Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Ten Ton Hammer: What can you tell us about the studio name change? Why go from NCsoft NorCal to Paragon Studios? What were you trying to accomplish with that move?

MM: If your company name was “NorCal”, and you didn’t surf, wouldn’t you want something a bit sexier? We love City of Heroes, which means we love Paragon City. The name shows a commitment not only to the studio, but to the brand as well.

Ten Ton Hammer: Champions Online looks like it’s setting up to release sometime in the next 3-6 months and DC Universe Online looks on track for sometime after that. Are you doing anything to prepare for more super hero MMOs hitting the marketplace?

MM: We are the first comic-book inspired MMO, so we think it’s flattering that there would be others that would attempt to follow in our footsteps. With a number of us being former Cryptic employees, we always knew that other games in the genre were coming, and so we’ve been preparing for the competition in the space.  We’re not taking our market leadership position for granted, and it’s not just because there are other games coming out. Instead, it is more so due to our genuine passion and commitment to City of Heroes and the fans. Our advantage now is that we have an awesome community of players, and a fun and proven game with a theme that we hope will continue to attract more and more new players. The past five years have allowed us to add new content, including a major expansion and several innovative systems like Mission Architect, to City of Heroes. No doubt we will continue to challenge ourselves to add more cool stuff to the game.

That, and we’ve still got more surprises up our sleeves.

Ten Ton Hammer: Out of everything that you’ve seen with City of Heroes, what has been your most memorable moment thus far? Can you describe it for us?

MM: From a story perspective, I think the reaction we got to Issue 10: Invasion was my favorite moment. Everything from Vanguard, the Rikti Mothership, Lady Grey’s Task Force, and the Rikti Invasions, coupled with the storyline we wove into the final two issues of the City of Heroes comic book, really made that issue stand out as one of my favorites.

Of course, the reaction we’ve gotten to Issue 14: Architect so far is rapidly making that issue a favorite of mine as well.

Ten Ton Hammer: Is there anything else you’d like to tell Ten Ton Hammer readers and CoX fans?

MM: Without the fans of City of Heroes and City of Villains there wouldn’t be a 5th Anniversary to celebrate, so really the honors should go out to them. So many MMO’s have come and gone, but the players of the “City of” games are incredibly loyal, and we do everything we can think of to repay them for their loyalty by constantly trying to make the game that they love better.

And the best is yet to come.