THE DEMO IS NOW LIVE

The Vanilla demo, which is approx 175MB, will be available for PC or Mac, and available exclusively from the News of the Worlds website, with the files hosted by the nice people at Gameshadow.

It will feature UK English only, language wise, and English and Scottish quickstarts, with no "assets" (such as player pictures, logos, stadiums and pitch textures). You can play for half a season, and continue your saved game when the full game is out.

You can get the vanilla version of the demo (PC or Mac) from www.newsoftheworld.co.uk


The Strawberry demo, which is approx 1GB, will also be available for PC or Mac, and will be available 3 ways via STEAM (our recommended route - but PC only), a torrent file, and a direct download (hosted by the nice people at Gameshadow).

To download the STEAM client, for free, go to www.steampowered.com, where you can read all about STEAM.
Language wise it has - English, Danish, Dutch, French, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish.
Leagues playable (via quickstarts) - England, Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Brazil, Argentina & Indonesia. So 12, rather than the previously announced 10.

The strawberry version of the demo is available from

STEAM (PC Only) - http://store.steampowered.com/app/10570/
Torrent (PC) - http://torrents.sigames.com:7000/torrents/fm2009_gold_demo-pc.exe.torrent?D30C836D20282E61500B0D69514669B7DFD A9BF4
Torrent (Mac) - http://torrents.sigames.com:7000/torrents/fm2009_gold_demo-mac.zip.torrent?A7C6364918933D101B05687A49B68A304D D26BEA
Download (PC) -
http://gameshadow.vo.llnwd.net/o1/lt...fm2009demo.exe
Download (Mac) -
http://gameshadow.vo.llnwd.net/o1/lt...009macdemo.zip

A demo for WWSM will follow next week.

There will also be other versions of the demo available in the coming weeks/months, and I will update this thread as I am allowed to announce them with more info.

The first of these is in Australia, 442 magazine will be covermounting a special exclusive A-League demo of the game, although I do not have a date for the issue of the magazines release as yet (I expect it will be after the release of the game, unfortunately, due to the time it takes to print the discs).]

Downloading it now myself. :innocent_smile_1:

nowadays demo are always size at least 1gb =/

I downloaded it in 8 minutes with 20 mbps dsl service.

i wish Malaysia have this kind of connection package at affordable price. 2mb line is cost nearly RM300 per month :(

30 min download, maybe another 10 install, and 20 seconds game loading time, I'm hoping this is an improvement I'll notice with the actual game, too. (downloaded vanilla)

There's a weird glitch where the keyboard seems to be sensitive, making it annoying to type, but in general, game seems really good, I've barely done a week though.

is this mean my pc dont support this game?

(look at the pic below)http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/7576/specyy5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/specyy5.jpg/1/w582.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img516/specyy5.jpg/1/)

30 min download, maybe another 10 install, and 20 seconds game loading time, I'm hoping this is an improvement I'll notice with the actual game, too. (downloaded vanilla)

There's a weird glitch where the keyboard seems to be sensitive, making it annoying to type, but in general, game seems really good, I've barely done a week though.

Game loads fast because it's a quickstart, I guess... I expect a normal game start with a few leagues selected to take as long to start as 08, though I'm hoping they've improved this...

And the keyboard is indeed too sensitive... had to type my name three times...

So far, so good... 3d is ok, though I don't think I'll use it that often. Interview at the start is quite nice, I hope I don't get too many of them as to get bored with the lack of options. Can I go Kinnear on them?

Can I go Kinnear on them?

Not really, but there is an option to storm out of the press conference if you so choose.

Anyway, it took me significantly longer to install the game after taking 10 minutes to download it. In fact, I had to reinstall it because I hadn't upgraded my DirectX drivers. By the time I had finished installing it the second time around, I did a couple of preseason matches with Aston Villa, and I don't know what to make of the 3D engine. Part of me likes it because I can actually see whats going on during the match, but I still prefer the text option because it keeps me in touch with the game's roots, which I think that SI is starting to significantly stray away from.

