Champ Man 2010 dated

Beautiful Game Studios has pinned the tail on the donkey and promised Championship Manager 2010 will be in stores ready for the new season (almost).

Back in March we reported that "Eidos has delayed the release of Championship Manager 2009 from April until after the beginning of its next fiscal year in July." It was delayed a bit longer than that and will now be called '2010'. Might as well.

Here's the official word:

Championship Manager 2010 features a host of unique, cutting-edge technology including a bespoke 3D match engine with over 500 individual player animations, a Set-piece creator giving users the chance to create their own unique free kicks and corners, Scouting Networks allowing users to set-up local networks in countries around the world and grow local player knowledge and Practice matches helping users select their perfect team or trial new players.

Championship Manager 2010 will also feature real player data and information for the 2009/10 football season in a completely new gameplay innovation called CM Season Live.

In what is a first for football management games, CM Season Live is an additional monthly update that lets players download the real-world 09/10 football season data, at that point in time, and then take charge of their chosen club.

All of the scores, competition standings, player transfers, player stats, bookings, major injuries etc. from the ten leading countries in Europe, downloaded directly on a monthly basis throughout the season - full updates of 49 major leagues and competitions. CM Season Live starts on October 15th and is available at monthly intervals for 6 months.

But will it be enough to steal FM players?

Gavin Ogden