An free-to-play 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.

Once downloaded, players re-create themselves online as a footballer and then have free reign in the state of the art interactive virtual world. Players can play their way from three-a-side up to eleven-a-side matches, gaining attributes and skills in order to specialise in their chosen playing position.

Once the basic skills have been learned on the training pitch, players can choose between unranked casual games, ranked Football Superstars league matches organised by the game and player organised league matches with player manager clubs. All of which will be backed up by extensive web support from developer Monumental Games, which would include downloadable replay videos of every competitive match. All the players – with the exception of the goalkeepers – are controlled by humans, leaving it as close an experience to the real thing as you can get, with the run of play shaped by the twenty human players.

CyberSports will integrate Vivox voice chat to match the unique environment of Football Superstars and to create the real-life excitement of the game – the strategy, taunts, and heated exchanges – on and off the field. Vivox will host and manage the voice application to ensure operational scale and stability and to eliminate game server impact. In addition to 3D voice chat, players have access to voice fonts, buddy lists, presence alerts, voice mail, SMS, and user management tools.

“Our design goals and user experience requirements for Football Superstars demanded the most stable, scalable and user friendly voice technology available. Vivox was the obvious choice based on their proven performance and operations experience,” said Malcolm Clark, CEO, CyberSports Ltd. “We’re confident that our players will have the most immersive and advanced voice experience available with the Vivox service. We’ll be bringing market leading voice technology and features to our community with full confidence that our community is in good hands.”

“CyberSports has combined the best elements found at any sporting event – social interaction and multiplayer competition - where practice only makes you better and spirited fan interaction raises the passion of the game,” said Monty Sharma, vice president of product management and marketing at Vivox. “We’re proud that CyberSports chose Vivox to contribute to their player experience and bring their innovative world to life.”

The individuals you play with and against are all of the same skill level as yourself, so your aim as in the real world - is to become a better virtual footballer. You can then play at ever higher levels and enjoy all the financial and lifestyle trappings that will inevitably follow. In simple terms, the better you play the better and more fulfilling your experience in the virtual world will be.

Players are paid for the games they play in Football Superstars currency, of which there are two types-dollars and bonds. The bonds can be bought with real money and used to purchase special privileges and items. Again, following the real world, the higher the level you play the higher your wages, all of which can then be spent in the game’s two vast virtual towns, which have the capacity to host millions of other football fans online at the same time.

Away from the pitch you can socialise in restaurants, bars and clubs and visit shops where you can buy the latest branded football equipment – which aids your progress on the pitch – and designer clothes. You can train in gyms to enhance your physical attributes, which also improves your playing skills, or flirt with the paparazzi in a bid to enhance your fame and status and gain access to the most exclusive clubs and venues.

The result of all this career and lifestyle building is the chance of that big dream transfer, on the pitch glory, off-the-pitch glamour and the opportunity to become the world’s ultimate Football Superstar.

Football Superstars, published by UK Company CyberSports, is due for release in late 2008.