DC Universe Online has got to be the most epic game in the world. Because of the hype surrounding it, and the constant delays, this game had better be the best thing we’ve seen since World of Warcraft, only better. We’re now getting a few tidbits as the beta is currently in progress that could prove just that.

One of the major elements to any successful MMORPG game is the upgrades for your custom character. It’s what drives millions of people to the WoW servers every day, and it could be what makes or breaks DCUO. We’re now getting a look at purchasable battlesuits that can be obtained by doing missions for specific characters.

The most specific examples the fine folks at Sony Online Entertainment have given us is the battlesuits obtained from missions with Wonder Woman and Black Adam. Check out the full trailer for the suits after the jump, and keep it here as we bring you the most up-to-date news from DC Universe Online as we await it’s early 2011 release date.

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While the game may be delayed until next year, it hasn’t stopped Sony Online Entertainment from ramping up the voice talent for DC Universe Online. Names like Adam Baldwin, Kevin Conroy, and James Marsters are already attached, and the list is only going to get bigger. From Sony:

The new cast additions include Arleen Sorkin (Batman: The Animated Series), Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Corey Burton (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Batman: The Brave and the Bold) and Dwight Schultz (The A-Team, Star Trek: The Next Generation).

“The addition of these actors to our existing cast reaffirms our commitment to gamers to deliver the most fun and authentic DC Universe experience possible,” said Sony Online Entertainment executive producer John Blakely.

Wheaton will be upping his geek cred by voicing Robin, the Boy wonder, while Alreen Sorkin returns for the role that made her famous, Harley Quinn. Also, Dwight Shultz steps in as The Flash and Corey Burton will be voicing the living computer Braniac.

Filling out the rest of the cast is Summer Glau as Supergirl, Mark Hamill as The Joker, Diedrich Bader as Solomon Grundy, Michelle Forbes as Circe, Robert Patrick as Hawkman, and Gina Torres as Wonder Woman. This could end up being the best voice cast for a video game ever seen…if the game ever comes out.

There’s no way of this news coming across as good. Sony’s revolutionary new MMORPG which players access to the entire DC hero and villain catalog has been pushed back once again, this time to next year. It was originally slated for next month, but due to more tweaking, the game will not hit until Spring of 2011. The good news? There is now more official info for the Beta of the game, which will be out sooner than the game itself.

SOE has also revealed new details regarding the beta program. Players with VIP key cards and those having registered at the DCUO website will receive access on a priority basis starting as early as next week. As an added thank you, everyone that has already pre-ordered the game, and those who do so by November 15, 2010, are assured access to beta by November 30 (North America only).

Anyone pre-ordering the game after November 15 will gain beta access one week prior to the launch date and will be able to participate in the special beta ending event entitled Battle of the Legends with the rest of the beta participants. As an additional bonus, all beta participants will be recognized post release with a special emblem for their character when the game goes live.  Beginning October 7, 2010, instructions on how to qualify and receive your pre-order beta key, visit:  www.dcuniverseonline.com/betakey.

No word on if the Beta is the reason whether the game was pushed back or not, but it is good news to know that the select few of us who preorder the game will get front row seats to the action before everyone else. Even before that, you can get a look at what’s available in the beta with an all-new trailer for the game showing off the beta combat.

Check it out after the jump and keep it here for more news on the game’s release date.

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At Comic-Con, we had some time to spend talking with the developers and getting some more hands on exposure to DC Universe Online. In addition to talking to Executive Creative Director on the game Jim Lee,  we also got to talk to some of the more hands on members of the team.

Up until this point, the focus of the DC Universe Online message has been your own character’s adventure with interaction with the iconic characters. What they are looking to do now is have a mentor method where to learn from the Iconic characters such as Batman, players must experience what it’s like to be them.

The result is the competitive versus mode that allows for players to take on the role of characters like Batman or the Joker and go up against other players in order to advance as characters. The theory is that by playing as these characters, players will better understand their strengths and weaknesses, their strategies and their tactics. These matches go from 2 vs. 2 to up to 16 vs. 16. The game modes will include territories, capture the flag and sabotage.

It also allows for quick jump in and jump out gameplay for a player who only has a few minutes to play and doesn’t have the time to complete a full thirty or more minute quest in the game. Players gain PvP points that can be spent later on unlocking other characters or their character’s raid suit.

At release, Robin and Harley will be available for players for the heroes and villains sides respectively. Gaining currency, players can then unlock Nightwing, Bane and Huntress, eventually unlocking the Joker at the highest levels. As a bonus to people pre-ordering the game, Batman will be available to them from the start.

