wowee, what a surprise - another post relating or otherwise pertaining to the wonder of the Commodore 64, look you see. but, with something of a change or twist. as in this shall feature some actual Commodore 64 stuff, rather than just a Commodore 64 mode on a camera.
ok, so yeah, not actual actual Commodore 64 as such, but a near enough is good enough Commodore 64 emulator on one of them computer things. it does the job quite nicely indeed, despite lacking the obvious glitz and glamour indelibly (if not intrinsically) linked to the days when one "loaded" a game up via the smart cassette deck what came with the computer.
anything in particular on the Commodore 64 (emulator)? yes, as it happens. for reasons we shall go into (or, i will, and so shall you if you read), the legendary game Football Manager came to mind of late. to this end, so, behold, a still of the "match highlights" section off of the game.
yes, quite, no, one does not see such superior graphics in computer games no more, to be sure. now it is all "CGI" and "video capture", i guess. realism has barged simplistic joys out of the way.
what can i tell you of Football Manager? it's widely regarded as the first ever "football manager" strategy game for a home computer, whether you played it on a proper machine or any lesser, non-Commodore 64 device. it was also the start of an ill-advised move to turn them blokes what made computer games into some sort of pop stars, for game creator Kevin "Kev" Toms appeared on the game cover, sporting a suspiciously Acker Bilk like hairstyle and facial beard.
some more, of course, on the charms and whims of this game as we go. but first, why. as in, why exactly did this game, an essential one to have back in 1984, come to mind? simple, really. it is all due to my (considerably) better half and her whimsical, magical ways. specifically, placing a phone on the "enter" key of her laptop, which was not a Commodore 64.
for what reason did she do this? to save having to stand there and keep pressing "enter" on something or other what she was doing that required "enter" to be pressed, a lot. oh, undoubtedly she could have programmed something, or "done a script", that allowed for an automated enter pressing, but when the phone is so handy and so perfect for the job then why not?
but why would this make me think of Football Manager? simple, really, Richard. once, in 1984 or 1985 (prior to the Frankie Goes To Hollywood game coming out), i went off with my mates somewhere, and asked my brother Richard to manage my team whilst i was out. he clocked that as you always just had to press the space bar to continue, he just put a book (the 80s version of a mobile phone) on the space bar and left it to it.
unfortunately the Commodore 64 game was not as intuitive as Richard may have hoped. when a player was out injured (it happened a lot), you had to pick a new one yourself. or, you know, field less players by pressing space. as it turned out, then, under Richard's masterplan, i ended up fielding precisely 0 (zero) players and suffered a number of relegation disgraces as a consequence of not fielding teams.
some video of Football Manager in action? i can think of no single reason why one would not wish to see this. apologies for any ambient sound on the recording; the game was of course silent, so you may focus on the tactics. or at least i think it was silent, perhaps i just had the computer on mute or similar.
oh, yes, by the way. i thoroughly enjoyed playing this game again. my intention was just to switch it on, right, and grab some pictures, but i found myself thoroughly enjoying it all once again. this is particularly true of buying and selling players such as Sammy Lee, Kenny Dalglish and Peter "Shilts" Shilton.
should i remember right, the game also had an endorsement from Charlie Nicholas, the "Scottish John Moncur", on the front cover. i think for some reason it was felt that getting a footballer to play the game and say something nice about it would be a major selling point. and yes, sorry, in Scotland indeed i am sure it is that John Moncur is referred, with some affection you would think, to as "the English Charlie Nicholas". i am not sure anyone in Wales particularly cares about either of them, but you never know.
how does Richard feel about being the father of the "just weigh the relevant key down" approach to monotonous, repetitive and time consuming computer keyboard related activities? that's a really, really good question.
unfortunately, however, i do not have an answer. this would be because i have not asked, or otherwise posed, the question to him, at him or of him. in my imagination, though, if asked, then he would say he felt nothing but pride in being such a pioneer.
no, indeed you can't do that any more. in days gone by it was perfectly acceptable to do what i done above, which is refer to someone as "the Scottish (or other nation)" and then name someone who is celebrated or known to be a great. this was always done in a respectful, perhaps even reverential way. now, though, if you do that, some sort of "SJW" keyboard warrior will get all offended and outraged on behalf of some group or concern what has nothing to do with them, spew their bile all over twitter and what have you, and cause all sorts of manner of rail and sky bound transportation companies to irrecoverably change how they do things in response, and for no apparent reason.
still, they might have a point, i suppose. when you think about it - and from a legal perspective (i checked) there is little i can say, but imagine the (possibly detrimental) effects to be had by labelling someone, for instance, "the Brazilian John Terry" or similar. it is still ok for me to do it above with the 80s being the context, though.
yes, indeed, that there above is what many of you might consider to be "the ultimate". it is an image of one of the greatest things to have ever been seen on a Commodore 64, taken in Commodore 64 mode. nice one.
further yes would be to play this game again some more, as in no, i have not just got it all set up and done for this blog post. well, that was the intention, but doing it all has reminded me how much simplistic fun it all was.
sure, "better" and more involved football manager games came along, and the ones what allowed you to impose fines on players that displeased you were particularly enjoyable. but, what, 34 or so years later, it was indeed a delight to discover that Football Manager had lost no charm at all.
well, there you go. should you recall this most smart game, hopefully all of this has delivered, or otherwise brought to mind, some fond memories for you, too!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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