There's a new set of massively multiplayer hands on the wheel at Cryptic Studios, as the developer has announced the appointment of MMORPG industry vet John Needham as the company's new CEO. For those playing catch up, Cryptic, which is known for its infatuation with superheroes, developed the popular City of Heroes and City of Villains MMOs, properties it sold off to publisher NCSoft late last year before moving on to develop the decidedly not-Marvel MMO Champions Online.

Needham is not completely out of his element at Cryptic, having worked as a senior exec at Sony Online Entertainment since 2001. However, while he handled a wide range of duties at SOE, from business development to QA testing, it remains to be seen if this prepared him to don spandex and wield executive powers at the Los Gatos, CA based MMO dev.

[Via Big Download]

Independent developer Cryptic Studios has announced the sale of its intellectual and proprietary rights to super-powered MMO duo, City of Heroes and City of Villains. NCSoft, having acted as publisher for both franchises, will be taking ownership and will further license Cryptic's technology for future games. If all goes according to plan, both parties hope to make the transition invisible to currently playing saviors and psychopaths.

In a separate FAQ, Cryptic notes that this sale of two cities was prompted by the studio's desire for "complete creative freedom" and resources to delve into new titles and worlds. No changes to existing accounts are foreseen, as Cryptic believes the franchise is "in good hands at NCSoft." In fact, many of the same hands will still be involved, with NCSoft offering Cryptic members employment and forming a team dedicated to providing new content for each title. Seemingly content with what it accomplished with City of Heroes and City of Villains, Cryptic likely made a wise decision by letting NCSoft maintain the game while it explores new territory. Bring on City of Morally Ambiguous Freaks, None of Whom Resemble Marvel Characters (Especially Not Wolverine)!

NCsoft has pulled the glasses off of its next update and revealed its secret identity. Issue 11, "A Stitch in Time," will allow players to travel into the past of the City of Heroes universe and relive (or live for the first time) some of the major events that helped to shape Paragon City.

Of course, there will also be the requisite new power sets ("Dual blades" is obvious, but we're curious about "Willpower") and enhanced customization of weapons to match the depth of the costume creation system in the game. It all sounds cool, but we're curious: Are any of you still playing CoH?

[Via TVG]

Not all villains wear the proper attire. Take 30-year old David B. Thompson, for example, who posts on the City of Heroes message boards as Trafalgar (and has since changed his name to Deadwalk). In real life, Thompson is a corrections officer from Portland, Oregon with a penchant for using his taser, perhaps an unnecessarily excessive amount, and bragging about it online during work hours.

Thompson is currently being investigated after a fellow message board member tipped off the Portland Tribune for some disturbing messages, such as this one from August 25: "I don't know about that. I crushed a dude's eye socket from repeatedly punching him in it, then I charged him with menacing and harassment (of me) he took a plea to get away from me."

Also of concern is the amount of posting, which might average 13 posts per shift. In one 24-hour period in particular, Thompson posted 64 times across across 13 threads, according to the Tribune.

[Thanks, Bill]

During Sony's E3 2007 keynote, President and CEO Jack Tretton announced a new partnership with developer NCSoft, creators of online titles like Lineage, Guild Wars, and City of Heroes. As part of the partnership, NCSoft will begin developing exclusive online titles for the Playstation 3 and its Playstation Network.

This exclusivity can apply to both new and current IPs, although no specific games were mentioned. "Only the Playstation Network can support the types of games that NCSoft has become famous for" says Tretton. At the moment, it is unknown whether NCSoft will continue to support other platforms.

Movie studio execs, we need to have a talk. We just don't understand the video game properties you're turning into movies now. First, there was The Sims, which still has us throwing up in our mouths a bit. Now, Transformers producer Tom DeSanto has picked up the rights to the City of Heroes MMORPG. There are apparently plans to turn it in to a big budget film and then into a TV series. Honestly, what are you guys doing?

