will not be a formality.


We’ve managed to do this by ensuring that manager to backroom staff (Where are we weak? Who should we buy?), manager to board (Can we afford to buy this player?), manager to manager (Will you sell me this player?), and manager to player (We’ll pay you this much!) are all independent in their processing, but still reflect a realistic outcome.


So, buying a £5m value player might cost you significantly more or less based on where he is, how long his remaining contract is for, and how important that player is to his current team.



News & Media


For CM5, we’ve ensured that you don’t get bogged down in irrelevant media and news, by ensuring only relevant messages make it to your news screens. You won’t get bothered by messages that you simply won’t want to read. We’ve included a filter system that allows you to select the news areas that you would like to receive so you don’t hear about things you’re not interested in.


So get scouting and you never know who you may discover - the next Pele’s out there somewhere!


Yours,


The Championship Manager Team

---

http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/shownews.php?id=158#

TROD.

no offense to the guys at BGS, but some of this seems to be a bit too late. In particular the importance they are putting on transfers, when FM was released the big hype was on player personalities, and how they wouldnt just sign for any old club (which i do believe in the most part FM has achieved well), yet now, a fair few months later we see CM concentrating on the same thing. If I were them id be concentrating more on stuff like the playercam, or something to do with training/match engine.

TROD.

http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/images/158_3_L.jpg
scouting orders

http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/images/158_4_L.jpg
player search filter


There is potential, obviously, but before I've played the demo, my expectance is really low.

I hope someone makes a new skin for CM, it's disgusting.

:-puke:

god it does look really similar to FM, im NOT having a go at it for this, it isnt BGS' fault. Though i do think it may be confusing for people

i dont particularly hate the skin really, i pretty much like the way its all set up, very easy for first time users. Those screenies dont hurt Eidos/BGS in any way :)

TROD.

skin isnt that bad imo, the fonts just seem to be ridiculously large imo

look at the background. it gonna hurt your eyes (H)

i disagree, i think it looks fine :) then again i like blue :p

TROD.

Eidos takeover hopes are revived

The makers of Tomb Raider began a strategic review in 2004
Shares in UK video games maker Eidos have failed to recover from a 31% plunge in value on Wednesday, despite news that it is in bid talks.
Eidos confirmed it has received an approach from an unnamed party, valuing it at 53 pence a share.

The offer is subject to "one principal condition", it said, and Eidos warned there was no certainty of a firm bid.

On Thursday it revealed a £26.5m ($51m) first-half operating loss, and its shares were down 10% in morning trade.

'Difficult period'

The UK company began a strategic review in 2004 after issuing a profit warning, and investors have been hoping it would eventually be bought out.

Eidos said that, given its financial position, it would be recommending the takeover approach proposal to shareholders if a formal offer was made.

"The first half has been a very difficult period for Eidos," said chairman John van Kuffeler.

"This has been exacerbated by the deferral of the PC version of Championship Manager 5 as anticipated, and the disappointing performance of some of the other titles released."

On the positive side, the company was happy with the performance of its ShellShock: Nam '67 game


----

quite an interesting article for anyone who is following Eidos' recent demise :)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4335369.stm

TROD.

:) :)

Play.com's decription of CM5 :D

NEED FOR SPEED - Sick of having to put the kettle on between matches? CM5 will provide a much faster gaming experience than before.

STAT ATTACK - Previous versions of Champ Man have relied on the good will of fans to provide information on the players in the game. This time round the developers have taken a more specialized approach, employing the services of the Professional Football System, a long-standing agency who provide information to actual clubs and managers around the world. Established in 1999, the services of the PFS have been utilised by clubs from The Premiership, Serie A and La Liga, including no less than the mighty Real Madrid.

IT'S TRAINING MEN - CM5 will offer a user-friendly training module, albeit still with a comparable amount of detail. Training schedules will be easier to implement, and BGS has been working closely with Charlton Athletic's First Team Coach, Mervyn Day, who has designed optimised regimes for certain areas.

