Check out the latest episode of the Bitcast with JC and WallE as they explore the world of gaming. In the news, the two reflect on the Grand Theft Auto V launch trailer and recap their predictions from the last episode and see who did better. Also discussed are the November 8th PSN releases of Crono Cross, Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI.

In the Topic of the Week section, the Bitcast takes a look at the Free to Play gaming model which is becoming more and more prevelent in gaming today. The two discuss both the merits and concerns of the concept, look at how it has been implemented in existing titles and talk about what it can have in store for the future.

In their Now Playing, WallE has a throwback moment as he looks back at the original Uncharted for the PS3. JC expands further on his time with his review for Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure.

When DC Universe Online launched earlier this year, it was possible to recreate almost any character, classic or modern, that fans of comics have loved for decades. There was one group of heroes and villains though that was noticeably left out in terms of power sets though. The Lanterns. Green, Red, Yellow, Blue and all the others had no presence in DC Universe Online from the player community. Sure they could fight alongside Hal Jordan but without a power ring of their own where is the fun in that?

Coming at the end of summer, the Fight for the Light expansion comes to DC Universe Online allowing ring based power sets to create a new array of combat options. Boxing gloves, freight trains, fighter jets, machine guns and more all produced by little green rings will up the ante in DCUO.

At Comic-Con, Mark Anderson from Sony Online Entertainment spoke with The Flickcast about what we would see in this expansion. In addition to seeing sights like Coast City or the Science Cells on Oa, the expansion will also help wrap up the story with Brainiac and the anomalies of the power rings. Players will be given the role as Corps Reserve members to help explain why so many lanterns are running around in a single sector.

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After years of waiting (and reporting) DC Universe Online has finally made its way to both the PC and PlayStation 3 console. And we are happy to see it has lived up to the hype. While DCUO isn’t a ground breaking experience that will redefine the MMORPG genre, it does provide an addictive and fun super hero world for people to play in.

Taking a few lessons learned from previous super hero titles like City of Heroes and Champions Online, DCUO allows players to experience an MMO world in an iconic universe with well known locations and super hero and villain compatriots at their side. Unlike SOE’s previous iconic MMO with Star Wars Galaxies, players are actually able to fight alongside their favorite heroes and villains instead of just receiving missions from them. The game also has a fully voiced cast, a much notable difference to players of past titles like classics like Everquest or Galaxies.

Gameplay:

DC Universe Online plays similar in many ways to most other successful MMOs. It is to be expected since those formulas have proven successful for the type of game. Players move using the traditional WASD format combined with their mouse for changing directions and looking around and aiming. Different tap and hold button combinations on the mouse (unlocking more as players increase in level) release different attacks on foes. Additional super powers are unlocked and assigned to the 1 through 8 keys that can be used during combat.

Combat itself is fast paced and fun without much down time between. Unlike many MMORPGs, combat is not item-centric where players must worry about equipping tons of healing items to use after each combat instance. As long as players don’t run through like a lunatic kamikaze, they should be able to take a breather between fights to allow their character to quickly heal up before heading into the next encounter.

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To say there is going to be “some gunplay” in Sony Online Entertainment’s upcoming PlayStation 3 exclusive, The Agency, would be an understatement. As you will see in the E3 trailer below, there is going to be a lot… let me reemphasize this… a LOT of shooting going on here.

When players begin, they are given two options for which faction they wish to be a part of. The first is United Network of Intelligence and Tactical Experts (U.N.I.T.E) who consider themselves the top secret agents in the world. On the other side is the Paramilitary Global Operations Network (ParaGON) who is the world’s largest privately run army. Depending on which side they choose, players will receive different missions as they progress through the game.

Players will create a personal avatar for this MMO Shooter which can be played in both the first and third person perspectives. Instead of focusing on building a “stealthy” character or “heavy assault” character, players can instead switch gear to accommodate the play style they wish to pursue in their current mission. Missions can run anywhere from fifteen minutes in length during the game’s “short missions” to an hour during “set pieces.”

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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 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 week, Gazillion Entertainment announced that David Brevik would be placed as studio director at Gargantuan, the studio house developing the Marvel massive multiplayer online game. After originally being scrapped by Cryptic Studios in favor of Champions Online, Gazillion entertainment had been filling its ranks up under the weather by recruiting members of Apple, Blizzard, Pixar and Microsoft Game Studios to create their team.

Now with the addition of David Brevik who has been credited as leader programmer, project lead and design lead of both Diablo games, gamers should feel confident in the studio’s ability to deliver on the multiplayer experience required for a quality MMO. But can the Marvel Universe MMOG survive in a landscape already dominated by the behemoth World of Warcraft. Other properties like the Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings and Warhammer have taken shots at unseating Warcraft but have thus been unsuccessful.

Even other strong properties outside of the medievil time frame have fallen short like the ill-fated Star Wars Galaxies and the Matrix Online. What may be Marvel’s biggest threats though come from the blossoming superhero MMOG genre that has been popping up over recent years, the pinnacle being City of Heroes/City of Villains which came in to legal trouble with Marvel and DC for such robust character creation tools that many players were able to create incredible likenesses of their favorite proprietary heroes.

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