2K To Publish Cryptic MMO Champions Online

Publisher 2K has announced that it will be working with Cryptic Studios to bring the City of Heroes/Villains developer's forthcoming MMO Champions Online to Windows and Xbox 360, based on the original pen and paper RPG. First announced at GDC 2008, the developer says the game "give players the power of total customization of their hero experience while they explore a vast universe of richly detailed 3D environments." Cryptic has licensed the Champions property from Hero Games' 1981 pen and paper RPG, which it notes was one of the first RPGs to forgo the traditional dice-rolling system of character generation in favor of a point-based system. In return, Cryptic has licensed back to Hero Games the rights to produce Champions RPG books, and the sixth edition of the HERO System and Champions, set to release in 2009, will include rules on how to recreate Champions Online characters and scenarios. 2K notes that while the game is currently being developed for both Windows and Xbox 360, the game has not yet been concept approved by Microsoft for its console. Said 2K president Christoph Hartmann, "2K Games is excited to work with such a talented group as Cryptic Studios. Given their stellar pedigree and amazing grasp of the MMO genre, we are confident that Champions Online will deliver an innovative and exciting action MMO experience to gamers."