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Underground > Games & Gameplay >

Football Manager 2006

  
 
dubmick
17:51 / 01.10.05
Demo is out for the new game, it looks as addictive as ever!
 
 
Spatula Clarke
18:02 / 01.10.05
Link? More information?
 
 
Tom Paine's Bones
19:08 / 01.10.05
Um, on the summary.

I'm not entirely convinced that the only people who could possibly have any interest on this game are heterosexual males as you seem to be suggesting...
 
 
Triplets
20:57 / 01.10.05
Or lesbians.
 
 
Tom Paine's Bones
22:41 / 01.10.05
Well yes, I suppose it's possible that Dubmick was referring to lesbians and heterosexual males.

Sorry, I'll stop being threadrotty now.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
22:44 / 01.10.05
Well, this is precisely the sort of thread that could be read in any number of gaming forums, and which will have Games and Gameplay identified as surplus to requirements.

Dubmick, I don't want to chide, but could you tell us more about it? How the new game plays, for example? What changes have been made since the last version?

More broadly, there are a couple of interesting things about FM2006. Suggested topics:

1) As big-selling games become more intense experiences, using incredible advances in processing speed and graphics technology, FM2006 is essentially a very detailed spreadsheet programme. Why is it so successful?

2) Football Manager and Championship Manager - has the split been good for either party?

3) The marketing, reflected in the topic summary here, is that FM2006 is an alternative to succesfully living in the world - playing it will make your girlfriend leave you, it will destroy your mariage, and so on. What does this tell us about how it is being presented and how gamers are expected to react?
 
 
dubmick
11:36 / 02.10.05
Anyone can play this game, I was just referring to the addictiveness of the game and I presume it's played by a predominantly male audience!

'Kindly Uncle's warm old Haus' I will answer your questions later!

Link for Demo:

http://community.sigames.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/521102691/m/8012046261

New in FM 2006:

* Half Time Team Talks - Interact with your team at half time, or with individual players. Can you turn a 1-0 loss into a 2-1 win with your comments?

* Unhappy Player Interaction - How do you cope when one of your players is unhappy with their role in the team? You now get the chance to talk to the player and try and find a solution to his unhappiness.

* New Training Module - Much easier & quicker to use, the all new training module give your backroom staff a real purpose in the game, with much more obvious effects on the players.

* Referee Profiles - An easy way to see how harsh the ref for your next game is likely to be, with profiles and league tables.

* "Basic" and "Advanced" player positions, with the advanced positions with their own special screen in the game, with also reveal the players preferred moves.

* Manager Contracts - The SI community have been asking for them for years, and now they are in. Interact with your board, negotiate your transfer budgets, and your wages.

* Virtual player contracts - Have you ever spotted a "greyed out" player making up the numbers in your squad who could actually make a difference? Ever tried to manage a lower league side and find that you can't sign enough players to even make up the squad for the season? Well, now you can, by offering the "virtual" players contracts, and letting them live their virtual dreams of becoming professional footballers.

* Snapshot - a great new screen in the game that gives you a homepage of all of the info that you need as a manager - budgets, forthcoming fixtures, a competition overview, team stats and lots more.

* Man Of The Match news - A new regular news item giving feedback on the man of the match for youth & reserve games, as well as key first team matches.

* Increased Tactical options - You can now tweak those tactics even further, with options for players to interchange positions, more specific target man instructions and even wasting time! * Key highlight replays in match engine - Want to see match highlights over and over again? Key highlights are now instantly replayed for those managers who want to pick every move apart. * Formation panel on match screen - An easy way to see the formations of both your team and your competitor at the same time without having to pause the match, updated live.

* New shirt graphics - Thought the team kits looked good in FM2005? With thanks to the FM community, and especially Jesper from fm.lemonish.net, they now look even better. And with licenses galore, there will be more real life kits in FM2005 than any previous Sports Interactive football title.

* Match Commentary revamp - Heaps of new commentary lines used in match for added atmosphere and detail to identify what's happening on the pitch.

* "Player Form" & "Player Stats" screens - More pertinent information regarding a players form and match stats, presented in a user-friendly manner.

* "Quick" tactic mode - Now you can shout from the touchlines to make small or full tactical changes without having to stop the match.

* Improved match engine realism - Working with Ray Houghton, the ex-Liverpool and Republic of Ireland player, SI have analysed every area of the match engine looking for areas to improve the engine to make it the most realistic experience ever.

* Injury module revamp - No more "physio reports" needed after injuries as the physio's now come to you. Full feedback on injuries, including various treatment options.

* General UI improvements - Improvements to the user interface make it easier to find your way around the game and reduce the amount of mouse button clicks.

* Ticker Bar - Not only can you gain score updates during matches but a configurable news ticker bar updates you on news from around the globe, or just locally if you prefer.

