cryptic-studios posts

Free costume parts galore in Champions Online

by Kyle Horner Nov 21st 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Patches, News items, Champions Online

Cryptic has revealed the free costume pieces in next week's Nemesis Confrontation update, which come in addition to two unlockable costume sets. Among the new free costume items are some exceptionally sweet capes, although we're sure many players will be filled with glee to see new weapons being added to the costume creator.

While these are only cosmetic costume options, they're important to players who wield specific guns or swords. It may seem like a minor issue to some, but having an outfit that makes sense -- and looks cool at the same time -- is surprisingly important to players who revel in a game like Champions Online.

You can also now put guitars on the back of your characters; something that immediately reeks of potential. We have to wonder if guitars are going to be added as visual replacements for sword based powers, enabling us to whack enemies with our musical axes. If someone at Cryptic could make that so, it would be somewhere within the vicinity of pure awesome.

Tags: atari, champions, champions-online, costume, costume-pieces, costumes, cryptic, cryptic-studios, free, nemesis-confrontation, november, patch, update

The Daily Grind: You or not you, in Star Trek Online?

by Kyle Horner Nov 21st 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: New titles, Opinion, Star Trek Online, The Daily Grind

This isn't often a question we find ourselves asking others when it comes to character creation in an MMO, but, well Star Trek Online is different in this regard. Considering the very specific sort of wish fulfillment Cryptic's next game offers, do you plan to first create a fictional captain or in-game version of yourself to captain a starship?

You see, we began thinking on this very subject not too long ago and a dilemma struck. While being a Vulcan or some odd new species is undoubtedly a tempting concept, seeing ourselves sitting in the captain's chair is nearly as exciting. Considering Cryptic's knack for powerful character creation tools, we've no doubt that coming up with a close approximation of our likeness wouldn't be too difficult.

We know that every Star Trek fan is going to create themselves at some point but your first "main" is so very important. Since creating a Klingon-sided character is unlocked after some initial Federation play, we're thinking of making ourselves first, and then, wait for it... a Gorn second. Yes!

Tags: atari, cryptic, cryptic-studios, federation, klingon, klingons, opinion, star-trek, star-trek-online, sto, the-daily-grind

Bill Roper on Champions Online's launch, current state and future

by Kyle Horner Nov 20th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Interviews, New titles, News items, Champions Online

In a recent interview with Boomtown, Bill Roper spoke his mind on everything from Hellgate: London hate to Champions Online's launch and future. In fact, the man spoke quite candidly on all topics, particularly that of Cryptic's missteps with their second superhero MMO as well as their successes.

Of particular note, there's a mention of how Champions Online will handle DC Universe Online's 2010 launch given that the superhero MMO market hasn't really expanded of late. Curiously, Roper says he feels that the Xbox 360 version will help to vastly expand Champions' user base. There's a chance Cryptic could be pushing to get into the console market by or before SOE releases their superhero MMO. Although given the headaches Cryptic has expressed at getting an MMO on Microsoft's console, we get the feeling much of the developer's focus is presently on Star Trek Online and continued live game support.

Tags: atari, bill-roper, champions-online, cryptic, cryptic-studios, dc-universe-online, dcuo, soe, sony, sony-online-entertainment, star-trek-online, sto

Star Trek Online ship tactics, part 2

by Adam Holisky Nov 20th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, New titles, News items, Star Trek Online

Part 2 of the Star Trek Online starship tactics video premiered over at IGN, and there are a couple concepts clarified over a few subjects -- but as with the last video, it's nothing really new. The gameplay footage that's attached to the explanation is quite compelling however, especially with the boarding parties where you can see the little shuttlecrafts head towards the Romulan ship. Let's take a closer look at each of the concepts the video covers.

Power management.

Power management is going to play a big role, which we known about for a while. You can see some detailed pictures of part of the power management UI in yesterday's article, located along the bottom of the screen with words like Defense, Attack, and Speed. Say you have 100 units of power, in STO you're going to be able to devote 25 of those units to the shields, 10 to auxiliary systems, 50 to weapons, and 15 to the engines. Power allocation will not be immediate, it will have some sort of delay associated with it. That means you'll have to think ahead about your strategic choices.

Tags: cryptic, cryptic-studios, star-trek-online, sto, sto-beta, sto-beta-video, sto-combat, sto-gameplay, sto-gameplay-video, sto-ships, sto-tactical-moves, sto-tactics, sto-video

Star Trek Online open beta dates announced

by Adam Holisky Nov 19th 2009 at 6:30PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, New titles, News items, Star Trek Online

According to a press release put out today, Star Trek Online will hold its open beta from January 12th through January 26th. There are some preorder deals that will give you an open beta key, and there are bound to be numerous opportunities to win one at various spots around the net.

