Football Manager to include MLS (Also MLS Manager in 2005) [Archive]

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GoldenEagle

05-13-2004, 01:23 AM

http://community.sigames.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=21019056&f=521102691&m=783202282&r=783202282

Woohoo!

Hurst2112

05-13-2004, 01:37 AM

but will also see the game released in North America through Sega, and called "MLS Manager 2005" in the US.

Even cooler. From reading the thread, it looks like there won't be a difference between the 2 games other than titles.

Werd UP!

Neuqua

05-13-2004, 01:47 AM

I heart SI
I heart SI very much

:)

Franklinnoble

05-13-2004, 01:56 AM

Why bother releasing it with a different title? Are there really any MLS fans out there that wouldn't know what the game was about otherwise? Seems a bit silly... almost like Jim releasing Front Office Football in Canada under the title of "Front Office CFL" or something...

GoldenEagle

05-13-2004, 02:01 AM

What do you think when you hear the name Football Manager in the United States?

sovereignstar

05-13-2004, 02:05 AM

What do you think when you hear the name Football Manager in the United States?
Denny Green?? http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/confused.gif

This is excellent news!

Marc Vaughan

05-13-2004, 03:10 AM

Even cooler. From reading the thread, it looks like there won't be a difference between the 2 games other than titles.

Werd UP!

Will be identical games in every way (haven't got time to write two ;) ).

Tekneek

05-13-2004, 04:32 AM

Will be identical games in every way (haven't got time to write two ;) ).

This is fantastic news. It means you guys are well on your way to breaking into this market. A great accomplishment, I'd say. With a name like "MLS Manager", it is going to get some attention from people that may not even know about CM, but are really into the sport. Sounds like a relatively minor change to get MLS in it, and may even help with the marketing.

ice4277

05-13-2004, 04:52 AM

Excellent news!

Truly, this is shaping up to be a banner year in sports gaming.

Tekneek

05-13-2004, 05:04 AM

Not that I usually manage in the MLS, but one of my primary reasons for not getting 03/04 was the lack of MLS.

SirFozzie

05-13-2004, 05:12 AM

Since I was the one who bitched the loudest about it, let me be the loudest to say..

HOOOOOOODY FRICKIN HOO!!!

Great :)

condors

05-13-2004, 05:14 AM

woot just hope it gets finished ahead of schedule :D

Tekneek

05-13-2004, 05:24 AM

woot just hope it gets finished ahead of schedule :D

It can be late if they are putting extra work into EHM. ;)

SirFozzie

05-13-2004, 06:35 AM

I think to settle this argument, they should send me finished copies of NHL EHM and MLS Manager. Right now. :)

Tekneek

05-13-2004, 06:42 AM

I suppose now I will have to buy the game off the shelf here so the numbers look proper for the suits at Sega. I *hope* the release date in the US is the same (or earlier!) as in the UK.

BreizhManu

05-13-2004, 06:46 AM

I suppose now I will have to buy the game off the shelf here so the numbers look proper for the suits at Sega. I *hope* the release date in the US is the same (or earlier!) as in the UK.

For older versions the international release was 2-4 weeks later than the british one (can't remember for cm 03-04, maybe it was at the same time).

General Mike

05-13-2004, 07:26 AM

Will be identical games in every way (haven't got time to write two ;) ).

So it's gonna be sold in America without having to import it?

Northwood_DK

05-13-2004, 07:35 AM

So it's gonna be sold in America without having to import it?

From the SI forum:

Miles Jacobson
Sports Interactive MD

Registered: 20 July 2000

posted 12 May 2004 19:44

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, I had said that we weren't going to make any announcements about leagues until much further down the line, and this announcement is even going to suprise most of the guys at SI, but 5 minutes ago, Sega and ourselves signed an agreement with the MLS which will not only see MLS in Football Manager 2005 (and sequals) but will also see the game released in North America through Sega, and called "MLS Manager 2005" in the US.

To say I'm excited would be an understatement

Francis_Cole

05-13-2004, 07:48 AM

Seems a bit silly... almost like Jim releasing Front Office Football in Canada under the title of "Front Office CFL" or something...

Well its more like him releasing it over in england and still calling it front office football, not fronce office nfl football or something.

I think MLS manager sounds cool, and of course it will still have the other leagues to play with!

ISiddiqui

05-13-2004, 08:29 AM

YYYYYEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!

Ok, so I'm super excited now :D. FM actually being on the shelf in the US? Great stuff!

