I wish Football Manager looked more like FIFA Manager

[x42bn6]

I don't. Less is more.

[Nik_Dut]

I don't mind an FM gameplay with FIFA MANAGER's graphic installment.

[lil ole me]

I don't mind an FM gameplay with FIFA MANAGER's graphic installment.

New company....EA Interactive

[velonce]

I introduced the football management game concept to my friends who were keen on football but not addicts. I don't think it's surprising that they found FIFA much easier to get into due to the layout and graphics used abundantly. They just couldn't get into FM since it was so text based. I remember when I first started, I played another rival game. Then I heard FM was better so I made the switch. When I first started I was not amused that everything looked like a spreadsheet. Thought of quitting but I persevered. But sure enough eventually, I though FM was the better game!

I find that FM currently lacks an immersion factor especially in big games such as the champions league final. Graphically, it looks the same as a friendly. I think Stan Petrovs ideas http://www.community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=26782 would take the game in the right direction. Though I'm used to the plain graphics FM has to offer currently, I also feel that it would be much much better with improved graphics. It would help entice new players to the game. As long as the screens don't become cluttered, or slow the game down noticeably!

[jakobx]

This topic is a mess. Could you people read what he wrote before posting. This is not about fifa's features. I agree with the original poster. FM seriously needs a face lift and it would be a better game if they would improve their presentation. I dont know if FIFA's look is what we need but pretty much anything would a step in a right direction. There was a topic not long ago where someone used FM's look and added a few player pictures here and there and it looked vastly better.

[x42bn6]

New company....EA Interactive

Sports Interactive Sports?

[Schotsmannetje]

This topic is a mess. Could you people read what he wrote before posting. This is not about fifa's features. I agree with the original poster. FM seriously needs a face lift and it would be a better game if they would improve their presentation. I dont know if FIFA's look is what we need but pretty much anything would a step in a right direction. There was a topic not long ago where someone used FM's look and added a few player pictures here and there and it looked vastly better.

While I was reading through this topic I thought the exact same thing.

Guys: He's asking if FM needs a graphical facelift yes or no, and if a graphical overhaul of the game would make you like the game more. He's not asking whether FIFA Manager is a good game.

That being said: Although I play FM in a very indepth way (you know: tweaking training, tactics, andsoforth), there are, without overstating, hundreds and hundreds of buttons and links in the different menus that I don't use and find completely useless. In my opinion the good man that started this topic is spot on.

I know it's a difficult thing to do, but I would really appreciate it if FM's interface would be made much more simple, without losing depth. Why is it that in some places I can find 3 different buttons to get me to my scouting screen??!! (without even counting the hotkey-shortcut) What's the bloody point? There's one dropdown-menu all the way at the top, then there are those icons just beneath that, and then there is the tree-menu on the left.

Why?

They could make FM look so much better if they would stick with just 1 of those menus and improve its looks. Why have 3 different menus for the same buttons? In my opinion they should just stick with the dropdown-menu at the top, because it can contain the most buttons, and make it look a lot better. You will have a much better looking game. And a less intimidating interface for newcomers.

As an audio engineer I always like to compare FM's interface with an analogue mixing console for audio. For a noob, it looks gigantic and people that have never used one before are intimidated by the thousands and thousands of buttons. Fact of the matter is, that they're all the same. A mixing console can have 200 channels, or more, but at the end of the day each bloody channel is exactly the same.

[Simbad]

Guys: He's asking if FM needs a graphical facelift yes or no, and if a graphical overhaul of the game would make you like the game more. He's not asking whether FIFA Manager is a good game.

I agree that some of the comments appear to be going off-topic, but I think the sentiment behind some of these is that there's pro's and con's from a gameplay perspective based on the look and feel.

I'm a Software Engineer myself, and it's generally good practice to try and assist users with relating certain types of interface and screen regions with certain types of actions.

It appears to me that in Football Manager the icon menus along the top provide some high level navigation, the menus to the top left provide some lower level navigation and the menus to the bottom left provide most of the actions. This is pretty consistent regardless of what task or screen you're working with at any one time.

Most of the FIFA Manager screens function as if they've been designed by individuals with little coordination. Sure they all "look" the same, but buttons and actions are all over the place.

I'd like to think that if the screens in Football Manager just need a freshen up then this could be achieved by skinning. From a functionality perspective the screens appear to have evolved into something that "just works".

[AdzH]

That age old question is suitable in this instance:

Do you go for the women who looks stunning but is empty between the ears, or the moderately attractive one who actually has a personality...

Easy choice if you ask me...

[Schotsmannetje]

Here we go again…

[jamboblue]

there are certain features from fifa manager that i like, for example the map that shows you where the team is based that you are playing but apart from that you might as well be playing premier manager!

[jakobx]

That age old question is suitable in this instance:

Do you go for the women who looks stunning but is empty between the ears, or the moderately attractive one who actually has a personality...

Easy choice if you ask me...

