dc-universe-legends posts

If you are familiar at all with super hero comic books of the last few decades, you know the name Marv Wolfman. He has written a ton of comic books, mostly at Marvel and DC Comics, and created or co-created a number of well known characters such as Marvel's vampire hunter Blade (the star of three feature films and a short lived TV series) and the DC Comics team The New Teen Titans (later adapted into a long running Cartoon Network animated series). His biggest achievement is perhaps DC Comics' Crisis on Infinite Earths 12 issue mini-series in 1985 that redefined the comic book publisher's entire line up of titles and still affects the DC Universe even today.

Along with Geoff Johns, Wolfman worked on the recently launched MMO DC Universe Online as a writer. He's also the co-writer of the upcoming bi-weekly series DC Universe Online Legends which is based on the MMO's version of the DC Universe. Big Download was able to ask Wolfman some questions about his work on the game and other topics.

DC Universe Online launched earlier this week and so far there haven't been any major hiccups reported for Sony Online's super hero MMO game. In fact the game's PvP features are so popular that Sony Online has already launched two more PvP servers to keep up with the demand. Our sister site Massively has more info on that move with a new interview with Sony Online's Chris Cao.

So now that the game is now out in the open, what's next? Eurogamer chatted with Sony Online head man John Smedley who said that players in DC Universe Online can expect regular updates to the game. He states, "... the plans are about a month out you can start expecting major pieces of content and major new features to come in. We'll be adding all kinds of cool stuff." He wouldn't cop out to exactly what new content and features will be added but did say, "The monthly subscription fee means players can expect a lot of new content from us. And I say a lot - I really mean that."

About a year ago DC Comics announced plans to release a bi-weekly comic called DC Universe Online Legends which would tie-into the storyline in Sony Online's upcoming MMO DC Universe Online. Today DC Comics announced that the first issue of the series would show up in comic book stories in February. The series is being written by the game's co-scripter Marv Wolfman along with Tony Bedard.

The comic will be drawn by Howard Porter and Adriana Melo and covers for the first two issues will be drawn by Ed Benes (you can see the first issue's cover above) with a variant cover for the first issue by Ryan Sook. The game itself is also mentioned by DC Comics as coming out in February but we have emailed Sony Online to confirm that date.

Update: Sony Online' PR rep has told us that the game's release date is still "early 2011"

While the wait for the launch for DC Universe Online may be a bit longer than we first thought (developer Sony Online announced on Monday that the game's launch would be pushed back from November to sometime in early 2011) the fact remains that the long awaited MMO is highly anticipated by both MMO and comic book fans who want to play alongside their favorite heroes and villains in the universe of DC Comics-based characters.

Big Download caught up with Sony Online and got some of our questions about the game answered by Wes Yanagi, the senior director at Sony Online's Austin-based development studios. He also managed to give us a hint of a major game feature announcement that will be made later this week.

With Sony Online hoping to make a big splash at Comic-Con this week for its upcoming MMO DC Universe Online, the game's official web site has now been updated with a page for people to sign up to beta test the game. There's no word on when the beta will start yet but it should be fairly soon as the game is currently scheduled for a November release date.

The web site also has a page to pre-order the game and also to check out what in-game special items are available for the pre-orders. Currently only North American pre-orders are available.All Standard Edition versions (with Direct2Drive as the lone exception get an exclusive two-on-two battle arena where you can play as Batman. All Collector's Edition pre-orders get the battle arena plus a Batman figure from DC Direct, the Joker's Flying Jester in-game weapon, the Bat-Drone in-game weapon, a copy of DC Universe Online Legends 0 with a variant cover, The Art of DC Universe Online book and a "Prestige comic book written by Geoff Johns" (we don't quite know what this is yet).

In addition each retailer gets their own special in-game item for pre-orders. Gamestop users get the exclusive Joker's Confetti weapon, Amazon.com users get the Amazonian Bracelets, GoGamer.com uses get Deathstroke's Draw, Walmart.com owners get the Joker's Trick Pistol, Direct2Drive owners get Mr. Freezes Zero Grenade and Steam owners get Bane's Venom Injector.

[Via Massively]

Sony Online Entertainment's next big MMO game release looks to be the long awaited DC Universe Online. The super hero game, set in the same world with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the other members of the DC Universe, already has a number of DC talent working on the game including Jim Lee on art direction and Marv Wolfman and Geoff Johns contributing to the game's storyline.

Today DC Comics announced a major bombshell when it revealed on their Source blog page that they plan to produce a new weekly comic book series based on DC Universe Online. The comic will be called DC Universe Legends and in a chat with DC Comics' editor Dan DiDio on IGN he revealed that veteran comic writers Dan Jurgens and Tony Bedard will be scripting the series. There's no word yet on when the series will begin but DiDio hints that player created super heroes in DC Universe Online could find their way into the comic book series.