*Football Manager 2014 - ANNOUNCEMENT*

[Herbert Fandel]

I signed Pirlo for season 2 MLS with portland timbers, £86 kpw

[tigerhgrrrrrr]

A Thursday release? Thought for Marketing reasons it would always be a Friday release? Can anyone in the know explain?

[Kriss]

It'll be Friday somewhere

[saware]

You can download fm from steam even if you install via disk

Thanks for the reply, that makes sense. Wanted to give it a try on MacBook aswell as PC but having no DVD drive I wasn't sure if I could only do it with a digital copy.

Looked up Steam's 'Big Picture Mode', not really sure how it works yet but looking forward to having a play about with it when FM14 beta arrives.

[saware]

A Thursday release? Thought for Marketing reasons it would always be a Friday release? Can anyone in the know explain?

Didn't Miles say a Thurs release was due to it being a Bank Holiday on Nov 1st in some countries?! Think that's the reason anyway.

[saware]

It'll be Friday somewhere

Surely if it's released at 00:01 on Thurs AM it won't be?!

[ak71]

Hi mates,

One of the feature mentioned for Improved Match Engine was individual player character . Has it been explained what it means actually..?

Thanks.

[blinx01]

Does anyone know any site that is a partner for the BETA and are offering at a cheaper price than £35?

Just way too expensive for me unless it's around the £25-30 price range.

I think last year Green Man Gaming did an offer on here for a while. Maybe something similar this year?

[dafuge]

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/358578-FM14-Pre-Order-with-Green-Man-Gaming-Discount-Codes-In-OP?p=9028349&viewfull=1#post9028349

That should bring the price down to about £26.

[bigbeezer]

You can already, and have been able to as far back as I can remember. The screen that shows only the top 5 is just a snapshot of various different stats.

How do you do that mate?

i have only really started playing in the last few weeks so kinda new to it all.

cheers

[dafuge]

How do you do that mate?

i have only really started playing in the last few weeks so kinda new to it all.

cheers

There's a drop down menu next to 'team stats' that gives you the full list for each category.

[wazza]

It'll be Friday somewhere

The 31st is a Thursday - so it will be Thursday 31st release - however I bet the beta isnt released on Thursday 17th but Friday 18th as other versions are generally a Friday

[Rikulec]

Will the boxed version be availabe to pre-order through any Polish retailer?

[Jibby123]

Looking for a heads up on FM14, but I am not on Twitter or Facebook, so for me is the best place to follow the new features announced on the SI games channel on You Tube? Any tips/advice on where to best keep up to date for a tech dinosaur gratefully received.

EDIT - no worries. Found it.

[funlovingexpress]

Yeah, spot on. I think FM look at it the way it should be and not the way it actually is. It is the money that counts whether its by a sugar daddy or whether the club creates it and they can. Winning things creates extra revenue as well so they get bigger and bigger. Unfortunately in FM Aldershot will always be Aldershot, even if they won ten titles in a row, had 500 million in the bank and a 100, 000 capacity stadium the so called big stars wouldn't sign. In real life they would kick the door down to come.

[dafuge]

Looking for a heads up on FM14, but I am not on Twitter or Facebook, so for me is the best place to follow the new features announced on the SI games channel on You Tube? Any tips/advice on where to best keep up to date for a tech dinosaur gratefully received.

You don't need an account to read the FM twitter page, so bookmarking that would be the quickest way to get the news. Unless it blocked at work or something like that.

[Jibby123]

You don't need an account to read the FM twitter page, so bookmarking that would be the quickest way to get the news. Unless it blocked at work or something like that.

Got it, thanks very much dafuge.

[Basile Boli]

Just a quick question re the beta release; Is this actually the full game? or is it just a demo version?

I seem to remember last year, the beta release was actually the full game pretty much, and you could start with any team from any nation?

If this is the case, then surely the release date is actually mid October pretty much?

[Kazza]

Just a quick question re the beta release; Is this actually the full game? or is it just a demo version?

I seem to remember last year, the beta release was actually the full game pretty much, and you could start with any team from any nation?

If this is the case, then surely the release date is actually mid October pretty much?

Yes the beta will become the full game but it allows further testing before the actual full release. Therefore any bugs can be picked up and hopefully dealt with before full release. That's my understanding of access to the beta if you have pre-ordered.

[forameuss]

Just a quick question re the beta release; Is this actually the full game? or is it just a demo version?

I seem to remember last year, the beta release was actually the full game pretty much, and you could start with any team from any nation?

If this is the case, then surely the release date is actually mid October pretty much?

