Champions Online Nemesis Event

If you have played Champions Online (I have, see my train wreck of a review for details) then chances are you inevitably created a nemesis to dog your every step. This arch enemy that you create yourself from scratch will prove to be even more difficult next week when Cryptic Studios launches the Nemesis Confrontation event.

The event gives players the chance to team up with other players to take down their nemesis, who is a bit more aggressive than usual. But the added twist is that your buddy’s nemesis will team up with your nemesis to provide double trouble. You most hated villains are apparently going to try to cause a rift in the fabric of reality to destroy the Champions universe. In addition to all the minions associated with your nemesis, you’ll have to deal with new enemy types in a new location.

The event begins on Tuesday, Nov. 24, and extends into the weekend after Thanksgiving. The weekend of Nov. 27 and 28th will also be a free play weekend, so those that have given up on the game can return for the fun. Watch your back, Pizza Delivery Dude - I might be coming for you next week.

Find out more at Champions-Online.com.

Champions Online free play weekend

To celebrate Halloween Cryptic Studios will be offering a free weekend of its super hero powered MMO, Champions Online. From Friday, October 30th, until Monday, November 2nd, anyone that wants to can play Champions Online for free and check out all the changes to the game, including new missions, new powers and the free Blood Moon content update.

Players that have walked away from Champions Online and haven’t played a character since September 24th, you will still have a free Retcon remaining, which resets a character’s power purchases. Also new to the game is the Celestial powerset which adds a new play style to the game; healer. Celestial powers change based on the target selected, so if you target a friend you give them much needed aid and if you target a foe you deal dimensional damage.

Finally, Champions Online is offering the new Halloween-themed content: Blood Moon. Play as a werewolf or a hunter during the Bite event, join four friends in an all-out struggle for survival in the Zombie Apocalypse PvP map or die during that event and become a super powered Zombie.

Find out more at www.champions-online.com.

Raptr gets in-game support from Champions Online

Social game utility company, Raptr announced this morning that Cryptic Studios has joined the Raptr Partners Program. What this means to you is that Cryptic Studios will bundle Raptr with Champions Online, which is being released to retail today. The game’s official launch is also today.

Champions Online is also being integrated with Raptr APIs to surface game data such as character level, powerful items, and heroic achievements. By entering their Raptr username in the Champions Online in-game status sharing screen, players can automatically connect their Champions Online account to Raptr and share rank, status, items acquired, and achievements earned with their friends and other players. Cryptic was toying with this idea already with small little gifts to players like in-game Twitter access and Facebook support, so adding Raptr into the mix makes perfect sense.

Raptr members will have access to all this data they are sharing on a special Champions Online Raptr game page, which allows them to and track their achievements against all players of Champions Online.

Companies interested in signing up for the Raptr Partners Program can visit partners.raptr.com, while users can sign up for Raptr at raptr.com. Finally, more information about Champions Online can be found at www.champions-online.com.

Those interested in seeing how Raptr will work both on Raptr’s official site and inside Champions Online, need only click on the screenshots below:

Atari reveals subscription pricing plans for Champions Online

Atari and Cryptic Studios have revealed details regarding Champions Online’s subscription programs, incentives, and final retail pricing. The super hero themed Champions Online, which is based on the Champion pen and paper role-playing game will be released in Sept. for PC and will carry an$49.99 USD, $54.99 CAN, €49.99 EUR, and £29.99 GBP.

Cryptic Studios and Atari will offer multiple subscription options for fans in monthly blocks, six month blocks and - for a limited time - lifetime game memberships.

The recurring monthly subscription will be offered for $14.99 USD, $16.49 CAN, €12.99 EUR, and £8.99 GBP. For a limited time Cryptic Studios is offering six-month and lifetime subscriptions at discounted rates. These deals come with many exclusives and incentives. The six-month subscription plan will be offered for $59.99 USD, $65.99 CAN, €44.99 EUR, and £35.99 GBP. Six-month subscribers will recieve guaranteed access to the Star Trek Online closed beta test and a Champions Online Retro-Future costume set.

The lifetime subscription plan will be offered for $199.99 USD, $219.99 CAN, €147.99 EUR, and £119.99 GBP. Lifetime subscribers will also receive guaranteed access to the Star Trek Online closed beta test, an exclusive Star Trek Online Mirror Universe costume set, eight additional Champions Online character slots, a Foxbat vanity pet, a Retro-Future costume set, and an Art Deco costume set.

Look for Champions Online this September. For additional pre-order and retail information, visit www.Champions-Online.com.

