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Batman animated film based on Arkham series gets suicidal trailer
The DC Animated film based on the Batman: Arkham series of video games, which we initially reported on back in February, has been given its first trailer. The film will feature appearances from several Arkham series mainstays such as Joker and Harley Quinn, as well as the first Arkham universe appearance of the Suicide Squad, a supergroup of villains who team up for the greater bad. If you know nothing of the Suicide Squad, here's all you need to know: one of the villains in the film calls himself Captain Boomerang. Say no more, we're onboard. While the Suicide Squad was teased and hinted at during both Arkham Origins and Arkham Origins Blackgate, it looks like this will be the first time we see the group as a cohesive whole in the Arkham universe. Kevin Conroy will reprise his role as Batman, while Troy Baker will once again voice Joker. The film is not yet rated, nor does it have a release date. [Image: DC Animated]
Infinite Crisis recruits Blue Beetle
Infinite Crisis has recruited a new warrior in its fight against property damage and excess jungling: Blue Beetle. Blue Beetle, aka Jamie Reyes, came across a blue scarab that wrapped him up in battle armor. The sentient armor and Jamie came to a mutual understanding to fight for whatever player was controlling them that session. Blue Beetle comes equipped with an energy cannon, a scarab scanner, a dash, and even an infiltrator mode. Bad guys get too close? Time for a little mandible taser, am I right? Turbine touts Blue Beetle as a highly mobile champion that can sneak up and smack down solo targets. Check out Blue Beetle in action after the jump.
Batman: Arkham Knight scored by Call of Duty: Ghosts composer
David Buckley, composer for Call of Duty: Ghosts, signed on to write the music for Batman: Arkham Knight. Buckley will co-compose the game's soundtrack with Nick Arundel, the composer that scored the other two games in Rocksteady's Arkham triology: Batman Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. Aside from Call of Duty: Ghosts, Buckley's work in the video game space includes Metal Gear Solid 4 and Activision's Shrek Forever After game. He also composes music for the CBS TV show The Good Wife and the Ben Affleck-directed film, The Town, and provided additional music for Jerry Bruckheimer's Prince of Persia film. Announced in March as the final game in the series from Rocksteady, Batman: Arkham Knight will prominently feature the Batmobile as a primary gameplay element. The game is set in a section of Gotham City that's said to be "five times larger" than that of Arkham City, and will include "traffic-friendly streets" to accommodate for the Dark Knight's favorite ride. It will also spotlight the aptly named Arkham Knight, an arch-villain created from scratch by Rocksteady and DC Entertainment CCO Geoff Johns. The game is slated to launch later this year for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. [Image: Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment]
Lego: The Hobbit isn't setting off for Wii U just yet
Warner Bros. revealed it's pushed back the Wii U version of Lego: The Hobbit until April 22 in North America, despite releasing the game on other platforms this week. According to a press release sent to Joystiq, Warner Bros UK is releasing the Wii U version alongside other platforms on April 11, while Vooks reports a May 7 due date for Nintendo's home console, in contrast to April 16 on other systems. WB didn't explain why it's holding back Bilbo and his dwarven pals from Wii U adventures, but the publisher does have a bit of a history with the Nintendo console. The Wii U didn't get mulitplayer content or campaign DLC for Batman: Arkham Origins, and that version was also delayed in the UK. Add in the recent week's delay for the Wii U version of Arkham Origins: Blackgate in Europe, and then there's the year or so Europeans had to wait for Scribblenauts Unlimited on Nintendo systems. As for Lego: The Hobbit itself, the game chronicles the first two films of the trilogy based on Tolkein's beloved book. Reportedly, dev Traveler's Tales is bringing There and Back Again to the game as DLC, with plans to release it when the third film hits cinemas in December. While Wii U owners have to wait a little longer, if you fancy a halfling with the latest Lego game you can get it now on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, Vita, 3DS and PC. [Image: Warner Bros.]
