@HoboBot: Goodbye HoboBot! What did Bizarro not do to you to make you love him so much?!? Bizarro just want to be hated!!! Why is that so easy? Hello! #dcuniverseonline
im not trolling, this is a serious question. is anybody genuinely excited for this game? ive never in my life played an mmo, but ive been huge into comics since jim lee, todd mcfarlane, and rob liefeld were the big names.
although ive been a marvel fanboy all this time, i still enjoy the occassional batman and flash stuff (actually batman is probably my favorite solo super hero ever).
but anyways, city of heroes always looked cool, and champions looks real cool (would have probably picked it up for the 360, but msft is apparently daft when it comes to mmos on their box).
i know jim lee is involved in this, and dude is a legend.. but still i dunno. i was fairly excited about the marvel mmo, but i still dont know how this stuff will play out. if im correct, you play as a created character, and interact with the heroes/villains as npcs?
@shouryuuken: You're right about how you play. I dunno, I prefer that style to seventy thousand Batmans running around.
I am genuinely excited for this game, but I've been really into DC comics as of late so it's obvious why. I think people will get more excited for this game once screens and gameplay footage of Gotham City start coming out. Metropolis always seemed a tad boring in comparison. #dcuniverseonline
@Billiam Foushdow: yeah, that was my point. you couldnt have dozens of batmen, supermen, or flashes running around, and i may be nitpicking, but its also weird to me when i picture batman fighting joker, but joker has like 40 random costumed dudes with him while batman has his random 40 guys.
it just sounds absurd, and i may be wrong which is why im asking how this will play out. one of my favorite things when i think about super heroes is the feeling of being tough as nails and taking on the world while almost nobody can stop you.. but then theres 40 other guys just like me.. not to mention all the true heroes from dc.
i guess thats why city of heroes is neat to me, because youre in a city that is nothing but superheroes (right?), so it makes sense that everyone is powered up. but in gotham, whats batmans purpose if everyone else runs around in capes and tights? #dcuniverseonline
@shouryuuken: Well there are NPC or Non-Powered-Citizens in Paragon, but the relationship with the "Supers" is more like it would be if the Superhuman Registration Act in Marvel had actaully worked. #dcuniverseonline
@shouryuuken: Well, you can ask that now. Look at the numbers. There is Batman, and Nightwing, and Robin, and Red Robin, and Oracle, and Huntress, and Batwoman, and Batgirl (TWO of them). The days Batman was some solo agent of the night is LONG past. In fact, in canon it was all of two years and that was about 15 years ago.
And it being so strange for Joker to have 40 random powered thugs? Well, you can make a case for powered being weird, but have you seen how BIG Batman's Rogue's gallery is?
@shouryuuken: It does sound a bit weird. The only thing it reminds me of from the comics is the big Death of Superman series, where pretty much everyone who's ever squeezed into spandex turns up to back Superman up against Doomsday's unrelenting onslaught. But that's kind of a one-off situation. #dcuniverseonline
@housingrubaiyat: yeah, "random thugs" isnt what i was saying though. try 40 random allies that are not henchmen, but evil villians by themselves (that probably would have their own henchmen if the game would allow). i know how big batman's "rogue's gallery" is, and to be honest.. thats one of the things i love about batman. its like, i like green lanterns concept.. but i dont know/care about who he fights against.. while i could go on and on about bats' enemies. theyre so interesting.
Bizarro is a big name villain in the DC world, so it's no surprise he got the nod to appear in the game. Plus, with his arrival on Smallville a couple seasons ago, he's fresh in everyone's mind. I'm just curious where his necklace is. #dcuniverseonline
Umm - hold up... How about a hulk game where you're not just in hulk mode all the time, but you're Bruce Banner. The game starts and you're in a lab or something, getting oriented with the controls by toggling switches and doing some labwork that eventually leads to your exposure to gamma radiation. Next up your escaping the wreckage, as a man whos just been through some catastrophic explosion and the game is telling you x to jump, and b to crouch, and all that fun stuff. you come to a point where you're blocked off and all your newly learned moves can't help you. BUT WAIT! switch to cutscene of him panicking, and eventually turning into the hulk.
