The world of Paragon City is getting a bit darker as the lines are blurred between good and evil. City of Heroes/City of Villains is promising to muddy up the ethical water in the near future thanks to its “Going Rogue” expansion. The new content is designed to allow players to run the gamut of alignment between Superman-good to Apocalypse-Evil with all the morally shady places in between.

Brian Clayton, general manager and executive producer at Paragon Studios, explains in the press release that the team behind the game is looking to expand the game  into the four-colored jumpsuit world with the new content.

“For Years, players could choose between playing as a hero or a villain. Now we will present a third, malleable path where players can be affected by the results of their actions, enabling them to further develop, unveil new perspectives, and overcome new challenges.”

At the same time the game will introduce that time honored comic book convention – the mirror universe – where the normally heroic Statesman becomes the evil dictator of the world known as Praetoria in the guise of Tyrant. In the core universe the new alignment system also finally allows players to freely cross between Paragon City and the Villain haven of the Rogue Isles. Missions in all locations will now reflect their moral compass as well, allowing players to shape their character’s outlook and just where they fall in the good guy – anti-hero – bad guy range.

Along with the new alignment system and mirror universe zones two new archetypal storyline characters – Maelstrom and Desdemona will make their appearance to typify the good/bad paradigm.

I applaud the concept of making an MMO more responsive to the choice of the players and recent additions to City of Heroes/Villains like the Architect mission creation tools go a long way to extending the lifespan of this elder MMO even as Champions and DC Universe Online wait in the wings to give players more superhero MMO choices. I just find the claims hard to believe after all good/bad the missions are all still basically the same and nothing ever changes in Paragon City.

Full details after the jump.

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The Mac is often over looked as a videogame platform, and although EA is pushing releases for it, Mac users are often left out. NCsoft is bringing its City of Heroes MMORPG to the Mac and has launched the open beta.

The Mac City of Heroes Special Edition comes with exclusive in-game items. Mac players will get the Mission Teleporter Power which will allow them to teleport to their mission site immediately. The exclusive Valkyrie Costume set is also part of bonus. I’m a little confused about that since these Norse warriors were women who would triumph or die in battle but hey I guess guys like wings too.

Mac gamers can get in on the City of Heroes Mac open beta on the City of Heroes site.

December 15th is the kickoff for the first of the holiday events NCSoft has planned for its MMORPGs. Players can expect traditional events with fresh content as well.

City of Heroes leads off with its Winter Event 2008. City of Villains is also included because naughty players like gifts too. A festival atmosphere has already taken over Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, and will linger December 15th until January 4th, 2009. You can look forward to lots of goodies this year although you may still have to take your lumps of coal.

The Lineage II Saving Santa Event is next up running December 16th to December 30th. Players will face the nefarious Thomas D. Turkey to save Santa and Christmas.

Guild Wars‘ Wintersday 2008 event begins December 19th. The Eye of the North will be decked out for the Wintersday for the first time, and that’s only the beginning of new content planned for this event. Players will receive a special gift for attending the Wintersday Finale January 5th.

Get the full scoop on these winter holiday events after the break.
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NCsoft has released Chapter 13: Power and Responsibility for City of Heroes and City of Villains. Although the update is minus the scenario creation that has been pushed back to Issue 14 for polishing, there are several new features to enrich the lives of players’ avatars.

Multiple Builds will now allow players to have two builds of each character. Pact Leveling will allow you and a friend to permanently sync characters below level five so that they gain experience at the same rate, even if one of you is hardcore and the other a casual gamer. The most anticipated new feature is the Day Job which will allow your character to keep busy improving itself during your downtime.

Also City of Heroes’ new Day Job feature offers a way for players to progress their characters in the game even when they are logged out of the game. In addition to providing an XP rest bonus to all characters, specific Day Jobs are determined by where you log out of the game. There’s an associated Day Job at many key locations in Paragon City™ or the Rogue Isles™. Once characters have accumulated the required amount of time for each Day Job, they are rewarded with the appropriate Day Job Badge, increasing their “earnings” for that job. Multiple Badges can be combined to unlock Accolades and the ability to accumulate additional new rewards.

Check out the Issue 13 Overview for full details on the latest update for City of Heroes.

Guild Wars is kicking off the holiday season with its Wintersday Art Contest 2008. Players are invited to express their love of Guild Wars in any creative outlet they choose.

Contestants submit a scanned or photographed JPGS of their illustrations, costumes, or even ice sculptures which would be particularly appropriate for the season. It’s legal to use any and all screenshots, renders, concept art, icons, photographs, or any other Guild Wars images as part of your creation. Winners will be featured on the Guild Wars Community website.