THE BIG MATCH - After years of following matches through text commentary, a brave new world was introduced in CM4 via the 2D overhead match engine. Generally a popular decision, CM5 will utilise a similar approach with a quicker, smoother experience.

SEARCH FOR A STAR - Unearthing undiscovered players is a huge part of football, and therefore of Champ Man. The scouting system in CM5 is being tweaked to enable more specific searches to be carried out.

TACTICAL GENIUS - The tactics screen has always been a success in Champ Man but BGS is making subtle improvements. As well as adding arrows for players to make runs, managers will now be able to add further arrows instructing players where to play the ball, into the channels for instance
.
SEAL THE DEAL - A fully realistic transfer model is being employed, encompassing an array of factors including finances, reputation and player personalities.

--

TROD.

http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/shownews.php?id=161#

CM5 Update: TNT That Will Blow Your Head Off! (That's Training 'N' Tactics)
by John - 10/03/2005

So you’ve done your wheeler-dealing in the transfer market, yet the essence of any great manager is what he does with the players at hand - essentially this is down to 2 critical components: Training and Tactics!


Training


Having talked in detail to a lot of Champ Man fans, one aspect of the simulation that many found difficult or unappealing in previous versions was Training. This was because it was deemed to be too complex or cumbersome to get into, and for many was something automatically farmed off to their Assistant Manager. We feel that this is a shame as training players is an essential part of the real-life manager’s role and critical to success on the pitch. But no more! BGS have worked extensively with ex-Leeds, Aston Villa, West Ham and Leyton Orient goalkeeping legend and Charlton Athletic’s UEFA Pro certified First Team Coach, Mervyn Day, to create a completely new training module that is both user-friendly and offers the ultimate in realism.


CM5 delivers a more accessible training module than previous versions, albeit still with a comparable amount of detail, which enables the manager to put into as much or as little detail as they wish into training. This is achieved through the introduction of our new ‘Create Schedule Wizard’; using this the manager can select Light, Medium or Intensive training in specific areas to automatically generate more complex weekly schedules of activities. These schedules can be tweaked by half-hour slot if desired, saved and assigned to individuals, groups of players, or the team as a whole. The schedules and drills themselves are completely realistic having been designed by Mervyn and reflect those used by actual professional teams. For the detail junkies out there, the simulation offers 63 individual half-hour training slots across the week and 82 different training drills to choose from.


The core drills have been designed to increase certain player attributes and the manager can see the effects of training on players’ attribute scores by ticking the “Training Effects” option. When training is neglected, inappropriate drills used, or players are over-trained, attribute scores will decrease although we’ve been very careful to make sure that this is balanced and the manager therefore won’t be unfairly penalised. Further, the impact of training will be witnessed in individual player and team performance in matches as the season progresses.


All-in-all, training schedules will be easier to implement, optimised to deliver absolute realism, and will have a direct impact on player and team performance in matches.

Oh, and you can still ask your assistant manager to do this if you really want to.


Choosing Your Tactics


The Tactics Editor for Championship Manager 5 is also completely new - offering flexibility, many more options and total realism.


There are now 25 default formations to choose from and not only that, CM5 also provides greater customisation of formations: you can place your players anywhere on the pitch by simply dragging them and so arrange your preferred shape. There are 270 outfield player positions on the tactics board!

Moving players around also automatically changes their defined position, i.e. moving an Attacking Left Midfielder into a slightly more advanced position would change their role to Left-Winger. You have to beware, of course, as playing someone in an un-accustomed position, or where he doesn’t have appropriate attributes, will result in a weaker performance.


A fantastic new feature is the ability for the manager, using directional arrows on the tactics board, to instruct players to play feeds as well as make runs into particular areas. Therefore, players can be told to play balls into channels or to identify other players as their primary targets for passes. We’ve also added more player / team instruction options including ‘time-wasting’ and ‘ruffing up’.


