City of Villains, a stand-alone sequel to last year's hit, City of Heroes, is expected to be released on October 31, with a subscription price of $14.99 per month. The pricing plan means that current City of Heroes subscribers need only purchase City of Villains to play and enjoy features from both games. The games were developed by Cryptic Studios(TM).

Along with the value of being able to play the two games for $14.99, players will receive four additional character slots per game server, and access to crossover areas from both games such as player-versus-player zones in City of Villains. Additionally, City of Heroes' players who subscribe to both games will have access to the base building and base raids featured in City of Villains.

"This single subscription rate for subscribers to City of Villains and City of Heroes represents a great value for our customers and demonstrates our efforts to put our players first," said Robert Garriott, CEO of NCsoft North America. "We expect City of Villains to have a major impact on the PC games business, and this pricing structure should help continue to bring in new customers to the online, multiplayer game market."

"Both games can be played on their own and will provide satisfying and exciting online adventures," said Jack Emmert, creative director for Cryptic Studios, "By keeping the cost to $14.99 for subscribers to both games, we are encouraging players to use all of the functionality we built into the games. We created a heroes game and a villains game and we figured it is a lot more fun to have good guys and bad guys tangle without charging double for the opportunity to do so."

The announcement of the pricing structure was made at a City of Villains preview event on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco.

For more information about City of Villains, go to: www.cityofvillains.com.