In an ideal world there would be informative, full-length documentaries on every interesting facet of games—my personal hope is for a Looking Glass documentary exploring, among other things, the fantastic Thief series—but Football Manager is a solid alternative, what with it being probably the most quietly successful management sim around. FilmNova have made such a film, entitled An Alternative Reality: The Football Manager Documentary, and it's coming to select UK cinemas next month.
I could write what I know about Football Manager on the carapace of a ladybird, but it's wonderful to see a seemingly fairly in-depth management/simulator game have such far-reaching appeal. According to Sports Interactive's Miles Jacobson, "The documentary isn't our story—it's the story of the people who escape to the alternative reality of being a football manager, and the effect this has had on their lives. It's also the story of how a computer game made by football fans has become a part of the world it set out to replicate.
"But it's not just for people who play—it's also for people who've ever wondered why others spend so much time escaping into this world."
In other words, you don't need to be a Football Manager fan to watch it. You do, however, need to be able to get to one of the following Vue cinemas, which are confirmed to be showing the documentary for one night only on Tuesday October 7th. I imagine it'll be out on DVD sometime afterwards, but it's always nice to see films on a big screen. Following the screening, there will be a short advert type thing that details some of Football Manager 2015's new features, along with a Q&A with Jacobson.
If your local Vue cinema isn't listed below, and you'd like it to show the film, there's some sort of Twitter campaign going on here .
- Aberdeen
- Birkenhead
- Birmingham Star City
- Bolton
- Bristol Cribbs
- Bury the Rock
- Cardiff
- Cheshire Oaks
- Doncaster
- Edinburgh Omni
- Fulham
- Gateshead
- Glasgow Fort
- Islington
- Leeds Light
- Manchester Lowry
- Oxford
- Piccadilly
- Plymouth
- Portsmouth
- Reading
- Sheffield
- Swansea
- Watford
- Westfield White City
- Westfield Stratford
Cheers, Eurogamer .
