Champ Man 08 this Christmas

Eidos has announced that Championship Manager 2008 will be out this Christmas on PC. It will sport a redesigned look and is billed as the most accessible instalment in the series so far.

But unfortunately Eidos was unable to narrow down the exact date for us this afternoon, or confirm if the game will be coming to consoles.

This time around there will be more options to highlight and analyse key events that either won or lost you the game. You'll be able to see them as they happen using the new and more realistic 3D match engine, before picking them to pieces in the returning ProZone feature.

Players should act a little more believably now, too, and have personality traits which will influence how they behave for the full 90 minutes. We're told there will be 32 of these in total, which your players can learn through training if you want them to.

You'll be able to play with your friends on one computer, and there will be all the new and updated goings-on from the recently closed August transfer window - from as far away as the Australian league.

Championship Manager 2007 was a big step forward for developer Beautiful Game Studios, and presented a real alternative to the genre-leader Football Manager. Pop over to our Championship Manager 2007 review to find out more.

Alternatively you can see the first shots of the redesigned Championship Manager 2008 in our gallery.