Football Manager 2009 
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Football Manager 2013: Miles Jacobson interviewSep 7, 2012 - PC Gamer “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 example, is that people are saying “we don’t have the time to play it any more”. After we finished FM11 I actually brought it up in the post-mortem afterwards: I asked how many people had played the game and most of the younger guys in the studio put their hands up. But some of the old-school guys…we’ve got 16 people here now who’ve been at the studio for more than ten years, and I think only three of the 16 put their hand up at that point. So I just asked the others, “Why haven’t you played it? You clearly still enjoy the game or you wouldn’t still be working here.” And they were all saying, “Yeah, but I’ve got kids and I have to spend some time with them,” or “My partner wants to spend some time with me,” or “I’ve got to go and see the family, so I just don’t have the time to put into it any more.” And that was basically the point where the bank broke. We were already doing FM Handheld at that point, and I said to them, “Why don’t you play Handheld instead?” and got “Well, it’s not deep enough for me, I want to be able to do this stuff, I just don’t have the time to do it.” So that’s when a few of the very senior people within the studio including myself and Oliver Collyer sat down and started plotting. And then I put it into production this year. Actually, we were going to look at doing it as a completely separate game, but I just thought: why not have it as part of the PC package and reward the people who’ve played our game for years by giving them extra modes? Or let new players have Classic mode as the first port of call, and if they find that they like it maybe they’ll move up to Sim mode. Or maybe they’ll try out the Challenge mode or Network games. It’s all about trying to provide a game that entertains as many people as possible, really. And the only way to do it while keeping the simulation completely sacrosanct was to have a new game mode in there. Are there any further options within Classic mode that players can turn on or off to further adjust the game? We’ve tried to design it in a simple way. There are ways to turn other things off inside the game ...Why I play Football Manager: the story of Shane “the wonder kid” PaulOct 26, 2011 - PC Gamer Football Manager 2012 has been released, and like every year, the same questions are being asked: Why does a game that looks like Microsoft Excel sell so well? Why would you want to manage footballers when they could be playing them? Why do so many people play it for hours on end? Well I've played a lot of Football Manager over the years, so I'm going to try and explain why. It's because despite all the stats and number crunching, Football Manager is a game about stories. It's about the little narratives that emerge from every game. Like this one. The story of Shane Paul. This tale comes from way back in Football Manager 2006. I was doing the same thing I do every year; trying to win the Champion's League with my beloved Aston Villa. In my way were Italian giants Inter Milan, who had more money, a better squad and a long tradition of winning things. The first leg of the game had not gone well. Inter had come to Villa Park and made us look like schoolboys playing against adults. They sauntered down the pitch like we weren't even there and scored twice, then did what Italian teams do best: shut us down and sat on their lead. Worse than that, they also inflicted a series of niggling injuries on my team. Not enough to put people out for long, but just enough to ensure that I'd have to fill my bench with inexperienced youth players, and pray that I'd never need to use them. Enter Shane Paul. Shane was one of my youth team, he was only eighteen at the time, but already my coaches were telling me he wasn't going to make it at this level. There were better prospects in the squad, but I was incredibly short of left sided players and. despite being so incredibly right footed he probably walked with a limp, Shane could play on the left wing a little, so he made the cut. Sixty minutes into the Inter game, things were still not going well. The Italians knew they had a good lead and a home advantage, so they played a strong defensive game. No matter how often we attacked they held us off confidently. I tried everything; I tried to hold back and keep the ball, I pushed forward recklessly, I changed formation, I upped the aggression, I did every tactical tweak I could think of, but nothing worked. Clearly it was time to make some changes. The problem was that, because of the injuries, I didn't have much in the way of substitutes. Most of my bench was statistically worse than the players on the pitch, but sometimes freshness counts, so young Shane was sent out for an under performing left winger. That's the thing about Football Manager, once in a while all the sensible tactics fall flat, and that's when you start trying the crazy ones. Playing an inexperienced youngster out of position in a major match? This was a desperation move, and I knew it. For another half hour, little changed. We pushed them hard, but they would not be moved. They were determined to shut us out, and we couldn't stop them. Shane popped up once or twice but he wasn't distinguishing himsel...Football