The creative force behind the, how can I put this nicely — uhh, the clusterfuck that is Hellgate: London, Bill Roper, has joined Cryptic Studios as a Design Director for their upcoming superhero MMO, Champions Online. Following the unfortunate downward spiral of his development shop, Flagship Studios, he needed somewhere to go and Cryptic Studios’ CEO, John Needham embraced him with open arms:

“Bill brings a ton of creative energy to the Cryptic office and we’re thrilled to have him join our team,”.

To his credit, Roper has also worked on a fair share of what are widely accepted successes. Most notably his work on Blizzard’s Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo games that have been loved by many and hated by masochists. What remains to be seen is which Bill Roper Cryptic Studios has inherited — the Blizzard or Flagship-era.

Either way, I wish him the best at his new position and look forward to his work. If you’re really interested as to how his influence will affect Champions’ development, you should see about being a part of this Closed Beta I keep hearing about.

Source: 1UP

Champions fans, unite! Cryptic Studios has announced today that players can start submitting applications in order to enter the closed beta for their upcoming PC and Xbox 360 MMOG, Champions Online. However, even though the game is slated to release on the Xbox 360, the beta is PC specific and due to start mid-November.

If you want to try your luck and get into the beta, head over to Cryptic’s application form now.

Hit the jump for the press release. Read more…

Most of us have heard by now that the much-anticipated Marvel Universe Online game for the PC and Xbox 360 has been canceled. Cryptic Studios was understandably upset, but they’ve taken their work on the superhero game in an exciting new direction. Check out this new trailer for proof that change is sometimes a very good thing. Read more…