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Batman: Arkham City pre-orders at GameStop include challenge maps
The official Batman: Arkham City website was recently updated with details on retailer specific pre-order bonuses. It appears GameStop has the best hook-up at the moment, offering "Joker's Carnival Challenge Map" in exchange for your down payment. The only other bonus noted at this time is Best Buy's nondescript "combo pack." We contacted WBIE for details this morning, but have yet to receive any specifics. As always, we'll update when we learn more. [Thanks, JJQ360] %Gallery-119164%
NetherRealm and Rocksteady using Unreal Engine 3 for 'the next few years'
Epic's Unreal Engine 3 will power any games developed by Rocksteady Studios (Batman: Arkham City) and NetherRealm Studios (Mortal Kombat) through 2014 as part of a deal announced today by parent company Warner Bros. Interactive. Sure, the news in and of itself isn't all that exciting, but it does hint at the future of the Unreal Engine and the timeframe for the dawn of the next console generation. Specifically, this news would suggest that we're not going to see Unreal Engine 4 for at least a couple of years. Given that Epic has said UE4 is being targeted "exclusively" at next-gen consoles, it gives us some insight into when Epic -- and developers -- are expecting to be creating games for successors to PS3 and Xbox 360. Sometime around, say, 2014? Of course, there's no saying Unreal Engine 3 won't be used for next-gen games -- one look at the GDC 2011 demo of new UE3 features and it's obvious the engine still has a lot of miles left on it.
Riddler takes on bigger role (specifically Jigsaw's role) in Batman: Arkham City
Though The Riddler remained an off-screen distraction through the duration of Batman: Arkham Asylum, developer Rocksteady Studios is bringing Mr. Edward Nigma to the forefront in this year's Arkham City. But how will they update the puzzle-obsessed villain for Rocksteady's grittier Gotham? Easy: Turn him into Jigsaw from the Saw movies! While much of that Saw comparison comes from the me-too trailer – seriously, imagine a Saw trailer but replace Jigsaw's baritone with Riddler's alto – it would appear Nigma is testing Bat's brains (read: your brains) by creating puzzles to solve. If you fail, an innocent denizen of Gotham dies. WBIE's being stingy with the assets, so all we've got to offer you are these images and our word. We'll update this post, or run another, when Warner's done milking this announcement for all it's worth. [Update: We heard back from the PR outfit handling Arkham City and were told the video – yeah, the one that we saw almost two weeks ago – won't be available until a "later date."] %Gallery-119164%
Batman: Arkham City trailer takes a dive towards crime
The latest Batman: Arkham City trailer has a little bit of everything for everyone: Some clips of Bats' new locomotive abilities, some slow-motion face-kicking, a look at some of the island's most nefarious villains, and a totally dope song about how the city "ain't no place for a hero." Really, background music? Because it looks like Arkham City is in desperate need of a good ol' fashioned sprucing-up at the hands of a caped crusader. Check out the trailer after the jump, but brace yourself: Batman's new aerial diving maneuver is so radical, you might actually faint.
Batman: Arkham City opens up for tourism October 18
Update: Warner Bros. just officially announced the North American release date: October 18. The publisher also confirmed the previously reported release date of October 21 for "Europe and other global territories." The game arrives October 19 in Australia. Eurogamer is reporting that Warner Bros. has announced an October 21 release date for Batman: Arkham City. Given the site of origin (Eurogamer), and without any official news releases from Warner Bros. that we can see, we can only conclude that said release date applies to Europe. We're following up with WB now to try to get more information about when we can expect Batman to come out where. Though if it were that easy to get that information, the Riddler's plans wouldn't have needed to be so convoluted.%Gallery-118892%
Batman: Arkham City preview: Bats in the Big City
Batman: Arkham City loses the confines of its predecessor's island asylum for the more expansive slums of Gotham City. Arkham warden Quincy Sharp has been elected mayor and has requisitioned the city's downtrodden district as "Arkham City," the new holding area for all of the crazies and dangerous types from Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Prison, with Hugo Strange appointed as overseer. This prison city has been sealed tight by a heavily guarded perimeter, keeping all of that danger festering inside. In addition to the unchecked crime produced by a population composed entirely of criminals, Batman also has to deal with Two-Face, who's captured Catwoman and plans to publicly execute her within Arkham City. At a Microsoft press event this week, a reprentative from developer Rocksteady offered us our first guided demo of the city and some of Batman's enhanced gadgets, including the revamped Detective Mode.
