Kotaku: Cryptic Studios

Retired Captains Can Now Play Star Trek Online for Free

Mike Fahey — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:15:00 EST

Players with a lapsed subscription to Cryptic's Star Trek Online can come back an play the game at no cost today as part of the free-to-play early start program. Everyone else can play for free come January 17. More »

The World's Most Famous Dark Elf Carves a Path to Neverwinter

Mike Fahey — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EDT

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Hoping to capture the attention of both traditional pen-and-paper role-players and video game RPG fans, Wizards of the Coast wants to put the city of Neverwinter on the minds of fantasy fans everywhere. That's why they've called in the big guns: author R.A. Salvatore and his most famous creation, Drizzt Do'Urden. More »

What Free-to-Play Means to Star Trek Online Players

Mike Fahey — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:20:00 EDT

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Late last week it was revealed that Cryptic Studios' massively multiplayer Star Trek Online would be going free-to-play later this year, swapping required subscription fees for an active player base. Today we find out what's free and what'll have players reaching for their gold-pressed latinum. More »

Star Trek Online Goes Free to Play by the End of 2011

Owen Good — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:30:00 EDT

Star Trek Online, the MMO picked up by new owner Perfect World when it acquired Cryptic Studios back in May, will be taken to a free-to-play format by the end of 2011, says the new ownership. More »

You Don't Have to Pay for City of Heroes Anymore, Thanks to Freedom

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 17:30:00 EDT

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Superhero MMO City of Heroes is killing its monthly fee with the advent of City of Heroes Freedom as the game transitions from subscription-based model to a new, free to play one. More »

Even the Giant Flesh-Hungry Spiders Look Pretty in Neverwinter

Mike Fahey — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:45:26 EDT

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The Forgotten Realms depicted in this new trailer and screenshots for Cryptic Studios' online co-op role-playing game Neverwinter could have been torn from the scribble pad I kept next to my character sheet back in my Dungeons & Dragons days. More »

Atari Dumps City of Heroes, Star Trek Online Devs Cryptic

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 17 May 2011 18:00:00 EDT

Publisher Atari is "divesting" itself of MMO specialists Cryptic Studios, which it snapped up in 2008. It's trying to sell the creators of Star Trek Online and Champions Online after losing Atari millions. [Atari Results (PDF)] More »

Watch a Video Game Being Made In Seven Minutes

Owen Good — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 21:30:00 EST

Three developers from Cryptic Studios participated in last weekend's Global Game Jam, the festival that challenges participants to create a game from scratch in just 48 hours. They built this time-lapse video, compressing two days of work into seven minutes. More »

Star Trek Online Celebrates Its First Year

Mike Fahey — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:20:00 EST

It's been a year since Cryptic Studios boldly went and released a massively-multiplayer game based on Star Trek, and it's come quite a long way since then. See what's changed and what's next for Star Trek Online. More »

Return To Neverwinter In 2011

Mike Fahey — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:40:00 EDT

Atari and Cryptic Studios return to the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons setting next year with Neverwinter, an online co-op role-playing game based on an upcoming series of novels from R.A. Salvatore. More »

Bill Roper Departs Cryptic

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 08:45:00 EDT

Bill Roper — one of the forces behind Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo — defected to Cryptic Studios back in 2008 to work on Champions Online and Star Trek. He has recently stated that he's leaving Cryptic, but hasn't given specifics. More »

Better Days To Die Coming To Star Trek Online

Mike Fahey — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:20:00 EDT

For Klingons, every day is a good day to die, but you might want to wait until Cryptic slips the new Klingon player-versus-enemy content into Star Trek Online, as seem in part two of the Expanding Universe video series. More »

Star Trek Online Review: A Piece Of The Action

Mike Fahey — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST

After years of television series, books, cartoons, movies, and video games for both consoles and PCs, Star Trek faces the final frontier: the massively-multiplayer role-playing game. More »

Battle The Borg In Star Trek Online

Mike Fahey — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:00:00 EST

Here's the trailer for Star Trek Online's first major content update, in which the Borg decide to give the whole Borg Queen thing another try, since it worked out so well the last time. More »

Cryptic Considering a More 'Meaningful' Death Penalty for Star Trek Online?

Owen Good — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:30:00 EST

Death in Star Trek Online seems to be a disappointing experience for its fans, lacking narrative oomph and encouraging unreasonably risky behavior. The game's executive producer says the studio is listening and considering a change. More »

The Federation Can Get You Ferengi And Klingons Wholesale

Mike Fahey — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST

The United Federation of Planets in the time of Star Trek Online isn't beyond adding the odd Ferengi or Klingon, as long as the price is right. How much would you pay for the privilege? More »

Star Trek Online Boldly Goes Live

Mike Fahey — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:20:00 EST

Star Trek Online is now online, with early start players flooding the game in order to get a leg up on the Starfleet captains waiting until launch day. More »

Holiday Travel With Star Trek Online

AJ Glasser — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:30:00 EST

Continuing their Top 10 for Trekkies series, developer Cryptic Studios has put together a list of 10 locations Star Trek fans will want to visit in Star Trek Online. Think of it as a virtual vacation. In space. More »