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate escapes onto Europe's eShop this week
A quick update for European Wii U owners and vigilantes-to-be: the Deluxe Edition of Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate is coming to the eShop on April 10, priced 20 euros/£16. WB Games quietly delayed it last week, but the good news is we're not looking at a repeat of the Scribblenauts Unlimited fiasco. The enhanced version of last year's portable platformer is already out on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC - and on Wii U in North America. Bats returning to the 2.5D belfry will encounter improved visuals a new map system, along with new enemy encounters and difficulties. [Image: WB Games]
Hunt orcs in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor this October
Alongside the above story trailer, developer Monolith Productions has revealed that its upcoming Tolkien-inspired action roleplaying game, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, will reach retail shelves on October 7. As we mentioned in our lengthy preview from January, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor drops players into the chaotic warfare immortalized in Tolkien's Lord of Rings books (and their subsequent Peter Jackson-directed film adaptations). Players assume the role of a ranger driven by revenge who dispatches foes using agility and combat prowess reminiscent of that seen in the Assassin's Creed franchise. Those who pre-order Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor will receive the exclusive "Dark Ranger" DLC pack. Included in this bundle is a new character skin, new challenge mode and access to the game's online leaderboards. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is slated to debut on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC platforms. [Image: WB]
Splinter Cell Blacklist game director now at Warner Bros. Montreal
Splinter Cell Blacklist game director Patrick Redding left Ubisoft recently to join Batman: Arkham Origins studio Warner Bros. Montreal, where he's working as a creative director on an unannounced project. An Ubisoft veteran of nearly ten years, Redding's previous role was as a creative director at Ubisoft Toronto, again on an unannounced project. According to his LinkedIn profile, Redding's switch to WB Montreal occurred sometime last month, but the news was confirmed yesterday by Arkham Origins creative director Eric Holmes. With Rocksteady revealed as the developer behind the recently unveiled Batman: Arkham Knight, whatever WB Montreal's working on is currently remaining cloaked. [Image: Ubisoft]
EA looks to WB's Batman: Arkham success with Star Wars games
In a recent interview with Fortune, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson discussed his vision for the company, as well as the challenges he's faced, since taking over in September of last year. While most of the interview was a CEO issuing statements meant to assure his company's audience that they're focused on making great games, Wilson also noted the success of other publishers. When discussing the company's recent licensing deal with Disney to produce Star Wars games, Wilson pointed to Warner Bros. Interactive's Arkham series as an example of how to do licensed properties right: "What Warner Bros. did with Batman was take the core roots of that IP and manifest that inside the walls of Gotham City and delivered an interactive experience that had real ties to what you would see in the films and what you had read in the comics, while having its own life because it could provide such deep and more immersive storylines," Wilson said. "When we look at the Star Wars properties, that's how we're looking at it. We're not trying to build a game that replicates the storyline of any particular film." Wilson also left the door open regarding what business model future EA games would follow. Comparing the mobile and home game markets, Wilson said, "I don't think ... that all of us are suddenly going to stop playing games on our 60-inch TVs because that's great gaming, and that's great entertainment. How you get that game there, I think that's anyone's guess." [Image: Warner Bros.]
Latest Batman: Arkham Knight screens show the dark knight's new villain
Batman and Commissioner Gordon were recently on display in these totally-not-brooding screens for Batman: Arkham Knight. One of the characters showcased in the screens is Rocksteady's new arch-villain, appropriately dubbed "Arkham Knight." The PS4, Xbox One and PC game will arrive later this year.
Gauntlet reboot needs food badly this summer
Gauntlet, the original co-op dungeon crawler, will return this summer to a home-based arcade near you. Announced only for Steam on PC at this time, the game will also have full support for SteamOS and Steam Machines. Warner Bros. revealed the "completely modernized action RPG" will be part of its direct-to-digital WB Games Vault portfolio. The initiative will deliver downloadable games based on WB and Midway arcade brands, along with original intellectual properties "across multiple digital networks." "With Gauntlet we combined the arcade style of the original game with an entirely new look and feature set that includes emergent, local and online four-player gameplay," said SVP of digital at WB David Haddad. Gauntlet is being developed by Arrowhead Games, best known for creating Magicka. We'll hopefully have more details to share about the game this week after seeing the title at this week's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
Warner Bros invests $18 million in Machinima
As the journal of Wall Street foretold, Machinima has received $18 million in funding from Warner Bros. Gamasutra reports WB's executive vice president of strategy and biz development Thomas Gewecke said Machinima was a "pioneer and category leader" on YouTube and that Warner is "impressed with Machinima as a distribution partner." Multi-channel YouTube platform Machinima received $35 million from Google in 2012, but has struggled to find stability. The obvious current synergy between Machinima and WB is the publisher's big play for the esports demographic with its Infinite Crisis MOBA.
