DC Universe Online players, prepare yourselves: The Joker's back, and he wants to put a smile on your face. The Clown Prince of Crime is making his grand return to DCUO in the game's upcoming DLC pack, The Last Laugh. Not to be confused with the renowned crossover comic story arc, DCUO's The Last Laugh "will pit players against each other in high-intensity multiplayer brawls, feature an all-new weapon, and introduce new Light-Powered Legends PvP characters." The new weapon in question isn't much of a weapon at all, but if Captain America has taught us anything, it's that even a shield can be lethal in the right hands. Now players will be able to slam, bash, and wank to their hearts' content with the new shield weapon type.

And players will need every trick they can get to succeed in the new Safe House Battles, which are 4v4 PvP brawls that involve players invading one anothers' safe houses in order to complete a number of objectives. So much for safe houses being... well, safe. Players thirsting for larger-scale combat will be at home in the new Headquarter Battles, which see eight heroes squaring off against eight villains as they try to take control of the Hall of Doom and the Watchtower, respectively. And finally, the game's first light-powered Legend characters will be making an appearance in The Last Laugh, allowing players to take control of the Green Lanterns' Kilowog and Sinestro Corps' Amon Sur.

The Last Laugh will be available in June for free to Legendary members and for purchase on the market for Free and Premium players. For the full details, check out the official announcement at the DCUO site.

Another month is on its way out, and that means it's time for another DC Universe Online monthly producer's letter. This one is particularly special, though, because it's the first official producer's letter written by the game's new producer, Larry Liberty. Liberty takes a moment to introduce himself as a 16-year veteran of the industry who has worked on title such as Fallout: New Vegas, The Witcher, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Tony Hawk 4.

The remainder of the letter pertains almost entirely to PvP and some of the recent changes made to it. One of the major changes is that the studio has "basically reduced the ceiling on how much damage output a crit can deliver," claiming that the team wants "to reduce the importance of luck and the importance of a good virtual dice roll in combat, and increase the importance of skill." Liberty then goes on to explain the team's philosophy behind the changes, stating that "the overarching goal for [the studio's] PvP system changes is to emphasize intelligent tactics and skillful play over lucky die rolls and raw stats." The post is rounded out by a list of some of the PvP features that are planned for game updates 13 and 14, showing players what they can expect for the future of DCUO's PvP. For the full, tasty details, go check out the full post at the game's official site.

DC Universe Online heroes and villains better prepare for the fight of their lives because Sony Online Entertainment has announced the third DLC pack, Battle for Earth. The DLC will grant players access to a whole new powerset known as Earth Powers. It is what it sounds like, folks. In addition to the new power set, the studio is also adding a brand-new raid: Themyscira. Comic book fans will recognize this as the home island of Wonder Woman and her fellow Amazons. It's up to players to fight alongside a variety of mythical creatures in order to defend Wonder Woman's home against Chimeric Brainiacs.

To top it all off, Battle for Earth's storyline will put players toe-to-toe with Brainiac's Prime Avatars before they go up against the big bad Brainiac himself. Heroes will be fighting, obviously, for the defense of Earth, while villains will want to take Brainiac out of the picture because, hey, why let someone else destroy the world when you can do it yourself?

The new DLC pack will hit the Marketplace on March 13th, though it will, of course, be free to Legendary members. So hone your skills and prepare for the final showdown; the fate of the Earth is in your hands.

[Source: Sony Online Entertainment press release]