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Feature: Chartist rebellion
Hello! This week John is doing a super secret special mission (playing a video game) so I, one of the other Alices, have taken over the Steam Charts. I am afraid that I do not put as much time as John into constructing elegant jokes that are several layers deep, though, which means you might even be able to tell which games are charting. I…
"You might go in dreaming of being the next Steve Cotterill, but Football Manager 2019 makes you want to be Pep Guardiola," John Robertson said in our Football Manager 2019 review. And if you don't know what that means, maybe you should play the game's demo. Yup, following the manage 'em up's launch on Friday, demos are available for both full-on Football Manager 2019 and…
Feature: Dream Machine
For those without much free time or a pre-existing, intimate understanding of its framework, understanding Football Manager’s enormous locker room of riches has been a problem. You might be the most eager wannabe digital gaffer of all time, but if you can’t digest the tools required to motivate players, scout new ones and combine their skills on the pitch, then your only legacy will be…
Feature: Suspending disbelief for another year
Football Manager 2019 preview: a meaningful step forward for the series
“When you’re working on annual iterative titles, it is difficult,” says Miles Jacobson, Studio Director at Sports Interactive. “You’re always going to get people turning around saying ‘you haven’t added anything.’ And no matter how much you add, you’re still going to get people saying that.” That’s the challenge that the Football Manager series faces every year. It remains, as it always will be, a…
After over a decade of leading Football Manager, watching from the sideline and becoming increasingly animated on the box art, series mascot Manager Man has been fired. Just as his dramatic poses (from the nostrils down) seemed to confirm his leadership was finally steering the series right, becoming cheers and fist-pumps over the past few years, he's out the door. It's scandalous. Publishers Sega have…
Another year in the Football Manager series means another set of tweaks and revisions to the well-established formula, as we'll see in the newly-announced launch of Football Manager 2019 (and its streamlined sibling Football Manager Touch 2019) on November 2nd. Expect the addition of Germany's DFL Bundesliga and the shock firing of the series mascot, Manager Man. This mysterious sportsdad, also known as Ian Football…
What happened when we ran England – Croatia through Football Manager 2018 ten times
Tomorrow heralds the most heart-stopping moment in English national football since John Barnes bravely claimed to know how to rap. England face Croatia in the World Cup semi-final; if they win, they make the finals. If they lose, nobody sings that Lightning Seeds song for at least another two years. It's win-win! But which will it be? The answer lies in science. Or the closest…
The nightmare visions of recreating England coach Gareth Southgate in Football Manager 18
Foot-to-ball is returning to its origin! A trio of lethal predators on a jersey! Į̵̢̻̪͚̗̲͔̗̱͐̿̒͜͜ͅͅT̷̞͎̦̣̪̹̮̩̞̥͔̾̇̓̈́̔̕͜ͅ'̵͇̲̮͔͔̰͖͙̫̭̗͉͓̅̀̃̊͊̔̓͊̕͝͝͝ͅS̷̢̧͍͕͓̠͎̖̝̤̉͋́̄̇̈̿͆̓̕ ̶̦̥̽̄̇̌C̵̡̛̰̱͚̻̮͇̖̉͗̓̋͆Ơ̷̮̱̪̮̘̹̍M̷̛̰͚̹̓̓̀͛̊͋͋̈́̃̓͘͝I̸͚͚͍̬̱̹̺̼̿́̂̊̍̈́̕͝N̴̰͉̹̻͊̏̔̈́͒G̴̝̓̌͊̇̅̂̈́̾̉̕ ̵̯̭͕̺̍H̴͖͎̩̝̤͙͔̹͔̹̀̍́̈͂̄̑̌͑ͅO̷͖̠͉̜̹̯͖̮͠ͅM̵̧̞̯̱̫̣̫̅́̎̂̈́̈͑͜͝Ę̷͖̟̪̬͙̟̭͕̂̐ And what better way to celebrate England's passage into the World Cup quarter-finals than recreating soon-to-be knight of the realm Gareth Southgate within Foot-to-ball Manager 2018? Something... something is very wrong.
