Issue 12: Midnight Hour has arrived on the live servers and is now open! Immerse yourself in the new Midnight Squad storyline with a host of new missions, and experience Roman-style zone environments unlike anything you've seen in Paragon City or the Rogue Isles.

Some of the main features are:

• The Midnight Squad story arcs (Hero and Villain)
• New Zone: Cimerora
• New Task Force: "Time's Arrow"
• Villain Epic Archetypes
• Powerset Proliferation
• Hollows Revamp
• Optional Character Slots Purchases
• and much more...!

Read the full patch notes here.

In a press release just issued we have today announced a partnership with game advertising provider Double Fusion to implement optional in-game advertising to City of Heroes.

Leading independent game advertising provider Double Fusion has entered an agreement with NCsoft®, the leading developer and publisher of online computer games to represent the successful comic-book inspired massively multiplayer online game, City of Heroes®. Double Fusion will provide the technology and sales force to bring brands into the popular online role-playing game which takes place in a modern urban setting, an ideal environment for unobtrusive in-game advertising.

Double Fusion and NCsoft are focused on providing value to the players through this advertising partnership. While real world ads will lend realism to the urban world of City of Heroes, NCsoft also plans on taking advantage of Double Fusion's technology to display player-created content within the game. The publisher will dedicate all advertising dollars it earns to fund further game development for the online title, yet still allow players to opt out of advertising in order to provide flexibility to community members.

"Our partnership with NCsoft is a clear showcase for two of our guiding philosophies: bringing value to the player through appropriate use of advertising spaces and bringing new business models to the marketplace by creating new revenue streams that can help fund game development and community support" said Jonathan Epstein, president and CEO, Double Fusion.

"City of Heroes is a key property for NCsoft and we take great care to grow and nurture our player community," said Brian Clayton, General Manager of NCsoft's Northern California studio. "We are pleased to work with Double Fusion on City of Heroes, as they have demonstrated sensitivity to the needs of our community and fundamentally understand how advertising can bring value to the players when executed gracefully, and in the appropriate context. In addition to allowing any of our players to opt-out if they so choose, their flexible technology will not only allow us to bring brand messages into the game but also provide a fun, new platform for displaying player-created materials."

The addition of City of Heroes to the Double Fusion network demonstrates the company's commitment to offering their advertiser and agency partners a wide array of in-game advertising opportunities, to maximizing revenues for its publisher and developer partners and to building a portfolio of top titles among retail PC and console games, massively multiplayer online games, social networks, casual downloadable games, advanced online games and virtual worlds.

Brian Clayton, General Manager at NCsoft NorCal, shares some more details about the Optional In-Game Advertising system announced today. More on that here.

CCP has released the Trinity Expansion, and after some highly embarassing boot.ini nukeage it is now up and running. The main feature is a totally new graphics engine which is available in two flavours: Standard and Premium. Both are designed to take advantage of modern graphics hardware, specifically hardware shaders which were not available when the original was produced. This has unloaded the CPU from shader tasks and allowed CCP to increase responsiveness and frame rates overall.

The Premium version is for graphics cards which support Shader Model 3 and enables High Dynamic Range lighting, complex shadows and takes advantage of new ship models with at least three times the number of polygons used in the original version along with new and more complex textures. The Standard version is for older cards and uses the original models and textures but still runs on the new engine, allowing the same (or perhaps a greater) performance increase. This is a truly ground breaking expansion for EVE, the original award winning graphics engine was a major factor in the game's initial success and it is hoped that the cutting edge replacement will bring in yet more players over the next few years. Almost as a side note, CCP have introduced 18 new ships in this expansion, each with a highly specialised role.

Full patch notes are available here.

There are two versions of the trailer available: 1080p (102Mb) and 720p (64Mb).

The skies over Paragon City are filled with dark, grey thunderheads. It is the same in the Rogue Isles, Europe, and across the globe. Small ships dart through the heavy weather… And there are so very many of them.

The Rikti have returned.

Major Features

Rikti World Invasion: The Rikti have been fought off before. But now, prepare for a desperate battle to save Earth from the new Rikti Invasion Force! Aggressive Rikti forces can attack Paragon City and Rogue Isle areas at any time and with little warning!

