Football Manager 2008 - Details Announced

[Tom]

From sigames.com

ISEGA Europe Ltd. today announced that Football Manager™ 2008 for PC and Apple Macintosh will be in stores before Christmas 2007. Football Manager™ 2008 is the next iteration of the prize-winning Football Manager™ series developed by world respected studio Sports Interactive. The latest version of Football Manager will be fully updated for the new season and will allow players to select their favourite club or international team and guide them to glorious success by putting them through Cup matches, Leagues, European Championships and even major international tournaments, with over 5,000 playable teams from over 50 countries.

Fan feedback on the previous version of Football Manager™ was, as always, taken very seriously by the Sports Interactive team, resulting in over a hundred new features, including a brand new advisory system to help new players through the different aspects of the game. This makes Football Manager™ 2008 the most accessible Football Manager™ yet, without losing any depth for the more experienced player.

“With Football Manager™ 2008 we’re once again raising the bar in the sports management genre.” commented Miles Jacobson, Studio Director of Sports Interactive. “With dozens of new small features and larger things like a complete revamp of international management and the new match flow system, we’re really looking forward to seeing the reaction from people when they get to play it on release.”

With all-new features, improved gameplay and a depth only seen from Sports Interactive, Football Managerä 2008 offers a management simulation that is second to none. To whet the appetite of every Football fan, SEGA and Sports Interactive have unveiled the key new features available in Football Manager™ 2008.

New features for Football Managerä 2008 PC/Apple Macintosh

Match Flow – The largest change to match-day in a Sports Interactive game since the introduction of the second match engine. Match flow brings more atmosphere to match-days with match previews, team talks, opposition player instructions, the match itself, half time and post match. These now seamlessly follow on from one another, with no more pausing to make tactical changes, and a mini-radar pitch whilst making those tactical changes to keep you in touch with what’s going on in the match

International Management – The international management gameplay has been completely revamped for Football Manager™ 2008, including, but not limited to, media improvements, international retirements, player interaction, international scouting, improved pool selection, captain selection and a separation of international and club morale for players.

Easier to Use – A much cleaner skin, a brand new advisor system to help players through various areas of the game. A new notes and notebook system, better button positioning for simpler navigation and an updated tutorial and manual. Also, coach reports make taking over a new team easier, and the new calendar system lists all important dates throughout the season. These all help to make Football Manager™ 2008 the easiest Sports Interactive game to use yet.

Confidence – Players can now easily tell what the board and supporters think about their performance in the game through the new confidence section. This gives players feedback not just on their current progress in competitions, but also their financial management and signings.

Transfer Centre – A new way of managing all current transfer and loan bids for a players club, both incoming and outgoing, making it easier to compare bids and reject or accept them.

Match Engine Improvements – A greatly improved match engine, once again utilising the footballing brain of former Republic of Ireland international player Ray Houghton as well as other tools used by real-life managers to make the most accurate simulation of football in a computer game. The ability to change the pitch dimensions at the start of the season to suit players styles of play better has also been added.

Awards re-write – An overhaul of the awards system inside the game which is not only more accurate now, but also includes new awards such as the European golden boot, and a “best eleven”, which shows the all-time (in game) best eleven for all teams and nations.

Finances revamp – To reflect the changes in modern day football, Sports Interactive have updated the finance area of Football Manager™ 2008 to better reflect the ever changing football world, with more information available to the manager too, including, but not limited to, corporate match day income, season ticket news, investment funds, improved sponsorships, collective win bonuses, and the ability to move around funds from the wage budget and transfer budget (and vice versa) at any point to help you in your quest for the ideal squad.

Fan days – The board can now arrange fan days to boost ailing attendances, or for matches that are likely to attract a low crowd, with a long term affect to attendances if all goes well.

Expanded media – More media and feedback than ever before, plus more detail in existing media, and a new competition news section to find out what major things are going on in all league competitions

Regenerated player photo’s – All in game generated players now have pictures using FaceGen technology to give each player more personality, and the ability for the players to be seen to grow up in front of your eyes as the game is going on.

Faster – Saving and loading is now significantly faster, with network gaming faster and smoother to play, as well as tactical changes and match reports being quicker than ever before.

Football Manager 2008 for PC (XP & Vista) and Apple Macintosh (OS10.3.9 and above) is set for release before Christmas 2007.

 

[SlowSilver]

Cheers for the info Tom.

I'll get this one. I didn't buy FM 07. Probably not worth getting 07 now anyway.

 

[Mandieta6]

Excellent. Good to know it's faster. Does the regenerated photo thing mean that the Premiership might finally have pictures of the players (and therefore licensing)?

 

[rpvankasteren]

No, it means the made up youths will have pictures created by some algorithms. Real players will only have pictures if their league or team is licensed.

 

[PSVFOREVER]

I like the idea of a transfer centre and the revamp of the financial part.

 

[Tom]

You know, about 2yrs ago i posted that on the sigames forums, an idea to use CGI to create realistic 'randomized' faces.

I'm sure they'd already thought of it, but hah, tis funny.

Oh and no need to thank me, i only copied from sigames.com and Ruud was the one who told me it was out, i didnt even know

 

[PSVFOREVER]

I hate the new skin btw. It looks awful. No doubt there'll be a lot better custom skins around after a few days.

Don't like the computer pictures for regens either. It looks like Total Crap Manager.

 

[Tom]

I have hope for the regen photos. The skin ain't pretty.

 

[Mandieta6]

The skin looks too much like a browser. The game looks alright from the pics, but some of the new options look like they will just make the game harder and force you to make decisions you wouldn't make as a manager. I liked the prematch crap, though. Looks like it will be entertaining. Anyone certain that they'd buy it or not?

 

[Parra Power]

Asking some of us (i.e. me) if we're going to buy the game is a little like asking a smoker if they'll buy a new pack of cigs.

 

[Mandieta6]

Yes, but many were complaining that FM07 was too complex, and they went back to FM06, so I wondered whether they'd buy this one, which seems even more complex.

 

[Parra Power]

To be honest it doesn't seem like they've added much in terms of things you have to do to this one. Collective win bonus may be a slight annoyance but the transfer centre might actually make things easier. I guess we'll wait for the demo. Either way i'm getting it.

 

[Mandieta6]

Yeah, the transfer thing is a really good idea, but the groundsmen thing and the bonuses are stuff I'd really rather do without. And frankly, if you don't have the pictures of all the leagues, having regens with faces doesn't really entice me.

 

[Áļéאָ]

I dont like the skin.

 

[PSVFOREVER]

Of course I'll buy it. Probably first day it's released as well. I'm going to buy a new PC (I don't aim for anything fancy and expensive, but still quite a better one than my current PC) coming month, so that'll improve the FM experience as well.

 

[Tom]

I think there's a lot we can gleem from the new features to be fair, the international management needed and overhaul, and the speed of the game is also a big thing if they manage to improve that. However, i AM sceptical as to some of the changes, the old 'match engine update' is banded around every year, and the finances are made more and more complicated every year. There's actually no REALL big changes this year, e.g. training/tactics/scouting for instance, which is slightly interesting.

By the way im working on some more hints and tips for the games, so at least that's something that'll be expanded, remember to check the credits

 

[Larry]

just ordered a new laptop this should run sweet

 

[Fernandez]

i can't wait and Tom, I'll check out for your name. heh.

 

[Tom]

No, but then theyre made for people like my dad who pick up the game, not internet geeks like us.

 

[Zlatan]

I don't mean to spoil the excitement, but to be honest I don't see any real chances compared to FM 2007. Just hope they make it more playable(for me atleast ) this time, cause I hardly played FM this year.