New Nintendo DS football management game heading straight for the top of the table

July 31st 2008: Sports Director is proud to announce the launch of Football Director DS, the first football management game for Nintendo’s hugely-popular handheld video game console, the Nintendo DS™.

Designed by veteran football management game designer Roger Womack (whose credits include Championship Manager, FA Premier League Manager and Football World Manager) and developed by Bradford-based Four Door Lemon, Football Director DS brings all of the tactical and strategic depth that’s expected of a contemporary football management game to Nintendo’s handheld console. The game’s authenticity is strengthened by its official Football League licence.

Completely new to this format - and filling the gap for the 50 per cent of UK Nintendo DS owners who are football fans* - the game has been developed from the ground up to take advantage of the Nintendo DS’ unique hardware configuration.

With an intuitive, Nintendo DS stylus-driven interface, Football Director DS is remarkably easy to pick up and play. However, this ease of use has not been achieved at the expense of gameplay, as the creators have packed in enough tactical and strategic depth to make it a serious mobile option for even the most dedicated hardcore football management gamer. The game experience is flexible enough to be played in bite-sized, five-minute chunks or alternatively over longer, season-conquering sessions.

“The release of Football Director plugs one of the very few gaps in the Nintendo DS’ extraordinarily broad software roster… and it does it in some style,” says Peter Sleeman, Managing Director of Pinnacle Software, the worldwide distribution partner for Football Director DS. “This game has been beautifully conceived and executed and, as a result, will appeal to anyone with an interest in football, from the casual armchair fan to the hardened management simulation aficionado looking for a mobile ‘fix’.”

Taking complete control of his or her favourite team, the Football Director player grows and moulds a squad by judicious dealings in the transfer market; drawing from the game’s database of around 3,800 players drawn from all of the major leagues across the globe. This squad can then be developed into a winning unit using the game’s exhaustive training and tactics functions.

As in real life, however, the true test of a team’s mettle only comes when the transfer activity ends, the tactics are set and the players cross the white line. At this point Football Director DS players take their place in the virtual technical area to direct proceedings as matchday events unfold ‘live’.

As the name suggests, though, there’s more to Football Director DS than simply selecting and preparing a team. In addition to building and coaching a title-challenging squad, the player also gets to choose his or her own non-playing staff, hiring and firing to create the ideal backroom team to support the entire playing staff; from first team stars to youth team hopefuls. And the management responsibility doesn’t stop there either, as the player also takes responsibility for his or her club’s financial performance, having full access to the club’s accounts and control over wages, contracts and dealings with the bank.

Football Director DS Features:

• Officially Football League license allows full use of relevant teams, statistics and player data
• Complete control over first team, youth team and backroom staff
• A vibrant international transfer market allowing the player to sign top players from across the globe
• Comprehensive statistical records allow the player to keep track of both team and individual player performances
• Tactical options give the player control over formations, playing style, defensive strategies and levels of aggression
• The realistic match simulation delivers all of the facts and figures needed to make substitutions or strategic changes as matches unfold
• Post-match analysis of all matches and a full results service
• Intuitive, Nintendo DS stylus-driven interface allowing quick and easy access to all screens and data

Football Director DS will be released through Pinnacle Entertainment in September 2008. Further information is available online at www.footballdirector.com.

Pool Party is a fully-featured pool and snooker simulation featuring a diverse range of game modes and settings and, of course,  makes use of the Wii’s control system.

Pool Party features 13 different single player and multi-player game types, encompassing the standard 8-ball, 9-ball, snooker game modes, but including more exotic game types such as Rotation and Black Jack. Play takes place in a choice of 10 stylised environments, ranging from the seediest dive bars to opulent mansions and supremely luxurious yachts and players will also be stepping into the shoes of a range of distinctive characters, as well as facing off against formidable player AI.

In the menus you have various pool games from basic 9 ball games, 8 ball games, 10 ball, 15 ball and even snooker. After choosing a game in this screen you have the choice of character with their own little biography, a selection of tables, balls, cues and random button to set a random room, table, character and music.

Before I move on id like to say I would have also preferred if there was some form of tournament or story mode which would have made single player more long lived. I would really recommend a 2 player game if you want any life out of this game.

As for the game itself its what you would expect from a pool game, the balls physics seem pretty decent, graphically its very basic for wii standards but what more do you need with a pool game.

The game room environments are average but the characters heads seem a little too cool for pool and maybe should be street racing instead. To play the game its very simple, you can rotate the cue stick around using 3 ways, either using the analogue on the nun chuck, the left and right buttons on the wii remote and lastly you can press the wii remote and move your wii remote around on screen to move the cue, you can also press up and down on the wii remote to choose elevation.

To put spin on the ball keep pressed on your wii remote and move the left and right keys. To actually hit the ball you can do 2 things, you can keep your wii remote pressed and adjust the power using the analogue stick and push the wii remote forward when your ready to hit your ball. Or for a more realistic shot you can press your wii remote in and pull back and forward on your wii remote to put power on your shot, although a little harder to judge your power its the most realistic way to do it. So for game controls they ain’t bad, there’s a few ways to do it and just choose which makes you most comfortable.

There’s not much more I can really say about the game, its very basic overall and very short lived maybe a nice on-line or single player story mode would have made a difference, there’s some life in 2 player but not much. If you really love pool games then maybe take a look but make sure you can get it at a bargain price. I wouldn’t pay no more than £15 for this game.

Gameplay 5/10
Graphics 5/10
Sound 5/10
Overall 5/10