DC Online to show its face

[UnSub]

... at E3.

I've also heard rumours it will appear at Comic-con as well and that Jim Lee will be talking about it. It might only be an alpha build, but it will at least show off what SOE has been hush hush (no pun intended) about.

[Signe]

ooooo!  I really need a new superhero game!  Like yesterday.

[Falwell]

Some very rough details are starting to come out. Via Eurogamer, Edge Magazine and the game director, Jim Lee..

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=161093

"Some new details have emerged of DC Universe Online, the new PC and PS3 MMO in development at Sony Online Entertainment.

In this month's Edge magazine, executive creative director Jim Lee describes DC Universe as a "kick-ass hybrid between a traditional MMO and a first-person action console game".

You'll get to create your own superhero or villain, choosing their particular powers, according to the Edge article. So you'll decide whether to attack using fire or ice, for example, and move around using acrobatics or the power of flight. Other potential abilities mentioned in the article include speed-running and teleportation.

As with a traditional MMO your character will level up as you progress, and you'll develop your powers. When the game starts you might be able to fly, but only later will you learn how to pull off specific moves and attacks in mid-air.

Although you don't get to "be" any of the famous DC characters, you do get to interact with them. That might mean you end up saving Superman from being stabbed with a shard of kryptonite by Lex Luthor. Or, if you're a villain, you could cause carnage by chucking cars around downtown Metropolis, thereby encouraging the boy in blue to turn up and fight you.

Metropolis is one of two large shared environments revealed so far, the other being Gotham City. Unlike World of Warcraft, DC Universe will be comprised of a mix of these environments and separate instances. And while there will still be instances and raids, the emphasis will be on fast-paced action rather than grinding.

There will be PvP arenas, and you'll be able to make use of your superpowers and those of others in interesting ways. For example, someone might freeze your character in a block of ice, then pick up the block and chuck it at another player. In some instances, PvP fights will end up turning into giant PvE boss battles.

In the future, it's possible we could see models, environments and costumes from the game turning up in other DC Comics properties, and there are plans for plot crossovers. "We can tie-in future DC tentpole events and translate the stories for the gaming world, and have them occur simultaneously," said Lee. "The possibilities are numerous and very exciting."

UPDATE:This article previously reported that DC Universe Online is out next year. This was an error on our part. Sony Online Entertainment has not yet given any word on when the game will be released. Sorry about that."

[rk47]

yawn. superman is overpowered. batman is overrated. flash is imba. wonder woman is eye candy.

But. I still want to see how it turned out. COH grew old too fast past 20. Here's hoping DC online has some sort of 'world' into it.

[UnSub]

Beat me to it - I was just in the process of cut'n'pasting

[UnSub]

For example, someone might freeze your character in a block of ice, then pick up the block and chuck it at another player.

That's a nice touch.

In some instances, PvP fights will end up turning into giant PvE boss battles.

This is a design choice that will cause absolutely no complaints from both pro- and anti-pvp factions.

[Triforcer]

Massive instancing.  Yawn.  Arena-only pvp?  Double yawn. 

EDIT:   Crossovers with what is happening in the comics?  That actually sounds realistic, given that patches often change characters' abilities randomly in ways that make no sense.   

[UnSub]

The reality of crossover between the comics and the MMO will be limited - they might manage a launch event, but I expect the dev would be at least 3 months behind any storyline that appeared in the comics, even assuming they tried to keep up.

Otherwise you'd have the DC comics version of Leia kissing Luke appearing in the missions, or mission continuity being constantly redacted e.g. we know we said that Monarch was Captain Atom, but he's really Hank Hall!.

[Margalis]

Some screens are out. Not sure if they are in-game or concept. Look awful. Dreadful.

[UnSub]

Some screens are out. Not sure if they are in-game or concept. Look awful. Dreadful.

EDIT: nvm.

Here they are.

The Joker picture in the middle best represents my reaction to these images. It's not a smile.

EDIT 2: Here's the DCU MySpace page. Yes, MySpace. I can't see it, so it looks like you need a MySpace account. Yes, MySpace. As the official page.

EDIT 3: It might not be letting me look at the official page because I'm not being sent to MySpace US but MySpace Aus.

[Oban]

What is Myspace and why is it the only source of information for a game based on comic books?

[Sparky]

I think it's one of those "blogs" young people get excited about.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Good god that same looks like utter ass. 

[Salamok]

In some instances, PvP fights will end up turning into giant PvE boss battles.

This is a design choice that will cause absolutely no complaints from both pro- and anti-pvp factions.

Isn't that pretty much what the emp in EQ was?

[Riggswolfe]

So it's COX in a DC skin? Call me if it doesn't have the post 20 grind.

[Register]

So it's COX in a DC skin? Call me if it doesn't have the post 20 grind.

But COX still have a pretty interesting combat / power system, as well as large amounts of content that was continuously build over the years.

What I fear is that DC Online will be graphically the equivalent of COX, minus the combat fun and having only a tiny fraction of the content.

[Grimwell]

So it's COX in a DC skin? Call me if it doesn't have the post 20 grind.

What led you to that assessment?

