From sigames.com

ISEGA Europe Ltd. today announced that Football Manager™ 2008 for PC and Apple Macintosh will be in stores before Christmas 2007. Football Manager™ 2008 is the next iteration of the prize-winning Football Manager™ series developed by world respected studio Sports Interactive. The latest version of Football Manager will be fully updated for the new season and will allow players to select their favourite club or international team and guide them to glorious success by putting them through Cup matches, Leagues, European Championships and even major international tournaments, with over 5,000 playable teams from over 50 countries.

Fan feedback on the previous version of Football Manager™ was, as always, taken very seriously by the Sports Interactive team, resulting in over a hundred new features, including a brand new advisory system to help new players through the different aspects of the game. This makes Football Manager™ 2008 the most accessible Football Manager™ yet, without losing any depth for the more experienced player.

“With Football Manager™ 2008 we’re once again raising the bar in the sports management genre.” commented Miles Jacobson, Studio Director of Sports Interactive. “With dozens of new small features and larger things like a complete revamp of international management and the new match flow system, we’re really looking forward to seeing the reaction from people when they get to play it on release.”

With all-new features, improved gameplay and a depth only seen from Sports Interactive, Football Managerä 2008 offers a management simulation that is second to none. To whet the appetite of every Football fan, SEGA and Sports Interactive have unveiled the key new features available in Football Manager™ 2008.

New features for Football Managerä 2008 PC/Apple Macintosh

Match Flow – The largest change to match-day in a Sports Interactive game since the introduction of the second match engine. Match flow brings more atmosphere to match-days with match previews, team talks, opposition player instructions, the match itself, half time and post match. These now seamlessly follow on from one another, with no more pausing to make tactical changes, and a mini-radar pitch whilst making those tactical changes to keep you in touch with what’s going on in the match

International Management – The international management gameplay has been completely revamped for Football Manager™ 2008, including, but not limited to, media improvements, international retirements, player interaction, international scouting, improved pool selection, captain selection and a separation of international and club morale for players.

Easier to Use – A much cleaner skin, a brand new advisor system to help players through various areas of the game. A new notes and notebook system, better button positioning for simpler navigation and an updated tutorial and manual. Also, coach reports make taking over a new team easier, and the new calendar system lists all important dates throughout the season. These all help to make Football Manager™ 2008 the easiest Sports Interactive game to use yet.

Confidence – Players can now easily tell what the board and supporters think about their performance in the game through the new confidence section. This gives players feedback not just on their current progress in competitions, but also their financial management and signings.

Transfer Centre – A new way of managing all current transfer and loan bids for a players club, both incoming and outgoing, making it easier to compare bids and reject or accept them.

Match Engine Improvements – A greatly improved match engine, once again utilising the footballing brain of former Republic of Ireland international player Ray Houghton as well as other tools used by real-life managers to make the most accurate simulation of football in a computer game. The ability to change the pitch dimensions at the start of the season to suit players styles of play better has also been added.

Awards re-write – An overhaul of the awards system inside the game which is not only more accurate now, but also includes new awards such as the European golden boot, and a “best eleven”, which shows the all-time (in game) best eleven for all teams and nations.

Finances revamp – To reflect the changes in modern day football, Sports Interactive have updated the finance area of Football Manager™ 2008 to better reflect the ever changing football world, with more information available to the manager too, including, but not limited to, corporate match day income, season ticket news, investment funds, improved sponsorships, collective win bonuses, and the ability to move around funds from the wage budget and transfer budget (and vice versa) at any point to help you in your quest for the ideal squad.

Fan days – The board can now arrange fan days to boost ailing attendances, or for matches that are likely to attract a low crowd, with a long term affect to attendances if all goes well.

Expanded media – More media and feedback than ever before, plus more detail in existing media, and a new competition news section to find out what major things are going on in all league competitions

Regenerated player photo’s – All in game generated players now have pictures using FaceGen technology to give each player more personality, and the ability for the players to be seen to grow up in front of your eyes as the game is going on.

Faster – Saving and loading is now significantly faster, with network gaming faster and smoother to play, as well as tactical changes and match reports being quicker than ever before.

Football Manager 2008 for PC (XP & Vista) and Apple Macintosh (OS10.3.9 and above) is set for release before Christmas 2007.

thanks for these info bro :D

FM is the best game ever :) i just cant wait for 2008 version :p

Cheers for the info Tom. (Y)

I'll get this one. I didn't buy FM 07. Probably not worth getting 07 now anyway.

Excellent. Good to know it's faster. Does the regenerated photo thing mean that the Premiership might finally have pictures of the players (and therefore licensing)?

No, it means the made up youths will have pictures created by some algorithms. Real players will only have pictures if their league or team is licensed.

