Last month, we took you to the Sony Online Entertainment studio in Austin, TX to get a good, long look at their upcoming action-MMO, DC Universe Online. When the original November release date was pushed to “spring 2011″ at the eleventh hour, it left many interested players wondering when they could get their hands on the game (outside of beta). Now, thanks to an IGN interview with Game Director Chris Cao, we have a date to satisfy you; and what a satisfying date it is.

The PC and PS3 versions of the game will be simultaneously released in North America on January 11, 2011. Those of you over in Her Royal Majesty’s backyard will have to wait until January 14, 2011. Either way, this is a winter release, so they’ve made up for the delay by beating their previously announced release time frame. A lifetime subscription plan was also announced. The $199 plan covers your entire stay in the DC Universe, and at only an equivalent cost of around 13 months of subscription fees, it’s quite a deal if you plan on making your mark.

But wait, there’s more! If you’re a member of the beta, you have some fun times coming up before the game goes live to the public. From the interview:

“Our beta testers have been our greatest asset in these last months. That they now want to live on with the characters they’ve made proves that world we’ve built together is ready. But there are millions of other players out there who haven’t yet had a chance to start their journey in DCUO. To give everyone a fair, fresh start, we’re going to end the world one more time just before launch. Jim Lee and our friends at DC are going to join us in a live, end-of-beta event where players will fight alongside and against the iconics as Brainiac’s menace yet looms. Players will be able to experience what would’ve happened had they followed in the footsteps of the cinematic and battled each other instead of fighting to save Earth. It will be an epic end and thank you for beta. And it will set the stage for the real struggle to come in live.”

The cinematic he refers to is, of course, the stunning action scene developed by Blur Studio:

I, for one, am definitely looking forward to participating in a spectacular DC end-of-the-world battle. I’m not sure when the end-game is coming, but I do know that I’ll be ready for it when it does. Will you?