Rikti War Zone: Heroes and villains are asked to put aside their differences and co-operate to assist Vanguard, the volunteer force funded by the United Nations Security Council, to stem the flood of Rikti and their attempts to salvage their downed Mother Ship. Earn Vanguard Merits to obtain new costume items and other cool stuff!

Rikti Co-op Task Force: Lady Grey, leader of Vanguard, has a series of missions for a proven team of superpowered individuals, security clearance 45 to 50, designed to take the fight to heart of the Rikti Invasion!

Combined Notes (CoH and CoV)

Invasion!

“The Rikti Return! The Vanguard needs YOU! All super powered beings are encouraged to join the effort! This isn’t about your history, but about OUR future. Join now."

• The Rikti have somehow found a way to bridge the dimensional gap between their world and ours once again, and are staging raids on Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.
• When Zones within the cities are under attack, a world-wide alert will be issued by Vanguard. This alert will show up in your Chat window, warning you in which zone attack is imminent.
• While the invasion is occurring, players do not receive debt while outdoors in an invaded zone.
• Those in that zone that do not wish to be at risk of Rikti attack are asked to take shelter immediately. They can do so by leaving the zone, or moving inside buildings or under cover (overpasses, parking garages, etc.)
• Rikti bombs appear to be unstable and not 100% reliable. Some do not explode on impact and only embed themselves in the ground. These bombs have been noted to detonate after a time, so take caution when you see these. They can be disarmed or delayed by inflicting damage upon them.

Rikti War Zone

The region previously known as the Crash Site has erupted into a War Zone! All non-combatants are advised to stay well clear of the area!

• This zone is now co-operative - Heroes and Villains can both enter into the zone and team together while here. Heroes and Villains cannot fight in this area. They will both arrive into the zone in the Vanguard Base that has been established there.
• Entry points can be found in Vanguard Bases in the following zones:
  • Paragon City:
    • Atlas Park
    • Founders Falls
    • Peregrine Island
  • Rogue Isles:
    • Cap au Diable
    • St. Martial
    • Grandville
  • The SWAT entrance from Crey’s Folly is now sealed.
• The zone is now scaled for levels 35 to 50.
• While in the Rikti War Zone, debt obtained will be 50% of normal.
• When you enter the zone, Levantera, one of the directors of Vanguard, will be auto-issued to you as a contact. Complete her missions to get a feel for the area, as well as be inducted as an honorary member of Vanguard and be able to obtain merits.
• Borea has repeatable missions for you in the Rikti War Zone.
• Other characters that have missions available are Gaussian, Dark Watcher, and Serpent Drummer. They can all be found in the Vanguard Base.
• By joining Vanguard you will earn Vanguard Merits for defeating Rikti as well as completing missions for Vanguard. These Merits can be exchanged for Costume Pieces (of the Vanguard Armor), as well as some other cool stuff. The devices for purchasing these items are special crafting tables located within the Vanguard base. Vanguard Merits can not be used at other crafting tables.
• You can view Vanguard Merits earned from the Salvage window under the ‘Special’ tab.

Rikti Co-op Task Force

The UNSC backs Vanguard for billions. With the second Rikti invasion bearing down upon us, the United Nations Security Council has essentially given Vanguard a blank check to cover the costs of fighting the Rikti. “We don’t have time to haggle over budgets,” says a senior level official in the UNSC. “Vanguard has always been about defeating the Rikti, no matter what. We fully support Lady Grey and her team."

• Lady Grey gives out a Strike/Task Force for 8 super powered individuals with security clearance from 45 to 50. The mission attempts to stop the Rikti before they can get a foothold in our dimension. Be wary, the Rikti are single-minded in the pursuit of their objectives!

Take the fight to the crashed Rikti ship!

• The Rikti have erected strange new energy pylons throughout the area surrounding their crashed ship in the Rikti War Zone. Vanguard engineers have discovered a way to detect Rikti Pylons. To view waypoints to these pylons, check the ‘Special’ option in your map display window.
• Destroying all pylons before the Rikti can replace them will lower the shield on the Rikti Mother Ship in the zone.
• Heroes and Villains are asked to plant explosives inside the ventilation systems of the ship to cripple the Mother Ship repair effort the Rikti have in progress.
• Once enough bombs are planted, the Master of War will arrive to clear out non-Rikti interlopers!
• Characters that participate with this will be rewarded with Vanguard Merits.

