Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Sitting in a darkened room in a distant country, in a place which seems to have taken pleasure in ignoring my need for tea, the news that there’s a demo out for the latest version of that most British of games, Football Manager, pleases me. Specifically, Football Manager 2009. It allows you to play a half season of the game to get a handle on the new features – including for the first time actual 3D in-game highlights. Which means we have to retire the old PC Gamer “Revolutionary 2D Match Engine” gag. Man! Anyway – the trailer and some gameplay videos are beneath the cut. Hurrahs and similar.
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We don’t link enough to occasional Corporate Paymasters The Escapist, I think. Let’s put that right, as their new issue has a few interviews which are of obvious interest to RPS-heads. Firstly, the have an interview profile on Tim “Grim Fandango/Psychonauts/Walker’s Future Bride” Schafer, where he deals with his decision to leave Lucasarts, start Doublefine and general tribulations. Here’s a quote where he talks about “creative” being used as a curse…

“People would just kinda be like, ‘Oh, it’s very creative.’ And it really seemed like the more you could make your game seem more like something else or more derivative of something else, the more comfortable they would be with it.”

We’ve also got interview profiles with the Sports Interactive guys on their original-Championship Manager/Football Manager dynasty and Running With Scissors about their vomit, sex and death Postal dynasty. And, if you had to choose to read but one feature… you know, I think I’d recommend the Postal one. We’re very aware of the creativity/money problem Schafer elaborates on, but to have Running With Scissors drop the comedy sex-monsters mask and actually argue their artistic corner with quotes like…

If we were in this for the money, then we would have made Doom 48, Unreal 57, Halo 99. You get the picture. We don’t make games for the mainstream, yet they really are very mainstream, if you ever truly play them. I’m proud to be different. There’s a reason why so many people, after they actually play Postal, tell me it’s one of their all-time favorite games.”

As well as arguing about their AI, their flexible and hailing their older, educated, politically-libertarian audience is unexpected, to say the least. More here.