After that we get a hulk game thats written by actual comic book writers - that truly deals with bruce banner running for his life from a government that wants to weaponize him. The game could be stealth action and puzzle solving, with a flip side of chaos and ultimate destruction.
There could be a slew of extras modes that allow you to do fun stuff with the hulk, like bowl with cars, play baseball with streetlights, or golf or some other stuff. I dunno - could just be fun to unlock some silly things like that. Or not.
Anywho - game devs have been missing out on the whole bruce banner aspect of the hulk. The vulnerable side thats learning his new found powers.
@krichmar: Makes me think of this. :p Yet I thought people loved Ultimate Destruction? Really, the article is all gloom and doom, but super hero games have definitely been on the upswing I think with fewer examples relying on stagnant video game conventions.
Batman can take out every superhero. He could even jump universes and level Galactus and still make it home in time to catch reruns of "The Gray Ghost." He's even set to make an awesome video game starring Batman, which most people said was impossible. Batman notwithstanding my ass!
@optimusp: Uh, actually, if anyone really knows comics, and not that overblown mainstream notion that "Batman pwns all!!" thanks to comics like Dark Knight Returns (not saying it's a bad comic at all), they'll know that Superman would wipe the floor with Batman.
I love the guy (probably my fave DC hero after Flash), and I don't even like Superman, but Bats is hugely overrated in these fantasy fights.
I mean, it's awesome how he always achieves those impossible wins using only his human wits and abilities and meticulous planning, but realistically, Superman is more than fast enough to take his head off before he even realises it enough to enact whatever crazy plan he's got in store.
@omgwtflolbbqbye: Haha that was an awesome finale to the battle! Epic indeed!
But yeah, sounds like we just about agree that Batman wouldn't (and shouldn't) stand a chance against Supes.
I'm inclined to believe those who argue for Batman in such a scenario do so just cause Batman is the cooler character, and has this rep for being badass and being able to take down anyone, which again, I always thought was overrated. The only time it truly worked IMO was the Grant Morrison run on JLA back in the late 90's.
If Superman was the major powered dude dressed in all black, with the mean kickass demeanor and edge personality, while Batman was the normal human goody-two shoes in a bright costume with red underwear on the outside, this wouldn't even be a debate.
That's the reason why someone like Captain America, who's roughly a hero with Superman's personality and Batman's abilities, isn't as popular as he could be.
If you ask me, in a straight-out fight, Cap would take Batman too, but most would disagree cause Batman is just so much cooler and more badass.
@firefly: If Superman was the major powered dude dressed in all black, with the mean kickass demeanor and edge personality, while Batman was the normal human goody-two shoes in a bright costume with red underwear on the outside, this wouldn't even be a debate.
It wouldn't be a debate because then Superman would then be the god damn Batman. :p
I do believe Batman can defeat Superman primarily because he does have one "power" which has increased exponentially over the ages: his intellect. The idea is simply that the man is so smart, so observant, and so impeccably well prepared that nothing can surprise him or pose a challenge he cannot overcome.
I would agree that this is rather ridiculous, but the same can be said when going back and looking at Superman's, Wolverine's, and most any other comic character's growth from origin to now. Personally, I loathe when Batman is inserted into the likes of the Justice League, because as excellent a character Batman is and how wonderful stuff like Bruce Timm's JLU certainly are, magic and superheroes just should not be a part of Batman's universe. Yet, since Batman's such a cash machine for DC, he has to be present in the DC continuity, and as a result, Batman sees his intellect, abilities, wealth, etc. raised to such a status so that he can be on equal footing more or less working among the gods as it were.
Why aren't superheroes compatible with character development ala RPG/Video Games again?
