City Of Heroes: City of Heroes/City of Villains 3rd Annual Halloween Costume

Halloween is a very special time of the year for both heroes and villains, no matter their differences. Costumes are a part of our characters' daily lives...and one day out of the year we get to join in on the fun and dress up ourselves!

In our first Halloween costume contest, our players grabbed the world's attention by bringing their own heroes to life. In our second Halloween costume contest, we traded our heroic capes for sinister ones - Halloween was, after all, the day City of Villains® launched!

Due to popular demand, our Halloween costume contest is back! We are thrilled to present the City of Heroes®/City of Villains® Costume Contest. And for the first time, both heroes and villains can participate. Are you ready to turn into your alter-ego? We certainly hope so, because it is time to change costume slots. So put those everyday clothes away, and pull out that spandex!

Here is what you need to do: dress up as one of your characters. You can be a hero or villain, your choice. Make sure you take an in-game screenshot of this character. Now, go out in public and take two digital snapshots of yourself. Remember, your in-game screenshot is just for comparison purposes. We'll be judging for the best real-life re-creations. Our selected winners will then get to take home some fabulous prizes!

Special thanks go to our sponsors - Creative Labs, Inc. and AGEIA Technologies, Inc.!

This year's categories are:

Best Overall - (Grand Prize Winner - this will not be a winner from any of the other categories).

Best Villain

Best Hero

Best Costume/Public Location Combo

Any copyrighted heroes and/or trademarked names will be automatically disqualified! We're talking comic book heroes, T.V. characters, movie characters, etc. If it's a recognizable, copyrighted character from a property that isn't owned by Cryptic/NCsoft, it can't be submitted for this contest. You must make sure your entry doesn't infringe on any patent, copyright, trademark or other intellectual property right, or any privacy, publicity or publishing rights of any third party, or is libelous, obscene or otherwise contrary to law.

All contestants will be judged on costume creativity, difficulty (intricacy of outfit), and best re-creation of costume.

We have no tricks for prizes - just treats!

Our Overall Grand Prize Winner will receive -

* One (1) Permanent in-game special reward title for one character. (Retail Value: no cash value)
* One (1) BFG AGEIA PhysX 128MB GDDR3 PCI Physics Accelerator Card by AGEIA Technologies, Inc. (Retail Value: $299.99)
* One (1) Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic Sound Card by Creative Labs, Inc. (Retail Value: $129.99)
* One (1) City of Heroes® Collectable Card Game: Battlepack Display Box. That's a total of 22 starter packs - for you and all your friends! (Retail Value: $109.75)
* One (1) Prima's Official City of Villains® Game Binder. (Retail Value: $34.99)
* One (1) City of Heroes® and City of Villains® Good Versus Evil Edition. (Retail Value: $29.99)
* One (1) 60 Day Game Time Card which can be used for either City of Heroes® or City of Villains®. (Retail Value: $29.99)

Total Prize Value: $634.70

Three (3) Category Winners (Best Hero, Best Villain, and Best Costume/Public Location Combo) Will Each Receive:

* One (1) Permanent in-game special reward title for one character. (Retail Value: no cash value)
* One (1) Kodak EasyShare C533 Silver 5.0 MP Digital Camera. (Retail Value: $149.95)
* One (1) City of Heroes® and City of Villains® Good Versus Evil Edition. (Retail Value: $29.99)
* One (1) Prima's Official City of Villains® or City of Heroes Game Binder® (selection may vary) (Retail Value: $34.99)
* One (1) 60 Day Game Time Card which can be used for either City of Heroes® or City of Villains®. (Retail Value: $29.99)

Total Prize Value: $244.92

Three (3) Category Runner-Ups (Best Hero, Best Villain, and Best Costume/Public Location Combo) Will Each Receive:

* One (1) City of Heroes® and City of Villains® Good Versus Evil Edition. (Retail Value: $29.99)
* One (1) Limited Edition City of Villains® Flask. (Retail Value: $24.99)
* One (1) City of Villains® Cape. (Retail Value: $7.95)
* One (1) City of Heroes® Novel "The Web of Arachnos." (Retail Value: $6.99)
* One (1) City of Heroes® Novel "The Freedom Phalanx." (Retail Value: $6.99)
* Top Cow City of Heroes® Comic Editions 1 - 15. That's 15 comics for each runner-up. (Retail Value: $2.99 each, total value $44.85)

Total Prize Value: $121.76

Contest beings Monday, October 9th, 2006 at 2pm (CDT) and ends at 11:59pm (CDT) on Thursday, November 9th, 2006. Entries will not be accepted after this deadline. Winners will be announced no later than Friday, November 24th.

Full details, contest elibility, and submission of entries may be found here.