Star Trek Online is currently in closed beta, which began last month. Champions Online six-month and lifetime subscribers have been told that they'll be in the closed beta before the end of the year, so those folks should get at least a month of beta access before the game hits the retail shelves on February 2nd, 2010.

Once the open beta begins, you'll likely see a flood of information and guides about STO since the NDA will have been lifted. This will provide everyone with key information as to the finer details of the gameplay mechanics.

Tags: beta, breaking, cryptic, cryptic-beta, cryptic-studios, news-item, open-beta, open-beta-start-date, star-trek-online, star-trek-online-nda, sto, sto-beta, sto-beta-start-date, sto-nda, sto-open-beta

New Star Trek Online video shows tactical combat, UI

by Adam Holisky Nov 19th 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, New titles, Star Trek Online

Cryptic has released the first part of a series looking at the tactical ship combat in Star Trek Online. It's definitely worth watching, especially if you've been following the progression of Star Trek Online's combat development; in this regards it's nice to finally see some in-game action as we'll experience it when STO releases in February.

There are a few points that STO Director of Production Craig Zinkievich, Game Designer Zeke Sparkes, and Producer Daniel Stahl make which are worth noting. We've already heard most of it, but the in-game footage demonstrates most of these concepts nicely.

You can watch the video above, or head over to our sister site Big Download to grab the hi res version. The hi res version of this video is worth it.

After the break we'll take a look at the major points, as well as talk about some of the high resolution screen grabs of the UI shown in the video.

Gallery: Star Trek Online Beta User Interface

Tags: craig-zinkievich, cryptic, cryptic-studios, daniel-stahl, featured, lcars, star-trek-online, star-trek-online-ui, star-trek-online-user-interface, star-trek-online-video, sto, sto-ui, sto-user-interface, sto-video, user-interface, zeke-sparkes

Champions Online previews Nemesis Confrontation

by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 18th 2009 at 10:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Events, in-game, Patches, Previews, News items, Champions Online

What's more dangerous than an interdimensional prison in which malevolent creatures of immense power plot the destruction of the entire Champions Online world? That same prison being taken over and used as a lair by your hero's Nemesis and the dangerous Shadow Destroyer. After hints and the surprise playtest event, the official site has unveiled a preview of the upcoming Nemesis Confrontation, which looks like an interesting jump forward in the content offered by the game.

Obviously, the Lair in question is the highlight of the update, which features combat against alien gladiators as well as a collection of powerful villains. There are other rewards to be earned as well, however -- ranging from a number of different hero enhancements to costume pieces in the vein of the enemies fought within the lair. If you can't wait to run the lair in order to get the costume pieces (perhaps you have a perfect character concept to start with), the preview promises that they will also be available in the C-Store. Champions Online isn't going to make players wait long for the event, either, as it's launching on the 24th. It should give players quite a bit to be thankful for -- when they're not battling extradimensional alien gladiators, at least.

Tags: champions-online, co, costume-pieces, cryptic, cryptic-studios, in-game-events, microtransactions, nemesis, nemesis-confrontation, news-items, patches, previews

Champions Online has a secret

by Rubi Bayer Nov 17th 2009 at 10:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Events, in-game, Champions Online

And they're not going to tell you! However, you can probably make a few guesses as to the secret if you haven't already, when you participate in their secret playtest tomorrow. Champions Online Community Team member David "Daeke" Bass posted this interesting piece of news today: "We've got a big feature coming out next week, but we want your help to test it before then. We can't give too many details now..."

When this super secret new feature hits the PTS tomorrow, it will not be as a timed event, so you can log in and take a look at your leisure. Don't have any speculation as to what it is yet? A few simple instructions on what to bring to the party might help. Daeke requests that you bring a 5-man team of level 40 players and interestingly, a Nemesis.

If you want to participate you can either transfer your own characters over from the live server, or level up using the contact outside the Millennium City Powerhouse.

Champions Online promises more information tomorrow -- we can't wait!

Tags: champions-online, CO, cryptic, cryptic-studios, daeke, david-bass, Playtest, secret-playtest

Official Star Trek Online website revamped

by Kyle Horner Nov 17th 2009 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, New titles, News items, Star Trek Online

An impending MMO launch changes a many things, one of them being official websites. It's basically common practice to revamp a website leading up to a game's launch at this point. Don't get us wrong, we're not complaining, especially since the new Star Trek Online website is quite snazzy and promises new interactive ways to obsess about the game. It's just, well, it's not very surprising and we're disappointed in ourselves for no longer being able to revel in things like this like we used to.

While the site itself has been changed, there doesn't seem to be any drastic difference to the information or media available. Although we're certain that news, previews and interviews are soon to be pouring out of the main news feed over at Star Trek Online dot com -- yes, we spelled it out.