I seem to recall Marvel: UA doing it quite well with the roster it had.
And hey, don't knock Superman Returns. I loved that game and beat it to completion. The problem wasn't the save-the-ctiy-youre-invincible mechanic, it was having some of the most retarded bosses (really? the end boss of the whole game is three tornados attacking the city?) and too many god-awful one liners repeated over and over and over and over and (you get the picture)
@Komrade Kayce: Because Superheroes aren't about gradual growth like in RPGs. Spiderman doesn't level up. He gets all his powers in one freak accident, and then he gets a bunch more when he comes back from the dead. Every superhero with powers is like that.
And for those that aren't, I guess some gradual growth would make a little sense. But for the most part, we associate these heroes with the point where we start reading their stories. Batman's years of training aren't the main event to a Batman story; they're prologue or flashback, and rarely do these training periods lend themselves to gameplay very well. Most superhero-training that I've seen is a whole lot of target practice, beating up dummies, meditation, heroin withdrawal etc. etc.
@superberg: since when are there "podcast conventions?" This particular 1UP podcast was a pioneer in the format relating to our hobby, so perhaps you should find one of the other hundred gaming podcasts to listen to if the length isn't your thing.
It's rare to find a quality podcast over an hour. Hour-and-a-half tops. 1up yours/ 1up FM/Listen Up often go on for 2.5+. Just because they are the best doesn't mean they couldn't use some refinement.
I like gaming, and I think they have a lot of interesting things to say. But I can't listen to the same four people talk for three hours straight. They could easily cut this one long podcast into two. It's not like you have to run out to the store to buy more. Just add one more feed to your 'cast list. Things like four-minute warning could easily stand on its own, as could interviews. It might even make getting advertising easier, thus giving 1up.com a much needed revenue stream. As it is, it's basically free advertising for whatever games they cover.
When it comes to Podcast for conventions, This Week In Tech pretty much set the format right years ago. YES, YEARS AGO. BACK IN 2005. Several podcasts, each with a focused topic. 1up seems to be going for more of a diggnation vibe, which tends to clock in at 40-60 minutes.
@superberg: Yeah, several podcasts with a different topic would be great. A seperate one for Games for Windows, MMOs / WoW, one focused on the industry, one on the games themselves, mobile gaming...
Oh, wait.
The reason why ListenUp sometimes balloons in size is that 1Up tried having multiple podcasts and we all know what happened then.
@Brett Ryans: That's pretty much nails it, but innovation is hard, and when the bulk of development money is going towards acquiring and invoking a specific license, I doubt many developers have the budget and time to consider such factors as character specific gameplay.
@walkyourpath: Every once in a while, devs try. Spider-Man games do their best to nail the feeling, along with some of the Dragonball, Hulk, Naruto, Bleach, and Superman games too. The games that handle the transition from comics correctly are always amazing.
They're looking at the problem and blaming the wrong part of the equation. Just because the old way of making games doesn't fit for superheroes doesn't mean that it can't be done. It means that developers are unimaginative and unwilling to try something new.
I have faith that there's an equation out there that works.
I think that we still have a long way to in the "game design" department in all games especially any pre-established licenses. If we look at movies as any indicator for super-hero application it's going to take a few tries before anyone gets it right.
Rouge Squadron on the Game Cube, Easily one of the best looking games on the system, even from launch. Very few devs used bumpmapping, or any of the effects factor 5 did.
To sput a slightly positive spin on a bad piece of news, the people at Factor 5 have lost their jobs, not their skills. If other studios have any sense at all (as well as hindsight that extends beyond Lair), they'll quickly hire them.