Manager 2012 Steam DRM enrages fansSep 28, 2011 - PC Gamer Football Manager fans have voiced their anger at the integration of Steamworks into Football Manager 2012. The move to Steam means copies of the game will need to be activated online before being able to play. Eurogamer indicates 40 pages of comments reacting to the news on the Sports Interactive forums, with thousands of posts from fans angry with the changes. Some fans are threatening to boycott the series until the online activation requirement is removed. Sega tell Eurogamer that Football Manager has moved to Steam to combat piracy. "Make no mistake, if a quarter of the people that usually pirate the game switch to purchasing Football Manager 2012, the sales of the game worldwide would more than double," they say. "This would lead to increased development budgets and more benefits for all of you who do buy the game." "We've taken this decision because we believe that the steps the consumer has to take are not excessive, and that as a one-time only measure with no tracking or reporting it is not too intrusive. Having worked with Steam for a few years now we also believe that their system is ever improving and gives Football Manager players a good service of free auto-updating, achievements and other great benefits without cost or hassle." In the scheme of things, a one-time online activation system seems relatively tame, especially in the light of Ubisoft's always-online DRM system, and games like Diablo 3, which cannot be played offline, even in single player. For many hardcore FM players, Football Manager will be one of the only games they play. It's interesting to see the reaction of fans from a community less less desensitized to the growing extremity of many publishers' anti-piracy solutions. Are you a Football Manager player? Let us know what you think about FM 2012's move to Steam.Football Manager 2012 release date announced, scouting detailedSep 13, 2011 - PC GamerSports Interactive recently announced that the latest entry in the veteran Football Manager series would be out later this year. Eurogamer have the date. It's October 21. The release date announcement was revealed in the first entry in what will become a series of blog posts providing detailed info on FM 2012's new features. Today, Sports Interactive studio director Miles Jacobson discusses improvements to the scouting system, and talks about the unique inside access the studio has to professional scouts in the field. Update: slotted in the latest trailer above. Thanks to The Reticule for the heads up. "We’ve very luck at Sports Interactive to have a large number of fans in amongst football, including many scouts who, with permission from their employers, give us the real scouting reports that they put together for teams when watching them for the manager." writes Jacobson. This real world data from stadiums and training grounds around the world is one of reasons FM one of the most detailed sports sims around. Using those databases packed full of authentic information, you'll be able to assign a scout to analyse an opposition side. They'll come back with a full report detailing that club's best players in each position. You'll also be able to use reports to compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of clubs against one another. With all that intelligence under your belt, it should theoretically be easier to put together a strategy to beat tough opponents. Over time, FM 2012 will monitor the success of this strategy, and return at Tactic analysis. "Tactic analysis gives you information on how you’ve fared when using specific tactics, with information on how many times you’ve started with those tactics, how many minutes you’ve used them, how many goals you’ve scored & how many you’ve conceded. As well as a breakdown for goals scored and conceded against different rankings of team – higher rated, similar rated and smaller rated. Along with a paragraph of analysis," writes Jacobson. There's even a separate goal analysis tool, which will collate information on where your goals are scored from on the pitch, which players and positions tend to get the most assists, and more. As well as scouting, Football Manager 2012 will get updates to the match engine, and a series of tutorials to help guide new players into the world of football management.10 essential Football Manager 2010 modsOct 28, 2010 - PC Gamer The next instalment of Sports Interactive's monolithic management series is just around the corner, but that doesn't mean Football Manager 2010 is out of the picture. Since release, the Football Manager community have even set about improving the game with new mods, databases and utilities. We've picked out ten of the best. Ever wanted to play in a league containing every single team in the world? Read on for new leagues, coaching tools, photo packs, UI overhauls and much, much more. 1. FM Genie Scout One of the most well known utilities in the Football Manager world, FM Genie Scout is a program that allows you to veiw any number of visible and hidden stats in a game in progress. The most obvious use is to check the potential of youngsters and regenerated players, but it can also be used to see reputation, finances and many other things. Some might call it cheating, but we've left it up to you to decide. A new version of Genie comes out with every installment, so