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Batman: Arkham City launch trailer doesn't spoil anything
You've read our review, now it's time to watch this launch trailer for Batman: Arkham City -- or don't, no pressure. But if you choose not to, then you may upset the Batman and you probably don't want to be on his bad side.
Batman: Arkham City review: A world of difference
The 72-year-old lore of the Batman universe is about as immutable as comic book icons come. If Batman: Arkham Asylum was evidence of Rocksteady's comprehension of the franchise, then Arkham City is proof of their understanding of its quiescence. The chiropteran hero hasn't introduced many substantial changes to his modus operandi since his last, incredibly well-received video game outing. The world's greatest detective still spends a fraction of a fraction of his time doing actual detective work, and a vast majority of his time alternating between brutalizing and terrorizing different factions of armed and unarmed goons. Sure, he's got a few new gadgets this time around, but the methods remain the same. What's changed in Rocksteady's second stab at the timeless DC franchise is the world that surrounds Batman -- the titular prison colony Arkham City. Conceived by the foolhardy, the prisoner-run district may not be the largest open world ever explored in a game, but with an ecosystem of sidequests, challenges and secrets that blanket every square inch of the region, it might just be the densest.%Gallery-136482%
Pre-order Batman at Blockbuster, get a month of free game and movie rentals
Next week, the Dark Knight himself comes out from the shadows and into your home -- and if you haven't already pre-ordered Batman: Arkham City, you may want to peep this Blockbuster deal. If you put down $10 on the game at any Blockbuster store, you'll get a free month of movie and game rentals when you go to pick it up. Simple as that! We'd say that's a hard deal to pass up, but then again we think it's probably more difficult to find an actual Blockbuster nowadays.
Catwoman unlocked in Batman: Arkham City through online pass
Within every new copy of Batman: Arkham City resides a code for an online VIP pass, which grants access to Catwoman content. If you pick up the game used, there's an option to purchase the VIP pass for 800 MS Points ($10) on Xbox Live and $9.99 on PSN. But have no fear if you're trying to save a few bucks and want to pick it up used: "Playing as Catwoman is not required to complete the game," a Warner Bros. rep told Eurogamer. Catwoman is just one of the playable characters on offer in Arkham City. Two different DLC packs will also unlock Robin and Nightwing (who is also Robin) for play in the game. Then, of course, there's the fifty different skins for Batman that can be purchased. So rest assured: if you're really against the vanilla Batman, you can purchase the right outfit that fits your needs.
How Batman: Arkham City hopes to avoid villain clutter
Arkham Asylum's expansion into a city has given the Dark Knight a much larger gothic playground, and enough room for an elaborate roster of power-tripping psychopaths. But is Batman: Arkham City's expanded lineup of rogues bordering on bloat? Rocksteady's Lead Narrative Designer, Paul Crocker, confidently shot down my concern over villain clutter in a recent interview. "We're not worried about clutter at all," he said. "The main difference between us and film is that we're 25 hours long [laughs], and everything is in there to give the player more to do, more reason for every action, and to make their actions feel meaningful." In a way, Crocker considers the peril faced by Batman as an elegant, appropriate embellishment of what's really at the heart of Arkham City: a series of objectives that prod you into different areas and challenges. "We want you to feel like everything you do as Batman is meaningful." And when you're Batman, that meaning is found not in advancing to the next stage, but in foiling Joker's schemes or planting a fist in Edward Nigma's face.
Report: GameStop outs Arkham City DLC dates, prices
Batman: Arkham City's DLC launch dates and prices were apparently posted on GameStop.com before somebody came along and ruined the party. The bat-eyed (roll with it!) folks of ArkhamCity.co.uk, who have been ever-vigilant of Arkham City details, captured the information before the web pages were taken down. A "Nightwing character pack" was dated November 1, for $6.99. The site also listed a "Robin bundle" will hit on November 22 for $6.99, with a nondescript "Skins pack" to swoop in on December 6 for $4.99. With the convoluted way Arkham City character skins are being distributed among retailers, it's only a matter of time before all that fashion is consolidated and sold to the ravenous masses. Update: PR confirms some of the details after the break. [Image credit: Fan-made]
Batman: Arkham City copies available early at Times Square TRU event
The Times Square Toys R Us location will hold an event on Monday, October 17, where 500 copies of Batman: Arkham City will be available a day early. The first 100 customers who pre-purchase a copy of the game through the store's "Personal Shopping Department" (starting now, we guess?), will receive a ticket reserving their copy, and can have their game autographed by Jim Lee (co-publisher at DC Entertainment), Kevin Conroy (the voice of Batman) and Sefton Hill (B:AC Game Director from Rocksteady Studios) at the event. The other 400 copies will be available for purchase at the event, which officially starts at 4PM, but who knows when people start lining up? The event will include photo ops with actors dressed up as Batman and Catwoman, and game demos. Obviously, keep your eye on the prize. You could get Batman: Arkham City a day before everyone else, or those with Amazon Prime who longingly stare out the window for any glimpse of the UPS man.
Batman: Arkham City PC delayed until November
Batman: Arkham City for PC has been delayed until November, Warner Bros. announced this morning. This will not affect the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, which are still scheduled to burst from the shadows and pummel the rogues of Gotham on October 18. No reason was given for the delay ... but if your theory has publisher WBIE and Ubisoft conspiring to diminish potential piracy with 11th hour delays, who are we to argue? Meanwhile, place your bets on the arrival time of that Assassin's Creed: Revelations PC delay.
