Hello folks, this is a pretty special post so I hope you will enjoy it. As I said yesterday I already had the great opportunity of testing Football Manager 2011 this week, the people at Sports Interactive were kind enough to grant me access to a preview version of the game that you will all get on November 5th. It was an unexpected honor and I guess that tells something about how they appreciate good websites in the community and the hard work that is being done to keep such websites going.
Before we get into details about the game I’d like you to watch the FM 2011 trailer, I think it’s very well made.
And now let’s see why I think that Football Manager 2011 is… better than ever! However, you should be aware that I played only a preview version of the game so some things might be different in the final version what will be released on the market.
Social Networking
As it was announced by Miles a few weeks ago, FM 2011 includes social networking abilities. You can set it up to connect with your Twitter and Youtube accounts and then publish in-game stuff on those social sites. Some say that it should have included Facebook too but I guess I will use only the Youtube option to publish game videos for the stories.
Uploading to Youtube can be done right after playing a game, there is a «Upload Highlights» tab from where you can choose to upload a single goal or all the goals that were scored during a match. Notice that I tried the game with Universitatea Craiova and we managed to beat our fierce rivals Dinamo away from home, that didn’t happen in more than 10 or 15 years, I can’t even remember :)
Once you click on «Upload Highlights» the game will process the video and upload it directly to your Youtube account, you just have to sit and wait for a couple of minutes (depending on the resolution you selected and also on your computer specs).
And now the video is ready to be seen, check it out:
Match Analysis
Another thing that I loved in Football Manager 2011 is the new match analysis section, a lot more details are available and now you can also see the analysis for the whole team at once and not only for a single player. As you can see in the screen shot below «Scoring Chances» have been added to the analysis section along with a few other things that I will reveal later.
So you have seen the scoring chances analysis, now let me introduce the «Movement» section which shows the runs past opponent and the offsides too! This one is quite useful if you want to see how effective your players are, especially the wingers and the strikers.
Now moving on to the best part of the new match analysis screen: the average positions and the positional heatmap! This feature is probably one of the best and most useful of the new lot, you can actually see where your players spent most time on the pitch and that will surely help you to tweak your tactics. You can see how much space you are leaving between the lines, how deep is your defense and even where does your goalie stand most of the times.
For instance one of my central midfielders, the one who has defensive duties, took the perfect position inside the midfield circle. That’s exactly where I need him to be most of the times but as you can see he also went back to help his mates in defense now and again. Go to the next page to read about agents, board interaction, tactics and training in Football Manager 2011.
Go to the next page to read the rest of the post.
ravenie
8 октября, 2010 at 15:51
I have already pre-ordered. Looks like a fantastic game.
Johnny Karp
8 октября, 2010 at 16:38
It is a great game Ravenie, you’ll see on November 5th :)
Laxeyman
8 октября, 2010 at 16:40
I have already pre ordered too, the game looks great! I particularly like the agent discussions and the discussions with the players look good as well. Thanks for the info Johnny :)
Mícheál
8 октября, 2010 at 17:27
Cant wait for fm 2011 to come out it looks brilliant. Ive preordered mine too.
Thanks for all the news Jonny!!
dami
8 октября, 2010 at 17:37
can’t wait for the final version to be released…though I hope they add facebook to the social networking sites…
Johnny Karp
8 октября, 2010 at 19:21
There are some programs that can automatically publish your twitter updates to facebook so I guess that shouldn’t be a big problem.
dami
8 октября, 2010 at 21:37
The youtube videos doesn’t work for me,hope you can look into it…
Johnny Karp
8 октября, 2010 at 21:40
Sorry, it was my fault. They should be working just fine now.
hils
8 октября, 2010 at 17:41
Cannot wait to get fm 11! Thanks for the info!
Jean Paul Borg
8 октября, 2010 at 22:56
Hey Johnny, is there any website or info about the requirements because I need to know them so I can make sure they run on my pc, ain’t gonna wait until I get my laptop in december that’s for damn sure!
Johnny Karp
9 октября, 2010 at 11:59
Jean Paul, these are the specs that were published on Steam.com:
o OS: Windows XP/Vista/W7
o Processor: XP : 1.4GHz or Faster, Vista/W7 : 2.0GHz or Faster
o Memory: XP : 512MB RAM, Vista/W7 : 1.0GB RAM
o Graphics: 128MB Supported Chipsets — Nvidia FX 5900 Ultra or greater; ATI Radeon 9800 or greater; Intel 82915G/82910GL or greater. Earlier cards may only display 2D Match Viewer Mode and are not supported
o DirectX®: Version 9.0c (included)
o Hard Drive: 2GB
o Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible
Calin
9 октября, 2010 at 07:48
Congrats, Johnny, it’s quite an achievement to receive the preview version and actually get the chance to play FM 2011!
The training section looks very cool and I’m really curious how will this affect the game in the long run.
And now… will you start the Craiova story already or wait for the full game to be released?
Johnny Karp
9 октября, 2010 at 11:56
Thanks Calin. I will wait for the full game to be released, the poll will be open until November 5th.
mariano
9 октября, 2010 at 08:50
Looks very nice!
Nice assist by Caraglio in the first goal:)
Johnny Karp
9 октября, 2010 at 11:54
It was a good assist, Caraglio seems to fit in well. Do you know him?
mariano
9 октября, 2010 at 14:00
No, i haven´t been living in Argentina for ten years now, so don´t watch Argentinian games, but i wonder which will be the potential ability of Fabbiabi in FM 2011, in FM 2010 was 155, i guess now will be 38……
Aceleration 3
Speed 2
Agility- 3
But he is doing really good out of the pitch, in the night clubs, he was released from River , took 6 month holiday and now he is in ALl Boys.
