Superman Homepage

2009 Merchandise & Miscellaneous News Archives

February 11, 2009: NYCC - "DC Universe Online" Exclusive Fan Party Report

To the Comic Con!

So I decided to go to the New York Comic Con this year for a couple of reasons:

I've never been before and I always thought it would be fun.

I heard that the DC Universe Online game was going to have a demo of their first mission.

Most importantly, I heard about an exclusive fan only party for DCUO where there would be prizes, food, fun and surprises!

I first read about this around mid-January or so and I couldn't decide whether to go or not so I procrastinated making the decision. I actually heard about the exclusive fan party by linking to the DCUO MySpace page from this very site. On their page, the DCUO people invited fans to come to the Comic Con, show proof that DCUO was their #1 friend and that the first 400 fans to do that (because they only had space for 400 people in the private party room) would get a special laminated Lex Luthor lanyard that would get them into the party.

Initially I was thinking, can I really be one of only 400? But then I thought, well why the hell not? I mean, if I get there right when the Con starts and I rush right over to the booth, how could 398 people beat me there? So on Thursday night, February 5th, my wife and I made the decision to take the adventure express to the 2009 New York City Comic Con! We made sure we arrived right at starting time, which was 1.00pm. Immediately my hopes were dashed as we were directed down a set of stairs to the "waiting to get in line," instead of directly to the convention floor.

Welcome, come on in!

It was so close! I thought to myself. It looked so good. I could see everything going on right in front of me and yet I was unable to get to it, at least not before being directed down a flight of stairs and standing in the "waiting to get in line."

On that note let me tell you about the horrible welcome I received while being directed to the "waiting to get in line," which from here on out I'll call the "W2GN___." So my wife and I are excited that we've made it right on time and we're pretty sure we're going to get our laminated Lex Luthor lanyard ticket to the party and we're truckin' it for the main floor where we can see all the action taking place. Suddenly two people in staff T-shirts rush us and tackle us to the floor, all the while pummeling us with fists of fury and calling us all sorts of names like pumpkin-head and butterfly-face!

Well not exactly like that, but very close. They see us walking toward the showroom and shout out: "Hey, where are you trying to go?!"

And here's me, thinking the answer to that question seems rather obvious, going: "Uh, to the...Comic Con?"

So the two people stopping us are one male and one female. The male wasn't too bad, aside from asking the dumb question, of course. I mean, after all he's just doing his job right?

"Oh, you have to go down these stairs," says the guy pointing to my right. "Take a left and head down the escalator. We've got a huge amount of people already waiting to get in."

"Oh, we didn't know," says my wife.

Now pay attention to this next part.

"Yeah, yeah," says the girl. "We're not letting anybody cut in line."

They're not letting anybody cut in line??!!

Okay, so we've already established that besides being a little dim, the guy was just doing his job and though I'd have been disappointed by the detour when I thought the showroom was so close, I would have understood just fine. But this girl, who from now on will be called Madam Morrible, cuts off my wife almost mid-sentence to tell her she's not going to let us cut the line? I swear I almost got thrown out before the Con even began.

"Woah, woah, wait a minute," I said. "We're not trying to cut any line. As she just said we didn't know we had to go downstairs and wait."

"Right," says Madam Morrible. "Well anyway, everyone else had to wait and you're not just going to walk right in."

At this point I was almost livid. Not because I didn't want to wait. Hell, if there was a "W2GN___" and I was behind however many people that's just the way it goes. But her attitude almost killed me. A little while ago I found out that I have high cholesterol. I swear, if it were possible that utter shock, distaste and anger could instantly turn that cholesterol into a deadly plaque wall in one of my arteries I'd probably have had a heart attack. I didn't yell or react specifically, other than to turn toward the stairs, begin walking and turn my head back toward her to say, "Well I'm sorry, but it's 1:15 and I'd figure you'd have everybody inside by now."

"We're workin' on it," said Morrible, now as annoyed as I.

Hello Debbie Sue

So we made our way down the stairs then down the escalators to the "W2GN___" to promptly shuffle two steps at a time for over an hour behind approximately 2000 people! I figured at that point my chances were slim to none that we'd get our lanyards and get into the Saturday night party.

Once we'd finally made it through the queue and into the Con, we quickly tried to locate the SOE booth, which was where we were directed to go in order to prove our friend status. While waiting in line we checked the maps and the display lists and couldn't find SOE anywhere. I actually started to think that maybe they'd decided no to come and all this was for naught. After several harrowing and lost moments, my wife spotted the SOE DCUO booth. When we approached the woman who first caught our eye, we suddenly realized that not all people at the Con were like Madam Morrible.