It'll only be released then for people who have pre-ordered. So if you don't, then it will still be released on the 31st. There will be a 2 week period where some will have it, and the rest won't be able to. If that makes sense.

[ChelseaSince86]

The BETA is the full game, which is available to people who pre ordered from selected retailers. The BETA is playable for as many seasons as you wish, but any bugs you find and report, can still be fixed for "proper" release of October 31st. Think of it as rather than just the gang at SI testing it, they let the public also test it for 2 weeks and find bugs which are fixed by release. So yes the beta is full game, manage whoever you want however long you want, but it isn't - (quite) - the final/release version

[duccio]

Higher attendances post-league title win despite playing lower reputation teams.

Maybe its my less than perfect English, but what does this actually mean? Lower reputation teams will have higher attendances than before after winning a league title? Teams will have higher attendances after winning a league title despite other teams in the league having lower reputations?

Either way I think attendances go up too much as it is. Especially when its cumulative over several promotions as champions. Particularly clubs from low population catchment areas should have a clear cap on how many fans they can attract.

[funlovingexpress]

Catchment areas mean nothing when you are successful. That is true in real life. Most man utd fans don't live in Manchester. Teams like Newcastle will always have a huge fanbase but it wasn't to long ago they had 20000 on the waiting list for a season ticket. Most of those would have been from outside the area because it was trendy to support them when they played football the way it should be played. That would happen with any team.

[duccio]

Catchment areas mean nothing when you are successful. That is true in real life. Most man utd fans don't live in Manchester. Teams like Newcastle will always have a huge fanbase but it wasn't to long ago they had 20000 on the waiting list for a season ticket. Most of those would have been from outside the area because it was trendy to support them when they played football the way it should be played. That would happen with any team.

Man Utd and Newcastle are big clubs from populous areas and have long histories and rich traditions. You don't actually think that a club like, say, Castel Rigone (population 406 and far away from big cities) should be pulling tens of thousands of fans to every game? SI personnel have themselves spoken about catchment areas in the past, and inhabitants range is featured in the data base (though not all cities have any value entered). I don't know if inhabitants range has an effect on attendances, but in my opinion it at least should.

[forameuss]

Man Utd and Newcastle are big clubs from populous areas and have long histories and rich traditions. You don't actually think that a club like, say, Castel Rigone (population 406 and far away from big cities) should be pulling tens of thousands of fans to every game? SI personnel have themselves spoken about catchment areas in the past, and inhabitants range is featured in the data base (though not all cities have any value entered). I don't know if inhabitants range has an effect on attendances, but in my opinion it at least should.

You're right, but again this has to be a balance against what is realistic, and what is "fun". If you had a totally realistic world model, where sides like Castel Rigone would never be able to bring in the tens of thousands of fans, where would the drive to take them over be? It would certainly be a challenge, but I'm not sure it'd be one you could win without a lot of grinding, boring seasons. To never have that possible boost in finances to drive you to the next level would make things a lot less bright long-term. However, I do agree that it rises too quickly, and sometimes erratically. I've had stadiums that should be fuller being oddly empty, and then had teams that the fans have flocked to very prematurely. Maybe needs tweaked.

Maybe one way to make it more realistic would be to try and model countries and regions accurately and then have some coding into how attractive clubs would be to new fans. League position plays a big part, but if the stadium is in the middle of nowhere, that's a big minus. If you're in a more developing country, this would be a bigger issue, but in somewhere like Germany or England, it would be lessened. You could also put a bit more context around the building of a new stadium - this could now be a better location and lead to increased crowds that way. That would obviously be a nightmare to code correctly though, but would be an interesting thing to have.

[Casual]

I just cant believe what kind of things are trying to be passed as "new features". There's a screenshot on FM's facebook page that says something like Ungentlemanly conduct is now called Unprofessional...whatever. On Twitter feature roulette every day I see different kinds of things that really **** me off. For example today there was a new "feature" announced saying "Warning message when manager bids for a player who will be ineligible". I'm not even gonna talk about new questions at press conferences that are announced as new features.

I mean all these small changes used to be something that happened every year but were never announced as features. To even mention such trivial stuff, dedicate whole screenshots to TEXT changes, that to me is a huge insult to all fans. I feel like someone's making fun of me and having a laugh writing this things. In the past we used to blast SI for not changing much in the game and just putting buttons from one side of the screen to another. This year we don't even have that, we have text and press conference question changes!!!

Friends, who aren't as big fanatics of FM like I am, asked me what are the new features and changes in FM14, because I usually am the one who carries news from community to my less informed mates in the pack. I opened my mouth to start talking and then I realized that I don't even remember what the changes are?! I read them all from the beginning and the 1st announcement, but nothing stuck to my head. Nothing at all. That's just sad...

