While in Austin for the Game Developer's Conference, our own Dana Massey had the opportunity to get some hands-on time with SOE's DC Universe Online.

DC Universe is not going to be just an MMO in tights. During a behind the scenes tour of SOE's new Austin offices just prior to the start of AGDC, they gave us a chance to get hands on with the game and talk to Senior Producer Wes Yanagai about the game and some of the ways they will set themselves apart from not only superhero competitors, but also the rest of the MMO genre.

"[We want to] evolve the genre," Yanagai said. They call DC a massively multiplayer online action game. This is not World of Warcraft in tights and a cape. This fact goes well beyond the much publicized action combat and PvP (hero vs. villain) focus, down to the very core of the game.

Read the AGDC Preview

MMORPG's dumbed down for console play?  No thanks.  How long till devs see this trend is ruining conventional, complex MMORPGs as we grew to love them?

It all sounds pretty good, but the only things that makes me a little anxious about these previews; they are all on the PS3 version
I don't have a PS3 now, and I likely won't have one, when DCUO comes out, so I would like to hear how the controls are on the Computer version

But otherwise looking forward to this game :)

i just want to know if i can get a power ring and be a GL

Dustin

MMORPG's dumbed down for console play? what are you talking about, the most popular MMO you can run it on a PS2 or Xbox. (WoW) and you are talking about dumbing it down. Everything you need for a game to be in a MMO can be put into a console. They dont cause of Microsoft and Sony. If Sony dont make the game then it wont come out on the systems, If Microsoft cant get enough money from it, the game will never show. (AoC and Champions). All consoles (dont know about Wii) you can hook up a Wireless keyboard mouse too and point and click your way to playing a game.

the control for console and pc is gonna be the same. The keyboard and mouse can be used for the PC and they are working on getting the PS3 controller to work on the PC. Both options will be there. ( if they get the bugs worked out)

and yes you can use a ring like green lantern.

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Originally posted by Stratford
MMORPG's dumbed down for console play?  No thanks.  How long till devs see this trend is ruining conventional, complex MMORPGs as we grew to love them?

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Cookie cutter, conformist and conventional has led the MMO genre to the golden age utopia we have now.

Originally posted by Stratford

MMORPG's dumbed down for console play?  No thanks.  How long till devs see this trend is ruining conventional, complex MMORPGs as we grew to love them?

The only thing dumbed down is this statement. And what is so complex about hitting buttons on a task bar vs hitting buttons on a controller ?. Second it is cross platform PC and PS3 on the same servers, who is to say that the PS3 will not have keyboard and mouse support for this one ?

Originally posted by fatenabu1

i just want to know if i can get a power ring and be a GL

 

Dustin

I wish!  So, therefore it's very doubtful. Sorry.

 

Originally posted by stine96

Originally posted by Stratford

MMORPG's dumbed down for console play?  No thanks.  How long till devs see this trend is ruining conventional, complex MMORPGs as we grew to love them?

The only thing dumbed down is this statement. And what is so complex about hitting buttons on a task bar vs hitting buttons on a controller ?. Second it is cross platform PC and PS3 on the same servers, who is to say that the PS3 will not have keyboard and mouse support for this one ?

Wow.  I see the fanbois are coming out in hordes.  Sorry folks, it's a simple fact, consoles don't have all the input options a keyboard/mouse offers.  Sure, SOME folks will have a kb attached to their console, but most don't, and the devs know that, and they code their game accordingly.  That's why when playing the console version, your options ANY GIVEN FIGHT are limited to just a handful of possibilities (again, given that your console controller only allows for a handful of permutations).   Take any mainstream PC MMORPG (WoW, WAR, DAoC, EQ, you name it) and you can have a PLETHORA of abilities/actions/spells/potions/buffs/debuffs all available on your UI any given fight.  That means that you can THINK/CHOOSE/actually PLAY a more complex game with more complex NPC/mob interactions with a kb.

Consoles limit you horribly in this regard.  Your fights on a console will be limited to 7 or 8 choices each fight?  Versus the 30-50 choices each fight on a PC?  There's no comparison folks, MMOs and their complexity just don't "fit" on a console.  Ipso facto, why this game and others are "dumbed down" for console play.

QED

you know the more i read about DCU the less interested i get, first it was "you can tell which is which becuase the heros blasts are blue and the villian red" impying powers are color and side baked. Now it's "the cool costume parts have to be earned"

Last I check superman didnt need to hit lvl 50 to earn his good tights, heroes tend not to change their looks. My only hope is they do it like CO/H where the 'cool' stuff is more 'faction specific' instead of just 'really cool'

It makes sense to say earn a Stormtrooper helment after beating 100 of them. It's not cool that my Power Armor Chest Piece needs me to take down 100 thugs and hit lvl 25.

Sorry SOE, never agin will i ever own a POS game thats made by your developers.....Good luck

Read this preview, but there was absolutely nothing appealing to it.

So you can't customize your character much but have to earn it? Wait - that means you plan parts of it without knowing the other parts? That's gonna be hard..

Also there wasn't much else to it and from what I have seen so far it looks pretty poor and boring. The graphics are bland. The combat system is same old, same ol'.

Originally posted by drgran

MMORPG's dumbed down for console play? what are you talking about, the most popular MMO you can run it on a PS2 or Xbox. (WoW)

If that's supposed to be a disagreement....