Batman: Arkham City aims to add replay value with 'New Game Plus' mode
It's a story we've all heard a million times: you play Game X; you love Game X; you find every single item and do everything you possibly can, yet still you crave more. Tough, there isn't anything left in Game X. You guzzled Game X when you should've sipped Game X, long and slow, savoring every second. It was our problem with Batman: Arkham Asylum, much as we imagine it was a problem for a lot of you. Rocksteady is looking to fix that in Batman: Arkham City with a "New Game Plus" mode, which ramps up the difficulty and modifies a few things for your second go around Crimeburg. Thugs are meaner, boss fights are tougher and Bats will retain all of his XP and gadgets from the first playthrough. The difficulty setting for "New Game Plus" isn't customizable -- whether you make it through on normal or hard, the difficulty of "New Game Plus" will be the same. Also, there won't be any counter icons on thugs, but we imagine that won't be a huge deal after you've spent a whole game punching them in the face.
Batman: Arkham City's Penguin voiced by Nolan North (seriously)
Clearly flexing his vocal chops, voice actor Nolan North is the man behind Batman: Arkham City's most aquatic villain: The Penguin. Rocksteady marketing game manager Dax Ginn revealed as much in an interview with CVG, breaking down the various villains you'll be pummeling as Bats come October. As seen in the trailer above, North's voice acting clearly stretches beyond his most well-known role as pretty-boy adventurer Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series. It could be argued that he's already proven that, given his voice acting contributions to, like, every game ever, but we're pretty impressed with the whole Penguin gig.
Arkham City's Batman is a fashionista, rocking six suits in his wardrobe
Batman's a busy guy, sure, but when he's out prowling the streets of Arkham City looking for thugs, he wants to feel pretty just like anyone else. Developer Rocksteady Studios has clearly taken that into consideration, as the caped crusader has a sextet of costumes to don in his upcoming game, Batman: Arkham City -- should you procure all available pre-order and exclusivity offers surrounding the game, that is. As seen above, everything from classic 1970s Batman to Batman Beyond's version of the Bats' suit has made the cut thus far. Fan site ArkhamCity.co.uk rounded up the various bat suits offered in a variety of different means and provided details on how to grab each for yourself. Unfortunately, it's possible you'll have to spend many hundreds of dollars and possibly import versions from other countries. But hey, that's fashion! Update: To be extra clear, the image above is a fan-made amalgam of existing pre-order images and (possibly) non-official game art. We anxiously await an official image from Rocksteady/Warner Bros. [Image credit: Fan-made; Thanks, Regis.]
Batman voice actor says Arkham City will have 'future episodes'
Professional Batman voice provider Kevin Conroy recently spoke to Comic Booked about his illustrious past and apparently infinite future with the franchise. On the subject of Rocksteady's upcoming Dark Knight simulator, Batman: Arkham City, Conroy shared some promising news: "The thing about Arkham City is that it's going to be an ongoing game," Conroy explained. "You're going to be able to download future episodes of it, so it's going to be going on for quite a while. I've been recording it for a while." This news is noteworthy for two reasons: First, we're big proponents of having access to Batman unending, so the prospect of downloadable post-launch "episodes" is attractive, provided we're talking about full-on Gotham adventures and not just challenge rooms. Second, if Conroy's been recording Arkham City vocals for "a while," he must have vocal chords crafted from raw adamantium. Seriously, have you ever tried doing a Batman impression? Have you ever tried doing it every day for two decades?
The Riddler states his case in latest Batman: Arkham City trailer
Take a long, occasionally quizzical look at the villain in the emerald suit in this latest trailer for Batman: Arkham City. This time, The Riddler's placing a few "Jigsaw" pieces into his new, grittier act.
Watch 12 minutes of Batman: Arkham City, if you dare
There's only one real problem with watching the entirety of this lengthy Batman: Arkham City demo: the game doesn't come out for another bunch of months. For now, you'll have to be sated by 12 full minutes of gameplay, including Catwoman combat.
Holy rugged Robin, Batman!
It seems almost inappropriate to call the Batman: Arkham City version of Robin by his traditional title, "The Boy Wonder." This somber, ultra-tough Tim Drake comes with a set of "unique gadgets and special moves" in Arkham City -- provided you pre-order the game from Best Buy. We doubt his current demeanor allows for a ton of one-liners in his Challenge Room-only appearance later this year, but those looking to make him look a bit brighter will be able to don a bonus red suit. The Best Buy-exclusive "Robin Pack" also adds two maps ("Black Mask Hideout" and "Freight Train Escape") for your beat-down pleasure. Update: Warner Bros. has told Shacknews that the "Robin Pack" will become available as DLC sometime after the release of Arkham City.%Gallery-118892%
New voice for Harley Quinn in Batman: Arkham City
Arleen Sorkin pretty much owns the role of Harley Quinn -- well, she did. Sorkin, who helped create the character in the early 90s on Batman: The Animated Series, won't be voicing Harley in this fall's Batman: Arkham City (despite carrying on the role in the first game). Instead, veteran voice actor Tara Strong will take her first stab at Harley. Strong has been doing cartoon and video game voice overs since the late 80s. Some of her roles include X-23 in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Rikku in Kingdom Hearts 2 and Sheegor in Psychonauts. She also voiced The Huntress in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series. A brief Q&A with Strong has been posted on the official Arkham City site, in which she says she wants to "honor" Harley's established voice -- but until we actually hear her rendition, we can't help but morn the loss of Sorkin.
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.
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 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%
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.
