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The Game Archaeologist answers Asheron's Call 2: The highlights
MMO sequels are funny animals. Sequels (along with prequels and "reimaginings") are ingrained into the entertainment industry so deep that it makes sense that MMO studios would follow suit. And yet these types of games -- with their ever-growing nature and heavy involvement with loyal playerbases -- are not always conducive to such projects. More often than not, a sequel to an online game becomes its ancestor's main competition, which is not a desirable outcome for the studio. Perhaps back in the early 2000s, studios simply didn't know better. There's good evidence that the typical "hit video games need a sequel" mindset ran rampant across the industry, from the multiple attempts at Ultima Online 2 to the release of the don't-call-it-a-sequel sequel of EverQuest II. Perhaps developers didn't realize that MMO players didn't necessarily want to be uprooted and moved to a new game every few years. While sequels, spin-offs and remakes are still present, the genre learned a hard lesson with Asheron's Call 2 in the first half of the decade. Asheron's Call was a success on Microsoft and Turbine's behalf, and a sequel -- with vastly improved graphics and deeper gameplay -- seemed like a logical next step. Unfortunately, it was a Greek tragedy in the making, destined for a short but memorable life in our world. This month we're going to look at the brief shining star of Asheron's Call 2 and get all sorts of misty-eyed romantic over it!
The Bleak Ones cast a fishy shadow over Champions Online
There's definitely a loose Cthulu influence in Champions Online's Bleak Ones, but in a way that we're digging. So if you read this recent villain profile on the ancient Lemurian gods, don't feel like you're alone in noticing references like, "And when you die, we will bring you home. We will gather you to us. We will devour your souls in the ever after. You shall be our sustenance." Hah, and they call us crazy!Well when the time comes to fend off these fishy foes, between our alliteration and determined gnashing of teeth we will ascend triumphantly to the mountaintop of victory! Or in other words, we can't wait to kick some fish people butt. But until that opportunity presents itself, we'll have to sate ourselves with lore and concept art that can be found within our gallery.%Gallery-17946%
Champions Online beta group revealed in first screen
Start writing your list of people to throttle now, because Cryptic has released the first (of what is apparently going to be many) screenshot featuring a gathering of the beta test group currently residing in Champions Online. Now, while our malice knows not physics nor metaphysical bounds, we have to employ better judgment and refrain from committing any kind of aggressive actions towards large objects easily flung out -- or through -- windows. Otherwise we may... Wha- where were we? Sorry, we just had a little bit of a red-out there. Oh, right!Often times screens like these are only possible in an MMO, and they embody the kind of social interaction and community that can typically only be experience within the genre. So it's nice to see this first of many community-style shots in Champions Online.%Gallery-17946%
Caption a Champions Online screenshot, maybe win a beta key
If you've ever seen a screen caption here on Massively (largely supplied by the bloggers who post them) then you've probably thought, "I could do better than that!" If these words have indeed passed through your noggin, then here's your chance to show us how it's done. Cryptic's got yet another contest to win Champions Online beta keys, and this time the prizes go to whomever can make with the fancy wordage.Here are some of our other thoughtful entries for the image above. Also, yes, ours is not a caption and instead a thought bubble. Maybe when Cryptic has a "submit your thought bubbles" contest we'll have a fighting chance. Until then, feel free to gaze at the two new screens that have been released for the contest. Bonus!%Gallery-17946%
Champions Online heroic pose contest winners unmasked
The community gathered around Champions Online was recently put to an interesting task: strike your most heroic pose and click a picture. There was beta keys and game related swag up for grabs, so the results are of course pretty entertaining. People not only went to all the trouble of taking a picture of themselves in comically fun heroic poses, but they also dressed for the occasion.Our favorite is probably the character Regnasis, pictured above this post. It's likely this choice has a lot to do with our love of the psychologically challenged detective, Rorschach.Biased childhood heroes aside, all the the images are fun or creative in different ways. In fact, the results are so enjoyable that we hope this isn't the last heroic pose and/or real life costume contest we see for Champions Online -- at least until there's someone willing to mimic Foxbat's sense of style.
You ask, Cryptic answers: Non-combat skills
There are many reasons why Cryptic Studios is awesome, one of those reasons is for letting us all live out our superhero fantasies -- the other is because of how involved they are with the community. When other developers are eschewing the very medium which subscribers and fans can get intimate with developers -- Cryptic is doing everything they can to make great use of it.Recently, forum posters on the official Champions Online boards where given a stickied thread where they could hurl as many questions as they wanted at Cryptic. After the proper amount of question firing was complete (probably somewhere around or beyond the 100 range) select few questions were answered in length and the entire thing was posted to the main page on the official CO website. It's all very exciting!