Easy Mac

05-13-2004, 08:30 AM

I wonder if they had to clear the name with Dan Ryazansky, who made the freeware Major League Soccer Manager like 7 years ago (and I still play it). Not sure if the name was copyrighted, but I think it was.

andy m

05-13-2004, 09:07 AM

FrogMan

05-13-2004, 09:10 AM

WOOHOO!!! this is some very great news! Congrats to the SI guys on signing that deal, makes me look forward to FM/MLSM even more :)

FM

ISiddiqui

05-13-2004, 09:13 AM

why would anyone want to simulate such a terrible league? i wish they'd include lower english divisions rather than wasting time on frivolities like the jumped up excuse for a "soccer" league that is MLS.

Why would anyone want to similar crap like lower English divisions when you have a professional league with some good stars: Adu, Mathis, Razov, Beasley, Donovan, etc. :p

SirFozzie

05-13-2004, 09:14 AM

andym, assuming you're not A) Sarcastic, or B) Trying to troll us, you're a frickin idiot.

We came within a game of the semifinals, and that only because Oliver Kahn had one of the best games in his illustrious career. MLS teams have beaten Div 1 and Premiership teams in friendlies. While the level of play is not quite up to the Premiership, we have QUITE a few World Class players (American born and bred, or did you forget that the goalie for a lower level MLS Team (The NY/NJ MetroStars barely made the playoffs, and lost handily in the first round), became the Players choice for Goalie of the Year in the Premiership?

When one does not know of what one speaks of, One's mouth is best used for chewing.

FrogMan

05-13-2004, 09:20 AM

What do you think when you hear the name Football Manager in the United States?
I gotta say that this was a tiny concern for me when I was thinking about how they'd market the game in America when FM2005 was gonna be released.

IMO, "MLS Manager" has the potential to bring more American buyers to the CM/FM series than "Football Manager" would have had.

For example, terpkristin, who's an amazing soccer fan, first thought that Football Manager was yet another NFL sim game when she first saw the thread titles float around a few weeks ago...

FM

Marc Vaughan

05-13-2004, 09:29 AM

why would anyone want to simulate such a terrible league? i wish they'd include lower english divisions rather than wasting time on frivolities like the jumped up excuse for a "soccer" league that is MLS.
I'd suggest you watch some of the MLS matches - its a very good league and in some ways less cynical than top-flight soccer is in Europe.

It also has various unique aspects such as the drafts which make it an interesting league to participate in.

Marc
PS. I lived and worked in America for a while when I had just left Uni in case you wondered ....

ISiddiqui

05-13-2004, 09:31 AM

It also has various unique aspects such as the drafts which make it an interesting league to participate in.

So, Marc, will the SuperDraft be implimented? :D

Desnudo

05-13-2004, 10:26 AM

If they really wanted to market to the US they'd call it "Freddy Adu Superstar Soccer (simulated)"

Franklinnoble

05-13-2004, 10:31 AM

why would anyone want to simulate such a terrible league? i wish they'd include lower english divisions rather than wasting time on frivolities like the jumped up excuse for a "soccer" league that is MLS.
I don't know jack shit about soccer, but I do know that only an idiot would miss an opportunity to make the game more appealing to the enormous video game market that is North America.

Still, I think most American soccer fans would have no trouble knowing what "Championship Manager" really is... although I didn't know they were changing the name to "Football Manager." If they wanted to sell more copies, they'd leave the european name in place and hope to get some accidental purchases. ;)

FrogMan

05-13-2004, 10:55 AM

Frank, they're forced to change the name, as Eidos retained the rights to the use of the name "Championship Manager", while SI kept the code...

FM

Francis_Cole

05-13-2004, 10:55 AM

Desnudo

05-13-2004, 11:02 AM

Still, I think most American soccer fans would have no trouble knowing what "Championship Manager" really is

Ok agreed. What above the thousands of other people who arn't soccer fans and wouldn't know what football manager is.. yet?

I agree the name needed to change or else it would get confusing. Soccer Manager 05 would have been sufficient. I think MLS Manager narrows the focus too much and will make people think that's what it's all about. There are enough international fans in the US that you can focus on that aspect. Look at the success of Winning Eleven for example. I mean, Tom Arnold was wearing a Man U shirt (fanboy) on Fox the other night.

Franklinnoble

05-13-2004, 11:03 AM

Hurst2112

05-13-2004, 02:49 PM

Seeing as how Sega is involved with the US market, will it be playable on my SegaCD?

;)

Will be identical games in every way (haven't got time to write two ).

