You may have played the Football Manager many times and must have wondered why you cannot play it the way fantasy football is played online. Now Sega and acclaimed developers Sports Interactive aim to change all that. They have announced Football Manager Live, a massively multiplayer online game based on the Football Manager series.
The MMOG will let gamers set-up mini-leagues amongst friends, bid in player auctions and compete in live matches 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. These matches take place in real-time with a range of tactical options for managers to control as they follow all the action via the realistic 2D match engine. Along with all that, the in-game chat option means managers can exchange comments on the virtual touchline (I think Arsene Wenger and Alan Pardew would love this game). Hopeful managers can view their competitors and learn their tactics too.
Football Manager Live would also allow gamers to control their club in a host of different ways. This ranges from the basics of choosing the club name, colours, badge and pitch size; right through to the nitty-gritty of balancing the finances and enhancing their squad by buying and selling players using an auction style transfer system.
Oliver Collyer, co-founder of Sports Interactive and the brains behind the Football Manager Live said, “With Football Manager Live, we’re ripping up the script that says how online football management games should work. We’re creating something that is fun, challenging and sociable.”
Miles Jacobson, Managing Director, Sports Interactive said, “Imagine a cross between Football Manager, fantasy sports and auctions sites and you are part of the way to understanding Football Manager Live. It’s great to be able to announce the game, and we can’t wait to see the reaction to the beta when it launches next month.”
Football Manager Live will release in Spring 2008 and the game will go in beta this May. So if you are aspiring to be a Mourinho, a Ferguson, or a Hitzfeld, this is the game you have been waiting for.