Drifter
02-25-2006, 03:01 PM
News coming from the New York Comic-con....
At the half-way point, Didio invited DC President Paul Levitz to make a major announcement: Warner Brothers Entertainment and Sony Interactive are currently developing a Massively Multi-player Online Game featuring the DC Universe that’s being developed by Sony – and Lee and several key Wildstorm artists have been working on the art design of the game.
Levitz noted that Lee’s prime motivation for coming to DC was to leave behind his legacy as an artist while still in his prime years, to do things while at the top of his form and his craft, to leave his mark and be remembered for.
Levitz feels the game is a radical new project for DC. It gives Lee a chance to play with the DC Universe, and shape its next generation.
The game will turn the DC Universe into a massive multi-player world, with Lee as the new universe creator of the online DC Universe. It would be an experience that integrates the creativity and fertility of the DC Universe, and take it to the next level. The game would feed back into the comics, which would in turn feed back into the game in an ongoing interactive experience.
“The aim is for you to eventually have no free time at all. You will wake up in the morning and put all your money in a bag labeled ‘DC Universe’ and give it to us.” Said Levitz, not entirely jokingly. “Eventually, we’d like to implant a plug in your head so you can play the game constantly like something out of a Larry Niven story.”
Lee has been working on the game for the last six months, which explains why “All-Star Batman and Robin” is running late.
Lee could not reveal too much about the game prior to its official release.
“Basically the concept art for the game, world, what the characters are going to look like, the buildings, the cars, are all going to be drawn by Wildstorm. Me, Carl Stanza, Ale Garza, Scottie, are the team working on it with an Art Director in San Diego named Matt Broome. Matt used to work for me at Wildstorm, he was one of the guys I brought in. After he left, he developed this really successful video game career, and he is our liaison with Sony in San Diego. The game developers are based in Austin, Texas.
“DCU (I’m going to break some taboos) is a fictional universe. It doesn’t really exist, it can’t talk, and it doesn’t really express itself. My role is really to be the DC Universe for these developers. My job is to make this game the DCU. It’s more difficult than it sounds, because everyone here has a different vision of it. Normally, the developer will send stuff to get approved, yes or no, and to me, it’s a bit of a sterile process in that as the person controlling the property, you don’t have a lot of responses. ‘Yes,’ ‘no,’ ‘do it again.’ My role is to be there and create this with them, to visualize it and reflect DCU in real time. I have to create a lot of things. For example, there’s no map of Metropolis. There’s a map of Gotham City, but no map of Metropolis for where everything is. Normally at DC, a lot of people have to consult on it, and it might take a while for it to kick out. On something like this, I can just sit down and sketch it out, identify the appropriate landmarks, where I think it should be, and we’re off and running. That’s something that saves them a lot of time, and makes the game more valid.”
Levitz added that Lee being both a life-long DC fan and an intense gamer will also help keep the DCU game faithful to the legacy of the DC Universe’s 70-year history. This is one reason why they could forgive Lee’s lateness on “All-Star Batman and Robin.”
“It’s all research, Paul,” quipped Lee.
Levitz said, “We’re really tight, obnoxious bastards when it comes to licensing. This gives us the unique opportunity to turn to a single person the same way you would the director of a film and say, ‘Here’s the keys to the universe. Take it, shape it, build it, do a vision that will work for the game.’ It makes it attractive for the licensor’s side, and Jim is driving the car from both directions. It’s an extraordinary moment. The lesson that I learned when I started at DC, from the great Joe Orlando, my first boss, is that our readers can smell sincerity. They know when we’re phoning it in. They know when we’re doing it for a page rate, and they know when we’re doing it because we really care. I believe that’s true in all creative media, and I believe that is equally true in the online gaming world as well. I think the sincerity of Jim in feeling both for the characters, for the game and how it’s going to come together will be felt.”
This game sounds awsome, cant wait! Wonder how Marvel will compete with their MMORPG planned for the 360? Who will make the better game?
