Even though the game isn’t “officially” released until Monday, pre-order customers get a two-day head start on Cryptic Studio’s City of Villains, the sequel/expansion to City of Heroes. In a few minutes, I would imagine there will be a decent number of CoH fans logging on to try their hand at creating a villain.

I intend to be one of them.

To quote Jayne Cobb (Adam Baldwin) from Serenity:

“Let’s be bad guys.”

I’ve got a half-written piece (whether it actually ever reaches the point where I’m okay with posting it remains to be seen) on the meaning of the words “adult” and “mature” in today’s society and how we often use them to indicate things that are neither adult nor mature.

For example, the recent Grand Theft Auto games, while fun and certainly not for children, are also not “mature.”

This is, though. Jay Tea, over at Wizbang, screwed up and unintentionally insulted some of his readers. He handled it as maturely as possible, and I can’t say how much I respect that. Now, if only everyone would own up to their mistakes that way.

I’m a bit late on this one, I know, but please, let me explain.

When I started playing City of Heroes, one of my favorite villain groups were the 5th Column, the pseudo-Nazi villains. I can’t really explain why, other than to quote what others have said: beating up Nazis is cool. The 5th Column seemed slightly more menacing than similarly leveled villains, but I don’t remember every having any more difficulty with them. They just seemed more evil, probably because of the real-world connection. It’s hard to feel quite as threatened by a big guy with a TV on his head.

I eventually quit playing City of Heroes when World of Warcraft, but with the pending release of City of Villains (and annoyance at the complete inability of the Alliance to understand the phrase “fair fight”), my online gaming buddies and I decided to switch back.

Imagine my surprise when I first saw a member of (I thought) the 5th Column, and where I expected a German-looking rank name, I saw only “Nebula.” The group name, I suddenly noticed, was “Council.”

…Wha?

The Council, according to my contacts in Paragon City, are a ruthless group that seems to be fairly powerful. I don’t feel it. Honestly, that guy with the TV on his head? He and his Garbage-can-lid wearing buddies scare me more than “The Council”. Sure, they say you can’t fight City Hall, but if my experience with this Council is any indication, City Hall should be a pushover.

I don’t guess I’ve got anything of substance to add. I’m just annoyed.

(Check out Websnark‘s entry from the actual time of the change for a more indepth (and timely) reaction.)