Her name was Debbie Sue. I tell you this now because I feel absolutely horrible that in my write-up of the DCUO Doomsday Mission demo I was unable to recall if I'd ever heard her name. After going back and reviewing my recordings of the DCUO panel (you'll find the write-up of that elsewhere on the site) I later attended though, I heard someone say it and it's Debbie Sue. So Debbie Sue is the Director of Marketing and Relations for DCUO and she is one of the best marketing personalities I've ever dealt with. She was friendly, helpful and truly genuine and she really seemed happy to be doing what she was doing. She started talking to us, asking us if we knew about the game and inviting us to play the demo (my review of which is also elsewhere on this site) and my anger simply melted away.

"I guess we're probably way too late to get the lanyard for your fan event?" Said I.

"Oh no, we've got some left," answered Debbie with a smile. "All you have to do is show us we're your #1 friend and you can come to the party."

So we produced our proof and we were given our lanyards. DCUO is the whole reason I got interested in coming to the Con and the party was what sealed the deal. Being that it was a limited thing I was hoping the two and a half hour drive from Dallas, Pennsylvania to Secaucus, New Jersey and then the half hour bus ride into NYC and 30 minute walk to the Jacob Javitz center would not all be in vain and thanks to Debbie, it wasn't.

Thank you Debbie Sue.

Please, take my seat

The fan exclusive event was held from 6.00 to 8.00pm in a private room that was said to hold 400 people. Right around 6 my wife and I headed to the room and found another "W2GN___." It was already 6.00pm and people were still waiting outside the room. Soon though, Debbie Sue came out and told us all that media types were inside conducting interviews with the designers and that we'd be ushered in momentarily. I tell you this because it's a preface to another fantastic run-in I almost had. Maybe it's just me, you guys let me know.

Ten minutes later we're all ushered in, each given a raffle ticket for the prize to be auctioned off. Once we get inside though, I quickly discovered there was nowhere near enough chairs or tables for the amount of people that have come in. My wife and I arrived right around 6.00pm and were behind what seemed about a hundred people and yet, there were no seats left and there were at least fifty more people behind us. Before we decided to hit the food, we spotted a table in the far left corner of the room that was mostly empty. We attempted to stake claim to two chairs but were interrupted by some media guy who pushed his non-existent authority saying, "Uh guys, it's media only over here."

Now I saw no other media present and the table was empty aside from this guy, whom will from now on be "Pinhead," his female partner and one other innocent fellow who I hadn't really looked at.

"There are no more seats," I say. "And this is supposed to be an invite only fan event."

"Uh yeah I know," says Pinhead. "But this is media only so you'll have to move."

I'm not sure why I decided to listen to the guy but I certainly didn't want to make a scene. So my wife and I decided to go off for food and then stand and eat it with no table, somehow balancing it all on our heads or something. On the way back though, I noticed that the table was still open, except for Pinhead, his lacky and innocent guy.

"We're taking those seats," I said to my wife. "No one in charge said anything about those tables being designated anything, this is a fan exclusive event and the table's still empty!"

This was a true statement. In fact, if you'll recall something I said earlier, Debbie Sue said the media interviews were finishing up and that they were running behind and we'd be let in in a few minutes. So in my mind these guys should be done.

Angels 'N' Demons

So we head back to the table and start setting down our stuff.

"Guys?" Pinhead says dubiously.

"Look," I say. "There's no other media people here and no one has told us we can't sit here."

"Media," says Pinhead, flashing his "media lanyard."

"Okay then," I say. "I'm covering this for the Superman Homepage."

Pinhead looks at my lanyard, sees nothing about the Homepage or any proof that I'm media and says, "I know, but this is media only."

I'm flabbergasted and really don't know what to say at all. To add insult to injury, his female mule, whom from now on we'll call Nessa, decided to add her two cents.

"You can't come over here," says Nessa, gesturing madly at the table and surrounding area where there was no media present. "This is media only."

I half expected her to tell me she wanted her shoes back.

"So the Superman Homepage isn't media?" I say, incredulous.

Suddenly the innocent fellow I mentioned before speaks up. It's Geoff Johns. "It is in my book," he says with a smile.