10/23/09
10/23/09
10/23/09
I love you, Sealab 2021. #dcuniverseonline
10/23/09
although ive been a marvel fanboy all this time, i still enjoy the occassional batman and flash stuff (actually batman is probably my favorite solo super hero ever).
but anyways, city of heroes always looked cool, and champions looks real cool (would have probably picked it up for the 360, but msft is apparently daft when it comes to mmos on their box).
i know jim lee is involved in this, and dude is a legend.. but still i dunno. i was fairly excited about the marvel mmo, but i still dont know how this stuff will play out. if im correct, you play as a created character, and interact with the heroes/villains as npcs?
it just seems kinda silly, but im still curious. #dcuniverseonline
10/23/09
I am genuinely excited for this game, but I've been really into DC comics as of late so it's obvious why. I think people will get more excited for this game once screens and gameplay footage of Gotham City start coming out. Metropolis always seemed a tad boring in comparison. #dcuniverseonline
10/23/09
it just sounds absurd, and i may be wrong which is why im asking how this will play out. one of my favorite things when i think about super heroes is the feeling of being tough as nails and taking on the world while almost nobody can stop you.. but then theres 40 other guys just like me.. not to mention all the true heroes from dc.
i guess thats why city of heroes is neat to me, because youre in a city that is nothing but superheroes (right?), so it makes sense that everyone is powered up. but in gotham, whats batmans purpose if everyone else runs around in capes and tights? #dcuniverseonline
10/23/09
10/23/09
@shouryuuken: Picture is self explanatory #dcuniverseonline
10/23/09
And it being so strange for Joker to have 40 random powered thugs? Well, you can make a case for powered being weird, but have you seen how BIG Batman's Rogue's gallery is?
10/23/09
10/23/09
still, it just seems like itd be overcrowded.
10/23/09
Bizarro is a big name villain in the DC world, so it's no surprise he got the nod to appear in the game. Plus, with his arrival on Smallville a couple seasons ago, he's fresh in everyone's mind. I'm just curious where his necklace is. #dcuniverseonline
10/23/09
05/18/09
After that we get a hulk game thats written by actual comic book writers - that truly deals with bruce banner running for his life from a government that wants to weaponize him. The game could be stealth action and puzzle solving, with a flip side of chaos and ultimate destruction.
There could be a slew of extras modes that allow you to do fun stuff with the hulk, like bowl with cars, play baseball with streetlights, or golf or some other stuff. I dunno - could just be fun to unlock some silly things like that. Or not.
Anywho - game devs have been missing out on the whole bruce banner aspect of the hulk. The vulnerable side thats learning his new found powers.
I think i'll stop writing now.
Cheers.
05/18/09
05/18/09
05/18/09
Batman can take out every superhero. He could even jump universes and level Galactus and still make it home in time to catch reruns of "The Gray Ghost." He's even set to make an awesome video game starring Batman, which most people said was impossible. Batman notwithstanding my ass!
05/18/09
05/18/09
I love the guy (probably my fave DC hero after Flash), and I don't even like Superman, but Bats is hugely overrated in these fantasy fights.
I mean, it's awesome how he always achieves those impossible wins using only his human wits and abilities and meticulous planning, but realistically, Superman is more than fast enough to take his head off before he even realises it enough to enact whatever crazy plan he's got in store.
05/18/09
Even more epic than Santa Claus versus Darkseid...
[io9.com]
05/18/09
But yeah, sounds like we just about agree that Batman wouldn't (and shouldn't) stand a chance against Supes.
I'm inclined to believe those who argue for Batman in such a scenario do so just cause Batman is the cooler character, and has this rep for being badass and being able to take down anyone, which again, I always thought was overrated. The only time it truly worked IMO was the Grant Morrison run on JLA back in the late 90's.
If Superman was the major powered dude dressed in all black, with the mean kickass demeanor and edge personality, while Batman was the normal human goody-two shoes in a bright costume with red underwear on the outside, this wouldn't even be a debate.
That's the reason why someone like Captain America, who's roughly a hero with Superman's personality and Batman's abilities, isn't as popular as he could be.
If you ask me, in a straight-out fight, Cap would take Batman too, but most would disagree cause Batman is just so much cooler and more badass.
