World Basketball Manager

Infobox VG| title = World Basketball Manager
developer = icehole


genre = Sports
released = 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008
modes = Single player, multiplayer
ratings = PEGI: 3+
platforms = PC (Windows)
requirements = Operating System: Windows 98/Me//XP
Processor: Pentium II or AMD Duron 1.0 GHz processor
Memory: 256 MB RAM minimum (512 MB recommended)

Overview

"World Basketball Manager" (WBM) is a PC game that lets you take charge and manage basketball teams all around the world. It is the only basketball management game that includes basketball teams outside NBA. WBM holds also some other firsts as it's the only Basketball Management game to create a successful franchise and draw attention from fans around the world. Also is the first ever Greek computer game to get published outside Greece, in Austria, China, Germany, Slovenia, Serbia and Switzerland. This is very important for a country with no professional computer game development studios and nearly zero production of computer games.
The WBM developers originally released each version with fake names for all teams, players and managers, but the fan-maintained WBM database now includes more than 9600 basketball players, 650 teams and 1000 managers from 194 countries. In order for the database to be updated every season, the users have created a network of researchers who update and make the data available for download. This makes WBM database a useful reference for basketball fans requiring accurate team and player data.

Features

* Gameplay is basically the same as in most soccer management games.
* User can manage both club and national teams at the same time.
* WBM features a very accurate real time match algorithm.
* A genetic algorithm makes opponent A.I. very challenging.
* The biggest and more accurate basketball database.
* Very easy to learn and play.
* Produces the same statistics that the basketball professionals use.
* More than 500 human managers can play at the same time in a game session.
* The data editor makes it very easy for everyone to edit the database.
* Available in the following languages: English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Lithuanian, Portuguese and Spanish.

Database

It's not only the big number of players, managers , teams and tournaments that distinguish WBM from the other basketball games but the detail in which they are described and in that sense is really remarkable the fact that the database is maintained solely by the users.

Players are described in 36 different attributes:
First Name, Last Name, Team, Nationality, Citizenship, Age, Position, Potential, Form, Experience, Moral, Clutch, Temperament, Blocking, Rebounding, Marking, Stealing, Ball Handling, Drive Scoring, Rebounding, Passing, Point1Shoot, Point2Shoot, Point2Inside, Point3Shoot, Height, Jump, Speed, Quickness, Power, Stamina, Contract Duration, Injury Risk, New Player, Fee Club, National Team Appearances, and Previous Teams.

Teams are described in 21 different attributes:
Country, Stadium, Enemy Team, Worth, Name, Owner Name , Season Budget, Starting Balance, Financial Status, Cohesion, Performance, Team Colors Primary, Team Colors Secondary, Fans Aggression, Fans Base, Foreigners Allowed, Facilities Level, Academy Level, Medical Level, Financial Level and Year Established Managers are described in 15 different attributes:
Team, National Team, Age, Seasons In Club, Seasons In NT, World Rank, First Name, Last Name, Score Season, Score Career, Coaching, Psychology, Training, Youth Development and Nationality.

Below is a list of tournaments included in WBM. (NT) stands for national team tournaments:
AFRICAN CHAMPIONS CUP, AFRICAN CUP (NT), AMERICAN CUP (NT), ANGOLAN LEAGUE, ARGENTINE LEAGUE, ASIAN CHAMPIONS CUP, ASIAN CUP (NT), AUSTRALIAN LEAGUE, BELGIAN CUP, BELGIAN EAGUE, BRAZILIAN LEAGUE, CENTRAL AMERICAN CUP (NT), CHINESE LEAGUE, CROATIAN CUP, CROATIAN LEAGUE, CUBAN LEAGUE, CYPRUS LEAGUE, EUROPEAN CUP QUALIFICATIONS A (NT), EUROPEAN CUP QUALIFICATIONS B (NT), EUROCUP, EUROLEAGUE, EUROPEAN CUP (NT), FRENCH CUP, FRENCH LEAGUE, GERMAN CUP, GERMAN LEAGUE, GREEK CUP, GREEK LEAGUE, ISRAELI CUP, ISRAELI LEAGUE, ITALIAN CUP, ITALIAN LEAGUE, JAPANESE LEAGUE, LEBANESE LEAGUE, LITHUANIAN LEAGUE, MOROCCAN LEAGUE, NEW ZEALAND LEAGUE, OCEANIA CUP (NT), OLYMPICS (NT), POLISH LEAGUE, PORTUGUESE CUP, PORTUGUESE LEAGUE, PUERTO RICAN LEAGUE, RUSSIAN CUP, RUSSIAN LEAGUE, SLOVENIAN CUP, SLOVENIAN LEAGUE, SOUTH AMERICAN CUP, SOUTH AMERICAN LEAGUE, SOUTH KOREAN LEAGUE, SPANISH CUP, SPANISH LEAGUE, TURKISH CUP, TURKISH LEAGUE, U.S.A. LEAGUE, UK CUP, UK LEAGUE, VENEZUELAN LEAGUE, WORLD CUP (NT), SERBIAN CUP, SERBIAN LEAGUE, WORLD LEAGUE (similar to the old McDonalds Cup).

History

WBM is developed from icehole, a small development team based in Athens Greece. The game was first released in 2001 under the name Basketball Manager. Back then it only included Greek basketball league. The next year a new version of the game added 5 more countries. Italy, France, Spain, Germany and Israel. In 2004 the game was renamed to World Basketball Manager and added support for the 65 most important basketball tournaments of the world and included 94 countries. This version of the game was also released in 2005 in Chinese and German language for the local markets. In 2008 the latest version of the game was released in 9 languages. English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish.

Future of WBM

Although WBM has been on the market for several years, it never managed to achieve a worldwide distribution. As a result the game’s fan base is small but very loyal. This permits WBM to survive but to develop very slowly. For the basketball season of 2008-09 icehole has announced a new version of the game that will include updated league formats and many new features including a new match engine similar to Football Manager and Championship Manager games.

References

* [http://www.ag.ru/games/world_basketball_manager Review in Absolute Games]
* [http://www.nordicgamers.se/sektion/nordicgamers/recen/326.html Review in Nordic Gamers]
* [http://www.gameweb.gr/reviews/review_660.asp Review in Game Web]
* [http://www.sk.co.yu/2004/03/siop14.html Review in Svet Igara]
* [http://www.gamesradio.gr/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=235 Review in Games Radio]
* [http://www.megagames.com/news/html/pc/basketballmanagerlookingforpublisher.shtml Article in Mega Games]

External links

* [http://www.wbmgame.com/ Official Site]
* [http://www.createforum.com/phpbb/index.php?mforum=wbm Fan forum]
* [http://www.wbmbelgium.be French and Belgian Forum]
* [http://dunk.co.il/forum/index.php?showtopic=2 Israeli Forum]
* [http://www.iceholegames.com Developers website]