The World of Magic aims to take over for the Harry Potter MMO
Last week, we heard news that the Harry Potter MMO was put on hold by Warner Bros. while they decided "if the production would be a good investment or not." But the development team at Bio-Hazard Entertainment decided to show WB what they're made of with a side project named The World of Magic. TWoM doesn't look to be a direct Harry Potter game, but instead an MMO inspired by the IP. "We think that this MMO will be exactly what you guys wanted and more!" a dev blog states. "Our new site is will soon give you more info, images, videos, and options that will allow you to see how similar it will be to HP. It has broken our hearts that HP is on hold but maybe this gives us the opportunity to show WB that our new company can do it and not matter what obstacles get in our way, we can overcome them!" While further details aren't available at this time, the project's new website already has 600 members and plenty of gallery images to get any Harry Potter fan excited. [Thanks to Viturino for the tip!]
Batman Arkham Knight set one year later, 'five times larger' than Arkham City
The recently-revealed final game from Rocksteady in the Arkham series, Batman Arkham Knight, will feature "traffic-friendly streets" in a map that's said to be "roughly five times the size" of Batman Arkham City. Lead AI and combat programmer Tim Hanagan told Game Informer that "at any given time, there are between three and four times the number of thugs active in Gotham City than there were in Arkham City," and that larger riots in the game will have up to 50 characters wreaking havoc. Arkham Knight is set one year after Arkham City, in which Batman's foes have banded together to tear the Dark Knight's attention away from a crumbling Gotham City. The single player-only game will also include an arch-villain created from scratch by Rocksteady and DC Entertainment CCO Geoff Johns. Rocksteady's initial announcement focused on another big addition to the Arkham series: Players will get plenty of time in the driver's seat of the Batmobile, which can be fetched at the press of a button, can handle the jumps and boosts expected of the more reckless drivers among us and will eject Batman out of his seat at times. Kevin Conroy will return to voice Batman after Roger Craig Smith lent his voice to the character in Arkham Origins. Additionally, Nolan North will voice Penguin, Wally Wingert will voice Riddler, Tara Strong will continue as Harley Quinn and Troy Baker will voice Two-Face again. Speaking of Harley Quinn, Joker's popular sidekick will be playable via pre-order bonus content that includes four challenge maps. [Image: Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment]
WSJ: Warner Bros. eyeing Machinima for investment opportunity
Warner Bros. is considering an investment in Machinima of $10-15 million, reports the Wall Street Journal. Machinima, a multi-channel YouTube platform, received $35 million from Google in the past, but according to AllThingsD, was unable to secure a mega-round of $70 million last year and is still looking for a new CEO. We've reported on binge and purge layoffs at the company for the past two years. Warner's obvious synergistic interest in the network would be to help promote its Infinite Crisis MOBA, which is the publisher's big play for the esports demographic. Machinima claims it has over 200 million unique visitors every month.
Pieces might be falling into place for a Minecraft movie from Warner Bros.
Prepare thyselves, Minecrafters. Earlier today, Deadline reported that Warner Bros. had acquired the rights to turn the indie phenomenon Minecraft "into a major motion picture." The popular franchise has apparently already drawn "huge interest" from writers and filmmakers, making it a hot property for Warner Bros. to add to its mighty portfolio. The studio giant is rumored to have chosen Roy Lee to take production charge of said Minecraft project; he recently produced The Lego Movie, which has been a complete hit at the box office. Minecraft creator, Markus "Notch" Persson, isn't keeping quiet and recently tweeted about how he "wanted to be the leak," hinting that, perhaps, there is a movie in the works. Still, nothing's actually been confirmed yet -- but, as they say, where there's smoke, there's fire. Until then, maybe this documentary can control your high level of excitement.
