The DC Universe Online MMO is still online and free to play. If you're obsessed with Booster Gold, it's a great place to hang out. And when Sony Online Entertainment releases its next Downloadable Content (DLC) for the game, there will be even more goods for Booster boosters.

Introducing the Booster Gold-inspired iconic gear:

Finally, a Booster Gold power-suit that looks worse than his New 52 costume! It looks like a Mobile Suit Gundam fever dream. Iconic gear is supposed to be an incentive for power-players, but I can't imagine who would want to wear Skeets for their codpiece. That's just so, so wrong.

You can find a large version of this pic and more information about the planned "Origin Crisis" DLC at ComicsAlliance.com.

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As loyal reader deusex2 told us in yesterday's comments, Sony has rewarded DC Universe Online players with their own personal Skeets!

Sony Online Entertainment is calling this gunmetal gray "25th Century Communicator battle companion" Servo. The biggest difference from this little Skeets clone and the real thing is that Servo tells jokes. We all know the original -- and best! -- football-shaped battle buddy is a serious as a heart attack.

Don't make the mistake of following the lure of this siren's song pseudo-Skeets into playing DC Universe Online now, though. The battle companion was rewarded to active legendary account holders this past Tuesday. There was no advance announcement of this gift, and Servo units are not tradable between accounts. According to the official DC Universe Online Twitter account:

"You needed to have bought a membership earlier and been active - it is a thank you gift for current members."

Might as well call it a "see what you missed out on" gift for Skeets fans this Christmas.

UPDATE 12/22/2012: Mepps on Twitter reminds us that lapsed legendary account holders get a free 30 days to return to Metropolis where you'll be able to visit other people's battle bots.

Something's better than nothing, yes?

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As mentioned here last month, Booster Gold has a new voice in the DC Universe Online video game. And now you can hear it.

Booster Gold 2011:

Booster Gold 2012:

Booster was originally given voice by Tracy W. Bush. I don't know who gives voice to Booster now, but he sounds like Martin Sheen. (For the record, I'm 99% sure that the actor giving the new voice isn't Martin Sheen; he just sounds like him.) I like Martin Sheen, but he's no Booster Gold.

Bush's voice was replaced in early June because game producers felt Bush was over-used in the game. This change caused quite a stir in the online community of players, triggering an in-depth response from DCUO Creative Director Jens Andersen:

Regardless of the reasons, sometimes recasting needs to happen, and we make those calls on a case by case basis. Given that the Booster Gold recasting has received a lot of attention, I wanted to address it specifically. First off, change is always hard to get used to. At this point everyone was very familiar with the old Booster Gold VO, so any change is going to get a reaction. Second, there was a casting conflict on the villain side. Often, Calculator and Booster would talk over each other. Since they were voiced by the same actor it became a bit uncanny when this happened. Third, DC wanted the character to be more heroic and less of a shill (albeit a very funny shill in the hands of Tracy).

It might take some getting used to, but the new version isn't that far away from the old one, and it works much better for a character that is becoming more involved in the content as a participant rather than a narrator.

I think I can safely say that more interaction with Booster Gold is always a good thing, even if it causes Booster Gold to loose his voice.

You can read Andersen's full post at forums.stations.sony.com, along with some of the fan response. And of course if you want the full effect of interacting with Booster Gold, DC Universe Online is free to download and play at DCUniverseOnline.com.

Note: if you cannot see the audio players above, you do not have Adobe Flash Player installed in your browser.

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Regular players of Sony's DC Universe Online have probably noticed that something has changed about the game's version of Booster Gold. Specifically, Booster has a new voice.

Earlier this month, Sony surprised gamers by replacing the audio files for Booster Gold, previously voiced by Tracy W. Bush. This led to some hand-wringing by many who wondered at the motivation for the change. DCUO Creative Director Jens Andersen responded to these questions in the message boards at forums.station.sony.com:

The reason for the Booster change was simply because Calculator and Booster are very common on the villain side, and in fact they can often play back to back while leveling. The fact that they are played by the same actor was a bit of a problem. We wanted to keep Calculator as is because it's a lot of [voice over] and we will use him consistently in the future. With Booster coming in to the PvP DLC we saw the opportunity to recast the voice and not have the same guy talking over himself all the time.

The PvP DLC -- that's "Player versus Player Downloadable Content" for those of you who don't speak video game shorthand -- that Anderson references is The Last Laugh, and it hits the market today. I can't attest to how much Booster Gold content will be in the game, but eagle-eyed viewers will spot Booster at about the 36-second mark of the teaser trailer below.

DC Universe Online is free to play (and includes plenty of opportunity to interact with Booster Gold), but The Last Laugh DLC will set you back about $10.

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February 29 is Superman's birthday. Naturally, anything that is good for Superman is anathema to Booster Gold, so it should come as no surprise that Booster has never appeared in a comic released on February 29. And after today, he still might not have.

DC released preview art for DC Universe Online Legends #24 last week on The Source that mentions -- but does not show -- our hero. It also implies that we will not be seeing our hero... ever again. (At least in the alternate continuity of the DCU Online video game.)

So does Booster finally get his Leap Year on or not? Buy this issue and let Skeets know if he should start collecting unemployment.

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