DC Universe Online

DC Universe Online or DCUO is an MMORPG by Sony Online Entertainment - Austin. Jim Lee serves as the game's Executive Creative Director, along with Carlos D'Anda, JJ Kirby, Oliver Nome, Eddie Nuñez, Livio Ramondelli, and Michael Lopez. EverQuest developer Chris Cao is the Game Director and Shawn Lord is also involved.[3] Geoff Johns is the principal writer.

On July 4, 2008, the first conceptual art was released for the game.[4] The first trailer was released on July 14, 2008.[5] New concept art and screenshots for the game were released the next day.[6] The developers held a Q&A on the same day, where players could ask questions about the gameplay and other aspects of the game.[7][8] Other interviews and information about the game have also come online.[9][10] It was revealed on their MySpace page that the first public demo of the game would be shown during Comic-Con International. Other interviews have also been found regarding the game.[11][12] Information about the games' reveal at Comic-Con have also surfaced.[13] A making of DCUO video has been released.[14] DCUO was also shown and playable in Pre-Alpha form at major conventions throughout 2009, such as New York Comic Con, E3 and Comic-Con International. The game was released in January 2011.

According to a Sony spokesperson, the revenue model will be subscription based with a user cost of $14.99 per month,[15] rather than using microtransactions.[16] Eurogamer.net has confirmed for the UK the subscription will be £9.99 a month, £27.99 for three months, and £49.99 for six months. The cost for Australian subscribers is $19.95 AUD.

Gameplay

DC Universe Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in the DC Universe. Sony Online Entertainment's stated goal is to make a different kind of MMORPG, with The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction cited as one of the main inspirations for gameplay. SOE is working to make DC Universe Online more interactive than standard MMORPGs, while trying to keep their key elements, which include a leveling system, raid instances, endgame progression and inventories. The world is mainly shared, public space instead of heroes or villains owning territory. The public space features dynamically-generated content designed for both hero and villain player characters (uniquely created by the player, who cannot choose DCU stalwarts).[17]

Players will choose a mentor for their character (such as Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman for heroes and Lex Luthor, The Joker, or Circe for villains). Their starting location, principal quest rewards and mob loot will be influenced by that decision. The starting zones are either Metropolis or Gotham City, for both heroes and villains. Heroes can also go to the Justice League Watchtower, while villains can enter the Legion of Doom headquarters. Other zones can be reached by teleporters from the two faction headquarters.

Each character is given a communicator appropriate to their faction, via which they receive urgent communications from their mentor and his/her colleagues and subordinates; heroes will frequently receive status updates from Oracle, while villains will receive data from The Calculator. In addition to assignments from their mentor, player characters may also receive requests for help from other mentors of the same faction. Player characters may also accept missions from non-player characters (NPCs) in the street, usually minor characters from their faction. There are also opportunities for quick street encounters appropriate to the character's faction: for example, a hero character may encounter a thug robbing an armored truck, trying to break into an office building, or in the process of mugging a citizen; while a villain character may be presented with opportunities to assist NPC thugs with an armored truck robbery, or assault a citizen using an ATM. All NPC interactions are fully animated and voice-acted. Player characters will earn threat ratings that will cause NPC heroes and villains to interact accordingly with the character.

The shared worldspace offers primarily solo and team player versus environment (PvE) gaming opportunities in the form of open air missions and instances, although player versus player (PvP) combat is also possible in this worldspace. Other PvP (and to a smaller extent, PvE) gaming is available in various types of queued instanced encounters: "Legends", small scale PvP combats in which players take on the identities of iconic characters (continued success in Legends combat unlocks additional iconic characters); "Arena", small scale PvP combat in which players fight as their own characters; "Alerts", cooperative team missions; and "Raids", large scale PvP combat between teams of opposing factions. Success in PvE missions is rewarded with in-game money, costume pieces, equipment and consumables, while PVP combat is rewarded with unlocks of special equipment sets.

Storyline

DC Universe Online is set in the present day, but the opening cinematic sequence takes place in a gritty, war-torn future depicting a final battle between the world's greatest heroes and villains.

This battle takes place in the ruins of Metropolis, and features the deaths of several well-known DC Comics characters. The battle culminates with the death of Superman at the hands of Lex Luthor, leaving him and the Joker as the survivors. Luthor stands back to proclaim his victory, only to see Brainiac's warfleet fill the skies.

The scene then shifts to the present-day Watchtower, where the future Luthor is telling the story to the present-day Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Luthor explains that the deadly final war between the heroes and villains was triggered by the subtle manipulations of Brainiac, who had been slowly downloading their powers over time. With the planet's most powerful beings dead, Brainiac intended to use the pirated data to create an army of metahumans under his control, facilitating his conquest of Earth. As the only survivor of the war, Luthor could do nothing to resist Brainiac's subjugation of the planet.

Luthor explains that he was able survive in secret, and eventually steal the stolen data and energy from Brainiac's mothership in the form of "exobytes", nanobot-sized devices that can bond to a living host and give them their own superpowers. After finally designing a time machine or hijacking one from Brainiac's technology, Lex Luthor has traveled into his past to release the exobytes into the atmosphere of present-day Earth. The heroes are outraged, but Luthor explains that because he has done this, soon thousands of new metahumans will be created from ordinary humans (becoming the characters that players design and play with). He implores the Justice League to find and train these new metahumans, because Brainiac is coming, and the Earth must be ready to succeed where it was once doomed to fail.