Fantastic so far, can't wait for the full thing..


The keyboard sensitivity though, fffffuuuuucccckkkkkk

Keyboard is sh*t, new skin is sh*t.





The rest is awesome. (H)

Any bargains/promising youngsters you guys found so far?

EDIT: Holy sh*t, so many injuries

I got the vanilla demo, could someone please upload the italy and spain quickstarts for me :)?

The game is quite addictive but also quite hard, I dunno if it's because the last game I played was 2006, but ******* hell, I've never had such a tough few first weeks in charge. And I'm playing with Chelsea. No one's fit, no one likes me because I'm inexperienced, players aren't blending, excellent players can't pass/cross/dribble and I get maybe 3 shots on goal. And some players have messed up stats, oh and I hate Man City. Other than that, great so far.

Not sure about 3D engine, the match doesn't flow very well. And the new rating system confuses me, it used to be that I have a standard response to every stat, now I dunno what to do. I suck.

I've only managed to sign Arshavin and Huntelaar, being beaten for all of: Mexes, Pepe, Zhirkov, Marcelo, Diego, Srna by other clubs. Srna is apparently top stuff, quite expensive at 18 mi.

Oh, and another thing, was the backroom staff limit always there? Wanted to reduce injury times by getting more guys, couldn't, tried getting more scouts from different bakgrounds and expertise, couldn't, same with coaches.

I'm so going to get relegated.

Wow, 3d View really sucks.

Other than that its pretty good, except the 2d seems different as well.

it seems that i cant select 3d view. is it because of my pc spec?
(already enable the 3d view in the preference)

everything looks fine. the skin is not the most friendly-user i guess, but nvm..i can always select fm2008 skin (@ preference)

a lil bit laggy on the match setup. (perhaps, because of my 1.6 processor??)
the 2d view looks diff. & i dun get wtf with the adboards? trying to be fancy maybe??:clapwap:
tv mode is okay.. (with option to view match stat , assistant comment & etc)

the player recommendation at the start of the game is quite good imo.

overall : seems good to me. need to familiarize with the skin & the 'environment' of the game.dun found any bug (yet)
hopefully it will not dissapoint me

By the time the game comes out it wont be long before custom skins will be created

Has anybody noticed that in tactics u can't make players run sideways? It's really annoying me cuz i want to play a 3-5-2 formation but my centre backs cant run left and right. It's pissing me off :swear2:

Yeah SI announced earlier that they were getting rid of arrows...They kept the forward and backwards ones, but they have a slightly different function than before. Now it basically means get forward and get back, before it meant where you want them to run to when the team had the ball...

Oh BTW. I agree that it's silly though. It does make the game much less flexible, and I didn't think it was possible to make 'cheat tactics' with the old arrows anyway. It seems like a lazy way out for SI. It just means that now we can't tell a player to cut inside, or to make runs across the pitch (which also used to be handy with one of ur strikers, who could run across, drag defence across, and open it up for an Attacking mid, or another striker)

I just played the demo as far as September and my first impressions is rather good. The 3d engine is as expected not up to it yet, IMO. It's funny, but I still prefer the old 2d engine. It's dissappointing though that still 90% of the one-on-one chances are missed. I remember this beeing a problem in FM 2008 aswell. Other observations include the keyboard sensitivity and when you click 'Go on Holiday' you go to the game status screen and don't go on holiday or anything.
Although I first didn't quite like it, after playing it a bit longer I must say the game did grow on me a bit. I like some of the new features like the press conference etc.

Oh and BTW who's going to beat Tom to making the Screenshot Showoff thread this year? I'm eager to start posting away some screenshots of my own. :)

The keyboard sensitivity thingy is fixed if you play in Windowed mode... If you don't it sucks, though...

