Telegraph writes: "'What is that?' I ask, as I'm handed a sheet of paper. On it appears to be a football pitch, but it's obscured by great swathes of red and blue arrows, pointing this way and that, seemingly at nothing in particular. "Exactly!" exclaims my guide, "What the hell is it?"
The man I'm talking to is Roy Meredith, General Manager of Championship Manager. Meredith, a lifelong football fan and stalwart of the video game industry, has been transferred in to Eidos to revitalise the fortunes of the ailing football management sim. Once a title that was synonymous with football and ruined relationships, Championship Manager has been, by Meredith's own admission, in poor form for the past few years. Ever since original developers Sports Interactive defected to SEGA to create Football Manager, Championship Manager has been perceived as second best. The key, says Meredith, is to realise where the game was going wrong."
An overview of legendary football management sim, Championship manager and how it effected the author's outlook on life and games.
Eurogamer writes: "Beautiful Game Studios boss Roy Meredith has been answering your Championship Manager 2009 questions live on Eurogamer today.
He's been tackling all sorts, from release dates to demos to Football Manager - the inevitable yard-stick. Thank you to Roy "Of the Rovers" Meredith for joining us, and thank you to all of you for your questions.
As promised, here are the exclusive Championship Manager 2009 screenshots given to Eurogamer."
So what do people already know about Championship Manager 2009? Well, they know that for the first time in the series' history the game will feature a 3D match engine sporting 450 unique player animations (350 for goalkeepers) and player tendencies such as Ronaldo stepping over the ball 116 times before pretending he's stepped on a landmine. What else? How about the fact that most parts of the game have either been revamped or redesigned, such as the tactics screen that now features rotating info buttons, or the ability to set separate formations for attacking and defensive phases of play?
It would seem then that people already know plenty about Eidos's forthcoming football management game. But they don't know it all yet.
