153-572: DC Universe Online ( DCUO ) is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game set in the fictional universe of DC Comics . Developed by Dimensional Ink Games and co-published by Daybreak Game Company and WB Games , the game was initially released in January 2011 for Windows and PlayStation 3 . It would later release in November 2013 for PlayStation 4 , April 2016 for Xbox One and August 2019 for Nintendo Switch . DC Universe Online
306-614: A Tony -nominated musical play produced on Broadway. It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman featured music by Charles Strouse , lyrics by Lee Adams and book by David Newman and Robert Benton . Actor Bob Holiday performed as Clark Kent/Superman and actress Patricia Marand performed as Lois Lane. DC Comics trademarked the Superman chest logo in August 1938. Jack Liebowitz established Superman, Inc. in October 1939 to develop
459-612: A "Krypto-Raygun", which was a gun-shaped device that could project images on a wall. The majority of Superman merchandise is targeted at children, but since the 1970s, adults have been increasingly targeted because the comic book readership has gotten older. During World War II , Superman was used to support the war effort. Action Comics and Superman carried messages urging readers to buy war bonds and participate in scrap drives . Other superheroes became patriots who went to fight: Batman , Wonder Woman and Captain America . In
612-502: A British family £1700.41 after their son had purchased countless microtransactions whilst playing the F2P game Zombies vs. Ninjas . Pointing to the disruptive effect of free-to-play on current models, IGN editor Charles Onyett has said "expensive, one-time purchases are facing extinction". He believes that the current method of paying a one-time fee for most games will eventually disappear completely. Greg Zeschuk of BioWare believes there
765-511: A Vengeance, A Black Dawn, Unpaid Dues, and Seeds of Rot. The sixth episode, Home Turf, was released on January 29, 2013. The episode focused on both new and iconic locations that DC fans would be familiar with as they battle through new objectives and missions. Some of the key features of this episode include two daily Tier 4 hero missions located at Ace Chemicals and Stryker's Island, two daily Tier 4 villain missions located at Steelworks and Arkham Island, and daily Tier 4 Bounties. On May 8, 2013,
918-494: A billionaire industrialist rather than a mad scientist, and making Supergirl an artificial shapeshifting organism because DC wanted Superman to be the sole surviving Kryptonian . Carlin was promoted to Executive Editor for the DC Universe books in 1996, a position he held until 2002. K.C. Carlson took his place as editor of the Superman comics. In the earlier decades of Superman comics, artists were expected to conform to
1071-469: A certain "house style". Joe Shuster defined the aesthetic style of Superman in the 1940s. After Shuster left National, Wayne Boring succeeded him as the principal artist on Superman comic books. He redrew Superman taller and more detailed. Around 1955, Curt Swan in turn succeeded Boring. The 1980s saw a boom in the diversity of comic book art and now there is no single "house style" in Superman comics. The first adaptation of Superman beyond comic books
1224-656: A contract at Liebowitz's request in which they gave away the copyright for Superman to Detective Comics, Inc. This was normal practice in the business, and Siegel and Shuster had given away the copyrights to their previous works as well. The duo's revised version of Superman appeared in the first issue of Action Comics , which was published on April 18, 1938. The issue was a huge success thanks to Superman's feature. Siegel and Shuster read pulp science-fiction and adventure magazines , and many stories featured characters with fantastical abilities such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and superhuman strength. One character in particular
1377-469: A contract dated March 1, 1938, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster gave away the copyright to Superman to their employer, DC Comics (then known as Detective Comics, Inc.) prior to Superman's first publication in April. Contrary to popular perception, the $ 130 that DC Comics paid them was for their first Superman story, not the copyright to the character — that, they gave away for free. This was normal practice in
1530-488: A deal with Massive Incorporated , which lets Massive update and change in-game advertising in real-time within EA games. Independent game developer Edmund McMillen has claimed that he makes most of his money from sponsors by placing advertisements into the introduction of a game and the game's title screen . Matt Mihaly created the first known business model of exchanging virtual items for money in an online game, in 1997 for
1683-505: A deal with the heirs of both Siegel and Shuster to help them get the rights to Superman in exchange for signing the rights over to his production company, Pacific Pictures. Both groups accepted. The Siegel heirs called off their deal with DC Comics and in 2004 sued DC for the rights to Superman and Superboy. In 2008, the judge ruled in favor of the Siegels. DC Comics appealed the decision, and the appeals court ruled in favor of DC, arguing that
SECTION 10
#17327806441721836-581: A fan of strongmen such as Siegmund Breitbart and Joseph Greenstein . He collected fitness magazines and manuals and used their photographs as visual references for his art. The visual design of Superman came from multiple influences. The tight-fitting suit and shorts were inspired by the costumes of wrestlers, boxers, and strongmen . In early concept art, Shuster gave Superman laced sandals like those of strongmen and classical heroes, but these were eventually changed to red boots. The costumes of Douglas Fairbanks were also an influence. The emblem on his chest
1989-430: A favorite being Winsor McCay 's fantastical Little Nemo . Shuster remarked on the artists who played an important part in the development of his own style: " Alex Raymond and Burne Hogarth were my idols – also Milt Caniff , Hal Foster , and Roy Crane ." Shuster taught himself to draw by tracing over the art in the strips and magazines they collected. As a boy, Shuster was interested in fitness culture and
2142-479: A free-to-play one has proven very beneficial in some cases. Star Wars: The Old Republic is a good example of a game that transitioned from subscription to free-to-play. Turbine as of September 10, 2010, has given an F2P with Cash shop option to The Lord of the Rings Online which resulted in a tripling of profit. Sony Online Entertainment 's move to transition EverQuest from a subscription model into
2295-414: A fully functional game but are incentivised to pay microtransactions to access additional content or more powerful in-game assets. Sometimes the content is entirely blocked without payment; other times it requires immense time 'unlocking' it for non-paying players, and paying the fee speeds the unlocking process. Another method of generating revenue is to integrate advertisements into the game. And another
2448-511: A game is considered pay-to-win when a player can gain any advantage over their non-paying peers. Market research indicates that pay-to-win mechanics are considered much more acceptable by players in China than in Western countries, possibly because Chinese players are more habituated to recurring costs associated with gaming, such as gaming café fees. A common suggestion for avoiding pay-to-win
2601-410: A game that requires relatively low system requirements and at no cost, and consequently provides a highly accessible experience funded by advertising and micropayments for extra content or an advantage over other players. Free-to-play is newer than the pay to play model, and the video game industry is still attempting to determine the best ways to maximize revenue from their games. Gamers have cited
2754-446: A gritty, war-torn future depicting a final battle between the world's greatest heroes and villains. A future version of Lex Luthor provides voice-over narration. This battle takes place in the ruins of Metropolis . Lex Luthor, wearing a heavy mech armor, commands an army of super-villains that includes Joker , Harley Quinn , Circe , Deathstroke , Black Adam , Giganta , Metallo and Poison Ivy . A scarred, armored Batman commands
2907-582: A hosting deal, accounts for the European PC version were sold to ProSiebenSat.1, however they were still capable of using the US servers. DC Universe Online was announced for the PlayStation 4 on June 5, 2013, along with PlanetSide 2 , and was released November 15, 2013. After Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), had announced their All Access Membership changes, SOE and ProSiebenSat.1 parted ways, returning
3060-464: A hybrid F2P/subscription game was followed by a 125% spike in item sales, a 150% up-tick in unique log-ins, and over three times as many account registrations. The movement of free-to-play MMOs into the mainstream also coincided with experimentation with other genres as well. The model was picked up by larger developers and more diverse genres, with games such as Battlefield Heroes , Free Realms , Quake Live and Team Fortress 2 appearing in
