Following last year’s glorious assault by Arachnos forces on Siren’s Call on the Defiant server, word has reached Lord Recluse that the heroes of Paragon City are planning a retaliatory strike at 7pm GMT this Friday, 22 December, and has assigned Trix_Shots to organise a defence.

All loyal followers of Arachnos on Defiant should check out the thread on the message boards.

Trix_Shots is also interested in hearing from any Union villains who’d like to help organise a similar event on their server, so drop him a Private Message on the boards if you’re interested.

As the new year approaches, why not give your PC a villainous look for 2007 with our brand new Ghost Widow wallpaper? Available in a variety of sizes to suit all PCs, from a 800 x 600 up to 1600 x 1200, you can download Lord Recluse’s trusted lieutenant from our Wallpapers section now.

On the other hand, if heroism is more to your tastes, be sure to check out the new Ms. Liberty wallpaper over at the City of Heroes website.

We’re pleased to announce that the winner of the Creative Genius competition for November is Blackdove, for both proposing and completing the ’Artist Challenge‘ as an alternative to National Novel Writing Month for those who prefer to draw things than write about them.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo 2006, the combination of City of Heroes-inspired novels and the great response to Blackdove’s challenge made this one of the toughest months ever to pick a Creative Genius. On the writing side, FloatingFatMan’s The Diary came within a whisker of winning, while Blackdove faced stiff competition in the Artist Challenge from Swissy. A special mention must also go to _Max_, for being crazy enough to attempt both a novel and the Challenge. In fact, pretty much everyone nominated for November’s award is well worth checking out, so take a look.

In the end, though, as Sean Connery once said, there can be only one. So congratulations to Blackdove, 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 December’s Creative Genius will be opened on the Creative board at the start of the new year, so there’s plenty of time to post your submissions!

In the meantime, here are a few more of Blackdove’s pictures…

Ever since we returned from Memorabilia at the end of November, our very own AutobahnParker has been slaving away over a hot PC and the hours of footage he shot with his nifty little digital video contraption.

The result is the Memorabilia video that can now be found on the Movies page in our Media section. Just the thing if you couldn’t make it along to see the NCsoft Europe roadshow and want to see some of what you missed, or if you did come and want to relive the weekend. Either way, go watch it now, or Ms. Liberty and Ghost Widow will be unhappy. And you don’t want them to be unhappy, do you?

Winter is blowing in across the bay to Paragon City and settling on the Rogue Isles like an icy blanket. New presents and threats await both heroes and villains this holiday season.

By simply logging in and visiting Paragon City or the Rogue Isles between 14 December and 2 January, your character will receive the Cold Front badge, a Fuzzy Earmuffs costume piece (so you can look stylish and keep warm while patrolling the streets or committing nefarious deeds), and the Holiday Spirit Temporary Power, which grants 24 hours of Debt Protection.

You’ll also receive the Holiday Cheer Temporary Power - a real gift of giving. By targeting another player and using Holiday Cheer, you’ll award them a Mystery Gift - which could turn out to be a sack of Influence, Infamy or Prestige, a Temporary Power, or maybe even a very recognizable hat.

But that’s not all…