You only have to look at the spec and feature list for Championship Manager 2006 to see that the list of improvements and expansion of ideas marks this down as a big step forward for the game. With the competition for brand leader ongoing it has more to do with the loyalty of fans to one specific football manager title than possibly new additions to a title but word of mouth does play a significant factor. Derek dela Fuente spoke with Luke Didd - Championship Manager 2006, Producer to find out if this can really excite football fans.

In terms of new additions and changes how do you view this over past releases of the game and what do you see as a few of the significant improvements?

The new additions to Championship Manager 2006 have seen the game greatly improve over CM5. Not only has the game moved forward in terms of the Gameplan 3D representation of the football match, but we have really focussed on the core gameplay. In addition to this we have also added more depth to the users experience with a player interaction system, which allows the user to talk to the player on any of the issues they may have. We've also added a club benefactor option which allows the user to choose to have cash injection on a per-season basis, and also the simulated world option which allows the user to have all other nations running in the background, freeing the user to do more manual scouting.

There is the view that each new season's release can never justify a new, full priced release would you please comment?

Personally as someone who has been playing football management simulations for the past 15 years or so, one of my must have purchases is an updated footy management game. The fact that the football world changes so much in a year means that there is always something new for these games to offer. But above all else having realistic, updated and accurate data is the biggest reason. The work and effort that goes into this is enormous. When you add in the new features, polish to existing features, and optimisation to speed then a yearly release is certainly something that I think is totally justified.

"Personally as someone who has been playing football management simulations for the past 15 years or so, one of my must have purchases is an updated footy management game..."

How active have you been in researching what gamers want? What would be the typical kind of feedback you have gained from Champ Manager fans and how focused and even critical can you be on rival titles like LMA, Premier Manager, and Football Manager?

As you are aware we have the Championship Manager community (www.championshipmanager.com) which has provided us with the perfect opportunity to gather ideas and suggestion on how to improve the game. After CM5 was released many of us were very active on the boards listening to the comments being made and trying to ensure that our direction followed everyone's needs. We have also kept an eye on our competitors, and can always find fault with their, and our own, games. That's what keeps us going. We would never criticise their games though, as we're only too aware of how difficult is to replicate something that's based on real life!

Continuing on from the last question. Each gamer has their own favourite football management title. Have you done any research on gaining a new punter who has previously been a fan of one of the opposing management titles? Does the average football gamer own more than one management title and what is the usual criteria for purchasing?

Eidos has been doing lots of market research to answer these questions and I know this is and will always be an important and on-going process for them. They also provide us with very useful pointers into what people want from the game and this has helped with our innovations for this release.

Has the look, execution and layout of Champ Man 2006 changed in any way and how would you quantify it as being the most realistic to date?

Partly. Champ Man 2006 has a new look, and so far we have added two new skins and are currently looking at more. We are confident that CM2006 will have a look to suit everyone.

As far as realism is concerned CM2006 is not just about buying and selling players, and playing matches, as you now have to manage your squad much like the modern day manager. Not only that but when you look at the match engine with less skilled players, say in League 2 compared to those in the Premier League, you can really see there is a real difference in the way football is played. All this leads us to believe that we are now offering a game with the depth and realism expected from Championship Manager.

Also, is there an increasing role of the media and the relationship between managers and staff?

We have actually spent a lot of time working on the media and therefore this has seen major improvements. We have overhauled the coaching and scouting reports and for the first time your coaches and scouts will not only summarise if the player is good enough for your squad but they will also point out the strength and weaknesses of each player. We have also added match previews, which offers manager and chairmen comments similar to what you would see on the web. But I think most importantly we have improved the overall feedback to the user. The highlight of this must be the transfer feedback and this offers all the information a user needs as to why a bid or contract is not good enough to clubs and players.

The Club Benefactor Mode is interesting. Has this been implemented because of recent events at Chelsea and Hearts and what exactly will this option give the player? With very rich chairmen, it in effects gives the player and open book!?

The Club Benefactor Mode is interesting. We noticed that many people playing the game liked to give their club money boosts either by changing data or by using 3rd party packages to do this. We took this onboard and decided to add a feature which I must point out is optional. Now, when a user is selecting his team to manage they will be able to choose to have a club benefactor. This not only gives the user more money for transfers and wages each season but there is also a downside which sees the clubs expectations raised. This makes it much more difficult to play the game, as if you don't spend the money on the right players and get results to meet expectations then you will be out!