05/18/09
It wouldn't be a debate because then Superman would then be the god damn Batman. :p
I do believe Batman can defeat Superman primarily because he does have one "power" which has increased exponentially over the ages: his intellect. The idea is simply that the man is so smart, so observant, and so impeccably well prepared that nothing can surprise him or pose a challenge he cannot overcome.
I would agree that this is rather ridiculous, but the same can be said when going back and looking at Superman's, Wolverine's, and most any other comic character's growth from origin to now. Personally, I loathe when Batman is inserted into the likes of the Justice League, because as excellent a character Batman is and how wonderful stuff like Bruce Timm's JLU certainly are, magic and superheroes just should not be a part of Batman's universe. Yet, since Batman's such a cash machine for DC, he has to be present in the DC continuity, and as a result, Batman sees his intellect, abilities, wealth, etc. raised to such a status so that he can be on equal footing more or less working among the gods as it were.
05/18/09
I seem to recall Marvel: UA doing it quite well with the roster it had.
And hey, don't knock Superman Returns. I loved that game and beat it to completion. The problem wasn't the save-the-ctiy-youre-invincible mechanic, it was having some of the most retarded bosses (really? the end boss of the whole game is three tornados attacking the city?) and too many god-awful one liners repeated over and over and over and over and (you get the picture)
05/18/09
And for those that aren't, I guess some gradual growth would make a little sense. But for the most part, we associate these heroes with the point where we start reading their stories. Batman's years of training aren't the main event to a Batman story; they're prologue or flashback, and rarely do these training periods lend themselves to gameplay very well. Most superhero-training that I've seen is a whole lot of target practice, beating up dummies, meditation, heroin withdrawal etc. etc.
05/18/09
But then thats what you have MvC for. Or the Spiderman games.
05/18/09
Wolverine has attacked a slime.
Slime is defected!
EXP 8 GOLD 2
Wolverine has leveled up!
Wolverine has gained a new power!
Healing Factor 2 -- Immortality!
Wolverine can now never die to anything presented to the player in the game!
...
Slime attacks!
Wolverine suffers 6 DMG.
Wolverine attacks.
...
05/18/09
05/18/09
05/18/09
It's rare to find a quality podcast over an hour. Hour-and-a-half tops. 1up yours/ 1up FM/Listen Up often go on for 2.5+. Just because they are the best doesn't mean they couldn't use some refinement.
I like gaming, and I think they have a lot of interesting things to say. But I can't listen to the same four people talk for three hours straight. They could easily cut this one long podcast into two. It's not like you have to run out to the store to buy more. Just add one more feed to your 'cast list. Things like four-minute warning could easily stand on its own, as could interviews. It might even make getting advertising easier, thus giving 1up.com a much needed revenue stream. As it is, it's basically free advertising for whatever games they cover.
When it comes to Podcast for conventions, This Week In Tech pretty much set the format right years ago. YES, YEARS AGO. BACK IN 2005. Several podcasts, each with a focused topic. 1up seems to be going for more of a diggnation vibe, which tends to clock in at 40-60 minutes.
Oh, and Retronauts is great. Love it.
05/19/09
Oh, wait.
The reason why ListenUp sometimes balloons in size is that 1Up tried having multiple podcasts and we all know what happened then.
05/18/09
rather than thinking "what new game mechanics can I build around this character"
05/18/09
05/18/09
Fixed.
05/18/09
05/18/09
05/18/09
They're looking at the problem and blaming the wrong part of the equation. Just because the old way of making games doesn't fit for superheroes doesn't mean that it can't be done. It means that developers are unimaginative and unwilling to try something new.
I have faith that there's an equation out there that works.
05/18/09
05/14/09
05/14/09
05/14/09
Im a Factor 5 fan way before Rogue Squadron, from C64 and mainly Commodore Amiga ages of old. I will miss them very much...
Will we ever see Turrican again? =(
05/14/09