Sports Interactive yesterday announced 2011's version of their life-altering, habit-forming Football Manager series. The game's first screenshots are below, and I spoke to developer Sports Interactive's Studio Director Miles Jacobson – look out for the interview later on the site – who explained a few of the game's key features. Obviously, you'll be managing footballers under your charge, but there's a greater focus this year on reactivity: negotiations with players and agents are done quickfire over a virtual table, doing away with previous years' oddly slow back and forth on contract discussion.
The in-game news has been streamlined, keeping players abreast of a wider world view outside their own league, as super-detailed code behind the scenes calculates your possible positions in all your competitions with tiny calculators or something.
Miles also detailed a set of tweaks and additions designed to please the hardcore FM fan. Dynamic league reputation being one of the most readily explained: like the emergent Russian leagues, if teams begin to do well, players who wouldn't previously have touched clubs with a pole made of money will now consider a permanent move there. Now you can live your dream of bringing Danny Murphy to FC Metalurh Zaporizhya. If a Ukrainian team win the Champ's League, anyway.
I'll be posting the interview with Miles shortly, with full juicy details and other FM fun. Wives of the planet, prepare your court cases.