What kind of team/personnel do you have ongoing from game to game to ensure all the facts pertaining to players, teams and appearances?

Research for the game is handled by our in-house research team, our growing network of volunteers, and carefully selected partners (we are again working with Opta, who will be providing us with data relating to a small subset of the database).

We have a superb team of 5 permanent researchers at BGS; apart from having watched football for longer than he cares to remember, Head of Research Richard Green has a background in professional research and completed a Masters dissertation on Football Information Services; Derek McAvoy is a Board Member of the Rangers Supporters Trust; Chris Jones is a walking encyclopaedia of English football and has played semi-pro in Norway; Krzysztof Cyluk has worked as part of the scouting set-up for a top Bundesliga club, and Ian King is a legend among football stats websites! As well as doing a lot of the initial set-up, the internal team quality checks, tweaks and balances data provided by our research network.

The research network is very much the heart of the research effort, with fans around the world providing grass roots input on their own clubs, players and a whole heap of other details from referees to competition formats and timings. Many of these researchers have been recruited through the official website at www.championshipmanager.com; we are still looking to expand the network as we add data for new countries and leagues to our database. Anyone interested in providing data can contact the team at bgsresearch@bgstudios.co.uk.

We are also working with Opta, who will be well known to every football fan in the UK and have a reputation as one of the best and most professional suppliers of football and player performance data in the business.

"The research network is very much the heart of the research effort, with fans around the world providing grass roots input..."

Included is an accurate fitness regimes devised by Mervyn Day? Please tell us more about this feature as well as the benefits to be able to studying your opposition's current form through parallel match processing.

The fitness regimes we have added are more to do with match fitness. We wanted to ensure that the game offered a realistic match fitness system which in-turn affects how sharp a player is in the match and how quick they tire. This is where Mervyn came in, as we actually got a full design from him explaining how to implement training, reserve matches and 1st team performances to allow us to give a player the matchday sharpness required to compete to the best of his ability. We have also added an option which will now see players lacking match practice automatically being selected for reserve matches, pretty much the same as what you would expect in the modern game. As for parallel match processing, this allows the user to watch any match whilst the game progresses. There is also a menu which allows the user to watch the next opposition's last match so you can study how they play and who to watch out for based on real performances.

Could you tell us a few facts the new 3D GamePlan match engine, and what do you see as the innovations of the game?

The Gameplan engine is a fantastic addition to the game. We felt that although the tilted '2D' match in CM5 was a step in the right direction it never offered enough feedback to the user. With the Gameplan engine the game has taken a step closer to 3D and is actually a 3D representation of a football match. This basically means it's not a fully animating engine with player likenesses. However, it does offer the user more choice with 11 different camera angle to watch the game from. One of these is the blimp view which should satisfy those users who like the 2D aspect, and the others add much more depth to what you see. In conclusion the gameplan engine actually shows off what we have been saying all along - the action on the pitch is truly happening in 3 dimensions with all the thrills and spills of real life.

In addition to the gameplan we continued to ensure that not only did the engine offer more in-terms of looks and feedback, but the football being played was greatly improved too. We have revised pretty much every bit of action being played on the pitch from defending, marking, set-pieces and attacking, so CM2006 really does have a much better match day experience.

Can you expand on the scouting system with it's simulate option and what this will mean to the gamer?

Basically I mentioned earlier that simulate world allows the user to have every nation running real competitions with no noticeable reduction to the game speed. This means that there will be correct results, player performances, and injuries, with real player and manager awards. All this will make the manual scouting of Championship Manager 2006 much easier for the user. If you want a striker you can go to Italy, look at the leading scorers table, and easily pick your target. Like I say, performances of the player actually come from real matches so the user will really know whether a player is good or not! No longer is it just about looking at stats!

What can you see as next step in football management games?

This is a difficult one as the football world is ever changing and could give away any future plans we have. Generally I would say realism is key and that football management simulations need to ensure gamers really are being offered the chance to manage a football team!

...football management simulations need to ensure gamers really are being offered the chance to manage a football team!

Finally and thank you for your time, can you ever see the emergence of full blown football action and management games as one and does technology rule any future ideas that may not be possible at present?

Yes, I think these have also been done various times in the past with different types of player manager titles and I know other football action games are trying to offer more in terms of management options. I don't think there are many technical restrictions that will stop any of our future ideas, but with that said we probably keep a lot of our immediate ideas here fairly down to earth.

TVG would like to thank Luke Didd for taking the time to answer our questions. We'll have more news on Championship Manager 2006 in the future.