NCsoft is celebrating the fifth anniversary of City of Heroes - the first and longest-running comic book-inspired MMO game. Developed by the recently-renamed Paragon Studios, the team took the opportunity to officially announce that the development is underway for the next content update for the series - aptly named Issue 15: Anniversary.
Issue 14: Architect, released earlier this month, marked the first time MMO players have been given the opportunity to create and share their own custom missions and story arcs. Now, just weeks after Issue 14’s release, players have already created and uploaded more than 120,000 user-generated story arcs. With the upcoming Issue 15: Anniversary, Paragon Studios will bring fans a host of new features and content including much greater options and more usability for the Mission Architect game system. From new mission options for both Villains and Heroes, to new costumes and faces, Issue 15: Anniversary further builds on the innovation and customisation of the Mission Architect tool.
Former players wishing to commemorate this special date can take part in a reactivation opportunity from April 28, 2009 at until Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. GMT. During this reactivation event all expired retail and trial accounts that are in good standing can access the live servers. In addition, the community can participate in a variety of five-year anniversary events, including a T-shirt logo design contest, and a City of Heroes video homage contest. For more information on our anniversary celebrations, go to http://eu.cityofheroes.com/en/news/
During the past five years, the City of Heroes series has been praised by the press with more than 22 “Game of the Year” and “Editor's Choice” awards in its first year of launch. Press accolades for City of Heroes include Computer Gaming World's “2004 MMORPG Game of the Year” award, and most recently Massively's “Most Improved Game of 2008” award. In addition, the highly praised City of Villains expansion pack received MMORPG's “2005 Game of the Year” award.