UPDATED: Pro Evolution Soccer 4 Goes Live! Online Multiplayer Dream Lives

If the prospect of the newly-revealed Championship Manager Online isn't sufficient to satisfy cravings for multiplayer football frolics, then the latest update from the Konami camp will satisfy even the most voracious of sporting appetites. Exciting news filtering back from EGN has uncovered the joyous revelation that Pro Evolution Soccer 4 for the Xbox will be Live enabled. Although this is what everyone wanted, it had been thought that PES 4 would be a strictly offline affair. At this stage it hasn’t been confirmed as to what the capacity of Live features will be: although an official announcement is expected in the near future.

If this is fully fledged online multiplayer competitive play, there will be plenty of ecstatic, near-delirious gamers. If it isn’t, then expect a crushing tsunami of disappointment to soggy these just-heightened expectations. Xbox Live compatibility could technically allude to any number of things: downloadable content, uploadable championship results and so on. We certainly don’t want to count the proverbial chickens quite yet.

Bearing in mind that the Japanese version, Winning Eleven 8, doesn’t feature online play, this has certainly come as a surprise. So as soon as we get the full lowdown, expect an update immediately.

UPDATE:

We have just received word that, yes, this is it. Pro Evolution Soccer 4 will boast full, real-time online play! The maximum number of players has yet to be confirmed, but that will surely be detailed in the official announcement that should follow shortly.

Let the joy be unconfined!