For a moment, I felt immense pride but still, after prompted further by Pinhead and Nessa, my wife and I gave up and moved to a standing position. Again, I didn't want to make a scene and so far no one else could hear anything that had gone on.

After a few moments though, something quite interesting happened.

"Guys," came an angelic voice and I looked up from my hot dog. "This has got to end now."

It was Debbie Sue! You'll recall I mentioned her earlier. She was talking to Pinhead!

"Aw," said Pinhead. "We're almost done. We just need a few more minutes."

The angel then told Pinhead that the party had already been held up for them and that it was time to move on. There were invited fans still standing, she told them, and that she needed the table.

I think Pinhead still got his interview and all was well with Geoff but I still felt somewhat defended after my mistreatment. Again, maybe it's me but I was annoyed by Pinhead. And it's not that I don't understand that sometimes there are areas designated for media interviews or whatever, but rather the way he spoke down to us and asserted authority he clearly didn't have.

Fan-Exclusive Info

After our little run-in, we took our seats at the very same table I'd tried to sit at before and settled in to hear the devs talk further about DCUO. It was the same group from the panel earlier that day and they were all thrilled to be at the event. Debbie Sue announced the guys, which included Jim Lee (Executive Creative Director), Geoff Johns (Writer), Marv Wolfman (Writer), Wes Yunagi (Senior Producer), Jens Andersen (Creative Director), Jared Carr (Art Director), and Chris Kao (Creative Director), and they all answered questions from the party attendees for most of the evening.

"Will there be a Mac version and what will the system specs needed be?"

We know that we've set the bar pretty high on the PS3 so as far as system specs go it will probably be something equal to that. For Mac we have no set plans yet.

"What can you tell us about the super groups and how they'll be set up or if they'll be in the game at release?"

Player heroes and villains will form leagues and Legions and yes there will be guild type groups. Chris Kao says that many of the people on the team have experience in guild building and game communities and that they expect that to be a big part of the game but that they will make sure it fits within the DCU really well.

"Will you be able to join the Green Lantern Corps or Sinestro Corps?"

"Just for the record," answered Geoff Johns. "That would be aweome."

Players will be able to play like Green Lantern with light based powers and be able to make constructs and other Lantern-like powers but Jens adds that the Corps is limited to something like two per sector now, so thousands is probably too many.

"But what if something really bad happens?" Johns joked.

"Well if that's really a story that these guys want to tell," continued Andersen. "That something happens and they immediately need to deputize a whole bunch of people into the Corps then that would be..."

"What if I said...May 15th?" Asked Johns. "You have to sign on May 15th and we'll deputize you all."

"Well I don't know about the day," Andersen replied, "What do you think about that?"

"You were the one picking on his Lanterns, dude!" Another panel member exclaimed.

"But seriously," continued Andersen. "We have to start with this story Marv and Geoff have crafted."

The idea being that why all these new heroes have suddenly shown up in the DCU must be explained and we start there and then build the rest of the universe.

"Now if, when we start with the game, people say now that's an experience I really want to have, then we'll put it in an expansion." Jens added a proviso that it would have to be within the DC license.

Someone actually asked if it were possible at some point in the future that they could introduce a DCU vs. Marvel Universe in the game. Geoff Johns said that the next time there's an exclusive fan party that they'd bring the lawyers.

"I'm not even comfortable having an X-Men over there," said Marv Wolfman, indicating a fan dressed as Cyclops.

"We construct our heroes in a very DC way," added Jens. "There are the everyman heroes running around but the A-list heroes aren't everyman types, right, they don't just run around scratching people. They fly up into space and save the universe, you know, by themselves, all the while holding their breath and they come back without a scratch. These are huge characters and since we want you to feel the same way, since you're going to be their equals I really don't think the two Universes could ever mix."

Will there be vehicles in the game?

"You saw us picking up busses, right?" Asked Andersen. He then added that they'd talked about player vehicles but that it just didn't make sense in terms of the game play because people want to keep up with their friends and if someone's flying and another player is in a vehicle, that's a really tough thing to do. He mentions how often Batman needs to be picked up and carried around to get places and that while he has a cool car, it's sort of a hindrance. Further, he says the player powers act like vehicles in getting characters around inside the world. Geoff added that Batman's primary movement is his grapple where he's swinging through the rooftops and jumping from building to building and that players will be able to have those types of moves too via the acrobat type power line.

Will there be a level cap?