Here comes the incentive:

• Grand Prize Winner (1 awarded): Grand Prize Winner (1 awarded): One Razor Guild Wars Death Adder Mouse; one VisionTek Radeon HD3650 graphics card, a full set of four Guild Wars Limited Edition Signed Art Prints; one randomly selected Guild Wars Penny Arcade Expo 2008 Signed Art Print (Approximate total retail value of package: $450.00 US.)
• Second Place Winner (1 Awarded): One Razor Guild Wars Death Adder Mouse; a full set of four Guild Wars Limited Edition Signed Art Prints; one randomly selected Guild Wars Penny Arcade Expo 2008 Signed Art Print    (Approximate total retail value of package: $250.00 US.)
• Third Place Winner (1 Awarded): One Razor Guild Wars Death Adder Mouse; one randomly selected Guild Wars Limited Edition Signed Art Print; one randomly selected Guild Wars Penny Arcade Expo 2008 Signed Art Print  (Approximate total retail value of package: $130.00 US.)
• Fourth Place Winners (7 Awarded): One randomly selected Guild Wars Limited Edition Signed Art Print; one randomly selected Guild Wars Penny Arcade Expo 2008 Signed Art Print  (Approximate total retail value of package: $60.00 US.)
• Honorable Mentions (10 awarded): One randomly selected Guild Wars Penny Arcade Expo 2008 Signed Art Print  (Approximate total retail value of package: $20 US.)

You have until 12:00 Noon PST on Monday, January 5, 2009 to get your entry in so get those ideas flowing. For complete contest rules and submission instructions visit the Guild Wars Community website.

1UP is appealing to gamers to take a 5-10 minute break from their games to fill out the 2008 MMO Gaming Study survey. Those who make time for this no fail quiz by December 1st will be entered in a Sweepstakes to win a $300 American Express Cheque.

Attention FileFront Community!
We want to hear about your MMO gaming experience. Help shape how MMO games are built and be entered in an exclusive sweepstakes drawing to* win a $300 American Express Cheque. * Survey only takes about 5 to 10 minutes and your input would be greatly appreciated.

In addition, you can earn additional entries into the sweepstakes. The first 500 completed surveys will earn a double entry into the prize drawing.

*Directions for the survey:*
1. Step#1: _[CLICK HERE TO START SURVEY]
2. Fill out the entire survey to be eligible for the drawing. *Please fill out the entire survey by December 1st in order to be eligible.*
One entry per household only, additional entries will be void. The winner will be notified as soon as a winner is selected.

Thanks again for your continuing support.

Tabula Rasa is preparing to surrender Spring 2009. NCsoft has announced that it will be shutting down live servers February 28th. The game will go free to play January 10th, however it appears that gamers will still have to pay December’s dues.

Players can look forward to special in-game events as sort of a last hurrah. The parting Message from The Tabula Rasa Team follows the break. I can’t say I didn’t see this one coming.

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You may be reading that title up there and thinking that’s a typo; like I must’ve forgotten a zero or something. And you’d be right, I did forget something: not to round up.

Richard Garriot’s Tabula Rasa has fallen on hard times lately — what with other high-profile MMOs like Age of Conan and Warhammer Online stealing away their thunder — but I don’t think we realized quite how far the game has been sinking. Many retailers, including Gamestop, have stopped carrying the game altogether; but the clearest indicator that all is not well with NCSoft’s space MMO probably comes from Amazon.com. Right now, the online retailer has dropped the price of Tabula Rasa to $0.96 (once again, no, that’s not a typo).

I never thought I’d see the day where I could have a single dollar in my hand and either get a double cheeseburger at McDonald’s or a high-profile MMO, but here we are. Just another example of how difficult it is to top the mighty empire that is WoW.

The denizens of Paragon City and Rogue Isles will share a common foe this Halloween as zombies invade City of Heroes and City of Villains for Halloween. Having beaten off waves of werewolves, vampires and other horrendous hordes of supernatural creatures, the heroes and villains should have little problem keeping their heads.

Among the prizes for this holiday event are Classical Costumes such as Goldbrickers, Freakshow, and PPD in the screenshot which can be worn and turned in for badges after the zombie threat has passed. You have until Sunday, November 2nd at 11:59pm EST to check in with Ravenwing Cabal’s Annah in Croatoa or Granny Beldam in Nerva Archipelago for the latest on the Halloween events.

NCsoft has promoted Tim Cain to Design Director for the unannounced MMO under development at Carbine Studios.

Cain has 25 years of experience in the games industry. He’s probably best known for his work as a producer and designer of Fallout and Fallout 2 before leaving Interplay to become a co-founder of Troika. The industry vet has several classic PC RPGs his credit including Arcanum, Temple of Elemental Evil and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines which is still patched regularly by its fan base. Cain has been with Carbine Studios since its inception in 2005.

The games Cain has had a hand in creating are some of my all time favorites. His taking the reins as director of design for Carbine’s MMO is a definite attention getter. I look forward to the big reveal.