Publisher:	Sega
Developer:	Sports Interactive
Released:	14 Nov 2008
Genre	Action
Platform

The most realistic representation of the world of football management is back and set to hit PC and Macintosh on November 14th

LONDON (September 4th, 2008) – Sports Interactive & SEGA Europe Ltd. yesterday announced via a video on their YouTube channel (www.youtube.co.uk/sigames) that Football Manager™ 2009 for PC and Apple Macintosh will be released on November 14th.

FootballManager™ 2009 is set to feature a vast array of all new featuresincluding, for the first time ever, a full 3D view of the world famousFootball Manager™ match engine. Football Manager™ Handheld 2009 forSony PSP is also set for release on the same day and sees the debut ofa 2D match engine for the handheld franchise.

The FootballManager™ match engine is being brought into full 3D with motioncaptured animations for each player, developed in conjunction withSEGA’s in-house studio, Sports R&D Division. You can now watch yourmatches in 3D from multiple camera angles, and can re-watch any part ofthe match by fast forwarding and rewinding the action using a new matchtime bar that flags the key moments in the game. There is also a newfull screen TV view, where players can customise their match view bychoosing the information they would like to view during the match, beit the latest scores or player performance stats for the match, andarranging this information onscreen using a new drag-and-drop widgetsystem, that lets players customise their match day screen with theinformation that they need as a football manager.

“With the 3Dview of the match engine, and dozens of animations for each player,this year is definitely one of revolution for the Football Manager™series,” commented Miles Jacobson, Studio Director of SportsInteractive. “We always said that we wanted to make the in-game matchengine fully 3D but that we wouldn’t do so until we were confident thatit was technically possible, and after nearly 3 years work and withhuge thanks to Sports R&D Division, it’s now here.”

FootballManager™ 2009 will also allow players to receive added help from theirAssistant Manager with pre-match and in-match feedback on how the teamis performing, as well as hints on how the team could play better. Soif you can’t work out why your tactics aren’t working, why theopposition seem to effortlessly demolish your team, or why a newsigning isn’t fulfilling his potential, having the advice of a goodAssistant Manager will be an invaluable asset.

The media systemhas been vastly improved to provide the player with an unprecedentedlevel of detail on what’s going on at their club and the in-gamefootball world as a whole. Football Manager™ 2009 also sees theintroduction of press conferences for the first time. Attend pre-matchand post-match press conferences with local and national journalistsbut choose your answers carefully because they could come back to hauntyou in the media at a later date!

The entire transfer system hasbeen completely overhauled and re-written, providing an even morerealistic simulation of real-life football, with the addition oftransfer rumours so you can view the hottest news on what players arebeing speculated on, and who’s said to be interested in securing theirservices.

Players can be trained to learn a wide variety of‘preferred moves’ to add to their game on the pitch that are applicableto their played position, so you can train central defenders to holdonto possession, or wingers to cut inside to bypass the full backs.

FootballManager™ 2009 allows you to play as a female manager for the very firsttime, so you can be the first woman to lead your favourite team todomestic and European glory. The game will also be fully updated forthe new 2008/09 football season with all the latest league, club andplayer data, featuring over 5,000 playable clubs from over 50countries, and around 350,000 players and staff from around the world,drawn fresh from the famous Sports Interactive database.

You can view the Football Manager 2009 announcement video now at www.youtube.co.uk/sigames where you will see footage of the new features, including the 3D matchengine. Further features will be announced closer to the launch of thegame in November via a series of blogs, podcasts and news stories.

FootballManager 2009 for PC and Apple Macintosh, and Football ManagerHandheld 2009 for Sony PSP are both set for release on November 14th.