Now, I was always saying if the gameplay was made to be near perfection, if the realness of football in the game was sorted out, then I wouldn't mind small amount of other make-up changes in the game. Unfortunately looking at the recent history of FM series, we all know the amount of bugs and glitches that we have to experience and hell that we have to go through before we download the final patch/update and get the end product in February.

If that concept happens to be the same with new-featureless FM 2014 then it would really be a large scale disaster.

So SI, I really really really hope that you will compensate us for lack of new features by making an OUTSTANDING football simulation with high amount of realism in every field of football whether it's the results of AI teams playing one another, my own results, leagues standings, gameplay, match engine... I guess its only fair to expect these things to be tight as hell if we're getting an FM13 data update.

[forameuss]

I feel like someone's making fun of me and having a laugh writing this things

Then you're taking things far too seriously, ironically.

[Wonky]

[snip]

- Cloud saving

- Able to play on higher resolutions and still read the text (HOPEFULLY)

- Tactical overhaul (again)

That's what I remember of the features.

[Casual]

Forameuss,

Um, ok... I don't get it. I'm supposed to take feature announcements of the game, that I will spend money on and spend playing as much as a month of my lifetime in the next year, lightly and with humor? Or you thought something else..

[forameuss]

Forameuss,

Um, ok... I don't get it. I'm supposed to take feature announcements of the game, that I will spend money on and spend playing as much as a month of my lifetime in the next year, lightly and with humor? Or you thought something else..

Well, you could realise that it's marketing fluff, and that's where you seem to be taking things far too seriously. If you really think there's going to be 1000 distinct, exciting features that everyone's going to be shouting from the rooftops about, then you're expecting too much. The vast majority of that number is going to be small-scale improvements, and I'm not sure exactly what we're supposed to be so up in arms about in that sense.

[Casual]

Well, you could realise that it's marketing fluff, and that's where you seem to be taking things far too seriously. If you really think there's going to be 1000 distinct, exciting features that everyone's going to be shouting from the rooftops about, then you're expecting too much. The vast majority of that number is going to be small-scale improvements, and I'm not sure exactly what we're supposed to be so up in arms about in that sense.

Read my post again and tell me where have I said I expected 1000 new features I only said that what they are calling "features" nowadays is an insult to fans and FM community. You just can't call text changes and warning messages "new features". Doing that just shows lack of work and creativeness from SI this year. Just had a discussion with my collegues at work, fans of my genre as well, and the common thought was that the lack of real competition in the genre is the reason why SI is allowing themselves so much, to the point where they don't even have to make new features because the game will be sold anyway. I know that they will just deny it, like they did before, but I really don't see another explanation for this level of insolence.

[Casual]

- Cloud saving

- Able to play on higher resolutions and still read the text (HOPEFULLY)

- Tactical overhaul (again)

That's what I remember of the features.

Except tactical overhaul, which really can't be judged before we experience it and see if it's buggy or not, the other two changes are of technical nature. Useful changes, and I'm especially happy that I will finally be able to play the game on my 24" without a microscope, but this is really something that should've been there a long time ago so I wouldn't kiss their feet in gratitude for changes that the gaming industry required long before year 2014. It's nice and all, but there were so many good fan ideas on how to make the game better and we just ended up with new press conference questions... How did that happen?

[Wonky]

Except tactical overhaul, which really can't be judged before we experience it and see if it's buggy or not, the other two changes are of technical nature. Useful changes, and I'm especially happy that I will finally be able to play the game on my 24" without a microscope, but this is really something that should've been there a long time ago so I wouldn't kiss their feet in gratitude for changes that the gaming industry required long before year 2014. It's nice and all, but there were so many good fan ideas on how to make the game better and we just ended up with new press conference questions... How did that happen?

I agree with you. There are so many excellent suggestions in the suggestions topic, but I haven't heard of any of them being new features.

[Federico]

No... press conferences... not again...... new questions? oh my... ohhh my.... Are you saying there still are people working on PC, inventing new questions to bother us? I don't want to believe it. I refuse to believe something like this is happening.

[goblinshark]

Cmon now people, lets wait till the BETA is out then start complaining about the tons of bugs. Now is still too early

[Kriss]

Same every year, nobody really knows anything but it doesn't stop them complaining before the event

While we're at it I'd remind people of this post http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/326330-The-current-state-of-the-forums-–-Feedback-Constructive-Criticism-and-Forum-Rules. which still very much applies.

