We’re pleased to announce that the winner of the Creative Genius competition for January 2007 is Catz, for the character sketches of the new Chiefette (pictured here), Healing Spirit and Moonshade - not to mention her prolific output of sketches and drawings over the past few months.

Congratulations to Catz, 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 February’s Creative Genius will be opened on the Creative board at the start of March, so there’s just time to post your submissions!

In the meantime, January’s nominations also included several entries that were worthy of ‘honourable mentions’. Read on to see them…

This Sunday, the Arenas of the European Training Room will ring with sounds of a PvP tournament with a difference. Freshly Squished, organised by S4 veteran Knight_Stalker, will pit duos of ‘squishy’ characters against each other in a series of matches to determine the toughest squishies in the game.

To find out more, see the Freshly Squished thread on the official message boards. If you’d like to take part, you can use the Looking for Team thread to find a partner, and the Sign Up thread to register for the tournament, which will kick off at 7pm GMT on Sunday 4 March. If you have any questions, you can PM them directly to Knight_Stalker. Good luck!

Last week we brought you an overview of the next free update for City of Heroes and Villains, Issue #9: Breakthrough. Now, Lead Designer Matt ‘Positron’ Miller reveals more about the Statesman Task Force in our second Issue #9 Feature Update.

Last weekend we celebrated the second anniversary of City of Heroes being released in Europe with a party and player meet in our home town of Brighton. Evolution Radio were there, and their very own DJ Quantum took the time to interview our most valued Community Representatives.

The interviews with Bridger, Rockjaw, Midoh and Amboss are now available for download on their website. So if you missed the live show on the day or want to listen in again, now’s your chance.

As the next free update to City of Heroes and Villains draws closer, interest in Issue #9: Breakthrough and the Inventions system continues to grow. Now, over at Boomtown, you can read the latest from Lead Designer Matt ‘Positron’ Miller:

What made you use the name “Breakthrough” to describe the free expansion?

Several reasons. First, it shows off the invention system by declaring a scientific breakthrough in getting better Enhancements into the hands of Heroes and Villains. Next, we have Hamidon breaking through in another part of the world, and finally we have the Heroes breaking through the Rogue Isle defenses in Statesman’s Task Force.

You can read the full Q&A article at Boomtown now - and don’t forget that you can see our latest Feature Update for an overview of what will be in Issue #9, and discuss the Inventions system on our new message board.

The next free update to City of Heroes and Villains, Issue #9: Breakthrough will introduce a whole new level of gameplay to the world of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles with the eagerly anticipated Inventions system.

Find out more about the key features of Issue #9 in our latest Feature Update - then discuss the Inventions system on the new section of the official message boards.

Last weekend saw our second Brighton Player Meet, marking the second anniversary of the European release of City of Heroes. Nearly 80 players from across Europe made their way to NCsoft Europe’s not-so-sunny-right-now home town to help us celebrate, and the result was a great day - and night - for everyone.

The meet was based at local internet gaming centre NetPama, where the three floors of PCs were put through their paces throughout the day in a mixture of scheduled events and free-form play. In between sessions, the pub across the road provided the perfect spot to unwind and socialise.

We’d like to thank everyone for coming along and making the meet such a success, and to congratulate the winners of the competitions and events held throughout the day, which included a ‘death race’ from Atlas Park to Peregrine Island, a race to Level 5, the ‘Design a Duo’ costume competition and a ‘3vP’ PvP tournament organised by Xanthus.

To find out more, you can read the ‘live thread’ from the day on the official message boards. Evolution Radio was broadcasting from the meet, and their interviews with Amboss, Midoh, Rockjaw and Bridger will be available for download from their website soon. You can also read on to see some pictures from the meet…

One year ago, on Valentine’s Day, DJ Zero relocated and re-launched the infamous Paragon Dance Party to great success. In fact, we had so much fun at last year’s event that we’ve decided to celebrate the First Anniversary of Pocket D’s opening by doing it all over again…

Despite the best efforts of the foul Lord Recluse and his sidekick Ghost Widow to disrupt the evening, the City of Heroes European Second Anniversary Party on Tuesday night was a great success!

Over 150 heroes and villains from across Europe joined us in Pocket D on the European Training Room to mark the occasion, and to watch the special Anniversary Annihilation RPS Tournament, featuring special guest Grand Master War Witch.

It’s been nearly three years since City of Heroes first brought super powers to the world of online gaming, and AFK Magazine has decided that it’s about time for a return to Paragon City. Issue 2 of the new web-based MMO magazine features a full ‘re-review’ of City of Heroes:

From zone events and Giant Monsters, to holiday themed events or Veteran Rewards, City of Heroes has an amazing amount to offer any new player, and more than enough to entice the more seasoned gamer to stay and play just a little bit longer. Cryptic Studios is definitely on the right track to boosting this MMO’s performance even further and setting the bar higher than ever before.

The positive review is backed up with an equally positive 8.0/10 score. You can read the full article in Issue 2 of AFK Magazine.

This weekend, City of Heroes will reach its second anniversary in Europe! Two years of fighting crime and saving Paragon City from mad scientists, alien invaders, giant monsters and the evil schemes of Lord Recluse and Arachnos deserves some celebration, so all our players are cordially invited to come along to Pocket D on the European Training Room this coming Tuesday (6 February) to mark the occasion.

To kick things off, we’ll be holding a special Anniversary Annihilation Tournament (see below for details), followed by a party where you can kick back and relax with your friends, chat with Amboss, Midoh, Bridger and any special guests that might appear, and maybe pick up a unique temporary title…

When: 7pm GMT, Tuesday, 6 February
Where: Pocket D, European Training Room*

*If you’ve never used the Training Room server, you can find out how to set up the client and copy characters over from the Live servers in Welcome to the Training Room on the official message boards.

Read on to find out more about the Anniversary Annihilation Tournament and how to enter…