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Enter the seedy world of villainy with 'Batman: Arkham Underworld'
Tired of playing as goody two-shoes Bats in the Arkham game franchise? Now you've got your chance to frolic with the villains of the Batman universe with the Batman: Arkham Underworld mobile game.
'Batman: Return to Arkham' delayed indefinitely
The cheery news that Batman: Arkham Knight players get a weird new costume has been overshadowed by an update that Batman: Return to Arkham, a remastered collection of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City, would be delayed. A post by a WB staff member on the game's forums announced that the game wouldn't come out on its planned release day of July 29th in order to keep refining it. In fact, they don't even have a new release date, leading cynics to wonder if it's all a ploy to release it alongside Batman VR in October. Or if it will be released at all.
The first 30 minutes of Telltale's 'Batman' are sexy and gritty
Telltale's Batman opens with a bang. A security guard sits quietly in the entryway of Gotham City Hall, when suddenly, bam -- he gets a shotgun blast to the head. A team of criminals in full-body armor and masks walk past his body, murmuring about whether Batman will show up. He will, of course, as will Lieutenant Gordon, Selina Kyle as Catwoman, reporter Vicki Vale, politician Harvey Dent and Gotham crime lord Carmine Falcone. Note that Gordon isn't Commissioner yet and Harvey Dent still has his whole face.
Batman is coming to PlayStation's VR headset this October
Amid a bunch premium VR offerings set to come to PlayStation's headset, here's a new one: Batman: Arkham VR. While the tease didn't let much out of the bag, the Joker is involved, and made some clever allusions to wearing a mask and questioning what's real when you never take it off. (Note: VR headsets aren't that cozy -- it shouldn't be an issue.) Expect to hear more before October. Follow all the news from E3 2016 here!
Telltale's episodic 'Batman' game launches this summer
At last, Telltale's Batman game exists as more than a set of cryptic teasers. The studio has revealed the first screenshots of the episodic game (now titled Batman - The Telltale Series), its cast and its launch strategy. As you can see here, the look is very much what you'd expect -- it combines Telltale's signature comic book-inspired artwork with the moodiness of modern Batman stories. The cast is full of voice acting veterans, too, including Troy Baker as Batman (no stranger to other Batman characters), Erin Yvette (a regular in Telltale's games) and Richard McGonagle (Sully in Uncharted).
Samsung's Batman Galaxy S7 Edge has Alfred on speed dial
What better way to celebrate the third anniversary of the popular mobile game Injustice: Gods Among Us than with a Batman-themed phone. Samsung created the Galaxy S7 Edge Justice Edition for the occasion (rather than the release of a certain movie), mixing black and gold accents for the new version. This special model "enhanced hardware and software capability" alongside larger battery capacity which should make the mobile gaming experience a bit better.
Explore the 'Batman v Superman' Batcave on Street View
Whether you think Batman v Superman is a masterpiece or an underwhelming mess, it's hard not to be impressed by the new Batcave. It's a stylish take on the Dark Knight's lair and now, you can explore it for yourself through Google Street View. You'll start on the surface, inside Bruce Wayne's lake house. Click through and you'll quickly stumble upon the subterranean base, complete with the Batmobile and a glass cabinet containing a Joker-graffitied Robin costume. The armored Batsuit and Batcomputer reside upstairs, along with plenty of other weapons and R&D projects. The grapple guns on the ground floor are a personal favorite.
Telltale reveals the first details of its 'Batman' game series
When Telltale Games confirmed late last year that it was working on a Batman game series, it didn't reveal much beyond the game's very existence. At last, though, it's ready to dribble out some details. The series will translate at least some of Telltale's character-driven formula to the Caped Crusader's story when it arrives this summer. Unlike Rocksteady's games, the emphasis is as much on Bruce Wayne as his alter ego: choices you make in Wayne's private life will influence what he faces as Batman (and vice versa), including whether characters will go through "corruption or redemption." You'll even have the option of dealing with certain scenes as Wayne or Batman, no doubt with far-reaching consequences.
Amazon Echo offers a choose-your-own-adventure 'Batman' story
Amazon's Echo speaker can do everything from controlling your home to ordering pizza, but its latest trick is something special... at least, if you're a fan of caped crusaders. As part of a team-up with DC Comics and Warner Bros., Amazon has launched a Choose Your Own Adventure-style interactive Batman story, "The Wayne Investigation." The tale has you telling the Echo where you want to go as you search for clues following the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents. Depending on how well you do, the voice-guided game lasts anywhere between a brief 5 minutes (clearly, not the successful path) to a lengthy 40 minutes -- at that point, it's basically a radio drama for the internet era.
Warner Bros. cancels 'Batman: Arkham Knight' for Mac and Linux
Batman: Arkham Knight was one of the better big-budget games of last year -- but its launch on the PC was an unmitigated disaster. Warner Bros. had to pull the game from Steam and retailers and offer refunds to buyers because it was so hopelessly broken at launch, and even when the game came back it still had some problems. That checkered past makes today's news not entirely shocking: Warner Bros. has decided to cancel Arkham Knight for Mac and Linux gamers.
Warner Bros. offers refunds for 'Batman: Arkham Knight' on PC
The failure of Batman: Arkham Knight's PC port is finally complete -- after being removed from digital stores for being completely broken at launch, going through a four month overhaul and returning with too many lingering issues to forgive, Warner Bros. has finally thrown in the towel. If you bought the game on PC, you're eligible for a refund between now and the end of the year.