All of it matters too! We’ve done extensive balancing and testing to make sure that tactical instructions are actually reflected in the Match Engine.


Don’t forget, CM5 will be in-store NEXT FRIDAY 18th MARCH!! So get your personal training regime in order, decide your tactics for getting to the store, and get ready for the ultimate football management simulation. The Champ is back!

Yours,


The Championship Manager Team


---

there are some images too

TROD.

and now for my usual abuse of the CM article:

Traning has changed "This was because it was deemed to be too complex or cumbersome to get into, and for many was something automatically farmed off to their Assistant Manager"

Thats just wrong, both people online and many other friends i know who dont even know what a forum is always change their training regimes. I even once got my dad to play FM05 (for 45 mins!) and he refused to let someone else do the training for him, honestly! So that is a false statement to start with.

"The core drills have been designed to increase certain player attributes and the manager can see the effects of training on players’ attribute scores by ticking the “Training Effects” option. When training is neglected, inappropriate drills used, or players are over-trained, attribute scores will decrease although we’ve been very careful to make sure that this is balanced and the manager therefore won’t be unfairly penalised. Further, the impact of training will be witnessed in individual player and team performance in matches as the season progresses."

how in gods name is that NEW?, seriously, someone explain to me how all that wasnt in CM0304.

"There are 270 outfield player positions on the tactics board!"

This one really makes me laugh, the ammount of errors that are possible... i cant even work out, all 11 players can play in 270 different positions.. so i cant actually work out how many different combinations there are, either way, no way have BGS tested all these scenarios out, major errors a plenty....

"A fantastic new feature is the ability for the manager, using directional arrows on the tactics board, to instruct players to play feeds as well as make runs into particular areas. Therefore, players can be told to play balls into channels or to identify other players as their primary targets for passes. We’ve also added more player / team instruction options including ‘time-wasting’ and ‘ruffing up’."

thats nice, its pretty much already been done with personal instructions, but it is a nice feature.

TROD.

totally didnt know this.. posted by one of the mods at CM:

"There is no multiplayer option in CM5, that was announced several months ago."

:confused: :confused:

TROD.

Not online, no, but I haven't seen any hotseat annoncements :S

i think thats what it means, nothing at all, apart from add manager on the same pc :confused: maybe they're really trying to promote CMO

TROD.

fantastic use of space in the middle here:

http://www.assistantmanager.co.uk/images/exclusive_screens/Cech.jpg


ive said it before, and ill say it again, why do you need a system of rating out of 100 :f***: :rolleyes:

http://www.assistantmanager.co.uk/images/exclusive_screens/Niemi.jpg


TROD.

http://www.assistantmanager.co.uk/images/exclusive_screens/bluegel.jpg

so you can still have 1-20, forgot about that :confused: :(

TROD.

i still don't like the background. make my eyes blur :|

well since the game has just been released it wont be long before ppl will start making new skins for it.

Ill give the game a go when i get back from work.

Well... what can i say, the game is a pretty much Football Manager 2005 with a diff skin. After giving it a short "go" i was not impressed, very little new futures have been added.
Training and tactics look bit diff but basically they do the same job as FM05, tactics are a little bit better imo. Ill still play around with it for a while and try to get used to the layout.