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At Comic Con, we got the chance to talk to DC Comics Editor-In-Chief and the Executive Creator Director of DC Universe Online, Jim Lee about the game that everyone around the offices has been clamoring to get a hold of. As you’ll see in the’s interview after the jump, Jim explains what it takes to create such an expansive MMO game. Jim also discusses the newly announced two vs. two simulator mode which allows players the chance to step out of the boots of their own created character and instead play as the iconic heroes of the DC Universe such as Batman or Martian Manhunter.

Lee also discusses the Geoff Johns announcement from the Con for a Suicide Squad video game. Lee describes it was a Dirty Dozen style grittier than your average super hero game. For those who aren’t aware, the Suicide Squad is a team of villains who were put together on a mission where they knew everyone wouldn’t be coming back. It is definitely a darker take on the super hero genre which, if Batman: Arkham Asylum has shown us anything, looks like it is coming out at the right time in this industry.

What you don’t get to see on camera was when Jim mentions to us just how the trailer for the game comes into play. For those who have seen it, the trailer sets up the back-story of why a Luthor from the future comes back and talks to DC’s Trinity pleading for their help. The shockwave he sends on the planet sets forth an explosion of new powers, explaining logically why all these new heroes and villains are created. This ties in directly with the upcoming comics miniseries which will show how these new found powers affect the lives of average citizens who have now been transformed into powered beings.

Check out our interview in its entirety after the jump and stick with us for all things DC Universe Online as the Beta kicks into gear this month.

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Only a few actors can say they’ve run the gambit in the world of fan-friendly projects. Having worked with Joss Whedon at least twice, voiced Superman, worked on several Halo video games, and co-starred in everyone’s favorite nerd spy comedy Chuck, Adam Baldwin is one of those actors.

Last season on Chuck, Baldwin’s Colonel Casey went through quite a bit. He’s now reunited with his daughter and has a brand new partner in Morgan Grimes (Joshua Gomez). Along with working on the next season of Chuck, Baldwin has also taken time to return to voice Superman in Sony’s upcoming DC Universe Online video game.

We got the chance to discuss Baldwin’s character’s direction in the upcoming season of Chuck, as well as returning to play The Man of Steel.

Check out what he had to say after the jump, and be sure to catch all new episodes of Chuck this Fall on NBC.

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Fans of the MMORPG DC Universe will be happy to know that today Sony Online Entertainment announced that two of their best-known vocal talents will be voicing two of their most popular characters.

Mark Hamill (Star Wars), who voiced The Joker for both the early ’90s Batman: The Animated Series as well as the hit game Batman: Arkham Asylum, will be returning as The Clown Prince of Crime; and Kevin Conroy, voice of Batman himself, also in The Animated Series and Arkham Asylum, will again lend his talents as the Caped Crusader.

In addition to Hamill and Conroy, a number of other well-known voice talents fill out the cast, among them Adam Baldwin (Firefly, The X-Files, Angel) will be providing the voice of Superman while Gina Torres, star of the ABC series Huge and previously the voice of DC favorites Vixen and Superwoman, will be playing the Amazon Wonder Woman.

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“I will become the next legend.” That sums up pretty much every heroic fantasy that anyone who has ever picked up a comic book and wondered what it’d be like to save the world has ever thought in one simple phrase. Allowing that to happen is the goal of Sony Online Entertainment’s upcoming title for the PC and PlayStation 3, DC Universe Online.  We’ve been closely following DCUO since its initial announcement in anticipation for its release.

At E3, Sony Online Entertainment has released a new trailer and set of screen shots for the game. Plus, we’ve got some exclusive video of some of the gameplay from the show as well. While we had heard that players may choose either the side of heroics or villainy, this trailer is the first to give a true impression of the thought process of what a player will be going through when making this decision.

Seeing this unnamed hero/villain standing alongside and fighting against some of DC’s most famous and infamous faces makes a person wonder just which path they will choose when they turn on the game for the first time.

Take a peek after the jump at the new trailer, screen shots and gameplay footage for DC Universe Online and make sure to give us your impressions on them and give us a hint at just what kind of hero or villain you plan on becoming when the game is released.

(We had to remove the screenshots temporarily but they will be back soon. Sorry. – Ed)

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As you have probably noticed, we here at the Flickcast are hugely excited about the upcoming DC Universe Online game headed to Playstation 3 and the PC. Our hands-on time with the game and the interviews we have gotten with the creators have both been impressive and have gotten our mouths’ watering for the game’s eventual release. Now, DC Universe Online has combined with Mass Animation to actually give the game’s fanbase a chance to be a part of its creation process.

