Champions Online Message Board

It looks like Atari, recently the focus of negative attention after Test Drive Unlimited developer Eden Games went on strike due to their treatment, are looking to gather some more cash. Via PCG we see Gamespot spotted the news that the publisher is selling Cryptic, the studio behind Star Trek: Online and Champions: Online.

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Cryptic and Atari have now made Champions Online free to play.

If you've been waiting to try out Champions Online, today is the day to do it. Officially renamed Champions Online: Free-for-All, the game is now free to play for anyone with a PC and an internet connection. Naturally, those who opt for the free "Silver" membership are subject to a few restrictions while those with a paid "Gold" subscription have access to more in-game features like extra costume pieces and adventure packs.

Silver members can pay for some of these items a la carte, though certain features are restricted to Gold members. Still confused? Check out the Champions Online FAQ for more info on the differences between Gold and Silver membership. Anyone interested in trying the game out, just head over to the Champions Online website and sign up. Nobody create a hero named Spider-Dude, though. We call dibs on Spider-Dude. Dibs.

Strap on your utility belts, friends -- it's almost crimefightin' time. Well, okay, it's been crimefightin' time for a while now, but on January 25, it's going to be complimentary crimefightin' time. That's the date when Cryptic Studios will flip the switch on Champions Online over to free-to-play, giving players access to the title at no cost with the option of purchasing additional "Adventure Packs" to expand your superheroic experience. If you'd rather have access to all these offerings from the start, you can continue to subscribe to the full game for $14.99.

Oh, the change in price also comes with a change in title -- when the game relaunches, it'll be named Champions Online: Free-for-All. We don't get it. Is there going to be a bunch of new player vs. player functionality? Some kind of gruesome, super-powered bloodsport? Could it be that the heroes are -- oh, they mean "free, for all." Man, Cryptic should really reevaluate its use of punctuation.

If you've been considering checking out Cryptic's superhero MMO Champions Online, you ... well, you may want to wait. Publisher Atari has just announced that the game will transition to a free-to-play model in the first quarter of next year. The revamped Champions will feature premium content in the form of items, powers, costume pieces and Adventure Packs, though most of the content (as well as a few undisclosed perks) will be available to those who pony up the cash to be "Gold subscribers."

It may seem like a move of desperation, but that's not necessarily the case. Turbine set Dungeons and Dragons Online up with a similar structure last year and watched as revenues increased by a whopping 500 percent, which, as you math majors know, is almost five times better. The free-to-play conversion of Lord of the Rings Online met with similar success.

Atari's superhero MMORPG playable for nowt from Q1 next year.

Demonflame content update now available for free download.

#clips Champions Online players will soon have new foes to fight with the introduction of Adventure Packs, regular doses of new story content, kicking off next month with The Serpent Lantern. More »

Microsoft remains Cryptic's kryptonite.

Add another tombstone to the increasingly populated Xbox MMO graveyard. The Xbox 360 port of Champions Online is seemingly kaput. A forum user known as Jackalope -- Cryptic Studios CCO Jack Emmert, according to TeamXbox -- responded in a thread regarding the beleaguered port, saying, "100% of our focus is on making the current PC product the best it can be. There are no current plans for a console version of Champions."

Previously, the Xbox 360 version of the MMO had seen its share of setbacks. In August last year, Emmert laid the blame for the delay squarely on Microsoft. "It just takes time for the big beast known as Microsoft to get moving," he said at the time, adding that "it's as baffling to developers as it is to everyone else."

This marks the latest in a long string of failed MMOs for the Xbox platform: Ensemble's Halo MMO, True Fantasy Live Online for the original Xbox, Marvel Universe Online, Age of Conan, Huxley -- all of them either canceled or in development limbo. Thus far, the only traditional MMO to see the light of day on the Xbox 360 has been Final Fantasy XI. We can only speculate as to what the bottleneck is for MMOs on the Xbox 360 but, given the litany of failed projects from multiple developers, Microsoft certainly appears to be the common thread.

In celebration of today's launch of the free "Revelation" expansion for Champions Online -- or, really, just because it can -- Atari is opening the game up for free play (installer link) beginning at 10 a.m. EST on Friday, March 26 through 10 a.m. EST on Monday, March 29. This isn't the first time the publisher's done so for the Cryptic Studios title.

This time, however, you can also play sans real-world pants.*

*Only in the privacy of your own home

No superhero story is complete without the ever-powerful nemesis.

Event to run alongside free-to-play Thanksgiving weekend.

The Champions basque in their good press glory.

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New screens of the upcoming Halloween event.

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In a world of champions, this game tries to stand out from the rest.

Are you ready to fight for what's right?

Near limitless options make any of your dream heroes a reality.

Get around the city in style with these travel powers.

The action doesn't have to stop when your mission ends.

This is not your typical tutorial mission.