- Football Manager: the diary of a descent into madness - 1 April 2014
Written by Iain Macintosh While putting together the book, Football Manager Stole My Life, my co-authors and I trawled hundreds of personal accounts of virtual chalkboard addiction. We spoke to games journalists, psychologists and actual, real life footballers who had been afflicted. We even went back and played innumerable seasons of classic Championship/Football Manager too. Just for research. Oh Christ, here come the sweats. We never set out to help cure anyone. All we wanted to do was to let people know that they were not alone. That there were others like them out there, wandering this world in body while their minds were elsewhere entirely. Probably scouting the Eredivisie for 19 year-old wingbacks. All roads lead back to Holland. What follows is an amalgamation of stories designed to show you what lurks in the shadows of this hidden world, a bit like those one of those videos abo…
- Quick Pitch: Football Manager 2014 Trailers - 2 September 2013
I exist outside of popular culture*. I’ve only just started to watch The Shield, and I mostly listened to Use Your Illusion II this weekend. So I had to Google ‘Gareth Bale’ to find out why everyone was talking about him, which in turn reminded me that Football Manager 2014 is coming out, and that I should get with the times. The managerial machination sim would have prepared me for the news about a Welsh person’s move to a Spanish place for more money that exists in space and time, and it would also have told me about his abilities, stats, training schedule, and possibly his cup size, but it’s not out yet and I refuse to be left behind again by looking at 2013′s information. I’ll wait for 2014′s release, and keep up by watching these videos of the game in action. (more…)
- Foot-to-Ball Commander 2013 Demonstration Edition - 29 October 2012
This year as with every year, there is a brand new edition of Sports Interactive’s management goliath Foot-to-Ball Commander . The 2013 version is out next week, in fact. New features this year include over 17 new types of decomposing tobacco breath odorants to add to your manager’s Unhinged Bellow attack, the option to hurl the most racist members of your premiership team into the heart of the sun and the exclusive Gary Lineker’s Leaving Your Wife Of 20 To Shack Up With An Underwear Model Time Attack mode. Also there’s a demo, out now on Steam. (more…)
- Football Manager 2013 review - 29 October 2012
One of my favourite football stories is from a recent interview with charismatic Real Madrid boss José Mourinho. He relayed an anecdote about his time at Internazionale with football’s current enfant terrible, Mario Balotelli. The mercurial Italian was the one striker fit for an important Champions League tie, with all others injured. Booked three minutes before half-time, Balotelli spent the 15-minute break being begged by his manager not to get into trouble. Mourinho recalls what he said at the time: “Mario, I cannot you. I don’t have a striker on the bench. If we lose the ball, no reaction. If somebody provokes you, no reaction. If the referee makes a mistake, no reaction. Mario, please.” Mourinho grins. “Minute 46: red card.” The point being that a manager is never entirely in control. Once those players cross that white line, your influence is relatively limited. You can bark instr…
- Football Manager 2013 hands-on, or feet-on, with Sports Interactive’s streamlined sim - 12 October 2012
Football, to paraphrase the great Bill Shankly, may be more important than life and death, but sadly such inconveniences tend to get in the way of the digital version. In recent years I’ve found myself drifting away from Sports Interactive’s series as it grows steadily more complex – and with it, more time-consuming. This season’s headline feature, the stripped-back Classic mode, feels made for me: I can whizz through a season in half the time, ignoring peripheral concerns and concentrating on buying players, picking my team and sending them out to do me proud. Crucially, it still feels like FM: convenient, rather than compromised. I start the preview version by taking the reins at Man City. It feels strange: the point of FM is the realisation of the eternal fan complaint, “I could do a better job”. In the past, picking City gave you the chance to exceed low expectations, but no longer…
- Football Manager 2013 release date announced, pre-orders come with beta access - 28 September 2012
Attention, ballfoot fans! Get out the iron and flatten out those touchline suits. The latest iteration of Football Manager will go live on Steam at one minute past midnight on November 02, and you can get in two weeks early if you pre-order from one of these places. That's according to an announcement post on the Football Manager 2012 site, which explains that the beta version "will be very close to the final game." It'll include "FM, classic mode & challenges," but no network game. Beta saves will be compatible with the full game when it's released. You can hear about this year's updates, and the new classic mode, from the ever-affable Miles Jacobson in our Football Manager 2013 interview. If you'd rather get the goods via your eyes have a look at the Football Manager 2013 announcement video.
