Football Manager 08

October 19th, the confirmed date for FM 08 to hit the shelves, estimated retail price £24.99.

Now I just have to find some money.

Took half a day to download the demo, mainly as I had problems getting onto their site. No doubt due to high traffic (seriously, would it kill you to release it from a mirror as well?), but it was worth it. They’ve added several new features, mainly media interaction, but also updated some aspects of the transfer window and match engine. Also you can select an official club captain, and your choice may make someone who thought they are a better captain angry. Some people say that the FM, and Championship Manager seiries have become far too indepth, and are no longer pick-up and play. I don’t care. I like my football management simulators to be as close to reality as possible. My first one was a copy of Championship Manager 2, which I bought 5 years late for £5. It was pretty basic, but I enjoyed it. Enough to buy the latest version. I still play it from time to time, and every time I am astounded by how much is different.

And I’m not just talking about the players.

Whenever I play it for nostalgia’s sake, I am always wondering why I can’t do x, and in the end I have to play the latest version, as I can do so much more.

And for that reason, I will continue to pay £30 a year for a game I already have, and never completed.

England through to Semis

I remember speaking to an Australian friend of mine, over msn, last week, where we discussed the upcoming England v Australia quatre final game. We both came to the agreement that it would be an all-southern hemisphere semi-final (Australia, NZ, SA, Argentina), with either Australia and NZ winning it (depending on who won thier semi final meeting).

Now we’re eating our words.

Not that I’m a huge rugby fan. I prefer our national passtime, football, and take only a passing interest in the sport. But this is very good, not only for the England Rugby Union team, as they have been playing awfully since…well, when did we last win the world cup? 4 years ago. Then-ish. Where we beat Australia.  By a similarly narrow margin. Anyway, this is very good for morale, especially considering our 36-0 whitewash against the Springboks (who, despite England’s good fortune, I think will probably win). It shows that we can still…well, play? It doesn’t matter that we only won it by 2 points, what matters is we won against one of the best teams in the world (although, as reigning champions, we ARE the best team in the world). Anyway, this is also a good day for english sport in general, as over the past year we have been through various stages of fail with our 3 national sports. Rugby has been in a decline since we won the World Cup, the Cricket World Cup was a shambles (almost as much as the investigation into Bob Woolmer’s death), and the less said McClaren’s team start to the year the better (although we have started to pick up now, through the happy coincidence of Gareth Barry and Shaun Wright-Phillips playing in place of injured regular first team players (which is sort of the opposite of our Rugby Squad)).

 But of course it gets better, as we will not play NZ in the Semi Finals. They lost to France.

 And here I was thinking that of the 6 nations Scotland had the best chance of getting through to the semis. Not that I think they will.