As if killing off City of Heroes back in 2012 wasn't bad enough, now NCsoft takes one of the dead superhero MMO's most beloved characters, Statesman, and pits him against characters from more successful, less cancelled games as the latest champion in PC MOBA Master X Master.

As you may have heard, City of Heroes, one of the oldest superhero MMORPGs, is no more. But its spirit lives on, apparently. In a Kickstarter campaign.

Gamasutra's postmortem of City of Heroes and Paragon Studios says the MMO's development staff did everything it could to keep the game running — including trying to buy it from publisher NCSoft. Apparently, plans for one final update were shot down right before the game was closed on December 1.

Last night NCsoft shut down City of Heroes, a landmark game that eight years ago brought the thrills of super powers and comic book crime-fighting to an MMO role-playing world.

As fans gather in a desperate attempt to save the doomed City of Heroes from its announced closure, DC Universe Online unleashes mystical forces with its latest expansion and Dr Destroyer's army of Destroid robots rises in Champions Online in celebration of the game's third anniversary.

Last week's vigil in Paragon City was misunderstood (including by me) to be a protest against the announced shutdown of City of Heroes, the eight-year-old superhero MMO. It was intended as a statement of support and tribute, particularly to the Paragon Studios development team that, let's not forget, is seeing the end of something it cares for, as well as the end of all their jobs.

The City of Heroes community has called for a massive demonstration at 5pm EDT in Atlas Park to protest the MMO's shutdown. But apparently it's already begun.

Paragon Studios has announced that effective immediately, all work on superhero-themed MMORPG City of Heroes will be ceasing, and the game will be shut down by the end of the year. In a post on the official City of Heroes site, community manager Andy Belford wrote the following.

With fewer and fewer children donning costumes and hitting the streets every year to celebrate all things sweet and spooky, the Halloween tradition is alive and well in the virtual worlds of today's massively multiplayer online games.

After more than seven years as the most popular subscription-based massively multiplayer online superhero role-playing game, Paragon Studios flips the switch on City of Heroes Freedom, potentially the most popular free-to-play superhero MMO.

Superhero MMO City of Heroes is killing its monthly fee with the advent of City of Heroes Freedom as the game transitions from subscription-based model to a new, free to play one.

Steampunk: it's everywhere you want to be, especially if the place you want to be is Paragon City circa June 1, 2011, when the City of Heroes Steampunk pack goes live.

Publisher Atari is "divesting" itself of MMO specialists Cryptic Studios, which it snapped up in 2008. It's trying to sell the creators of Star Trek Online and Champions Online after losing Atari millions.

Seven years ago today, NCsoft and Cryptic Studios released City of Heroes, providing fantasy-gorged massively multiplayer online gamers a new way to waste countless hours of their lives alongside thousands of their closest friends. Let's celebrate seven years of heroes and villains with a colourful infographic and nostalgia-laden anecdotes!

Just when I was afraid breakfast would be lost to me forever, UPS Man arrives to save the day with an extra-large box of Utopios. And guess what? There's a prize inside.

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http://www.youtube.com/v/tJCeF58nmAo&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams": ,"width":570,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube","wrap":true} );

In this video documentary for Paragon Studio's super hero MMO City of Heroes, the team talks us through the morality system that changes your villain into a hero and vice versa in the upcoming Going Rogue expansion.

If you've ever wished your City of Heroes mutant character could mutate just a little bit more, now's your chance, as Paragon Studios unleashes Super Booster V: Mutant on the NCsoft online store.

Gripping moral decisions come to NCSoft's super hero MMO this winter, as the company sets an August 17 release date for the game's second major expansion, Going Rogue. Mark your calendars!

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/bg-video.cp.motionbox.com\/motionboxons\/flash\/VideoPlayer.swf?type=sd&video_uid=1c98d9b71e19e3cd94&security_token=prod3.3e02befdb42f8fe0","customParams":{"allowScriptAccess":"always"},"width":570,"height":360,"ratio":0.6393,"flashData":"","embedName":"mbox_player_1c98d9b71e19e3cd94","objectId":"mbox_player_1c98d9b71e19e3cd94","noEmbed":false,"source":"motionbox","native_source":{"thumbnail":"http:\/\/cache.gawker.com\/assets\/images\/kotaku\/2010\/04\/1c98d9b71e19e3cd94.jpg","sources": }} );

NCsoft's City of Heroes is six years old, and Paragon Studios celebrates with the release of Issue 17: Dark Mirror, a free update that brings new story arcs, huge enemies and an extremely fetching graphical makeover.