Batman: Arkham City Message Board older than one year ago

#batman One of the best things about Batman: Arkham City's marketing campaign were the all-white posters showing off the game's characters. They were minimal, they were stylish. So thanks, Warner Bros., for shitting all over them with this atrocious box art. More »

With today's announcement of Batman: Arkham City: Game of the Year Edition came a...peculiar new box art image...

All that DLC!

For those who just couldn't get enough of developer Rocksteady's slightly grating, over-sexualized mall goth rendition of Harley Quinn from Batman: Arkham City, does Warner Bros. ever have an announcement for you!

Look, I'll take this Harley over the mail-order Sexy Nurse costume from the first game, but still. Yeesh.

Confirming rumors that popped up when PlayStation 3 trophies for the DLC began to surface, WB confirmed that Harley Quinn's Revenge will be dropping as DLC for owners of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Arkham City on May 30. The DLC is a two-hour addition to the campaign that features both Batman and Robin as playable characters, as they attempt to shut down yet another insidious plan by the Joker's right-hand lady person and "shut the gates on the urban mega-prison forever."

The announcement of the DLC comes side-by-side with the announcement of a Batman: Arkham City: Game of the Year Edition, which will hit stores in North America on May 29, and the UK September 7. The GOTY edition packs in all of the previous DLC--which included a wide variety of Batman skins, Nightwing and Robin packs, the Catwoman story pack, and a whole bunch of challenge maps--as well as this new Harley Quinn campaign.

While I am not terribly fond of Harley as portrayed by Rocksteady's writers, I am fond enough of Arkham City to put up with a bit more of her in the name of wringing a couple of extra hours of thug beating out of the game. Here's hoping someone over there did a find-and-replace on the Harley Quinn's Revenge script looking for the word "bitch," and then proceeded to make liberal use of the delete button. By the time I finished the original campaign, it was as if the word had lost all meaning.

When a few "Harley Quinn DLC" Trophies were added to Batman: Arkham City's roster, we assumed some new content starring the Joker's main squeeze was on its way. Today, Warner Bros. has confirmed Harley Quinn's Revenge, "the final chapter in Batman: Arkham City that adds more than two hours of origin...

The Harley Quinn-related teases have led to this: today's announcement of a "Game of the Year Edition" re-release of Batman: Arkham City. Coming to PS3 and Xbox 360 May 29, the new version contains the "Harley Quinn's Revenge" expansion, along with the previously released Robin, Catwoman, and Nightwing packs and a set of alternate skins.

In addition to all the in-game content (henceforth referred to as "those wonderful toys") the GOTY edition will contain a download of the Batman: Year One animated movie.

#batman As long rumored, the GOTY edition of the Dark Knight's latest adventure will feature all-new story-based content focusing on Harley Quinn, the homicidal clown-girl that keeps the Joker warm at night. More »

Update: The official Batman: Arkham City Twitter account has posted a new image along with a tweet that says "Don't worry. This is all part of my plan." Does this hint that a Batman: Arkham City announcement is on the way? Could it be related to the trophy list below? Keep checking back to IGN for the latest updates...

It looks like that unannounced, Harley Quinn-oriented DLC pack for Batman: Arkham City we caught wind of earlier this month has moved one step closer to becoming official. The Arkham City twitter account tweeted the above teaser image of feet and hammer earlier this morning, immediately proceeded by an unattributed quote: "Don't worry. This is all part of of my plan."

Very mysterious, but given Harley Quinn's historical propensity for comically large mallets, we think inferring her involvement is justified. Personally, we're keeping our fingers crossed for a collection of Whack-A-Mole minigames staring Ms. Quinzel.

#batman Rumors have been swirling—based on a list of achievements—that Batman: Arkham City will be getting a new story-based add-on that centered on Bat-villain Harley Quinn and The Dark Knight's junior partner Robin. Well, a teaser image released today by the game's official Twitter account seems to point to a future appearance by the Joker's girlfriend. More »

#cosplay Arkham City villain Hugo Strange knows what truly terrifies men. It's not darkness or blood. It's horses. In loafers. More »

While today's settlement applies to California, the same lawfirm is looking at other states.

When GameStop sells a game requiring another purchase to access content that would have been available if a consumer had purchased the game new, it has to better advertise that fact.

For now, this only applies to California, and is a preliminary approval by the court. Final approval will (or won't) be handed down in September.

It’s the result of a settlement over a class action lawsuit filed by law firm Baron and Budd against GameStop.

