Sony Online Entertainment invited members of the press to its Austin studio for a behind-the-scenes look at DC Universe Online. Editor-in-Chief Darryl Gangloff shares his notes from the class.

Geography – the World of DCUO

In DC Universe Online, the cities of Metropolis and Gotham City can be considered the main “continents.” They're both huge, with Metropolis spanning 900 square blocks. Players who want to take a tour can stop at multiple kiosks throughout the cities to have Booster Gold himself explain the history behind various areas in the game.

Headquarters in Gotham and Metropolis are the social hubs of the game. Players can stop by their favorite HQ to use the broker, find vendors, see their iconic gear, and queue up for Alerts that will transport them to every corner of the Earth and beyond. This Alert system is how new areas will be added to the game. Players will be able to participate in open free-form brawls in Smallville, Area 51, Kahndaq (the home of Black Adam), the moon, and more. “The launch title will focus on Earth itself. Then we'll move out from there,” Andersen said.

Oh, and did I mention the Batcave is in the game? It contains all sorts of Easter Eggs from Batman history, such as the giant penny, the giant T-Rex, and the giant Joker card. Basically, it holds a lot of giant items. The team confirmed that Superman's Fortress of Solitude won't be in at launch, but it will be added in the future.

Physics and End-game

To finish off our lessons for the day, Senior Producer Wes Yanagi led a discussion on physics and end-game content. “It's all about action and reaction,” Yanagi said. “It's much different than other MMOs. It plays like console action games.”

Approximately two-thirds of the game takes place in the shared world, while one-third is within instances. Raids are for 4-8 players; the team ran through Arkham Asylum to demonstrate how raids are fought in close quarters, as opposed to the open spaces found in Alerts. Players can also try out harder duo modes to play with their friends.

To show off some end-game content, our professors jumped into the Smallville Alert that forces players to battle Doomsday in the Kent barn with the help of the JLA. They demonstrated that you can pick up almost anything in the game, such as farm equipment, and throw it at your enemies. In addition to the fight, players need to run around and power up generators to weaken the monster that has the strength to kill Superman. The only death penalty in DCUO is a durability loss. Friends can revive you in mid-battle to keep the action moving forward.

“An MMO lives or dies at the end-game,” Cao said. To that end, DC Universe Online has a major focus on end-game content. In fact, the team said that it could take as little as 40 hours to hit max level.

“We designed it as a frequency game,” Cao said. The developers wants you to come back and play regularly without the need to sit in front of your PC or PlayStation 3 for long stretches of time. SOE will actually be adding new content to the game every month in the form of a featured character and new episodes, like a new issue of a comic, in addition to larger quarterly updates and expansions.

Once the lessons were over, we got the opportunity to play DC Universe Online in “study hall.” Check back with ZAM later this week for my thoughts on the game and an interview with Andersen.

Darryl Gangloff, Editor-in-Chief