I just played the demo as far as September and my first impressions is rather good. The 3d engine is as expected not up to it yet, IMO. It's funny, but I still prefer the old 2d engine. It's dissappointing though that still 90% of the one-on-one chances are missed. I remember this beeing a problem in FM 2008 aswell. Other observations include the keyboard sensitivity and when you click 'Go on Holiday' you go to the game status screen and don't go on holiday or anything.
Although I first didn't quite like it, after playing it a bit longer I must say the game did grow on me a bit. I like some of the new features like the press conference etc.

Oh and BTW who's going to beat Tom to making the Screenshot Showoff thread this year? I'm eager to start posting away some screenshots of my own. :)
I'm fairly sure I made the screenshot show off thread last year actually, so it's not even Tom's crown to defend!

I quite like the 3d engine. I think it does exactly what is needed. I dont want to see awesome detail, I want to see where the players are, where the ball is, and in 3 planes, not 2. If you start adding too much detail, then you have to add in EVERYTHING, which becomes impossible, and you end up with FIFA manager. I think the 3D engine so far is great :)

I agree about the one on ones, and there is also the well known injury bug, but so far so good...I think it's a bit harder than last years tho, and I'm a little disappointed with some of the limited controls I feel I have over tactics, but I'm sure I'll get used to that...

The keyboard sensitivity thingy is fixed if you play in Windowed mode... If you don't it sucks, though...
Funny you mention this...I was wondering what everyone was on about, because I never had an issue..I always play in windowed though :)

I'm fairly sure I made the screenshot show off thread last year actually, so it's not even Tom's crown to defend!

I quite like the 3d engine. I think it does exactly what is needed. I dont want to see awesome detail, I want to see where the players are, where the ball is, and in 3 planes, not 2. If you start adding too much detail, then you have to add in EVERYTHING, which becomes impossible, and you end up with FIFA manager. I think the 3D engine so far is great :)

I agree about the one on ones, and there is also the well known injury bug, but so far so good...I think it's a bit harder than last years tho, and I'm a little disappointed with some of the limited controls I feel I have over tactics, but I'm sure I'll get used to that...

Hehe yeah, I know you made the thread last year mate. But it's become some sort of tradition since FM 2005 that Tom always complains about getting beaten by someone to posting the Screenshot Showoff thread. :p

I guess you're right about the 3d engine, but although FM shouldn't become another FIFA manager I still think that with modern day resources the graphics could've been alot better. Like the motions from the players for example, keepers don't dive they just block and the motion of kicking a ball is also a bit underdeveloped, IMO. Maybe it's just that I'm not used to the 3d engine yet, I don't know

Funny you mention this...I was wondering what everyone was on about, because I never had an issue..I always play in windowed though :)
heh ditto.

feeling tempted to dl :p

Is there a reason which causes the stats to barely change? At Nov now, training is on medium bordering heavy, barely any changes. They don't even decrease when people are injured for months.

Those with 32MB graphics, it ain't possible to play at all?

Whenever I click the icon after installing, it goes to the "Send/Don't Send Error Report" thing

:(

heh ditto.

Yeah same

Anyone feeling totally turned off after playing using the 3D engine? (and the new 2D). Dunno but it doesnt look as stylish as it should and... well, the word that comes to mind is "professional", it just doesn't look to me like something that is up to the same quality standards I'm used to seeing from SI. So far all we (and I) had to complain about was bad engine tunning... I'll just stick to classic 2D, IF it hasn't changed from the 3D part of the games code.. (like when the text engine went weak after the addition of 2D)

Yeah classic 2d is how im going to go with it, i dont like the 3d, and the new 2d just doesn't feel right.

