Champions Online Adds In-Game Social Networking Features

Champions OnlineI’ve been playing the open beta of Champions Online and like it a lot. You can definitely tell this game was simultaneously developed for the XBOX 360 as well and it has a more console action feel, but the depth of the character customization is amazing and overall its a very well done superhero game.

One of the interesting things Cryptic has done with the game is embed social networking features directly in the game,

To start using this system, enter /socialmedia. From this screen you can control the operation of the social media tools. Use the settings button to enroll (or un-enroll) from each service. By default, all available activity types for each service are enabled once enrolled. Uncheck any of the boxes to disable that activity type for that service.

The Status activity type is initiated by the command “/social_status Your status here”. The plan is for this to be integrated into the status box in the chat context menu, but for now the command will work.

The Screenshot activity type is initiated by the commands “/social_screenshot <optional title here>” and “/social_screenshot_ui <optional title here>”.

The Blog activity type is initiated ‘/social_blog “Title” “Body”‘.

Currently, Champions Online supports updating Facebook, Twitter, Raptr and LiveJournal. I asked about support for WordPress, but the devs claim that the WordPress APIs require sending usernames and passwords in the clear which Cryptic has a policy against.

Personally, I’d like to see these sorts of features become common in all games.

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Champions Online Entering Closed Beta

Champions OnlineChampions Online is taking applications for its closed beta that starts in mid-November.

Cryptic Studios™ announced today that players can now sign up for a chance to participate in the first closed beta for Champions Online™, an action massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) slated for release in the spring of 2009. This PC specific beta begins in mid-November 2008 and players sign up by visiting http://www.champions-online.com/preview_application.
“This closed beta is an exciting step in the evolution of Champions Online,” said Jack Emmert, chief creative officer for Cryptic Studios. “All of us here in the Cryptic offices have been playing the game for a while now, and we’re excited to invite others in to have as much fun with Champions Online as we’ve been having internally.”

Excellent to see this progressing nicely toward a Spring 2009 release. Gives me just enough time to log another thousand hours or so in World of Warcraft before this thing comes out.