In the second trailer to the game, "In Lex we Trust," we find that Lex's description of event's leading up to his arrival in the present time is not as he described to the heroes. The trailer begins with Lex reviving his companion, Fracture, from being unconscious. Lex explains that Brainiac's forces have already penetrated the Fortress of Solitude and that their time is running out. As they approach a time portal chamber, a Braniac Eraticator attacks Fracture who, using a small grenade, destroys the robotic drone. The two arrive at the portal who is being stabilized by Batman- who's face is disfigured and arm is replaced by a robotic prosthetic due to injuries from the battle of villains and heroes. As more Eraticatords enter the chamber, Luthor lies saying his armor is damaged and that he can not hold them off. Batman tells Fracture to take the exobytes and go through the portal, attacking the Eraticators and buying him more time. Fracture thanks Lex for using the exobytes to give him his powers and Lex, seeing the opportunity he had been waiting for, kills Fracture describing him as "an excellent lab rat." As Luthor is about to step into the portal, Batman calls to Luther warning him that Batman will be coming for him. "No you won't." Luthor replies and activates a self-destruct sequence. The villain enters into the portal and the Fortress of Solitude suffers massive explosions. He arrives in a dark alley, presumably present day. He is greeted by his present day self who describes him as being late.
Universe

While the game has shown a DC Universe largely similar to the current in-publication DCU, it is unknown if this is meant to be the actual DC Universe-proper or if this is another world in the DC Multiverse. Notable differences exist, such as the absence of Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson and Tim Drake still operating as Nightwing and Robin, Bane's continued use of the Venom steroid, Black Adam's return to super villain status despite recent comics changing him into an anti hero, as well as the absence of all other corps of the emotional spectrum, save for the Green Lantern Corps and Sinestro Corps. It seems as though Final Crisis has not occurred, as Batman has not apparently endured trauma at the hands of Darkseid, but Barry Allen appears to be serving as the Flash. Conner Kent has yet to appear in the game, and it is not yet confirmed if he exists in this world. Jonathan Kent is also alive and well, unlike his mainline DC Universe counterpart. Although, certain key events from the mainline DC Universe are still referred to as history in the world presented in the game, including the Crisis on Infinite Earths, The Death of Superman, and the "Breaking of the Bat."

Locations

    * Gotham City
    * Metropolis
    * Gateway City
    * Atlantis
    * Blüdhaven[20]
    * Justice League Watchtower
    * Legion of Doom Headquarters
    * Oolong Island
    * Smallville
    * Area 51
    * Gorilla Island
    * Stryker's Island
    * Ace Chemical
    * Arkham Asylum
    * Khandaq
    * The Batcave

Cast

The game's voice cast is very large, and is inclusive of many known characters in the DC Universe. Sony Online Entertainment released a complete voice cast list[21] on January 18, 2011. Some cast members, such as Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, were announced early.[22] The high-profile heroes and villains include:

    * Adam Baldwin - Superman/Clark Kent (Previously voiced the character in Superman: Doomsday)
    * Kevin Conroy - Batman/Bruce Wayne (Previously voiced the character in Batman: The Animated Series and numerous other productions)
    * Gina Torres - Wonder Woman
    * James Marsters - Lex Luthor (Previously voiced the character in Superman: Doomsday)
    * Mark Hamill - The Joker (Previously voiced the character in Batman: The Animated Series and numerous other productions)
    * Michelle Forbes - Circe
    * Corey Burton - Brainiac (Previously voiced the character in Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League)
    * Dwight Schultz - Flash/Barry Allen and Martian Manhunter
    * Aaron Mace - Green Lantern/Hal Jordan
    * Wil Wheaton - Robin/Tim Drake
    * Joey Hood - Dick Grayson/Nightwing
    * Edwin Neal - Two-Face, Killer Croc, and Harvey Bullock
    * Arleen Sorkin - Harley Quinn (Previously voiced the character in Batman: The Animated Series and numerous other productions)
    * Kelley Huston - Catwoman and Black Canary
    * Cyndi Williams - Poison Ivy
    * Kathy Catmull - Oracle/Barbara Gordon
    * Tracy W. Bush - Calculator
    * David Jennison - Green Arrow/Oliver Queen, Penguin, and Heat Wave

Comics

DC Comics announced, in January 2010, that they will be releasing DC Universe Online: Legends, a 52-issue weekly limited series (along the lines of previous similar series like 52, Countdown to Final Crisis and Trinity) which would be based on the game.[23] Rather than a weekly series, the format was changed to a biweekly series, with comic book writer Tony Bedard and game writer Marv Wolfman, and with artists Howard Porter and Adriana Melo. The title is set to launch in February 2011

Beta

The registration for the beta started on July 20, 2010, and let users choose the platform upon which they wanted to beta test the game. On December 14, a beta was released on the PlayStation Network for all PlayStation Plus members.

On January 5, 2011, the beta came to an end with a send-off event dubbed "Battle of Legends". Developers announced in-game of two meet-up locations, one in Gotham's Botanical Gardens, and another at Centennial Park in Metropolis, where Future Batman faced off against Future Joker, and Superman fought Lex Luthor, respectively. The PVP event allowed players on the hero and villain sides to take on the opposing iconic heroes/villains as well as their army of players.

During these battles, for as long as they lasted, Brainiac (at character level 60) and his minions would show up and wreak havoc on the player base. Each event ended with an announcement that Brainiac had taken over the world, resulting in each beta server shutting down (as an intentional part of the story). Sonystation's DCUO forums similarly shut down, scheduled to re-open on January 11, when the game officially released.