It seems like making the shift to free-to-play has been very kind to DCUO. A recent tweet from SOE's John Smedley notes that they've had over 120k PC registrations in 2 days. A day later, he returned to say that they've accumulated over 330k new players. Concurrent usage appears to be up 600%! That's a lot of percents!

Jokes aside, it really seems like this F2P shift has done great things for DCUO, so hopefully it means that more frequent updates will bec oming in the future. If you haven't tried DCUO yet, you probably owe it to yourself to get in on the action!

Get your Free-to-Play on! DC Universe Online has now made the full transition to free-to-play, and that includes a website overhaul and a shiny FAQ for all of your... well... frequently asked questions. Of particular interest is the fact that the DCUO F2P model is more similar to Turbine's DDO or LOTRO than fellow competitors Champions Online. In other words, powers and customizations will be fully available to players, with DLC expansion packs and convenience purchases for all. As well, if you spend more than $5 on Station Cash for microtransaction purchases, you'll be automatically promoted to a Premium account, with a few more features and a lot more slots (Character, Inventory, Auction, and Bank).

If you're curious as to the big differences between DCUO's Legendary (subscription) status, Premium status, and Free status, go take a peak at the F2P matrix they've made on the site.

UPDATE: SOE has just announced that DCUO will be going free-to-play on November 1st! It's pretty much around the corner! The team does note that the launch will have a lot of downtime associated with it, but November 1st is the set date.

They've also noted some of the microtransaction costs, like $4.99 (500 station cash) for an extra player slot, $2.99 (300 station cash) for 9 extra bank slots, and $0.99 (100 station cash) for 5 auction slots. They've also noted that most purchases will apply across all characters in a premium account (which can be purchased for $5.00 one time).

Last month, Sony Online Entertainment announced that DC Universe Online will be going free-to-play in late October. Halloween's almost here and we still don't have a launch date, but SOE plans to rectify that tonight. They'll be announcing the free-to-play launch date during their live community broadcast on Stickam today, Oct. 27, at 4:30 p.m. PDT!

If you have a question for the DCUO team, ask it on Facebook and they may answer it during the broadcast. Either way, make sure you tune into Stickam tonight for that launch date!

The second annual Game Developers Choice Online Awards ceremony was held last night at GDC Online, and both Rift and Minecraft took home the top honors with two awards each. Rift earned awards for Best New Online Game and Best Online Technology, while Minecraft received the Best Live Game and Best Community Relations awards. Wizard101 pick up the Audience Award, which is voted on by gamers worldwide.

It's also important to note that EverQuest was inducted into the Choice Online Awards Hall of Fame. The classic MMO is in its 12th year of operation and has a new expansion scheduled to launch next month. Last year's inductee was Ultima Online.

You can view the full list of winners after the jump.

DC Universe Online Update 5: Fate of the Fortress is now live! It features the second phase of the three-part raid to stop Brainiac in his attempt to harness Kryptonian technology to destroy the Earth. Here are the main features from the patch notes:

• New Alert! – The HIVE Moon Base Alert is now available as a Tier 2 Hard Mode. Look for it under Alerts: Hard T2 in your On Duty menu.
• New Raid! – Enter the Fortress of Solitude and defeat The Avatar of Meta! Look for Fortress of Solitude: The Avatar of Meta under Raids in your On Duty menu.
• New PVP Arena! – Players can now battle against each other in a simulation of The Batcave. Look for The Batcave (2 vs. 2) under Arenas: PVP in your On Duty menu.
• Dueling! – Use the Action menu to challenge another player or turn on Dueling Mode and allow anyone to challenge you. For players who don’t want to participate you can turn off Duel invites in the action menu.

In case you haven't heard the news, DC Universe Online is going free-to-play this month for both the PC and PlayStation 3.

Do you want to see your in-game villain appear in the DC Universe Online Legends comic? Then be sure to submit some screenshots and a description of the character to Sony Online Entertainment by tomorrow, October 4 at noon PDT for a chance to win their latest contest! If you're interested in checking out the comic, issue 15 goes on sale on Wednesday, October 5.

DC Universe Online is going free-to-play this month, which will give many more players the opportunity to create both heroes and villains on the PC and PlayStation 3.

Sony Online Entertainment announced on Monday that DC Universe Online will be going free-to-play in October. Executive Producer Lorin Jameson and Creative Director Jens Anderson participated in a webcast yesterday to further discuss the model's three payment tiers and answer questions from players.

If you missed the webcast, you can watch it below to learn more about DCUO's free-to-play options straight from the developers.

Sony Online Entertainment just announced that DC Universe Online will be going free-to-play in late October. Players will soon be able to download the game for free on both the PC and PlayStation 3 and then choose from one of three subscription levels:

• Free: New players will now have access to the current gameplay in DC Universe Online (including Gotham City, Metropolis, and all current raids and alerts), with the ability to create two characters, join a league and many other benefits. Free level players will be able to purchase downloadable game packs/updates, additional character slots, powers and more through microtransactions.

• Premium: Any player who has spent at least $5 (including former paid subscribers and new players who have purchased $5 of in-game items) will qualify for the Premium access level. Premium level players will have more benefits available to them than the Free level player, including additional character slots, additional inventory slots, and higher cash limits. Downloadable adventure packs, additional character slots, and more can be purchased in-game.

• Legendary: Maximum features and benefits are included at this level. Loaded with enhanced additional features, Legendary access will be available for a $14.99 monthly fee and includes all DLC packs at no cost, more than 15 character slots, more than 80 inventory slots, the ability to form unrestricted-sized leagues, and many other benefits.

SOE Executive Producer Lorin Jameson told IGN that the move has nothing to do with subscription numbers. "This is the right business model," he said. "If I can be honest, the game ended up costing a lot more than we thought it would, and this was our preferred business model from day one."

SOE President John Smedley emphasized that they really like the free-to-play model in an interview with Massively. "We view free-to-play as the future, and we're very interested in it and excited about it," Smedley said. He also confirmed that the game's subscription base is "like three to one, PS3 to PC" and noted that Free Realms' free-to-play success on the console helped drive them to this decision.

Smedley also told Massively that they'll be adding non-recurring payment methods down the road. "Forty percent of players who quit EverQuest II cite recurring subscriptions as a major reason," he said. "Part of the future is giving players the ability to play and pay the way they want to."

DC Universe Online launched in January. The "Fight for the Light" content pack was released earlier this month as a free download for active subscribers, giving players access to Green Lantern's light power set. SOE combined all of the game's servers into four worldwide MegaServers last month in an attempt to boost the population on each shard.

DC Universe Online's "Fight for the Light" downloadable content pack is now available for free for all active subscribers! It introduces the light power set to the game, allowing heroes to utilize the green willpower of the Green Lantern Corps and villains to wield the yellow power of fear. The pack also features new alerts that take place at S.T.A.R. Labs, Coast City and Oa.

Wondering how you'll fight with the power of light? Creative Director Jens Andersen shows you how in the below video!

Sony Online Entertainment just announced that DC Universe Online's "Fight for the Light" downloadable content pack will launch on September 6. In even better news, SOE has decided to remove the price tag and offer the pack as a free download to active subscribers!

"Fight for the Light" introduces the light power set to the game. Heroes will be able to utilize the green willpower of the Green Lantern Corps, while villains get the yellow power of fear. The pack also features new alerts that take place at S.T.A.R. Labs, Coast City and Oa. For more details, check out everything we learned about the content pack from Creative Director Jens Andersen at SOE Fan Faire.