keep an eye open when FM11 comes out. 2. Huge Database In days of yore, Football Manager used to have a setting just above 'large database' called 'huge database', which would retain whopping amounts of players (if your PC could handle it). Nowadays SI instead use the 'custom' option to give players more control over which players they import. Traditionalists, however, can download this and have the beloved huge database back. It's perfect for someone who wants a wide range of players but doesn't know which leagues and countries they need to load to get them. 3. Tug's Training Despite SI's best efforts, training in FM has pretty much always taken a back seat to tactics and transfers. While some people really get into it, many players just aren't that interested. For such people there is Tug's Training. Just download it, import it into your training schedules and enjoy excellent 'hands off' training for your whole team. Tug updates with every new release, so this link will still come in handy come FM11. 4. Coach Calculator In FM2010, the quality of a coach is defined by a needlessly complex and byzantine algorithm, meaning the best way to see how good they are is usually to sign them and hope for the best. Coach Calculator changes all that, doing the maths for you. All you need to do is punch in the stats of the coach you're eyeing and it'll spit out how many stars he'll get in each discipline. Handy for assembling that all-star team of backroom staff. 5. Steklo Skin Skins overhaul the UI of Football Manager, which for a game that consists almost entirely of UI can be a very big deal. The well regarded Steklo skin gives a very pretty alternative to the standard choices packaged into the game. 6. Photopack Ever get tired of the fact that some players in your teams have photos and some don't? Fret no more! Because this monster 2.7 gig photopack adds pictures to a colossal 70,000+ players, so you can finally find out what all those players of yours look like. It'll take a while to install,...Win an FM09 Limited Edition Intel® Centrino®2 technology laptop with the FMClub!Mar 3, 2009 - Community AnnouncementsThe FMClub, much like Marouane Fellaini's hair, just seems to get bigger and better. Last month we gave away a pair of Nike Total 90 boots, fully customised in FM09 black and orange with 'FM' stitched into the heel. Well, somehow, this months prize is even better! We are delighted to announce that we have not 1, not 2 but 3 Intel® Centrino® 2 technology laptops Design by Invasion® up for grabs, completely customised in FM09 style, just perfect for playing FM on the move or quite frankly, anywhere you like. FM09 on Intel® Centrino® 2 technology laptops provides you with a better mobile gaming experience. While playing FM09, you can easily see if you are connected to power or running from the battery. And when you are gaming on the go, the Battery indicator in FM09 ensures that you won’t run out of juice during those key exciting matches! In addition, the processor usage graph, lets you easily see how the power of Intel® Multi-core technology delivers you a faster gaming experience! If this wasn’t enough, 25 runners up will also win the chance to give their laptop a makeover with some very cool Intel® Centrino®2 design by Invasion® Football Manager 2009 skins. If you haven't already joined FMClub all you need to do is go to: http://www.footballmanager.com/fmclub and register there with the code that you will find by right clicking on the FM2009 link in their STEAM "My Games" tab. Choose the option to view CD Code then click the "copy to clipboard" option and simply log into the FMClub. Remember, it’s completely free to join and open to all our fans from around the globe so you really have no excuse not to!Patch 9.2.0 for PC & Mac Available NowDec 22, 2008 - Community AnnouncementsWe are pleased to announce the immediate availability of the 9.2.0 patch on both PC and Mac. The 9.2.0 patch includes an updated database and incorporates all of the updates from the 9.1.0 and 9.1.1 patches. The 9.2.0 update is save game compatible, so you can continue playing your current games, although to make use of the updated database, you will need to start a new game. Download details and the full change list for Patch 9.2.0 can be found here: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=82282 And finally, we'd like to wish you all the very best over the festive season and the New Year!FM09 Arsenal EditionDec 17, 2008 - Community AnnouncementsPlans to release an Arsenal Special Edition Football Manager 2009 have been announced. To find out more info go to - http://www.footballmanager.com/index.php?p=article&newsid=2782FM Editor PatchDec 8, 2008 - Community AnnouncementsThere is now a patch available for the FM09 & WSM09 editor on the PC. You can download the patches from here: http://www.footballmanager.com/index.php?p=patchFootball Manager 2009 Installation AdviceDec 1, 2008 - Community AnnouncementsIt seems some people are still experiencing problems installing/activating FM09. The SI forums have pretty much all the answers you need to help get you up and running with FAQ guides and issue/solution threads. For anyone still having problems, check the forums out here: http://community.sigames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=24 You will also find details of patches available for the PC/MAC/Demo