[UnSub]

So it's COX in a DC skin? Call me if it doesn't have the post 20 grind.

What led you to that assessment?

You know, it's got superheroes, which makes it exactly the same as every other title in the genre. It's fantasy that's where the diversity is at! 

I'm interested in seeing how a non-Cryptic superhero MMO turns out. If SOE (have they even annoucned a project team for this game apart from Jim Lee?) simply turn out CoH/V v. DCU, I'll be extremely disappointed.

[Trippy]

People really should be comparing it to CO (Champions Online) given the console-oriented nature of both.

[UnSub]

People really should be comparing it to CO (Champions Online) given the console-oriented nature of both.

Given that both will be on PC, it'll be interesting to see how they overlap.

I find it interesting that SOE has dropped the PSP support for this title - originally it was going to be able to do ... something ... with your characters while you were otherwise offline.

[HaemishM]

Some screens are out. Not sure if they are in-game or concept. Look awful. Dreadful.

EDIT: nvm.

Here they are.

The Joker picture in the middle best represents my reaction to these images. It's not a smile.

Holy fuck, that's assy. Asstastically assy. I hope that's really early days, because it looks like shit. Why is the Joker standing with a bunch of Cobra officers?

[WindupAtheist]

Yeah, those screenshots look like fucking shit.  Embarassing.  If that's all they had, they shouldn't have shown it.

[UnSub]

Yeah, those screenshots look like fucking shit.  Embarassing.  If that's all they had, they shouldn't have shown it.

Can't you see the impact of Jim Lee's art design?

It really looks like they've gone and based the art design on the cartoons.

The only way I can see this being saved is if this site is an elaborate joke and when people go to the ComicCon (or GenCon - whichever) launch they see the real screenshots.

[Falwell]

Am I the only person who thinks the concept art done by Lee and the game screen shots are not even remotely similar in style?

[Margalis]

It's kind of silly to even have concept art for an MMO based on the DC Universe. Why not just pick out a collection of comics that shows the style you are going for? They have 50 years worth to choose from.

A lot of the concept art I saw was the typical front / back / side view thing of a single character. There is nothing in those that you can't find in an actual comic. Maybe I understand a little more for the cityscapes and such, but even then I'm sure they could just find a random issue of Superman that has good shots of Metropolis.

Someone thought those screenshots looked good. At best they are boring and the Joker ones are atrocious. And releasing them on MySpace? I dunno, this almost strikes me as a joke.

[Venkman]

So it's COX in a DC skin? Call me if it doesn't have the post 20 grind.

What led you to that assessment?

From Falwell's post of the Edge article: Levels, abilities unlocked over time, flight, fire/ice, speed-runing, teleportation, etc.

These are not bad things though. CoX got a lot of things right, mostly being hampered by the early predominance of procedural sameness in the instances, and the perpetual presence of grind. SOE doing right what CoX did wrong and including what CoX did right is a win.

[Signe]

I sort of liked the art.  It was pretty comic book-y.  Of course, I don't read comics so what do I know?  Anyway, I thought it was nice looking.

[UnSub]

Am I the only person who thinks the concept art done by Lee and the game screen shots are not even remotely similar in style?

The screenshots appear to be using an art style closer to the DC animated cartoons style. Not Jim Lee's more detailed style, which kind of raises the question of why they hired him on in that case.

[Driakos]

The Joker shots look terrible.  Mostly because he looks stiff and unnatural.  The other shots are decent.  I wouldn't mind my character being shaded like the 5th picture.

[Falwell]

Am I the only person who thinks the concept art done by Lee and the game screen shots are not even remotely similar in style?

The screenshots appear to be using an art style closer to the DC animated cartoons style. Not Jim Lee's more detailed style, which kind of raises the question of why they hired him on in that case.

My thoughts exactly. When I heard Lee was brought in, I was expecting more of a "Hush" type art style. Obviously I was mistaken.

[UnSub]

As an interesting sidenote, every time someone posts a DCUO thread on the CoH/V forums, the mods scrub it. Completely - no lock, no public comment - it just disappears. There are some new-ish mods on the boards for CoH/V, but pretty much every other MMO is talked about on those boards up to this point, but DCUO keeps disappearing. ChampO threads have generally hung around for quite a while before they got locked - they weren't scrubbed.

It could just be the new mods being silly (they must have had to scrub at least 10 threads by now, all about DCUO).

My more excitable conspiracy minded side likes the idea that DCUO is getting special treatment because of NC^2's PS3 development on a sekret project, which could feasibly be CoH/V on a PS3. 

[eldaec]

It really looks like they've gone and based the art design on the cartoons WoW.

[Woody]

It really looks like they've gone and based the art design on the cartoons WoW.

Since many of their devs once worked on SWG's NGE, that probably has more truth in it than you realize.  Heck, they just announced a trading card game for SWG that more than resembles WOW's.

[Dtrain]

I'm not 100% hopefull because of the screenshots, but I don't think the sky is falling either. Wait and see.

Oh, and the Batman and Robin picture is a little

[Lakov_Sanite]

Oh, and Batman and Robin are a little

There we go.