The first July 2009 State of the Game for Champions Online is out and it sure came with an interesting surprise. Namely, the addition of Twitter to the in-game feature set. Now we're sure some of you will scoff at this idea, but sit there for a moment while we paint you a mental picture.

You're inside a rather challenging instance, only moments away from the big fight. Your party is getting ready, resting up, etc and so you take a moment to hammer out a short message to your friends on Twitter. "Oh man, about to take on my Nemesis, Big Bad Boss Man, wish us luck!" you say, netting you a few encouraging replies. Then you engage and the ensuing carnage is nigh legendary. The party just takes a serious beating and is torn limb from heroic limb by your Nemesis. You decide to share this with the world, only to see your buddies instantly share their empathetic thoughts on your embarrassing defeat.

We think it's got some substantially fun possibilities. Plus, if Cryptic can work in Twitter support to their games, what else could they do? Facebook seems like the next step, but there's also Pandora and Last.FM support to consider, too.

Dual-wielding guns at pointblank, screen distorting spells and clawed uppercuts are all in supply this week in Champions Online land. Either Cryptic put someone new in charge of grabbing screens, or these powers were just finally ready for their Hollywood closeup -- either way, we're happy to have them.

If you're curious about all of these powers, Cryptic's been doing quite a few mini-guides discussing each of the groups like energy or martial powers. Something tells us that these screens are only making those of you not in beta all the more impatient, but since open beta is literally two months away now, at least you won't have to wait much longer.

Mark your calendars, because according to fansite Champions Online Daily News -- and confirmed by Cryptic themselves -- August will be the month when everyone can flood into Champions Online's open beta. This information came from Daily News' recent visit to Cryptic's actual studio in Los Gatos, CA where it sounds as though the design team is sweating plutonium to get the game ready for public play.

We know many of you have been waiting to hear this news. With the game launching in September, it was only a question of whether or not a beta would happen -- August was mostly a foregone conclusion. Still, now that it's officially coming you can toss up your hats (or whatever article of clothing you would like to remove and hurl into the air) and celebrate. Beta's only a couple months away... just a couple more months.

[via 1up; Thanks, Kinnetik!]

Well look at this, a new Champions Online trailer has been released unto Gametrailers and thus, the world. It opens with an interesting winged angel superhero soaring into an intelligence meeting, but don't be fooled, this trailer's focus is solely on villainous lairs. Some of you would probably be more than happy with a video showcasing all the various wings and how they animate in flight (we spotted some Egyptian style wings in the trailer) but that's not happening today. Maybe there's a wings/flight video in the works, for all we know.

There's some slightly cheesy voice acting and we're almost certain the narrator is attempting a commanding voice in the spirit of Optimus Prime, but the trailer is very enjoyable for what it is: campy superhero goodness. It may not be everyone's preference, but we're digging what we see and can't wait to raid some lairs come this September.

Witness the full trailer embedded after the break.

Today we've got four new Champions Online screens to share with you, courtesy of Cryptic Studios. Combat obviously plays a large role in these latest screens, as with many of the other screens we've been seeing for a while now. Hopefully, we'll get to see some new travel powers sometime soon, as we're pretty sure Cryptic has been working on adding more before launch.

But generally speaking, we never really tire of seeing screens from this game, especially when someone is getting smacked in the face with the backside of a sword. It's not pleasant, getting back-sworded, let us tell you. And something tells us that in the near future, we'll get some interesting new teaser screens. How do we know this? Just a statistical guess, really.

Until that happens, reveling in the utter violence of these screens will do just fine.

As its release date creeps ever closer, we're bound to continue seeing more peeks into the development process of Champions Online. This particular look at the game lifts the curtain on designing Nemesis missions, an interesting topic considering we haven't heard too much about the system beyond its basic feature parameters.

Mostly what's discussed is the challenge of giving your nemesis more to do than kidnap people or try to rob a bank. Granted, they'll probably do that, but it depends on the personality you give them. Are they a maniac, a savage or a mastermind? Maybe they're something else even more dastardly, it's all up to you and that's the system's beauty.

We're considering making an evil robotic penguin themed nemesis. Our only difficulty is in decided what to call him. The Menacing Waddler? Hmm, that has possibilities.

The folks at Champions Online Daily News recently interviewed Brian Urbanek, who works with combat and related systems on Champions Online. The interview is full of juicy information regarding various aspects of the game's combat mechanics, and how the developers have sought to make Champions different from other MMOs in this particular area. The idea of a long fight meaning increasingly diminished resources was thrown out in the early stages of development, before Urbanek had arrived at the team. There will be a lot of strategy in using build-up attacks "that create energy so that during the combat players can moderate their own actions to their own advantage."

As well as this, each power set will have a unique secondary mechanic that advanced players will be able to use to gain an edge in combat. Using the fire set as an example, Urbanek explained that ambient heat sources could be absorbed by this type of character, providing self-heals and a constant feeding of energy for bigger attacks. The heat sources will be made by the player themselves, by lighting up an enemy or the environment. Urbanek also gave a detailed description of how an electricity character's secondary mechanic would work. For that and more, be sure to check out the rest of the interview.

