SEGA Announces Football Manager 2013

SEGA has revealed the latest game in its Football Manager series, Football Manager 2013, developed by Sports Interactive.

A range of improvements to the game's existing elements have been announced, including an improved 3D match engine, new staff roles such as specialist coaches, enhanced training and worldwide leaderboards.  Additionally, the game will make full use of the Steam system’s network functionality, increasing the ease with which games can be set up against other managers.

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In recent years it’s become clear that there’s a large group of people who would like to play Football Manager, but simply can’t devote the time required to get the most out of the game.

Alongside all this is the introduction of the all-new 'Classic' or FMC mode, which promises to offer a streamlined managerial experience for those players who wouldn't otherwise have time for a full season. By only focusing on the nuts and bolts of taking a team to the top, players should be able to play out a full season in just eight to 10 hours.

Sports Interactive studio director Miles Jacobson explained, "In recent years it’s become clear that there’s a large group of people who would like to play Football Manager, but simply can’t devote the time required to get the most out of the game.

"We decided, therefore, to try to find a way to accommodate players with limited free time, without significantly diluting the experience. We believe that FMC achieves this beautifully.

“I would, however, like to stress to our many, many fans around the world that the introduction of FMC will not impact in any way on the game that they’ve come to know and love. For those who still want the full, ‘hands-on’ experience, FM13 offers exactly what they’re looking for – a bigger, better and even more immersive version of the world's greatest football management simulation.”

FMC mode can either be played as an open-ended career, or through the new Challenge mode that was first introduced in the handheld version of Football Manager 2012. Challenge mode tasks players with overcoming a particular scenario which is designed to test his or her management skills over a set period of time. These range from achieving success with a squad of kids to getting your team from the bottom of the table to the top within half a season.

FM13 will ship with five challenges with more made available over time. FMC mode will also offer ‘unlockable’ features which can be used to make the game a bit easier, such as removing the need for work permits.

Football Manager 2013 will be released on PC and Mac before Christmas 2012.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant and regularly struggles to manage, as well as cope. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

Madden NFL 13 Review

Madden NFL 13 is an excellent football game. You could point to the gameplay improvements, the new physics engine or even the adlibbing commentators as to why the game works so well, but the truth behind the success comes down to the sum of the parts. Madden NFL 13 looks, feels and sounds like what we all watch on Sunday, and I can't stop playing it.

From the moment you hit start, Madden NFL 13 is a different beast. Rather than get dropped into mountains of disconnected menus, you're put directed to one hub screen that shows you how many players are online at that moment, gives you one-click access to your communities, and leaves your careers at your fingertips. There are different modes to Madden, but they all stem from the same place; Madden's identity crisis is over. The pop music and rappers are gone and in their place is an instrumental score driving home that this is the NFL and it's time to play football.

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Madden NFL 13 does something the Madden franchise hasn't done in years: it makes me want to keep playing.

Luckily, playing football in Madden NFL is a blast. Every time I put down the controller, I want to pick it back up and head out on the field. Madden NFL 13 is challenging this year with receiver icons that change depending on if the player is looking for the ball and defenses that aren't afraid to call me on my lack of a running game -- but I'm all about the struggle. I'm fighting for each and every yard I gain or keep from an opponent, and I'm relishing actually having to think on the field.

See, EA tweaked a whole bunch of gameplay mechanics in Madden NFL 13. If you want to be the jaded gamer and say "It looks just like last year," go ahead, but know that you're wrong. Yes, the graphics look as good as last year -- actually they're a bit better when you include the new TV graphics and the lush shade of a good Sunday afternoon game -- but there's plenty of under the hood enhancements that evolve the gameplay we all know.

There are 25 new pass trajectories so you can put the ball out in front or just above the receiver. Defensive backs have to see the ball to make a play on it so there are no more psychic swats. You can abort play action after the snap. At a glance, Madden NFL 13 might just look like Madden, but in your hands, it feels polished.

Now, a big part of that feeling is the much-touted Infinity Engine. Basically, this adds physics to Madden for the first time. Whereas a corner and a wideout would bump into each other in the air and then come down in the same spot they leapt from last year, Madden NFL 13 allows for helicopter hits and tumbles out of bounds. Contact matters and changes plays.

It sounds exciting -- and spearing a receiver out of the air so that the trainers come out to check on him definitely is -- but I wasn't impressed at first. In fact, the place I saw the physics the most were when plays were blown dead and linemen stumbled over one another or receivers' legs got tangled with defenders. Expect jankiness to stand out, but don’t let it stop you from playing. The benefit of the Infinity Engine isn't the big plays; it's the fact that the small plays don't all look the same.

In past Maddens, there were only so many tackle animations and ways a player could go down. After a while, it was easy to feel like you had seen it all. The Infinity Engine makes every hit a little bit different. Angles, weight and more matter. Watching a halfback break free of a shoddy tackle or a wideout come down just in bounds before stumbling over really amplifies how the game looks and feels. Sure, there are still wonky tackles and handoff animations, but the good outweighs the bad by a long shot -- especially if EA continues to refine the formula and deliver animations that aren't canned.

Source : ign[dot]com

Dust 514 Expands EVE Integration, Supports Keyboard/Mouse

CCP has announced new improvements coming to Dust 514’s “Precursor” closed beta update on August 21st, calling it a “major milestone” in the game’s journey toward open beta. According to a post from executive producer Brandon Laurino on the PlayStation Blog, Dust is no longer running on a standalone test server but has instead migrated to EVE Online’s long-standing Singularity test server, known as “Sisi.” Thanks to the move, Dust players will be able to exchange in-game mail and chat in real time with EVE Online players.

Precursor brings a new “Instant Battle” option to matchmaking to jump quickly into battles, and also tweaks the matchmaking system to “intelligently place solo players and squads into matches based on skill.” The first framework has also been introduced for Orbital Strikes, which allow players to call in attacks from the warships above battle when they achieve certain conditions. “This is just the first level of Orbital Strike capability,” Laurino wrote. “In the near future, players on the ground in Dust 514 will be able to request strikes from ships piloted by EVE Online players. These strikes have the potential to do far more damage than the War Barge, their accuracy and power determined by factors like your Dust 514 Merc’s skills and what turrets the EVE Online pilots have trained and fit to their spaceships.”

In addition, new environments have been introduced. “Precursor brings our Galaxy system online, which assembles maps from components based on planetary attributes and what is built on the planet, for tons of potential combinations,” Laurino explained.” The update will also add the ability to use a USB keyboard and mouse, joining the DualShock and Move control options already available. Laurino notes that controller-based filters will make their way to Instant Battle and matchmaking in a future update.

Updates will continue to be rolled out for Dust, adding additional improvements to the game before it launches for all PS3 owners. A Vita companion app called Neocom will also launch, “to augment your gameplay experience and let you customize your fittings, train skills, use the market, browse the starmap, and much more, on the go anytime and anywhere.”

Beta sign-ups are still available on Dust 514’s official site. For an idea of what you can expect from the game, check out our impressions.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com