CyberSports, the games publisher focused on developing global world-class and cutting edge massively multi-player online sports games (MMOSG), today announced its premiere title, Football Superstars, has reached the ‘feature complete’ stage of its development and is now poised to enter the Beta testing phase leading up to the game’s imminent release this summer.

Reaching feature complete is an integral part of the game’s development where all the key areas and functionality of the game are now up and running, allowing the developers to begin Beta testing where all the fine tuning of the title is done in the run up to the launch of Football Superstars.

Malcolm Clark, CEO of CyberSports announced ‘I am absolutely delighted to have hit the feature complete milestone. As well as indicating the development is on track for the predicted summer release, now with all the elements of the game active, you can really get a sense of how Football Superstars is shaping up and what it is going to feel like to play. Players can now create their avatar, explore the in-game towns with all that they have to offer and immerse themselves in the football matches playing with up to 19 other players.

An MMOG game for the PC, Football Superstars will allow players to meet within a utopian soccer-styled virtual world and take part in 3, 5, 7 and 11-a-side football matches. Players will take control of a single footballer avatar and will interact on and off the pitch living the football superstar lifestyle whilst pursuing fame, glory and success, striving to join the best clubs, compete at the highest level and progress within the game through skill and sporting prowess. The player will exist in a persistent football-themed world and be able to join or form and manage their own teams and careers whilst engaging in various leagues, competitions, events and tournaments.

Rik Alexander, CEO of development partner Monumental Games, added ‘We are very pleased to have reached this stage of the development. The core of the game is now complete and it is everything we hoped it would be. We can now start the testing and we’re looking forward to the feedback we’ll be getting from our external testers as they immerse themselves in what will be the most realistic football gaming experience to date.’

In bringing the most realistic football gaming experience to life, Football Superstars has had to break a few of the old moulds and introduce new innovation previously unseen in football games. A new dynamic control system has been implemented that will allow the player to move around the pitch, easily know where his team mates are and intuitively pass, log and strike the ball while pulling off his skills. Also, several ranking systems have been tailor made for the game that will measure the success of the team during a match as well as the individual performance. Therefore, even if your team-mates have a bad day on the pitch, you’ll still be rewarded for your own good play.

The lifestyle area of the game will be a first for the genre too. Success on the pitch will bring the player the additional bonuses of experience and fame as well as monetary assets that can all be utilised in the lifestyle world. But while many extra skills and material assets can be gained in the towns within this area it is the non-player-characters (game controlled characters also know as NPCs) that will arguably bring the best rewards, tracking you down as your abilities improve and head hunting you for better and higher profile teams.

‘Football Superstars will be the best football game there is at launch’ added Malcolm Clark ‘and then over the coming months we’ll simply carry on making it better and better, keeping the game fresh and exciting no matter how long you’ve been playing.’

Football Superstars is scheduled for launch in the summer of 2008.