Super-hero

Despite what many of us might feel, the world is not ending when City of Heroes shuts down. Just our world. But the sun will continue shining, other games will continue running, and most likely your interest in video games will not evaporate. So after an appropriate period of mourning, it's going to be time to think about getting together with another game.

The problem, of course, is that nothing else can ever be City of Heroes. Like Benjamin Franklin, nothing can serve as its replacement, merely as its successor. But it's worth examining some of the more reasonable and likely destinations for the community.

I'm sure there are more, but the four I've listed seem to be the games that either are or will be hoovering up a large number of the game's former players, games that are close enough to what CoH represents to serve as a reasonable successor. So let's look at our potential new homes and see what they have to offer, both good and bad.

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It's not over until it's over for City of Heroes, but that time is fast approaching. Longtime fan and noted machinima artist Samuraiko decided that the city deserved to go out with an appropriate tribute and has put together a last video memorializing the game's environments and players. If you're a veteran player, you owe it to yourself to sit through the whole video just past the break, although you may get misty-eyed toward the end.

But all is not doom and gloom for the fine folks from Paragon Studios, as they've taken it upon themselves to begin a new project, one that will undoubtedly be just as influential in their chosen field. Or possibly not. It's still worth watching after the previous video, at the least to get a smile back on your face. Jump on past the break for both videos, and keep your eyes peeled for more coverage as we approach the City of Heroes shutdown.

[Thanks to the folks that sent these in!]

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When I first heard that City of Heroes would be given a hero's farewell, I felt for the players who call that game home. I also was depressed because I spent a fair amount of time in Paragon City myself and have a particular affection for the game. But beyond empathy and misery, I knew that the Game Archeologist had a duty to perform: to preserve the memories of what would soon fade into history.

Thus, I put out a call for your City of Heroes characters along with their stories so that I could share them with the world at large. Dozens of readers responded, and for the next couple of weeks, we're going to be looking at the digital face of tragedy and memories. These are the avatars who genuinely meant something to someone, and while they are about to be deleted from the servers forever, I hope that by archiving them here, they'll live on for future generations (read: December 2012 readers) to discover.

Let's go meet some of them, shall we?

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Thursday's announcement of the addition of player lairs to DC Universe Online set this little housing-lover's heart all aflutter! While there were more bits of news about the new Home Turf DLC coming next year, my focus was understandably on the lairs. And I was very happy to sit down at SOE Live and talk shop with Jens Andersen. As creative director for DCUO, Jens shared many juicy tidbits about the new system for this special edition of Some Assembly Required.

So what's in store for denizens of Gotham and Metropolis? Let's start with personal instances that are accessed from realistic points within the cities, functions that stretch to accommodate different levels of creativity and decorating savvy, and a unique dueling system that will be unlike anything players (or their furniture!) have seen before. Players can even get rewards and achievements for collecting items and decorating their homes. Sounds intriguing, no?

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Day two of SOE Live wrapped up with yet another keynote, this one focused on DC Universe Online, EverQuest, and EverQuest II. Creative Director Jens Anderson of DCUO, Executive Producer Thom Terrazas from EQ, Executive Producer Holly Longdale from EQII, and Dave Georgeson, the EQ Franchise head, all took a turn on stage to give a rundown of what each game had launched over the past year, and more importantly, where each is headed for the future. But before that, SOE paid tribute to the military veterans in attendance (pictured above) and gave two of the longest-serving military members NVIDIA cards to thank them for their service.

Read on for the highlights!

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What's better than having a your own place to get away from the rigors of crime fighting in Gotham or Metropolis? Having a place you can personalize to your own style and tastes! And while having a place to hang your cape is all well and good, DCUO is going to offer more than just a private space. Not only will players be able to decorate their lairs, but they will be able to engage in battles right within their own four walls. Friend or foe, you're having company over, super-hero style!

Watch tomorrow for Massively's exclusive interview with Creative Director Jens Andersen for a more in-depth look at lairs and this unique PvP dueling feature. In the meantime, check out the official announcement!

What happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas, at least where SOE Live is concerned! Massively sent intrepid reporters MJ Guthrie and Karen Bryan to this year's SOE Live, from which they'll be transmitting all the best fan news on PlanetSide 2, EverQuest II, DC Universe Online, and the other MMOs on SOE's world-class roster.

City of Heroes is leaving a lot of victims with its closure: the employees of an excellent and underrated development team, a group of players with a lot of passion and energy, and an entire world that deserves to keep going. But there are a lot of other costs along with all of those, things what we're losing out on that you might not have even considered at the time.

At least, not until some writer on the internet decided to call attention to all of those things. Guilty as charged.

Those of us who are adamant fans of the game have been lamenting the loss of the game that is. But one of the reasons I tied every single anniversary post with another post looking forward is that City of Heroes has always been a game that moves in both directions. It's a game where a lot of the fun is tied into what it will be. And while there are some directions I've been critical of, there's a lot about what's coming up that's never going to be realized.

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What better place to learn more about a game based on comic books than a comic book convention? Marvel Heroes had its own panel earlier today at the New York Comic Con, where devs not only shared a new trailer but announced three new playable heroes. And luckily for folks who missed the chance to see the panel live, Gazillion Entertainment has been sharing the announcements via Twitter! Along with such iconic heroes as The Hulk, Wolverine, and the Human Torch, players will also have the choice to play as Phoenix (Jean Grey), Luke Cage, and NOVA.

