NCsoft and Cryptic Studios will be offering a Veteran Rewards program in conjunction with the release of the upcoming Issue 8: To Protect and Serve. This program will offer rewards to players for each increment of three months with an active account, allowing them to unlock special in-game items:

In conjunction with the release of Issue 8: To Protect and Serve, NCsoft® and Cryptic Studios™ will launch the official City of Heroes® Veteran Rewards program. This program rewards our fans for their time spent supporting and playing City of Heroes® and City of Villains®.

Specifically, for each increment of three months with an active account*, players will unlock valuable in-game “items” which will come in the form of costumes, powers, badges, and more! The program is retroactive by player account and rewards will be applicable to all characters within each respective account.

Rewards have been determined for the first three years of play and will continue to expand indefinitely. Stay tuned for updates as we reveal the full list of rewards!

Click here to view Frequently Asked Questions about the Veteran Rewards Program

Veteran Reward Item: Wings!

Click here to see a preview of the Wings reward

For more on City of Heroes, click here.

NCSoft and Cryptic Studios have announced the launch of a Veteran Rewards program for long-term players of City of Heroes.

In conjunction with the release of Issue 8: To Protect and Serve, NCsoft� and Cryptic Studios� will launch the official City of Heroes� Veteran Rewards program. This program rewards our fans for their time spent supporting and playing City of Heroes� and City of Villains�.

Specifically, for each increment of three months with an active account*, players will unlock valuable in-game �items� which will come in the form of costumes, powers, badges, and more! The program is retroactive by player account and rewards will be applicable to all characters within each respective account.

Rewards have been determined for the first three years of play and will continue to expand indefinitely. Stay tuned for updates as we reveal the full list of rewards!

More…Source: City of Heroes

MMORPG.com’s second AGC article today is an interview on Star Trek Online:

AGC gave us the chance to catch up with the developers behind Star Trek Online. Lead Designer Glen Dahlgren and Executive Producer Daron Stinnett were joined by their recently hired Lead Systems Designer John Yoo at the conference.

Yoo was the Powers Lead on Cryptic Studio�s City of Villains and Items Designer for Blizzard�s World of WarCraft. His hiring represents a larger trend at Perpetual Entertainment as they bring more and more experienced MMORPG developers into the fold. Currently, the Star Trek Online team is up to 35 full-time developers, despite the early state of the game.

The City of Heroes site has news of Giant Monster Guide:

There are many frightening and dangerous entities in our world. Some are relatively mundane, such as gang members with super powers, or the clunky clockwork robots of the Clockwork King, while others aspire to grandiose villainy and arch-plans, such as the criminals of the Rogue Isles. But there are some threats that outstrip almost all others, and cause even the greatest heroes (and villains, too, I suppose), pause. The Federal Bureau of Super-powered Affairs calls them �Threats� officially (although they seem to classify everything as a Threat) but they are more commonly referred to among agents by the informal phrase, �Giant Monsters.�

…and a Walmart-exclusive Good vs Evil Edition has been announced:

We are pleased to announce the City of Heroes Good Versus Evil Edition. In 2004, City of Heroes was launched, bringing the world of comic books alive in the first massively multiplayer game of its kind. In 2005 City of Villains was released, representing the other side of the coin, a world of super-powered villains and costumed criminals. Both games won numerous awards and received critical acclaim.

Today, the battle continues. City of Heroes Good Versus Evil Edition includes both award-winning titles in one box. It also includes exclusive in-game bonus powers and costume items, and all seven free content updates (including Issue 7: Destiny Manifest). Now the only question is whether players want to protect Paragon City as a crime fighting hero, or help the evil Lord Recluse bring it to its knees.

The Good Versus Evil Edition will be available for purchase on September 29, 2006 exclusively at Wal-Mart. The in-game items will also be available for purchase for preexisting customers on September 29.

