DC is making good on the promise to expand the lineup of comics available in the DC Universe streaming app. Following several significant content updates in January and February, DC will be making its full comic book catalog available to DC Universe subscribers.
As revealed at WonderCon this evening, DC will add thousands more classic comics to the service in April 2019 (the specific date is still TBD). Essentially, any DC digital comic older than 12 months will be available to read on the app, making DC Universe a much more direct competitor to Marvel’s Digital Comics Unlimited service.
At Wondercon in Aneheim, California, DC Universe held a panel showing off its upcoming additions for 2019 and early 2020 to its streaming service. Said panel was full of information including premiere dates of new and returning shows, a look at Stargirl, and the announcement of the Syfy series Krypton headed to the service.
First and foremost, panel-goers got the first look at Courtney Whitmore dressed in the Stargirl costume from the upcoming original series of the same name, set to air in early 2020. The show is based on the 1999 DC comic book character Stargirl, who is a legacy hero and member of the Justice Society of America, DC Comics’ oldest superhero team. You can see the costume for yourself below.
However, that’s not all DC Universe had in store. The next original series in the service’s canon, the horror show Swamp Thing, will premiere on May 31. Like all other original programming, a new episode of the series will come to the DC Universe app every Friday.
Additionally, the second half to the animated series Young Justice: Outsiders will debut on July 2, but that’s not all. Season 2 of Titans will arrive this fall. While Titans may have had a slow start, it ended up being incredible and vastly exceeded expectations. After Titans Season 2 airs, the Harley Quinn animated series will follow. DC Universe wants to have a new episode of an original series every Friday without any lapses.
On top of the original content, DC Universe is also bringing over the Syfy series Krypton, which follows Superman’s grandfather on his home planet. It is much better than it sounds. Season 1 arrives on April 5. DC Universe will also be releasing the home video release of Justice League vs. The Fatal Five on April 16, the same day it comes to 4K, Bluray, and DVD.
DC Universe release dates:
Krypton Season 1: April 5
Justice League vs. The Fatal Five: April 16
Swamp Thing: May 31
Young Justice: Outsiders Season 1B: July 2
Titans Season 2: Fall 2019
Stargirl: Early 2020
Finally, the service is expanding its comic book section of the app, offering individual issues 12 months after their original publishing date. Subscribers can stay up relatively up to date on series they don’t normally read or catch up on series they may have missed.
Josh Brolin, who plays Thanos in the upcoming Avengers film, has responded to the outrageous Ant-Man fan theory which has been making the rounds on social media.
If you have been excited about Avengers: Endgame, you may have come across a particularly inventive theory on how the smallest Avenger could take out Thanos without even fighting.
The theory postulates that Ant-Man could shrink down and approach Thanos… from the rear. Once nestled securely in Thanos’ butt, all Ant-Man would need to do is hit the gas, turn himself giant-sized, and Thanos would meet a particularly messy end.
In response to the theory, Brolin made a post on Instagram, revealing just how the Mad Titan would flush the competition, should the need arise. “The tension around what ‘Endgame’ is going to bring,” Brolin said, “I can feel it, as you can see. Can you?”
It’s been a long time coming, considering the leaked images and rumors, but today Valve finally revealed its virtual reality headset, the Valve Index. A page dedicated to the Index went live on Steam, Valve’s PC games distribution platform. The page includes the first official image of the VR headset.
As of now, there isn’t much information since no details on price, technical specifications, or its functionality have been given. Index does have a release window, though: May 2019. Judging from the official teaser image, it’ll have at least two built-in sensors (or cameras) on the headset itself, and what appears to be IPD and viewing distance adjustment notches. No indication has been made about whether or not the SteamVR Knuckle controllers will be a part of Index, although an updated prototype was shown last year.
The first look at the Valve Index VR headset.
Valve previously partnered with HTC for the development of Vive the headset and integrating it into the Steam ecosystem. Valve Index isn’t the only new thing coming to VR gaming this year; Oculus announced two new headsets slated for Spring 2019 release. The Oculus Rift S will be an upgraded version of the Rift that’ll feature built-in tracking sensors, a higher resolution, and a more ergonomic head strap. Those looking to go completely untethered will want to lookout for the Oculus Quest, a standalone VR headset powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. Both Oculus headsets will launch at $400 USD.
Valve has announced it will slow down on pushing out updates for Artifact in order to start focusing on the digital card game’s larger issues. The company published a blog post on Steam explaining its reasoning.
“Obviously, things didn’t turn out how we hoped,” Valve game programmer Jeep Barnett wrote. “Artifact represents the largest discrepancy between our expectations for how one of our games would be received and the actual outcome. But we don’t think that players misunderstand our game, or that they’re playing it wrong. Artifact now represents an opportunity for us to improve our craft and use that knowledge to build better games.”
“It has become clear that there are deep-rooted issues with the game and that our original update strategy of releasing new features and cards would be insufficient to address them,” Barnett continued. “Instead, we believe the correct course of action is to take larger steps, to re-examine the decisions we’ve made along the way regarding game design, the economy, the social experience of playing, and more.”
Specifics are not listed for which “larger issues” will be addressed outside of the general descriptions supplied in the quote above. Barnett does warn, though, that the “process of experimentation and development” will most likely “take a significant amount of time.” So you probably shouldn’t expect new updates for Artifact anytime soon.
Artifact is Valve’s first new game in years. Conceptually based on Dota 2, Artifact is designed by Richard Garfield, who previously created the Magic: The Gathering card game. Artifact is available on PC, with plans to bring the game to Android and iOS this year. Valve did not announce whether the mobile port will now be delayed on account of the shift in focus to address the game’s larger issues.
Despite the game’s issues, in our Artifact review, we gave the game an 8/10, describing the title as “a capable reimagining of modern trading card games.”
