LMA 2006 on X360, PC

LMA Manager 2006 is to appear in "massively expanded" form on both PC and Xbox 360, Codemasters has announced. The publisher has also released some new screenshots of the PC version.

Both will launch in March 2006, and both will be designed and produced by the LMA development team.

Obviously the PC and Xbox 360 are a bit more capable than the PS2 and Xbox, which have been LMA's main focus up to now, so we're likely to see more than 1,000 teams to manage and transfer players between.

Generally speaking, Codemasters promises greater depth in its Transfer Market system with more complex contract negotiations, built on the bedrock of a new game and database engine, and a detailed 3D match section.

Hopefully this will give us an insight into the inner workings of football transfers, because this writer still has no idea what the hell is going on with that Luis Figo/Liverpool nonsense. And don't even get us started on Julio Baptista. In fact, if somebody can reverse time and get rid of all that Julio Baptista crap so that our football news can be less tedious, that'd be brilliant.

You'll also be able to store full player and manager histories for up to 20 seasons, and both versions will have fully updated player databases including the various changes made during the preceding January's transfer window.

Other improvements include a more detailed 3D Match section, featuring normal mapping, realistic lighting effects, "advanced" rendering on players and stadiums and other treats.

There will be higher resolutions on the PC, too, while the Xbox 360's added processing power will allow for full reports one very single match played - and doing well will earn you gamer points on Xbox Live, apparently.

Before then, of course, there are the PS2 and Xbox versions of LMA 06 to look forward to this October.