Three quick items for consideration!

First off, Matt from SEGA, although the current spear-catcher in the best tradition of Lanny Davis (only astute American political junkies may catch that one), needs to be commended for coming on the boards, trying to help us out with information and catching the wrath from those who post here. Here, Here Matt, I tip my hat off to you, it's a tough, thankless job.

Second, I whined, whinged or just plain complained about the 3D match engine, and while I still feel it's not optimised to the best of it's ability, it's still fairly jerky, updating my video card drivers made a marked improvement. If you haven't updated the drivers on your system lately, they probably could stand to be updated.

Third, and lastly, where can we download FM2009? Is Steam our only option? Isn't there a direct buy downlink from SEGA's website or SI's website? Isn't there a software outlet that will offer downloading? I can't imagine there being a single download point, a single point of purchase. That would make me question the business acumen of those who own FM or SI as a whole. Figuring these are pretty smart guys, there's gotta be a place for us to download FM, circumvent the purchasing of WWSM and just go for what we, the consumers want, not what SEGA tells us is our only option. If I'm going to spend my money on a product, it's going to be for a product I want, not for one I'm going to settle for. Sorry SI. Sorry SEGA. Sorry American soccer fans, I don't want WWSM, I don't care if I mess up your marketing figures, I want to purchase Football Manager this year. I purchased Worldwide Soccer Manager last year, I've decided I want Football Manager this year.

Now, where can I download Football Manager from?

OY! Sometimes I just don't take the time to read things correctly.

Mac users won't be able to download off of steam.

So now I'm thinking, being a red-headed stepchild Mac user, I wonder when the download for the Mac version of FM will be?

Vive le Mac!

Steam steam steam ahead

As far as I can tell if you are a PC user your only download option is STEAM. For mac there will be a digital download, which I would love to know the release date of.

I'm in the same boat as you, I'm in the USA and would rather have FM. I have always had FM, but this year I downloaded WWSM08 because I wanted the download option. I play with UK English and I haven't noticed anything "American" about it, so thats good. Can anyone verify if UK English setting on WWSM is EXACTLY the same as playing FM?

This year I guess I'm not really particular which game I get. I'd rather have FM, but I have a feeling that means I'm going to have to wait longer to get it. I'd like to know when the mac digital downloads (for either game, but accessible from the USA) are going to be available. If not for a while after the 14th, then I'll just order FM from a UK website and wait for the long shipping I guess.

Right, so I was writing while you made your second post saying you're a mac user. Me too and I have the same question that nobody from SI has been able to answer.

When can we expect the Mac digital download to be available?

For either WWSM, FM, or both. You'd think it wouldn't be hard to simply announce this date yet as it would help a lot of people decide how they're going to get the game. Will it be the 14th, like the PC counterpart STEAM (Not STREAM, brisvegas, haha)?

"there is a word on the forum that pops up all over the place,

I'll give you a hint starts with S ends with m and may have trea in the middle of it"

I thought it was STEAM, not STREAM, and it's only for PC's. Not much help for Mac users.

I'm sure that WWSM will have a UK English option. Can't imagine it wouldn't since last years did.

The fact that I get WWSM or FM, honestly, doesn't really matter to me. The fact that I'm being steered towards WWSM because I have an American ip bothers me. I, not SEGA, should decide which version I want to buy.

I don't have a problem buying from another company, a copy of FM and not WWSM, especially from gogamer, which seems to be very cheap, cheaper than STEAM. I would rather prefer downloading than buying a boxed copy. Living on the frontier, overnight packages take three days!!

I've heard (not living in America so forum posts) that somewhere in America is selling FM, not WWSM

and why have you not considered buying the boxed edition?

(read the manual, or does that come with a readme file in the d/l)

The downloadable version is just cleaner. I tend to have boxes of games, old CD's, manuals lying around. I tend to be a pack rat.

BUT, the main reason I prefer downloadable is simply one of logistics. I live on the Mexican border, the nearest city of any size is 3 hours away. My computer or software buying oppurtunities are limited to a small section of Wal-Mart which specialises in entry-level acer computers and copies of Deer Hunter, Bass Fishin' and Hunting Unlimited 4. Overnight shipping takes three days to get here. I'm not impatient, but I've also ordered things from Amazon that took over two weeks, I've ordered things from MacMall that simply got lost, and while MacMall was great, they resent out the items that were lost, they arrived damaged. Again, a great company, they sent out another item, this one finally made it in good condition. That's why I prefer downloadable content.

As an aside, my compaq laptop (which is not powerful enough to run FM09) experienced a problem with it's display. The one local computer repair place in town charged me $35.00 to diagnose it. No problem, I can understand a diagnostic fee. Their diagnostic procedure: They called Compaq tech support, gave them my version of what was wrong with the laptop, then called me to tell me it was either the lcd screen was out or the inverter board was out. No idea which one, and I would have to come in, pay for the part, $170, the part would arrive in a week, and they would put the part in, of course they'd charge me $52 an hour for labor, they estimated two hours, with no assurance that my laptop would be fixed. THEY CALLED COMPAQ TECH SUPPORT! That was their diagnostic run of my laptop. THAT type of service is what I deal with here on a daily basis, that is why I prefer a downloadable product and not one that comes in the mail.

Second, I whined, whinged or just plain complained

lol. touche!

I'm glad someone appreciated that! ;-)

Steam steam steam ahead

.....and the point of your post is what exactly ?????