PS: Bit of advice, first thing you do when you load up the game is turn of the sounds, they are just shocking, and have ur winamp handy... lol
also i could not change the resolution, thats pretty bad :S

here are few ss:

http://i152.exs.cx/img152/1972/2dpitch7kx.th.jpg (http://img152.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img152&image=2dpitch7kx.jpg)

Caroll was already injured, and Howard out for 3 months... great start:f***:

http://img80.exs.cx/img80/3050/injury5sd.th.jpg (http://img80.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img80&image=injury5sd.jpg)

Tactics aint so bad.

http://img80.exs.cx/img80/8054/tactics8qt.th.jpg (http://img80.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img80&image=tactics8qt.jpg)

It's not supposed to be released until friday. :confused:

I love how >40,000 fans came to see Man U play the always exciting Burton Albion, though. :|

The game it self is pretty small (187MB on cd), tho i have to say that its bit faster saving/loading wise etc.
Cant view replays/goals, ref is VERY slow after a foul to run up to the player and hand him a card... jeez the list could go on... if you have FM05 dont bother with this game, as its a big step back, i think they got it all wrong :S

not sure how you got this game.. but interesting stuff, whats the match engine like

TROD.

http://www.soccergaming.tv/showthread.php?s=&threadid=121277

This thread will be closed soon enough :p

TROD.

Originally posted by TROD
whats the match engine like

TROD.

Its prety bad, the tactics that you set before the match dont really reflect whats happening on the pitch, both teams just kick the ball to each other and it pretty rare that you will see a team string few good passes, but anyways you will see for yourself. In the first game (friendly and the pic i posted before) i was awarded 5 PK's to which i scored 4 :rockman:.

This is just my opinion, others might like the game but i still think its a pretty poor effort by Edios.

Cheers

There will be a patch released on friday (0:00 am GMT, to be precise), weighing about 30 MBs, and it will be savegame INcompatible.
Originally posted by Rutter (BGS Employee)
Following on from the release candidate going gold final translations were completed by the localisation department at Eidos

Whilst this went on the BGS code team continued improving the game via bug fixing and polish - including date - until that text arrived back. These improvements, fixes and polish will contribute to the Day 1 patch.

The BGS team then put all the text in and sent the foreign versions to test - and then returned to bug fixing/polishing for the patch. Clearly any serious problems in the language versions were dealt with. Eventually - and the date was YESTERDAY - we stopped work on the Patch for Day 1 UK versions. There will be an announcement hopefully today about the content of this patch.

We're now working on the patch for the localisation versions.

Then we'll finish the demo.

The reason we've put the demo at the bottom is because we have pride in ourselves and our work and weren't happy that there were "bugs" in the game that will be released. We want to make sure people get the absolute best out of their game - and yes - we were aware that Coventry had an unrealistic transfer budget etc - and wanted to fix it so it would work for Day 1 via the patch. Or enhancement pack. Or whatever it ends up being called.

The localisation patches finish on around about the 30th - and we're hopeful of a demo being available around about the 1st April. Which is almost funny.

We're sorry it's happened this way - but were doing our best - and will continue to support CM5 code for some time. Were under the impression there will be a Patch 2 at some point - probably after you've all let us know any problems that we dont know.

Cheers - and hope that clears it up - rather than making it any better.

David and:
Originally posted by Rutter (BGS Employee)
Right........

I'd strongly suggest you dont start a game prior to patching - as it's save game incompatible

The full list of changes will be posted at some point today by Keir - we're just putting the finishing touches to the list.

The size is 29Mb. It includes code and data updates - and is great value for bandwidth.

Cheers




BGS are blaming Eidos for the lack of information released before, and they do make a valid point. Eidos is a PLC, and have to restrict press releases, due to bad results and future prospects.
Originally posted by Keir Edmonds (BGS Web Bloke)
I understand your frustration, but BGS have tried to keep the fans informed on the development of the game. Around twenty articles about CM5 have been posted on this site in the last ten months or so.

Eidos are a quoted company and it is an unfortunate fact that we aren't able to tell the community the news we would like to when we would like to as we're governed by certain rules.

We're looking at ways to convey future information more effectively so stuff about CM is more easily available.

haha, that was hillarious, talk about making excuses :D:D i dont know why they're exlaining it that much, all it needs is;

"we've improved the game since we sent it to be made, therefore theres gonna be a patch out on friday, 30mb, not save game compatible. Cheers"

Simple.

