Jack Emmert, lead developer on Champions Online, has penned a new journal article about some recent changes in the development cycle at Cryptic Studios. Check out what he has to say after the jump.

The latest Meet the Team article has been posted at the Champions Online site. This time the vict...subject is content designer Brian Gilmore. Check him out after clicking below.

This time on RoleCraft, Jim Moreno wants to hear from you roleplayers out there.

Jonathan Steinhauer continues his application of the writings of Clausewitz to gaming, this time examining what happens when you have to turn and run.

The Champions Online team has released three new screenshots from the area known as "Monster Island". Additionally, it was announced that the PnP sourcebook for Monster Island will be releases shortly. Click below!

The quality assurance team at any studio is often overlooked yet their importance can't be understated. Today Champions Online's "Meet the Team" article focuses on the acting QA lead Alan Salmassian. Click below to check him out!

The Champions Online team is going to be busy this summer and will be giving their fans several opportunities to check out CO. See a couple of the more noteworthy appearances by clicking below.

The latest in a continuing series called "Ask Cryptic" has been posted at the Champions Online site. Fans are given the opportunity to ask questions of developers and have the answers publicly published on the site. Check it all out by clicking below.

Continuing their series of "Meet the Team" articles, Champions Online focuses this week on environment artist Avery Wong. Check him out by hitting 'read more'.

In this installment of RoleCraft, Jim Moreno looks at an interesting idea from WoW RP Realms: Full Immersion Roleplaying (FIRP).

Jonathan Steinhauer continues his study of Clausewitz and examines the art of the kill.

Thee Champions Online site has been updated with a lorebook entry about ultra bad girl Mind Slayer. Check her out by clicking below.

Champions Online animator Danny Southard is the latest team member to introduce himself to the community. For more about who he is and what he does, click below.

Champions Online Chief Creative Officer, Jack Emmert, has penned an article geared towards those who prefer to act the Lone Ranger when playing online. Using his own online experiences lends an aura of credibility to his claims.

Read a sneak peek.

The latest in a series of "Meet the Team" articles on the Champions Online site focuses on mission programmer Ben Foxworthy. The article delves into Foxworthy's job on Champions Online as well as his background and outside interests. Click through to read it.

Just in case you may not be aware, RoleCraft isn't the only place where you can find roleplaying related info on the interwebs. Of course you know that, and I'm only joking. During the course of my day, I am given and locating sites which are directly related to or merely referencing some aspect of roleplaying, and I consider it part of my duty to help keep you, my fellow roleplayers, informed as much as possible.

While it may sound like something out of an old-fashioned spaghetti western, Snake Gulch is one of the Champions Online towns. Players are introduced to Snake Gulch by local denizen Belle Steele.

Howdy, partners! Welcome to the Snake Gulch Dude Ranch!

My name is Belle Steele, and I'll be your guide to all there is to see and do in the Wild West!

My daddy's a fella by the name of Tyrell Donaldson, and he created Snake Gulch to give all your tourist folk a chance to play the 1864 way! But since it ain't 1864 no more, he made some ... accommodations for modern technology.

I'll let you in on our little secret: All the residents of Snake Gulch are robots. Yep, robots. My daddy made 'em, and they're something to see! The sheriff 'round these parts has got more than a tin star, he's got a whole dang tin body!

You do me a favor and don't tell none of the cowboys what you know. They think they're real cowboys, and it wouldn't be right to hurt their feelings.

Now, I'm happy ya'll are here and all, but I've got to warn ya: This ain't the best time to be visiting Snake Gulch. And I'd best tell you good folk what happened.

Pull up a barstool after clicking below and read the rest.

Chief creative officer Jack Emmert of Cryptic Studios has been named one of the MMO world's most influential movers & shakers according to Beckett's Massive Online Gamer magazine.

Congratulations to Jack Emmert, chief creative officer of Cryptic Studios, for being named one of the most influential people in massively multiplayer online games in 2007!

In its July-August issue, Beckett's Massive Online Gamer magazine is highlighting the 20 most talented people in MMOGs and detailing how they've shaped the future of the industry. Jack was named the fifth most-influential person in the MMOG industry by the magazine.

Congrats, Mr. Emmert!

