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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Morgenstern spotted Booster Gold in the preview pages DC teased on The Source for today's release of DC Universe Online Legends #22. The events of this series are out of continuity (taking place in an alternate timeline) as they fill in the back-story for the DC Universe Online video game.

It was only a matter of time before Booster appeared in this series. He plays a significant role in the game as the tour guide for Metropolis and Gotham cities, leading players to landmarks across the DCU. Recording those sessions must have kept the Corporate Crusader too busy to participate in saving this alternate world until now.

The game is now free to play on your PC, and can be downloaded from dcuniverseonline.com. However, the comic will cost you $2.99, whether you buy a floppy copy in your Local Comic Shop or a digital copy online at Comixology.com/DC_Comics.

Buy this comic and make the DC Universe Online version of Skeets happy.

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When Booster Gold was created in 1985, Nintendo was in the process of revolutionizing home video gaming. The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) had 2 KB of video RAM and a 54 color palette.

At the time that was amazing. In 2012, it's nostalgic.

The above image was created by PixelBlock, a tumblr blog devoted to creating pixelated versions of pop culture icons. You can see more here.

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This is not breaking news, but DC Universe Online is now free to play, no longer requiring a monthly subscription. If you've previously passed on the opportunity to interact with Booster Gold inside the DC Universe, you are running out of excuses.

The above video is the Booster Gold boss battle of the game's HIVE Duo mission. If you just want to see Booster and Skeets, skip to about the 3:30 mark. If you want to fight Booster Gold yourself, play DC Universe Online.

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