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 Villain (or Hero) with the best combined character concept. Judging will cover all aspects of a Villain’s (or Hero’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 Villain and Hero 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.

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 Villains Community Team

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!

Arachnos always needs new blood, and that’s why we’ve sent Ghost Widow herself out to find new members this October.

Under cover of a ‘comics convention’ Ghost Widow will be issuing tasks to potential recruits over the weekend of October 13th and 14th. Recruits who manage to complete those tasks will potentially be eligible to join Arachnos.

Your first task is to infiltrate the show itself, taking place at the ThinkTank, Millennium Point, in Birmingham. Make full use of the environment to blend in with the general populace; a good use of your time may be to talk to some of the many comic artists and writers attending, including Mike ‘Hellboy’ Mignola, Dave ‘Watchmen’ Gibbons and Adi ‘Iron Man’ Granov amongst others. There are many other activities to take part in, all of which will serve to conceal your true purpose.

The nerve centre of Ghost Widow’s operations for this weekend will be the NCsoft stand, serving as cover for Arachnos. To show your potential loyalty, it is highly advised that you spend time at the stand, donating money to their chosen charity to obtain sketches and perhaps - if you are suitably reverential - getting your photo taken with the mistress herself.

While advance Night Widow scouts have either seduced or destroyed most law enforcement authorities in the area, we cannot be certain that Longbow forces will not attempt to set up anti-Arachnos propaganda stations. Ms. Liberty herself may appear in person to oversee these activities; be on your guard.

For more information on The Comics Show, visit the official site.

If you can’t make it to this show, don’t defect to Freedom Corps just yet; Ghost Widow will return, at Memorabilia in November.

PS Need extra tips on blending in? Take a look at these videos to get an idea of what goes on at shows.

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.

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!

We’re pleased to announce that the winner of the Creative Genius competition for March 2007 is Scarlet_Shocker, for her fiction, The Death of Great Wulf:

What about Corona?”

“We’ve got a signal out for her.” T’lara gave a nod to Gravikoi, who scooted to the Control room and began to hammer on the mainframe keyboard. X-Jen, who had hidden in the room the moment Scarlet appeared, leaned in close to Gravi. “What are you doing?”

“I’ve pointed a laser at the sun.” said Gravi, sotto voice. “Now we wait.”

“Wait for what?”

“Corona.”

Congratulations to Scarlet_Shocker, 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 April’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 quick reminder that Rockjaw, Amboss and Bridger will be running the NCsoft Europe stand at the Bristol Comic Expo this weekend, 12-13 May. As well as meeting members of your community team, you’ll be able to pick up copies of our games at crazy bargain prices, grab some free swag and have your favourite characters sketched by the famous comic artists who have kindly agreed to donate their time to Draw the World Together.

(Remember to print out some screenshots of your characters and bring them along for the artists to use as reference in case we have any difficulties with internet access.)

See the Bristol Comic Expo site for details of the show, how to get there and ticket prices - and check out the updated list of the artists who’ll be available in Rockjaw’s post on the official message boards.

This May will see the NCsoft Europe community team at not one but two shows in the UK, where you’ll be able to meet members of your community teams, grab some free swag - including brand new and exclusive City of Heroes and City of Villains badges pictured here - and pick up copies of our games at bargain prices - including limited Collector’s Editions and other hard to find versions. At the Bristol Comic Expo, you’ll also be able to get sketches of your characters from famous comic artists, arranged by Draw the World Together.

First up is…

City of Heroes and Villains fansite CoHmpedium has just announced the CoHmpendium City of Heroes and City of Villains Championship (C4), a team-based PvP tournament that will be open to all European City of Heroes and Villains players, with matches to be held on the Training Room, to allow players from all four European Live servers to compete.

To find out more about C4, head over to the English C4 page and check the ‘Rules’ section. If you’re interested in taking part, you can sign up by following the link at the bottom of the page.

As well as fame, fortune and the bragging rights, the eventual winners of the C4 tournament will also be showered with prizes, sponsored by NCsoft Europe. The exact details will be determined following registration, so be sure to sign-up soon.

If you have any questions about the rules, organisation or other aspects of C4, you can post them to CoHmpendium’s message boards where organisers Robin and Benny will be happy to help out.

Self-styled head of Arachnos Research and Development Master_Zaprobo is throwing a competition on the official message boards, looking for creative works inspired by the upcoming Inventions system, one of the major features of the next free update for City of Heroes and Villains, Issue #9: Breakthrough.

So, if you fancy gracing your Super Group base with a shiny new flying machine, head over to the MZ’s Easter Flyer thread on the official message boards now - the closing date for the competition is this Friday!