Zones, instances, costumes and buffing all receive the cadillac treatment from Cryptic devs in this week's Ask Cryptic, an ongoing series of questions and answers between devs and their fans. Without further ado...

Do characters out-level zones? Can a high-level character continue to experience content in zones throughout his or her superheroic career? (Psyche)

Arkayne (Lead Designer): Zones in Champions Online have various challenges of different levels so you will always have something to return to as you progress through your heroic career. While you might start in the Southwest Desert helping Project Greenskin deal with various mutants plaguing the area, you'll likely return later to deal with rampaging robots or escaped supervillains.

While you're there, don't forget to watch out for Grond!

Click below for all the rest!

The Champions Online site has been updated with good news for attendees of PAX and Gencon. The good news comes in the form of a [b]playable demo[/a]:

Get into the game with Cryptic Studios at Gencon and Penny Arcade Expo this year, with a playable demo of Champions Online!

We'll have stations set up at our booth so you can be one of the first people to experience the fast-paced, high-adrenaline combat of Champions Online. But that's just the start of our summer convention fun - we'll also have demos of the Champions RPG (including some run by Hero Games' own Steve Long), sponsored RPG events, trivia contests and more!

You're not going to want to miss your first chance to play Champions Online ... or the great prizes we'll have available. If you ever wanted a ping-pong ball gun just like Foxbat's, you better be at Gencon or PAX!

Need information about these two conventions? Click below!

• Gencon 08: Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
• PAX 08: Seattle, Washington, USA

The latest team member profile has been posted. This time the victim is associate producer Dennis Adams. The article, as all of them do, focuses on Adams's work on Champions as well as his background and personal information.

Q: What do you do on Champions Online?

A: I'm an associate producer, which means I have the pleasure of managing the art team and designers on Champions Online - the concept artists, character modelers, animators, FX artists, powers and combat designers all fall under my jurisdiction. When you're entrusted with managing a talented group of folks like the ones we have here at Cryptic, it starts to feel less like work, and a lot more like a golden opportunity.

Q: How long have you worked in gaming, and what did you do before working on Champions Online?

A: I'm relatively new to the gaming industry. I spent five years working as an animation production supervisor at Walt Disney Studios, followed by a gig on The Simpsons Movie; all the while dreaming of "making videogames." I eventually got my break a little over a year ago after landing a job at a small game studio in San Francisco working on Star Trek Online. I then moved to Cryptic in February, and I love every minute of it.

Click below to read the rest.

The Champions Online lorebook has been updated with a look at Super Criminal Paul "Ankylosaur" Bressler. Sporting some nifty artwork, here's who Ankylosaur is:

He was born into a poor family, and no one really understood him. He got kicked out of school because of a simple misunderstanding about what he and the principal's daughter were doing in the broom closet. He was tossed into juvie for a couple of burglaries and some joyriding - a luckier kid would have gotten a slap on the wrist.

Nothing ever turned out right. But Paul was convinced that he was due for a big score to make up for all his rotten luck.

He got his chance when the local VIPER nest hired Paul and his friends to help out with a job. Paul knew this was his shot at the big time - if he got in good with VIPER, he'd be on the road to Easy Street.

The job was easy - make a lot of noise and smash some stuff outside of one of UNTIL's research centers, so a VIPER team could infiltrate the facility and loot it. It should have been a piece of cake - except UNTIL's security hit Paul and his buddies fast and hard.

Click below to read the rest.

Cryptic Studios, which created City of Heroes and the upcoming title Champions Online, has just posted several new job openings. Cryptic is hiring for all the usual stuff like programmers and artists, but you might be surprised at some of the things they are looking for. If you think you got what it takes to make great games, read on.

Welcome to the Cryptic Studios Careers Center. Cryptic Studios is dedicated to breaking new ground in massively multiplayer online games while still maintaining the casual, dynamic work environment that you would expect from an independent game studio. We're focused on the future at Cryptic, but we always make time for fun too. And we won't "crunch" your life away - the balance between work and family is important to us.

At Cryptic, we are more than a developer and publisher; we are a team of passionate, talented individuals who love what we do and what we are creating. We invite you to discover all that Cryptic Studios has to offer.

