Kotaku: City Of Villains

Celebrating Seven Years of City of Heroes

Mike Fahey — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:40:00 EDT

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Seven years ago today, NCsoft and Cryptic Studios released City of Heroes, providing fantasy-gorged massively multiplayer online gamers a new way to waste countless hours of their lives alongside thousands of their closest friends. Let's celebrate seven years of heroes and villains with a colorful infographic and nostalgia-laden anecdotes! More »

City Of Heroes Gets A Visual Makeover

Mike Fahey — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:20:00 EST

This April brings another free update to NCsoft's City of Heroes, Issue 17: Dark Mirror, bringing with it graphical updates that hold a dark mirror up to the game's regular level of detail. More »

City Of Heroes Vigilantly Launches Issue 15

Mike Fahey — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:20:00 EDT

The heroes are much more heroic and the villains exponentially more vile with the release of City of Heroes Issue: 15: Anniversary, with cosmetic changes and mission architect tweaks the order of the day. More »

City of Heroes Teases Power Customization in Issue 16

Owen Good — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:30:00 EDT

For those in the know, Positron's post on the City of Heroes forums yesterday tips off a hugebigimportant development in the cape-and-longjohns MMO. As in power customization, a concept begged for from day one. More »

The City Of Heroes Mission Architect Explained

Mike Fahey — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:20:00 EST

As the Issue 14: Architect update for City of Heroes draws closer to release, NCsoft drops new information and screenshots explaining how players will go about adding their own original content to the game. More »

City Of Heroes Celebrates Issue 13 With Free Weekend

Mike Fahey — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:40:00 EST

Former City of Heroes and City of Villains players are cordially invited back for a free weekend in order to check out the new features introduced in Issue 13: Power and Responsibility. More »

City Of Heroes Launches Issue 13: Power And Responsibility

Mike Fahey — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:20:00 EST

City of Heroes introduces new ways to build up your superhero persona as NCsoft launches their latest free update, Issue 13: Power and Responsibility. More »

City Of Heroes Mission Creator Somewhat Delayed

Mike Fahey — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:30:00 EDT

The City of Heroes Issue 13: Architect was too big for one update, so they've split it up! This is really just a pleasant way of saying the the Mission Creator mode isn't showing up in the next update, but I appreciate their attempt and making it seem all happy. Now the next update is titled Issue 13: Power and Responsibility, and will feature all the updates promised in Architect aside from that big one, plus a few newly announced features, the most intriguing of which is the Leveling Pact, a feature that lets to players buddy up so that their levels always stay the same, no matter how much the other plays. An amazingly brilliant feature that not only supports MMO friendships, but also makes things a whole lot more convenient for the dual-boxers out there. Also new is Dual-Builds, a feature that will allow characters to maintain two separate power builds, useful for roleplayers who want a quirky, split personality character. More »

Be a Character in Tabula Rasa, Help Child's Play

Brian Crecente — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:20:05 EST

The folks over at NCSoft have amassed quite an interesting collection of eBay auctions for Child's Play this year. The auctions, which will donate 100 percent of the proceeds to Child's Play, includes signed copies of games and posters, rare finds and, the best one, having a Tabula Rasa NPC named after you. More »

City of Heroes - A Message From The Future

Mike Fahey — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 11:20:20 EST

A million years in the future the world of City of Heroes lies in ruin, and the seeds of that ruin are being sewn today! The City of series is getting time travel is the upcoming Issue 11: A Stitch In Time update, and the Menders of Ouroboros bring ill tidings for heroes and villains alike. Mender Silos is so concerned that his hyperbole gland has kicked into overdrive. I sincerely hope he isn't a mission giver, because I'd seriously be sound asleep before he finished talking. More »

NCsoft Thanks Players With CoH Goodness

Mike Fahey — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:00:37 EST

Yesterday NCsoft announced the purchase of full ownership of the City of Heroes games, and now they're thanking fans for their support in a big way. Since City of Villains release, players have had to purchase both in order to play for the other team, but now NCsoft has unlocked both sides for everyone! Players who only had access to one faction from now on have both. Neat! Other incentives include a complete debt wipe after the launch of the Episode 11: A Stitch In Time update, along with a Supergroup prestige bonus of 20,000 per character, amounting to up to 3,000,000. That's relatively insane. Finally they've announced that all players named Michael Fahey get to play the game for free forever, with the exception of Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey, who gets more search results in Google than I do. Okay, that last one might have been a lie, but still! NCsoft loves their City of players! More »

