First look: Championship Manager Season: 02/03

Eidos and Sports Interactive have today released new information on Championship Manager Season: 02/03, the sequel to Championship Manager, which launched alongside the Xbox in Europe in March.

Exclusive to the Xbox, Season: 02/03 incorporates a number of features that weren't present in its predecessor, as well as updated team data and statistics for more than 100,000 players and coaches. In an interesting twist, managers can choose to have the statistics of new and unknown players in the game hidden, therefore requiring the use of talent scouts to reveal their full statistics and find out if they're worth acquiring. The new FIFA transfer system is also in place, meaning that, among other things, managers are able to purchase players only between certain dates, and that clubs whose contracted players decide to move to another team are eligible for compensation.

Other features of Season: 02/03 include escalating wage bills, more-complex player personalities, fines for clubs with a bad disciplinary record, and full international simulation featuring all the major tournaments, as well as B teams and U-21 teams.

Championship Manager Season: 02/03 is a text-based management title in which players assume control of a soccer club from any of 27 leagues around the world and attempt to lead them to victory by acquiring, training, and looking after players, using superior tactics on the field and keeping an eye on their chosen club's bank balance. The game will be available in Europe later this month, but there's currently no release date scheduled for North America. For more information, check out our previous coverage of the game.