NCsoft, Cryptic Studios Announce New Contest for City of Heroes Game

Hazard Zone naming event gives fans yet another chance to put their mark on upcoming online game


AUSTIN, Texas, September 19, 2003—What do you call an area where evil lurks in the shadows, buildings lay in ruins, streams are filled by a brackish muck and a thick, greenish mist has invaded every crevice and corner? Fans of the upcoming City of Heroes™ online game will soon be creating their own heroes and fighting evil in “hazard zones” like this. Now, they have a chance to name the first hazard zone and forever leave their creative mark on Paragon City, the game’s fictional metropolis.

NCsoft™ and City of Heroes developer, Cryptic Studios™, announce the Hazard Zone Naming Contest, which begins today and runs through Friday, October 3. The contest is open to all fans of City of Heroes. Details are available on the City of Heroes website located at http://www.cityofheroes.com. A series of screens shots of the hazard zone are located on the site. Entrants can look over the art, read the background surrounding the hazard zone then submit the name they think best suits this currently unnamed area.

City of Heroes is a massively multiplayer online computer game where players bring the world of comic books and blockbuster films alive. Players immerse themselves in a world of heroes, defending the weak and helpless to shine above all.

This is the latest effort by Cryptic to reach out to its fan base as it continues developing City of Heroes. Earlier this summer the studio asked fans to submit a design for a permanent character in the game. A winner was announced from a pool of nearly 500 entries.

City of Heroes will be released in coming months and in May finished a successful showing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. City of Heroes was awarded the prestigious Game Critics Award, http://www.e3awards.com, for Best Online Multiplayer Game at the expo.