#warnerbros
It's no secret Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is working on a follow-up to the smash hit Batman: Arkham Asylum, but what will it be called? Perhaps one of fifteen newly-registered Arkham-themed website domains contains a clue? More »
#toys
Following on from DC Direct's first line of Batman: Arkham Asylum figures, here's a second series, this time featuring some villains that make more of a direct appearance in the game. More »
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?
#toys
The first images of the recently-revealed Batman: Arkham Asylum action figures have dropped from a gargoyle and landed online, and if they're one thing, they're faithful to the source material. More »
Korean television manufacturer LG and Microsoft have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding representing a new partnership in South Korea between the TV maker's 3D sets and Microsoft's Xbox 360 consoles, Engadget reports. A press release on the subject (wobbily translated from Korean) seems to say that the 360 will be sold in the region with 3D games in-tow and an LG 55/47LX9500 LED, possibly starting in June. Unfortunately, no details of the partnership could be confirmed with Microsoft or LG reps in the States as of this publishing.
That said, a Microsoft rep told us: "As we've said before, 3D games are available today on Xbox 360 and will continue to evolve. Today, you can buy a 3DTV and wear glasses to play games like Avatar, and more titles like Batman: Arkham Asylum are on the way. The promotional partnership with LG announced in South Korea today is specific to the South Korean market, but is further evidence that as 3D adoption grows, Xbox 360 will support 3D games and entertainment."
Given that statement, we don't see the partnership having global implications just yet -- not to mention the game being played above is Avatar and the two games mentioned by Microsoft are known to be 3D enabled. But hey, at least we got this hilariously awkward image of Microsoft's Alan Bowman playing games with LG's marketing strategy lead, right?
At this point, it should be pretty clear that God wants you to have Batman: Arkham Asylum. The game has frequently been subject to some killer deals and Amazon is adding another one to the pile today. At this very moment, the online retailer is offloading Xbox 360 and PS3 copies for the sanitarium-sent price of $26.99.
If you still don't have the game and refuse to buy it at that price, well, maybe you belong in Arkham with the Joker. Unless you're holding out for the Game of the Year Edition, in which case maybe you could be forgiven. Maybe.
#toys
Not that Batman has ever gone wanting for action figure exposure, but the Caped Crusader's getting a new line based on last year's Batman: Arkham Asylum game. It'll be revealed in next month's issue of Toyfare magazine. More »
#batman
Generally, the reason you adapt a comic book franchise for a video game is because its most recognizable characters help drive its sales. Bane, while familiar to the Batcore, probably doesn't have much of a Q-score with the general public. More »
#eidos
Or should that be batwagon? Regardless, Eidos has set dates for the re-release version of Rocksteady Studios' surprisingly good comic book hit Batman: Arkham Asylum, confirming that we'll be battling the asylum's inmates in a new way this spring. More »
Whew, that was a close one. We were really hoping to get another opportunity to purchase Batman: Arkham Asylum again, but it seemed Rocksteady and Eidos had planned to keep the game's Game of the Year edition exclusively overseas. Fortunately, it seems they've changed their minds -- an Eidos press release just confirmed that the expanded version of the game (which includes four extra challenge maps and 3D support) will be getting a stateside release.
Whether you missed out on 2009's surprise superhero smash hit, or whether you were just disappointed by its lack of extra dimensions, you'll be able to get your fix when Batman GOTY ships sometime in May.
Not only does the Game of the Year edition of Batman: Arkham Asylum add TriOviz 3D, it comes with Batman and Joker-themed 3D glasses. They're not exactly what you would imagine Batman and/or the Joker wearing to watch something in 3D, but they are decorated in the style of the two characters. They're like one of those old Halloween costumes with the picture of the character you're supposed to look like printed on the front.
In case you haven't heard about this Arkham Asylum thing until now, you can see a trailer for the Game of the Year edition after the break. You'll be able to pick it up on March 26 -- but only if you're in Europe, Asia, or Australia, as those are the only regions for which this edition has been announced.