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and Mass Animation today announced the DC Universe™ Online (DCUO) Animation Contest. The DCUO Animation Contest is version 2.0 of the acclaimed Mass Animation Facebook® application and will give DC Comics fans, gamers and animators a chance to animate heroes and villains from the DC Universe Online game currently in development by Sony Online Entertainment, and to collaborate in creating a CGI trailer and in-game character animations. The DCUO/Mass Animation contest is scheduled to launch on December 7, 2009.

‘The DCUO/Mass Animation contest takes a part of the game out of the development studio and puts it in the hands of fans, an empowering opportunity for our community,’ said John Smedley, president of SOE. ‘Players will have a chance through qualified contest submissions to be involved with the game’s development at a deeper level than ever before by animating actions for in-game heroes and villains.’

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As we mentioned yesterday, at San Diego Comic Con we had the opportunity to sit down one on one with one of DC’s top creative talents, Marv Wolfman of Crisis of Infinite Earth fame, to discuss his involvement on DC Universe Online. During our time he discusses his involvement in the DC Universe as a writer and the many different mediums it has been a part of, his own video game fandom and

The Flickcast: First off, thank you for taking the time to speak with us about this project.

Marv Wolfman: My pleasure. This is fun.

TF: For the audience who doesn’t know yet, can you explain what your involvment with the project was? I’ve heard your name attached, Jim Lee and Geoff Johns. Can you explain how all that kind of fit together?

MW: Okay. Think of it as a building. Geoff put up the structure. It has all the beams. It has all the floors. I’m coming in now and I’m putting up the walls. I’m putting up the paintings. I’m painting the walls. I’m putting up the rugs. I’m filling it with furniture. Jim is the one who has designed all of that. (Phone call interruption) Geoff came up with an overview concept for the center part of the story.

The one that sort of motivates the entire storyline. I’m coming up with now hundreds of other stories, some of which will lead you to that center story. A lot are what I call just DC stories, stories that don’t center on that big storyline but are the things that characters do normally that you get involved with. So Superman adventures, Batman adventures, Wonder Woman adventures and all the other characters down the line.

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At the recent San Diego Comic-Con, we got some major quality time with all things DC Universe Online from our gameplay footage of the game to our interview with DC superstar artist Jim Lee . We also had the opportunity to get some hands with the game itself, have a sit down with some of the developers and a one on one interview with writer Marv Wolfman and discuss his work on DC Universe Online. Because there is just so much information from SDCC we have about DC Universe Online, this is going to a be two part story with the second half coming out tomorrow.

DC Universe Online was created with the goal of fulfilling the superhero fantasy in the DC world. Players will be given the ability to create their own hero or villain in order to achieve their own legacy. The ultimate goal of any hero or villain in the game would be to get invited in to the Justice League of America or the Secret Society of Super Villains respectively.

DC Universe Online is a Massively Multiplayer Online action game. Using a Playstation 3 controller or a keyboard, the player presses a button to perform an action. Players are able to string up button pushes to chain up together complex series of attacks. In addition, heavy attacks will knock certain objects around the environment, resulting in a world that is reactive to the player’s actions. If a player hits an explosive barrel in to a wall, there will be noticeable signs left behind from the barrel’s detonation left behind.

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This past weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, I had the privilege of sitting down with a few other members of the media to talk with legendary artist Jim Lee about his involvement in DC Universe Online, the upcoming MMO for the PC and Playstation 3. We were able to get some insight in to what he learned from the game, the first mention of an expansion from any party involved in the game and even the future of All-Star Batman.

John Carle: First obvious question, how was it working on an MMO for the first time?

Jim Lee: How was it working on an MMO? I’ve been working on it for over four years, so it feels long, but good. I mean I feel like it’s like weight training or something. (Laughs) Like its hard work but at the end of the day, you come out stronger and better for it. So yea, I mean it’s been a real learning experience not just in terms of learning how to build an MMO but also learning about the DC Universe.

Never really thought about what kind of materials all these costumes were made of. Never really thought about what all the different environments and neighborhoods of Gotham and Metropolis look like. And having those answers now, I feel much smarter as a DC fan than I ever did before, yea.

QUESTION: Are you a gamer yourself?

JL: Ah yes, I do game so you know it’s weird because I do get asked that a lot. I just assume everyone games but maybe they don’t. It’d be more interesting if I said, “No I’ve never played a video game before and that’s why I bring a very unique perspective to this.”

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