German site Onlinewelten has an interview with Cryptic’s Melissa ‘War Witch’ Bianco available for download. Filmed at the recent Brighton Player Meet, the interview covers a wide variety of topics, from her first job at Cryptic to the future of wings in City of Heroes and Villains.

Onlinewelten is a German site, so the interview features our very own Amboss translating Melissa’s answers on the fly, but it’s easy for English speakers to follow. You can download the interview here (click on where it says ‘Zum Videointerview’ at the bottom of the news story).

Please not that you’ll need the XviD codec to watch the interview - if you don’t have it, you can download it for free from XviD Movies.

World of Roleplayers Radio is proud to present an interview with Matt ‘Positron’ Miller, Lead Designer of City of Heroes and City of Villains for Cryptic Studios, to be aired on Friday morning, October 27th, 2006 3am BST.

SteelDragon had the opportunity to speak with Positron about City of Heroes and City of Villains and some of the thrilling Features coming to these ground breaking games, just as the release of the games begins packaging as one MEGA game of “Good vs. Evil”.

Hear it at www.wor-radio.com through any internet connection by clicking “Tune In” for either Winamp or Windows Media Player at the top of the page. 

Last week’s ferocious thunderstorms at NCsoft Europe’s headquarters in Brighton resulted in a power cut that left the office in complete darkness for several long minutes. When lighting had been restored once again, we discovered a shocking truth - this had been no ordinary storm… it had the stench of crime all over it.

The surge of energy, whatever the source, had caused our entire Marketing team to disappear without a trace… a whole department, vanished. Whoever was behind this strike was privy to insider information; they knew we were on the verge of launching a Good vs. Evil Combined Edition advertising campaign. Instead, we’re left with a blank canvas and a gaping hole in the office… we need your help!

Our Veteran Rewards page has been updated with full details of the last year’s worth of rewards, covering the 27, 30, 33 and 36 month ‘milestones’! Click here to take a look.

You can find out more about the Veteran Rewards program that will be introduced with Issue #8: To Protect and Serve in our Veteran Rewards Feature Update, and get an overview of the other features of the next major update to City of Heroes and City of Villains in the Issue #8 Feature Update.

Following the Scissors on a Paper tournament on Defiant on Tuesday, last night saw Union’s Pocket D packed with the brave, the proud and the foolhardy, all eager for their shot at fame, fortune and Rock, Paper, Scissors glory.

Held in check by DJ Zero, the vile Crater was on his best behaviour as he oversaw a fast and furious competition that pitted heroes and villains against each other in a series of increasingly tense matches. Although more restrained that their Defiant counterparts when it came to the trash talking, the Union competitors more than matched them when it came to split-second timing and high pressure decisions.

As the tournament entered its third hour, the initial 64 competitors had been whittled down to a mere 16 battle-hardened warriors. Less than 45 minutes later, a victor emerged when Jumanjionic took down Fuddeh 4 games to 2 in the final!

Having won the tournament, he then had the choice of whether or not to face Crater in a special exhibition match…

As All Hallow’s Eve approaches, the heroes of Paragon City are fighting off an invasion of magical beings intent on mayhem and mischief that echoes the events of two years ago. The latest edition of the Paragon Times has a special report.

For many players of City of Heroes and City of Villains, creating our own heroes and villains is one of the most enjoyable and satisfying aspects of the game. As mentioned in the End User License Agreement (EULA) for both games, though, there are several important rules governing player-created characters, particularly their names.

We’ve done our best to make the EULA as clear as possible (within the restrictions of a legal document), but there remains a degree of confusion and misunderstanding about this subject. This new FAQ is intended to clarify the rules regarding character names in City of Heroes and City of Villains. 

Under the watchful eyes of DJ Zero, 64 of Defiant’s most valiant heroes and deadly villains met last night in the titanic clash of skill, wit and old fashioned luck that was Scissors on a Paper, the second Rock, Paper, Scissors Open Tournament!

Fists were shaken, split-second decisions were made and trash talk was, erm, talked as the brave competitors faced off over two-and-a-half hours of high pressure Rock, Paper, Scissors competition of the highest level. When the dust settled and the screaming faded, only one competitor remained - the sinister Count Maledictus, who beat Daylight Warrior by 4 games to 2 in a nail-biting final.