Tags: atari, cryptic, cryptic-studios, launch, star-trek, star-trek-online, sto, website

Plasma and Romulans in these five new exclusive STO screens

by Kyle Horner Nov 17th 2009 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Screenshots, New titles, News items, Star Trek Online

Today we bring you five more exclusive Star Trek Online screens, courtesy of Cryptic Studios. We hope you Romulan fans out there are paying attention, because there's one new screen in particular we think you'll find quite... satisfying. Although, as you can see from the image above, there's a little extra Romulan love.

We find ourselves wanting to express concern for this lone Connie class vessel attempting to take on a Borg cube. That's just dangerous! We're fairly certain such encounters in the game proper will consist of a substantial grouping of players -- we're sure those screens will be quite something, actually.

The fact that many of these screens depict space combat is adventitious indeed, as our current Community Q&A for Star Trek Online concerns the very topic. We'll be taking questions for Cryptic developers until the end of today, Tuesday, November 17th -- so get 'em in while the asking is good.

Gallery: Star Trek Online Gallery

Tags: atari, cryptic, cryptic-studios, federation, romulan, romulans, screens, screenshot, screenshots, star-trek, star-trek-online, sto

Bill Roper talks about Champions Online successes and failures

by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 17th 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Super-hero, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, Interviews, Champions Online

Champions Online is still wet behind the ears, but we're moving through the game's third month of operation, time enough to take a slightly calmer look at how things went at launch and how the game has been shaping up. Jeux Online recently interviewed executive producer Bill Roper regarding the game's launch and its future, which might not contain as much information on the latter as the fans would like but still contains some interesting bits and pieces.

Looking forward, the most interesting bits are the promise of an upcoming Lair in which each player's Nemesis makes an appearance, in a union of several high-level threats to face off against a team of heroes. (Shades of the Masters of Evil or the Legion of Doom.) He also discusses a bit about the upcoming winter event, which he states will not include a new powerset but will include a number of "presents", as well as a fight against a truly massive opponent. There's also discussion regarding mission instancing a la City of Heroes, PvP maps, and the ongoing task of balancing Champions Online. How the game will mature in practice is yet to be seen, but we're getting a clearer and clearer idea about the game's direction at the very least.

Tags: balance, bill-roper, champions-online, co, cryptic, cryptic-studios, game-balance, game-mechanics, in-game-events, interviews, nemesis, pvp

These are the box arts of Star Trek Online

by Kyle Horner Nov 16th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, New titles, News items, Star Trek Online

Okay, well there's only one of them, so saying, "these are the box arts" was more of an excuse to make a Trek reference.

However, we do find ourselves wondering if there should be more than one cover here, since half the game is dedicated to Klingon play. Sure, you've got some Birds of Prey in the background, but the iconic Federation logo, Constitution-like ship and Captain are most obviously the center of attention.

Then again, so long as the game is fulfilling our deepest Star Trek desires, we suppose it's all a moot point. Plus, we're sure many of you are just going to buy this on Steam or some similar magical online store. That's been our prerogative at Massively as of late, especially since it cuts down on unwanted PC games box clutter that turns into a mountain of excess over several years. You can check out a much larger version of the image right here in our gallery.

Tags: atari, box-art, cryptic, cryptic-studios, federation, klingon, klingons, star-trek, star-trek-online, sto

Massively's Star Trek Online community Q&A: Space combat!

by Kyle Horner Nov 16th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, New titles, News items, Star Trek Online

The subject of this week's Star Trek Online community Q&A is probably one of the most popular considering its importance in the game. In fact, we're well aware that many questions in last week's inaugural first post were about space combat. So while we couldn't address those last week, we certainly can do so now!

We'll give you until the end of Tuesday, November 17th to submit your questions in the comments section below. Following that, we'll round up a cross-section of the most popular and most poignant space combat questions and by next week your answers will be here, straight from the folks at Cryptic. As before, we're open to suggestions on next week's Q&A topic, so feel free to throw your hat into that ring while you're typing 'em up.

Tags: atari, community-qna, cryptic, cryptic-studios, space-combat, star-trek, star-trek-online, sto

Ships! Star Trek Online community Q&A answers

by Kyle Horner Nov 16th 2009 at 10:00AM

Filed under: New titles, News items, Star Trek Online, Massively Interviews

It's a bit late due to some scheduling issues, but your first batch of Star Trek Online community questions are here and they're all about ships as promised!

Of course, we noticed many of you had space combat questions. While those unfortunately weren't answered this week, our new topic (up later today, so be on the look out for it!) will in fact, be, space combat. Still, many of your questions are answered below. As the weeks continue to go by, we endeavor to fulfill your quest for as much information on Star Trek Online as possible. Enjoy!

Tags: atari, community-qna, cryptic, cryptic-studios, featured, federation, klingon, klingons, ships, star-trek, star-trek-online, starship, starships