The settlement covers the next two years, and requires two steps from the games retailer.

One, GameStop must “post signs on the shelves where used games are sold in California stores, and online, warning consumers that certain downloadable content may require an additional purchase.”

In essence, if you’re Batman: Arkham City used, GameStop must go out of its way to inform you about the Catwoman downloadable content, which is only available "free" through a code in the game's new box.

(Yes, I'm aware GameStop had an existing deal with Warner Bros. regarding this--it's just an example.)

Two, customers have the option to “recover” $15 from qualifying used game purchases. If you’re part of GameStop’s “PowerUp” program, that means a $10 coupon and a $5 check, while everyone else can elect to receive a $10 check and a $5 coupon. More details will reportedly be available through this Facebook page set up by the lawfirm.

The lawfirm said it’s looking into the same practices in other states--again, this only applies to California.

GameStop has not yet responded to my request for comment.

Perhaps the extremely curvy chunk of Batman: Arkham City featuring Harley Quinn simply wasn't enough for you, or maybe you just like your DLC with an extra splash of Fran Drescher-esque voice acting? We can't be sure, but you specifically will be happy to hear that 10 PlayStation 3 Trophies were dug up by PS3Trophies.org which reveal a yet-to-be announced DLC pack featuring Ms. Quinn.

No other description is given for the content other than "Harley Quinn DLC," nor is release date or pricing info, though Robin is noted in one Trophy as a playable character. Moreover, that Trophy addresses an event known as, "Harley Quinn's Revenge," which sounds to us an awful lot like the potential name for the content. We've reached out to WB for more info, and will keep an eye on the sky for any Bat clues.

[Thanks, Josh.]

#batman Fans who've been clamoring for more narrative chapters for the Dark Knight's latest video-game success and for the chance to take DLC characters like Nightwing and Robin out into the game's open-world environments might finally be getting their wish. More »

A series of 10 previously-unseen Trophies on PS3 Trophies is hinting at a fresh instalment of DLC for Batman: Arkham City. The 10 Trophies for the alleged "Harley Quinn DLC" are as follows: Lost Property No crimefighter should be without this Breaking and Entering Find a way into the sec...

As roughly 50% of the emails to the wheezing RPS inboxotron over the last week will attest to, Rocksteady and Warner have not exactly displayed willing enthusiasm when it comes to the PC edition of Batman: Arkham City. A long- and mysteriously-delayed launch followed by DirectX 11 performance that was about as smooth as stinging nettle moonshine, then the final insult of the eventual patch screwing up many folks’ savegames despite leaving many of the initial problems unresolved. And then, silence. Months-long silence.

Our own attempts at establishing just what the flipping fudge was going on came to naught, which made the torrent of increasingly florid complaint emails we were copied in on all the more distressing. Now, finally, Rocksteady have put out a patch. It claims to fix all the right things, which you can find below. Let us know here if it has or hasn’t worked. Also, whether or not you’re wearing any manner of headgear right now. We’re always interested in that.(more…)

We are pleased to confirm that the second patch for the PC version of Batman: Arkham City is now available across all digital platforms. We would like to thank our community for their patience and support while we worked on these fixes.

Fixes that this patch addresses are listed below:
* Occurences of Save File Corruption
* Achievement re-locking issues
* Crossfire/SLI Issues
  - Graphical flickering
  - FPS improvements when running crossfire
* Instances of 32 bit memory problems
* Improvements to performance in cut scenes and death taunts
* Error messages removed when patching the game and improved patching process

The British Academy Video Game Awards took place on Friday night and Portal 2 was awarded highest honours, taking home little gold faces not only for Best Game, but also for Story and Design. Congratulations to Valve, who by this point must be making plans to put up some new shelves of award-bearing load strength. The popular vote went to Battlefield 3, which also won awards for Online Multiplayer and Audio Achievement.

The full list is celebrating after the jump.

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Gotham by Gaslight - aka Victorian Batman vs Jack the Ripper – was a big deal for comics back in the early 1990s, what with it both transplanting Bats into a new setting and being a self-contained tale rather than the usual unending episodic fare. Sadly it’s been largely ignored in this modern age of ultra high-tech Batmen and Grant Morrison miring poor ol’ Bruce in endless, obtuse fantasy stories about nothing, but a few years ago Day 1 Studios were set to make a videogame based upon this 19th Century superhero. You’ll know Day 1 from FEThreeR, the Xbox MechAssault games and the upcoming PC multiplayer mech title Reign of Thunder, so their heritage perhaps isn’t really in the vein of the quiet, thoughtful oddness of GbG.