here or at: http://www.footballmanager.com/index.php?p=patch Hopefully this will successfully get you up and running...SEGA and Sports Interactive explain authentication problems with Football Manager™ 2009Nov 19, 2008 - Community AnnouncementsAfter prolonged issues with pre-release piracy, this year SEGA and Sports Interactive decided to implement a new copy protection system for Football Manager 2009. The incorporation of Uniloc's copy protection system for the game has unfortunately caused a number of unexpected difficulties which SEGA would like to explain to any customers who may have experienced problems authenticating their copy of Football Manager 2009 since it launched on Friday November 14th. The first problem was that the printing of the keycodes on the in-game manuals. The choice of font meant that some customers were unable to decipher their authentication keycode correctly due to some of the different characters in the keycode looking very similar. On realising this on the Thursday evening, SEGA worked closely with the team at Uniloc to update code on the authentication servers to work around the problem. This situation does not affect customers in Australia and America where the keycodes were printed without any issues. The authentication servers then suffered a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack from an external party which significantly delayed the distribution of the solution for several hours. The knock-on effect of the DDoS attack subsequently necessitated that the phone line keycode activation, which also runs through the online authentication servers, had to be suspended so that the online authentication servers could be prioritised. Since this time the individual phone lines have been under constant DDoS attack. Unfortunately this means that some customers are still experiencing difficulties authenticating their copy of the game via phone activation, although the online server authentication is currently working as it should be. SEGA would like to stress that while there are still some problems being experienced with customers trying to authenticate their game via phone, everything is being done to ensure that this is resolved as soon as possible. SEGA and Sports Interactive take pride in producing the very best Football Manager year on year, and regret that this unfortunate situation has arisen. SEGA and Sports Interactive would like to unequivocally apologise to any customers who have experienced difficulties in authenticating their game, restate their desire to solve every issue encountered in the process, and enable all customers to be able to play and enjoy Football Manager 2009. Despite the issues that some users faced at the weekend, and since its launch on Friday, Football Manager 2009 has authenticated over 200,000 copies globally, but all at SEGA and Sports Interactive are determined for the small amount of people who are still having issues to be up and running as soon as possible. For those who are still experiencing problems, please do contact our Customer Services department at www.sega-europe.com/support, or visit our game forums at http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=63556 where a FAQ is available for those still having issues. ...New article in Shortlist magazineNov 13, 2008 - Community AnnouncementsToday Football Manager is the cover star of the biggest Men’s magazine in the UK, Shortlist (circulation of 481,320) with a four page feature inside: http://magazine.shortlist.com/1D4919b42d28e1c835.cde (Starts on Page 40)New 3D Match Engine FootageOct 31, 2008 - Community Announcements3 new video's of the 3D Match Engine are available now. To check out the new footage go to: http://uk.youtube.com/sigamesFootball Manager 2009 TrailerOct 30, 2008 - Community AnnouncementsThe Football Manager 2009 trailer is out now at: www.youtube.com/sigames The video is all about the things a manager loves about being a manager, why he does what he does. We’re very proud of it and we hope you like it too!Football Manager 2009 TrailerOct 30, 2008 - Community AnnouncementsThe Football Manager 2009 trailer is out now at: www.youtube.com/sigames The video is all about the things a manager loves about being a manager, why he does what he does. We’re very proud of it and we hope you like it too!3D Match Engine FootageOct 28, 2008 - Community AnnouncementsTo take a look at the Football Manager 2009 3D match engine footage go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvWM4XGP394 More new footage will be available very soon so watch this space...Demo release date & system specsOct 28, 2008 - Community AnnouncementsHere is the link to the announcement about the confirmed demo release date and the system specs for FM09 on the official SI forums: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=53492Read the Sports Interactive BlogOct 21, 2008 - Community AnnouncementsSports Interactive now has its very own blog, hosted by HMV. In the blogs Miles Jacobson, Sports Interactive's Studio Director, discusses the exciting new features within the game and gives an insight into the hectic daily life in the Sports Interactive office. Over the next few weeks more new features will be announced via the blog so be sure not to miss out... http://hmv.com/hmvweb/navigate.do?ctx=3583;6;-1;-1&pPageID=3604
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