If you're like us, then you always appreciate it when game developers open up and share their design process. And while this latest Champions Online developer diary on Open Missions may not have the most crunchy pieces of information -- or really any new stuff, for that matter -- it does a great job illustrating how Cryptic formulates their open missions.

You may be more familiar with Warhammer Online's original concept, Public Quests. Although it probably does both games a disservice to compare the two mechanics all too much, because they do different things for different settings.

What's presented here for Champions Online has us very curious to see how creative Cryptic can get with zones that are set underwater and even potentially in space. That's of course assuming there's a moon zone or something -- but why wouldn't there be something that awesome in the game?

It's always appreciable when a developer makes as much effort as it can to not only listen to their community, but respond in kind as well. The fairly regular Ask Cryptic features have gone great lengths to achieve a nice give and take, but we're really excited for the first public State of the Game for Champions Online.

There's a lot to take in, but we've decided to focus on the first topic, which is about power selection. The current system has players visiting an UNTIL database whenever they level, but many players weren't happy about having to check in with "The Man" every time they grew stronger. Plus there's that time sink in having to go run back to a computer with every new level.

Thankfully Cryptic has found a good middle-ground on the issue. They're keeping the UNTIL computers, but adding a "Hazard Vault" where new powers can be tried before they're purchased. In a game where the look of your character is of the utmost importance to a large portion of the player base -- including us here at Massively -- we're completely stoked to hear this news. Try before we buy? Oh yes, please.

Eight brand-spanking-new screens for Champions Online have been released into the wild in order to sate your appetite. So what do you say dear readers, is your appetite diminished? Yeah we didn't think it really would be, but that's no biggie. That September launch is only a couple months away and we've got our imaginations to keep us occupied.

Just knowing that soon we'll be able to pound in the faces of robot cowboys -- and do it in style -- is a little heartening. There's also the screenshot above to consider. Do you want to rock some classic Electro mask action, or would you prefer dual-weilding guns? They're both options, you know. We're not entirely sure at this point, maybe we could dual weild guns that shoot lightning. Yeah, let's go with that one.

Cryptic Studios has revealed the finalized Champions Online box art, which you can expect to have it sitting in your pretty hands come September. We've always been fans of having actual art on our game boxes over anything else. If you want to take a look at the full high-res version, you can find it on the official game website.

There's a definite sense of intensity and overall the art does a good job at capturing that climatic battle between good and evil. Plus, it has a giant robot in it, which is always an instant bonus in our books. Now the only question that remains is what the special edition box will look like -- of it there'll even be one in the first place.

According to a recent rumor at Variety, Cryptic Studios may just be developing a Neverwinter Nights MMO afterall. Of course the speculation first arose a few weeks ago when Atari acquired Cryptic, but the speculation has now reached full-fledged rumor status! *Gasp*

Of course there are two things you may be thinking on news like this: This is just a rumor, and seriously, another fantasy MMO? Cryptic Studios is already doing quite well for itself in the IP department with upcoming Champions Online and the Star Trek Online MMO, so would this new-found shower of capital really encourage them to take on a Neverwinter Nights MMO as well? From here we'll just have to wait and see, but let us know what you think about the possibilities, good or bad, in the comments below.

There are a vast array of costumes a person can create in Champions Online, but why would anyone want to be anything other than the majestic super Luchador? We ask you this in earnest: Could you knowing not create a superpowered practitioner of lucha libre? Certainly not, although there are other options beyond the inescapably amazing power of the mysterious masked liberator of the people.

For instance, you could make an... um, Japanese animation inspired robot? A robotic Luchador! All right, that didn't work for us -- but maybe you can overcome our insatiable need to don a glammored mask and cape.

Check out the gallery if you need some creative inspiration, or just want to make googely eyes are pretty, shiny screenshots.

You, much like myself, may have had summer MMO plans a month or so ago. But like many things in life, circumstances changed and both Champions Online and Jumpgate Evolution were met with delays in their schedules -- making any plans to play them over the summer null.

It's a bummer, but not all is lost. Another thing I'm certain we all share is our love of gaming in general. I've been thinking of a list of games I plan to play through this summer in lieu of shiny new MMOs to delve into, with an emphasis on filling the void left by a lack Cryptic's and NetDevil's still forthcoming titles. I'm sure I'll play more than just three, but these are the ones I'll definitely play the most of overall.

I'll give you original Star Trek fans a moment for the mist to clear from your eyes, for your hearts to slink back down your throats... All better? Good, because the newly revealed Excalibur class for Star Trek Online is quite striking. Interestingly the team at Cryptic is using a more angular design for their re-imagined Constitution class, as opposed to the recent Star Trek movie, which employs a sleek and streamlined design philosophy.

Both designs are pretty attractive, but we're sure plenty of people will prefer one over the other. Either way, we're really digging the look of the Excalibur class vessel. It makes us wonder what other old designs will feature newer updated versions as well, such as the Klingon Empire's Bird of Prey.

Having both the original and updated appearances of ships would be the wisest choice, of course. Although we're not entirely certain many players would want to enter a fight with the original Constitution class version of this design, as that one's a bit... outdated.