Interviews
Hold On To Your Nuts, Ambush Bug Is Coming To DC Universe Online
August 21, 2008
Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) knows a thing or two about massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, having created EverCrack and its sequel. Now SOE is on a mission to bring MMOs to the masses with new experiences like the espionage shooter The Agency and the world’s first licensed superhero MMO, DC Universe Online. Chris Cao, studio creative director for DC Universe Online, which is being developed at SOE’s Austin Studio, took some time during the San Diego Comic-Con to talk about the various DC characters you’ll come across from Supes to good old Ambush Bug. Yeah, I had never heard of him either.
Das Gamer: Your playable demo on the convention floor features Superman battling Brainiac, Lex Luthor and Bizarro in Metropolis. Just how big is Metropolis going to be in the final game?
Chris Cao: To give you a sense of scale, the section of midtown is one intersection amongst 85 square blocks amongst over 1,000 square blocks that makes up Metropolis. Metropolis and Gotham are continent-sized playing areas. They’re also public living, breathing cities where people go about their business and either start crime or stop crime. We also have areas around the Earth and beyond that are more temporary but play to a story. League of Assassins is up in the mountains that you saw in the movie Batman Begins or a satellite down in South Africa.
How many DC superheroes are in this game?
Chris Cao:We have over 150 of the top-tier characters. If it’s DC and you know about it we have it in the game. Batman and all his allies and opponents. Superman and all of his allies and opponents. The DC Universe is so big. Even Ambush Bug is in there, which is a lesser-known character.
Since you can’t actually play as a licensed character we’re not going to see a million Batmen running around Gotham. What can players create in this game?
Chris Cao:You can create a character who uses acrobatics and gadgets like Batman and you can even stylize your costume in similar ways or use similar throwing weapons to make you feel like your character. You can make anything you want. You can choose light as a power type like Green Lantern. Earth powers, fire powers, ice powers, electric powers. There will be over a dozen in total and by combining them in unique ways you’ll be able to do some really cool things.
How will this superhero MMO differ from past – and successful – MMOs like City of Heroes/City of Villains?
Chris Cao:This is the first time that players will ever feel like superheroes. They’ve played superheroes to a degree in console games, but they’ve never been able to experience this in a large game with their friends. You can freeze somebody in a block of ice, use it as a weapon, and even go bowling with it. It’s like a real superpower. It’s a toy. It’s the ability to turn people into an ice block. It’s made to feel you like a character that can create ice blocks.
For those gamers who’ve never played an MMO and have a real life, what type of casual experience will DC Universe Online offer?
Chris Cao:We have Instant Action so you can have a Player versus Player match just like any sports game. You can also jump in for short 15 minute Player versus Environment scenarios. Both are made for immediate action. Since it’s a persistent game, you don’t have to stop at just one adventure. You can stack more on as you progress.
The Dark Knight is currently competing with Titanic for the box office record books. How will this game tie into future DC Comics movies and TV shows?
Chris Cao:DC Universe spans television and film, as well as comics and our game. We’re following a lot of the story lines that people have seen in other places and we’re incorporating them into one hero’s or one villain’s journey. You’ll meet key villains and key heroes from other sources and you get to go out and play scenarios you’ve always wanted to play. More than that, we’re working with Jim Lee (from DC Comics) so he can bring in the stories that he and his team have created into the game world for PC and PS3. We see this as the first step into this world for many people.
–John Gaudiosi
DC Universe Online hits the PC and PS3 sometime in 2009.
