Championship Manager 5
Encyclopedia
Championship Manager 5 is the fifth installment of the popular Championship Manager series
of football management computer games. It is the first game in the series to be developed by Eidos, after the much publicised split between Eidos
and Sports Interactive
.
a clear run to establish itself ahead of the release of CM5.
A release on the Macintosh
platform was cancelled prior to release, again giving headway to its rival, Football Manager, which was made available for Mac as standard on a dual format
CD-ROM (with the PC version).
Upon its release, the game contained an unusually high number of bugs. Even though BGS published a downloadable patch on the day of release, many users felt that CM5 was unplayable. Key problems included difficulties transferring players (either in or out of a club) and a very unrealistic match engine. Perhaps one of the biggest issues discovered by people purchasing CM5 was the fact that the player database was not particularly reliable. The database had been made 'for the fans by the fans' in previous games. This was probably the biggest strength of the CM brand. BGS had employed a professional firm to create much of the player database and they had apparently failed, despite the best efforts of the in-house research team.
Other issues also arose shortly after CM5 was released. Features like hotseat
multiplayer games which, although confirmed as being included in CM5, disappointed some by their absence when the game arrived. Other small things such as player histories were also missing from the final product. Two patches are available that contain significant improvements to the game.
and PlayStation 2
in March 2005 along with a Sony PSP version, simply called Championship Manager
. These are known to contain many of the same bugs and data errors as the PC version. All 3 console versions were developed by Gusto Games.
Championship Manager series
The Championship Manager series is a series of British football-management simulation computer games, the first of which was released in 1992.The Championship Manager brand and game was conceived by two brothers: Paul and Oliver Collyer...
of football management computer games. It is the first game in the series to be developed by Eidos, after the much publicised split between Eidos
Eidos Interactive
Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
and Sports Interactive
Sports Interactive
Sports Interactive Limited is a computer games development company currently based in Old Street, Central London and owned by the Japanese software and video game company Sega. It is the developer of the popular games Football Manager, NHL Eastside Hockey Manager and Championship Manager Quiz, and...
.
Early difficulties
The game was originally due for release in October 2004. However, the release date slipped to March, 2005, due to difficulties in coding the game from scratch. This allowed new rival, Sports Interactive's Football Manager 2005Football Manager 2005
Football Manager 2005 is a game in the Football Manager computer game series. It was developed by Sports Interactive and released on November 5, 2004, published by Sega....
a clear run to establish itself ahead of the release of CM5.
A release on the Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
platform was cancelled prior to release, again giving headway to its rival, Football Manager, which was made available for Mac as standard on a dual format
Dual format
Dual Format is a technique used to allow two completely different systems software to reside on the same disk.The term was used on the Amiga and Atari ST platform to indicate that the disk could be inserted into either machine and it would still boot and run...
CD-ROM (with the PC version).
Upon its release, the game contained an unusually high number of bugs. Even though BGS published a downloadable patch on the day of release, many users felt that CM5 was unplayable. Key problems included difficulties transferring players (either in or out of a club) and a very unrealistic match engine. Perhaps one of the biggest issues discovered by people purchasing CM5 was the fact that the player database was not particularly reliable. The database had been made 'for the fans by the fans' in previous games. This was probably the biggest strength of the CM brand. BGS had employed a professional firm to create much of the player database and they had apparently failed, despite the best efforts of the in-house research team.
Other issues also arose shortly after CM5 was released. Features like hotseat
Hotseat (multiplayer mode)
Hotseat or hot seat is a multiplayer mode provided by some turn-based video games, which allows two or more players to play on the same device by taking turns playing the game...
multiplayer games which, although confirmed as being included in CM5, disappointed some by their absence when the game arrived. Other small things such as player histories were also missing from the final product. Two patches are available that contain significant improvements to the game.
Console Versions
A scaled-down version of Championship Manager 5 was released on XboxXbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
and PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
in March 2005 along with a Sony PSP version, simply called Championship Manager
Championship Manager (PSP)
Championship Manager PSP is a football management video game released exclusively on the Sony PSP in December 2005. It is developed by Gusto Games and is based on Beautiful Game Studios' Championship Manager 5...
. These are known to contain many of the same bugs and data errors as the PC version. All 3 console versions were developed by Gusto Games.