Superhero video game fans have only had one choice for a superheroic Massively Multi-player Online Game for years now, ever since Cryptic Studios created City of Heroes for NCSoft. Now, according to a statement made by Atari to Cinema Blend, the first challenger to City of Heroes will be coming this June, in the form of Champions Online.

Champions Online is based off the pen-and-paper role-playing game Champions, published by Hero Games, and is being developed by, oddly enough, Cryptic Studios. The game was originally going to be published by 2K Games, but that was changed when Atari's parent company Infogames purchased Crypic Studios in December of 2008.

Champions Online will allow players to create their own superheroes to interact with the Champions Universe. Each character will be able to customize their appearance, powers and create an archfoe to battle through their character's career. The game is currently in closed beta, although you can apply for the beta a the games's official website.

Champions Online will be playable on the Xbox 360 as well as personal computers.