Rocksteady confirms Batman: Arkham City will be 'single-player only'
Though rumors (and some slick yet ultimately fake video evidence) to the opposite effect has been circling 'round the internet for some time now, Rocksteady game director Sefton Hill confirms in a recent IGN interview that Batman: Arkham City will be "a 'single-player only' experience." According to Hill, the developer didn't want to lose resources that could have been spent on perfecting the solo campaign. "With the game now coming to the final stages, I can honestly say it would not have been possible to deliver Arkham City the way we wanted to if we'd have added multiplayer." Well, shoot. We were really holding out hope for a Batman and Robin co-operative mode, in which one player does all the crimefighting while the other comments on things that are holy -- until being bound and captured by lower-echelon thugs. Oh, well! For more info on things that are actually in the game (including classic supervillain Hugo Strange), check out Rocksteady's discussion with IGN.
Batman: Arkham City prequel comic series fills the gap between games
As a promotion for Batman: Arkham City, DC and Warner Bros. are giving you the chance to read a Batman story in its natural habitat: comic books. A six-issue Batman: Arkham City miniseries will be available in stores and digitally starting in May, linking the storyline of Batman: Arkham Asylum to the new game. Arkham Asylum and Arkham City (and Batman: The Animated Series!) writer Paul Dini is in charge of the comic, while Paul D'Anda, who did concept art for both games, will provide art for the monthly book. In addition, eight-page "digital-first" minicomics will link together each issue of the miniseries, allowing you to experience basically every minute of Batman's life between the first and second games. We look forward to the issue in which he's just sleeping, and Alfred takes the opportunity to do some Bat-laundry.
Would-be Batman: Arkham City trailer is fishy, let's take a closer look
This is fun! A supposedly leaked trailer billing itself as "Batman: Arkham City - Warner Bros - Trailer Fight" has made its way to French video-sharing site Kewego. The approximately 2-minute clip features our fearless Dark Knight beating up baddies with ... the Joker? Putting aside our canonical concerns about the caped crusader clobbering criminals with the clown prince of crime, a few other things raise immediate bat signals. Join us after the break for our best world's greatest detective impersonation as we piece together the clues and reveal the truth about this "Trailer Fight."
Batman: Arkham City VGAs trailer takes out the trash
The wait was worth it: Batman: Arkham City's VGA trailer showed Bats taking down some crooks seemingly strapped with tons of high-tech weaponry in the most badass way. Of course they're no match for The Dark Knight -- why would they even try?
Batman: Arkham City lets out unsatisfying teaser
You'll learn two facts about Batman in the brief Arkham City teaser video offered exclusively by MSN Games UK: Batman is sneaky Batman is good at fighting These are important character traits to reveal to people who have never heard of Batman before, which is apparently the target audience for this video. Otherwise -- if you know anything about Batman at all, or if you were looking for, say, gameplay footage from Arkham City -- the clip is less thrilling and more workaday.
Game Informer goes inside Batman's Arkham City
Game Informer's September cover story about Batman: Arkham City has now been posted online in its entirety, and it's full of details that you may not have heard about Rocksteady's superhero sequel. After detailing the story and setting up a daring rescue of Catwoman, the feature mentions some new mechanics being introduced, like the ability to perform takedowns more quickly by pressing a button at just the right time. Other new ways Batman can deal with enemies include taunts, projectile counters, and even multiple counters at once. He also has a "beat down" attack that will dispatch even armored enemies in a barrage of punches. His non-punch-related detective skills are augmented by gadgets like the "Broadcast Analyzer," which lets him listen in to police and other radio broadcasts and trace their sources. We encourage you to check out the full, exhaustive article -- as if you have anything else to do while waiting for Fall 2011 to arrive.%Gallery-104752%
New Batman: Arkham City screens drop in
Unlike last time, it doesn't take much detective work to figure out that these screenshots for Batman: Arkham City are the real thing -- they came directly from Warner Bros. this time. Check out the gallery to see the Dark Knight beating up a variety of goons, and Harley Quinn cosplaying as Harlot. %Gallery-104752%
Batman: Arkham City adds interrogation to detective skillset
In the latest issue of the UK's PSM3 magazine, Batman: Arkham City director Sefton Hill outlined an upgrade to Batman's "Detective Mode" designed to help him extract information. Batman will now be able to scan a criminal database to find likely informants among henchmen, and then interrogate them to get what he needs -- like extra Riddler clues. "The Riddler continues to taunt the Dark Knight with mind-bending puzzles and exploration challenges," Hill said, "but the location of his biggest secrets are known only to him and people he's told. Rather than unlocking their locations using maps, Batman will be able to scan a gang of thugs to find a potential informant." We're excited about the new gameplay mechanic -- as well as the challenge, described by Hill, of making sure not to knock out the one guy in a crowd you need to talk to. But mostly we're happy for the Riddler. He's well on his way to figuring out the secret to successful crime: not immediately giving the world's greatest detective any clues about how to find your stash.
