More Changes to FML

Hardly inspiring but badly need was my reaction to the Wage Demand changes on the official FML Blog. Just how much money this will suck out of the GW remains to be seen.

Still it's a step in the right direction. Just seen a player for £22m in Turk I think the manager that sold him has a turnover of players of around £35m in the last month however this is hardly news now it's just the way it is.

There is little use going over SI's mistakes again just as well try and focus on the way forward. Overall I find myself just logging in checking youths, check skills, repair stadium and logging out. In Turk we're very much a mid table Premiership team and the only way to move up a gear is to slip into trading mode which isn't really that appealing to me, feels a bit dirty.

If I were SI I'd now focus on getting money out of the GW as fast as possible (which the wage changes should do as long as they don't fiddle with anything else) and then add something new like Internationals.

I'd log in then just chasing Reward Points and using that to secure an International Job for the next season. At least it would be something new and fresh to get into. To be honest if they did do it I suspect SI would announce it, someone would complain about something like injuries it would then get changed, watered down and once more a prime example of the classic:-

Camel = Horse designed by committee

We're doing a new podcast on Wednesday (won't be out for a week or so after that) I was thinking about doing a rant of the week on my todd as well. Is is easier to speak then to type?

The other change of course is the team talk thing, I'm very suspicious of this, SI have long championed the casual gamer and this seems to be a move in the opposite direction? I suspect it's another watered down feature.

i really don't want to focus on that too much as for me in FM it got to be very old very fast clicking the same old things over and over.  

Chris Moyles Prima Donna

So he hasn't been paid yet it's featured heavily on the BBC news website. It's unprofessional, I'd pay him and tell him to pack his bags.

Civ 5 Demo Download

I'm a fan of Civ5 and after downloading the demo Civilization 5 (although I think they should call it Civilisation 5) is now on my buy list will defo be getting this when it comes out. It even runs pretty well on my laptop although I didn't get enough into the gameto really test the lag when a lot is going on.

Early thoughts are I like the new animations, seems to be a little new user friendly and they seem to have done that without taking anything anyway.

Seems to quite a bit of depth on where your units are positioned now and there is a lot of feedback from Civ 5 reviews that it's not simply a case of build millions of units and charging forward.

Anyway demo is out on Steam and can't see anywhere else to get it currently, not that I've a huge objection to Steam anyway.

Yeah Get In

I must say it's hugely refreshing to see the recent announcements and gives us hope that FML is here to stay. Reading about FM Online it could mean that this project ends up actually benefiting FML as you can clearly see new resources are coming in and some of those resources could be shared.

I'm a little nervous about team talks and morale controls as these are big factors in how well or not your team does. If they make a big difference then their not casual manager friendly if they don't make a difference then why put them in.

I've kind of drifted into casual manager mode myself recently so it's a selfish concern really. However I'd be more than happy to stay online if I actually think it's going to be worth the time.

The podcast seemed to have been listened to quite a few times and although it maybe lacks the polish of Jordan's it's at least something, besides we can improve as time moves on.

Back on the SI announcements I'd be interested in more of a top level SI view on things, e.g. where do they want the game to be in five years time and how do they propose to get there.

Mmmmm I've fanboi'd this post so must resolve to resume normal ranty service soon:)

Finally a Podcast

Well I'm not sure if anyone will like it but a lot of things are discussed. I don't think we hold back but at the same time it's a constructive chat I think.

FML Soapbox Podcast

Big shout to Rik and Thom who both did loads to get this out.

More Podcast News

Podcast is soon! Tuesday is Monday ish, we're just trying to figure out a host for it. Been busy of late on websites, I had a little flurry recently buying various domains and a few have proved to be quite good for advertisers.

This is the most read website I've got yet I earn nothing off it but a site www.mexicanpinefurniture.co.uk attracts those looking for mexican pine furniture funnily enough, so a bit of discussion on the subject a few reviews and a dribble of money comes in. It is a dribble not giving up my day job:)

However a lot of dribbles and it's not too shabby so I'm currently upto around 30 odd domains and every time I add one it's a small increase. My latest are Top Android Phone and Andriod phones, yes I know that's spelt wrong but it is still a viable search term, Android owns iPhone it's the new Betamax / VHS debate.

I digress, gaming, not too much happening on the FM Live front I keep looking at the forums for at least a snippet of what the future might hold but SI remain tight lipped and what news there is it is beta and can't really discuss that too much. Not that I'm in the happening GW anyway.

Big Spending Spree

Had a massive tax bill looming in Turk so a £4m Aq Fee DC popped up stuck him on biggest wage I've ever paid £120k+. Had made some huge bids in Voller but the market is massively inflated so dropped £120k wage on a Household name and £3m on the highest Aq Fee left back I could find.

Due to what can only be a bug my steady mid table Turk team was coasting along with wages of £100k ish so it's not even stretching my finances there and of course Voller isn't an issue as the sub is out in October.

Thinking of extending Turk not sure yet it seems a bit more relaxed than Voller which seems full of huge ego's.

Lunatic Wages

As Rik said in his comment I think the guy who signed him was leaving which got me thinking I'm a letting my sub go in Voller as SI won't move me.

So ohhh errrrr lets have some wage auction fun, just as well use every penny to get a team together for the next season. Normally I'm really tight in wage auctions but if there is no tomorrow lets blow the lot!

Erm oh errr ok I'm speechless.

I just don't know what to say:)

Oh Noes The Podcast has been SI'd

We recorded the podcast but found it bug filled, so we fixed it but then we found the fix actually had more bugs than the original. So we finally fixed it and then tweaked it to but the tweaks, well, they were just plain simple bugged.

So we're announcing that we will have an announcement about the podcast unless we have change of heart on the nature of the podcast. However we will announce that in due course.

Rest assured we're really really doing something, we don't know what yet but whatever it is we're really really sincere about it all.

Back to Swansea speak, it's recorded, I've edited and sent to Rik, it's not a commercial production so I think it's good to go.

Should be out by Monday. Gameworld plus will be hosting.

More Trading

Done this as a result of a Beta discussion., extent of trading in FML Live.

Not the News from Beta

I think if I was a non beta tester or even a beta tester not reading the forums you could be easily be forgiven that SI were pretty much ready to wash their hands of FML.

However there is a lot of changes in beta yet if you read SI's official posts the next update looks a bit bland and vague. On the face of it some big changes to youth academies and some obscure reference to Market Value.

These changes seem to hit beta out of the blue as well. Whilst I can't say what the changes are it does seem that SI have changed tact a little. Their off designing the game but not really keeping the community up to date with their thought process.

So is this a good thing?

It's not a good thing as if you were a normal punter as you could quite easily come to the conclusion that they had lost interest and end up walking. So maybe a bit of PR along the lines of 'this is what we're planning on doing but it's not up for debate'.

In a way I think it is a good thing, all too often they've half done something in an attempt to keep everyone happy, at least using this method it should give FML strong direction. If it's the right direction remains to be seen.

There are lots of numbers in FML the big number though is the amount of managers that start and then don't come back. I'm hoping that they have this in their sites and know exactly how their going to get it heading the right direction.

I'm hopeful but not at all confident. It's a bit like supporting Swansea following SI you know they can do it but more often than not they seem to fuck it up:)