TROD.

Originally posted by Keir Edmonds (BGS Web Bloke)
Bug and data issue forums will appear tomorrow along with the patch fix-list.

You guys should really read some of the threads on the CM.co.uk forum (http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/forums/_index_p2.php), it's giving a lot of information, all of a sudden :)

cheers ruud, just been looking through a lot of them, i dont want to totally abuse BGS, but most of the threads arnt exactly good things about CM5 :( :(

i feel sorry for BGS in a way, everyone wants it to be as good as FM, it isnt gonna happen..

TROD.

Everyone there keeps saying this is the successor to CM 03/04 and therefor it needs to be better, regardless to BGS being totally new to the scene.
Most people do blame Eidos, btw, and not BGS; BGS may have experience with footie sims, but not actually realistic ones.

There's a lot of potential with this game, but they HAVE to come up with something radically new, and not some enhancements of a match engine they haven't even got to work correctly.

Part of the newspost on ChampMan.co.uk (http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/shownews.php?id=162), regarding the release of CM5, entitled "CM5 In-Stores and Patch Available Now" by John - 17/03/2005
CM5 Patch Improvements and Bug Fixes


Game Data:

Includes all major transfers up until Sunday 6th March 2005.
Updated managers - Portugal, Brazil, Argentina,
Improved English staff details.
Added missing away colours - Turkey, Portugal & Spain lower leagues.
Improvements to missing player position & side.
Checked for and removed duplicate players.
Improved realism of ticket prices at some clubs.
Adjusted attendance details where average or maximum attendance was higher than stadium capacity.
Added missing transfer windows.
Amended CONCACAF Champions Cup timings.
Amended Belgium comp timings.
Amended Intertoto Cup timings.
Amended WCQ CONCACAF timings.
Improvements made to competition structures, rules and scheduling.


Match Engine:

Improved the overall quality of goals scored. A lot of the goals scored due to errors have been fixed.
Fixed ‘Corners’ being given ‘Offside’.
Fixed goals being scored direct from ‘Corners’.
Improved realism of the number of ‘Penalties’ awarded and scored.
Improved player ‘Free-kick Accuracy’ when shooting. Players will now try and put these either side of the goalkeeper.
Improved ‘Player Ratings’ given for performances in matches.
AI teams will try and ‘Push Forward’ more when game is looking likely to be a draw.
Improved the quality of ‘Text Commentary’.
Fix issues to prevent ball was going through the ‘Net’.
Increased the ‘Accuracy’ and ‘Quality’ of ‘Good Strikers’ shooting.
Decreased ‘Goalkeeper Effectiveness’ for long diving saves.
Decreased the likelihood of ‘Long Shots’ when long shots instruction is disabled.
Fixed ‘Substitution’ issues with injured players
Improvements made to highlights mode include:
Improved the time taken for yellow and red cards.
Improved the overall quality of highlights shown for fouls and injuries. User will see the tackle for the foul or which caused the injury.
Added new 4-1-4-1 formation for the user to select.


Transfers and Scouting:

Players will now be automatically added to the users ‘Shortlist’ when making transfer offers.
Fixed ‘Bosman Payments’ where clubs had to pay compensation for players over 24.
Improvements made to ‘Players Interested’ in clubs.
Transfer offers can no be made for player who are ‘Retiring’.
‘BOS’ icon will now be added to players who are leaving the club on bosman transfers.
Fixed issues where offering a ‘Contract’ to a ‘Reserve or Youth’ player would move them into the first team.
Improved the realism of ‘Signing-on Fees’ for contract renewals.
Improved the realism of ‘Transfer asking price’ for players with long term contracts.
Fixed ‘Contract renewals’ where clubs were constantly renewing contracts for players on short term contracts
Fixed to prevent clubs offering new contracts to players with ‘Confirmed Transfers’.
Fixed issue where ‘Contract renewals’ are subject to transfer windows.
Fixed issue where clubs thought they had made transfer offers and never bid again.
Reduced the processing times of ‘Transfer Offers‘ and ‘Work Permit’ approvals.
Fixed issues with ‘Transfer Windows’.
‘Scouting’ will no longer report back on ‘Injured Players’.
Improved user feedback when a player ‘Is Not Interested’ in signing for the ‘Users club’.
‘Loan listed’ players will now be taken off the list at a suitable time.