Read on to learn how the Count fared against RPS Grand Master Bridger…

It’s that time of year again, and the spooks and spectres have made their way out of Croatoa and into Paragon City - and, for the first time, the Rogue Isles! During this time both Heroes and Villains are able to ‘Trick or Treat’ at most doors in most zones. Trick or Treating involves simply clicking the door and receiving a ‘Trick’ (a nasty spawn of Halloween themed critters), or a ‘Treat’. Treats can be medium or large inspirations, a special temporary power, or a piece of special Halloween Salvage!

Read on for some important details about the Halloween Event…

Ever feel like some of your fellow players are speaking another language? Not sure what DPS is, or what’s the difference between a Click Power and a Toggle Power? The new Glossary in our Game Guide section is here to help.

If you can’t find a term that you don’t understand, or have suggestions for others that we should add, post them to this thread on the official message boards.

At our recent Brighton Player Meet, the chaps from Boomtown sat down with our special guest, Melissa ‘War Witch’ Bianco from Cryptic Studios, to talk about City of Heroes and Villains, her role in them and much more.

The full article covers everything from how Melissa became War Witch to her favourite zone and some hints of what can expect in the near future. You can read it here.

Last weekend saw our first official Player Meet here in sunny Brighton, which was a great success all round. Nearly 50 of you travelled from around the country (and, in a couple of cases, from around the corner) to meet each other, NCsoft Europe staff including Rockjaw, Amboss and myself, and our special mystery guest, Melissa ‘War Witch’ Bianco from Cryptic Studios!

War Witch kindly flew over specially for the Player Meet, and spent the day and evening chatting with players, demonstrating her Guitar Hero skills and being interviewed by Evolution Radio and others.

Meanwhile, the 30 gaming PCs at Game Heaven, where the Meet was based, got put through their paces. In addition to general play and more than a few Arena matches, we held ‘deathrace’ competitions in both Paragon City and the Rogue Isles and a Task Force race that saw two teams from Defiant and one from Union charging through the Hess TF on Striga as quickly as their heroic feet could carry them.

The highlight of the day for many, though, was the charity auction, where dozens of items were sold off in 20 separate ‘lots’ to raise money for Draw the World Together. On offer where many unique, exclusive and limited edition City of Heroes and Villains goodies, including statuettes of Statesman and Lord Recluse, a copy of the absolutely enormous Korean Collector’s Edition of ‘City of Hero’ and the originals of the rather splendid picture of Rockjaw, War Witch and Bridger shown here.

Thanks to the generosity of our players, we managed to raise a grand total of £528.02. No, we’re not sure where the 2p came from, either, but every penny counts.

All in all, it was a fantastic day, and everyone involved seemed to have as much fun as we did. Thanks to all our loyal players who came along and, of course, to the amazing War Witch!

To see pictures from the day, check out our Flickr account. You can also listen to the Evolution Radio interviews with War Witch, Rockjaw and myself, or read about people’s experiences in the thread on the official message boards.

Evolution Radio has posted a collection of recent interviews with members of Cryptic Studios and NCsoft Europe, all of which were recorded at last weekend’s player meet in Brighton. Evolution Radio covered the event which ran from midday on Saturday afternoon, and saw players from across the country attending in order to compete in contests, meet the devs, hang out with their usually virtual friends and celebrate the launch of the Good vs. Evil edition of City of Heroes and City of Villains.

Members from the popular online radio station conducted face to face interviews with Bridger, Rockjaw and mystery special guest: Melissa ‘War Witch’ Bianco, who flew in from the Cryptic Studios HQ in the United States especially for the occasion. You can download all three interviews from the Evolution Radio site and read more feedback from the event on the forums.

As always, stay tuned to this site for information on future events and player meets!

Your hands are lethal weapons capable of crushing foe with a single, deadly blow from your digits. Each fist, a finely tuned machine from which any enemy would choose to flee than come into bone-crunching contact with. For all the action your battle-gnarled knuckles have seen however, there is one challenge that few can boast to have come out unscathed… Scissors on a Paper, coming to a nightclub near you.

Once again, the mighty forces will join in Pocket D to sort the men from the boys, the wheat from the chaff and the champs from the chumps. You want a chance to prove your worth? Read on…