DC Universe Online

Me am sad to see that Bizarro is going to be in DC Universe Online. Me thinks Bizarro is one of the smartest and least powerful of all of the DC universe's heroes. He am always tries to get rid of that evil Superman but he am never able to get best of him. Me am happy about Bizarro always losing to Superman. We hope that Bizarro is treated like the hero that he is in Sony Online's upcoming MMO.

Hey wait . . don't. Me am typing here..don't . . .

(Sorry, that was our own Bizarro version handling that news post. Won't happen again. We hope)

One of the most well known but somewhat goofy DC Comics characters gets the spotlight this week from Sony Online as they release new screenshots showing off how Green Arrow looks in their upcoming super hero MMO DC Universe Online. The character started out as a bit of a Batman clone in the 1940s. He was rich, had no super powers, had his "arrow" gadgets and even had a sidekick Speedy.

Things got more serious in the 1970s as writers changed Green Arrow into a crusading liberal who found out Speedy was addicted to heroin. The character has gone through several revivals over the last few decades and was even considered "dead" for a few years in the 1990s (with another person, Connor Hawke, replacing him) before being revived in 2000 in his current uniform.

While the Hal Jordan version of Green Lantern has been pictured as taking part in DC Universe Online, Sony Online decided to sent over 10 new screenshots showing off the most famous Green Lantern to take on the role of protector of Space Sector 2814.

While there have been other human Green Lanterns including John Stewart, Kyle Rayner and our personal favorite Guy Gardner, Hal Jordan is pretty much considered the "classic" embodiment of the character. He's currently one of the central characters in DC Comics' current mega-crossover series Darkest Night and Ryan Reynolds is supposed to play the role in an upcoming Green Lantern feature film.

The poor economy may not be as bad as it was just a few months ago but layoffs are still continuing in the game industry. Our sister site Massively has just gotten word from Sony Online Entertainment that they are planning to lay off 41 of their team members, or about 5 percent of the company's total workforce.

Sony Online is not commenting on what specific positions are being affected. Sony has development studios in several locations including San Diego, Seattle, Denver and Austin. Earlier this year they announced that they were shutting down support for The Matrix Online after July 31. Sony Online recently launched the free-to-play MMO Free Realms and has two announced games in development, The Agency and DC Universe Online.

Sony Online will of course be showing off DC Universe Online at the San Diego Comic-Con later this month and among other things they will be giving out a poster to folks who show up at their booth. This week they posted up a sexy teaser for what will be on that poster on their MySpace page.

The teaser is described as "a tiny part of the final poster" and that folks who see the whole image at Comic-Con will be "clawing" to get their hands on it. That's a huge suggestion to us that the sexy lips belong to Selena Kyle (a.k.a, Catwoman) but we could be wrong.

[Via Massively]

Even though we have mentioned that the idea of a standard awards set-up for E3 is like giving a movie after showing a two minute trailer, a group of both mainstream and gaming enthusiast media have once again gathered to give their picks for the 2009 edition of the show.

The biggest award for "Best In Show" has three games slated for the PC in the list (Mass Effect 2, Modern Warfare 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction). In the specific Best PC Game category the nods went to DC Universe Online, Dragon Age: Origins, Left 4 Dead 2, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Supreme Commander 2. Check out the web site for all of the categories and nominated games; the winners will be announced a week from today.

DC Universe Online is an upcoming action MMO game in development by SOE under the direction of famous comic book artist, Jim Lee. In it, players will be able to create superpowered characters to fight alongside some of their favorite super heroes, including Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman. You'll even get chance to join the Justice League by building up a crime fighting reputation. Alternatively, players can choose to indulge their darker halves and become super villains looking for the big score that'll earn you a place in the Secret Society of Super Villains.

Download HD DC Universe Online E3 2009 Trailer (60 MB)
Check out all DC Universe Online downloads

Big Download is still counting down to the start of E3 2009 (less than a week to go now) with a series of features spotlighting the titles we want (or at least wish) we could see at the LA Convention Center. We have already given our wish lists for the FPS and action categories and today we look at the RPGs and MMO games that we would hope to catch a glimpse at during the show.

E3 2009 will not have appearances by NCsoft, Atari or Blizzard which means no demos of Aion , Guild Wars 2, Champions Online, Star Trek Online or (sniff) Diablo III. However we should have plenty in the RPG and MMO space to check out at the show. Come back later this week as we offer our final list of the rest of the game we want to see at the show.

Click on the image above to continue reading Countdown to E3 2009: The RPGs and MMO Games We Want To See

We would be very upset if The Flash wasn't a part of DC Universe Online. Thankfully we don't have to worry about that prospect as Sony Online has confirmed that the Scarlet Speedster will indeed be seen in their upcoming super hero themed MMO.