Club Board Features:

Improved Board Veto on Large Transfer fees.
Improved ‘Board Requests’. These are now more likely to be granted.
‘Board Expectations’ will now consider previous season performance.
Improvements made to the ‘Board Messages’ sent to the user.
‘Managers’ now have ‘Realistic Contracts’ when joining smaller clubs.
Fixed blank ‘Board Opinion’ messages.
User will now be ‘Sacked’ if there are no other staff members.
AI clubs will now ‘Retain’ or ‘Replace’ ‘Staff Members’.


Club Finances:

Fixed issue with ‘Transfer Budget’ where season 2 and beyond budgets were only a fraction of the first seasons. A Club will now have a similar transfer budget if they have the money in the bank.
Fixed issue where all ‘Non Selected Clubs’ were going ‘Bankrupt’ within 5 seasons.
Improved realism of the ‘TV revenue’ given to clubs.


News and Media:

Changed ‘Font’ colour to make reading messages easier on the eye.
Improved the quality of the ‘Loan’ new messages.
User will no longer see ‘Press Speculation’ for players who have ‘Agreed Transfers’.
Fixed incorrect ‘Form’ team being displayed in the ‘Scout Next Opposition’ news report.
Improved the quality of ‘Qualification’ and ‘Elimination’ messages for cup competitions.
User will now get messages when ‘Winning’ competitions.
‘Fans’ and ‘Board’ will also comment on ‘Winning’ important competitions


Game User Interface:

Added ‘Missing Player Stats’ onto the ‘Player Search Filters’.
Added ‘TRN’ and ‘BID’ status icons to players.
Improved in-game ‘Tool tips’.
Squad screen now disallows ‘Squad Selection’ when the ‘Assistant Manager’ is assigned to select first team.
Fixed instances where ‘Menus’ could appear of the right Hand side of the screen.
‘INT’ icon no longer appears when viewing an International squad.
Fixed issues with ‘Sorting’ on the user shortlist.
Players out of contract now display '-' instead of contract details on squad screen.
Fixed overlap when more than ‘10 players’ are selected for ‘Tactical’ duties.
Improvements made to the ‘Player Comparison’ screen.
Improvements made to the ‘Submit Offer’ screens.
Made ‘Player Exchange’ buttons viewable in the submit offer screen.
Improvements made to ‘Major Clubs’ screen and this now displays clubs from all continents.
Added ‘Filter’ to ‘European Squad Registration’ screen.
Improved ‘Average Ratings’ player screens.
Added ‘INF’ icons to the competition league tables.

Actually, the patch isn't really available atm, but it will be soon :S

It's going to be available from midnight GMT through the Gameshadow software that you get with CM5, or through http://www.cm5patch.com/.


Damn, I really should be preparing for my application tomorrow.

Just looking at that list is laughable.

Most of the bugs fixed are things I think about: How on earth can you forget to get that right?

:confused:

They didn't, not really. They just thought about it after the gold version went to the presser. This patch has been ready for two days already. :brow:

Here's the patch (http://130.117.81.20/getfile.php?id=392&auth=3ef703e50859050)

Originally posted by rpvankasteren
Here's the patch (http://130.117.81.20/getfile.php?id=392&auth=3ef703e50859050)

you mean i made a downloads thred all for nothing... :p

http://www.soccergaming.tv/showthread.php?s=&threadid=121406

With the game released in the UK (e.g. hopefully some feedback) im going to unstick this thread, feel free to keep posting in it though! :)

TROD.

