As the second Rikti War draws closer, lead designer Matt ‘Positron’ Miller has been chatting to GameDaily about the momentous events that will soon shake the foundations of the City of Heroes and Villains universe:

According to CoX lore, being cut-off from their home world kept the current Rikti in check. What will keep them from overrunning the world once they have access again?

The Rikti have very limited access to the home world, and they don’t have the ability to create portals large enough to bring in their mother ships. They can only bring in their smaller destroyers, and even those portals aren’t entirely stable. They’re stealing Portal Corp technology to try to get their portals working, in addition to circumventing the magical shield that still exists between the two dimensions [from the first war]. So they have intermittent access to the home world, not the end of the world all over again.

You can read the full interview over at GameDaily - and you can try out Issue #10 for yourself on the Training Room right now.

To celebrate the continued success of its Heroes/Who Wants to be a Superhero double-bill (every Monday from 10pm), the SCI FI Channel has teamed up with NCsoft Europe to offer a 14-day free trial of City of Heroes and Villains to 5,000 people via the SCI FI Channel website.

To create your own heroes and villains and save - or threaten - the world of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles for 14 days, absolutely free, just head over to the special City of Heroes page on the SCI FI site and click the buttons to download the game client and a free trial code. Remember, there are only 5,000 codes on offer, so be quick!

Oh, and if you haven’t been watching Heroes, you’ve been missing out. Best. Show. Ever.

The fifth instalment of the current series of ‘Ask a Dev’ - where you, the players of City of Heroes and Villains, get a chance to ask the Cryptic development team about the past, present and future of our favourite games - is now available on Boomtown.

First, you can read Jay’s answers to questions from players in the US and Europe about costumes and character art. Then find out more about world designer Melissa ‘War Witch’ Bianco - and submit your questions for her to answer in the next instalment.

In a week or so, we’ll collect all the questions from European and US players for War Witch, so be sure to email send your questions to Boomtown soon!

If you’ve enjoyed the recent spate of super-hero movies, now’s your perfect opportunity to create some dastardly villains of your own with the July 2007 issue of DVD Monthly (#92).

As well as all the latest news, previews and reviews of the best in home movie entertainment, you can treat yourself to 14 days of perpetrating evil schemes on the Rogue Isles, courtesy of the free trial version of City of Heroes and Villains included on the cover DVD.

Once the trial finishes, you can carry on playing with the same characters simply by picking up a copy of the full game to upgrade your trial to a full version.

The July issue of DVD Monthly is available now from good newsagents across the UK.

It’s been five years since the Rikti War. Five years in which new heroes have arisen to replace those who fell fighting the alien menace. Five years in which the world has started to rebuild and recover.

Five years in which to grow complacent.

But in Issue #10: Invasion, the Rikti will return.

Find out more about the next free expansion for City of Villains in our first Issue #10 Feature Update!

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!

So… without much ado, here are Positron’s words:

Hey everyone!

Clear your calendars for the weekend of June 15th! Double XP is coming back, for one weekend only! I’ve gotten the go ahead to fire up a little “Double XP” to kick the summer off right! That’s right, in honor of all things summer time: school’s out, Father’s Day, graduations, and even my very own birthday, we’re activating Double XP (along with double influence/infamy and double prestige) on June 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th. 

Double XP Event Timing:
Start: 15th at 16:59 BST
End: 18th at 02:59 BST

Hopefully all of you can make it into Paragon City and the Rogue Isles over that weekend to partake in the Double XP. An email reminder will be sent out before the event, but you all can start spreading the word to your servers, supergroups, and friends right now!  If you have a friend who wants to join in the fun but hasn’t played before, send them a free 10 day trial and earn free game time through the Referral Program!

Remember the date, June 15th through the 18th!