#gdc
Batman: Arkham Asylum art director David Hego did better than I could, talking in a language other than his native one, about Batman winning Best Game Design at the Game Developer's Choice Awards. Plus, he tolerated my Pokemon tips request. More »
Uh, remember how we kind of got your hopes up with the promise of Batman: Arkham Asylum in 3D earlier today? Well, we hope you North American readers didn't rush to your local game emporium to pre-order, as you probably would have gotten laughed at. Warner Bros. just confirmed to us that the "Game of the Year" edition, with 3D, is only coming to Europe, Asia and Australia.
We also learned that, no matter what territory you live in, 3D is not a feature that's being added to existing copies of the game. If you want all three dimensions, you're going to have to pony up for the GOTY edition. This may seem tough now, but if you, Charlie Bucket-style, convince yourself that it's better just by itself (the third dimension standing in for golden Wonka ticket here, of course) we're sure you'll pull through.
If you were planning to ignore the Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year edition (perhaps you're still stinging from the disappointing collector's release) you may not want to stop caring just yet. While we're unexcited by the promise of "six additional maps" on the disc (there are six available for download at the moment -- we have to assume those are the same ones), we're intrigued by CVG's report that the box will include special glasses for use with a newly added TriOviz 3D effect.
The TriOviz tech, if you're unfamiliar, works with regular HD and SD sets, and doesn't rely on red and blue lenses, meaning colors are preserved. We'd love to give it a shot, but not so much that we'd rebuy Arkham Asylum to do so. Here's hoping there's a way for us early adopters to check out this new dimension of institutional insanity.
We're going to need you to find some way to weasel out of that lunch date you have planned for tomorrow. See, the $12.49 you were planning on spending on that cucumber and cream cheese panini with Italian cream soda? It's about to go towards a much more virtuous cause: Purchasing Batman: Arkham Asylum through Games For Windows' Games on Demand platform, which until March 1, will only cost you $12.49.
It may not be as delicious as the aforementioned sandwich, but it will take you longer to finish. Unless you're the world's slowest eater. Or the world's fastest game-tape solver. Or if it's the world's biggest panini.
Every weekend in March, Microsoft will be discounting Games on Demand for Windows titles, kicking things off with 75% off the critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham Asylum this Friday through...
Holy strategic acquisition, predictable Batman reference! Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group has announced its purchase of a majority stake in Rocksteady Studios, the developer responsible for towing Batman's star vehicle out of a muddy Gotham ditch. Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Asylum debuted in 2009 to critical applause and has since shipped over three million copies.
Jamie Walker, studio director of Rocksteady Games, expressed pride in the deal -- the cost of which has not been disclosed. "We are proud to strengthen our association with WBIE, a world class publisher that we have enjoyed working with since we began developing Batman: Arkham Asylum," he said. In addition, games director and excellent sniper position Sefton Hill noted, "The Rocksteady team is very much looking forward to creating more great games based on widely recognized Warner Bros. brands like Batman."
What Warner license will Rocksteady revive next? Whatever it is, it'll have to wait until construction is completed on the unnamed Arkham Asylum sequel.
[Update: Square Enix Europe (Eidos) has confirmed that it still retains a 25.1 percent stake in Rocksteady.]
Holy strategic acquisition, predictable Batman reference! Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group has announced its purchase of a majority stake in Rocksteady Studios, the developer responsible for towing Batman's star vehicle out of a muddy Gotham ditch. Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Asylum debuted in 2009 to critical applause and has since shipped over three million copies.
Jamie Walker, studio director of Rocksteady Games, expressed pride in the deal -- the cost of which has not been disclosed. "We are proud to strengthen our association with WBIE, a world class publisher that we have enjoyed working with since we began developing Batman: Arkham Asylum," he said. In addition, games director and excellent sniper position Sefton Hill noted, "The Rocksteady team is very much looking forward to creating more great games based on widely recognized Warner Bros. brands like Batman."
What Warner license will Rocksteady revive next? Whatever it is, it'll have to wait until construction is completed on the unnamed Arkham Asylum sequel.