Is the new Maradona but without the TALENT:)
Johnny Karp
9 октября, 2010 at 14:50
You can’t even compare Fabbiani with Maradona, no way!
Kevin
9 октября, 2010 at 09:52
Hi Johnny
This new version looks just superb and you were right baout the new «TV» camera mode. Can you save and load videos to this site without going through You Tube?
Thanks
Johnny Karp
9 октября, 2010 at 11:54
No, you have to go through YouTube. The video files can be saved to your computer too but they are automatically uploaded to Youtube and it wouldn’t make much sense to upload them again to the website when they can be embedded from Youtube.
Martin
10 октября, 2010 at 11:52
Hey Everyone, I Haven’t Posted In Quite A While, Looks Like I’ve Missed Out On Quite Alot ! Anyway, The Game Looks Great, And I Actually Have Some Money To Buy It ! Woo ! LOL
Johnny Karp
10 октября, 2010 at 12:03
Hey Martin, nice to see you commenting here again! You did miss out on quite a lot indeed ;) I hope you will enjoy the new game, it’s great that you already have the funds to buy it.
Jack
11 октября, 2010 at 13:15
Doesn’t look too bad to be honest, so glad you will be able to field 3 formations now without the players having no idea what they are doing. I’m not that impressed with the highlights though, as the following questions spring to mind.
1. Why are some of the Craiova and Bistrica players wearing yellow shirts? (1st goal)
2. Why does the back post trick still work on corners?
3. And finally why are keepers continually beaten on their near post from free kicks? I mean how often does that happen in real life?
I mean I love FM don’t get me wrong, and I’ll definately be buying the latest edition, but the match engine still seems to be quite rigid and time and again you can score the exact same goals.
Johnny Karp
11 октября, 2010 at 18:06
Thanks for the comment Jack, I’ll be trying to answer.
1. There is that obvious glitch on the first goal, you are right. I guess it will be corrected in the retail version of the game.
2. I wouldn’t call that a trick since the player who scored that goal is the tallest lad in the whole league, 2 meters and 4 centimeters to be exact. Before I signed him I didn’t score any goals from corner kicks.
3. I’ve seen that happening in real life but anyway, it’s the only such goal that I’ve seen in around 15 league games I played in FM 2011 until now plus a few friendlies.
Sears
12 октября, 2010 at 23:54
FM11 looks great Johnny! Cheers for the insight mate, fantastic post yet again.
Johnny Karp
13 октября, 2010 at 03:27
Thanks Sears, I hope you will enjoy the new game.
Zak
15 октября, 2010 at 16:16
Great game and a good pre view with lotsf insight the conversations with players look great
Johnny Karp
15 октября, 2010 at 20:51
Thanks Zak, I hope you will enjoy the game.
Sergio
27 октября, 2010 at 09:54
Hi,guys im new to the whole football manager experience i first heard of it from Glen Johnson and how fantastic the game is.I downloaded the vanilla version of the demo yesterday but could’nt play it on my laptop because i dont have Directx 9.0c but i have directx 11 so i couldnt understand why it did not work.To cut a long story short my bro installed the demo on my older pc which has a radeon 9550 graphics card and it plays fine but the game is so complex and for a newbie its alot to digest.Can you guys perhaps tell me about a site that will give me hints about how to manage my team and tactic etc.Will the game be released on November 5th worldwide?
Johnny Karp
27 октября, 2010 at 10:53
The game will be released on November 5th is most countries, you have to check with your local stores. Or you can get the game as a digital download through Steam, you’ll be able to get it on November 5th regardless of your country of residence. The demo should have worked if you have Dx11, I can’t understand why it didn’t either. You could try to reinstall directx and see if that changes anything. If you are a complete newbie to the game I would suggest waiting for the game manual, that’s the best resource for a beginner. Until then you can discover some things on your own by trying the demo, there is some in-game help as well.
Sergio
28 октября, 2010 at 11:18
Thanks! I’ll just buy the DVDs when it is released here and i will install directx 9.0c that comes with the game disks, i just dont hope i wont have to connect to the internet like the demo wanted me to in order get directx 9.0c installed.It will come with disks right and no internet required to install and get the game playing?i had some bad experiences with steam just to play empire total war.
Johnny Karp
28 октября, 2010 at 12:35
DirectX should be included on the disk, I’m quite sure about that. You can always get it from other sources though, I can’t understand why you don’t just download Directx from the Microsoft website or other websites if you don’t want to install it through Steam.
Iain
28 октября, 2010 at 20:31
Hi, i don’t really write on these sites but i have been on this one quite a bit and been reading some of the stories, anyway i downloaded the Vanilla demo a couple of days ago and was wondering if the english and scottish clubs would be getting the proper kits and badges because they don’t have them in the demo ? maybe its just my PC though.
Johnny Karp
29 октября, 2010 at 06:17
Hi Iain. I don’t know if the proper kits and badges will be available in the game but if they won’t then you will surely be able to download them as unofficial game add-ons. In fact, I will make such things available for download here like I did with the previous versions of the game.
Iain
29 октября, 2010 at 17:06
hi, ok cheers for answering that, i had a look last night at all the teams and i couldn’t find any teams with badges of kits, but if there is none in the game, i will definetly be downloading them of this website.
Johnny Karp
30 октября, 2010 at 09:46
I just remembered that the Vanilla demo is a lighter version, easier to download but without some of the graphics in the Strawberry demo. But again, if the badges won’t be available there will surely be an unofficial solution to that.
josh
2 ноября, 2010 at 10:39
hi, this is great! :) it works for mac right??
Johnny Karp
2 ноября, 2010 at 17:59
It has a Mac version, surely.