Batman: Arkham City screens are an inexplicable treat
Before we get you all hot under the collar, a preface: We have no idea where these screenshots for Batman: Arkham City originated. They seem to be posted on an anonymous Flickr set, which then made its way onto NeoGAF. Normally, we wouldn't run images of enigmatic origins, though we've decided to make an exception this time for two reasons: These images look pretty legitimate. These images are as hot as the core of the Sun which sustains our planet. Get your first look at Two-Face, Catwoman and the new (and arguably improved) Harley Quinn in the gallery below while we try to confirm their authenticity. An intentional "leak" from WBIE's marketing department wouldn't surprise us. %Gallery-100909%
Paul Dini is back, writing for Batman: Arkham City
With every sequel announcement comes the inevitable fear that whatever made the original worthy of a sequel would be lost in the followup. Perhaps this fear is doubly true in the case of Batman: Arkham City; its predecessor, the less-awkwardly named Batman: Arkham Asylum, stands a giant atop a mountain of mediocre Batman games. Is it possible to capture that same lightning in a bottle? One good formula is to keep the same creative team around. While UK-based Rocksteady Studios is back in the role of "developer," writer Paul Dini is back in the role of, well, writer and spoke with MTV about the project. Perhaps most notably – outside of his very existence in the project – is the information that Arkham City started production right after Arkham Asylum was finished, giving the sequel a solid two years of development time before its Fall 2011 release, MTV reports. While Dini wouldn't drop any hints about the story (spoiler alert: Catwoman's in it ... and on the cover of Game Informer) he did tell MTV, "We're well on our way through production. We're doing recordings all this week here in Los Angeles [...] It's all sounding great and it's looking terrific." When discussing things that didn't make it into the original and may be in the sequel, Dini said there was "perhaps a little more Batmobile action" they would've liked to include in Asylum. We don't know about you guys, but no Batmobile segment in the sequel sounds a-okay to us.
Batman: Arkham City coming to PC, PS3 and 360 in Fall 2011
The sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum now has an official title -- Batman: Arkham City -- and will launch on PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360 in Fall 2011. There go your fears of deleterious franchise annualization! Of course, we might just go mad waiting so long for the follow-up to one of 2009's best games. As you may have guessed from a handful of internet domain registrations, the sequel will take place in "Arkham City", a "heavily fortified" mini-city deep inside Gotham City. Warner Bros. Interactive hasn't offered further details on the game's plot or new features, but a pair of gorgeous Game Informer covers (September issue) hint at a more brutal tone and reveal some of the villains Batman may encounter. You'll spot a very patriotic Two-Face, and a possible romantic interest in Catwoman. The official Batman: Arkham City website is up now, though it only displays the initial teaser trailer from the VGAs at the moment.
Possible Arkham Asylum sequel names dropped in domain registrations
It appears Warner Bros. went on a little domain-shopping spree for its Batman: Arkham Asylum sequel. Domain digger Superannuation has unearthed over a dozen new registrations by the publisher that reference the Dark Knight or events in the first Arkham Asylum game. Several of the domain names suggest a range of possible "Arkham" titles for the sequel, including: Arkham City, New Arkham, Rise of Arkham and City of Arkham. There's also one domain that references Warden Sharp and his run for mayor. We've listed all the new domain names after the break.
Mark Hamill plans to retire from Joker role after Batman: Arkham Asylum 2
In an interview with IGN UK, voice actor extraordinaire Mark Hamill -- also involved with something called Star Wars, we're told -- revealed that he won't be revisiting the role of Joker after the release of Batman: Arkham Asylum 2. According to Hamill, he was reticent to take up the mantle for the sequel, saying, "My answer to [developer Rocksteady] for the sequel was, 'Guys, we're never going to be able to top the original.'" He added that he had intended to leave the role on "a high note" with his work on the original Arkham Asylum. However, once Rocksteady told Hamill of its intentions for the sequel -- swearing him to secrecy in the process -- he agreed to reprise the role, though he's adamant this will be the last time. "This will be my last, there's no question about that," said Hamill, "but it's the last hurrah." Whatever Rocksteady has planned, it was obviously enough to get Hamill back on board, and that's reason enough to be excited, right?
Batman: Arkham Asylum action figures available Jan. 2011
Didn't like the ending to Batman: Arkham Asylum? Well, grab a stop-motion camera and make a whole new one with the action figures when they release January 12, 2011. The "Series 1" figures include Batman, Joker with Scarface, Scarecrow and Harley Quinn. Each figure has "multiple points of articulation," comes with display base and stands between six and seven inches tall. There's currently no price on the dolls, but can one really put a price on creating a better Arkham Asylum finale in stop-motion? [Via BigDownload, ComicsContinuum]