I enjoyed the review. Glad I don't have a hatred that requires me to bash a game. I think a superhero game is one of the best for consoles because I just don't believe there should be 50 different attacks that all show up at once. I personally think that the action bar used in Spellborn would be best way to do most. The number of buttons on a controller allow for such a bar to be for most actions where other buttons can be for buffing or healing or anything like that. From what I see from most fights in Champions Online there is not need for more than like 5 buttons as 3 attacks are normally the ones used and all else is ignored.

Don't know if I will have a PS3 but this is a possible reason to have one as is much easier to transport it than my computer system. Guess I will have to see where the game is at when alpha is over.

I don't see anything bad about DC online, but i also don't see how it is drasticly different from Champions.

I'll be buying a PS3 when this game releases.
Just because of this game.

That and my girlfriends kid has pretty much confiscated my 360.

Originally posted by Evolution8

Sorry SOE, never agin will i ever own a POS game thats made by your developers.....Good luck

Give them a chance, its a completely different dev team in a completely different office. Its like saying Blizzard and Blizzard North are the same. In that case Bliz North was a separate company just with the Bliz name. The same can be said for SOE Austin. It could go either way, just dont write them off completely.

Originally posted by Stradden

This is not World of Warcraft in tights and a cape.

What a great start to an article!  This caught my attention right from the word go.  However, what I read beyond that seems to contradict this bold statement.  For example, the supposedly innovative system of making players "earn" their nifty apparel.  This is, in fact, EXACTLY what you do in World of Warcraft.  Also, there was mention of selecting powers at character creation.  How is this any different from selecting a class in World of Warcraft?  I was rather expecting to hear that selection of different skills/talents at different levels (like in DDO) would be possible.  I was expecting a much better example of how innovative this game is than "using a gun and displaying a sword".  Even the hero vs villain dynamic, while it raised my eyebrow, would be no different than World of Warcraft (Horde vs Alliance).

I am, however, very excited at the hint of a possible ps3 release.  Maybe I misunderstood that.  Seemed to be a "hope" that computer players will be intermingling with console players online.  Now, THAT would be something new!  Oh, and by the way, worth rushing out a WoW or CoH clone for!

Originally posted by Stratford

Originally posted by stine96

Originally posted by Stratford

MMORPG's dumbed down for console play?  No thanks.  How long till devs see this trend is ruining conventional, complex MMORPGs as we grew to love them?

The only thing dumbed down is this statement. And what is so complex about hitting buttons on a task bar vs hitting buttons on a controller ?. Second it is cross platform PC and PS3 on the same servers, who is to say that the PS3 will not have keyboard and mouse support for this one ?

 

Wow.  I see the fanbois are coming out in hordes.  Sorry folks, it's a simple fact, consoles don't have all the input options a keyboard/mouse offers.  Sure, SOME folks will have a kb attached to their console, but most don't, and the devs know that, and they code their game accordingly.  That's why when playing the console version, your options ANY GIVEN FIGHT are limited to just a handful of possibilities (again, given that your console controller only allows for a handful of permutations).   Take any mainstream PC MMORPG (WoW, WAR, DAoC, EQ, you name it) and you can have a PLETHORA of abilities/actions/spells/potions/buffs/debuffs all available on your UI any given fight.  That means that you can THINK/CHOOSE/actually PLAY a more complex game with more complex NPC/mob interactions with a kb.

 

Consoles limit you horribly in this regard.  Your fights on a console will be limited to 7 or 8 choices each fight?  Versus the 30-50 choices each fight on a PC?  There's no comparison folks, MMOs and their complexity just don't "fit" on a console.  Ipso facto, why this game and others are "dumbed down" for console play.

QED

I think your view of consoles is a bit narrow.  It is easy to setup a control system where you have 3-4 options per button on the controller that you can select from by using the dpad.  Since most controllers have around 6 buttons you can hit that gives 18-24 optioins you can make quickly.   You can even add to these with the back/select button allowing you to completely change your options.  I admit you can still do more with a keyboard and mouse and the ability to customize your interface to allow for all of your abilities quick access. 

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Originally posted by robdog696

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Originally posted by Stradden

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This is not World of Warcraft in tights and a cape.

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What a great start to an article!  This caught my attention right from the word go.  However, what I read beyond that seems to contradict this bold statement.  For example, the supposedly innovative system of making players "earn" their nifty apparel.  This is, in fact, EXACTLY what you do in World of Warcraft.  Also, there was mention of selecting powers at character creation.  How is this any different from selecting a class in World of Warcraft?  I was rather expecting to hear that selection of different skills/talents at different levels (like in DDO) would be possible.  I was expecting a much better example of how innovative this game is than "using a gun and displaying a sword".  Even the hero vs villain dynamic, while it raised my eyebrow, would be no different than World of Warcraft (Horde vs Alliance).
 
I am, however, very excited at the hint of a possible ps3 release.  Maybe I misunderstood that.  Seemed to be a "hope" that computer players will be intermingling with console players online.  Now, THAT would be something new!  Oh, and by the way, worth rushing out a WoW or CoH clone for!

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No matter how much innovation goes into a game, its still going to be a mmo.

The similarities you mention are in practically every mmo.

Earning gear
Picking a class
Heros vs Villains

I suppose this game will have "Quests" ?

OMG they so ripped that off from WoW!