First look: Total Club Manager 2004

Electronic Arts has today released the first information on Total Club Manager 2004. The soccer management game is currently in development at Electronic Arts' Canadian and German studios, and it will be coming to the PC, the PlayStation 2, and the Xbox.

The PC version of Total Club Manager 2004 will feature no less than 50 soccer leagues from around the world for managers to compete in, plus more than 30,000 FIFPro players and a further 25,000 youth and generated players for them to consider for inclusion in their squad. Matches in the game will be viewed using the FIFA 2004 engine, and, once they've assembled a squad that they're happy with, players will actually be able to export their team for use in FIFA 2004.

Another feature unique to the PC game is a stadium editor. Using this tool, players will be able to create their own fully customizable stadiums that will be viewable in the 3D match mode. It'll be possible to create both original stadiums and replicas of existing grounds in the editor, and if players increase the capacity of their current stadium, it'll improve the revenue potential of their chosen club.

The PS2 and Xbox versions of Total Club Manager 2004 will mark the first time the series has ever appeared on consoles, and they will purportedly be quite different from the PC version. Details on the console versions of the game are scarce at present, but EA has revealed that they'll incorporate a new freeplay mode in which players can pit their teams against those of their friends without needing to go through the weekly list of managerial duties from the single-player game.

Total Club Manager 2004 is currently scheduled for release in Europe on November 7. We'll bring you more information on the game as soon as it becomes available, but in the meantime, be sure to check out the first screenshots from the PC and PS2 versions.