No time to write 2?! What the hell do you guys do over there?! (just kidding of course)

The reason I was happy to see this was because I THOUGHT that when OOTP came out as Season Ticket Baseball, it didn't have all of the features as the origional.

I know, different circumstances.

Rock on!

Eaglesfan27

05-13-2004, 06:05 PM

I don't care what it is called, I'm just very happy I will be able to buy the game from a local store. Also, I'm happy that the MLS will be included :)

terpkristin

05-13-2004, 06:15 PM

WOOHOO!
Just what I need, another excuse to avoid real work!!!!!!!
I'm really stoked that it's going to have an official US distributor. :)

~tk

GoldenEagle

05-13-2004, 07:18 PM

I will buy it off the shelves.

WussGawd

05-13-2004, 08:17 PM

sovereignstar

05-13-2004, 08:27 PM

WussGawd

05-13-2004, 08:30 PM

Congratulations to SI. Clearly, you guys have landed on your feet quite nicely sinced the split with EIDOS.

Tekneek

05-14-2004, 05:23 AM

It seems they had really outgrown what Eidos had to offer.

Francis_Cole

05-14-2004, 07:05 AM

No time to write 2?! What the hell do you guys do over there

playing ISS and unreal mainly ;).. also looking at videos of HL2 :D

SirFozzie

05-14-2004, 07:33 AM

Geez Francis, you're slackin off.. Do I need to show up there with a whip and chair to get you guys back to work?

That won't work?

How about I bring a couple controllers and challenge you guys to a couple games of ISS instead?

Alf

05-14-2004, 08:07 AM

Um, you do realize that three keepers in the Premiership are American, and two of them came up through MLS, right?Thee on in Manchester united was there for marketing reasons only.

Barthez is still a class ahead of him, but France isn't too kean on buying merchandising stuff whereas USA is.

PS : otherwise, I have no pb with the MLS. I even thing the "MLS Manager" is obviously a better name than "Football Manager" for the US market.

SirFozzie

05-14-2004, 08:08 AM

Bullshit.

Howard=PLAYERS Voted Goalkeeper of the Year.

Barthez= Should play Two-Face in the Batman series, he's so inconsistent.

Alf

05-14-2004, 08:09 AM

Katon

05-14-2004, 09:10 AM

Bullshit.

Howard=PLAYERS Voted Goalkeeper of the Year.

Barthez= Should play Two-Face in the Batman series, he's so inconsistent.

Which is what happens when you vote in February. Howard's above average at Premiership level, but he's not the best in the division by a long shot. The Two-Face analogy is also a bit unfair. To Two-Face.

Note: the above should not be interpreted as a defense of the idea that MLS ought to be removed from FM and replaced with the Rymans League.

ice4277

05-14-2004, 01:07 PM

Which is what happens when you vote in February. Howard's above average at Premiership level, but he's not the best in the division by a long shot. The Two-Face analogy is also a bit unfair. To Two-Face.

I would say it is even more unfair to categorize him as being there for 'marketing reasons'. And if Barthez was such hot shit anymore, they would not have been shipping him off on loan.

WussGawd

05-14-2004, 11:40 PM

Andy doesn't realize some simple facts about youth soccer, and the direction it is inevitably going to take the American game.

There are more kids playing soccer (football) in the United States than the UK. As a matter of fact, you'd probably be hard pressed to find a country in the world that has more soccer players as youths than the US.

Because there was no place for said kids to play professionally, no Beasley's, Landon Donovan's, Brad Friedel's or Tim Howard's to look up to, until recently (the mid to late 90's basically), most of those kids switch to baseball, or basketball, or football about the time they started high school.

This is beginning to change. As the MLS grows (and it is growing), the chance of developing your game without spending years buried in Europe increases. It's no coincidence that most of the young Americans who recently made the move to Europe's top leagues started in MLS.

As for the Tim vs. Fabien thing, don't kid yourself. There's a reason Ferguson shipped Fabien off to France on loan, and it certainly wasn't Fabien's steady brilliance in goal.

Tim Howard is better than Fabien Barthez. Trouble was, after Rio Ferdinand left, the backline on that team really suffered (I follow ManU mainly to watch Tim).

Is Tim technically perfect, no? Is he as erratic as Barthez? Not by a long shot. I also think Tim's athleticism helps quite a bit, and gives him a tremendous edge over many of the keepers in the Premiership. Goalkeeper of the Year? Not so sure there, but you have to admit that coming from out of almost nowhere to #1 Keeper on the most famous team in the world ain't bad.