Anyone feeling totally turned off after playing using the 3D engine? (and the new 2D). Dunno but it doesnt look as stylish as it should and... well, the word that comes to mind is "professional", it just doesn't look to me like something that is up to the same quality standards I'm used to seeing from SI. So far all we (and I) had to complain about was bad engine tunning... I'll just stick to classic 2D, IF it hasn't changed from the 3D part of the games code.. (like when the text engine went weak after the addition of 2D)
agree. apart from the fact that 3d doesn't run smoothly on my pc it just seems pretty... tacky. Takes me back to the days of Sven Goran Eriksson International Manager (H)

Well, there is one thing that I have a hard time figuring out.... Why does SI keep trusting stupid people to test the game..


I mean, there are several things that I didn't even need 10 minutes playing to notice, that went obviously unnoticed by the I-don't-know-how-many BETA testers, man... Things that aren't too big of a deal, but a ******* baby would have spotted them...

Is the 3D View supposed to show the whole match or only like key highlights, or is my computer just lagging

It works the same as the 2D, it can show the whole match if you want, I think

Hmm, il have to look around

I guess you're right about the 3d engine, but although FM shouldn't become another FIFA manager I still think that with modern day resources the graphics could've been alot better. Like the motions from the players for example, keepers don't dive they just block and the motion of kicking a ball is also a bit underdeveloped, IMO. Maybe it's just that I'm not used to the 3d engine yet, I don't know
Yeah I dunno, I still like the 3D engine. Just as the 2D engine doesn't show real players etc, I don't see the 3D engine needs to either. The important things are positioning, speed etc, and on three planes (ie. 3 dimensions). Actual footage isn't important, and I think this way, atleast the skill moves etc can be left upto the imagination. Otherwise 'that same old stepover' to beat a defender, FIFA style, would get boring...

I like the 3d engine. It makes tactics much easier to figure out IMO and it's easier to see what adjustments you need to make. Also, everyone should note that on the demo, only the LOW graphic version of the 3D engine is available. The full game will have Medium and High open as well, so it should look a little better.

I hope it's a LOT better...

Yeah, but the animations will still be the same won't they?

You guys seriously didn't have high expectations for the first incarnation of SI's 3D match engine did you? It was never going to be perfect on the first try. It's step in the right direction even if SI didn't impress most of its fans with the new 3D engine which can only get better.

First of all I need to say I never liked rocky movies.
Now, the engine. Dunno what reviews or forum debates/ers say, but what I know is that me and my 2 buddies, who we've been playing this game all together since I cant even remember when, we all agree that this engine looks and feels wrong.
oh, and lemme also just.. say that the glass is NEVER half full, and where there's smoke, there's fire and what won't kill you makes you stronger. You Reap What You Sow
Whatever humps your camel they say.. well, idioms hump mine

You guys seriously didn't have high expectations for the first incarnation of SI's 3D match engine did you? It was never going to be perfect on the first try. It's step in the right direction even if SI didn't impress most of its fans with the new 3D engine which can only get better.

The problem, imho, is that for SI it's always been like this. Excuses, excuses... we can't expect media interaction to be good, we can't expect 3d to be good, and when you think they've perfected 2d, like last year... well... you end up with fm 08...

Of course, it's nice to see them taking steps rather than stop developing the game, but it seems to me we never get the full product, we're just paying to beta test it.

Absolutely, I totally agree with that, my only problem is I can't stop playing it..


And I don't mean that as a joke or anything...Over the time, the many many years I've played Football Manager, it has grown on me like such an addiction that even though I realize how many mistakes they've been making(particularly in recent years), I just cannot stop playing....

Having said that, I'm waiting until after playing a couple of seasons in the full release to really start bashing :p

I just hope they fix the bloody one-on-one bug as I'm getting pretty annoyed by it. They did so in FM 2008 with the 8.0.2 patch, so I don't understand how it could've slipped in in this version.

Animations are poor in the 3d engine and it makes it work worse than it is. Aside from that, realistically, the match engine doesn't work any worse than recent version 0 pre-patch matche engines. From what I've played of it anyway.

I actually don't mind it. Bring on the full game (perfect timing - just after exams).

Yeah I know timing with the exams is great (Y)