14 DAY TRIAL // Yesterday's news (sorry I couldn't bring this one up on time) says that SEGA Europe has dated the Football Manager 2008 for PC and Apple Macintosh for a release before Christmas 2007, also disclosing tons of details on the upcoming game. Football Manager 2008 is the latest installment of the popular Football Manager series, developed by none other than Sports Interactive. Check out some new and exciting details on the upcoming iteration of the sports series below!
"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."
The new features for Football Manager 2008 go for both PC and Mac. I took the liberty of selecting a few excerpts, to keep it short and simple:
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.
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.
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.
Remember, Football Manager 2008 is set to launch sometime before Christmas 2007. If you need even more information than what's posted above (meaning that you're a total fan) just see the revamped FootballManager.Net website.