NCsoft Acquires City Of Heroes, Creates New Studio

Mike Fahey — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:00:04 EST

NCsoft likes City of Heroes so much, it bought the IP! Formerly the joint property of NCsoft and developer Cryptic Studios, NCsoft has assumed full ownership of the game and its villainous counterpart. As part of a push to further develop City of Heroes, the company has also announced the formation of a new studio in Mountain View California dedicated to the title, centered around key members of the Cryptic and NCsoft City teams.

Matt Miller, Lead Designer on the City of Heroes project and formerly with Cryptic Studios said, "We're thrilled to be bringing the CoH franchise to the next level. And we couldn't be more pleased to be working completely under the NCsoft banner. We feel that City of Heroes' best days are in front of it."

This of course leaves Cryptic free to work on their ambitious Marvel super hero MMO without having to worry about that giant conflict of interest. More »

Time Travel Comes To Paragon City

Mike Fahey — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:40:51 EDT

NCSoft has announced the latest free expansion for the City of Heroes and City of Villains MMORPG, and along with new power sets, new inventions, and the long-awaited ability to customize your weapons to suit your character's style, guys both good and bad will get a chance to journey back through time and experience the history of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. The update will introduce the Menders of Ouroboros, a mysterious organization with the power to send characters back through time to experience epic struggles that shaped the City of universe into what it is today. As well as historical missions, the Ouroboros system will let players experience story arcs they might have missed on the first go-round, automatically powering down your character to the appropriate level. Neat! More details on Ouroboros as well as the new power sets, Dual Blades and Willpower, after a brief message from our gallery. More »

City of Heroes Double XP Weekend

fdemarco — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 16:00:00 EDT

City of Heroes/Villains is hosting another of their double XP weekends next week. From Friday, June 15th at 8:59am PST / 11:59am EST until Sunday, June 17th, 8:59pm PST / 11:59pm EST, you can gain double the xp for all your heroic efforts. Influence and Infamy points will also be doubled during that time. They have also set up a referral program wherein you can send a friend a ten day free trial and if the person signs up for a paid subscription, you get four months of play for free. More »

GDC 07: City of Heroes Issue 9

Mike Fahey — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 15:20:55 EST

I have nothing but respect for City of Heroes lead designer Matt Miller and world designer Mellissa Bianco, who had to play opening act for the legendary Richard Garriott at NCSoft's presentation yesterday, where they were detailing the upcoming Issue 9: Breakthrough update for City of Heroes and Villains. The most compelling features included in the update are the introduction of the invention system and player auction houses to the game, adding a new layer of depth to the game that players (like me) have been clamoring for since launch. More »

Gallery: City of Heroes Statesman's Task Force

Mike Fahey — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 13:20:15 EST

NCsoft has released screenshots of the new Statesman's Task Force mission to be included in the Issue 9 'Breakthrough' update. It's the CoH answer to the City of Villains Lord Recluse Strike Force, where the bad guys took down the signature good guys from the game series. Looking over these screens makes me really wish I had stuck with the game long enough to be able to enjoy the new content once it hits. Looks like the players that stuck with it are in for some truly epic encounters. Michael Fahey More »

City of Heroes Update 9 Details

Mike Fahey — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:40:41 EST

NCSoft Europe has announced their latest free patch, issue 9 in the continuing saga of City of Heroes / Villains. Entitled 'Breakthrough', the patch will introduce the Invention System, with which heroes and villains will be able to use recipes and salvage to create new gadgets, costume bits, powers, and more. CoH finally gets crafting! Finally something for those people who always wanted to play the Tinkerer or Forge from the X-Men. More »

