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Football Manager 2006 Q&A Feature

Derek dela Fuente

23/08/2005

TVG chats to Sports Interactive and discovers the improvements made during the summer season...

The Premiership may have kicked off however the season doesnât truly get underway for football fans until November 4th, when the latest title in Sports Interactive Football Manager series is unleashed upon a horde of fanatics.

Football Manager 2006 promises a vast selection of enhancements and introductions, most notably an overhaul to the training system (we promise it actually is) and a greater emphasis on relations between players, staff and the media. 2006 also marks the first time that the franchise will be making an appearance on the handhelds with the introduction of FM2006 for the Sony PSP and a faithful version arriving on the Xbox360.

TVG recently had the opportunity to speak to Miles Jacobson, Managing Director Sports Interactive, to ask him about the new versions and the various features in storeâ¦

"The main difference between our engine and others that weâve seen is that we are attempting to replicate a real match of football, whereas others are limited as they are using more arcade style engines..."

Last yearâs Football Manager was obviously the first title under a new name and a new publisher, and although the game was very well received and maintained SIâs pedigree of success it must have been a testing time for everyone at the team. How much of an impact did that have on the development on FM2005 and were you happy with the final result?

Weâd known that it was going to happen for a while, and had the plans in place already. The biggest changes for FM2005 were with the interface of the game, and this was already being worked on anyway. I expect we could have added more features, like some of the ones that have gone into Football Manager 2006, if weâd had more time, but we were exceptionally happy with Football Manager 2005, and agree with the review scores the game got, which were all pretty positive.

Twelve months on and weâre rapidly approaching the PC release of Football Manager 2006; how has development gone especially now that the game will be branching out as a multi-format title?

Development has gone really well so far, which you can see from the multitude of new features and innovations. The teams working on the other versions of the game are separate from the PC/Mac game, so the multi-format development hasnât really got in the way at all.

One of the key features that certainly got big thumbs up at the TVG office was the news of half-time team talks. How much of a bearing will this have on playerâs performance; is the effect more profound on certain types of players who are receptive to their manager, etcâ¦?

Player personalities will determine how they react to the half time and full time team talks, and the managerâs personality will affect the way that they handle the team talks. If you have a go at the wrong time, then the player will likely react badly, and play worse, but if you say the right thing at the right time then it will raise a players performance, as long as they have the right kind of personality for what you have told them.

One particular area that has always been hard to nail seems to be training; what can fans expect from FM2006, will players have a greater control and no longer need to issue it to the assistant all the time?

Training is completely different for FM2006. The old training module was way too complicated, and not a lot of fun, so weâve given more power to the coaches and you tell them what areas you want them to concentrate on, with them deciding the plan of action necessarily. Obviously a poor coach will do a worse job on this than a good one.

"The Xbox360 is a very powerful machine, and yes, we are looking at Live for all kinds of different thingsâ¦"

Football Manager 2006 appears to be a more personalised experience with emphasis on individuals and man-to-man management; can you elaborate on this for us, the ever increasing role of the media and the relationship between managers and staff.

As media becomes more important in the real football world itâs important that Football Manager reflects that as well, and itâs the same for the personal management of players. Weâve tried to keep it at a level where it is fun to do, but still an integral part of the game. Thereâs more to football than just tactics.

What enhancements has the match engine undergone and what are your thoughts on those offered by recent competition; what makes SI games feel so realistic in comparison?

Paul Collyer and Ray Houghton have spent a lot of time working on the match engine, with Rayâs comments being invaluable to the continued development of the engine. The main difference between our engine and others that weâve seen is that we are attempting to replicate a real match of football, whereas others are limited as they are using more arcade style engines, so what goes on on the pitch is different to what happens in real life, with less midfield play, and less passing because of it. A real football match is not normally âend to endâ stuff, and if you watch a full match in our game you will see that taken into account.

Weâve had SI football management titles for the last 13 years; do you still get excited by what youâre doing and where can you see the Football Manager series heading for the next 13 years???

Yes, weâre still excited. The world of football has changed so much in the last 13 years, and continues to do so, so itâs never dull. With all the extra innovations in the past, who knows what will happen in the future, particularly as we donât know where technology will head in that time.

"Memory stick size shouldnât be too much of an issue, and the wi-fi connectivity is something we are looking at very seriously in the long term for the series."

Football Manager will be making the move to the Xbox360 in 2006, however Xbox fans previously had a brief excursion with Championship Manager. Does the Xbox360 give you a greater scope then the previous hardware and besides being a 100% faithful adaptation what can we expect â“ are you taking Live into the equation for data updates or possibly multiplayer options?

The Xbox360 is a very powerful machine, and yes, we are looking at Live for all kinds of different things, more of which will be revealed closer to the release date of the Xbox360 game in March. The aim is to have the same game as the PC version, but obviously with a very different control mechanism, but itâs working well at the moment and will only get better in the run up to the release. Weâre very excited to be working on the Xbox360 at such an early stage.

FM2006 is also the first time that the franchise will be brought to a handheld â“ the Sony PSP (thank you so much SI). Naturally the demands of the PSP will be more restrictive then PC/360 so what can we expect; which match-engine are you using, will there be any demands to have large capacity MemorySticks; can we expect any use of the Wi-Fi connectivity, etc...

We approached PSP development in a very different way of that of the PC or Xbox360 versions, as handheld gaming is a very different experience to that of a PC or console. The aim is to make the perfect game to play whilst itâs half time at the footy, or when you have a spare 15 minutes, but obviously also taking into account longer train journeys and flights. Memory stick size shouldnât be too much of an issue, and the wi-fi connectivity is something we are looking at very seriously in the long term for the series.

The connectivity between the PSP and the Xbox360 as a USB device has been well documented in recent times; do you have any plans to use this type of setup in future versions â“ cross connectivity between two platforms while in the home or away could surely be a radical step forwards?

Not between Xbox360 & PSP, or PC & PSP, as they are very different games. But if the time comes when there are similar versions of the game to the PSP version then cross connectivity is not ruled out at all, and we hope to be able to release similar content to that that we do on the PC version post release to the Xbox360 aswell, but the Xbox360 team would have the final say on that.

TVG would like to thank Miles Jacobson for taking the time to answer our questions; weâre currently getting stuck into the beta-test and will have lots more on the title soonâ¦