Current Openings

We're looking for the best, whether you are a proven industry veteran or a new college grad who wants to break into the business. If you want to work on cutting-edge technology and designs centered around making games easy to build and fun to play, then this is place for you. You won't be surprised to know we're looking for top-notch programmers and artists, but you might be surprised to find we're also interested in engineering, economics, linguistics and philosophy majors. And if you have experience in quality assurance, production customer service or marketing, check out the many opportunities in our publishing department.

You can see all the details over at the Cryptic Website.

Environment artist Andrew Jansen is the latest subject in Champions' ongoing developer profile series. The article focuses on Jansen's job as well as on other topics.

Q: What do you do on Champions Online?

A: I'm an environment artist, which means that I'm in charge of creating fun, immersive environments and props for the players to interact with.

Q: How long have you worked in the gaming industry, and what did you do before Champions Online?

A: I've been in the gaming industry for about three years. Before working at Cryptic, I worked for EA at its Los Angeles studio as an artist on Medal of Honor: Airborne.

Check out the rest of the article by clicking below.

Since we are dealing with computer-generated cyber worlds that are more than likely not our own creations, there are certainly roadblocks and speed bumps in these games that challenge roleplayers to improvise and adapt. These game mechanics come with the nature of the beast, and many are very necessary to the operation of the games, and are often so obvious as to threaten to pull a roleplayer out of character. While they may not be pleasant to experience during roleplay, their effect in-game can be at least lessened through the lens of imaginative roleplaying.

Justicar is the featured hero at the official Champions Online site. Featuring links to concept art, comic origin and a thumbnail sketch of who Justicar is, there is also a terrific story to go with the rest:

David Burrell had it all - good looks, intelligence, athletic ability, and a family fortune that could pay for a life of privilege and comfort that most people only dream of.

But none of that mattered to David - he'd rather be climbing a mountain than standing atop the pillars of the business world. Drawn to a life of adventure in the great outdoors, he gave up his place in the family corporation to climb the mountains he loved, and found joy and peace among the snowy peaks.

David was climbing Mount Assiniboine with a friend when an ice sheet gave way. David plunged more than fifty feet, landing on a ledge and breaking his back. Paralyzed and helpless, David begged for death. Instead, he was rescued, but in addition to his other injuries David lost a leg and a hand to hypothermia.

After years of rehabilitation, David learned to walk again. He found new purpose as a crusader for the rights of the disabled and looked upon his prosthetics as a badge of honor.

It's worth the time to go visit so why don't you?

The latest edition of Ask Cryptic is published and, as always fans ask and devs answer. This week there are questions about all sorts of topics including:

Will there be bosses like Hamidon that will require a large group of heroes using specific tactics to defeat? (Lokana)

Arkayne: Yes there are, Lokana! Right now we are implementing an ancient evil northern god in Canada called Kigatilik who is summoned into the world by his shamanic minion Tilingkoot. Kigatilik has ice demon-hounds, frost powers and a nasty "Curse of Kigatilik" which requires teams of players to react VERY carefully and quickly. It takes focused player coordination to avoid the worst of his offensive abilities, defeat his minions and take down Kigatilik himself. We have bosses like this spread throughout the game so players will have plenty of opportunities for daring heroics on a massive scale!

Pop over to the CO site and read the rest.

The latest "Meet the Team article for Champions Online has been posted. This time, hooks are sunk into audio lead Michael Henry.

Q: How long have you been in the gaming industry, and what did you do before working on Champions Online?

A: I've been working with games for 12 years. (Has it really been that long?) Prior to that, I spent about 10 years working for a company in Chicago that was involved in commercial music production for TV, radio and film.

One day I was contacted by a headhunter looking to fill a composer/sound designer position at Viacom New Media, and I thought: "Why not? This would be a great way to marry my interests in audio, music and technology." So I made the leap, and I've never regretted it.

My first gig in games was working on an interactive music title for MTV. I've worked on quite a few titles since, from coin-op to console and PC. After a couple of years, I moved out to the Bay Area to take a position at the legendary Atari (later Midway) Games. The last title I worked on there was with Ed Logg, who programmed the original Asteroids - 25 years later and he was still with Ata