Empire of Sports goes beta
Full game due in early 2008.
French developer F4's upcoming Empire of Sports MMORPG has gone into closed beta, allowing selected players to try out its various sporting simulations and the world around them.
EoS sees players roll sports-people rather than warriors and train to compete online against others in tennis, basketball, skiing, bobsleigh and track and field, with football (soccer) launching soon.
Apart from the actual doing-of-sport, players will travel between various cities, meet with coaches, form groups and teams, customise their avatars and of course train to become better. It's also important to watch what you eat. And in the game.
Being able to move between sports will mean careful thought has to go into individual character creation and training too - no point picking a fast, short player if you eventually want to branch out from bobsleigh and sprinting to basketball, after all.
"With team and individual sports to take part in, advanced social networking and a delicate exercise and nutritional balance, Empire of Sports is the game which will redefine how players interact, offering some the chance to be recognised as the very best virtual athletes in the world," says Christian Mueller, the project's managing director.
The game will launch fully in early 2008, and those interested in trying it out can try signing up for the closed beta on the official website. Look out for a preview soon, or ponder the screenshots in our Empire of Sports screenshot gallery.