Billboard Magazine Names City of Heroes PC/Console Game of the Year and Best Multiplayer Game

Tuesday 9 November 2004/... City of Heroes^TM was named "PC or Console Game of the Year" and "Multiplayer Game of the Year" at Billboard Magazine's Digital Entertainment Awards held on 5th November in Los Angeles.

City of Heroes, a massively-multiplayer online game published by NCsoft^® and developed by Cryptic Studios^®, beat out other well-established PC and console games Prince of Persia, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora to win the "PC or Console Game of the Year" honor. City of Heroes was also named "Multiplayer Game of the Year" over Socom II: Navy Seals, Splinter Cell and Unreal Tournament 2004.

The Billboard Digital Entertainment Awards honoured 30 companies and their products across the entertainment spectrum including games, music, film, television and video. According to Billboard, the awards recognize "cutting-edge developments and forward thinkers shaping the future of entertainment" as well as "innovation, entrepreneurship and brand development in digital entertainment."

"This recognition for our first title in front of the elites in the entertainment industry is a tremendous honour and is a testament to the hard work that went into developing City of Heroes," said Jack Emmert, City of Heroes' lead designer and creative director at Cryptic Studios. "This is a very pleasant surprise, considering we are the new kid-on-the-block going up against other well-established games and big-name companies."

City of Heroes, which allows players to create a super-powered hero and battle villains in the online fictional world of Paragon City, was released in April as one of NCsoft's initial entries into the North American market. The game attained 180,000 subscribers after only four months, has won critical acclaim throughout North America and is due to be released throughout Europe in Q1, 2005.

More information about City of Heroes can be found at http://www.cityofheroes.com.

For more information about the 2004 Billboard Digital Entertainment Awards, visit http://www.digitalentertainmentawards.com/index.html

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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 the USA 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.

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 is launching Lineage^® II in November 2004, with City of Heroes^TM and Guild Wars^® scheduled for Q1, 2005. More information about NCsoft Europe can be found at http://www.plaync.com.

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