At the half-way point, Didio invited DC President Paul Levitz to make a major announcement: Warner Brothers Entertainment and Sony Interactive are currently developing a Massively Multi-player Online Game featuring the DC Universe that’s being developed by Sony – and Lee and several key Wildstorm artists have been working on the art design of the game.
Levitz noted that Lee’s prime motivation for coming to DC was to leave behind his legacy as an artist while still in his prime years, to do things while at the top of his form and his craft, to leave his mark and be remembered for.
Levitz feels the game is a radical new project for DC. It gives Lee a chance to play with the DC Universe, and shape its next generation.
The game will turn the DC Universe into a massive multi-player world, with Lee as the new universe creator of the online DC Universe. It would be an experience that integrates the creativity and fertility of the DC Universe, and take it to the next level. The game would feed back into the comics, which would in turn feed back into the game in an ongoing interactive experience.
“The aim is for you to eventually have no free time at all. You will wake up in the morning and put all your money in a bag labeled ‘DC Universe’ and give it to us.” Said Levitz, not entirely jokingly. “Eventually, we’d like to implant a plug in your head so you can play the game constantly like something out of a Larry Niven story.”
Lee has been working on the game for the last six months, which explains why “All-Star Batman and Robin” is running late.
Lee could not reveal too much about the game prior to its official release.
“Basically the concept art for the game, world, what the characters are going to look like, the buildings, the cars, are all going to be drawn by Wildstorm. Me, Carl Stanza, Ale Garza, Scottie, are the team working on it with an Art Director in San Diego named Matt Broome. Matt used to work for me at Wildstorm, he was one of the guys I brought in. After he left, he developed this really successful video game career, and he is our liaison with Sony in San Diego. The game developers are based in Austin, Texas.
“DCU (I’m going to break some taboos) is a fictional universe. It doesn’t really exist, it can’t talk, and it doesn’t really express itself. My role is really to be the DC Universe for these developers. My job is to make this game the DCU. It’s more difficult than it sounds, because everyone here has a different vision of it. Normally, the developer will send stuff to get approved, yes or no, and to me, it’s a bit of a sterile process in that as the person controlling the property, you don’t have a lot of responses. ‘Yes,’ ‘no,’ ‘do it again.’ My role is to be there and create this with them, to visualize it and reflect DCU in real time. I have to create a lot of things. For example, there’s no map of Metropolis. There’s a map of Gotham City, but no map of Metropolis for where everything is. Normally at DC, a lot of people have to consult on it, and it might take a while for it to kick out. On something like this, I can just sit down and sketch it out, identify the appropriate landmarks, where I think it should be, and we’re off and running. That’s something that saves them a lot of time, and makes the game more valid.”
Levitz added that Lee being both a life-long DC fan and an intense gamer will also help keep the DCU game faithful to the legacy of the DC Universe’s 70-year history. This is one reason why they could forgive Lee’s lateness on “All-Star Batman and Robin.”
“It’s all research, Paul,” quipped Lee.
Levitz said, “We’re really tight, obnoxious bastards when it comes to licensing. This gives us the unique opportunity to turn to a single person the same way you would the director of a film and say, ‘Here’s the keys to the universe. Take it, shape it, build it, do a vision that will work for the game.’ It makes it attractive for the licensor’s side, and Jim is driving the car from both directions. It’s an extraordinary moment. The lesson that I learned when I started at DC, from the great Joe Orlando, my first boss, is that our readers can smell sincerity. They know when we’re phoning it in. They know when we’re doing it for a page rate, and they know when we’re doing it because we really care. I believe that’s true in all creative media, and I believe that is equally true in the online gaming world as well. I think the sincerity of Jim in feeling both for the characters, for the game and how it’s going to come together will be felt.”
This game sounds awsome, cant wait! Wonder how Marvel will compete with their MMORPG planned for the 360? Who will make the better game?