The Blog of OA: DC Universe Online

Showing posts with label DC Universe Online. Show all posts

11/1/11

DC Universe Free to Play Starts Today

11/01/2011

As previously announced Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) is shifting it's DC Universe Online MMORPG over to a free to play model. Last week SOE announced that this transition would come starting November 1st and as of this morning their website began transforming to reflect the change, which will affect both the PC and Playstation 3 versions of the game.

SOE is offering three gaming options for players, outlined below.

Free

New players will now have access to the current gameplay in DC Universe Online (including Gotham City, Metropolis, and all current raids and alerts), with the ability to create two characters, join a league and many other benefits. Free level players will be able to purchase downloadable game packs/updates, additional character slots, powers and more through microtransactions.

Premium

Any player who has spent at least $5 (including former paid subscribers and new players who have purchased $5 of in-game items) will qualify for the Premium access level. Premium level players will have more benefits available to them than the Free level player, including additional character slots, additional inventory slots, and higher cash limits. Downloadable adventure packs, additional character slots, and more can be purchased in-game.

Legendary

Maximum features and benefits are included at this level. Loaded with enhanced additional features, Legendary access will be available for a $14.99 monthly fee and includes all DLC packs at no cost, more than 15 character slots, more than 80 inventory slots, the ability to form unrestricted-sized leagues, and many other benefits.

DC Universe Online Going to Free To Play

9/19/2011

No comments

Many gamers have felt that the DC Universe Online MMO for the Playstation 3 and the PC should have lowered their monthly playing fee given that the cost of the game was so high, making the game something many wouldn't consider playing due to the high initial pricetag and ongoing fees to participate. Starting some time in late October the Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) MMO is acknowledging the wishes of fans and moving from the monthly fees to being free to play and looking at microtransactions and expansion packs to generate revenue. Not only is the game going to be free to play, but players can now also download the game for free as well for either gaming platform. To create a revenue stream SOE is moving to a three tiered player system that provides benefits to those who want a little more than the limitations that the free to play system comes with.

Here's Sony's breakdown of the three tiers players can choose from:

Free

Premium

Legendary

Sony says they have a plan to ensure that the new microtransaction plan will not break the game and many of the more powerful items will not be something that games will be able to purchase in-game. Player stats like experience will also remain something players will need to earn and microtransactions will not allow players to take shortcuts, with SOE saying that the experience will be much like Free Realms.

DC Universe Online "Fight for the Light" To Be Release September 6th - FREE!

9/01/2011

1 comment

Sony Online Entertainment released the information that Green Lantern fans have been waiting for from them, and that's the street date for the first DC Universe Online expansion pack, "Fight for the Light". The DLC will feature the debut of hard light powers to the game and will allow player characters to be deputized by the Green Lantern or Sinestro Corps based on whether the character is a hero or villain. The best news - the expansion pack is FREE to all current players! Here's the press release issued this afternoon:

First DLC Pack for DC Universe™ Online
"Fight for the Light" to be Released September 6th

Current Players to Receive New DLC Pack, FREE!

WHAT: Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) announced today it will release the highly anticipated DLC package - "Fight for the Light" – for its hit online action game DC Universe™Online (DCUO) on September 6th in the United States. SOE will also provide the new DLC pack as a FREE download to all active subscribers as a way to thank its loyal players.

Introducing DC Comics legend The Green Lantern and the game's seventh power set (Light), the "Fight for the Light" pack allows players to join the Green Lantern Corps or Sinestro Corps as reservist members while helping to restore balance to the universe.

Along with interactions with Green Lantern based favorites and foes, players will be launched into multiple action-packed scenarios, including an epic battle for control in S.T.A.R. Labs, a light-to-light showdown with the Red Lantern Corps in Coast City, and chaotic prison break at Sciencells Prison.

DC Universe Online is licensed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on behalf of DC Entertainment and is the first massively multiplayer online action game made for the PC and the PlayStation®3 featuring real-time combat action where players control every move. Green Lantern offers another exciting superhero for PC and PS3 players to join forces with in their epic battles online, following DCUO's ongoing combat missions featuring other DC Comics legends such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Joker and Lex Luthor.

Source: Sony Online Entertainment

Geoff Johns Talks Green Lantern #1 and DCU Online Expansion

8/31/2011

No comments

Geoff Johns was on G4TV's "X-Play" television show today to talk about the upcoming release of the DC Universe Online "Fight for the Light" Green Lantern themed expansion as well as to show off some images from the first issue of the relaunched title that will go on sale (both in paper and digital versions of course) on September 14th. Johns goes into some detail about the creative opportunity to put a Green Lantern ring on Sinestro's hand and the clash of ideologies between the former Corpsmen and the Guardians of the Universe. A five page preview can be found here. Johns also talked about today's release of Justice League #1 and the first meeting between Hal Jordan and Bruce Wayne. No details on the release date of the DC Universe Online expansion was given, but it has been announced as being released on September 6th.