City of Heroes / City of Villains has announced “City of Heroes Good Versus Evil Edition”. The new edition includes exclusive bonus powers and costume items for both games:

We are pleased to announce the City of Heroes Good Versus Evil Edition. In 2004, City of Heroes was launched, bringing the world of comic books alive in the first massively multiplayer game of its kind. In 2005 City of Villains was released, representing the other side of the coin, a world of super-powered villains and costumed criminals. Both games won numerous awards and received critical acclaim.

Today, the battle continues. City of Heroes Good Versus Evil Edition includes both award-winning titles in one box. It also includes exclusive in-game bonus powers and costume items, and all seven free content updates (including Issue 7: Destiny Manifest). Now the only question is whether players want to protect Paragon City as a crime fighting hero, or help the evil Lord Recluse bring it to its knees.

The Good Versus Evil Edition will be available for purchase on September 29, 2006 exclusively at Wal-Mart. The in-game items will also be available for purchase for preexisting customers on September 29.

See the full details here.

For more on City of Heroes click here.

NCsoft has announced details on the upcoming Issue 8 expansion for City of Heroes and City of Villains. Titled “To Protect and Serve”, the expansion is heavy on the changes and additions to the Heroes game. On the other side of the coin the last expansion, Issue 7: Destiny Manifest, put a great deal of focus on the villainous side:

Details released on new City of Heroes and City of Villains expansion coming later this year

CITY OF HEROES ISSUE 8: “To Protect and Serve”

Issue 8: To Protect and Serve, the eighth free expansion since the launch of City of Heroes® in April 2004, introduces a host of innovative features, gameplay improvements and player programs. Issue 7: Destiny Manifest allowed villains to wreak havoc in the PvP zone Recluse’s Victory and physics-filled Mayhem Missions. Now it’s the Heroes’ turn to take back the streets!

Safeguard Missions (Heroes only)

Vandals are creating mayhem and destroying Paragon City while high profile villains are attempting major bank heists! Emergency broadcasts from the new Police Band scanners (see below) call Heroes to action, resulting in a frantic new twist on Mayhem Missions. Heroes must stop the mayhem (in massively destructive versions of Paragon City zones) and prevent the heists from occurring.

Police Band (Heroes only)

Offering similar functionality to the Newspaper Missions in City of Villains®, new Police contacts throughout various Hero zones grant Heroes Police Band access, opening a plethora of new missions and rewards.

Pocket D Arenas (Heroes and Villains)

For the first time, Heroes and Villains can officially battle each other using Arena kiosks set within the neutral ground of the Pocket D nightclub.

Faultline Reborn (Heroes only)

Faultline transforms from a hazard zone to a city zone! Paragon City’s Measure X has passed, reconstruction of Faultline has begun, and the effort has revealed some major surprises.

Veteran Rewards Program (Heroes and Villains)

Launching together with Issue 8, the Veteran Rewards Program retroactively* rewards City of Heroes and City of Villains players for their past active playing time. Specifically, for each increment of three months played, players will unlock special costumes, powers, badges, and more! The program is retroactive by player account and rewards will be applicable to all characters within each respective account.

*This means time that players have already played counts towards their rewards!

For more on CoH click here.

Cryptic’s Matthew Miller speaks to GameSpot about the Issue 8 Update for City of Heroes / Villains:

GS: Give us an overview of the additions and enhancements that will be included in the upcoming Issue 8 update for City of Heroes and City of Villains.

Matthew Miller: Well, first off, we did a major overhaul to the City of Heroes zone Faultline. It includes new contacts and missions, as well as a better street-hunting experience. We also have brought the randomly generated missions that we had in City of Villains (which villain characters got from the newspapers and brokers) to hero characters. The City of Heroes version is called “police band missions,” and these can lead players into safeguard missions where they must protect Paragon City from vandals and stop major crimes in progress.

Next, we have the “veteran rewards” program, which gives perks and thank-you gifts to players for their characters based on how long they’ve been playing the game. There is a new set of rewards every three months. Finally, we added arena kiosks to the Pocket D area, so heroes and villains can more easily challenge one another in the arenas.