Now, don't get us wrong, we'd love to see the first good superheroes vs. aliens flick since Independence Day (you didn't know Bill Pullman was a superhero?). And we can certainly understand the financial motivation. But what are you really buying with City of Heroes? Is it the name recognition? That won't help you with the mainstream moviegoers. Is the characters? Are you really dropping coin for The Statesman? We just don't get it, why call it City of Heroes? You know, you make a movie called Flying Town or Metropolis of Super-hard Punching, and you don't have to pay a dime. It can be the exact same thing, just with a different title. This, of course, comes as bad news for producers of Sims movie, as there's already a film about people speaking gibberish for 90 minutes and then dying in a room filled with their own fecal matter. It's called White Chicks.

[Via Sci Fi Wire, Thanks, Ryan Gioia]

Today's video pick shows the new inventions system in City of Heroes. This overview explains how players can create superpowers that are new to the game, as part of the recent update. Are you still playing City of Heroes or City of Villains? What do you think of the new system?

See the video after the break.

For it's ninth "Breakthrough" City of Heroes update (also compatible with City of Villains), NCsoft has introduced the 'Invention System,' whereby tinkering types can create new items out of in-game resources. Enhancements, costume pieces, new powers, and gadgets are possible to produce. And if anyone else is still lurking around the server, you can take your new wares to the 'Auction Houses' and try to get paid.

We applaud NCsoft for its continued support of City of Heroes, but it's hard to get excited about CoH (even when the new content is free) when facing the simple truth that many players have been moved on to World of Warcraft. With Burning Crusade captivating the world, will anybody show Paragon some love? Anybody?

Perhaps fueled by the disappointing performance of Auto Assault and other MMOs under NCsoft's control, the company has confirmed that they have indeed made a round of cuts to their Austin office -- 70 employees have been pink slipped. According to a statement on the company's Lineage II boards:

"NCsoft's Austin business has announced an immediate restructuring within its organization that included the difficult task of reducing members of its workforce. ... the company sees a slowdown in its launch pattern and the need to streamline its business. For this reason, NCsoft has reduced its 300 person workforce in Austin by approximately 70 people to accommodate this change. This decision has no impact on the schedules of any projects currently in development and service to NCsoft's current games will continue without interruption."

While some have blamed the subscription numbers of AA and City of Heroes/Villains, an NCsoft rep assured GameSpot that those rumors were false. A rep said the figures shown were incorrect, and "not just barely wrong, but all wrong." NCsoft's Guild Wars may be enjoying some real success, but it seems the others may be holding the company back. Who knows how this will affect their upcoming venture Tabula Rasa, but considering this recent news, it can't be all positive.

[via MMORPG.com]

[Update 1: The Austin chapter of the International Game Developer's Association (IGDA) is looking to help any recently laid-off game designers. They write, "There are plenty of employers around town who would like to snatch you up as soon as possible because of your previous work experience. We'll be displaying the resumes on our website along with an announcement of this opportunity for other employers around town."

Interested? Stop by their website and see what they need from you.]

Those of us heavily invested in massively multiplayer games are part of a community, just as FPS clans have a brotherhood borne out of hours of playing together. Events like BlizzCon provide an opportunity for MMO guilds and players to meet up -- for the unknown to meet the infamous.

E3 may have been over, but that didn't stop NCsoft arranging a player get-together last Saturday. Over 400 players signed up, some travelling from as far as Arizona for this one evening. While NCsoft had rented out a LAN centre for the event, players spent just as much time talking as they did playing, with a sizeable contingent of developers and community managers on hand to help the event along. NCsoft celebrities including Richard Garriott and Matt "Positron" Miller attended the event, showing a pleasing commitment to the player base.

Accompanying NCsoft's launch of City of Heroes in Asia, the game's character creator is now free to download for Korean players. One of the most fun toys in the game, the character creator in City of Heroes differs from most other MMOs in the fact that you can create pretty much any superhero costume you can think of, rather than sticking to one or two hairstyles and faces.

With games like The Sims 2 offering up their character creation module as a teaser before the game's release, we're surprised City of Heroes didn't pursue a similar tactic. The downloadable creator is in Korean, but 1up points to a site with instructions on how to run it in English.

'Tis the season of goodwill and friendship, and what better way to celebrate than by hacking into a popular MMOG? Just as everyone at Cryptic and NCsoft started winding down for the holiday, a hacker managed to gain unauthorised administrative access to two City of Heroes servers, sending broadcast messages to all players and shutting down the servers a number of times.