DCUO Green Lantern Gameplay footage

7/23/2011

1 comment

From the floor of the San Diego Comicon comes an interview with game developers on the Green Lantern expansion pack coming to DC Universe online along with plenty of gameplay footage and comments on how the new game mechanics work.

DC Universe Online Green Lantern Expansion Videos

7/21/2011

No comments

From the floor of the San Diego Comicon comes a video interview with the developers working on the DC Universe Online video game talking about the upcoming "Fight for the Light" Green Lantern inspired expansion pack. Additional Sony Online Entertainment has released a trailer for the downloadable content that should be available before the end of the summer for around $9.99.

Interesting notes from the interview include the news that the expansion provides story narrative that plays off the Green Lantern / Sinestro Corps storyline that appears in the original game and the revelation that the expansion pack will allow players to leave Earth to go to Oa in a mission to fight a breakout in the Sciencells. This new alert will allow players to face off after a number of villains and reach its climax with a battle against none other than Krona, who wields the same power gauntlet seen during the War of the Green Lanterns. The expansion will also feature the in game debuts of Atrocitus and the Red Lantern Corps, Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner.

Source: TFAW

Green Lantern Expansion Announced for DC Universe Online

7/11/2011

1 comment

One of my criticisms about DC Universe Online when it first launched was that the game developer didn't include the hard light power set for player characters, relegating constructs to non-player characters (NPC) in a few isolated areas and events. The developer said that the game studio hadn't gotten the hard light power sets to look and feel as they wanted, so they were shelved so that they could be made just right.

Coming later this summer is "Fight for the Light", the first expansion pack for the MMOPRG that brings the hard light powerset to the game in a very big way. As the title clearly implies, "Fight for the Light" is very Green Lantern centric and plays off of the modern take on the emotional spectrum that writer Geoff Johns developed for the comics. In the expansion set players are able to join as a reserve member of the Green Lantern Corps or the Sinestro Corps depending on the character's status as a hero or villian.

Hal Jordan vs. Sinestro in the Star Labs alert mission

In a recent conference all the game's creative director, Jens Andersen, said that players will have two ways to develop the use of the new power set. "Players will now be able to create a character — or re-stack one that they have that they've maxed out already — and switch over or level up the character with light powers.

"You learn how to make a construct, and that construct, when you activate it, actually has its own set of combos, and moves, and super-abilities," Andersen said, adding that the hard light power set will be layered on top of existing weapons and skills that gamers are already familiar with.

Along with the new powers the expansion pack contains new four person Alerts including "S.T.A.R. Labs," "Coast City" and "Sciencells Prison." The Coast City alert introduces Atrocitus and the Red Lantern Corps to the game, hinting that the red of the emotional spectrum could be coming to the game.

Atrocitus makes his video game debut

The expansion, which will be offered as downloadable content for $9.99, will also feature the debut of fan favority Guy Gardner as part of the Sciencells Prison scenario. Kyle Rayner will also be added to the game but Andersen remained quiet on the role he would play.

Guy Gardner from the Sciencecells alert mission

Green Lantern Talk and More on the Raging Bullets Podcast

2/07/2011

No comments

Earlier this week I spent a few hours with good friends Sean Whelan and Jim Segulin on the premiere DC Comics podcast, Raging Bullets. I've been honored to continue to be their special guest when the subject of Green Lantern comes up and we had a great time talking about the most recent issues of the Green Lantern family of books as well as other recent events in the pages of DC Comics. Topics for this episode include:

Green Lantern #61
Green Lantern Corps #56
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #6
Brightest Day #17
Flashpoint
The Rip Hunter Wall in Time Masters: Vanishing Point #6
DC Universe Online

If you're a regular Raging Bullets listener, here is a link to this specific episode. As always the discussions goes in depth into the issues and zaniness always ensues!

Green Lantern Movie Will Connect to DCU Online Game

1/12/2011

No comments

One of the benefits of the formation of DC Entertainment and having some coordinated planning with all the different projects using DC's characters is the ability to have some connective tissue between those projects. I've already lamented the lack of Green Lantern as a mentor and power set in the just released DC Universe Online game for the PC and the Playstation 3, but according to DC Co-Publisher and the executive creative director of the game Jim Lee, the new superhero MMO will feature Green Lantern via an expansion pack to leverage the excitement generated from the movie.

In an interview with the The Hollywood Reporter, Lee said:

"Fortunately, the Green Lantern that debuts in the feature film this June is based heavily upon the same core canon found in the pages of the comics," Lee said. "In that sense, Green Lantern is Green Lantern, so of course, future expansions of DCUO will want to tap into the same well of excitement and passion and awareness that's generated by such big blockbuster motion pictures.

"Themes of intergalactic heroism, conquering one's fears and making the galaxy a more just place translate well into both film and games," Lee said. "Fans just want great content, whether it be a hit movie or an awesome game. It's less important to have a game tied into a hit movie than it is to make the game fantastic on its own merits."