The designers all agree that it's easy to set a certain level and say that's where they want the players to end up, it makes more sense to have the writers dictate the kinds of stories they want to tell and have that be how the leveling system is based. That will then give players a more realistic, story-based experience that will make you feel like you're really there rather than some artificial number people are trying to reach. After all, who ever walks around going, "Okay if I get to work on time and then I do my job I'll get to level 14 and then when I make it home once I cook dinner I'll gain 200 experience points?

Will there be load times between areas?

Though Jens didn't really answer the question exactly, it did sound as if the plan is to have people decide where they're going and then just get there. Once in an area, players can travel around manually, but they didn't want to have players running manually over the Atlantic Ocean for 35 minutes to say, meet up with fellow heroes in Africa.

This covers a concern of mine specifically because I played another game where in order to do missions based on a specialist character type a player had to travel all the way to a village on the furthest planet in the galaxy some 10,000 meters out from the star port. In the beginning in that game, and people don't have movement powers, there were no vehicles and you had to run to this village. While running you'd be attacked by all manner of exotic beast, most of which were more powerful than you and that you just had to try and outrun before they killed you. It really was a horrible system and when vehicles were introduced it got better, but it was still very time consuming just for travel. This sounds much better.

The team says that the playable demo right now in Metropolis is about 300 square blocks and that you can run around in them seamlessly. Then to go to another area you can just go there without manually traveling.

"Okay," joked Andersen. "So if you mess up real bad and you want to fly around the world there will be a load screen while you turn back time."

Will we be able to start with all of our powers right away?

Jens explained that while they certainly want to give players a nice choice to start with so that they can just get out there and play, it wouldn't make sense to have everyone start out with everything. He likens that to actual comic character, such as Batman, where he didn't have every gadget or device right from day one and that through inventions and financial gains and experience Batman gathered the tools he needed as each story called for them. That's the way the developers want the game to be, so that it makes sense and that these characters pick up skills and tools and experience and learn new things as they go through "life."

With things like the Doomsday battle, how big will the destruction in the game be when Doomsday gets loose?

The developers say they decided early on that if they allowed things like buildings and streets to be destroyed by these battles that it wouldn't take too long before the entire city of Metropolis would be destroyed. There are certain areas on the building themselves though that will get damaged. Things such as air vents or other separate pieces. Also when cars smash into sections of a building, those sections will show battle scars.

How will the missions work? Will it be succeed at one thing and then move onto the next and the next or will it be zone based?

The way the game is designed to work is that, unlike other MMOs, in this game the content isn't just sitting there all the time. When a player enters the game content will be spun up for the player to do. The designers always want the players to have a mission to play and for their story to move forward. Further, the goal is for the content to find you and have the story come at you and be something that sends you on your missions and takes you where you need to go. The cities will be living cities where things happen seemingly randomly but also specifically for each player and will help tell that story. Also, rather than in other MMOs, if players are in a group they won't have to go to specific group places but that mechanically, the devs will know there's a group and spin up group content right then and there.

How will you be able to customize your character?

When players first get into the game they'll pick an origin. Origin types are:
Magic based
Meta-human
Tech-based

Then players will pick a movement mode:
Flight
Acrobatics
Superspeed

Alignment:
Hero
Villain

Players will then be given a wide range of choices in regards to their appearance: body size, look, style and a wide variety of costume choices. There will also be personality choices.

Furthermore, throughout game play, players will come across items and costume parts that can be integrated into their costume and therefore will change their appearance or players can choose to remain the same throughout. For instance, Batman has different types of suits that he uses for different types of missions but you still know it's Batman. Players will have that choice as well. You can still use the items and changes to your character so that you get the bonus or benefit of said item but choose not to have it show so that you sustain your original look choice.

For a ton of info, artwork shots, footage from the Con and more, you can check out the DCUO MySpace page.

Cash and Prizes

At the end of the party, they held the raffle drawing where one lucky fan won one of the large self-standing DCUO banners. The banner was of an armor clad Lex Luthor clutching the remains of Superman's cape and standing amongst Metropolis wreckage. The lanyards we got as our exclusive ticket to the party display the same artwork. It's a really cool scene. Sadly, I wasn't the winner of the banner, but everyone in attendance did get a poster of the same artwork and the entire dev team signed it.

In summation, I'm really stoked about this game, I think everyone should go out and get it whenever it does finally release and that we should all band together in a League of our own to battle evil or, if it's your preference, Legion together for Doom.