Lego Movie producer tapped for 'potential' Minecraft movie
Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has revealed that a movie based on the wildly popular sandbox creation game may be headed to theaters at some point in the future. "Someone is trying leak the fact that we're working with Warner Brothers on a potential Minecraft Movie," Persson tweeted. "I wanted to be the leak!" According to a Deadline report, Warner Bros. recently acquired the rights to make a Minecraft film from developer Mojang, and has tapped The Lego Movie producer Roy Lee to oversee the project. Beyond Persson's lone tweet and Deadline's mention of a producer, no information on this Minecraft movie exists, though we can be reasonably sure that it won't be a documentary on the game. Thanks to 2 Player Productions, we've already got one of those. [Image: Mojang]
Infinite Crisis hits open beta on March 14
Turbine has announced that its Infinite Crisis MOBA will launch its open beta on March 14. Former Lord of the Rings Online and current Infinite Crisis executive producer, Jeffrey Steefel, commented on the game's growth since closed beta began: "We now have three maps, three modes, a huge amount of different ways you can play the game. Twenty-seven characters and, in fact, we are adding a new character every three weeks." The game is said to include new costumes for each character, a digital comic, and action figures in the near future.
Lego: The Hobbit shares in an adventure this April
Lego: The Hobbit and its merry band of plastic dwarves are coming to North America on April 8, and Europe on April 11. A Warner Bros. representative confirmed the release dates to Joystiq today, so fans will have a TT Games tie-in of the first two Hobbit films to tide them over before There and Back Again hits bigger screens in December. The news follows the reveal of a $270 500GB super slim PS3 bundle for the game, but if you'd prefer to join Bilbo and pals on other systems, you're more than in luck. Lego: The Hobbit is also on the way to Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, Vita, Wii U, 3DS, Windows PC and Mac. [Image: Warner Bros.]
Lego The Hobbit PS3 bundle goes on an adventure this spring
Sony is preparing a new PS3 bundle for the spring to capitalize on the hype surrounding the third and final The Hobbit film due in theaters this December. For $270, interested adventurers can snag a 500GB "super slim" PS3 – which comes with one DualShock 3 controller, appropriate wires and documentation – and a copy of Lego The Hobbit. The latest from TT Games in the long line of Lego revamps focuses on the first two films in Peter Jackson's adapted trilogy, and sees Bilbo Baggins and his band of Dwarves (and one wizard) trek across Middle-earth in order to help the Dwarves reclaim their homeland. Lego The Hobbit launches this spring on just about every current platform: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, PS Vita, Wii U, 3DS, PC and Mac. [Image: Warner Bros.]
Shadow of Mordor enemies less devious on Xbox 360, PS3
Monolith Productions is doing "whatever we can" to ensure feature parity between the Xbox 360, PS3 versions of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and the Xbox One, PS4 offerings. But the developer admits this may be an impossibility and reveals the game's core hook, the Nemesis system driving its procedurally-generated enemies, will likely lack some complexity on Xbox 360 and PS3 when the game launches this year. "To break it down, some of the stuff we're pretty confident will still be very similar on current gen: the core mechanics, like combat, stealth, ranged and movements; the basic control and gameplay, that should all be really solid," Monolith Design Director Michael De Plater told IGN. "What it won't have is the same level of depth and variety and simulation within the 'Nemesis system.'" De Plater added that the Nemesis system is "just so huge in terms of content, calculations and AI we'll just have to try and get as much of it in as we can." The Nemesis system is the mechanic driving Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's core gameplay loop. Protagonist Talion, on a mission of revenge, explores Mordor and isolates Orcs in order to extract information on Sauron's army. This information reveals not only Orc hierarchy, but also the vulnerabilities and strengths of individual Orc commanders, each of which are procedurally-generated by the game. We were able to go in-depth with Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis system last month, though admittedly all we saw was the next-gen version running on a high-end PC. Monolith was unwilling to discuss the planned Xbox 360 and PS3 versions at the time. [Image: Warner Bros.]