Unstick, noooooooooo

Just close it, and keep it sticked, like with the FM one, will do fine as an FAQ.

Ruud knows best :p

TROD.

Eidos announced the release date for the PS2 and XBoX versions of CM5 today. 13th of May it will be, just in time for the reviewers to miss it, because people will be underway to E3.



CM5 Console Release Date Announced (http://www.championshipmanager.co.uk/shownews.php?id=174)
by Keir Edmonds - 27/04/2005

Eidos announces that Championship Manager 5 will be released on Xbox and PlayStation 2 on 13th May 2005. Championship Manager 5 heralds the world’s No1 selling football management series’ debut on PlayStation 2.

Do you think you could make the most of Abramovich’s millions? Have you ever dreamt of taking your non-league team to European glory? Championship Manager 5 puts you in the hot seat as you try to guide your club to glory dealing with everything from transfers and tactics to scouting and the media.

Championship Manager 5 features 25 playable national leagues with 59 divisions and a massive database of footballers from around the world. With accurate data for the 2004/2005 season, a 2D match view enabling you to make tactical decisions as the action unfolds, a detailed choice of tactics, a comprehensive scouting system, a clear user-interface and minimal loading times, Championship Manager 5 will bring you even closer to the touchline.

To further ensure that Championship Manager 5 delivers the ultimate in realism and accuracy, Charlton Athletic’s 1st Team Coach Mervyn Day has been recruited to act as consultant on the game. Day, one of the most respected coaches in football and holder of a UEFA Pro-License, has developed a new user-friendly training mode, devising routines and drills as used by top professionals. Day’s insider knowledge has also given access to the thought processes of real-life managers and coaches, both in the day-to-day management of the club and players, as well as in match situations.


Features:

+ IN A LEAGUE OF ITS OWN – 25 playable national leagues with 59 divisions and a massive database of footballers from around the world.
more…

+ ACCURATE DATA – Updated player, team and competition data for the 2004/2005 season.

+ THE BIG MATCH – Watch the action unfold via a 2D match engine and make tactical decisions at any stage. A range of match speeds lets you view just the key highlights all the way through to the full 90 minutes.

+ IT’S TRAINING MEN – User-friendly and effective training module devised in conjunction with Charlton 1st Team Coach Mervyn Day.

+ TACTICAL GENIUS – Detailed tactics screen that lets managers instruct players where to play the ball and to make runs.

+ SEARCH FOR A STAR – Comprehensive scouting system enabling searches for specific ‘player types’ to be carried out.

+ SEAL THE DEAL – A fully realistic transfer model encompassing an array of factors including finances, reputation and player personalities. To lure the likes of Ronaldo and Zidane you will first have to establish yourself.

Eidos announced the release date for the PS2 and XBoX versions of CM5 today. 13th of May it will be, just in time for the reviewers to miss it, because people will be underway to E3.

E3 is may 17th-20th, its not a problem because; 1. Most large magazines will be able to review it a few weeks early with the magazine not being released until late may, and 2. only a handful of journalists from each mag will go to E3.

TROD.

I now mags and websites who send just about their full staff :p

Of course they will get their reviews done, but most of the time the review will be drowned in the overflow of E3 reports :S

well i know mags and websites that only send a handful of reviewers :D :D

but i agree, any lenghty reviews will be cut to make way for heaps of info about E3, also i think we can probably come up with a mathematical ratio showing 'amount of info about XBOX 360 to amount of coverage on CM5' lol

you know what i mean

TROD.

You mean something like:

x divided by y approaches 0

where x = "amount of coverage on CM5" and y = "amount of info about XBoX 360"

Yeah, I know, and I'm betting Eidos do as well.

Mathematics, I will never be good at it

:boohoo: :p

Yeah, I know, and I'm betting Eidos do as well.

:D:D:D

TROD.