Rumor: Atari and Cryptic working on Neverwinter Nights Online game

Chris Morris reports that sources close to either Atari or Cryptic Studios have confirmed that the pair want to create a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on Neverwinter Nights. The article goes on to say that this was Atari’s intention all along when it decided to purchase Cryptic Studios. Cryptic is currently working on two games right now: Star Trek Online and Champions Online. With Atari owning both wizards of the Coast (who in turn own the old TSR Dungeons & Dragons license) and Cryptic Studios (who happens to own the Champions RPG property) it makes perfect sense to create an MMO based on the popular RPG series that BioWare — and later Obsidian — helped to make popular through its games and expansion packs.

Naturally there are no details on this alleged MMO project but we’ve sent a request for comments out to various parties in hopes of getting an official response.

And it should be noted that Neverwinter Nights Online, would not be the first Neverwinter Nights online game. that distinction belongs to publisher Strategic Simulations, Inc., America Online and developer Stormfront Studios. Neverwinter Nights was the first MMORPG to display graphics and provide large scale game play sessions through an online service. The game ran from 1991 to 1997 on AOL — and at its peak cost a whopping $6 an hour to play. Eventually, as the internet became more prevalent in American households, the hourly rate was dropped altogether by AOL, who would later roll it into its suite of services for subscribers. By the end of the game’s life it had over 100,000 subscribers. Pretty impressive if you consider that games like Ultima Online and EverQuest 2 didn’t exist at that time.

Take-Two Not Publishing Champions Online

Take Two has officially given up on publishing Cryptic Studios’ upcoming superhero MMO, Champions Online. Not a big shock considering that the developer that brought us City of Heroes is now owned by troubled publisher Atari. Atari will bring Champions online to PC and Xbox 360, as planned, next year. The game is based on the work Cryptic did for a Marvel Comics-based MMO for Xbox 360 and PC, that was cancelled earlier this year.

I’m honestly concerned about the direction Cryptic Studios is heading. First it leaves City of Heroes behind to create a Marvel MMO, which then gets cancelled. Then, just when the company seemed to be on the right track it hires ex-Flagship founder Bill Roper and allows itself to be acquired by Atari, who is not in the greatest financial shape as of late. This in turn will put added pressure on Cryptic to deliver a AAA hit that sells millions. This environment can’t be good for Cryptic in the long term. That’s my opinion, what do you think?

Atari Gets ‘Cryptic’ Acquisition

Y’know, maybe it’s just me, but I remember a time not too long ago when Atari seemed to be on life support with Death knocking at the company’s door. Well, I’d love to get some of the vitamins it’s been taking these days, because Atari didn’t just slam the door in Death’s face, but it’s hit the ground running.

First came word that the publisher had picked up two major released in the aftermath of the Activision/Vivendi merger, Ghostbusters and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. Now the company has put together a deal to acquire California based MMO developer Cryptic Studios, lock, stock, and barrel.

Cryptic Studios, which first made a name for itself with the superhero themed MMO title,City of Heroes, has been on a major roll recently. The company eventually sold off its stake in City of Heroes to NCsoft, and was on tap to develop a new MMO for the PC and 360 for Microsoft, based off the Marvel Comics stable of characters. Although the Marvel deal fell apart, due to Microsoft and Marvel being unable to agree on the direction of the game, Cryptic decided not to abandon the superhero MMO formula, using its capital to buyout the popular pen and paper role-playing property, Champions, and starting development of the upcoming MMO, Champions Online. And if that wasn’t enough, Cryptic also managed to score itself another big property, with the development of a new MMO based on the Star Trek universe.

According to a statement released today to investors, Infogrames (Atari’s parent company) will shell out an upfront payment of $27.6 million, with an additional estimated “maximum earn-out” totaling another $27.5 million in cash and Infogrames stock. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a clause in the deal which could give Cryptic shareholders another $20 million bonus in cash or Infogrames stock if Champions Online and Star Trek Online both outperform an undisclosed target in online revenue for 2010-2011.

“We share a common vision with Atari and their leadership team.” said John Needham, Chief Executive Officer of Cryptic Studios, “With our game development and online platform technology skills, we’re very excited about the opportunities that this unique combination with Atari creates. I am committed to helping Atari grow into a leading online game company and look forward to being part of the team.”

According to David Gardner, CEO of Infogrames, “The acquisition of Cryptic Studios brings to Infogrames an outstanding creative organisation, with a proven track-record of success in the fast-growing MMO category. Cryptic’s success is founded on leading-edge technology and the vision of a seasoned executive management team. I am impressed with the tools and technology that Cryptic has developed to make MMOs less expensive to build. Creating vast worlds and interesting interactions can be very people intensive but with the use of Cryptic’s toolset they have a proven way of cutting average production costs in half. This is exactly the type of company we wanted to acquire in order to build Atari for the 21st century.”