Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Just a hyper-quick post on this, as it had somehow slipped my mind. The recently-released Superhero MMO Champions Online is free to play this weekend. All the details are here, including their Blood Moon Halloween event. And if you want a taste of what it’s like, here’s our What I Think. Who’s still playing Champions? How’s it changed since then?

Cryptic must really be feeling the pressure with their upcoming Star Trek MMO – it now has to both live up to the success of JJ Abram’s Pretty People In Space reboot and shrug off the so-so reviews which their last game, Champions Online, is tarred with. Their most recent response, oddly, is to really play up to the Star Trek hardcore…
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The Maker Of Supermen Returns! Cryptic have had their Champions Online out in the wild for a couple of weeks now. It’s time to pull on the Spandex and see Wot I Think…

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This broke yesterday, but I thought was worth giving a nod towards. Showing some kind of developmental superspeed, Cryptic have announced the first update for Champions, which is due for late October. And being that period… well, Halloween. It’s actually thematically right on in terms of the superhero zeitgeist, with both Marvel and DC having stories around zombie superheroes. Some people call this Superhero Decadence, and – oh – I’m going to have words with them sooner or later. Anyway – there’s lots of battling fallen heroes, becoming infected as a zombie in PvP, Werewolves and a new powerset based around Celestial power. More details here. At the least, already giving players something to look forward to strikes me as good marketing.

Something is rotten in the state of pretend online roleplaying universes. Atari, or at least what’s left of it these days, remains license holder for most videogamilial adaptations of Dungeons & Dragons properties, most notably Forgotten Realms titles including Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights. They also publish the Turbine-developed Dungeons & Dragons Online, which is shortly to be relaunched as the free-to-play DDO Unlimited. Only Turbine reckon Atari’s gearing up for betrayal…
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In the realm of rumour right now, but Variety are reporting that sources have told them that the now Atari-owned Crytic are working on a Neverwinter Nights MMO for a 2011 release. In fact – I quote – “this reportedly was the primary reason Atari was interested in acquiring Cryptic late last year”. This would make three MMOs currently in development at Cryptic, which is quite the workload. This doesn’t actually surprise me that much, as last year when interviewing Jack Emmert about Champions, he talked about how it’s totally possible to make an MMO in 2 years – just not from scratch. He talks about lessons learned and knowledge, but here’s an interesting quote: “Here’s a business tip. Don’t keep building new engines. Take an engine, and improve it. Make three, four, five games out of it before you need to reboot. That’s a business thing”. More as it emerges, but it’s an interesting one to speculate on. NWN was never just a D&D RPG – level creation and virtual DMing was very much part of it. If they’re developing it, surely Cryptic will have to push this angle?

Following on from this morning’s demonstration of Star Trek Online’s character creator, there’s finally more footage of Champions Online. Since Kieron brought you the definitive coverage of the game so far last July, it’s been pretty quiet. However, a very brief glimpse appeared at New York Comic Con, and it’s below.

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Champions Online is taking registrations for its closed beta. Is it that time already? Blimey. And hurrah. If you want to apply to be one of the early few to fight crime and bugs, you need to head over to Cryptic’s site, sign up an account, and then apply. While the game is also coming out on 360, the beta is PC only (at this stage at least). You can read all about the game in our extensive coverage here. Or, if you’re really lazy, here’s some video footage of the whole superhero thing in action which we haven’t linked to yet.
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After a troubled few years in development at now-defunct studio Perpetual Entertainment (oh, the terrible irony of the name), Star Trek Online recently fell into the strong but tender (like a mother lioness, or a warrior vicar) hands of Cryptic Studios. Who promptly dazzled us with environment art. Sigh.

On Sunday though, we’ll get to see what the game’s like. It’s the official Star Trek Convention in Vegas at the weekend, which sounds a little like a lost chapter from Fear & Loathing but pertinently will also feature the first in-game footage of STO. Introduced by none other than Leonard “the cosmic ballet continues” Nimoy. Big leagues, baby.

Fortunately, us proles can watch the unveiling from afar, with a webcast due to appear here at 1.30pm PDT on the 10th August. Which is, I believe, 9.30pm in Her Majesty’s Royal Imperial Kindgom of England-land time.

Los Gatos is the Beverly Hills of The San Francisco satellites. It’s not just home of people who really fancy a posh ZIP code, however. It’s also Cryptic Studios’ base. The veterans of the City of Heroes games are giving their first, real public showing of now-to-be-2K-distributed Champions to a selected band of gentlemen of the press. For some reason, I was invited. Spooks.

Since I’ve interviewed anyone who didn’t actively run away from me, I’ve a whole week of content to amuse you. But let’s start a little more general than that. Here’s an Jack Emmert and John Needham quote-packed overview of their action-influenced take on the MMO game, Cryptic’s love of the Champions pen-and-paper RPG, the tranquil-yet-troublesome expanse of Monster Island and what they have planned after Champions…
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