Whether or not they’d have pulled it off is something we’ll never know, as it was canned before development started in earnest – but a leaked proof-of-concept trailer does suggest it could have been an especially atmospheric steampunk odyssey.(more…)

#theelderscrolls Who needs multiplayer video games? More »

#batman I had a chat with Sefton Hill, chief game designer at Rocksteady Studios, in Las Vegas last week. The man's team just made two terrific Batman games, so it was time we talked. More »

Strike fear into the hearts of Xbox Live's ne'er-do-wells this week with a handful of discounted Batman-themed items. Outside of a few Avatar props, select DLC for Batman: Arkham City has also been reduced in price.

The Nightwing Bundle Pack and Robin Bundle Pack have both been knocked down to 360 MS Points ($4.50) from their respective usual 560 MS Points ($7) asking price. Each comes with a handful of character skins and exclusive challenge maps, and unlocks each character for play in all of Batman: Arkham City's challenge maps.

Rocksteady Studios co-founder and game director Sefton Hill shared his recipe for making Arkham games at DICE 2012. Beyond the basic ingredients listed, all you'll need is a major license, a supportive publisher and millions to fund the project.

Sefton's Arkham recipe:

• Make the game instantly fun and accessible. "We believe it's our job to entertain," Hill said, adding that the free-flow combat of Arkham was meant to instantly convey the feeling of being Batman.
• Deep core mechanics, with a contant, incremental challenge to maintain engagement. "We developed combat by introducing new enemy types ... it keeps giving you more, it keeps challenging you."
• Complementary Orthogonal Design. Boiled down, it's that systems like navigation, combat and story "all have their own distinct and strong uses." Essentially, he encouraged designing complementary design elements that don't step on each other.
• Authenticity. "The restraints of the character define the character." Hill said certain elements may seem like a pain the ass, but that one must embrace those constraints. The fact that Batman can't kill anyone was something the team had to maintain at all times. "It stops us from falling back on a lot of game cliches." Takeway: Celebrate and explore the limitations of characters and what makes them unique.

So, there you go. Oh, you'll also need an engine. We're sure if you write a really nice letter to the guys at Epic, they'll let you license the Unreal Engine at a good price.

Warner Bros. Interactive has revealed that six million copies of Batman: Arkham City have been shipped to retailers. The figure represents shipments worldwide and was revealed during the publisher's annual financial report...

IGN rated Batman: Arkham City as a 9.5, but it didn't win IGN Game of the Year. In fact, it didn't even get nominated for IGN Game of the Year. Internally, this means not enough IGN editors thought Batman: Arkham City outclassed the competition to get the overall nod. Externally, a lot of Batman fan...

#batman Earlier today, comics powerhouse DC unveiled a new logo. Well, new logos, as the idea behind the company's new "peeling" motif is that it can be customised for every piece of entertainment it appears on. While that'll mostly be comics, DC did go to the trouble of showing how the property's video games will look. More »

#batman Picking the best games of the year always boils down to opinion, which always leads to dissension over subjectivity and bias. So, while Kotaku's staffers rallied around Portal 2 as the site's GOTY, readers held their own damn awards and anointed Skyrim as their standout title for 2011. More »

#fineart Dave Wilkins is a concept artist in the video game business. He's also an artist in the comics business. So if you see awesome art in this gallery about comic characters in video games, or video game characters in comic books, do not be alarmed. More »

This might sound familiar. In 2009, Joystiq awarded Batman: Arkham Asylum its number three spot in that year's top ten list of games and here we are, two years later, giving that game's sequel the same honor. But it's not the same honor.

Referencing the failure to launch of Pandemic's open-world Dark Knight movie tie-in game, I identified Rocksteady's success as one primarily of scale: "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." Of course, Batman: Arkham City is an open-world game.

The final day of the Steam Holiday Sale has embraced us, our families and the sad pile of change left in our gift funds. Today is "Encore Day," where Steam offers the biggest deals of the entire sale one more time, including Skyrim at 33 percent off, Bastion at 66 percent off, Batman: Arkham City at 50 percent off, and tons more.

This is really a very clever strategy. Face it -- you've been haunted by that one game you resisted buying over the past week; that one time you said, "No, Steam, this is my money!" has been burned into your psyche as you imagine the joy you could have had at a reasonable price during these cold winter months. And now it's back. You have a second chance to own that game. Go. Go, and be at peace with your Steam Sale. You are forgiven.