A BBFC classification for a "Game of the Year" edition of Batman: Arkham Asylum has popped up online, causing quite a stir here at Joystiq HQ. While we all agree that Batman was "a game of the year," the listing offers no clues as to what would be included in a GOTY package. So, allow us to activate detective mode:
First, there's the two DLC packs for the game to consider: the Insane Night map pack (free for everyone) and Prey In The Darkness, available on PS3 in the US and on both PS3 and Xbox 360 in Europe. Also, those that pre-ordered the original game from GameStop received access to the challenge map Dem Bones, while those that snagged the fancy Collector's Edition got their own unique challenge map in Crime Alley -- both could hypothetically be included in a special edition re-release. Considering all the DLC out there (but c'mon, we want more Rocksteady!), there's a valid GOTY edition in the making here.
We've turned on our own joy signal in the hopes of attracting Warner Bros., Eidos and Rocksteady for clarification. We'll let you know just as soon as they show up on our rooftop.
[Thanks, C.A.]
What happens when you combine the potent Batman license, the rich backdrop of Arkham Asylum, the stellar voice-cast from Batman: The Animated Series, an unproven (and even more unknown) developer from the North London suburb of Highgate, and a once-great but down-on-its-luck publisher? The very first comment on our very first post no doubt reflected many of our concerns: "Eidos? Really?" With dozens of shoddy licensed superhero games coming before it, we all knew a video game deserving of Batman's popularity was unlikely.
So it's all the more impressive that Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of the best games of the year, one of the best superhero games of all time, and one of the best licensed games ever made. With the failure of Pandemic's ambitious Dark Knight movie tie-in game still fresh in our minds, Arkham Asylum's strategy for success should have been obvious: simplicity. Instead of building an open-world Gotham City, they built an intimate (and immediately captivating) Arkham Asylum, as full of history and lore as you'd expect the comic book icon to be. There are no driving levels, no flying levels; really, there aren't any levels at all. Just Arkham Island.
The clever script, penned by longtime Batman scribe Paul Dini, propels Batman through a series of elaborate traps laid out by Mark Hamill's expertly voiced Joker, battling beefy baddies along the way with the game's excellent "FreeFlow" combat system, solving dozens of the Riddler's pesky riddles, and learning about the entire decades-deep mythology of the Batman universe, worn into every rock on Arkham Island. This isn't some licensed beat-em-up starring The World's Greatest Detective; this is a Batman simulator. Stealth, strength, and smarts (and a belt full of wonderful toys) are your tools.
Perhaps the greatest compliment one can pay to Rocksteady is this: it reached into the oft-abused Batman license, brushed off our lowered expectations, and pulled out a classic that doesn't simply trade on Batman's name but does something far more difficult: enhances it.
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Boy, Rocksteady has WAY better bosses than we do. When we say we need two more months to finish a post, our higher-ups open a whole barrel of complaints: "There's no way it could take you that long to write a post," or, "It won't be anywhere near relevant anymore." We've heard them all. But when Rocksteady said it needed two more months for Batman: Arkham Asylum, pushing the release from June to August, it was apparently backed completely by the game's publishers, Eidos and Warner Bros.
Speaking with Kotaku, game director Sefton Hill said the secret is to have "confidence in the game" and "be able to show that [added] time is going to be well spent."
So, in closing, we'd like to tell AOL that we're confident the extra five months we're spending on that PS3 Slim rumor post you asked about will be well spent. Thank you.
Before the dust settled on the beginning of this year's Video Game Awards on Spike, the first surprise announcement was the revelation that Batman: Arkham Asylum would get a sequel.
Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 presumably continues where the original critically acclaimed Rocksteady title left off, and was revealed via diabolical plot from Batman's Nemesis The Joker. Attempting to gas those in attendance, Mark Hamill's threatening vocals reverberated throughout the audience revealing a sequel people "didn't expect." After smashing through sales charts and the assumptions that all licenced titles are crap, we expected nothing less. Take that, Joker!
Update: Footage after the break! Also, the official site is up at arkhamhasmoved.com.
