First of all, Happy 5th Anniversary City of Heroes! The team over at Paragon Studios has announced that they will be celebrating the 5th Anniversary of City of Heroes with tons of great events. If I were you, I'd check out the servers between 11AM EDT on April 28th to 12AM EDT on April 29th and take part in all the "CHAOS that is going to break loose in-game." Not only that, but the team developers themselves will be hanging out in the training room test server all day. There will also be a T-Shirt Logo Contest that *may* get turned into an actual shirt, to be produced for a limited run, as well as a City of Heroes Video Homage contest!

Finally, anybody who logs into the server between now and May 29th will recieve an awesome 5 year anniversary badge. And for players who have expired accounts, but have always wanted to check out the new Mission Architect... From April 28th to May 3rd, all expired retail and trial accounts in good standing will be able to access the Live Servers! So once more, congratulations Paragon Studios, and here's to another 5 more years!

Today, NCsoft celebrates the fifth anniversary of City of Heroes®—the first and longest-running comic book-inspired MMO game. Developed by the recently renamed Paragon Studios, the team is celebrating this special occasion by reflecting on the game’s illustrious past while creating festive in-game activities and events. Further adding to the occasion is the official confirmation that development is underway for the next content update for the series—the aptly named Issue 15: Anniversary!

Issue 14: Architect, which released earlier this month, marked the first time MMO players have been given the opportunity to create and share their own custom missions and story arcs. By today’s anniversary, just weeks after Issue 14: Architect’s release, players have created and uploaded more than 120,000 user-generated story arcs. With the upcoming Issue 15: Anniversary, Paragon Studios brings fans a host of new features and content that include more options and more usability for the Mission Architect game system. From new mission options for both Villains and Heroes, to new costumes and faces, Issue 15: Anniversary further builds on the innovation and customization of the Mission Architect tool.

Players ready to celebrate the City of Heroes anniversary can engage in a number of special festivities. By logging into the game within one month after today’s anniversary date, players earn an in-game Five Year Badge. Players can participate in a host of in-game events, and a handful of Paragon Studios developers and members of the community team will be hanging out on the Training Room (test server) with the players at various times throughout the day.

Lapsed players wishing to commemorate this special date can take part in a reactivation opportunity from April 28, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. EST until Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. EST. During this reactivation event all expired retail and trial accounts that are in good standing can access the live servers. In addition, the member community can participate in a variety of five-year anniversary events, including a T-shirt logo design contest, and a City of Heroes video homage contest. For more information on our anniversary celebrations, go to http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/news_archive/city_of_heroes_5_year_annivers.html.

During the past five years, the City of Heroes series has been praised by the press with more than 22 “Game of the Year” and “Editor's Choice” awards in its first year of launch. Press accolades for City of Heroes include Computer Gaming World's “2004 MMORPG Game of the Year” award, and most recently Massively's “Most Improved Game of 2008” award. In addition, the highly praised City of Villains expansion pack received MMORPG's “2005 Game of the Year” award.

For more information about City of Heroes go to http://www.cityofheroes.com.  

Happy fifth anniversary, City of Heroes!