14 DAY TRIAL // Sports Interactive and SEGA have announced that they have entered into a partnership with the Glenn Hoddle Academy designed to bring the club to the Football Manager 10 management simulator. It's the first time in the history of the franchise and of this game genre when a team made up of hopefuls is being fully simulated and the careers of the players there can be followed for the coming years. Football Manager 10 is set to arrive on October 30.
The Glenn Hoddle Academy Club describes itself as being “the world’s first fully independent, professional football development center.” The idea of giving players a second chance is fairly new to football and Sports Interactive believes that players of the simulation will be very interested in signing some of them for their own teams. The Club is not part of a league at the moment, but its members are playing regularly against teams like Chelsea, Manchester United, Atletico Madrid or Real Madrid.
Glenn Hoddle himself said that “To have the Glenn Hoddle Academy Club in Football Manager 2010 is fantastic. We have been working hard with the team at Football Manager to make this happen and we are delighted to be the first professional football development centre in the world to become part of the ever expanding game.”
Football Manager 10 is set to include a wide variety of improvements over the 2009 edition. The 3D match engine introduced last year has been improved with more animations and likenesses. The tactics engine has been completely redesigned and allows gamers to direct their players from the touchline as the game progresses.
There are improvements made to the interface and new options related to how the player deals with the press and their own players. Sports Interactive has also introduced a new Match Analysis system that will allow gamers to tweak their tactics on the fly.