City of Heroes/Villains Issue 8 Now Live

fdemarco — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 11:00:00 EST

NC Soft has announced that the latest free expansion for City of Heroes/Villains, Issue 8: To Protect and Serve, is now live. New features include: Safeguard Missions (Heroes Only), Police Band (Heroes Only), Pocket D Arenas (Heroes and Villains) and Faultline Reborn (Heroes Only). Additionally, both Heroes and Villains can enjoy a retroactive Veteran Rewards Program that rewards long time players with special costumes, powers and badges. More »

Spontaneously Deleting City of Hero Superbases

kotaku.com — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 10:00:02 EDT

Over 100 Supergroups in City of Heroes logged on last Friday evening to discover, oddly enough, that a dimensional vortex had sucked up their bases, leaving them standing in the middle of a Tron-like grid of red lines bisecting a gray, infinite plane. Worse yet, not only was the base gone, but all the items and prestige these groups had worked for had disappeared too. More »

City of Villains Free Trial

brownlee — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 11:40:43 EDT

Eager to practice your nefarious schemes for taking over the world? MMORPG.com is sponsoring a free 14 day trial of NCSoft's City of Villains. Build that space laser you always wanted and write your name deep within the lunar dust! Shake your hands at the sky in theatrical gesticulation as you curse your archenemy, Captain Proton! Be assured that every act of villainy will have no consequence whatsoever on the state of the world! It's like a real comic only without that messy continuity to deal with. More »

City of Villains Flask

Brian Crecente — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 16:00:53 EDT

I just received one of my favorite bits of gaming swag: a City of Villains flask. Kinda makes me wish I was an alcoholic, I guess it's never to late to start. More »

City of Villains Gets Retouched in April

lsmith — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 13:40:49 EST

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Prodigious Gaming reports that MMO City of Villains will get a content update with the April showers. Timed missions called "Mayhem Missions" will be introduced, allowing players to harass civilians, mess up the Po-Po and rob stores for points. Expect some user interface updates, general streamlining and a bunch of textures being upped to hi-res in both CoV and its honorable older brother, City of Heroes. More »

Heroes in City of Vililans

lsmith — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 11:40:18 EST

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NCSoft and Cryptic released some screens this week of the Longbow organization in City of Villains. This one picture just feels really Ace & Gary to me. There's a couple more pics after the fold. More »

The Biggest, Baddest Dude in City of Villains

lsmith — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 14:40:02 EST

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Is this guy, Lord Recluse. Even though I don't play CoV, seeing MMO uber bosses is still pretty exciting, especially when you consider the work the playerbase puts in to the games. Couple more pics after the jump. More »

City of Heroes Cosplay

Brian Crecente — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 02:00:27 EST

City of Heroes second annual costume contest wrapped up recently. This year, Ncsoft asked gamers to submit a screenshot of their hero from the game and a second picture of the gamer dressed like the hero s arch enemy from City of Villains. More »

City of Villains Attacks Stores Today, Sans Evil Cape

Brian Crecente — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 13:00:34 EDT

City of Villains, the much anticipated sequel to the massively multiplayer Superhero game City of Heroes, hits stores today and I ve got the kick-ass cape to prove it. The good folks at NCSoft sent me the black and red 6-foot cape a few days ago as remainder of the game s launch, that or because they think I might look really good going to the post office in a velvet cape. Is it scary that I m 35, own two capes and don t do magic shows? More »

City of Villains New Images

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 21:33:41 EDT

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We've got a handful of Coralax Villains shots for the upcoming MMORPG City of Villains, which drops this Halloween. And dang, these badies look like they've been hit with the ugly stick. More »

David Cook Talks City of Villains

lsmith — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 10:40:26 EDT

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Over at MMORPG.com they put up part one of a three-part interview with City of Villains' mayor, David Cook. This week he talks about the possibility of converting heroes to villains in the expansion and showing off your super group's bases. MMORPG.com will be adding a new part of the interview each Wednesday, so check back. You do want to know more about what kind of tights your character can wear in the upcoming expansion, right? More »

Get a Free In-Game Helm With City of Villains Pre-Order

Brian Crecente — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 16:30:23 EDT

If you pre-order a copy of massively multiplayer online hero basher City of Villains you'll get a free super evil battle helmet. This is exactly why real life should be a lot more like massively multiplayer games. Check out the four head-buckets of doom below after the jump: More »