Exactly .. you go for the good looking one. Just because she is ugly doesnt mean she has a personality and vice versa.

[CaptainPlanet]

Exactly .. you go for the good looking one. Just because she is ugly doesnt mean she has a personality and vice versa.

That doesn't answer the question, because the question already implies that she has a personality. You've changed the question with your response.

[Schotsmannetje]

The question the topic-starter asks is this:

If you have a girlfriend with a wonderful personality, would you love her more if she became prettier?

Let's be honest: Of course you would.

[CaptainPlanet]

The question the topic-starter asks is this:

If you have a girlfriend with a wonderful personality, would you love her more if she became prettier?

Let's be honest: Of course you would.

Not if you've grown to love the way she looks now.

[Schotsmannetje]

Not if you've grown to love the way she looks now.

Touché, mate. Touché.

[peter-evo]

The question the topic-starter asks is this:

If you have a girlfriend with a wonderful personality, would you love her more if she became prettier?

Let's be honest: Of course you would.

Sums it up nicely!

[SSGTroyer]

The question the topic-starter asks is this:

If you have a girlfriend with a wonderful personality, would you love her more if she became prettier?

Let's be honest: Of course you would.

Not if you could edit/change the way she looks at will...

[JR866Gunner]

I even would like to see a map of the countrie and it shows who is nearby rivals or you could at least look to see whos rivals if your curious, i think that would be a cool addition!

[Respected_Boss]

I personally wouldn't play any of the FIFA series, Manager or the Playing one. I can't stand EA and refuse to give them money. FM and Pro Evo for me everytime. Looks aren't everything, gameplay is what counts.

Pro Evo 2009 was a massive disappointment, fifa 09 trumps it im afraid, and this is coming from someone who used to swear by PES

[Aim_Less]

Fm needs a interface lift , i agree with the OP

[santa19]

i agree entirely that FM needs an overhaul and a big make over as the 'fun' aspect seems to have gone from the game and SI themselves seem to treat the game as a chore as before the game came out they were saying about all the long horrible hours they've put in and cant wait to have a break etc. i think thats why FM09 hasnt lived up to expectations. I therefore think that SI could take some of the features from a game like FIFA Manager for example the build your own stadium feature as managers do have a say in the designs of stadiums!!! Glascow Rangers stadium (Ibrox) was designed by their manager at the time and also maybe a feature on kits as Sir Alex Ferguson does have a say in what new kits look like and the same said for Mick McCarthy at Wolves. People say that SI wont go down that route cause its not what managers do but what chairman's do etc but managers do do it! and this would just put a little bit more fun back into the game.

I know however, that SI wont do this so i suggest that they do something with Chief Executives that they go and approach agents to see if someone is available and maybe bring back the feature of a chairman buying a favoured player like Abramovich did with Shevchenko. This feature used to be in FM but for some reason SI decided to take it away but i think its a good feature and should be brought back in. I think the 3D match engine should be revamped aswell along with the transfer system as in one of my games Barcelona spent £35m on Brighi from serie A which is completely unrealistic. The use of agents needs to be addressed aswell.

The 'hardcore' FM fan will probably think im just an idiot who doesnt know what hes talking about, but people have got to realise that FM09 this year was a joke and SI have gone completely in the wrong direction and other games such as FIFA Manager seem to have gone in the right direction. I think that FM2010 is going to be a kind of win or bust game in the fact that if it doesnt live up to expectations like FM09 people wont buy the game anymore and other games like FIFA Manager or Champ Man will become genuine threats to SI and FM

[rougess]

I always want gameplay over looks, but if SI can improve the looks without neglecting their work on gameplay then I'm all for it.

[CaptainPlanet]

but people have got to realise that FM09 this year was a joke and SI have gone completely in the wrong direction and other games such as FIFA Manager seem to have gone in the right direction.

Vote with your feet, buy Fifa Manager instead.

People don't have to realise anything, FM09 is fine imo.

[Glenn Wakeford]

i agree entirely that FM needs an overhaul and a big make over as the 'fun' aspect seems to have gone from the game and SI themselves seem to treat the game as a chore as before the game came out they were saying about all the long horrible hours they've put in and cant wait to have a break etc. i think thats why FM09 hasnt lived up to expectations.

That's grossly unfair and doesn't show any understanding of the development process. When the game comes out, people are tired yes. But that's because so many of us barely leave the office for the couple of months leading up to going gold. We care deeply about the quality of our game, which is why we worked so hard and such long hours on it.

We do not treat the game as a chore. It's the same every year, and is not exlusive to FM09: it is certainly not the reason the game did not meet your expectations.

[Schotsmannetje]

Pro Evo 2009 was a massive disappointment, fifa 09 trumps it im afraid, and this is coming from someone who used to swear by PES

Yup completely agree. I've played ISS (which came before Pro Evo) and Pro Evo since 98/99. This season was the first time I actually prefered FIFA. Which didn't stop me from playing Pro Evo by the way. My Fifa disc got scratched after 2 weeks of play and became unplayable. Xboc 360, boohoo.