'Batman: Arkham Knight' returns to PC with some lingering issues
Warner Bros. removed Batman: Arkham Knight from Steam in June because that version of the game was essentially too broken to function. Today, it re-launched Arkham Knight on Steam, though some players are still experiencing problems. In an effort to address these issues, Warner Bros. posted an update with a few suggestions for specific problems: Windows 7 players may encounter hard-drive paging issues after "extended gameplay sessions," but "re-launching the game will resolve" that. For Windows 10 players, Warner Bros. says, "having at least 12GB of system RAM on a PC allows the game to operate without paging and provides a smoother gameplay experience." It should be noted that 12GB of RAM would provide a smoother gameplay experience for just about every game in existence. The studio is also looking into stabilizing the experiences on specific graphics cards.
'Batman: Arkham Knight' returns to PC on October 28th
Months after Warner Bros. yanked the PC port of Batman: Arkham Knight to tackle its many launch day glitches, it's ready for take two. The publisher has announced that Rocksteady's game will return to Steam on October 28th at 10AM Pacific, or 1PM Eastern. The re-launch will also include a patch that brings PC players up to speed on features that are available on all console versions (such as Photo Mode and the Arkham Asylum skin), and anyone with a Season Pass will catch up on downloadable content. It's too soon to say if this will be the Batman game you were expecting this spring, but it should be much closer to the intended vision.
'Batman: Arkham Knight' never feels too big to play
This article contains spoilers for Batman: Arkham Knight; you've been warned. I didn't want to like Batman: Arkham Knight. In the long run-up to its release, I'd become increasingly disinterested every time developer Rocksteady Studios mentioned how the game had grown compared to its prequels. Twenty times bigger than Arkham Asylum! My eyes glazed over. Drive the Batmobile around Gotham! Yawn. My worry was that Arkham Knight would be a product of the Warner Bros. Interactive marketing department, riddling the series I love with bloat and unnecessary features solely because the PlayStation 4's and Xbox One's more powerful hardware allowed for bigger experiences. It's been a while since I was this happy to be wrong: Arkham Knight's genius is that despite its physical size, the game never feels larger than whatever carefully constructed moment you're in.
'Batman: Arkham Knight' for PC should be less broken now
Batman: Arkham Knight was supposed to be the perfect swansong for Rocksteady's Dark Knight trilogy. While the game was received positively on PS4 and Xbox One, the PC version was a mess -- so bad, in fact, that Warner Bros. eventually pulled it completely. That was in June and only now, 10 weeks later, are PC players getting a patch that should fix the most glaring issues. The new update claims to solve the game's fluctuating frame rate, while also improving its overall performance on all GPUs. Warner Bros. says it'll also remedy any low resolution textures and add a deeper set of in-game settings for you to play with. If you were hoping to buy the game now that's in a better state, bad news -- Arkham Knight is still unavailable to purchase on Steam. Perhaps that's an indication of where the game now stands -- better than before, but still a little way from what PC players deserve.
JXE Streams: talking family with Batgirl in 'Arkham Knight'
Even if your only exposure to the Batman mythos is through the excellent Arkham series of games by developer Rocksteady, (especially the latest, Arkham Knight) you're pretty familiar with Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara. She's one of the constant voices in The Dark Knight's ear, and with the recent release of Knight's first downloadable episode we finally get to step into her shoes as Batgirl as she goes up against The Joker. How's it all play out? Your guess is as good as mine because I'm going in totally blind on PlayStation 4 starting at 6 pm Eastern / 3 pm Pacific.
The 1989 Batmobile and Batsuit are coming to 'Arkham Knight'
Yeah, you heard that right. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the original movie's theatrical release, the one directed by Tim Burton, Rocksteady Studios is releasing Michael Keaton's 1989 Batsuit and Batmobile as DLC for Batman: Arkham Knight in August. Of course, that's assuming you've shelled out the requisite $40 for the game's season pass. In addition to the two iconic skins, the expansion will also feature two new audio tracks and six new character skins -- 1990's Catwoman, Original Batman, One Year Later Robin, Arkham Origins Batman, 1970's Batman and Arkham Nightwing. Batgirl, unfortunately, is only available as a separate download.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: cliffside homes and The Bark Knight
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. What if your car was powered by sunlight? It sounds like a dream come true -- but that's exactly what a team of Dutch engineering students have cooked up. The Stella Lux is a four-seater electric car with a powerful solar roof that actually generates more energy than the vehicle uses. In other futuristic transportation news, Local Motors just unveiled plans for the world's first production line of 3D-printed cars. The ultra-customizable vehicles include a sporty racer and a beach-ready buggy. Automakers and tech companies around the world are fervently working on self-driving cars, and it turns out the technology could be a tremendous boon for the environment. A new study shows that autonomous robocabs could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 94 percent. And this week, two electric airplanes made history by successfully flying across the English Channel.
Batman: Arkham Knight's Batgirl trailer looks better than the full game
Who would have thought that the best way to improve Rocksteady's series of blockbuster Batman games would be to get rid of the caped crusader himself? Anybody who's watched the trailer for Batman: Arkham Knight's first DLC pack, that's who. The teaser for Batgirl: A Matter of Family pits Barbara Gordon (Batgirl herself) against Gotham's greatest villain in a high-stakes, action packed thriller. The Joker is holding her father captive, and if Batman shows up, he dies.
Batgirl joins 'Batman: Arkham Knight' on July 14th
Gotham, get ready. The first bit of DLC for Batman: Arkham Knight stars Batgirl, and it's due to hit PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on July 14th for $7 in North America (£5.80 in the UK). This is a story-based expansion called Batgirl: A Matter of Family, Gamespot reports, and it puts players in Batgirl's badass boots with new missions, side quests, a fresh hacking feature and Dual Play with Robin. A Matter of Family is the first installment in Arkham Knight's bulk-DLC season pass program, so anyone who purchased that will get the add-on at no additional charge.
