One of the games being shown for the first time at Electronic Arts' Hot Summer Night event this afternoon is Total Club Manager 06. A PC-exclusive this year (previous incarnations have also appeared on consoles), Total Club Manager 06 promises to improve upon its predecessor in a number of ways. Although fans of the FIFA/Total Club Manager "football fusion," which was a feature of the last two games, will be disappointed to hear that it won't be supported this year.

The most obvious improvements being made to Total Club Manager 06 are in the visuals department, where things are looking slicker than ever both off and on the field. Off the field, the drop-down menu system that you'll use to manage your team in between matches is accessible and intuitive. On the field, we watched a couple of believable matches being played out by teams of players whose movement, both in terms of their position on the pitch and their animations, was impressive. The version of Total Club Manager 06 we were shown featured optional information that appeared above the players' heads on the field, including their names, positions, playing styles, and fitness levels, and we were also able to move the camera around manually to keep tabs on players who weren't close to the ball.

In addition to taking care of your team's transfer activity and tactics, you'll have the option to get involved with other areas of management, such as ticket and merchandise pricing, and stadium expansions. You might want to opt out of that stuff if you're playing a four-player game, though, which will only be possible on a single machine, since no LAN or online support is planned.

We'll bring you more information on Total Club Manager 06 as soon as it becomes available.