Feature: You can win everything with wonderkids
Football Manager 2018 isn’t just about playing for a season, giving up, then starting over – it’s about building a legacy, relationships and a squad to be proud of. With that comes the need to sign people who are still legally children for more money than most of us will ever see in our lives. Wonderkids, then. With that in mind, I’ve trawled through the…
Feature: Carrying a slight knock
Nobody listens to a word I say. I might be a legend of the game and one of the most beloved footballers of my generation but as soon as I stick my nose in at half-time, all the energy is sucked out of the dressing room. Football Manager 2018 gives me all of the data I need to understand why the team are uninterested or…
Feature: Peering through the transfer window
How 25 years of AI development and messy reality shape Football Manager
This is The Mechanic, where Alex Wiltshire invites developers to discuss the difficult journeys they underwent to make the best bits of their games. This time, Football Manager [official site]. Do want to play a cavernously deep simulation of a world of viciously competing factions? Do you dream of leading your people to glory and dominating all comers? Do you relish bending complex systems of…
A man stopped following another man on Instagram the other day and newspapers and websites around the world wrote ominous headlines about it. Football in 2017 is very strange and one of Football Manager 2018's [official site] big new features looks like it'll be bringing some of that strangeness into the simulation. The system is called Dynamics and it models relationships within a squad as…
Football Manager 2018 will change scouts, stadiums, AI and more
Harry Redknapp is not a wheeler-dealer. The subs bench is not a bed. Transfer deadline day is not suitable for work. Transfer deadline day is your entire existence now. I've been waiting to see what's new in Football Manager 2018 [official site] since the release of Football Manager 2017. A short transfer window spoof video from Sega and Sports Interactive doesn't reveal an enormous amount,…
Football Manager 2018 [official site] is a game which exists and will launch on November 10th, publishers Sega announced today. Football Manager Touch 2018 also exists and will also launch on November 10th. That is about all Sega say. What's new with this year's instalment? They won't tell us until September. As Sega won't offer details, we've turned to our trusted secret sources [it's Ian…
Feature: It's oh so quiet
We're poised in the drop zone, hanging on by a thread, and nobody seems to care if we cling on by the skin of our teeth or tumble into oblivion. I am the manager of Bury FC and the terrible results aren't the worst thing about this season. The truly heartbreaking thing is the apparent demise of a small club and its generations-old local support…
Gary Lineker once summed football up as neatly as anyone ever has: "Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win." Lineker was wrong, of course. The goalkeepers rarely chase the ball. The quote is even more inaccurate when applied to Football Manager [official site]. There, football is a simple game where twenty-two…
Feature: Doing the double can't be that hard
Football Manager 2017 pass-and-save diary, part four: Hell in a handballcart
Adam hands me the pass-and-save Football Manager Touch 2017 file with the following pep talk: "I got us to the semi-final of the FA Cup, and the draw for that is coming up shortly, and we're through to the 2nd Knockout Leg of the European Champions League,which is a big deal. We might end up playing Barcelona or Bayern Munich in which case we're probably…
Feature: Foxes are fair game once more
Football Manager 2017 pass-and-save diary, part three: Half-empty cups
I've always said a manager should be judged on the trophies in the cabinet rather than their position in the league table. Give me the choice between finishing 17th in the Premier League but winning the League Cup and finishing 2nd but having no trophies to show for it, and I'll go for the cup every time. When I say I've always said that, I…
Feature: Bringing va-va-voom to Leicester City
Football Manager 2017 pass-and-save diary, part two: Enter the Tinkerman
Ian Football's long brown raincoat hides four people inside: Pip, Adam, Alec (who already took his turn) and me, Graham. It's now my turn in our pass-the-save (or pass-and-save, geddit) playthrough. Our mission: take control of Premier League champions Leicester City in Football Manager Touch 2017 and perform better than they are in real life. Where Alec has limited experience with football, I watch half…
Feature: Four players, one manager
Football Manager 2017 pass-and-save diary, part one: A game of four halves
Two of us know far too much about football. Two of us know far too little. Together, we will create chaos for once-proud Premiership club Leicester City. Here's the deal. In Football Manager Touch 2017 (chosen over the full-fat version as it'll move quicker), we take control of Leicester for the 2016-2017 season, which is effectively working just a few months behind what's actually happening…
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