Heightened Awareness Is NCsoft’s Super Power

Friday 2 September 2005/...

NCsoft^TM Europe is pleased to report on the success of last night's City of Villains preview party, held in London's prestigious Tower 42. A great time was had by all as the cream of Europe's video gaming journalism came together to celebrate the imminent arrival of Cryptic Studio's latest opus. Studio head Jack Emmert was on hand to show off his game and keep the beautiful and deadly Ghost Widow at bay.

After being wowed by the game's impressive current form, guests were transported to the top floor of Tower 42 for drinks, canapés and a stunning view of London from 600ft up. Feelings of vertigo did not stop gamers from enthusing passionately about the new archetypes, base building and strong artistic direction.

City of Villains is the latest offering from developer Cryptic Studios^TM, the creators of the US chart-topping City of Heroes^TM. Both City of Heroes and City of Villains are designed to run in conjunction with each other, and also stand alone as single games in their own right. City of Villains will be available at the end of October, exclusively for PC, simultaneously in Europe and North America.

In City of Villains, players will be able to take on villainous personas, customising villain costumes and building bases for their super-power groups. Both the villain costume creator and the base creator will offer the same type of nearly limitless customisation options that made the City of Heroes costume creator so acclaimed.

In addition to a variety of technological advances and a huge set of criminal missions and events within the Rogue Isles, City of Villains will also include player-versus-player (PvP) action and the ability to fight against player controlled heroes from the City of Heroes game within special designated PvP zones.

More information on both City of Villains is available at the official European web site:

http://eu.cityofvillains.com/

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About NCsoft Europe

NCsoft Europe (NC-E) is headquartered in Brighton, England and is part of Korea-based NCsoft Corporation, the world's leading developer and publisher of online games. NCsoft has already successfully established itself in North America, Japan, Taiwan, China and Thailand. NC-E began operations on 1st September 2004 and serves as a central hub for all NCsoft sales, marketing and distribution operations in Europe, via its European distribution network. NC-E launched Lineage^® II in November 2004, City of Heroes^TM on 4th February 2005 and Guild Wars^® on 28th April 2005. More information about NCsoft Europe can be found at http://www.plaync.com.

About Cryptic Studios

Cryptic Studios, Inc., located in San Jose, California, was established in July of 2000 and is an independent developer of massively multiplayer online games for the PC and next generation consoles. Its first game, City of Heroes, launched in April 2004. The game takes place in a virtual world where thousands of people play simultaneously, take on the role of super-powered heroes, fight villains and help create a dynamic story in a visually-stunning, 3-D graphical world.

NCsoft, the interlocking NC logo, Guild Wars, ArenaNet, Lineage, and all associated NCsoft logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCsoft Corporation. City of Heroes and City of Villains is a trademark of Cryptic Studios, Inc. and NCsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.