People who come here to call SI names and generally be objectionable will be ejected.

[Casual]

So basically, since I haven't seen anybody call anybody bad names, what you're saying is that people can't righteously object to the events concerning the game anymore?

I'd like somebody official to answer a question why are text changes, warning messages, new press conference questions and such stuff called new "features" in FM advertising on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter? I'm not assuming that the game will be bad, on the contrary I'm expressing my deepest wishes for it to be amazing, but my common sense and knowledge of FM history makes me afraid that the lack of features presented so far won't make much difference from FM13 and won't create a fresh FM14 experience. Or maybe some grand, game changing features are not yet presented to us, in which case I apologize and eagerly await the announcement.

[Kriss]

If you look carefully they aren't all called new features, in the past they have stretched that license rather but this time Miles made clear they weren't claiming over 1,000 new features.

Objections are welcome provided they're based in fact and are raised in a constructive manner.

There's no point in trying to analyse FM14 yet because you've been fed some teasers and some facts but you don't have anywhere near the whole picture and you won't until release day.

The good news is that as always you don't have to commit a sous before you've seen enough to judge whether or not the game meets your demands.

[Jibby123]

So basically, since I haven't seen anybody call anybody bad names, what you're saying is that people can't righteously object to the events concerning the game anymore?

I'd like somebody official to answer a question why are text changes, warning messages, new press conference questions and such stuff called new "features" in FM advertising on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter? I'm not assuming that the game will be bad, on the contrary I'm expressing my deepest wishes for it to be amazing, but my common sense and knowledge of FM history makes me afraid that the lack of features presented so far won't make much difference from FM13 and won't create a fresh FM14 experience. Or maybe some grand, game changing features are not yet presented to us, in which case I apologize and eagerly await the announcement.

I hear your pain, but to be fair we've not seen the game yet so it's a bit squiffy to go off on one just yet. There will be p for plenty with the knives out post-release I think you could wait for them.

And at least we get a demo/beta to try the game before handing over hard earned short of cash. It's your choice to buy it or not and you get to sample it for free beforehand to make an informed personal choice. You can't really complain at those terms and conditions. Nobody is being hoodwinked in to buying it, kudos to SI for that.

I also get frustrated at some of the 'new features' being just tweeks but at the end of the day it's your choice to buy it. SI, or anyone else, is not forcing you to buy a new version every year. If you want to see big changes stick to buying it every 2/3/4 years maybe? FM11/12/13 are still good games to keep you going in between.

[duccio]

If you look carefully they aren't all called new features, in the past they have stretched that license rather but this time Miles made clear they weren't claiming over 1,000 new features.

Yeah. @FootballManager just calls them "features".

[Kriss]

Yeah. @FootballManager just calls them "features".

I never read the sales talk or game site reviews so I'll have to take your word for it:D

[themadsheep2001]

I hear your pain, but to be fair we've not seen the game yet so it's a bit squiffy to go off on one just yet. There will be p for plenty with the knives out post-release I think you could wait for them.

And at least we get a demo/beta to try the game before handing over hard earned short of cash. It's your choice to buy it or not and you get to sample it for free beforehand to make an informed personal choice. You can't really complain at those terms and conditions. Nobody is being hoodwinked in to buying it, kudos to SI for that.

I also get frustrated at some of the 'new features' being just tweeks but at the end of the day it's your choice to buy it. SI, or anyone else, is not forcing you to buy a new version every year. If you want to see big changes stick to buying it every 2/3/4 years maybe? FM11/12/13 are still good games to keep you going in between.

This x 1000.

Nailed it once again Jibby. It might be a yearly release, but many things will take more than a year to be done, so it will feel like evolution rather than revolution a lot of the time.

The bold is the most important thing imo.

[pigfacemonkeyman]

Is it too much to hope that players will recognise the need to put in low crosses (and passes) to teammates with a low jumping attribute?

[Casual]

I hear your pain, but to be fair we've not seen the game yet so it's a bit squiffy to go off on one just yet. There will be p for plenty with the knives out post-release I think you could wait for them.

And at least we get a demo/beta to try the game before handing over hard earned short of cash. It's your choice to buy it or not and you get to sample it for free beforehand to make an informed personal choice. You can't really complain at those terms and conditions. Nobody is being hoodwinked in to buying it, kudos to SI for that.

I also get frustrated at some of the 'new features' being just tweeks but at the end of the day it's your choice to buy it. SI, or anyone else, is not forcing you to buy a new version every year. If you want to see big changes stick to buying it every 2/3/4 years maybe? FM11/12/13 are still good games to keep you going in between.

