A few days ago, NCSoft finally announced the winners of its City of Heroes 2009 Holiday Contest, which called for players to decorate their bases with a holiday-themed motif. A little more than one month after its call for entries, NCSoft opened a public gallery on the official CoH website, offering everyone a chance to see the fruits of these superheroes' decorating powers. The First Place prize went to "Major Wren Ovation" for his/her blend of ice-themed decor and wonderfully kitschy Christmas-tree-out-of-crystals design, while Second Place goes to "Quantum Surge" for a warm and inviting, fireside-styled base.

You can check out the full list of winners (including categories for best costumes) in this post (via Massively) at the official CoH website. For more news and information about NCSoft's original and still-popular superhero MMO, check out ZAM's City of Heroes portal site.

Paragon Studios has launched the second round of Guest Author missions for its Mission Architect system in City of Heroes, and these three new arcs feature the works of Mercedes Lackey, Troy Hickman and Austin Grossman.

Lackey is the author of more than 75 books, including the Heralds of Valdemar series; Hickman is a two-time Eisner Award nominee for his comic book Common Grounds; and Grossman is a game designer and writer whose handiwork spans from System Shock and Deus Ex to his novel "Soon I Will Be Invincible."

The three missions were released today, so log into City of Heroes and check them out. You can read the descriptions of each arc after the jump.

The first round of Guest Author missions debuted in the game in October 2009. The inaugural team of authors included Bill Willingham, creator of the "Fables" comic book series, Scott Kurtz, the creator of the PvP Web comic, and Rooster Teeth, the masterminds behind "Red vs. Blue."

When Paragon Studios introduced Melissa "War Witch" Bianco as the new lead designer for City of Heroes last week, it also hinted that some Going Rogue news would be revealed in the near future. It looks like Paragon wasn't kidding. The team just added the biography of Tyrant to the Going Rogue site, and it sheds some light on "the most prominent figure in Praetoria."

If you want to learn how Marcus Cole ascended to power and became and emperor that is both loved and feared, keep reading after the jump for his full biography.

Paragon Studios recently announced a number of staff changes that will be of interest to City of Heroes players. Perhaps the biggest news is that Melissa "War Witch" Bianco has replaced Matt "Positron" Miller as the game's lead designer. Miller is shifting his focus to the end-game system and a few other "top secret" initiatives.

Bianco has conducted her first interview as lead designer with MMORPG.com, and she's the focus of Paragon's re-introduction of the "Ask a Dev" program. You can read Bianco's bio and submit questions to her in this thread on the official forums.

In addition, C. "Doc Delilah" Bales has replaced Jesse "Ghost Falcon" Caceres as publishing producer. Caceres has moved up to the development producer position. Matt "The Television" Stults has also been named the leader programmer for City of Heroes.

As far as the Going Rogue expansion is concerned, the team has stated that more information will be released in upcoming weeks.

According to a post on the City of Heroes site, NCsoft has "added additional logging and security measures to further strengthen existing processes and preventative systems" following an investigation into the current state of account security.

While NCsoft states it found no malicious compromises during its investigation, the company suggests that players never share their login details and change their passwords regularly. You can read the full announcement after the jump.

Hero-Con may have been held back in October, but Paragon Studios has just published podcasts from six of the convention's panels. You can listen the the welcome address and the closing ceremony, as well as get more information on the game's storyline and power balancing.

If you're only going to listen to one of the podcasts, we suggest downloading the welcome address. As we reported in October, Matt "Positron" Miller used the opportunity to give fans all sorts of details about the Going Rogue expansion, which is scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2010.

Today marks the beginning of the Winter Event in City of Heroes, and this holiday celebration adds a new "throw snowflakes" emote and two new badges to the game. In addition, players can purchase a character respec with candy cane salvage. More information can be found on the Winter Event page.

Paragon Studios is also offering free character server transfers for the holidays through Jan. 31, 2010. You can read all of the important details after the jump.

'Tis the season for giving, which is why it's great to see that a group of City of Heroes players have created the Real World Hero charity donation drive to raise funds for Child's Play, Donate Games and Operation Gratitude. While the drive is not endorsed by NCsoft, the company has featured the event on the front page of the official City of Heroes site.

The Wentworth Country Club will be collecting funds for these charities through Jan. 1, 2010, which is when the group will be hosting a cross-server celebration party. Players who donate will be eligible to receive a temporary gold title for their character by contacting Mr. Wentworth or Sultry Siren in-game from Nov. 30 to Dec. 24. More information can be found in this thread on the official forums.

Super Booster IV: Martial Arts is now available for $9.99 in the NCsoft store, so you might want to consider picking it up if you'd like to have access to a martial arts-themed costume set, ninja-inspired costume change emotes, or the Ninja Run power. This travel ability increase your run speed and leaping abilities without using one of your power selections.

In addition, Dr. Aeon has issued his first Mission Architect challenge with the theme of "a Hero doing evil for the greater good." The winner will receive a permanent title on the character of his or her choice. The contest ends Dec. 9 at 11:59 p.m. CST, so start thinking up an interesting arc if you'd like to participate. Check out the official rules for details on how to submit your entry.

Hero-Con may be over, but discussion surrounding the upcoming Going Rogue expansion is in full swing on the event's forums. A user on the forums has been collecting all of the information that was released about the expansion during the convention, and it looks like Paragon Studios is currently targeting a release in the second quarter of 2010. The beta will begin in waves starting early next year.

The post contains a wealth of information, from the new factions and powersets to details on the alignment system that will have both heroes and villains questioning their moral codes. Going Rogue will even include an optional ultra graphics mode that will improve shadows, reflections and water. Check out the full post after the jump, which was compiled by City of Heroes forum user Orion Star EU.

For more information on Going Rogue, you can watch the Hero-Con opening ceremony keynote on YouTube. Part one is the introduction, part two contains Matt "Positron" Miller's discussion about the expansion, and part three is a Q&A session.