I like the idea of a transfer centre and the revamp of the financial part.

You know, about 2yrs ago i posted that on the sigames forums, an idea to use CGI to create realistic 'randomized' faces.

I'm sure they'd already thought of it, but hah, tis funny.

Oh and no need to thank me, i only copied from sigames.com and Ruud was the one who told me it was out, i didnt even know (N)

I hate the new skin btw. It looks awful. No doubt there'll be a lot better custom skins around after a few days.

Don't like the computer pictures for regens either. It looks like Total Crap Manager.

I have hope for the regen photos. The skin ain't pretty.

The skin looks too much like a browser. The game looks alright from the pics, but some of the new options look like they will just make the game harder and force you to make decisions you wouldn't make as a manager. I liked the prematch crap, though. Looks like it will be entertaining. Anyone certain that they'd buy it or not?

Asking some of us (i.e. me) if we're going to buy the game is a little like asking a smoker if they'll buy a new pack of cigs.

Yes, but many were complaining that FM07 was too complex, and they went back to FM06, so I wondered whether they'd buy this one, which seems even more complex.

To be honest it doesn't seem like they've added much in terms of things you have to do to this one. Collective win bonus may be a slight annoyance but the transfer centre might actually make things easier. I guess we'll wait for the demo. Either way i'm getting it.

Yeah, the transfer thing is a really good idea, but the groundsmen thing and the bonuses are stuff I'd really rather do without. And frankly, if you don't have the pictures of all the leagues, having regens with faces doesn't really entice me.

I dont like the skin.

Of course I'll buy it. Probably first day it's released as well. I'm going to buy a new PC (I don't aim for anything fancy and expensive, but still quite a better one than my current PC) coming month, so that'll improve the FM experience as well.

I think there's a lot we can gleem from the new features to be fair, the international management needed and overhaul, and the speed of the game is also a big thing if they manage to improve that. However, i AM sceptical as to some of the changes, the old 'match engine update' is banded around every year, and the finances are made more and more complicated every year. There's actually no REALL big changes this year, e.g. training/tactics/scouting for instance, which is slightly interesting.

By the way im working on some more hints and tips for the games, so at least that's something that'll be expanded, remember to check the credits (H)

just ordered a new laptop :) this should run sweet

i can't wait and Tom, I'll check out for your name. heh.

No, but then theyre made for people like my dad who pick up the game, not internet geeks like us.

I don't mean to spoil the excitement, but to be honest I don't see any real chances compared to FM 2007. Just hope they make it more playable(for me atleast :p ) this time, cause I hardly played FM this year. :(

From what i've read this game seems to shaping up pretty well. I hate the new skin though, it looks more like FIFA Manager.

yeah but like two months after the game is out the guys from the Hellenic team will release their version so :p


btw, the game sounds like it's going to be freaking awsome, some of the things they're implementing this year i've been hoping for ages..

what ..release are you talking about? :confused:

A new skin for the game....i think.

yeah, should have just googled... too bored for that tho... :p

Did FM 07 ever run in Mac OSx? I never bought it simply because I was never 100% sure and because the one they have for sale on amazon.com had this under the platform section: Windows 98 / 2000 / Me / XP Professional / XP Home Edition.

Even though it says Mac on the box I never bought it for that reason alone :(

lol, alex13 you have to silliest signature image ever :D

but yeah, the skin is bad

thanks for the news tom, consider your plus rep for me returned ;)

Apparently Fifa Manager 08 is a huge improvement over last year.

Did FM 07 ever run in Mac OSx? I never bought it simply because I was never 100% sure and because the one they have for sale on amazon.com had this under the platform section: Windows 98 / 2000 / Me / XP Professional / XP Home Edition.

Even though it says Mac on the box I never bought it for that reason alone :(

Yes, it does. Amazon just doesn't know about the existence of Macs.

Amazon.co.uk has the game planned for release on 26 October. Looks so close, I've already stopped playing 2007. (H)

The skin is horrendous. Hope the match engine has some significant improvements over 07.

Ah well.. looks like I'll just update my cm0102 data.... (who am I trying to fool? I always end up buying FM even though it's been a good year since I last gave it a good run... if only we still had SG Utd.....)

Skin aint all THAT bad. Just needs some more styling me thinks. Some polish

yeah, and there's always Hellenic :D

Release date: 19 October.

Yay! And what about the demo?

whats the source dude?

It's Ruud. Duh! :p

no, cause I've been reading the 26th all over :(

nah, i've seen October 19th too mate..

Source was http://www.insidegamer.nl/pc/footballmanager2008/nieuws/17388/Football-Manager-2008-verschijnt-op-19-oktober.html

Now...the demo. I need it (H)

when's it coming out?