WussGawd

05-14-2004, 11:43 PM

dola.

Even assuming that Tim isn't better than Fabien right now (a concession I don't make), it's quite clear that Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller are world class, and it's very much an open question which of those three would take the #1 keeper slot in a 2006 World Cup appearance.

daedalus

05-15-2004, 03:37 AM

playing ISS and unreal mainly ;).. also looking at videos of HL2 :DSo, uhhh, scouting out the Unreal engine for FM 2007 where we can watch the match in 3D? :D

Pumpy Tudors

05-15-2004, 08:31 AM

So, uhhh, scouting out the Unreal engine for FM 2007 where we can watch the match in 3D? :D

Oh God no.

mordhiem

05-15-2004, 07:02 PM

It's quite clear that Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller are world class, and it's very much an open question which of those three would take the #1 keeper slot in a 2006 World Cup appearance.

It is certainly not clear that Keller and Friedel are world class. Keller has been only above-average this season, and I am a spurs fan so watch a lot of him. He has regressed by a noticable margin from last year and I cannot fathom why. I am not simply loking at the stats and saying 'well he concede mor egoals this year' becaue of course our defence has been piss poor this year and at times much worse. He just seems to be making more of the simple mistakes; dropping/flailing at crosses, parrying shots he should be holding, making poor positional errors. He is still a better keeper than most in the Prem, but he is not world class. Robinson's signing is the death knell for his Tottenham career, he may very well be in the MLS next year. Friedel has also noticable disimproved from last year, although I think that has a lot mor e to do with Blackburn having a disaster of a campaign. Still, World Class is a term I hesitate to throw around. When I say World Class, I mean 'he could get in almost any team in the world', therefore there are by definition ery few world class keepers. I would say Buffon, Casillas and Toldo are the deserving ones.

On the Howard debate, I think that, despite playing reasonably well, he was probably not deserving of Goalkeeper of the Year, but then I think there have been no real standout goalies this year (last year, Friedel and Cudicini were both outstanding). I mean, how many times has the Goalie of the Year been dropped midseason? I would probably have chosen Lehmann, despite the eccentricity, because he is an excellent shot stopper and has very good handling (he rarely parries and almost always seems to hold onto balls, which makes me even more confounded that he always wants to punch crosses).

On US footie in general, there are certainly more good players to come in the near future from the US. I think that the keepers have made up the 'first wave' because the required skillset is more in line with the traditional American athlete's. But don't get too excited just yet, I don't think many people would call nations such as Norway or Sweden footballing powerhouses and they currently have far more Premiership players than the US does. McBride is a decent player, but too old to have a real future at Fulham IMHO. Boconegra has made a simmilary decent start, despite an absolutley awful sending off earlier in his Premiership career. I must confess to have not seen much of Donovan, Beasley or Adu so cannot pass judgement on them (Donovan left Leverkusen because of homesickness and not playing ability, correct?).

SirFozzie

05-15-2004, 07:58 PM

he's still with Leverkusen (he's with MLS on Loan), the problem is, he needed first team footy, and Leverkusen is hard to crack. Odds are he'll be in the EPL next year, (a couple teams wanted him via loan, but the differing transfer windows bolloxed that up

scooter

05-15-2004, 08:53 PM

I to think that Howard has a bright future at Old Trafford. The beginning of the campaign was very good, but he seemed to get tired (lose focus?) after the break. United's defense also went down the tubes. I would agree that Howard as Goalkeeper of the Year is a real stretch.

Cudicini is a quality keeper, shame he was injured for so long (I do think he could have made a real difference in the Champions League). I also think that Antti Niemi gets overlooked. He plays brilliantly for a mediocre team (the REAL sign of a Goalkeeper of the Year!).

SirFozzie

05-16-2004, 12:08 AM

Basically, he had an extra long season, playing half a year+ with NY/NJ, and then over to England.. hopefully he'll do better :)

illinifan999

05-16-2004, 01:24 AM

I don't think many people would call nations such as Norway or Sweden footballing powerhouses and they correct?).
You obviously don't play hattrick.

Alf

05-16-2004, 07:41 AM

You obviously don't play hattrick.
LOL

ice4277

05-16-2004, 09:05 AM

You obviously don't play hattrick.
People are STILL playing that???

Tekneek

05-16-2004, 10:15 AM

People are STILL playing that???

Oh yeah. I got bored and let my team slip back into the matrix.

SFL Cat

05-16-2004, 10:42 PM

[ugly American] Soccer...that's like hockey, only you kick the ball around, right?! [/ugly American]