FM 2008 Announced

eirebhoy

SEGA 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 Manager 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 Manager 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.

Screenshots:
http://fm08.footballmanager.net/en/article/100/1584.html

Zapp Brannigan

Can't wait. I thought they might leave a year due to FM Live, but I'm glad they didn't.

They've also been in contact with some soccer agents who've let them know how contract add-ons really work. So there will be a lot more bonuses.

marco_polo

Sound good. Not too sure if it really needs a load more media enhancements as I think the number of media questions that you have to answer is more than enough already. In general the improvements sound excellent though.

Ekancone

Sounds exactly the same. I will still buy it though.

Vokes

eirebhoy wrote:

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

:eek:

What if i get called away suddenly

Keith C

eirebhoy wrote:

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.

Does this mean 2008 will have all player faces & crests displayed? any word on the dutch & german teams. Must keep an eye on websites for preorder deals, think I got it for €27 or summat from www.sendit.com last year

besty

I'm already ridiculously excited. It's sad really. I love jumping in head first to the annual installment of FM and getting a season done ASAP!

Zaph

Keith C wrote:

Does this mean 2008 will have all player faces & crests displayed? any word on the dutch & german teams. Must keep an eye on websites for preorder deals, think I got it for €27 or summat from www.sendit.com last year

Best price I've found so far is on Play.com who have it available from 19/10 for €38.99. HMV have the same Sterling price (£24.99) as Play, but I think they have a delivery charge and don't have it until 26/10. It's currently showing as £34.99 on Sendit.

Zapp Brannigan

Just don't put too much faith in Plays release dates.

Makaveli

SofaKing wrote:

:eek:

What if i get called away suddenly

I'm sure you can still pause matches, but I'm happy about this change. It's the only thing I found annoying when playing the matches.

Let's just hope there are no ridiculous bugs in the initial release.

dubmick

the screenshots look very slick!