E3 2008: A Quick Peek At DC Universe Online

Sony provided us with a very quick peek at DC Universe Online, which lets you take your own superhero or villain into the world of Batman and Superman.

First, the good news: The little we saw looked good, damn good. The trailer was chock full of familiar faces like Batman, The Joker, The Flash and Green Arrow, and they all looked fantastic.

Now, the bad news: We didn't see much else. A few city environments, but nothing terribly distinctive or impressive. We also saw a few custom characters, but the trailer didn't go into depth about your abilities when creating them. Essentially, it just threw a few tantalizing visuals at us while asking, wouldn't it be cool if you could help the inmates of Arkham Asylum storm the Bat Cave?

Well, duh, of course it would! You don't have to sell us on the concept, show us more of the game! Unfortunately, that was not the plan for today, so we were left with appetites whetted but far from satisfied.

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So, we can find, and punch repeatedly, Calender Man, just for existing?

Adding to my list of games that I must have. Hell, I'm not even a comic book reader, and this seems awesome.

Was there a realease date given, S? I may have to put aside a bit more a month and buy my 3 sooner rather than later.

Thais:
Was there a realease date given, S? I may have to put aside a bit more a month and buy my 3 sooner rather than later.

Sadly, no. But start putting those pennies away, because oh, this looks sooooo goooood.

I want to know if I can help Jim Lee do more than three one-armed push ups!

I don't care what it takes, I want to see this happening.
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=528#comic

Add in the ability for both sides to give Aquaman and Robin savage beatings, and we may have the ultimate game.

Now, if they only bring out the Vertigo patch...

Bags me being Dream. I'm sure there's going to be a fight over who gets to play the little goth girl.

Here's a copy of the trailer in question:

The characters look great, the world looks good, but the animations could use some work. It'll be interesting to see how they work around the 'everyone is a hero' problem in an established universe.

How'd they work around it in City of Heroes?

Well, they had all the Villains; there was different techniques and very soon, you realise that you can't save all the people...Just when you find Dr. Vahzilok.

Indigo_Dingo:
Add in the ability for both sides to give Aquaman and Robin savage beatings, and we may have the ultimate game.

Yeah, but which Robin? Dick, Jason, Tim or Stephanie? No one in their right mind would ever want to hit Carrie.

Yes, I'm on a first name basis with the Robins.

I am always suspicious of games that refuse to release details about the gameplay systems and just rely on their brand.

What I want to know is it class-based or level-based? How customizable are characters? What is the PvP system like? What are the main activities you take in game? Are there gadgets? What's the overall power level of characters - Teen Titans or JLA?

SaintWaldo:

Indigo_Dingo:
Add in the ability for both sides to give Aquaman and Robin savage beatings, and we may have the ultimate game.

Yeah, but which Robin? Dick, Jason, Tim or Stephanie? No one in their right mind would ever want to hit Carrie.

Yes, I'm on a first name basis with the Robins.

Which was the homoerotic one in the tv show?

Archon:
I am always suspicious of games that refuse to release details about the gameplay systems and just rely on their brand.

What I want to know is it class-based or level-based? How customizable are characters? What is the PvP system like? What are the main activities you take in game? Are there gadgets? What's the overall power level of characters - Teen Titans or JLA?

Are you kidding me? Who cares? I get to dress up like Harley Quinn and beat fuck-all out of Batgirl and Lois Lane! I don't care if I have to jet-ski to Planet-X and blow Bill Clinton and Dick Cheney to level up!

Indigo_Dingo:
How'd they work around it in City of Heroes?

City of Heroes built their entire back story around the fact that there were thousands and thousands of costumed superheroes. It was original IP, they didn't have to try to explain it, it just was.

The DC Comics universe, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be as well suited for "LFG @ Daily Planet". The Justice League wasn't thousands of heroes in size.

i was kind of underwhelmed. i mean, with someone like Jim Lee at the helm i expected a little more from the quality of the character models. Batman was the only character that looked well made.

why didn't they just model everything off of Jim's art style?

Virgil:

Indigo_Dingo:
How'd they work around it in City of Heroes?

City of Heroes built their entire back story around the fact that there were thousands and thousands of costumed superheroes. It was original IP, they didn't have to try to explain it, it just was.

The DC Comics universe, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be as well suited for "LFG @ Daily Planet". The Justice League wasn't thousands of heroes in size.

But the DC universe actually is. If you were to take down the number of superpowered individuals (you have to consider the villains as well) in the Dc universe, the list would be damn big. Its that balance of the good and evil that prevents the world becoming a total crime infested dump (Gotham) or a squeaky clean place where noting ever happens (Metropolis). It goes far far beyond just the Justice League. Look, I'm even there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_DC_Comics_characters

Okay, looking through this it gets hilarious. They even have a character called Captain Nazi. And another called Detective Chimp

And this might seem weird, but do we actually see the words MMORPG anywhere?

Indigo_Dingo:
And this might seem weird, but do we actually see the words MMORPG anywhere?

it better be a MMORPG or else the bad hit detection and jittery character animations are not excuseable

Indigo_Dingo:
But the DC universe actually is. If you were to take down the number of superpowered individuals (you have to consider the villains as well) in the Dc universe, the list would be damn big.

That's a list of all characters (superhero, villain, and otherwise) across all the DC 'universes' from every time span in every location. In 'reality', you'd only see a handful of heroes and villains in any single location at any given time, outside of incredibly rare events. DC has very powerful characters, but a generally low superhero density compared to Marvel.

An MMO will have as many superheroes as DC has ever had all in one area, with hundred or thousands active 24/7. It's a little bit more complicated to make 'work' in an established fiction.

BallPtPenTheif:

Indigo_Dingo:
And this might seem weird, but do we actually see the words MMORPG anywhere?

it better be a MMORPG or else the bad hit detection and jittery character animations are not excuseable

Did they ever say it was ready to roll right now? The thing still may be in the tweaking stage.