Rikti Villain Group Revamp

• The Rikti Villain group has undergone an art and powers revamp.
• The new art vastly upgrades the look of the Rikti and now allows us to use more animations with the Rikti soldiers.
• One major change is the Rikti swords now have a ranged energy weapon in them, allowing them to use both melee and ranged attacks without switching weapons.

Full patch notes are available here.

NetDevil announced today that they are working on a significant expansion to their flagship product: Jumpgate. The new product entitled Jumpgate Evolution features a new graphics engine, all new assets, more accessible gameplay and much more. Brand new in-game screen shots as well as a beta sign-up are available here.

Issue #9: Breakthrough, the next free expansion to the City of Heroes universe, introduces an entirely new level of depth and gameplay. Players acquire and invent new items and have the option to buy and sell them using the new hero and villain auction houses. Along with Issue #9's other great features, this brand new system results in a wealth of new options for heroes and villains alike.

Invention System

Using the highly anticipated Invention system, players acquire and collect "loot" in the form of Salvage and Invention Recipes. These are used together to invent über-enhancements, costume pieces, and more. This creates a world of new activities, rewards and character evolution!

Auction Houses

Where better to buy and sell all of these new items than in the new auction houses! Wentworth's Fine Consignments have sprung up throughout Paragon City while the villains prefer to do their bidding alongside "black-market" trucks placed throughout the Rogue Isles.

Statesman's Task Force

This high-level PvE content allows eight heroes to team up in order to face and defeat Paragon's greatest enemies! Completing this difficult challenge results in some of the game's rarest loot!

New Hamidon Encounter

Not only do villains get their own end-game raid encounter with the "Hamidon", but the new experience is also brought to the Heroes side where players must use new tactics to bring down one of the "City of"s greatest threats.

Presents, ski slopes, snow beasts and more!

Winter is blowing in across the bay to Paragon City, and settling on the Rogue Isles like an icy blanket. New presents and threats await both heroes and villains this holiday season. By simply logging in and visiting Paragon City or the Rogue Isles between December 14th and January 2nd, your character will receive the Cold Front badge and a Fuzzy Earmuffs costume piece, so you can look stylish and keep warm while patrolling the streets (or committing nefarious deeds!). You'll also receive the Holiday Spirit Temporary Power, which grants 24 hours of Debt Protection.

And what's more, you'll receive the Holiday Cheer Temporary Power - a real gift of giving. You have to target another player and use Holiday Cheer on them. It will reward them with a random, Mystery Gift - possibly a Temporary Power, a sack full of Influence or Infamy, or maybe even a very recognizable hat.

There's a whole lot more going on this Winter, with familiar faces and presents galore. Check back next week for more details of what's in store for Paragon as the old year comes to a close.

EVE Online is currently OFFLine while the servers are updated with the first of three installments of the KALI expansion set. This patch, called Revelations, concentrates on gameplay enhancements before the new DX10 graphics engine due sometime in March 2007.

The feature list is too long to post, HERE is the full list from the horses mouth.

The highlights include: A new Map, 8 New regions, a new Exploration Role which links to Invention (reverse engineering) and Combat Boosters (illegal performance enhancing drugs). Salvaging - all ships will now leave a wreck in space which can be salvaged for loot or more advanced items according to your degree of specialisation. Some wrecks will lead to Rigs which allow you to customise your ships to increase their effectiveness in specific areas.

CCP have also released their new "Escalating Paths" mission/encounter system which allows players to enter into scripted content taking place over multiple systems, agents and deadspace complexes. This remains un-instanced and within CCP's "One World" view of MMORPGs.

The scanning system has been replaced with a new version to tie in with the seamless map, and a new hierarchical gang control system (fleet command/) has in turn been designed to fit with them both! Although untested by OV so far, the new in game voice system with the new hierarchical gangs represented on the system map looks like it will allow a far greater tactical flexibility to the commander(s) of specialised gangs instead of the traditional "blob warfare" of the past.

Oh, and each race gets a new Battleship (Tier 3) and Battlecruiser (Tier 2).

On the industrial side of life, a whole new Contracts system has been invented to replace the Escrow and Courier Mission set-up. The contract system initially allows Auctions, Item Exchange, Loans and Courier. These will have long term effects on how EVE citizens do business and may well allow new ways to streamline the way the OV corporation does business. Hopefully there will be new contract types in the future - contract killings, anyone?

This is a large and ambitious expansion, lets hope the servers are up on time!