Rumor: Cryptic Prepping Neverwinter Nights MMO

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Champions Online and Star Trek Online developer Cryptic is said to be working on an Neverwinter Nights MMO, according to the sources of Variety's Chris Morris.

The rumblings fit with owner Atari's past comments, including a vow that it would revive classic franchises, such as those under the Dungeons and Dragons banner, and word that Cryptic is prepping "a series of new games" based off Atari properties.

The as-yet-unconfirmed title is said to be targeting a 2011 release--the same timeframe provided for the unannounced project that was revealed when Atari bought Cryptic. As for the studio's two announced efforts, Champions Online is due on PC and Xbox 360 later this year, with Star Trek Online arriving on PC no later than March 31, 2010.

Taking place within the Forgotten Realms setting of the Dungeons and Dragons franchise, the Neverwinter Nights series arrived on PC in 2002 via developer BioWare, bearing both a single-player campaign and support for up to 75 online players per server. The fantasy RPG's 2006 sequel was handled by Obsidian, with both versions embracing community-made content through the inclusion of a mod toolset.

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
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    June 9, 2009 10:15 AM

    While Dungeons and Dragons Online was sort of fun on one play through, this seriously needs to be more customizable of an experience. They should get together with Realtime Worlds and get that engine for a D&D MMO!

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      June 9, 2009 10:28 AM

      thats wierd, I hadn't heard form ddo in awhile, so I went to look up what turbine has been up to. Apparently I missed the news that its being transformed to a free to play, micro transaction mmo. And people that had subscritptions at the end are getting some freebies in the new version.

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      June 9, 2009 10:41 AM

      Dungeons and Dragons Online is about to be Free to play.

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      June 9, 2009 10:57 AM

      biggest mistake they made with D&D online was going with the Eberron setting. It was newer, and not everyone was familiar with it. You really cant go wrong by going with Forgotten Realms. Everyone is familiar and loves the setting.

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