You talk as though I have a choice whether I want to buy it/play it or not, but the real truth is I don't have a choice because I've been playing FM for far too long to just be able to say I'm not playing it this year. I didn't miss a version of a manager game since 1999, so the addiction to it and football in general isn't going anywhere. As much as I sometimes wish not to buy it (or at least buy it late in February) because I feel cheated with some flaws and concepts that are repeating in the game year after year, I always end up buying it the first day it comes out. Can't help it.

That's why I'd really like it to be good because I know I will be stuck with it for the next 365 days, and apparently I haven't got the choice to ignore the game like maybe some less passionate peple do

[kimjjj]

The only thing I really care about wth regard to new and better features is whether or not the league reputation issues have been fixed. If I can't potentially make a small league great over the years, which you could NOT in FM13, I'm going to skip FM14.

[Jibby123]

You talk as though I have a choice whether I want to buy it/play it or not, but the real truth is I don't have a choice because I've been playing FM for far too long to just be able to say I'm not playing it this year. I didn't miss a version of a manager game since 1999, so the addiction to it and football in general isn't going anywhere. As much as I sometimes wish not to buy it (or at least buy it late in February) because I feel cheated with some flaws and concepts that are repeating in the game year after year, I always end up buying it the first day it comes out. Can't help it.

That's why I'd really like it to be good because I know I will be stuck with it for the next 365 days, and apparently I haven't got the choice to ignore the game like maybe some less passionate peple do

Fair one. When you put it in those terms...

[milnerpoint]

The only thing I really care about wth regard to new and better features is whether or not the league reputation issues have been fixed. If I can't potentially make a small league great over the years, which you could NOT in FM13, I'm going to skip FM14.

Yes you could, i took the SPL to second in Europe.

[duccio]

I never read the sales talk or game site reviews so I'll have to take your word for it:D

Mere features, but why would they be tweeted to the whole world to read if they weren't new?

Actually I do like to read them even if most of them are more like small tweaks. It demonstrates well the amount of work that has been done, and sort of makes me more interested to see how the new game is.

[dafuge]

Yes you could, i took the SPL to second in Europe.

Indeed.

I got the Northern Irish league up to 3rd (reputation) and 2nd (coefficients) on FM12, sadly the other clubs were not good enough to keep it there. The reputation system was fine, it was the AI management that let me down.

[duccio]

You're right, but again this has to be a balance against what is realistic, and what is "fun". If you had a totally realistic world model, where sides like Castel Rigone would never be able to bring in the tens of thousands of fans, where would the drive to take them over be? It would certainly be a challenge, but I'm not sure it'd be one you could win without a lot of grinding, boring seasons. To never have that possible boost in finances to drive you to the next level would make things a lot less bright long-term. However, I do agree that it rises too quickly, and sometimes erratically. I've had stadiums that should be fuller being oddly empty, and then had teams that the fans have flocked to very prematurely. Maybe needs tweaked.

Maybe one way to make it more realistic would be to try and model countries and regions accurately and then have some coding into how attractive clubs would be to new fans. League position plays a big part, but if the stadium is in the middle of nowhere, that's a big minus. If you're in a more developing country, this would be a bigger issue, but in somewhere like Germany or England, it would be lessened. You could also put a bit more context around the building of a new stadium - this could now be a better location and lead to increased crowds that way. That would obviously be a nightmare to code correctly though, but would be an interesting thing to have.

The thing is I mostly manage clubs that start out as very small, and I only speak for my self, but IMO these originally tiny clubs from little towns and cities getting implausibly large attendance surges is taking the fun away. The Scottish club Queen's Park is of course a special (and as such perhaps a "one-off") case, but SI have deemed it prudent to make them to never become professional even though it makes it practically impossible to make them a powerhouse of Scottish let alone European football. At least in FM13 its easier to make sufficient amounts of money than to overcome permanent amateur status.

In the data base Castel Rigone's maximum attendance is 100, but the game itself does not seem to recognize figures below 2500, so in practise Castel Rigone's max attendance is 2500 from the get go. Maybe the game ought to be able to understand lower numbers? Perhaps every city should have inhabitants range entered into the db, and then clubs' attendance increases would be much slower (though not really restricted) once they reach some percentage (decided by how popular football is in that country?) of the inhabitants ranges. Attendance increases beyond that threshold could be regulated by city attraction (for tourists rather than for players), league reputation (attractive for football tourists), and sustained success of the clubs at the highest level. These "superfluos" extra fans should also disappear quickly if the clubs no longer compete head-to-head with the big clubs.