3213-493: A living Krypton. Schwartz retired from DC Comics in 1986 and was succeeded by Mike Carlin as an editor on Superman comics. His retirement coincided with DC Comics' decision to reboot the DC Universe with the companywide-crossover storyline " Crisis on Infinite Earths ". In The Man of Steel writer John Byrne rewrote the Superman mythos, again reducing Superman's powers, which writers had slowly re-strengthened, and revised many supporting characters, such as making Lex Luthor
SECTION 20
#17327806441723366-503: A media sensation over The Death of Superman in that issue. Sales declined from that point on. In March 2018, Action Comics sold just 51,534 copies, although such low figures are normal for superhero comic books in general (for comparison, Amazing Spider-Man #797 sold only 128,189 copies). The comic books have become a niche aspect of the Superman franchise due to low readership, though they remain influential as creative engines for
3519-563: A model called "direct distribution". This made comic books less accessible to children. Beginning in January 1939, a Superman daily comic strip appeared in newspapers, syndicated through the McClure Syndicate . A color Sunday version was added that November. Jerry Siegel wrote most of the strips until he was conscripted into the United States Army in 1943. The Sunday strips had a narrative continuity separate from
3672-619: A mysterious figure near the Science Spire. Some of the core features of this episode include one Tier 7 Challenge in The Science Spire and one Tier 7 4-Player Operation in The Phantom Zone. On April 6, 2016, for members and April 13th, 2016 for non-members, the twenty-third episode, The Will of Darkseid and Brainiac's Bottle Ship, was released. The episode revolved around dealing with prisoners who had escaped from
3825-402: A new high-level open-world map of Central City. Players can explore the origin of The Flash and take on some of his opponents in the villainous Rogues. Some of the key features of this episode include the open-world Central City map with daily Tier 3 missions, nine daily Tier 3 Bounties, and a Flashback Tier 2 Duo. Alongside this content came the new Healer power "Electricity". On March 13, 2012,
3978-608: A new location in Downtown Metropolis Battlezone with weekly Tier 5 missions, and gave players access to either Ranx's Command Center or Mogo's Command Center. And finishing the new powers trio, it brought "Rage" as a tank power based on the Red Lanterns. The tenth episode, Amazon Fury Part I, was released on April 30, 2014, for players with an active subscription, and May 6, 2014, for players who did not have an active subscription. The episode focused on
4131-420: A newspaper syndicate, but they too were rejected, and he abandoned the project. Siegel and Shuster reconciled and resumed developing Superman together. The character became an alien from the planet Krypton. Shuster designed the now-familiar costume: tights with an "S" on the chest, over-shorts, and a cape. They made Clark Kent a journalist who pretends to be timid, and conceived his colleague Lois Lane , who
4284-492: A proto-comic book titled Detective Dan: Secret Operative 48 . It contained all-original stories as opposed to reprints of newspaper strips, which was a novelty at the time. Siegel and Shuster put together a comic book in a similar format called The Superman . A delegation from Consolidated visited Cleveland that summer on a business trip and Siegel and Shuster took the opportunity to present their work in person. Although Consolidated expressed interest, they later pulled out of
4437-533: A public campaign for better compensation and treatment of comic creators. Warner Brothers agreed to give Siegel and Shuster a yearly stipend, full medical benefits, and credit their names in all future Superman productions in exchange for never contesting ownership of Superman. Siegel and Shuster upheld this bargain. Shuster died in 1992. DC Comics offered Shuster's heirs a stipend in exchange for never challenging ownership of Superman, which they accepted for some years. Siegel died in 1996. His heirs attempted to take
4590-647: A quest, or refer a friend to the game . Many browser games have an "energy bar" that depletes when the player takes actions. These games then sell items such as coffee or snacks to refill the bar. Free-to-play games are free to install and play, but once the player enters the game, the player is able to purchase content such as items, maps, and expanded customization options. Some games, such as id Software's Quake Live , also use in-game advertising to provide income for free-to-play games. In addition to making in-game items available for purchase, EA integrates in-game advertising into its games. In August 2007, EA completed
4743-544: A report from mobile advertising company firm SWRV stated that only 1.5 percent of players opted to pay for in-game items, and that 50 percent of the revenue for such games often came from just ten percent of players. Nevertheless The Washington Post noted that the developers of two such games, Supercell ( Clash of Clans ) and Machine Zone ( Game of War: Fire Age ), were able to afford Super Bowl commercials in 2015 featuring big-name celebrities (respectively Liam Neeson and Kate Upton ). The latter, Game of War ,
DC Universe Online - Misplaced Pages Continue
4896-548: A return to the Downtown Metropolis Battlezone location. On February 3, 2015, for members and February 12th, 2015 for non-members, the thirteenth episode Amazon Fury Part II, was released for players with an active subscription and players without respectively. The episode revolved around continuing the story first started in Amazon Fury Part I as players would continue the fight against the Amazon queen Hippolyta. Some of
5049-576: A television anchor, and he retired overused plot elements such as kryptonite and robot doppelgangers. Schwartz also scaled Superman's powers down to a level closer to Siegel's original. These changes would eventually be reversed by later writers. Schwartz allowed stories with serious drama such as " For the Man Who Has Everything " ( Superman Annual #11), in which the villain Mongul torments Superman with an illusion of happy family life on
5202-415: A time limit; after this expires, the item must be repurchased before the user can continue. Another commonly seen mechanic is the use of two in-game currencies: one earned through normal gameplay, and another which can be purchased with real-world money. The second, "premium" currency is sometimes given out in small amounts to non-paying players at certain times, such as when they first start the game, complete
5355-557: A time-machine to the modern era, whereupon he immediately begins using his superpowers to fight crime. O'Mealia produced a few strips and showed them to his newspaper syndicate, but they were rejected. O'Mealia did not send to Siegel any copies of his strips, and they have been lost. In June 1934, Siegel found another partner, an artist in Chicago named Russell Keaton. Keaton drew the Buck Rogers and Skyroads comic strips. In
5508-574: A vigilante. To protect his personal life, he changes into a colorful costume and uses the alias "Superman" when fighting crime. Clark resides in the fictional American city of Metropolis , where he works as a journalist for the Daily Planet . Superman's supporting characters include his love interest and fellow journalist Lois Lane , Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen , and editor-in-chief Perry White , and his enemies include Brainiac , General Zod , and archenemy Lex Luthor . Superman
5661-764: A weekly Tier 5 Bounty. Continuing the new trio of new powers, this episode brought the combo-based "Celestial" Healer power. On January 22, 2014, the ninth episode, War of the Light Part I, was released. The episode revolved around the continuing battle between the Lantern Corps in Metropolis. Some of the key features of this episode include two Tier 5 4-Player Operations in Mist Recovery and Strike Team, one Tier 5 8-Player Operation in Assault and Battery,
5814-433: A writer and Shuster aspired to become an illustrator. Siegel wrote amateur science fiction stories, which he self-published as a magazine called Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization . His friend Shuster often provided illustrations for his work. In January 1933, Siegel published a short story in his magazine titled " The Reign of the Superman ". The titular character is a homeless man named Bill Dunn who
5967-521: A writer in 1959. In 1965, Siegel and Shuster attempted to regain rights to Superman using the renewal option in the Copyright Act of 1909 , but the court ruled Siegel and Shuster had transferred the renewal rights to DC Comics in 1938. Siegel and Shuster appealed, but the appeals court upheld this decision. DC Comics fired Siegel once again, when he filed this second lawsuit. In 1975, Siegel and several other comic book writers and artists launched
6120-478: Is Superman , which began in June 1939. Action Comics and Superman have been published without interruption (ignoring changes to the title and numbering scheme). Several other shorter-lived Superman periodicals have been published over the years. Superman is part of the DC Universe , which is a shared setting of superhero characters owned by DC Comics, and consequently he frequently appears in stories alongside
6273-681: Is Arleen Sorkin 's final performance, before her death on August 24, 2023. The player creates a new, original character that interacts with the iconic heroes and villains of DC Comics. Players choose their character's faction (Hero or Villain), gender (male or female), body type (short, medium, tall, spry, athletic, large), personality (comical, flirty, powerful, primal, serious), movement mode (flight, acrobatics, speed or skimming), weapon, and power (fire, ice, gadgets, mental, nature, sorcery, earth, light, electricity, rage, quantum, celestial, munitions, atomic, and water). Numerous hair, skin, and costume types are available, and up to 4 colors can be applied to
DC Universe Online - Misplaced Pages Continue
6426-613: Is a good possibility that free-to-play would become the dominant pricing plan for games, but that it was very unlikely that it would ever completely replace subscription-based games. Developers such as Electronic Arts have pointed to the success of freemium, saying that microtransactions will inevitably be part of every game. While noting the success of some developers with the model, companies such as Nintendo have remained skeptical of free-to-play, preferring to stick to more traditional models of game development and sales. In February 2015 Apple began featuring popular non-freemium software on
6579-595: Is attracted to the bold and mighty Superman but does not realize that he and Kent are the same person. In June 1935 Siegel and Shuster finally found work with National Allied Publications, a comic magazine publishing company in New York owned by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson . Wheeler-Nicholson published two of their strips in New Fun Comics #6 (1935): "Henri Duval" and " Doctor Occult ". Siegel and Shuster also showed him Superman and asked him to market Superman to
6732-438: Is for payments to only be used to broaden the experience without affecting gameplay. For example, some games, such as Dota 2 , Fortnite Battle Royale and StarCraft II , only allow the purchase of cosmetic items, meaning that a player who has spent money on the game will still be on the same level as a player who has not. Others suggest finding a balance where a game encourages players to pay for extra content that enhances
6885-574: Is mainly a shared, public space. The public space features dynamically generated content designed for both hero and villain player characters to progress and fight alongside and against a multitude of iconic DC Comics characters, moving forward with stories, many of which are brought forth from the pages of DC comics. DC Universe Online has been actively updating through Game Updates (GU) and Hotfixes. Aside from bug fixes, several Game Updates involve Seasonal Events which provide special feats, styles, base items, overworld missions and instances exclusive to
7038-414: Is sometimes derisively referred to as free-to-start due to not being entirely free. Free-to-play games have also been widely criticized as " pay-to-win "—that is, that players can generally pay to obtain competitive or power advantages over other players. There are several kinds of free-to-play business models. The most common is based on the freemium software model, in which users are granted access to
7191-677: Is the archetypal superhero: he wears an outlandish costume, uses a codename , is unfailingly good and honest, and fights evil with the aid of extraordinary abilities. Although there are earlier characters who arguably fit this definition, Superman popularized the superhero genre and established its conventions. He was the best-selling superhero in American comic books up until the 1980s. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster met in 1932 while attending Glenville High School in Cleveland and bonded over their admiration of fiction. Siegel aspired to become
7344-484: Is the number of players that a game can keep continuously engaged, followed by how many compelling spending opportunities the game offers its players. With free games that include in-game purchases, two particularly important things occur: first, more people will try out the game since there is zero cost to doing so and second, revenue will likely be more than a traditional game since different players can now spend different amounts of money that depend on their engagement with
7497-790: Is the tendency for free games to constantly request that the player buy extra content, in a similar vein to nagware and trialware 's frequent demands for the user to "upgrade". Payment may be required in order to survive or continue in the game, annoying or distracting the player from the experience. Some psychologists, such as Mark D. Griffiths , have criticized the mechanics of freemium games as exploitative, drawing direct parallels to gambling addiction . The ubiquitous and often intrusive use of microtransactions in free-to-play games has sometimes caused children to either inadvertently or deliberately pay for large amounts of virtual items, often for drastically high amounts of real money. In February 2013, Eurogamer reported that Apple had agreed to refund
7650-475: Is to sell cosmetic upgrades such as new outfits: these upgrades do not necessarily help the player win or compete. The model was first popularly used in early massively multiplayer online games targeted towards casual gamers , before finding wider adoption among games released by major video game publishers to combat video game piracy . The model has been used by games such as Star Wars: The Old Republic , Apex Legends , Fortnite Battle Royale , and
7803-555: Is tricked by an evil scientist into consuming an experimental drug. The drug gives Dunn the powers of mind-reading, mind-control, and clairvoyance. He uses these powers maliciously for profit and amusement, but then the drug wears off, leaving him a powerless vagrant again. Shuster provided illustrations, depicting Dunn as a bald man. Siegel and Shuster shifted to making comic strips , with a focus on adventure and comedy. They wanted to become syndicated newspaper strip authors, so they showed their ideas to various newspaper editors. However,
SECTION 50
#17327806441727956-476: Is unclear whether Siegel and Shuster were influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche 's concept of the Übermensch ; they never acknowledged as much. Since 1938, Superman stories have been regularly published in periodical comic books published by DC Comics . The first and oldest of these is Action Comics , which began in April 1938. Action Comics was initially an anthology magazine, but it eventually became dedicated to Superman stories. The second oldest periodical
8109-590: The People's Republic of China . Microtransaction -based free-to-play mobile games and browser games such as Puzzle & Dragons , Kantai Collection and The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls also have large player populations in Japan. In particular, the Nikkei Shimbun reported that Cinderella Girls earns over 1 billion yen in revenue monthly from microtransactions. Electronic Arts first adopted
8262-712: The App Store as "Pay Once & Play", describing them as "Great Games with No In-App Purchases ... hours of uninterrupted fun with complete experiences". Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics . The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster , and debuted in the comic book Action Comics #1 ( cover-dated June 1938 and published April 18, 1938). Superman has been adapted to several other media including radio serials, novels, films, television shows, theater, and video games. Superman
8415-481: The Eradicators in order to buy him more time. Fracture thanks Luthor for using the exobytes to give him his powers. Seeing the opportunity he had been waiting for, Luthor kills Fracture describing him as "an excellent lab rat." Before Luthor steps into the portal, Batman calls to Luthor warning that "I'll be coming for you" to which Luthor responds "No, you won't" and activates a self-destruct sequence. Luthor enters
8568-890: The Gates of Tartarus and The Prime Battleground. In addition, the new Tank power, "Earth" was added in and the Battle For South Gotham featured daily Tier 2 missions. The fourth episode, The Last Laugh, was released on June 19, 2012. This episode focused on the Joker as he gained access to hero and villain safe houses to stir up additional controversy between the player factions. Some of the key features of this episode include one Tier 3 hero Duo in Shady Nightclub, and one Tier 3 villain Duo in Police Station. This marked
8721-969: The Light Part II, was released on November 11, 2014, for players who had an active subscription, and November 18, 2014, for players who did not have an active subscription. The episode revolved around continuing the story first started in War of the Light Part I and the battle between the Lantern Corps. Some of the key features of this episode include one Tier 6 Challenge in Spark of Parallax, one Tier 6 Duo in Spark of Ion, one Tier 6 Alert in Zamaron Conversion Chamber, two Tier 6 4-Player Operations in Avarice Impurity and Rage Impurity, one Tier 6 8-Player Operation in Love and War, and featured
8874-598: The North American market). For comparison, in the same year, Spider-Man merchandise made $ 1.075 billion and Star Wars merchandise made $ 1.923 billion globally. The earliest paraphernalia appeared in 1939: a button proclaiming membership in the Supermen of America club. The first toy was a wooden doll in 1939 made by the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company. Superman #5 (May 1940) carried an advertisement for
9027-578: The October 2001 letter was binding. In 2003, the Shuster heirs served a termination notice for Shuster's grant of his half of the copyright to Superman. DC Comics sued the Shuster heirs in 2010, and the court ruled in DC's favor on the grounds that the 1992 agreement with the Shuster heirs barred them from terminating the grant. Under current US copyright law, Superman is due to enter the public domain on January 1, 2034. However, this will only apply (at first) to
9180-827: The Phantom Zone and a potential new invasion from Darkseid's forces. Some of the core features of this episode include one Tier 7 2-PLayer Operation in The Will of Darkseid and one Tier 7 8-Player Operation in Braniac's Bottle Ship. The twenty-fourth episode, Harley's Heist and Darkseid's War Factory, was released on May 19, 2016. The episode revolved around dealing with the continuation of the Darkseid storyline started several episodes earlier, and some potential nefarious actions being taken by DC villain Harley Quinn. Some of
9333-483: The PlayStation 3 version would shut down on January 31, 2018, to focus on providing a better experience on the PlayStation 4. Utilizing the same PSN, a PlayStation 3 player can access their account on PlayStation 4. On May 23, 2019, a Nintendo Switch version of the game was announced, set for Summer 2019, and has since released two separate regional USNS and EUNS servers on August 6, 2019. On January 21, 2020, it
SECTION 60
#17327806441729486-439: The accounts to SOE. All accounts are managed by Daybreak Game Company. During the fifth anniversary livestream on January 11, 2016, it was announced that the two regional servers, US and EU would receive cross play , with players on PC able to play with players on the PlayStation version on the same server, only divided by region. An Xbox One version of the game was also announced on January 11, 2016, for release on April 29 of
9639-519: The basket we're putting our eggs in—is that 'free' will soon be disassociated with [sic] 'shallow' and 'cruddy'." However, another noted that developing freeware games gave developers the largest amount of creative freedom, especially when compared to developing console games, which requires that the game follow the criteria as laid out by the game's publisher. Many kinds of revenue are being experimented with. For example, with its Free Realms game targeted to children and casual gamers, Sony makes money from
9792-649: The battle between DC hero Wonder Woman and her mother Queen Hippolyta. Some of the key features of this episode include two Tier 6 Challenges in Aegis of Truth and Circe's Trial, two Tier 6 Duos in Port of Paradise and Supply Lines, one Tier 6 Alert in Themyscira Divided, and a new location in Gotham Under Siege with daily Tier 6 missions. On August 6, 2014, the eleventh episode, Halls of Power Part I,
9945-569: The beta was closed, which were partially resolved by the game's release. EverQuest developers Chris Cao and Shawn Lord were involved. Chris Cao was the game director up to May 2011, since stepped down to be replaced by Mark Anderson, previously the art director. Mark Anderson has since been replaced by Jens Andersen, who was promoted to Executive Creative Director of Daybreak Game Company with S.J. Mueller creative director. Comic artists Alé Garza , Carlos D'Anda, JJ Kirby, Oliver Nome, Eddie Nuñez, Livio Ramondelli, and Michael Lopez also contributed to
10098-502: The boy and name him Clark, and teach him that he must use his fantastic natural gifts for the benefit of humanity. In November, Siegel sent Keaton an extension of his script: an adventure where Superman foils a conspiracy to kidnap a star football player. The extended script mentions that Clark puts on a special "uniform" when assuming the identity of Superman, but it is not described. Keaton produced two weeks' worth of strips based on Siegel's script. In November, Keaton showed his strips to
10251-590: The character as he is depicted in Action Comics #1 , which was published in 1938. Versions of him with later developments, such as his power of "heat vision", may persist under copyright until the works they were introduced in enter the public domain. Lois Lane, who also debuted in Action Comics #1, is expected to enter public domain in 2034, but supporting characters introduced in later publications, such as Jimmy Olsen and Supergirl , will pass into
10404-575: The character. After Siegel's discharge from the Army, he and Shuster sued DC Comics in 1947 for the rights to Superman and Superboy . The judge ruled that Superman belonged to DC Comics, but that Superboy was a separate entity that belonged to Siegel. Siegel and Shuster settled out-of-court with DC Comics, which paid the pair $ 94,013.16 (equivalent to $ 1,192,222 in 2023) in exchange for the full rights to both Superman and Superboy. DC Comics then fired Siegel and Shuster. DC Comics rehired Jerry Siegel as
10557-738: The characters of Douglas Fairbanks , who starred in adventure films such as The Mark of Zorro and Robin Hood . The name of Superman's home city, Metropolis, was taken from the 1927 film of the same name . Popeye cartoons were also an influence. Clark Kent's harmless facade and dual identity were inspired by the protagonists of such movies as Don Diego de la Vega in The Mark of Zorro and Sir Percy Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel . Siegel thought this would make for interesting dramatic contrast and good humor. Another inspiration
10710-431: The color scheme palette. Pre-built templates, inspired by some key DC characters, are available to expedite the character creation process. When the player's character is named, they are thrown into the world of DC Universe Online with the first experience having to fight their way out of a Brainiac spaceship. The tutorial teaches basic movement and abilities, counter mechanics, and using power and skill points. Eventually
10863-488: The comic magazine industry and they had done the same with their previous published works ( Slam Bradley , Doctor Occult , etc.), but Superman became far more popular and valuable than they anticipated and they much regretted giving him away. DC Comics retained Siegel and Shuster, and they were paid well because they were popular with the readers. Between 1938 and 1947, DC Comics paid them together at least $ 401,194.85 (equivalent to $ 7,310,000 in 2023). Siegel wrote most of
11016-450: The comics business without ever offering a book deal because the sales of Detective Dan were disappointing. Siegel believed publishers kept rejecting them because he and Shuster were young and unknown, so he looked for an established artist to replace Shuster. When Siegel told Shuster what he was doing, Shuster reacted by burning their rejected Superman comic, sparing only the cover. They continued collaborating on other projects, but for
11169-418: The content. Players can progress through engaging storylines, earn new achievements, experience new zones, and earn new armor that helps progress their character. On September 6, 2011, the first DC Universe Online episode, Fight For The Light, was released. This episode allowed players to embark on a new adventure with Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps as their battle becomes the forefront of the episode. Some of
11322-802: The core features of this episode include one Tier 8 Challenge in the Iceberg Lounge and one Tier 8 4-Player Operation in A Rip In Time. The twenty-sixth episode, Wayne Manor Gala and Kandor Central Tower, was released on July 27, 2016. The episode revolved around the continuation of the Harley Quinn storyline started in Episode 24, and the Phantom Zone storyline started in Episode 22. Some of the core features of this episode include one Tier 8 Duo in Wayne Manor Gala and one Tier 8 Raid in Kandor Central Tower. On November 17, 2016,
11475-462: The core features of this episode include one Tier 8 Duo in Harley's Heist and one Tier 8 Raid in Darkseid's War Factory. On June 29, 2016, the twenty-fifth episode, Iceberg Lounge and A Rip In Time, was released. The episode revolved around a new location for fans to experience in the Iceberg Lounge, and a continuation of the mysterious figure players interacted with in the Episode 21 storyline. Some of
11628-618: The daily strips, possibly because Siegel had to delegate the Sunday strips to ghostwriters . By 1941, the newspaper strips had an estimated readership of 20 million. Joe Shuster drew the early strips, then passed the job to Wayne Boring . From 1949 to 1956, the newspaper strips were drawn by Win Mortimer . The strip ended in May 1966, but was revived from 1977 to 1983 to coincide with a series of movies released by Warner Bros. Initially, Siegel
11781-431: The deadly final war between the heroes and villains was triggered by the subtle manipulations of Brainiac (who had been slowly downloading their powers over time). With the planet's most powerful beings dead, Brainiac intended to use the pirated data to create an army of metahumans under his control, facilitating his conquest of Earth. As the sole survivor of the war, Luthor could do nothing to resist Brainiac's subjugation of
11934-431: The erratic pay, Siegel and Shuster kept working for Wheeler-Nicholson because he was the only publisher who was buying their work, and over the years they produced other adventure strips for his magazines. Wheeler-Nicholson's financial difficulties continued to mount. In 1936, he formed a joint corporation with Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz called Detective Comics, Inc. in order to release his third magazine, which
12087-565: The explosion at the Fortress of Solitude and chased Future Luthor through time. Future Luthor escapes and Future Batman follows him. In the following cut-scene, Future Batman is said to be the last hope for humanity. Following these events, the heroes led by Future Batman and villains led by Future Luthor to the "Nexus of Reality" (the center of the Multiverse itself) both fight for control, using paradoxes from constant time-travels to alter
12240-399: The fact that purchasing a game for a fixed price is still inherently satisfying because the consumer knows exactly what they will be receiving, compared to free-to-play which requires that the player pay for most new content that they wish to obtain. The term itself, "free-to-play", has been described as one with a negative connotation. One video game developer noted this, stating, "Our hope—and
12393-642: The fifteenth episode Bombshells Paradox & Corrupted Zamaron, was released for players with an active subscription and without respectively. The episode revolved around players traveling to an alternate WW2-inspired universe where the DC Bombshells were faced with an infinite timeline war. Some of the core features of this episode include one Tier 7 8-Player Operation called The Bombshell Paradox, and one Tier 7 Duo in Corrupted Zamaron. The sixteenth episode, Desecrated Cathedral and Oa Under Siege,
12546-636: The final performance of Arleen Sorkin before her retirement. This was also her final time voicing her iconic character Harley Quinn . On August 14, 2012, the fifth episode, Hand of Fate, was released. The episode revolved around DC hero Doctor Fate and would give players a chance to fight through new mystical story content. Some of the key features of this episode include two Tier 4 4-player Operations in Wayward Souls, and Soul Alchemy. In addition, this episode released four Tier 4 8-player Operations in With
12699-441: The first time. Free-to-play Free-to-play ( F2P or FtP ) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which requires a payment before using the game or service . It is also separate from freeware games, which are entirely costless. Free-to-play's model
12852-546: The flagship title Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands for his corporation originally Achaea LLC that later became Iron Realms Entertainment . The free-to-play business model in online games was later realized by Nexon in South Korea to a degree first catching more major media attention at the time. The first Nexon game to use it, QuizQuiz , was released in October 1999. Its creator Lee Seungchan would go on to create MapleStory . The free-to-play model originated in
13005-482: The franchise beyond the comic books. Superman, Inc. merged with DC Comics in October 1946. After DC Comics merged with Warner Communications in 1967, licensing for Superman was handled by the Licensing Corporation of America. The Licensing Letter (an American market research firm) estimated that Superman licensed merchandise made $ 634 million in sales globally in 2018 (43.3% of this revenue came from
13158-547: The free-to-play concept in one of its games when it released FIFA Online in Korea. In the late 2000s, many MMOs transitioned to the free-to-play model from subscriptions, including subscription-based games such as The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar , Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures , Dungeons & Dragons Online , and Champions Online . This move from a subscription based model to
13311-626: The game Fortnite , they found that since the in-game currency does not have a unique exchange rate, it can conceal the true cost of an in-game purchase, resulting in players potentially paying more than they realize. In 2021 the study was used to take legal action against Epic Games, the publisher of Fortnite . In some games, players who are willing to pay for special items, downloadable content , or to skip cooldown timers may be able to gain an advantage over those playing for free who might otherwise hardly be able to access said items. Such games are called " pay-to-win " (abbreviated as "P2W"). In general
13464-438: The game and their preferences towards it. Player populations that spend money on free-to-play games can be broken up into terms that borrow from gambling: " whales " which typically are the smallest segment, up to around 10% of players, but are willing to spend the most on a game; "dolphins" which represent a larger portion of around 40% of players who spend some money but not as much as whales; and "minnows", representing about half
13617-403: The game was released on July 4, 2008, and the first trailer was released on July 14, 2008. Sony Online Entertainment's goal was to make a different kind of MMO game, with The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction cited as one of the main inspirations for gameplay. A beta was available from December 14, 2010, until January 5, 2011. There were a number of technical issues that came to light when
13770-480: The game without making the free version feel limited by comparison. This theory is that players who do not pay for items would still increase awareness of it through word of mouth marketing, which ultimately benefits the game indirectly. In response to concerns about players using payments to gain an advantage in the game, titles such as World of Tanks have explicitly committed to not giving paying players any advantages over their non-paying peers, while allowing
13923-470: The ground and it is revealed that Luthor hid Kryptonite pellets in her mouth as a trap. Luthor impales Superman with a kryptonite-tipped spear, and stands back to proclaim his victory only to see Brainiac 's war fleet fill the skies. The scene then shifts to the present-day Watchtower , where the future Lex Luthor, heavily modified with Brainiac technology, is telling the story to the present-day Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Future Luthor explains that
14076-428: The heroes, which includes Cyborg , Flash , Green Lantern , Wonder Woman and Green Arrow . Both Poison Ivy and Green Arrow are shown dead at the beginning of the cut scene. The battle culminates with the death of Wonder Woman at Luthor's hands, at which point an unshaven, weary Superman hears her dying screams from orbit and flies to Earth to confront him. As Superman cradles Wonder Woman's dead body, he collapses to
14229-420: The histories of iconic characters, forcing heroes and villains to work parallel to each other, changing the timelines in the same fashion. What one causes, the other reverts, thus making an infinite cycle. This results in a massive paradox creature that consumes time itself. In the raid, players must stop the creature from destroying the time-space continuum (one of the many raids where both villains and heroes have
14382-612: The key features of this episode include a new Tier 3 Duo in Ferris Aircraft, two Tier 2 Alerts with Oan Sciencells and S.T.A.R. Labs Research Facility, and a Tier 3 alert in Coast City. This episode also brought the new Controller powerset "Light", based on Green and Yellow lanterns for heroes and villains respectively. The second episode, Lightning Strikes, was released on December 6, 2011. This episode allowed players to battle through new open-world solo and group activities in
14535-711: The key features of this episode include two Tier 6 Operations in Return to the Nexus and Act of Defiance, three Tier 6 Raids in Labyrinth of Lost Souls, Halls of Hades, and Throne of the Dead, in addition to a return to Gotham Under Siege location with daily Tier 6 missions. The fourteenth episode, Halls of Power Part II, was released on May 12, 2015, for players with an active subscription, and May 19, 2015, for players without an active subscription. The episode revolved around continuing
14688-464: The late 1990s and early 2000s, coming from a series of highly successful MMOs targeted towards children and casual gamers, including Furcadia , Neopets , RuneScape , MapleStory , and text-based dungeons such as Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands . Known for producing innovative titles, small independent developers also continue to release free-to-play games. Free-to-play games are particularly prevalent in countries such as South Korea and
14841-502: The late 2000s. The experimentation was not successful in every genre, however. Traditional real time strategy franchises such as Age of Empires and Command & Conquer both attempted free-to-play titles. Age of Empires Online was shut down in the midst of a tiny player base and stagnant revenue, and Command & Conquer: Generals 2 was shut down in alpha due to negative reactions from players. In 2011, revenue from free-to-play games overtook revenue from premium games in
14994-411: The leveling content headlines and cutscenes. In August 2011, there was a global server merge implemented by the developers to consolidate all PC servers and PlayStation 3 servers into 4 individual servers, one for each platform per region. On September 19, 2011, it was announced that the game would go free-to-play on November 1, 2011, along with the addition of microtransactions . In mid-2013, as part of
15147-410: The likes of Batman , Wonder Woman , and others. More Superman comic books have been sold in publication history than any other American superhero character. Exact sales figures for the early decades of Superman comic books are hard to find because, like most publishers at the time, DC Comics concealed this data from its competitors and thereby the general public, but given the general market trends at
15300-470: The magazine and daily newspaper stories until he was conscripted into the United States Army in 1943, whereupon the task was passed to ghostwriters. While Siegel was serving in Hawaii, DC Comics published a story featuring a child version of Superman called " Superboy ", which was based on a script Siegel had submitted several years before. Siegel was furious because DC Comics did this without having bought
15453-471: The majority of the MOBA games, which offer the "full version" of a product free of charge, while users are charged micropayments to access premium features and virtual goods , often in a piecemeal fashion. In-game items can be purely cosmetic, enhance the power of the player, accelerate progression speed, and many more. A common technique used by developers of these games is for the items purchased to have
15606-440: The movies and television shows. Comic book stories can be produced quickly and cheaply, and are thus an ideal medium for experimentation. Whereas comic books in the 1950s were read by children, since the 1990s the average reader has been an adult. A major reason for this shift was DC Comics' decision in the 1970s to sell its comic books to specialty stores instead of traditional magazine retailers (supermarkets, newsstands, etc.) —
15759-752: The new Controller power, Quantum, where players control time and space. The eighth episode, Sons of Trigon, was released on August 29, 2013, for subscribers, and September 3, 2013, for those players who did not have an active subscription. The episode focused on going against DC villain Trigon as he takes over an alternate Gotham City. Some of the key features of this episode include a new location in Gotham Wastelands with daily Tier 5 missions, three Tier 5 Duos in Tunnel of Lust, Ruined Cathedral, and Knighsdome Arena, one Tier 5 Alert, and DC hero Raven featured as
15912-562: The newspaper editors were not impressed, and told them that if they wanted to make a successful comic strip, it had to be something more sensational than anything else on the market. This prompted Siegel to revisit Superman as a comic strip character. Siegel modified Superman's powers to make him even more sensational. Like Bill Dunn, the second prototype of Superman is given powers against his will by an unscrupulous scientist, but instead of psychic abilities, he acquires superhuman strength and bullet-proof skin . Additionally, this new Superman
16065-434: The newspapers on their behalf. In October, Wheeler-Nicholson offered to publish Superman in one of his own magazines. Siegel and Shuster refused his offer because Wheeler-Nicholson had demonstrated himself to be an irresponsible businessman. He had been slow to respond to their letters and had not paid them for their work in New Fun Comics #6. They chose to keep marketing Superman to newspaper syndicates themselves. Despite
16218-578: The nineteenth episode, The Demon's Plan and Deep Desires, was released. The episode revolved around concluding the League of Assassins storyline and served as an epilogue to the Episode 17 Unholy Matrimony storyline. Some of the core features of this episode include one Tier 7 Alert in The Demon's Plan and one Tier 7 Duo in Deep Desires. The twentieth episode, Blackest Night and Wastelands Wonderland,
16371-514: The planet. Luthor explains that he was able to survive in secret and eventually steal the stolen data and energy from Brainiac's mothership in the form of "exobytes" (nanobot-sized devices that can bond to a living host and give them their own superpowers). Luthor has traveled into his past to release the exobytes into the atmosphere of present-day Earth. The heroes are outraged, but Luthor explains that because he has done this, soon thousands of new metahumans will be created from ordinary humans (becoming
16524-510: The player's character is made an official member of the Justice League (heroes) or The Society (villains), where they continue on their missions to increase their level and skill in various content. Daybreak Game Company is working to make DC Universe Online more interactive than standard MMO games, while trying to keep their key elements which include a leveling system , raid instances, endgame progression and inventories. The world
16677-578: The player-characters of the game). He implores the Justice League to find and train these new metahumans, because Brainiac is coming and the Earth must be ready to succeed where it was once doomed to fail. When this cinematic ends, the player is brought to the character creation menu to build their new Hero or Villain. In the second trailer to the game "In Lex we Trust", it is revealed that Lex Luthor's description of events leading up to his arrival in
16830-629: The pool of writers grew, Weisinger demanded a more disciplined approach. Weisinger assigned story ideas, and the logic of Superman's powers, his origin, the locales, and his relationships with his growing cast of supporting characters were carefully planned. Elements such as Bizarro , his cousin Supergirl , the Phantom Zone , the Fortress of Solitude , alternate varieties of kryptonite , robot doppelgangers , and Krypto were introduced during this era. The complicated universe built under Weisinger
16983-556: The population, who spend the barest amount to maintain activity. As a result of this distribution, whales typically provide most of the revenue in free to play games, and in some cases, 50% of the revenue comes from 0.15% of players ("white whales") in one report. It is not unlikely for a very few players to spend tens of thousands of dollars in a game that they enjoy. For PC gaming specifically, two challenges exist: video game piracy and demanding system requirements. The free-to-play model attempts to solve both these problems by providing
17136-485: The portal and the Fortress of Solitude suffers massive explosions. He arrives in a dark alley, presumably present day. He is greeted by his present-day self who describes him as being late. At the end of "The Prime Battleground" raid, Future Lex Luthor and Lex Luthor worked together to steal Brainiac's power. Luthor is then betrayed by Future Luthor, wanting the power for himself. It is then revealed Future Batman survived
17289-411: The portal which is being stabilized by Batman (whose face is disfigured and arm is replaced by a robotic prosthetic due to injuries from the battle of villains and heroes). As more eradicators enter the chamber, as Luthor lies saying his armor is damaged and that he can not hold them off. Batman tells Fracture to take the canister that contains millions of exobytes and go through the portal, while attacking
17442-415: The present time is not as he described to the heroes. The trailer begins with Luthor reviving his companion Fracture from being unconscious. Luthor explains that Brainiac's forces have already penetrated the Fortress of Solitude and that their time is running out. As they approach a time portal chamber, a Brainiac Eradicator attacks and Fracture destroys the robotic drone with a small grenade. The two arrive at
17595-435: The product with advertisements on loading screens , free virtual goods sponsored by companies such as Best Buy , a subscription option to unlock extra content, a collectible card game , a comic book , and micropayment items that include character customization options. In 2020, a study from Germany concluded that some free-to-play games use the "money illusion" as a form to hide the true cost of products. When they examined
17748-661: The rights to Superman using the termination provision of the Copyright Act of 1976 . DC Comics negotiated an agreement wherein it would pay the Siegel heirs several million dollars and a yearly stipend of $ 500,000 in exchange for permanently granting DC the rights to Superman. DC Comics also agreed to insert the line "By Special Arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family" in all future Superman productions. The Siegels accepted DC's offer in an October 2001 letter. Copyright lawyer and movie producer Marc Toberoff then struck
17901-1011: The same goal). This event partially ends the storyline the game was based upon, yet opens the possibility to enter many new realities. Since then, there have been certain stories tied in reflecting the Arrowverse , with the introduction of Nanda Parbat , fighting alongside characters featured in Legends of Tomorrow , and a Supergirl Costume Legends character. Content from the DC Extended Universe has also been released. Other comic centered storylines feature " Sons of Trigon ", " Blackest Night ", " Amazon Fury ", " Halls of Power ", " Bombshells Paradox ", " Bottle City of Kandor ", " Harley Quinn ", " Earth 3 ", " Teen Titans: The Judas Contract ", " Justice League Dark ", " Dark Nights: Metal " and Birds of Prey in Episodes. Concept art for
18054-506: The same year, which launched on two separate regional servers that have since been consolidated into one XB server, not connected to the PC or PS versions of the game. On February 5, both USPC USPS servers were merged into one US server and EUPC and EUPS were merged into one EU server. The same restrictions of not being able to log into or transfer a PS account on PC and vice versa has been maintained. On October 30, 2017, Daybreak Game Company stated
18207-496: The script that Siegel sent Keaton in June, Superman's origin story further evolved: In the distant future, when Earth is on the verge of exploding due to "giant cataclysms", the last surviving man sends his three-year-old son back in time to the year 1935. The time-machine appears on a road where it is discovered by motorists Sam and Molly Kent. They leave the boy in an orphanage, but the staff struggle to control him because he has superhuman strength and impenetrable skin. The Kents adopt
18360-640: The seventeenth episode, Unholy Matrimony and The Flash Museum Burglary, was released. The episode revolved around players continuing the storyline told in Episode 16 Desecrated Catherdral and a continuation of the League of Assassins storyline that started in Episode 15 The Bombshells Paradox. Some of the core features of this episode include one Tier 7 8-Player Operation in Unholy Matrimony and one Tier 7 Duo in Flash Museum Burglary. The eighteenth episode, The Demon's Pit and Blackest Day,
18513-729: The seventh episode, Origin Crisis, was released. The episode continued the story from The Battle for Earth episode, as players travel through time to fight for control of space, time, and the universe itself. Some of the key features of this episode include two Tier 5 Challenges in Iconic Anomaly: The Hunt and Iconic Anomaly: Test Subject #1, two Tier 5 4-Player Operations in Brothers in Arms and Family Reunion, and two Tier 5 Raids in Nexus of Reality and Paradox Wave while introducing
18666-952: The story first started in the Halls of Power Part I episode, as players would continue their battle against the New Gods. Some of the key features of this episode include two Tier 7 Duos in Resource Recovery and League Hall: Malfunction, one Tier 7 4-Player Operation in Fatal Exams, one Tier 7 8-Player Operation in New Genesis Now, one Tier 7 Raid in Happiness Home, and a new location in New Genesis which gave players access to daily Tier 7 missions. On August 5, 2015, for members and August 12th, 2015 for non-members,
18819-400: The strips, and they asked Siegel and Shuster to develop the strips into 13 pages for Action Comics . Having grown tired of rejections, Siegel and Shuster accepted the offer. At least now they would see Superman published. Siegel and Shuster submitted their work in late February and were paid US$ 130 (equivalent to $ 2,800 in 2023) for their work ($ 10 per page). In early March they signed
18972-700: The third episode, The Battle for Earth, was released. This episode largely continued the story in the fight against Brainiac which was one of the main storylines in the DC Universe Online base game. Players would fight for the fate of the universe with cooperative gameplay against Braniac. Some of the key features of this episode include three Tier 2 Duos in Riverfront Center, Gotham Hospital, and Riverside Hotel, one Tier 3 Alert in South Gotham Courthouse, and two Tier 4 Raids in
19125-598: The time being Shuster was through with Superman. Siegel wrote to numerous artists. The first response came in July 1933 from Leo O'Mealia, who drew the Fu Manchu strip for the Bell Syndicate . In the script that Siegel sent to O'Mealia, Superman's origin story changes: He is a "scientist-adventurer" from the far future when humanity has naturally evolved "superpowers". Just before the Earth explodes, he escapes in
19278-455: The time frame it runs for, usually a month. There are three Events that tend to cycle throughout the year: Survival Mode, Legends PvE and Stabilizer Fragment Instances. DC Universe Online offers downloadable content (DLC) called Episodes which expand the game universe with new, more difficult missions to progress that provide new or continuations of stories already existing; new costume styles and equipment. The opening cinematic takes place in
19431-538: The time, negotiating a deal with the McClure Newspaper Syndicate for Superman. In early January 1938, Siegel had a three-way telephone conversation with Liebowitz and an employee of McClure named Max Gaines . Gaines informed Siegel that McClure had rejected Superman, and asked if he could forward their Superman strips to Liebowitz so that Liebowitz could consider them for Action Comics . Siegel agreed. Liebowitz and his colleagues were impressed by
19584-415: The time, sales of Action Comics and Superman probably peaked in the mid-1940s and thereafter steadily declined. Sales data first became public in 1960, and showed that Superman was the best-selling comic book character of the 1960s and 1970s. Sales rose again starting in 1987. Superman #75 (Nov 1992) had over 23 million copies sold, making it the best-selling issue of a comic book of all time, due to
19737-471: The top 100 games in Apple's App Store. The percentage of people that spend money on in-game items in these games ranges from 0.5% to 6%, depending on a game's quality and mechanics . Even though this means that a large number of people will never spend money in a game, it also means that the people that do spend money could amount to a sizeable number due to the fact that the game was given away for free. Indeed
19890-688: The twenty-first episode, Prison Break and The First Piece, was released. The episode revolved around working with a new stranger that asks the player to go on a couple of adventures. Some of the core features of this episode include one Tier 7 2-Player Operation in The First Piece and one Tier 7 8-Player Operation in Prison Break. The twenty-second episode, Science Spire and The Phantom Zone, was released on March 2, 2016, for members and March 9th, 2016 for non-members. The episode revolved around dealing with Phantom Zone malfunctions and sightings of
20043-841: The twenty-ninth episode, "Riddled With Crime", was released. The episode revolved around players dealing with a potential gang war brewing between the Riddler's crew and Joker's gang. Some of the core features of this episode include two Tier 8 Duos in Turf War: Team joker and Turf War: Team Riddler, one Tier 8 4-Player Operation in Rise of the Bat, one Tier 8 Raid in Gotham City Zoo, and new daily and weekly Tier 8 missions in Amusement Mile's Gang War. The thirtieth episode, Earth 3,
20196-828: The twenty-seventh episode, Amazon Fury Part III, was released. The episode revolved around concluding the Amazon Fury storyline from Episodes 10 and 13. Some of the core features of this episode include one Tier 8 Challenge in Seeing Shades Again, one Tier 8 Duo in Raising Hades, one Tier 8 4-Player Operation in Underworld Trials, two Tier 8 Raids in Olympus and God of Monsters, and Typhon's Monster Invasion which featured both daily and weekly Tier 8 missions. The twenty-eighth episode, Age of Justice,
20349-518: The users buying the "gold" or "premium" ammo and expendables without paying the real money. However, features affecting gameplay and win rate , such as purchasing a 100% crew training level, a premium account, premium vehicles, and converting experience points to free experience points, remain available for the paying customers only. Play-to-earn, also known as pay-to-earn, is a model of monetization that uses cryptocurrency and other blockchain technologies. In single-player games, another concern
20502-465: The world of DC Universe Online, Daybreak Game Company has released 48 Episodes. These episodes were originally available to members who have an active subscription or cost a fee for non-members, however since the House of Legends Episode in August 2021, all episodes are freely accessible. Many of the Episodes required users to have completed certain achievements or complete game progression elements to access
20655-423: Was John Carter of Mars from the novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs . John Carter is a human who is transported to Mars, where the lower gravity makes him stronger than the natives and allows him to leap great distances. Another influence was Philip Wylie 's 1930 novel Gladiator , featuring a protagonist named Hugo Danner who had similar powers. Superman's stance and devil-may-care attitude were influenced by
20808-507: Was a crime-fighting hero instead of a villain, because Siegel noted that comic strips with heroic protagonists tended to be more successful. In later years, Siegel once recalled that this Superman wore a "bat-like" cape in some panels, but typically he and Shuster agreed there was no costume yet, and there is none apparent in the surviving artwork. Siegel and Shuster showed this second concept of Superman to Consolidated Book Publishers, based in Chicago. In May 1933, Consolidated had published
20961-491: Was a radio show, The Adventures of Superman , which ran from 1940 to 1951 for 2,088 episodes, most of which were aimed at children. The episodes were initially 15 minutes long, but after 1949 they were lengthened to 30 minutes. Most episodes were done live. Bud Collyer was the voice actor for Superman in most episodes. The show was produced by Robert Maxwell and Allen Ducovny, who were employees of Superman, Inc. and Detective Comics, Inc. respectively. In 1966 Superman had
21114-432: Was allowed to write Superman more or less as he saw fit because nobody had anticipated the success and rapid expansion of the franchise. But soon Siegel and Shuster's work was put under careful oversight for fear of trouble with censors. Siegel was forced to tone down the violence and social crusading that characterized his early stories. Editor Whitney Ellsworth , hired in 1940, dictated that Superman not kill. Sexuality
21267-483: Was announced that the Daybreak Austin Studio that has developed the game since its conception would become their own studio, Dimensional Ink Games, that will continue developing DC Universe Online and a new high-profile next-generation action MMORPG, with Daybreak Games Company now acting in a publisher role. To showcase their ongoing support for DC Universe Online and provide new content that enriches
21420-417: Was banned, and colorfully outlandish villains such as Ultra-Humanite and Toyman were thought to be less nightmarish for young readers. Mort Weisinger was the editor on Superman comics from 1941 to 1970, his tenure briefly interrupted by military service. Siegel and his fellow writers had developed the character with little thought of building a coherent mythology, but as the number of Superman titles and
21573-697: Was beguiling to devoted readers but alienating to casuals. Weisinger favored lighthearted stories over serious drama, and avoided sensitive subjects such as the Vietnam War and the American civil rights movement because he feared his right-wing views would alienate his left-leaning writers and readers. Weisinger also introduced letters columns in 1958 to encourage feedback and build intimacy with readers. Weisinger retired in 1970 and Julius Schwartz took over. By his own admission, Weisinger had grown out of touch with newer readers. Starting with The Sandman Saga , Schwartz updated Superman by making Clark Kent
21726-585: Was born Kal-El , on the fictional planet Krypton . As a baby, his parents Jor-El and Lara sent him to Earth in a small spaceship shortly before Krypton was destroyed in a natural cataclysm. His ship landed in the American countryside near the fictional town of Smallville , Kansas. He was found and adopted by farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent , who named him Clark Kent . Clark began developing superhuman abilities , such as incredible strength and impervious skin. His adoptive parents advised him to use his powers to benefit of humanity, and he decided to fight crime as
21879-470: Was in Game of War: Fire Age , where the players that bought products on average spent $ 550. The free-to-play model has been described as a shift from the traditional model, also known as premium-priced games, where consumers paid for the cost of the game upfront and the game's success was measured by multiplying the number of units of a game sold by the unit price. Within free-to-play, the most important factor
22032-597: Was in fact, part of a roughly $ 40 million campaign starring Upton. As of 2012, free-to-play MOBAs , such as League of Legends , Dota 2 , Heroes of the Storm , and Smite had become among the most popular PC games. The success in the genre has helped convince many video game publishers to copy the free-to-play MOBA model. During 2015, Slice Intelligence tracked people that bought products in mobile video games, and these players spent an average of $ 87 in free-to-play games. The highest spending per player in 2015
22185-486: Was inspired by heraldic crests . Many pulp action heroes such as swashbucklers wore capes. Superman's face was based on Johnny Weissmuller with touches derived from the comic-strip character Dick Tracy and from the work of cartoonist Roy Crane. The word "superman" was commonly used in the 1920s and 1930s to describe men of great ability, most often athletes and politicians. It occasionally appeared in pulp fiction stories as well, such as "The Superman of Dr. Jukes". It
22338-634: Was released on January 6, 2016, for members with a subscription, and January 13, 2016, for players without an active subscription. The episode revolved around players fighting The Blackest Night and dealing with the fallout from the War of the Light saga. Some of the core features of this episode include one Tier 7 8-Player Operation in Blackest Night and one Tier 7 Duo in Wastelands Wonderland. On February 4, 2016, and February 10, 2016,
22491-549: Was released on May 31, 2017. The episode revolved around players traveling back through time to save a new impending threat. Some of the core features of this episode include two Tier 8 4-Player Operations in Saving Justice and War Crimes, two Tier 8 Raids in Justice For All and Ultimate Soldier, and Time-Torn Area 51 and War-Torn Village which both featured daily and weekly Tier 8 missions. On September 20, 2017,
22644-695: Was released on November 15, 2017, and based on the comics saga "Crisis on Earth 2". The episode revolved around players fighting the villains from Earth 3 once more. Some of the core features of this episode include one Tier 8 2-Player Operation in The Visitor, one Tier 8 Alert in Injustice System, two Tier 8 Raids in The Panopticon and The Escape, along with new daily and weekly Tier 8 missions in Gotham Tricorner Yards for
22797-556: Was released on November 4, 2015, for members, and November 11th, 2015 for non-members. The episode revolved around players finishing the War of the Light saga and combating the League of Assassins' interest in Central City. Some of the core features of this episode include one Tier 7 8-Player Operation in Blackest Day and one Tier 7 Duo in The Demon's Pit. On December 2, 2015, for members and December 9th, 2015 and non-members,
22950-648: Was released on September 2, 2015, for members, and September 9th, 2015 for non-members. The episode revolved around players defending OA as it faced a new threat from the Black Lantern Corps, and a new storyline with DC hero Raven. Some of the core features of this episode include one Tier 7 Alert in Desecrated Cathedral and one Tier 7 Challenge in Oa Under Siege. On October 7, 2015, for members and October 14th, 2015 for non-members,
23103-809: Was released. The episode revolved around the New Gods of the Fourth World as they sought new ways to take control and engage in strategic battles on a cosmic level. Some of the key features of this episode include one Tier 6 4-Player Operation in Intergang Crime Wave, one Tier 6 Alert in Security Breach, one Tier 6 8-Player Operation in Artifacts from the Past, and two Tier 6 Raids in Relics of Urgrund and Lockdown. The twelfth episode, War of
23256-450: Was slapstick comedian Harold Lloyd . The archetypal Lloyd character was a mild-mannered man who finds himself abused by bullies but later in the story snaps and fights back furiously. Kent is a journalist because Siegel often imagined himself becoming one after leaving school. The love triangle between Lois Lane , Clark, and Superman was inspired by Siegel's own awkwardness with girls. The pair collected comic strips in their youth, with
23409-574: Was titled Detective Comics . Siegel and Shuster produced stories for Detective Comics too, such as " Slam Bradley ". Wheeler-Nicholson fell into deep debt to Donenfeld and Liebowitz, and in early January 1938, Donenfeld and Liebowitz petitioned Wheeler-Nicholson's company into bankruptcy and seized it. In early December 1937, Siegel visited Liebowitz in New York, and Liebowitz asked Siegel to produce some comics for an upcoming comic anthology magazine called Action Comics . Siegel proposed some new stories, but not Superman. Siegel and Shuster were, at
#171828