Next few weeks at a guess.

Tomorrow.




















I can dream :(

well in that case i'm playing it right now :(

I played the FM 08 demo 3 years ago, beat that Fili. (H)

:p


ok, i played it 4 years ago.








you have to find something better for someone to beat, mate :(

we need dates. Tom, pull some strings, we need to know

http://www.sigames.com/downloads.php

Rumours are rapidly growing as the download section of their site is currently on maintenance.

Can we guess what is happening? Will the demo come out soon? Rumours time. (H)

The downloads server is currently undergoing routine maintenance

Lying bastards (6)

I want them to lie really.

(H)

They usually announce first when the demo is coming out. :evil:

Unless they are going to surprise us this time.

oooo. Surprise element. Me like

\o/

They released the demo without even announcing it last year. They just released it two or three weeks before the retail release date like they always do.

They released the demo without even announcing it last year. They just released it two or three weeks before the retail release date like they always do.


No they didn't.

If I remeber correctly, once the game went gold and they confirmed the release date they said the demo will be out in a week's or two week's time.

Something like that ..

I really want the demo.

Me too. Can't wait. :D
I'm eager to see wheter it's any better than FM 2007.

Here we go.

http://www.sigames.com/news.php?type=view&article_id=1278

Official demo release date...30th September sunday morning.

Not bad really, 1 week to go. I can wait until then, I'll just play Sega Rally Revo (H)

damn, why do they have to release the demo just a day before my exams begin!
:(

If only it had been released a few weeks/days earlier....

The graphics from the pics I have seen looks like crap....not sure if I will like the new layout or not but I am sure their will be better looking skins out in no time.

Actually, I for one like the new skin from the screenshots I've seen. Will have to wait and see if it functions well in-game though.

oh nice. i cant wait to see it :P

I also like the new skin, I got tired of the other one...

tbh I never liked any downloadable skins. They never have the professional quality of the default skin. wrong colors in the wrong place and information readability mostly are the problems.


Here we go.

http://www.sigames.com/news.php?type=view&article_id=1278

Official demo release date...30th September sunday morning.

Not bad really, 1 week to go. I can wait until then, I'll just play Sega Rally Revo (H)


If you are going to waste your time playing games on pc at least do it with a decent one... world in conflict for example :p (H)

Sega Rally just owns dude.

I wish not to go deeper into this :p

and.. er..FM demo coming soon.. woohoo!

How long do you guys think before the game comes out, after the demo?

guessing... within a month...?

This is the first time I've actually still had an active game going by the time the new demo rolled up. I'd better step up the game play.... build a decent team, win this EPL, CL, CWC..... in, what, less than a month? :(

haha, same as me Parra! I did have a game of 01/02 that went longer, but only because htere was no 02/03...So it was a long wait for 4...

Actually I think I've gone too far with this game to not go all the way. Conference South to Premier League is already done... I "just" need to win the trophies now :evil: As far as i'm concerned FM2008 won't be released until Fisher Athletic is world champion (H).

haha, Ive only done LLM properly once...I did it in CM4 I think it was. I got to about the third flight, then, took a job with Hibs in the SPL...Then got sick of that game.

My current one is a semi cheat/semi LLM game.

Before the game, I created a club with HUGE amounts of cash, a tiny stadium without seats, slightly above normal conference reputation (as my chairman just invested loads of cash, so obviously itd be above normal), a rich chairman, no players but a youth academy, and perfect training facilities.

My team started in conference south, its like ten years later now, so Im up the top of the league and in europe etc...But Im really attached to lots of my squad, simply because about half of the starting team came thru the academy..

the new FM has got alot of new features to it will be one of the best cannot wait for the demo which like you all know releases 30th September! but it has to be downloaded quickly as alot of people will start downloading and it will be very slow for few people , i know when i will come online to get it :)

Nah we'll post mirrors up once the actual thing gets released - hence most people can download it.

You're right though, if about five people are downloading simultaneously from sigames.com - it crashes (H)

So true :(

That's why I always try to download it from sites like Filefront etc.

If anyone finds or creates a torrent for the demo and isn't sure if it's ok to post: go right ahead.

There isn't one so far. I'm checking every important torrent site everyday (H)

well, seeing as it'll only be released on sunday, Johnny...

Some important staff from CM/FM fansites already have a version of the demo.

Luis Silvares from CMPortugal already has it. Of course he can't put it torrent. Maybe some asshole will do it.

Dont call that someone an asshole :(

haha, true (H)


whenever i see your nick i can't help but remember a House episode where that doctor who helps kids in africa is sick, there's a scene where House enters his room and starts messing around saying "boy is it hot here in Jani" :D

Why is everyone so excited? Its not like we're waiting for crysis demo. :p Its FM, pretty much the same game again..

