Community member Lady_Leprechaun has launched a great new community event: the Supreme Superbeing Awards. Going beyond just a simple costume contest, this event aims to award the Hero (or Villain) with the best combined character concept. Judging will cover all aspects of a Hero’s (or Villain’s) costume, name, title, biography and more! The event will take place on the Training Room on Sunday, April 6th at 19:00 BST (20:00 CEST). For all the details, visit the Supreme Superbeing Awards page on ParagonWiki and then head over to the Hero and Villain sign up forum threads to pre-register!

Is your Hero or Villain still deciding what to do this Valentine’s Day? Evolution Radio may have the answer in Pocket D on the Defiant server, hosting their Valentines Masquerade Ball from 8pm GMT this Thursday. Visit a Tailor to obtain suitable attire, and then join Evolution Radio’s DJ Stryker in Pocket D for music, activities and prizes! If you intend to attend, make sure to head over to the Evolution Radio forums to place your requests for specific music.

In early December we got a request from our Korean headquarter that the Korean Games magazine KyungHyang Games wanted to publish a feature on why players from outside Korea like NCsoft games.

Within a few hours we managed to round up a couple of answers from our English and German speaking Guild Wars and City of... player base.

And guess which one they chose!

From the dozen or so interviews the magazine chose this one about Penny and Energy from Zukunft!

Honestly - you can’t really beat their story: They met in game and now they’re a (happily) married couple! (Allegedly they rather fight their “marital quarrels” in the PvP zones...)

Last but not least a big thank you to all of you that have submitted their short interviews and photos! From what I gather they might well follow up with a second part at some point.

So, that was 2007 - what an incredible year we’ve had! Three massive Issue updates, Breakthrough, Invasion and A Stitch in Time, brought new game features, introduced new storylines and generated a great buzz over on our community forums.

We got our thinking caps on and hatched the new Invention System. Now you can create your own enhancements, costume pieces, powers and gadgets! The innovative Flashback System means you can manipulate time for your own cause… however valiant or villainous. We’ve also introduced new costume pieces, weapon customisation and new powersets… and who could forget the devastating return of the Rikti?

It’s been a year packed full of surprises. Our announcement that we have now acquired the exclusive rights to City of Heroes and City of Villains can only mean one thing… 2008 is going to be even bigger. Expect more features, more Issue updates, and who knows what else NorCal Studios have up their sleeves?

Only time will tell! So for now, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Thanks for all your support in 2007, see you in 2008!

The City of Heroes Community Team

After the story of the Top Cow City of Heroes Comics has reached its conclusion, we now present you with the next generation of City of Heroes magazines.

The City of Heroes community on both sides of the pond includes many very talented individuals who are inspired by the game to write stories or capture their character’s experiences in visual art.

Now, we bring you a dedicated publication in a flexible online format to showcase the many outstanding pieces of work our players create!

Here’s the City of Heroes Fanzine #0

We want your Fan Fiction and Art!
We want to give all our players the opportunity to showcase their work, so we invite our European players as well to send in their art and stories. It is planned to print a new Fanzine on a regular, quarterly basis, so have a look at the Fan Submission Guideline page for all the details!

Submissions for the next issue close on 11 February 2008

Be aware that we can only accept submissions in English.

Click here to submit your Fan Fiction and Fan Art!

Last year was such a big success for us that we decided to come back to Birmingham’s NEC for this year’s Winter Memorabilia… bigger and better than ever before!

Why you should go?

Maybe because it’s your chance to…

• Meet your fellow players and talk about stuff no-one else really appreciates!
• Meet us! Attempt to get information about future game updates! Fail! Laugh about it!
• Meet five fantastic real-life characters: Ms. Liberty, Ghost Widow and the Guild Wars girls!
• Get your character sketched by the Draw the World Together team! Then get another few done!

... and much more!

We haven’t heard a lot from Sean “Manticore” Fish one of the initial City of Heroes Game and Story designers recently because he was very busy working on a new NCsoft MMO. But although he left the team last year he was still involved in the creation of the Top Cow Comic line.

Now “the man behind the mask” is back and has sent us the following letter…

All done for fun, Evolution Radio has kindly organised two weekly PvP events every Monday and Friday alternating between Defiant and Union in Pocket D’s Arena!

Usually random team based and open for players of every level, it’s a good way for you to try out your PVP skills in a friendly environment.

Monday Night 8-10pm is the Monday Night Mash Up with Fen Tiger. And Friday Night 10pm-Midnight (alternating) is the Friday Night Fight Club with Proximity.

So come and join Evolution Radio in Pocket D on those days… and punch a DJ in the face!

We’re hitting the highway this October for another show, and if you’re any kind of hero… you need to come along and see us.

