City of Villains, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft - North America, is the stand-alone sequel to last year’s critical and commercial hit, City of Heroes®.

Customers who pre-order City of Villains will also receive an exclusive in-game Arachnos costume piece, a limited edition “Lord Recluse™ versus Statesman™” poster, and a CD-ROM that includes City of Villains videos, art, wallpapers, screenshots, a Rogue Isles map, a City of Heroes comic book and other valuable offers.

“This pre-order package is quite robust and is a great start for City of Villains at the retail level,” said Jack Beuttell, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Merchandising for Gamestop Corp. “City of Villains is shaping up to be one of the biggest PC releases of the year, and this pre-order will give customers a preview that should kick-up anticipation levels to another notch.”

In City of Villains, players will be able to take on villainous personas, customizing 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 customization 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.

For more information about the City of Villains pre-order offer, go to www.cityofvillains.com.

About NCsoft
NCsoft - North American is headquartered in Austin, Texas and is part of Korea-based NCsoft Corporation. NCsoft, with its own development and publishing offices in Texas and California, also works with subsidiaries and third party developers throughout North America to develop and publish innovative online entertainment software products. The company launched two massively multiplayer titles on the same day last year: Lineage® II and City of Heroes, and in April of 2005 the hit game Guild Wars®. NCsoft expects to launch two more massively multiplayer titles in 2005: Auto Assault™ and City of Villains. More information about NCsoft can be found at http://www.PlayNC.com.

About Cryptic Studios
Cryptic Studios, Inc., located in Los Gatos, 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, Lineage, Guild Wars, Auto Assault and all associated NCsoft logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCsoft Corporation. City of Heroes, City of Villains, Lord Recluse, Statesman and Paragon City are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cryptic Studios, Inc. and NCsoft Corporation. Cryptic Studios is a trademark of Cryptic Studios, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.