Cryptic Gives Us 10 Reasons Star Trek Fans Want Star Trek Online

AJ Glasser — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:20:00 EST

Cryptic Studios sent us a list of 10 reasons while true Trekkies* will love their upcoming massively multiplayer online game, Star Trek Online. Rather than just tell you what those reasons are, we'll let you guess using these screen shots. More »

How Space Combat Works In Star Trek Online

Mike Fahey — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:20:00 EST

We've spent more than enough time telling you about how ship combat works in Star Trek Online - now it's time to show you. More »

Here, Have Some Star Trek Online Screens

AJ Glasser — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:40:00 EST

Now, with 40% more tachyon blast to compliment your "boldly going where no man has gone before" fantasies. Just try and ignore all the other people going there with you — it is an MMO after all. More »

Star Trek Online Preview: Ignoring Regulation

AJ Glasser — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:40:00 EST

Let me get this out of the way: I'm not a Trekkie. I was a loyal Star Wars fan until the prequels and thereafter switched my science fiction allegiance to Neal Stephenson. More »

Champions Online: One Million Heroes Strong And Growing

Mike Fahey — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:40:00 EDT

According to developer Cryptic Studios, Super Crecente is just one of more than a million superhero characters created since the launch of the massively multiplayer Champions Online. More »

Champions Online Open Beta Leaps Into Action

Mike Fahey — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:20:00 EDT

Time to put Cryptic's latest massively-multiplayer online superhero game to the test, as the FilePlanet open beta for Champions Online launches with only a few slight snags. More »

The Road To Champions

Mike Fahey — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:40:00 EDT

In this developer diary for Champions Online, Cryptic explores the secret origins of the company and how it wound up creating a superhero MMO. More »

Want Star Trek Online Beta Access? Play Champions

Mike Fahey — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:20:00 EDT

Star Trek fans might want to consider becoming Champions Online fans as well, with Cryptic offering guaranteed Star Trek Online closed beta access to players who purchase long-term subscriptions to the superhero MMO. More »

Champions Online Open Beta Detailed

Mike Fahey — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:20:00 EDT

Champions Online developer Cryptic has dropped details and dates for its upcoming "open" beta test, with 50,000 keys up for grabs worldwide via IGN's FilePlanet. More »

Champions Online Combat Preview: Challenge Accepted

AJ Glasser — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:40:00 EDT

After some hands-on time with Champions Online earlier this month, I pronounced myself skeptical of the combat system. More »

Creating a Character In Champions Online

Mike Fahey — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:20:00 EDT

Champions Online executive producer Bill Roper walks us through creating a character in Cryptic's upcoming massively-multiplayer online superhero game. More »

Five Things You Need To Know About Champions Online

AJ Glasser — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:20:00 EDT

Last night, Cryptic Studios held an event that was all about the player versus player combat in its upcoming massively multiplayer online superhero game, Champions Online. More »

Champions Online Heroically Dated

Mike Fahey — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:00:00 EDT

Strategy Informer reports on an event taking place over in the UK today, where Cryptic Executive Producer Bill Roper delivered a July released date for Champions Online in the U.S. and Europe. More »

Star Trek Online Screens Explore Strange New Worlds

Mike Fahey — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:30:00 EDT

Following the official announcement of Paramount's Star Trek D-A-C yesterday, Cryptic sent us a trio of exclusive Star Trek Online screens to remind fans that there's much more than a top-down shooter in the works. More »

Champions Online Swings Into Action

Mike Fahey — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:00:00 EDT

Witness an exciting new travel power that developer Cryptic is including in their massively multiplayer online superhero game Champions Online. More »

Champions Online Solicits City Of Heroes Players

Mike Fahey — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:30:00 EDT

Champions Online developer Cryptic Studios has admitted to sending representatives into NCsoft's City of Heroes in order to recruit new players to their beta program. More »

Champions Online Reveals The Underwater World Of Lemuria

Mike Fahey — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:20:00 EDT

Developer Cryptic Studios shows it's not afraid to get its feet wet, with the introduction of Lemuria, a deadly underwater kingdom in the world of Champions Online. More »

Star Trek Online Plays The Race Card

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:40:21 EST

There's a little bit of me that really wants to play Star Trek Online. It's the same part that owns five seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. But what race would I be? More »

Have A Gander At Star Trek Online

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 01:00:00 EST

Cryptic Studios has recently released a batch of new Star Trek Online screens. Here they are, you can look at them. More »

Is My Champion Super-Heroically Hot Or Not?

Mike Fahey — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:20:00 EST

Cryptic Studios makes a game out of the vast character customization options in their upcoming superhero MMO Champions Online with the addition of a new "Rate My Champion" section on their website. More »

Ubisoft Wanted City Of Heroes Devs Too

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:30:00 EST

It's probably the surprise story of the week: broke-ass Atari rolling the dice and buying City of Heroes developer Cryptic Studios. Was a little...unexpected. More »

Atari Buys City Of Heroes Devs

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 05:30:00 EST

You keep on with that resurging, Atari! It's just been announced that the once-beleaguered publisher have bought MMO developer Cryptic Studios. Who you may know from their little game City of Heroes. More »