Doh, now I get it, its the new skin that everyone just hates so much!... You all just wanna test/taste it and then come back and show/tell everyone just how reeaaallly bad it looks.
Awesome lets do that (H)

haha so true ;)
lol!

whenever i see your nick i can't help but remember a House episode where that doctor who helps kids in africa is sick, there's a scene where House enters his room and starts messing around saying "boy is it hot here in Jani" :D

For that reason alone, Scrubs > House :(

My major issue with FM07 was not being able to sell/buy players for a fair amount. Hope its fixed in 08.

so true. (Y)

Why is everyone so excited? Its not like we're waiting for crysis demo. :p Its FM, pretty much the same game again..

Doh, now I get it, its the new skin that everyone just hates so much!... You all just wanna test/taste it and then come back and show/tell everyone just how reeaaallly bad it looks.
Awesome lets do that (H)

Toni Kroos makes his first appearance.

Toni who?
ha! I can google man (H)
Bayern Munich. I even have a cousin who lives in munich and he and his dad both have season tickets..


so... next ballack? pffft, I dont even like the original (H)

I've signed Toni Kroos on Fm 06....or have i completely missed the point of dans comment :(

I don't think you did. He would have been 15 in FM06, and he wasn't in any sized database I saw for FM07.

He's the "next Ballack" in the sense that he'll be the next Attacking Mid for Germany. Doesn't play anything like him.

is Kaby going to be in this FM? :D

I don't think you did. He would have been 15 in FM06, and he wasn't in any sized database I saw for FM07.

He's the "next Ballack" in the sense that he'll be the next Attacking Mid for Germany. Doesn't play anything like him.

Nah Dan, i did. I just check my current game on FM 07 aswell, its 2020, and 30 yaer old Toni Kroos has been signed up for Kaiserslautern.

If anyone has any idea how to print screen on a laptop then i'll post a screenshot. Problem is my prnt screen button is in a box on the same button as the insert key. Anyone any idea which combination does it?

haven't you got a "Fn" button in it?

So thats what that bastards for! This is with the database that comes with the 7.0.2 update. No changes.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/8117/krooseu7.jpg

:)

it's probably because of the 7.0.2, maybe he didn't come in the original game, and they put him in the update?..

Tomorrowwwwwwwwwww. (H)

Miles' blog entries are great, give them a read you lads (Y)

at what time exactly would it be out?

it's probably because of the 7.0.2, maybe he didn't come in the original game, and they put him in the update?..

Yeah, I'm sure that's what happened. Sweet though! Thanks for that Stotty.

at what time exactly would it be out?
seconded.

oh boy wouldn't it be sweet if it was a midnight release? :D

Sigames already down. It's coming!!

*drum rolls*

it's out! here we go bitches, downloading right now (H)

Where????

right thurr.

http://fm08.footballmanager.net/en/article/101/1682.html

Here we gooo.

My speed gets up to 250, stays there, randomly drops to 60 and starts going up again (H)

This might take a while :o

Biatch. Stable on 68 kb per sec.

2 hours left. :(

Ok...67,4 kb per sec, 2 hrs and 30 min left.

DAMN.

350 kb/s ~ 20 minutes to go (H)

I think I got you all beat. Mine went 635 kb/sec, and it took about 15 minutes.

Gotta love Cox Cable!:clapwap:

got it in no more than 20 seconds at 4mb per second :)

got it in no more than 20 seconds at 4mb per second :)

Nick, you cheeky bastard. :(

haha damn thats one fast connection.

Think I'll just wait for the full game, if not for patch #1

i got it in 5 minutes straight

Why is everyone so excited? Its not like we're waiting for crysis demo. :p Its FM, pretty much the same game again..

D (H)



GameSpot reported that 4.2 million units of Halo 3 were in retail outlets on September 24, 2007, a day before official release,[6] a world record volume release. Halo 3 also holds the record for the highest grossing opening day in entertainment history, making $170 million in its first 24 hours



******* NUTS!!! I just saw the trailer for Crysis.......WHOA! I haven't been this worked up about a game since I saw the trailer for the latest GTA game, man........boy does it look phenomenal. But do you think that Crysis will do anywhere near the business that Halo has done? Come even within a hundred million of it?

Halo is overhyped and gets good reviews because M$ pays for that. Its an average fps pc wise with medicre gfx :p. And my current computer will barely even run Crysis. Is that enough? :(

Cool. Crysis looks overwhelming, man. It definitely has the look and feel of a next-gen design.


It's not exclusive to any one console, right?


I've been an EA fanboy ever since I was a kid, so I really hope that this game gives Halo a good run for its money, man.

Yoss, thread




:p