Although fairly brief, the new features trailer shows off different abilities, a variety of costumes, a quick peek at some multiplayer zones, and a glimpse of a few iconic villains. Check it all out after the break.

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It's been a great day for preview videos and tours, and we've got another fascinating one for you if you have 25 minutes to spare. Gamespot posted a playthrough video of Marvel Heroes, complete with developer commentary, and it's a doozy.

The video portion follows Deadpool through an instance called The Raft -- a giant ocean prison tower. While the combat isn't too sophisticated, it's cool to see scripted events and impressive entrances made by enemies. Later on, the devs show off a public zone where Iron Man blasts through hordes of enemies while encountering Daredevil, Storm, Wolverine, the Thing, the Hulk, and the Scarlet Witch.

If you're looking for a superhero-slant on Diablo-style gameplay, then give this video a watch and see if it might be right for you.

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By now every City of Heroes fan has no doubt seen NCsoft's backhanded dismissal of the entire Save CoH movement. If by some coincidence you hadn't seen it, congratulations! Welcome to Wednesday; here's your bad news. NCsoft has heard us and responded with, "Aw, shucks, we really tried," which is the equivalent of a five-year-old child claiming that he did try to clean his room after three minutes of picking up toys and putting them back down in roughly the same spot.

If I sound bitter, it's because I am. But what does this mean for City of Heroes? Is all hope truly lost? Have we lost the fight to save our city? Is there no chance for a reprieve or some shining light in the late night?

Well... not much. But this is not actually the change that it's being framed as. This is what we went in knowing, and while it changes the game being played, it doesn't change many of the hard facts. I said in my first column that we were fighting a battle with a slim hope, and the fact that it's now pretty much no hope doesn't change much, nor does it mean we should stop fighting.

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If you were planning on playing DC Universe Online this morning, well, you'll probably need to find something else to do. Sony Online Entertainment says the client will be unavailable for about five hours while it patches in Game Update 19.

New research and development consumables are on the way thanks to new components and plans that will begin dropping from endgame bosses. SOE has also tweaked the newbie tutorial to emphasize combat encounter mechanics. The in-game mail UI also boasts a complete makeover designed for ease-of-use.

Finally, Update 19 lays the groundwork for the Witching Hour Halloween event (which officially begins on October 16th), and it also delivers a ton of bug fixes. View the full patch notes on the DCUO forums.

Vehicles continue to roll into Champions Online, and Cryptic has a tantalizing peek at the next stage of this invasion. The studio recently revealed two more vehicles as well as a special mission designed around superpowered rides.

The first new vehicle is the hover tank. This tank is much more stable than the Hawkwing fighters players previously piloted, and offer a brute-force approach to combat. Cryptic is also working on two versions of grav bikes, which serve up support and DPS respectively.

Vehicles get a lot more fun when there's a reason to use them, which is why the studio is preparing several missions based around this new technology. One of these missions is the defense of an UNTIL flying carrier, which tasks players with engaging in a dogfight while the carrier is repaired.

The hover tank, grav bikes, and carrier defense mission will be coming later this year to Champions Online.

Worried that you'll hit a content wall in Marvel Heroes and be unable to progress without taking out your wallet? Rest easy today, gentle player, for this is not to be. Gazillion President David Brevik said that he dislikes the vagaries of the free-to-play label and assured players that Marvel Heroes is going to be as up-front with its business model as possible.

"We aren't just a little bit free," Brevik said. "We're completely free. All the content is free and there are others things that you can buy to enhance your experience but they are completely optional. This isn't a nickel and dime experience we're creating."

Brevik admitted that the team had to take liberties with the Marvel IP to make it all work as an MMO but has faith that it will be received well by fans after the Avengers movie this past summer. Marvel Heroes is currently accepting closed beta signups.

A year ago to the day, I grudgingly, sorrowfully published Ten things to do in Star Wars Galaxies before it's gone. SWG was my favorite MMO of all time, and I was devastated to see it canned for licensing reasons, but I wanted to do it justice, and hey, at least I had my second-favorite MMO to fall back on, right? City of Heroes -- now that was a game that had staying power!

Welp, so much for that. As we've been covering for the last month and change, NCsoft is pulling the plug on City of Heroes come the end of November, and the genre is faced with the loss of yet another pioneering and ostensibly profitable MMO long before its time. While there are still soldiers fighting for that slim chance NCsoft might sell the game to a willing investor, the likelihood is that it's game over for Paragon City, at least in its current incarnation. Fight on, I say; don't give up. But make sure you enjoy the game that exists right now, too. Log in. Play. You may never get the chance again.

Today, I'll tell you 10 things you should do in City of Heroes... before it's too late.

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Not long after my first column on the City of Heroes shutdown, I received an email that contained several of the testimonials from this full-to-bursting thread on the Save CoH boards. And they're not the only ones out there. There are countless stories about what the game means to people, ranging from the silly to the sublime, stories that can only really accumulate in a game that's run for eight solid years.

When it comes to recollections about the game, I'm not Mercedes Lackey or Scott Kurtz or even Eric Burns-White. I'm what the byline says: a mild-mannered reporter. But I'm also a guy with a lot of feelings about the game, one that I've been playing on and off for nearly all of its eight-year run. To be blunt, I've got the microphone and you don't. So I'm going to go ahead and throw my hat into the ring when it comes to remembering City of Heroes, starting with the game that I played at launch for less than two weeks.

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