- Football Manager 2013: Miles Jacobson interview - 7 September 2012
“I’m pretty happy with the way it is at the moment,” says Sports Interactive boss Miles Jacobson of the latest edition of the world’s most popular footy management sim. After yesterday’s video announcement, we rang Miles for a chinwag about challenges, cheats and camera angles – and why this year’s edition promises to be the most accessible Football Manager in years. This year’s big new addition is the streamlined Classic Mode. What prompted you to introduce it? It’s been in planning for a few years. There aren’t many features that we come up with immediately and put it into next year because we tend to work in three-year cycles - so at the moment even though I’m directing FM13 I’m still involved with designing 14, 15 and 16. But something we’ve seen happening more and more over the last few years, particularly in comments sections on more mainstream games sites and in newspapers for ex…
- Football Manager 2013 announced – video reveals new features - 6 September 2012
By Chris Schilling It’s that time of year when the leaves turn brown, the air gets chilly, and the ass-shaped groove in your favourite chair gets a little deeper. Yes, it’s almost Football Manager time – and, much like a new boss cheerfully clutching a wad of petrodollars from an obscenely wealthy overseas backer, this year’s edition arrives promising wholesale changes. The headlining feature of Football Manager 2013 is a welcome one for those who’ve grown rather overwhelmed by the feature creep in recent years. The new Classic mode – or ‘FMC’ as the press blurb is keen to refer to it as – cuts out many of the minor responsibilities, allowing you to focus on the fundamentals. “We decided to try to find a way to accommodate players with limited free time, without significantly diluting the experience,” says Sports Interactive’s Miles Jacobson. SI suggests that FMC allows players to compl…
- Football Manager developer speaks out on Eidos split - 28 June 2012
It's one of the great breakups in gaming. Up there with John Romero leaving id Software, or West and Zampella walking out on Activision. The story of how the developers behind Championship Manager, one of the most profitable and successful game series of all time, left their publisher Eidos, and abandoned the franchise they'd spent years building to start again with Sega and Football Manager. Until now everyone involved was legally unable to talk about what happened, but yesterday Sports Interactive's Miles Jacobson and Eidos' Ian Livingstone finally spoke about why the two split nine years ago. The pair were brought together by the Game Horizon conference, where Edge reports Jacobson was asked about the situation. He replied “During our times with Eidos and Domark there were some run-ins. But legally I’m not allowed to talk about this unless I get permission.” At this point Livingstone…
- SEGA closes offices in France, Germany, Spain, Australia and Benelux. London HQ will remain - 28 June 2012
SEGA have just announced that many of their European offices are about to close. New distribution partners have been announced across France, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The veteran developer/publisher are "realigning" their strategy and closing all offices apart from the London headquarters. The UK office will be responsible for managing European distribution from July 1st, assisted by Koch Media, Level03 Distribution and 5 Star Games. “SEGA is entering a new and exciting phase that will position the company as a content led organisation maximising sales with strong and balanced IP such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Total War, Football Manager and the Aliens franchise,” said Jurgen Post, COO of SEGA Europe. Rumours of closures originated at E3 but were quickly snuffed out by Studio Director at Sports Interactive, Miles Jacobson. His crytpic tweet may o…
- Football Manager 2012 Update Released - 14 March 2012
----------------------------- Football Manager 2012 v12.2.1 ----------------------------- General ======= - Fixed issue where the game would create too many scout reports, sometimes resulting in missing reports or a crash - Fixed issue where Reminder Date was not being saved when confirming notes - Fixed postponed fixtures issue that resulted in warnings being displayed and a possible crash Competitions ============ - Fixed issue in pre-12.2.0 saves where some players in Greek & Hungarian leagues are incorrectly regarded as Foreign - Fixed issue where winning the Turkish Premier League is not credited - Prevented new Russian foreign player rules applying to pre-12.2.0 saves Database ======== - Corrected Nottingham Forest chairman's retirement date so he is now available for board interaction - Corrected Sam Hutchinson retirement date so he now appears in-game
- Football Manager 2012 Update Released - 7 March 2012
