Champions Online – First Xbox MMOG?

Cryptic Studios – the makers of City Of Heroes – is back with Champions Online, an MMOG where your hero is a superhero. I managed to get onto the beta and have played for a few hours. So far, the game looks pretty cool.

Unlike COH, you don’t have to stick to a class – like a tank or a dps type – you can choose from a whole range of skillsets from fire to ice to dual swords to pure might to sorcery and more.

You will probably have a base skillset, say like ice, but there is nothing to stop you from choosing secondary skills from might and more. Each hero also gets to choose a travel power – from super jump to flight to teleport and more.

What is really interesting however is the likelihood that this game will be a cross-platform MMOG. The PC version is scheduled to launch June 14 and there are signs that an Xbox LIVE version is on the way.

In the PC version for instance, there are clear instructions on how you can plug-in an Xbox 360 gamepad and use that instead of the mouse and keyboard to control your superhero. Here’s a link from the forum pages that suggests is is likely to be a cross-platformer  http://forums.champions-online.com/showthread.php?t=15197

Also Cryptic was the one who was working on the Marvel Online MMOG until Microsoft canned the game. I am pretty sure Microsoft has its eyes on the lucrative MMOG market and with World Of Warcraft’s clear dominance in this field, it will definitely take a game of superheoric proportions to dislodge the taurens and trolls from their pedestal

Anyway I will be off to E3 and will look out for final confirmations when I am there. Its still early but there is definitely a lot of COH influences in this game. The game’s got to be different though to make sure it’s not just COH part 2. Keep reading this space for more updates.