Football Manager 2009 dated, detailed

By Robert Purchese Published 4 September, 2008

Coming in November with a 3D match engine.

Sports Interactive plans to release brand new Football Manager games for PC and PSP on 14th November.

Star attraction for PC (Football Manager 2009) fans will be a flashy 3D match engine, according to an official video unveiling by studio boss Miles Jacobson.

This feature has been in development for three years and been tested rigorously by the Football Manager Live (MMO) beta crowd. Here action can be rewound whenever you wish, and a TV view adopted that makes the game fullscreen, cluttered with only user-selected data windows.

Incidentally, the 2D engine remains as a fall-back for preference or slower computers.

Other improvements include improved assistant manager feedback and greater media involvement, including press conferences and transfer rumours. We're told relationships with journalists will be key, and Jacobson warns to watch your words as they may come back to bite you.

The transfer system has been completely rewritten to be more efficient and accurate, and board confidence has been transformed. Plus, refreshed data for a record of over 350,000 players and staff has been implemented. In the hunt for authentication, SI has also mimicked real-life financial modelling from around the world.

Threads and threads of community feedback have also led to a redesigned user interface and the inclusion of widescreen support. And female managers.

Football Manager Handheld for PSP has had its fair share of overhauls as well.

Up to three additional leagues from around Europe can now be picked to run alongside your starting table, and SI has got the 2D match engine from the PC version up and running. This has two views: full-match or zoomed-in.

On top of this are a choice of two skins, one light and dark; apparently Jacobson and team couldn't decide which one to to add, so both were chucked in.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • hiddenranbir #1 3 years ago

    Literally splurged. FM08 runs daily on my computer, infact I'm playing it right now.

    Can't wait.

  • ERG1008 #2 3 years ago

    Yep, haven't been excited about a game for ages.
    This does look like it's going to be rather good.

  • Orange #3 3 years ago

    Sounds very good, a welcome refresh.

    I may well dip back into it for the 3rd engine and the assistant manager. I quit playing them several years ago because I got bored of not being able to see the players and having to muddle through all that data trying to figure things out.

  • bdgr #4 3 years ago

    want it. want it now.

    the nwe additions to FM09 sound VERY good. Not too sure about the match engine - it looks good, but from the video and screenshots it looks like it won;t be that easy to tell your players apart...

  • T-Bag #5 3 years ago

    The 3D match engine has not been tested on FML as implied by the article. The normal match engine however, has been.

  • ciril #6 3 years ago

    Want!

  • jmg123 #7 3 years ago

    This is one of the few game series that I will preorder before any details of the new version have been released!! I play it for a few minutes almost daily! GLad they have finally fixed widescreen mode.

    "Your relationship has now expired"

  • the_sas_man #8 3 years ago

    So how much money are they going to give Man City?!?

  • Miles_SI #9 3 years ago

    Just to clarify a couple of things

    We've been working towards a 3d match engine view for 3 years - the match view that you can see in the video was started about a year ago.

    T-Bag - it's the same engine. It's the display that's different, and you can see it in 2d or 3d in FM09.

  • Luckyjim #10 3 years ago

    @ the_sas_man

    Good point about Man City.

    I reckon I'm going to pick up the PSP version. The PC - or in my case, Mac - is just far too dangerous.

  • MDL199 #11 3 years ago

    I'm stunned that they've managed to fit the 2d match engine into the PSP version. I really can't wait, I play FM on my PSP every single day and even prefer it to the pc version.

    Roll on November 14th!

  • WillyWanka #12 3 years ago

    Damn you, SI,all I want is my life back, stop making this game please! WHY WON'T YOU LET ME LIVE ;_;
    Edited by 1 at 04/09/08 @ 19:14

  • T-Bag #13 3 years ago

    Yeah I realise that Miles, I guess my post wasn't much clearer than the article!

    Just reading it implies (to me) that we have been testing FML using the 3D display.

    Anyway I think it looks fantastic and it's about time we had some revolution rather than evolution. I guess the development time explains why the 2d dots were never expanded on.

  • BTBAM #14 3 years ago

    jmg123 - 'I play it for a few minutes almost daily'

    How the fuck do you have that willpower and can I have some?

    I'm gutted I can't buy this game, but I'm in the 3rd year of my law degree and if I want to be a lawyer in 2 years time I'm going to have to avoid this game. I also have a girlfriend and a flat to maintain, and I don't want to end up in debt living in a bush with no one around mebecause of this. FM08 once I'd got into it destroyed my 2nd year of uni, and has resulted in countless occasions of my girlfriend having a cold or feeling rough making me strangely happy so I could have another few games to satisfy my desire.

    This game's been ruining my life since 1998, and long may it continue.

  • bdgr #15 3 years ago

    i had to stop playing fm08 last month, my game was taking about 5 minutes at best to process whenever i hit continue. Oh how i want 09 now, i promise not to put too many leagues in this time!

  • smelly #16 3 years ago

    So it doesnt come with a free copy of excel then?

  • Ikari2001 #17 3 years ago

    however much I tell myself I'll never come back to CM/FM... I just keep coming back! Almost killed my degree off too lol

    BTBAM ! Hold out! play it after the degree! There'll always be FM2010 hehe

  • Ikari2001 #18 3 years ago

    oh yeah, and 3d match engine? sweeeet! :D

  • Wyrm #19 3 years ago

    3D match could be HORRIBLE, but the way they seem to have done it in the video looks pretty interesting. Could be the best update for some time... just hope it isn't as hard as 08.

  • TheMoonRat #20 3 years ago

    Well as they say, the underlying engine is exactly the same; so it will again be a tweaked version of the 08 engine, but with amazingly great feedback you can only get with tens of thousands of player vs player games they've got with Football Manager Live. Difference being you have the option to see it in a different way. I don't think it will be too impressive personally; it will take a couple of iterations like the 2d match engine required to get it looking like proper football; but I applaud SI Games for giving it a go and willing to take the biggest step they have in the game since they introduced the 2D game :)

  • tripitaka #21 3 years ago

    I wonder what system requirements are like?
    I'm curently playing 08 on my little laptop with a 1024x600 display.

    Hopefully the new version will still have the small screen support...

  • curtlikesmeat #22 3 years ago

    Nothing against the guys who make it as they do a great job but I haven't played a Championship Manager (or FM now) game for about 8 or 9 years. I found them becoming too complex as I didn't want to be bothered with reserve teams, how some obscure player in my B team needed a tissue to blow his nose and all that detail. With all due respect the game is still just a really complex database.

    What I would love to see is the SI guys getting together with the FIFA guys and making what would surely go down as one of the best games of all time. That would be amazing.

  • hiddenranbir #23 3 years ago

    On the Man City thing, they will give them as much money as they literally spent on Transfers plus a bit more.

    That is what they did with Chelsea. They didn't put Abramovich's entire wealth into the club. They used how much he had actually invested.


    SI guys are with Sega. So it is up to Sega if they want to partner with rival publisher.
    Edited by 1 at 05/09/08 @ 11:02

  • raydenvm #24 3 years ago

    Best Football Manager 2009 Features in Screenshots and Videos:

    http://football-managers.blo gspot.com/2008/09/football-manager-2009-features-in.html