* Media overhaul - Loads more information is now given through news items using an all new "player bio" system, this is inclusive of, but not limited to, club landmark year news, better feedback on your start as a manager, more celebration of success and much more info about players in media items.

* Full Time Team Talks - With the addition of Half Time team talks to Football Manager 2006 , Sports Interactive felt it only fair to add full time team talks to allow you to comment on team or individual performances at the end of the match to the players. How will they react?
 
 
The Strobe
12:44 / 02.10.05
dubmick: you appear to have missed the point. What we're interested in here is slightly more than a discussion consisting of "look, a thing!". What Haus was suggesting is that you provide, well, something more insightful, more generic; more thoughtful.

Instead, you have regurgitated a press release.

This thread is not going anywhere. Take a look at some of the other G&G threads if you're not sure why we're quite so unimpressed.
 
 
dubmick
13:59 / 02.10.05
I was answering E. Randychu's question. I just wanted to make other Football Manager fans aware that the new demo was out...that's all.

I've played it a couple of times now (the demo) that is and it 's excellent as usual. Seems to be very few noticeable changes really. It's all about the data being updated anyway as the game is spot on as usual.
 
 
Tom Paine's Bones
16:25 / 02.10.05
If as you say, the differences between this edition of the game and the last one are largely a matter of updated statistics, why do you think the franchise is so sucessful?

Because this is really the only genre where that would happen. If you look at the GTA series in comparison, each game has been notably different from the last. Why are fans of this series prepared to keep splashing out for essentially the same game?
 
 
w1rebaby
16:47 / 02.10.05
I think it's a "not broke don't fix it" thing, and it certainly doesn't seem to be doing the genre any harm.

I was thinking about the relationship of management sims to some RPGs, both pencil and paper and computer, just now, particularly the more dungeon-bashy stats-heavy resource-management ones, which of course require an awful lot of making sure you've got enough healing potions and you've got the right proportion of clerics to fighters etc etc. Football management games seem to have a broader or at lest more mainstream appeal despite being even more like Excel - The Game. I'm guessing that for a lot of people the fantasy element on RPGs is an actual turn-off; with football sims you're based in the real world, you know the background, the game use detailed real-world stats (this seems to be a plus point judging by comments above) and your experience with football itself can be an advantage.

But I find it pretty impossible to say because I just can't empathise - I find the things really dull, and I'm not exactly anti-sim, I'm fond of Sim City and Railway Tycoon and so on. Maybe the football bit is turning me off. I would though be interested to hear from anyone who is into the genre what it is that they prefer in it to other games.

(I'm not sure that GTA has really changed vastly - what it has done is got much, much more sophisticated, with an immense amount more backstory and characterisation, as well as had improvements in the engine and UI. GTA1 had driving, shooting, missions, backstory and characters, but the protagonist was pretty anonymous, and I found it a bit frustrating to play. GTA:SA is cinematic, huge, complete, has strong characters including yours, is much more playable and is generally fab. But that's correcting mistakes and improving certain other features that people like rather than changing the basis of the game.)
 
 
Spatula Clarke
16:50 / 02.10.05
Because this is really the only genre where that would happen.

I don't think that's true. Most sports franchises remain hugely successful despite rarely changing - Pro Evo, FIFA, any and all Formula 1 games. The same is true of puzzle games - Bust a Move and Puyo Puyo are effectively exactly the same games now as they were eleven or twelve years ago.

GTA doesn't really serve as a usefely comparison, because there's no evidence to suggest that it wouldn't still be selling in the quantity it is if it had just stayed the same, only altering things like the map layouts.

dubmick> We're expecting a bit more depth in opening posts here. If it's a series that you enjoy, surely you've got things that you could say about it other than just "it's out" or "here's the official list of changes." Why it's important to you that it's out, what makes it addictive, what you personally think of the changes.

It's a discussion board. If you're starting a new thread, make an effort to promote some discussion.
 
 
Benny the Ball
09:39 / 03.11.05
There is a playable demo available on-line - now that the game is available maybe not so impressive - which gives you 6 months of playing. Not quite enough time to maybe get a feel for how the player/manager interaction has improved or how negotiating a contract for yourself is good fun, but the playing is all there and has some good moments. The half time team talk is a bit limiting, and just seems to upset players more than anything. The biggest problem I have had with the game is that it seems to favour one type of manager, a friendly, media-savy type - when I've tried to be a cocky, hairdryer type of manager, the players hate you and nothing really happens, even though there are arguments to suggest that this type of manager is possibly the most successful template in the real world. It's okay, 2006, just an update really.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
11:39 / 03.11.05
I find the things really dull, and I'm not exactly anti-sim, I'm fond of Sim City and Railway Tycoon and so on. Maybe the football bit is turning me off.

I'm with you on this, fridge- although I have known people who've been really into footy management sims who weren't into footy itself. I remember one of the really old ones on the SPectrum being more fun than I'd expected- but it still didn't really grab me.
 
  
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