While the game and the expansions are more directly tied to the comic book universe, there will be some themes from other DCU based media will resonate in the game as well. Events such as Blackest Night would be a great expansion for Halloween time, and there are a number of major events from DC's 75 year history that would make great player experiences in an MMO. As a huge DC fan and a gamer I am really looking forward to spending a lot of time immersed in this new online universe and I am chomping at the bit to see how the games designers will incorporate the Green Lantern mythos into DC Universe Online - as long as I get to wear a power ring!

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Green Lantern Videos from DC Universe Online

1/09/2011

3 comments

I've been somewhat enjoying the beta experience for DC Universe Online, which hits streets his Tuesday. Having played both the PC and PS3 version I have to say I enjoyed it more on the Playstation 3; there was just something that felt more natural using the controller. While I did have fun, frequent lagging and lockups prevented me from having a great experience - and the end event where beta players could joined in with Jim Lee was a disaster from a server performance perspective. Many players, myself included, couldn't even get on the game to participate and many more reported catastrophic lagging. But that is the way it goes with beta testing and I will withhold a full opinion until I have my hands on the actual game.

What is perhaps the most damning thing for me, however, it the inability to choose Green Lantern as a mentor or to be able to make your character like him as you can Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman or the Flash. According to the game developer they weren't happy with the hard light constructs so they've left this for later on. I can respect that to some degree, however knowing that there are missions already in the game pitting the Green Lanterns versus the Sinestro Corps really makes it difficult for me to accept that they couldn't have gone with what they have one to tweak things as they go. Despite this I can't wait to jump into the universe full on when the came comes out on Tuesday and I'm really hoping that we'll see some Green Lantern centric expansion material soon after game launch.

In the meantime feast your eyes on a few videos from the game, one featuring John Stewart talking about the power rings and the others a group of villains taking on Kilowog and the Corps.

DC Universe Online Hits 1-11-11

12/21/2010

No comments

Sony announced today that DC Universe Online will be released on January 11, 2011 for the Playstation 3 and PC in the United States. The game will retail for $59.99 for the PS3 version and $49.99 for the PC. Continued play past the first complementary thirty days will set gamers back $14.99 per month, however it was revealed that players can pay a one time "lifetime" subscription prices of $199, approximately equal to thirteen months of access if players paid on a monthly basis.

Players who have been participating in the ongoing beta test will be invited to participate in a no-holds-barred cataclysmic battle in the closing day of the beta joined by members of the development team and employees of DC Comics which promises to pit players against one another in a desperate showdown with Brainiac.

DC Universe Online Pushed Back to 2011

10/04/2010

No comments

Today Sony Online Entertainment issued a press released that included the announcement that the release date for DC Universe Online was pushed back from the November 4th launch date to some time in early 2011. While changing release dates is nothing to the game industry, it is unusual to see it happen thirty days from the advertised game launch date and it's a move that elicits some concern. I saw this coming though when the public beta failed to materialize. The press release, while disappointing, did offer some answers about the absence of a PS3 Collectors Edition and the aforementioned public beta.

You Tip the Scales in DC Universe Online

8/04/2010

No comments

The CG trailer that was released last week has fans salivating for the upcoming November 2nd release of DC Universe Online. In the trailer the Lex Luthor from the future comes back to the present day warning the DC Trinity of the future. At one point Lex puts his hand up and a shockwave is seen on Earth, but the trailer doesn't tell you what exactly is happening.

Machinima.com has a video interview up on You Tube that delves a little deeper into the trailer to reveal that at that moment nanobytes, containing powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, are released and people become infected with them. It's at that point that you pick up the controller (or mouse and keyboard) and enter the DC Universe as a new character that you create, deciding your powers and alignment with either the heroes or villians to alter the future that is revealed during the trailer.

Sinestro Corps Confirmed for DCU Online

8/03/2010

No comments

We've been hearing a lot about the upcoming DC Universe Online game and we are apparently only days away from the beta being available to people who signed up on the official website. Over on Facebook there has been a series of videos by the games developers and today Jens Anderson, the game's director, posted a video talking about an in-game event that brings the Sinestro Corps to the game.

Anderson comments that members of both the Sinestro Corps and the Green Lantern Corps are on Earth and are having problems with their rings, and of course they each blame each other and the mayhem begins. Anderson mentioned Kilowog and Arkillo by name, so we can look forward to seeing them and more of our favorite characters when the game comes out on November 2, 2010.

DC Universe Online Trailer Debuts

7/24/2010

No comments

With the November release of the upcoming DC Universe Online game, Gametrailers TV this morning had the world premiere of the trailer for the game. I've watched it about a dozen times now and I'm still floored by the quality of the CG footage, the voice acting, the music - the whole thing just rocks.

Check it out below or visit the site for the HD version.

Video Games | DC Universe Online | Exclusive Who Do You Trust Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii