Attendees to the NYCC: DC Universe Online panel were treated to a new trailer expanding upon the one released for San Diego Comic-Con. In this one we see ordinary humans being transformed by the Exobytes Lex Luthor has brought back with him from the Braniac ruled future that was seen in the original trailer.

This was used as a segue into showing the character creation system. Like other MMOs you will choose gender, build, look, costume and power sets but along the way you'll also pick an Inspiration. Some of the visable Inspirations were Circe, Catwoman, Deathstroke, Joker, Lex Luthor, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Each has a personality description and other aspects about the type of figure they are.

From discussions had with Jim Lee and the development team on hand we learned that there will be an alert system that will allow characters to teleport out of the established cities of Metropolis and Gotham to go to places such as Gorilla Crater (part of Gorilla City?), The Moon where The Hive is working away at something, and the Temple of Black Adam and Isis.

They had worked on adding Suicide Swamp but then abandoned it for the time being. The only reference I have to this location is from the Lightning Saga in the JSA/JLA/Legion of Superheroes. I initially thought ths might have been where Solomon Grundy originates from but was wrong which has now crushed my inner comic geek who thought he knew everything. 

My colleague Mike Mora had the opportunity to play a hands on demo and he really like the controls on the PS3.He enjoyed the game play and while he has never played an MMO and had a general interest in the game he found his desire to have this game raised.

Mike is also hoping that he'll have the opportunity to become either a Marvel (Shazam!) Family or Green Lantern type character and it was unclear how that would work through the exobytes storyline. Within the trailer however there is a figure who looks like he's a Green Lanter-ish character. So while not confirmed it seems plausible.

The monthly price to participate seems to be $14.99 and it appeared that larger bundles may be possible with lower monthly costs but that was unclear as of yet.

The game looks awesome and reports are saying Beta invites have begun to show up in player inboxes over the past few days.

Stay tuned to ComicsOnline for more NYCC 2010 news and for everything geek pop culture!