MMO developer NCsoft today announced a new partnership with Double Fusion to supply in-game advertising for City of Heroes, releasing several images of the game world before and after ad integration.

The companies say that the real world ads will lend a sense of realism to the super-powered world of City of Heroes, with players able to opt out of the advertising if they so choose. Additionally, NCsoft plans to make use of the technology to display player-created content within the game. Read more »

MMO publisher NCsoft has obtained complete ownership of the City of Heroes intellectual property for an undisclosed sum and is opening a new development studio staffed by members of the game's original team in Mountain View, CA. The company's plans for the superhero PC MMO include new expansions and sequels. NCsoft claims it acquired "key members" of the City of Heroes team--including lead designer Matt Miller, lead engineer Aaron Brady, and lead artist Ken Morse--from Cryptic Studios, which originally developed the game and previously split ownership of the IP with NCsoft. All members of the City of Heroes team have been offered jobs at NCsoft, according to Cryptic's FAQ on the sale. "We're happy to announce that NCsoft has acquired full ownership of the City of Heroes IP," said NCsoft executive producer and new studio manager Brian Clayton. "Our plans are clear. We are now in a position to make a major reinvestment in the City of Heroes product line." The new office represents the second studio NCsoft has formally announced in less than a month. It officially unveiled Carbine Studios in early October, which is staffed by numerous industry and genre veterans and promises to "break new ground in massively multiplayer gaming." Earlier this year, NCsoft--which also publishes and controls the Lineage and Guild Wars franchises along with the recently launched Richard Garriot's Tabula Rasa--partnered with Sony to develop for the PlayStation 3 and PSP. "With our existing Cryptic and NCsoft team as the core," Clayton continued, "we will be able to run our current service without any interruption to our players, expand our studio to deliver triple-A content, and take City of Heroes to new heights." "City of Heroes and City of Villains players should be assured that Cryptic Studios will be working closely with NCsoft to ensure a smooth, seamless transition," noted Cryptic pesident and co-founder Michael Lewis. "The decision to sell the franchise allows us to focus resources on our soon to be announced first-party projects." The next effort from Cryptic is another superhero MMO, this one set in the Marvel universe and planned for both PC and Xbox 360. "All parties involved want whatÂ’s best for the franchise," Clayton wrote in response to the news.

A City of Heroes / Villains community Q&A can be found at WarCry. Art director Jay Doherty answers reader questions about costumes in the game.

How do you keep a successful genre booming with a finite amount of comic book material? License a franchise that is based on the creation of thousands of characters. Producer Tom DeSanto (Transformers, X-Men 2) has acquired the film rights to NCSoft and Cryptic Studio's MMORPG City of Heroes. DeSanto's long-term plan reportedly includes a live-action feature film, with the series eventually transitioning to television. The franchise has already been fleshed out by several City of Heroes novels, in addition to a pair of comic book series. According to Sci-Fi, the movie's story will involve a group of superheroes who live in Paragon City and team up to fight an invasion of aliens called the Rikti. The third City of Heroes novel was titled The Rikti War, and was set to be released by CDS Books in August of 2006. The book was dropped from CDS' schedule last year. City of Heroes isn't the only MMORPG-related property being brought to the silver screen. Blizzard signed its own deal last year with Legendary Pictures to produce a live-action film based on its Warcraft universe. The quest to produce a satisfying video game movie continues.

Independent developer Cryptic Studios, the company behind MMOs such as City of Heroes (PC) and the upcoming Marvel Universe Online (X360, PC), has released its internal animation tool to the public as a free download. Made available via the GNU General Public License, the Cryptic Animation Rig is a 1.82 MB plugin for Autodesk's 3d Studio Max software. "Our goal is to foster a community of animators by providing them the power to generate animations without having to worry about supporting a toolset. Since we were already developing the rig for our core technology team, we decided to release it to the public under the GNU GPL," commented Cryptic Studios art development director Shayne Herrera. "We feel that the development and gaming communities will benefit greatly from a professional tool like the Cryptic AR." To make use of the Cryptic AR, one must have an installed copy of Autodesk's 3d Studio Max 8 or higher. More information can be found on the official site, and the plugin itself is up for download at FileShack. At present, it does not appear that public Cryptic AR creations can be imported into Cryptic Studios titles. Shacknews has contacted Cryptic Studios for clarification on the matter.

As expected, a new update is now available for City of Heroes / Villains that adds a crafting system to the game along with auction houses. Crafting (or, "invention system") allows people to create high-powered enhancements as well as costume pieces and temporary powers using loot found after defeating enemies or completing missions. The Issue 9 update also features new high-level missions.

According to this story on Eurogamer, an "Invention System" is coming to City of Heroes / Villains before too long (the release is said to be "imminent"). With this crafting update, players can collect ingredients and recipes to make items. The game update will also add 10 new wings to the game.

There's a brief GDC interview with Jack Emmert of Crytic Studios on WarCry, chatting with the designer about City of Heroes / Villains.

Post-show GDC coverage continues on FiringSquad, where there are City Of Heroes/Villains Issue 9 impressions this morning. The article touches on new features found in the upcoming update for both games. Update: WarCry also has impressions.

MMORPG has a new City of Heroes/Villains Q&A posted today, asking lead designer Mat Miller about the upcoming Issue 9 update for the two games. There are somew screenshots here.

The guys at the WarCry have posted a new City of Heroes/Villains Q&A. Lead designer Matt Miller is asked about plans for new lower level content, opening up the Villain Patron Power Pools, new epic archetypes, custom power colors, and server transfer among other things.

Computer Games Online has posted a Q&A with Matt Miller, lead designer of City of Villains and Heroes. The questions focus on the new Issue 8 update. MMORPG.com has a related developer journal about the new Veteran Rewards Program.

MMORPG.com has posted a City of Villains Q&A sent out by publisher NCSoft. Lead designer Matt Miller talks about the game's one year anniversary, which is tomorrow.

There's a City of Villains/Heroes interview on Boomtown, asking Cryptic Studios designer Melissa Bianco about the super hero/villain MMORPG.

TotalVideoGames has a City of Villains/Heroes Q&A posted, asking lead designer Matthew Miller about the two games and the upcoming Issue 8 update.