----------------------------- Football Manager 2012 v12.2.0 ----------------------------- General ======= - Adjusted the selection process to decide which cities get new stadiums built for hosting international competitions - Fixed issue where possible opposition team lists were not being filled correctly for a minor club when arranging a friendly. - Fixed old extended leaves being prolonged when giving out new leaves to new players. - Fixed crash when a player had been released from their club but the tutoring wasn't cleared down. - Designated players and Marquee reports from the assistant are now including only players effectively interested in joining the user team. - Fixed potential for snow in cities where freezing temperatures are not set in the db for a particular season. - Fixed crash when going to the board request screen when the club doesn't have a chairman. - Fine tuned squa…
- Ian Football, Part 4: Accrington Stanley - 2 March 2012
The continuing misadventures of first-time manager Ian Football, leading hapless team Worcester City FC to their uncertain future in Football Manager 2012. Previous installments are here . I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Hell, I even knew that it was going to happen more often or not. That didn’t make it any less painful when, for the first time, my team lost. And lost hard. Accrington Stanley? Who are they? Exactly. Would it really be so bad if I quit right now? (more…)
- Ian Football: Interlude - 13 February 2012
Ian Football , manager of Worcester City football club, can’t come to the phone right now, so I’m here to hold the line until he gets back. I just wanted to say: I am really enjoying Football Manager 2012. (more…)
- Byte vs Brick: Week Ending Dec 4 - 5 December 2011
The year’s big guns have all been loosed now, and Christmas wallet-raiding is fully upon us. So, which games will be cleaning up on Steam and at Uk retail? Skyrim, MW3, AssRev, or another challenger? And is the resurgence of Splash Damage’s last game enough for me to justify saying ‘Byte vs Brink’? (more…)
- Byte vs Brick: Week Ending Nov 4 - 7 November 2011
Every single damn week, I can’t remember if it’s called ‘Byte vs Brick’ or ‘Brick vs Byte.’ My failing memory terrifies me. Though my girlfriend is vaguely appreciative of it, as it allows her to tell me the same anecdotes repeatedly with me having no clue I’ve heard them before. At least, she claims she’s my girlfriend; I can’t rightly recall if that’s the case or not. There’s just this person in my house who tells me to do the washing up and feed the cat, and it seems to prudent to play along and hope my memory kicks in at some point. And why are all these words tattooed on my torso? Anyway: Brick vs Byte, our weekly, unscientific look at how the top 10 best-selling games on Steam compare to the top 10 at UK retail. What mysteries will be revealed? Will Battlefield 3 still be king of the hill? And who the hell are you p…
- Football Manager 2012 Update Released - 2 November 2011
Updates to Football Manager 2012 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include: Competitions ============ Australia --------- - Fixed a bug where the game gets stuck when the user is forced to register a youth player who turned into a pro in the Australian A-League. Finland ------- - Fixed issue with player bans not working correctly in the First Division. General ======= - Fixed crash when using the "Pick Team For Me" button when all manageable clubs have been taken over by human managers. - Fixed crash when activating a new division level which has promotion/relegation playoffs with the division above and is made up of regional divisions. (e.g. Third level in Sweden) - Fixed crash on game startup if a club's loyalty and passion supporter profiles are set to 0 using the editor. - Game now doesn't allow natio…
- Byte vs Brick: Foot-to-ball vs Battle-to-field - 31 October 2011
Last week was a big, big week for on-off gamer-enrager EA, with the absurdly highly-promoted Battlefield 3 finally launching – but to mixed reviews, technical woes and bewildering media outlet favouritism. Was it enough to put DICE’s latest at the top of the charts? In the UK, that’s a resounding ‘yes’ – it topped the
- Football Manager 2012 Update Released - 27 October 2011
Updates to Football Manager 2012 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include: Training ======== - Included positioning training to goalkeeper shot stopping training Competitions =========== USA === - Fixed a crash on season turnover when adding MLS into the game without having it loaded at game start. - Fixed Vancouver, Portland and Philadelphia not having Academy players properly generated. - Fixed a crash when playing with two human managers and one of them was claiming a player waived by the other human manager. General ======= - Fixed an issue where adding a league was causing more people then needed to be loaded into the game. Editor ====== - Fixed an issue with international competitions sometimes getting the wrong number of teams from a continent. Match ===== - Fixed scaling of distance run stat in m…
- Wot I Think: Football Manager 2012 - 26 October 2011
My proud home city of Manchester still trembles from the result of the weekend’s derby, with legions of red-shirted, red-faced men weeping openly in the streets and doubting all that they previously held true. There are far more seisimic events in the world of foot-to-ball though. I’ve been attempting to overturn the order by means