This time we’re pulling our wagons into The Comics Show, over the weekend of October 13th and 14th. It’s the show’s second year, this time taking place at the ThinkTank, Millennium Point, in Birmingham. Right now it’s shaping up to be one of the biggest comics conventions on the calendar, with dozens of top guests including Mike ‘Hellboy’ Mignola, Dave ‘Watchmen’ Gibbons and Adi ‘Iron Man’ Granov amongst others. With events, exhibitors and bargains galore all weekend it’s a must-attend event if you’re any kind of comics fan.

Even if you’re not that into comics there is of course another great reason to attend - us! At the NCsoft stand you’ll be able to pick up some fantastic game bargains, get a sketch from from the Draw The World Together team (while donating to our charity, EveryChild) and of course, pose for a photo with the lovely Ms. Liberty!

Be advised: Longbow intelligence suggests that Ghost Widow may be in the vicinity, recruiting likely subjects for Arachnos. Remain vigilant!

For more information on The Comics Show, visit the official site; and check out just some of the sketches previously created by the Draw The World Together team in our gallery.

If you can’t make it to this show, don’t fret; we’ll be popping up again at Memorabilia in November. Hopefully though, we’ll see you in October!

PS Never been to a show we’ve attended? Take a look at these videos to get an idea of what goes on!

On Sunday 26th August at 7pm Pocket D on the test server will once more play host to the latest round of Squished. Once more organised by PvP Stalwart Knight_Stalker this competition features teams of 2 squishy characters pitted against each other in a battle to claim the toughest squishy title.

In order to embrace i10 and its message of co-operation vs annihilation this 3rd instalment of Squished all teams must feature a hero and a villain who can hopefully put any hostilities aside until after the matches and fight side by side.

So to find out more and perhaps win a place alongside such previous champions as Max Khaos and Blue Freezer or Dragons Embrace and Rescuer see the Freshly Squished thread on the forums to find out the rules and which AT’s are allowed. Then enter your team via the Sign Up thread or to find a team mate check the Find a Team Mate thread.

So good luck to all that enter and even if you don’t why not come along to watch as it promises to be an eventful night of PvP and entertainment.

Remember May 2006 when we asked you to reveal your secret identity?

Seeking the faces behind the avatar, Robbie Cooper has travelled the world to portray MMORPG-players and their characters.

Now the secret identities of more than one hundred of these virtual avatars have been revealed in his brand new book “Alter Ego: Avatars and Their Creators" which is now available on Amazon.

Alter Ego is a cool concept book, presenting the phenomenon of the contemporary avatar-the virtual characters gamers choose and design to engage in 3D worlds online. Portraits of gamers from the United States, Europe, China, and Korea (including leading figures of the gaming world) are paired with digital images of their alter egos, graphically dramatizing the gap between fantasy and reality.

For more information, check out the Alter Ego site; “Alteregobook.com”...

We’re pleased to announce that the winner of the Creative Genius competition for May 2007 is Zurra, for this excellent character sketch of Royal Flush.

Congratulations to Zurra, who is now the proud owner of a ‘Creative Genius’ title on the official message boards and 60 days of free game time!

The Creative Genius competition is a monthly contest held on the Creative board. For more details, see the The Creative Board and Creative Genius thread on the official message boards. The Nominations for June’s Creative Genius are now open on the Creative board, so be sure to let us know what your favourite submission was last month!

Just a reminder that Aero has organised a City of Heroes and Villains player meet in Brighton this coming Saturday, 7 July.

The meet will be based at Gamer Heaven, site of the original official player meet last year. As well as a variety of competitions and events, Aero has also arranged a special all-night gaming session just for City of Heroes and Villains players - if you’re feeling hardcore enough, you’ll have the whole of Gamer Heaven to yourselves from 10pm through to 6am on Sunday!

For more information, see the Player meet in Brighton Confirmed - Sat 7th July! thread on the official message boards.

The last couple of months have been a busy time for the heroes and villains of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. Breakthroughs in harnessing and focussing superhuman powers and the growing number of reports of strange phenomena involving the Moon and the stability of interdimensional space have been keeping Bridger occupied, but he’s finally found the time to pick a new costume to replace his familiar red and black spandex.

We’re pleased to announce, then, that the winner of the Build a Better Bridger costume design competition is ShadowCrown! His winning entry is pictured here - read on to see Bridger in his all new costume…

We’re pleased to announce that the winner of the Creative Genius competition for April 2007 is Midnights, for the staggering amount of time and effort that’s gone into Mids’ Hero Designer.

Featuring full support for Issue #9 and the Inventions system, the Hero Designer is an application that allows you to plan builds and slotting for your City of Heroes and Villains characters. We’re pleased to be able to recognise the hard work that Midnights has put into designing and updating this tool, which he provides free of charge for his fellow players.

Congratulations to Midnights, who is now the proud owner of a ‘Creative Genius’ title on the official message boards and 60 days of free game time!

The Creative Genius competition is a monthly contest held on the Creative board. For more details, see the The Creative Board and Creative Genius thread on the official message boards. The Nominations for May’s Creative Genius are now open on the Creative board, so be sure to let us know what your favourite submission was last month!