City of Heroes team renamed Paragon Studios

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Apr 14, 2009 11:23 am PT

NCsoft's Northern California developer takes new name from the virtual world in which it works, Paragon City.

Although City of Heroes creator Cryptic Studios may have been acquired by Atari, the massively multiplayer online game's publisher isn't about to let urban blight set in. NCsoft recommitted to the City of Heroes and City of Villains franchise today with the announcement that the Mountain View, California-based studio focused on the MMOG is getting an actual name.

Technically, Paragon is already a paragon of MMOG development.

Formerly known as NCsoft NorCal, the studio will henceforth be known as Paragon Studios, taking its name from the virtual world in which City of Heroes is set. Founded in 2007, the studio has grown from an original roster of 20 employees to its current size of more than 50 people.

Coinciding with the name change is the release of City of Heroes: Architect Edition. The latest repackaging of the original City of Heroes includes all of the content updates, including the latest Architect add-on that lets users create and share missions, story arcs, and characters.

This is not the first time that the Paragon name has been tied to superhero-themed PC games. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the unrelated Paragon Software released a number of PC games using Marvel licenses, including The Punisher, X-Men 2: Fall of the Mutants, and The Amazing Spider-Man and Captain America in Dr. Doom's Revenge.

11 Comments

  • TMoney999

    Posted Apr 15, 2009 1:18 pm PT

    I just hope u can roam around.Destroying stuff that u made.Or save people and save your city.... Or not

  • aura_enchanted

    Posted Apr 15, 2009 6:59 am PT

    not a wise choice i see them going under.

  • Licisproperty

    Posted Apr 14, 2009 5:00 pm PT

    This game is cool. I've only played the CoH/CoV so I will certainly have to check out the updates.

  • Gruug

    Posted Apr 14, 2009 3:40 pm PT

    I just signed up about two days ago because of the new content update. I had only played CoH/CoV through 14-day trails previously. The new content is well worth giving this MMO a try. My only problem is that the game engine is getting a bit dated and needs an update. If you play on a Vista machice you my find like many others that the game crashes from time to time. It doesn't happen often but just enough to make it a concern. Also "DerekLStinson": the cost per month is $14.99 (plus $19.99 for the software purchase) which includes both CoH and CoV. First 30 days free. Less per month if you buy muliple months at once.

  • DerekLStinson

    Posted Apr 14, 2009 3:21 pm PT

    I wonder how much this costs a month now. I had a ton of fun playing this game when it came out.

  • epyon346

    Posted Apr 14, 2009 1:49 pm PT

    @The Arcade

    It's really hard to make MMOs as successful on consoles. Have you played FFXI on a console? No where near as easy to play as the PC version.

  • Dualmask

    Posted Apr 14, 2009 1:39 pm PT

    CoH is great...I just reactivated my account. After a long time of swearing off the game, other video games just weren't doing it for me...or perhaps I just missed CoH. Either way, it's good to be back, and the mission architect feature is awesome. Some missions can speed up leveling to a ridiculous pace if you've got the right team. I took a scrapper from level 5 to 20 in about three hours farming one custom mission with a team of eight...great stuff.

    Glad the game is still going strong. Not every MMO has withstood the test of time.

  • ballzack93

    Posted Apr 14, 2009 1:26 pm PT

    City of Heroes is great game, the new architect update is awesome. It's not like WoW where you raid for hours on end weekly to have a chance at a piece of good gear, you just buy enhancements for your powers with influence you get from missions/task forces/PVP. its not a hardcore MMO by any means but if you are bored of WoW or Warhammer you should check it out its one of the most FUN games ive ever played...

  • athenian29

    Posted Apr 14, 2009 1:02 pm PT

    @TheArcade

    If it's any consolation (console-ation... heh heh...), DC Universe Online is coming to PS3.

    As far as Paragon, is the name cursed? What happened to the old studio? Don't hear much of them nowadays, do we?

    Oh well, it sounds cool enough. As long as the name change doesn't involve layoffs, though, it makes no difference.

  • Inconnux

    Posted Apr 14, 2009 12:43 pm PT

    CoH like most mmo's got old and repetitive very quickly

  • TheArcade

    Posted Apr 14, 2009 12:17 pm PT

    COH is such a cool game. I wonder why they've never released it to console.

    I also liked Freedom Force which was much similar to COH.

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