I work part-time at the distribution center of Free Record Shop (biggest multimedia-store-chain in Holland) where I work at the department that checks the products which are send back by costumers because of defects. I can tell you: 80% of the games that get send back are all XBOX 360 games, and they all have a scratch in the shape of a perfect circle right in the middle of the reflective surface.

Apparently there's something wrong with the Xbox's laser, it seems to get too close to the disc and therefore scratches it. You try making Microsoft admit though that there's something wrong with the Xbox. I guess I should invite Bill Gates to come to my work so I can show him what I see every day.

[x42bn6]

Yup completely agree. I've played ISS (which came before Pro Evo) and Pro Evo since 98/99. This season was the first time I actually prefered FIFA. Which didn't stop me from playing Pro Evo by the way. My Fifa disc got scratched after 2 weeks of play and became unplayable. Xboc 360, boohoo.

I work part-time at the distribution center of Free Record Shop (biggest multimedia-store-chain in Holland) where I work at the department that checks the products which are send back by costumers because of defects. I can tell you: 80% of the games that get send back are all XBOX 360 games, and they all have a scratch in the shape of a perfect circle right in the middle of the reflective surface.

Apparently there's something wrong with the Xbox's laser, it seems to get too close to the disc and therefore scratches it. You try making Microsoft admit though that there's something wrong with the Xbox. I guess I should invite Bill Gates to come to my work so I can show him what I see every day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_technical_problems#Scratched_discs

Graphically, I have no doubt Football Manager struggles. The current iteration suggests an ATI Radeon 9800 which basically runs "old" 3D games at full specification (think Tribes 2 and the old Battlefield 1942) at 25-30 fps (with top-spec hardware at the time, which was like AMD Athlon 2000 XP and 512 Mb of DDR2-SDRAM) - surely this is overkill for Football Manager? I'm not asking for Crysis-style graphics but I'm expecting something that runs on an Intel integrated chipset or similar where all the problems will arise from lack of RAM or processor power, not graphics cards.

[Schotsmannetje]

About 75% of the games we get back are neither on Microsoft's nor on EA's list, besides, when costumers bring their products back to the store it takes ages before we actually get to have a look at it at our department in the distribution center and by that time it's usually too late. Which is not our fault as it has to be shipped to different locations before it gets to us. It's a mess, no matter how you look at it. The costumers don't notice it though, they usually (depending on the kindness of the salesman I guess) just get a new game at the store.

Mind you, that's not even our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is getting PC games back of which the registration codes are already in use by pirates.

[david22]

LOL @ people who sitll think Pro Evo is better than Fifa... yes Fifa Manager sucks but Fifa 09 kills Pro Evo these days

[9sublime]

FIFA vs FM, FM wins hands down for realism and lack of gimmicks.

Its like FIFA vs Pro Evo with the actual football playing games. Pro Evo thrashes the **** out of FIFA for realism (e.g. not every cross ends up with a bicycle kick into the tophand corner) and avoids the crappy gimmicks.

[iamjerome]

pro evo has had it over fifa for the past 10/11 years (since ISS PRO EVO 1 on psx) but fifa 09 has finally tipped the balance. and this is coming from someone who hasn't touched a fifa game apart from one match a year before rolling my eyes and returning to pro evo. can't stand pro evo's laziness, it's STILL got the same issues in game play it's had since pro evo 2 back 7 years ago or whatever, it's just sickening.

[david22]

FIFA vs FM, FM wins hands down for realism and lack of gimmicks.

Its like FIFA vs Pro Evo with the actual football playing games. Pro Evo thrashes the **** out of FIFA for realism (e.g. not every cross ends up with a bicycle kick into the tophand corner) and avoids the crappy gimmicks.

you obviously haven't played fifa 09 if you think thats what fifa is like.. pro evo 09 on the 360 is like playing pro evo 06 on the xbox 1, there has been no progression

seriously give fifa a try mate its amazing now

[sthptngomad76]

FIFA vs FM, FM wins hands down for realism and lack of gimmicks.

Its like FIFA vs Pro Evo with the actual football playing games. Pro Evo thrashes the **** out of FIFA for realism (e.g. not every cross ends up with a bicycle kick into the tophand corner) and avoids the crappy gimmicks.

Hasn't been like that since at least FIFA 2001 (which was IMO the bottom point of the series). Pro Evo took off after that but is now in serious decline. You should give FIFA a bit of a chance this year.

But I digress- this is off the topic at hand.

[ReeNah]

That age old question is suitable in this instance:

Do you go for the women who looks stunning but is empty between the ears, or the moderately attractive one who actually has a personality...

Easy choice if you ask me...

I demand BOTH!!!

Why cant I as a consumer want both? Obviously its not easy what I am asking for but yeah come on SI I DEMAND PERFECTION IS THAT TOO MUCH?!

P.S Schotsmannetje: My girlfriend is already smoking hot!! HAhaha!