This version of the Flash is Wally West who is actually the third person to have that title. Jay Garrick had the Flash name for the Golden Age of comics and in a major revamp Barry Allen took over during the Silver Age. Wally started out as Kid Flash and then took on the main Flash mantle after Barry Allen's "death" in the classic DC comic maxi series Crisis on Infinite Earths. However Barry just recently returned to life in the Final Crisis mini-series. The Flash also has one of the best collections of villains, including Captain Cold, Heatwave, Mirror Master, The Trickster. the Weather Wizard and The Flash's opposite number Zoom. Hopefully we will get to see The Flash in action in a DC Universe Online demo at E3.

He's the creature that managed to kill Superman (at least for a few months) and since then has been a particularly nasty staple of the DC comic book universe. Now Sony Online has released new screenshots showing off Doomsday in the upcoming super hero MMO DC Universe Online.

The three new screenshots (added to our gallery below) give a good glimpse of the Kryptonian creature with massive strength and speed, huge bones coming out all over his body and a regeneration factor that makes him hard to bring down. Any players that come up against this guy might laugh at his green shorts for a second, then will have their bodies thrown by him into next week. Ouch.

Check out the Doomsday trailer for DC Universe Online right here

The DC universe has tons of heroes, villains and other supporting characters and you can bet that Sony Online will be using as many of they can in their upcoming super hero MMO DC Universe Online. This week the developer/publisher released several new screenshots spotlighting one of the universe's most well known bad guys: Solomon Grundy.

The part man-part swamp plant creature is also one of the oldest DC super villains, first battling the Golden Age Green Lantern in the 1940s. More recently the massive and super strong creature has fought Superman, Batman and the entire Justice League. He's usually been portrayed as not very bright although he has had spurts of intelligence. The new screenshots show Grundy doing what he does best: throwing people all around. It's not clear how big of a role he will have in DC Universe Online.

By John Gaudiosi

With a large number of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games in development using Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 technology, Epic Games China has created the first development suite of tools catering to this growing sector of games. Atlas Technology consists of persistent world server technology and MMO games content creation and management tools that work directly with UE3. This new technology will provide developers with a solid foundation on which to build MMO games, casual and session based games, and community and e-commerce applications.

When we first launched Big Download about 10 months or so ago, we knew we could be covering all sorts of titles, from large publishers and developers to small one man indie games. However we also knew there would be games that we, and we hope our readers, would spend more time in covering and playing over the next several months. These games came to be known to us as the BigAss 25.

This list has remained something that's only been known to the Big Download team . . . until now. Today in a special two part article we reveal what games are included in our BigAss 25 list is for the current time period. Our aim is to revise this list every few months, taking some out and putting new ones back in, so that it remains a fresh and relevant look at where the PC game industry is headed.

While we will still cover the entire PC game industry, this list of games represents what we think will be of special interest to us and our readers. You may notice that this list contains games that have already been released. Why? Because those titles continue to generate interest, especially if they have had or will have new downloadable content and expansions that will keep their games fresh in our heads.

Today we are revealing the first 13 games on the BigAss 25 list in alphabetical order. Stay tuned tomorrow as we reveal the other 12 games on our current list.

Click on the image above to continue reading Big Download's BigAss 25 - Part 1

This behind-the-scenes video for DC Universe Online takes a look at one of the first "cases" found in the game, and its story centers on the infamous Doomsday. For those who aren't in the know, Doomsday is a massive creature with the enough power to actually kill Superman. Players can decide to either fight alongside Superman and the Justice League as a hero or follow Lex Luthor for a more villainous spin. Either way, heroes and villains will clash and possibly work together at some point to get to Doomsday.

Download HD DC Universe Online 'Doomsday' Trailer (107 MB)
Check out all DC Universe Online downloads

The New York Comic Con begins on Friday and despite its title there will be a lot of video and PC games on display. There will also be many game-oriented panels at the convention. One of the games on the show floor will be DC Universe Online, the upcoming Sony Online developed MMO that will put players smack dab in the middle of the long time four color super hero setting.

Before the convention opens, however, our sister site Joystiq managed to get some hands-on time with the game (pre-alpha code) as well as chat with senior producer Wes Yanagi. The preview was all about playing as a villain working with Lex Luthor (pictured above in his super-armor) and our fellow reporters seemed impressed. The chat with Yanagi goes over some topics including whether the planned PC and PS3 versions will allow for cross-platform play (the official answer is, "We would love to have cross platform play, but haven't made an official decision on it yet.")