Space: The final frontier for MMO games. Many have tried and many have failed. Does all hope lay at the feet of NASA to create a mainstream space MMO? I apologize for not having your MMO news last week, but it was a slow news week. This time I’m giving you all the news from last week and this week combined with the opening segment of my time in Middle-Earth as I play Lord of the Rings Online.

Nasa MMO

Ok, no more Star Trek references, I promise. The developers have been assigned to work on the NASA MMO titled Astronaut: Moon, Mars & Beyond. The developers, Project Whitecard, are tasked to make the game fun. No real game information has gotten out about Astronaut, but it is running on the Unreal Engine 3 and we will be playing the demo by the end of 2009. The website Massively has posted screenshots for your viewing pleasure here:

Source

Champions Online

This one can actually be put in the rumor bin. The gents over at 1UP ran a story last week saying that Cryptic’s superhero MMO, Champions Online, will hit retail shelves in June of this year. I contacted the developers and they said that they will only confirm a 2009 release for the game. Also, it won’t be too long before the press will get their beta accounts, so expect more information about the game in the very near future.

This week we have a new "Ask Cryptic" that answers even more questions about the game in closed beta. In the Q&A with the community, Cryptic announced that you will not be able to play a shape-shifting superhero just yet and you can form your very own super group (guild) at level 10. There is no level requirement to join a pre-existing super group. Also, user JuryDuty asked why the developers have been playing with an Xbox 360 controller when they demo the game, to which Cryptic responded that it’s personal preference; Champions Online will be playable by mouse and keyboard or a console controller. You can read the rest of the story here.

Source