As the only official game of the national team, England International Football will launch in May, just as England fever sweeps the nation in the build up to the Euro 2004 championships.

Says Nick Wheelwright, Codemasters' Managing Director:

"It's a massive coup to win the rights to the England team for England International Football – we can now provide the England football fan with the true England international match day experience. On Xbox, it's immensely pleasing to deliver the first football game ever to feature Xbox Live online play."

In an Xbox exclusive, England International Football will be the only football game that enables gamers to play matches together online over the Xbox Live service. In the game's Live mode, two online players can select any of the 32 national teams and play against each other or join one team and play cooperatively.

Michel Cassius, Senior Director, Xbox Platform and Marketing, said: "We're very pleased to be working with Codemasters to bring the first online-enabled football title to Xbox, England International Football. At last, football fans can enjoy footie action on Xbox Live, playing together with friends or competing against rivals. Xbox Live's unique voice chat feature will bring a great sense of co-operation and ease of play to the pitch."

England International Football gives gamers the chance to step into Sven's shoes and choose the team line-up, and then it's down onto the pitch to face the world's national teams playing in matches and tournaments

From the opening sequence and menu screens, all resplendent in England colours and branding, kick off a top international football action game, packed with official content. See true-likenesses of all 25 England team players (and Sven!) created from an exclusive photoshoot and 3D modelling session, and the full home and away strip in perfect detail, right down to the famous Three Lions badge and World Cup winner's star.

20 top European national teams feature in the European Championship game mode. Additionally, England International Football also lets you go intercontinental and play World Cup style tournaments against a further 12 teams from all corners of the globe including Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, Australia and Japan.

England International Football has been in development since last year and builds on the Club Football engine to create a football game with national appeal. Improved shooting, dribbling, referee AI and faster play make gameplay more intuitive and rewarding.

With crowd chants recorded live at England matches, in-game commentary and match analysis comes from the nation's favourites: Gary Lineker and Barry Davies. Adding to the TV-style spectacle of matches are instant replays delivering incredibly detailed visuals in cut scenes to show injuries, bookings, substitutions, warm-ups, goal celebrations and even Sven's reaction to the match action from the sideline!

Succeed on the pitch and you can build up a wealth of rewards and unlocks in the England Trophy Room including England player profiles, current and classic team photographs and video clips including – yes! – the 5-1 win against Germany!

And if you want to get out on the pitch yourself and play for England, the game's Create a Player editor system lets you perfectly recreate your face, body and (dream) skill sets as England's latest cap before joining the team with your name on the back of the shirt.

England International Football is set to reach the heart of national football support with this essential game for the summer season when it's published by Codemasters for PlayStation 2 and Xbox in May. Get ready to play for your country and follow the latest news and images on the game at www.codemasters.co.uk/englandfootball

England International Football – Key points:

• Lead England to international glory with the only official football game of the national team, fully endorsed by The FA.
• Photo-realistic England players with perfectly detailed home and away strips
• 32 national teams feature across 7 game modes: European Championship, International League, International Cup, Exhibition, Quick Start, Custom Cup, Custom League.
• The first ever Xbox football game with online gaming over Xbox Live (2 players, competitive or cooperatively)
• England crowd chants and match atmospherics recorded straight real matches.
• Player editor – put your likeness in the game and play as part of the first 11.
• Play single or multiplayer matches for up to 4 players simultaneously.

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