In case you haven't heard yet, City of Heroes is now available for Mac users. You all remember those "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC " ads, right? Well, the CoH team has created some humorous ads of their own in a similar vein in honor of the occasion.

The first one, entitled simply "I'm a Hero. I'm a Villain," is a straight spoof of the Mac/PC ads. You know how heroes can sound high and mighty when they talk, while villains tend to be more raspy and evil? This video highlights that fact.

The second one, which was released today, plays off the Day Jobs feature that was recently added to City of Heroes to allow players to gain additional powers and benefits through a secret identity. Let's just say the hero's Day Job in the clip isn't all that heroic.

Mac users, prepare to don your costumes: NCsoft announced today the commercial launch of City of Heroes for the Mac across all NCsoft West territories.

Mac players can now purchase the digital-only Mac Special Edition of City of Heroes from NCsoft's PlayNC® store and GameTreeOnline. The Mac Special Edition includes the client, thirty days of play time and a set of exclusive in-game items.

The full press release can be found here or below.

If you choose to sign up for a 6-month or 12-month subscription plan with City of Heroes, you'll get an extra holiday gift: free play time.

If you subscribe for 6 months, you get 1 month free. If you subscribe for 12 months, you get 2 months free. The offer ends Jan. 25, 2009, so you have some time to decide whether you'd like to participate in this deal.

According to the announcement, "these can be 'stacked' one time on top of your current subscription plan."

We have a ton of links to share with you in this week's recap of our exclusive content and noteworthy news items (which can be found after the jump). With the holiday season upon us, most MMOs are celebrating with numerous events. Some, such as World of Warcraft's Feast of Winter Veil, are listed below. Whichever game you play, take some time to enjoy the festivities. Also, feel free to browse our news archive to check out everything that couldn't fit in this weekly recap.

Allakhazam Features

Dangers of Sanrio Town : Hello Kitty Online features an in-depth social network. While it's a good tool for meeting other players, it could be dangerous for the game's younger fans.

Ten Years of Lineage II : Sam Han, Lineage II Producer for NCsoft West, and Young Park, the original Lineage Production Assistant for NCsoft West, talk with us about the Lineage franchise.

Jumpgate Evolution Media #3 : These exclusive screenshots showcase fighters class ships and factories that are used in crafting.

Swordsman Screenshots : We take an in-depth look at this class from IGG's free-to-play Zu Online.

Station Crap : Allakhazam Editor-in-Chief Andrew "Tamat" Beegle has a less than favorable personal opinion on SOE's new Station Cash microtransaction service. What do you think about it? Let us know in the comments section.

The Mac version of City of Heroes will be released in January 2009, but players can test out the Mac client now by participating in the open beta, which is up and running. Lead Designer Matt “Positron” Miller made the announcement yesterday in the official CoH forums:

You will start to see a lot of new faces as more and more Mac players come in for their first taste of City of Heroes. If you are one of those new faces, I would like to say “welcome!” I was very excited when our partner TransGaming showed us what they could do to get City of Heroes running on the Mac, and immediately wanted to get this into the hands of Mac players as soon as possible.

You can sign up for the open beta here. The page contains information on the City of Heroes Mac Special Edition. It will include two exclusive in-game items: a Mission Teleporter Power to teleport directly to the active mission and an exclusive Valkyrie Costume Set.

You can read Positron's full announcement after the jump.

Even superheroes (and villians) need to take some time during the holiday season to enjoy some fun winter events. That's why City of Heroes will be filled with activities and rewards until Jan. 4.

Starting today, all you need to do to receive some temporary powers and other gifts is to log in! You'll also be able to decide if you're naughty or nice with some holiday auras.

By simply logging in between December 15th, 2008 and January 4th, 2009, City of Heroes players will receive a gifted badge, fuzzy earmuffs costume piece, the Holiday Spirit temporary power and the Holiday Cheer temporary power. Also available for players will be a new Father Time mission, ski challenges, holiday auras, candy canes and Gamester's gifts, as well as a winter gift enhancement set.

You can read all about the Winter Event here, or you can just log in, put on your fuzzy earmuffs and start playing!

According to Uncle Ben, "With great power comes great responsibility." It's the mantra that has always driven Spider-Man, and now it can be your call to action in City of Heroes. Issue 13: Power & Responsibility is live, and it brings with it a ton of additions to the game.

Here's just some of the stuff you can now enjoy in Issue 13: increased flexibility by switching between two builds; pact leveling will keep your XP permanently in sync with a friend; Day Jobs give you a secret identity and benefits by logging out in specific areas, such as hospitals and stores; new powersets include shields and pain domination; the merit rewards system allows you to earn redeemable tokens by completing tasks; new story arcs have been added; and PvP combat has been revamped.

Whew! And that's only the major stuff. For more information on this issue, you can check out this thread on the CoH official forums, the issue overview, or the release notes. The full release notes can also be found after the jump.

Lead Designer Matt "Positron" Miller posted a letter to the community today on the new City of Heroes Web site to announce that Issue 13 is now in open beta. Anyone with an active CoH account can access it on the Training Room server to report bugs and feedback. Issue 13 should be live in a few weeks.

Miller also discusses numerous Issue 13 updates, including patron and epic power pools, the merit system, bases, the leveling pact, PvP changes, the multi-build feature and day jobs. You can read his letter here or below.

Mac users now have another choice in their MMO gaming options!

"Players will soon be able to join the battle of good versus evil in the most popular comic book MMO on both the PC and Mac platforms...and in the same game world," commented Brian Clayton, executive producer of City of Heroes for NCsoft West. "Given Mac's fame as a platform for creative people and City of Heroes' unprecedented character customization options, I think City of Heroes is a perfect fit for the Mac gaming community."

Working with TransGaming, NCsoft is bringing the platform to beta with the launch of Chapter 13.  You can pre-order the software here, and sign up for beta access at the official site.

The City of Heroes Web site has been completely redesigned. In addition to a much sleeker interface that combines the old CityofHeroes.com and CityofVillains.com sites into one cohesive site, here's some new additions for you to check out:

Be sure to visit the below new sections to read about the signature characters from the game's lore:

• Signature Heroes
• Signature Villains

Also, you may want to visit the Media section and grab yourself a new wallpaper.