Warner Bros' The Dark Knight has shot into the record books as one of the fastest money-grabbing films of all time, so where on earth is the tie-in game to jump on the money train?
EA's got the rights to the film - and Mercenaries dev Pandemic is heavily rumoured to be at the helm - but this morning the publisher has been beaten to the punch... by Eidos.
According to the latest cover from US Game Informer mag, Batman: Arkham Asylum - which has nothing to do with the Bale films - is apparently a dark and gritty affair based on the comic book characters.
The game has formed from Eidos' close links to DC Comics owner Warner Bros, which invested a $30 million stake in the games publisher earlier this year.
According to the mag, combat in Arkham will focus on stealth and speed and use only three buttons; attack, throw and stun. There are also plenty of boss battles in the game, which apparently requires you to use various gadgets to keep Batman on top.
It's not all hack n' slash brawling though; as Batman you'll get up to a bit of detective work as well and there are plenty of puzzles to be solved.
"This completely original title explores Gotham City's darkest location, the infamous Arkham Asylum," reads the magazine's blurb. "But as a routine prison transfer goes wrong, the Joker sets his demented plan into action and Batman comes face to face with an army of his worst enemies."
It's being developed by Rocksteady Games (Urban Chaos: Riot Response). Look for more soon.
Here's the official press release:
Eidos Interactive and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on behalf of DC Comics announce Batman: Arkham Asylum a dark, action packed videogame adventure for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC for Windows in 2009.
In Batman: Arkham Asylum, developed by Rocksteady Studios, the player assumes the role of Batman as he delivers The Joker to Arkham Asylum. There, the imprisoned super-villains have set a trap and an immersive combat gaming experience unfolds. With an original script penned by Emmy Award-winning Batman writer Paul Dini, the game brings the universe of DC Comics' detective to life with stunning graphics.
"In Batman: Arkham Asylum Eidos and Warner Bros. are building a true action adventure game experience worthy of gamers and fans," said Phil Rogers, CEO of Eidos Interactive. "Players become Batman, like he has never been seen before in a video game, as he fights through intense circumstances in Arkham Asylum utilizing his intuitive detective skills and aggressive melee attacks."
"Batman: Arkham Asylum offers players the chance to battle Gotham's worst villains with Batman's physical and psychological strength in a graphically distinct and story-driven game," said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "We look forward to working with Eidos on expanding DC Comics' world-renowned character Batman in the game space with a noticeably different feature set in an incredibly dark interactive environment."
Eidos Interactive and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will co-publish Batman: Arkham Asylum in North America, Eidos Interactive will publish the game in all other territories.
please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...
It actually sounds more like a true batman game to me. The comic books (and perhaps the 90's WB animated series) portrayed Batman as a detective so the puzzles will come as a welcome inclusion.
Sounds like another s**t batman game to me. the last good one i played was the old head over heels style one on the c64. and no i won't be drawing my pension anytime soon incase anyone asks.
Sounds like another s**t batman game to me. the last good one i played was the old head over heels style one on the c64. and no i won't be drawing my pension anytime soon incase anyone asks.
come on why so down?, you could be a bit more optimistic...*notices the Scottish flag on his avatar..*
Urban chaos was actually really good i thought, if the bugget had been higher it could have been a AAA title i think, so with a good buget behind batman this could be quite good, and i dont even like batman that much hahah
Sounds like another s**t batman game to me. the last good one i played was the old head over heels style one on the c64. and no i won't be drawing my pension anytime soon incase anyone asks.
come on why so down?, you could be a bit more optimistic...*notices the Scottish flag on his avatar..*
yer, now i get it...
Oi!! We can be optimistic but look where it gets us! Football - beat France twice and still get put out of the Euros cos of those cheating Italian .... We played better football than England for Christ sake! In fact that's all i've got! god damn world getting us down!!! Hopefully the game will be a decent affair seeing as its not a duff movie tie in - fingers crossed!
Sounds like another s**t batman game to me. the last good one i played was the old head over heels style one on the c64. and no i won't be drawing my pension anytime soon incase anyone asks.
come on why so down?, you could be a bit more optimistic...*notices the Scottish flag on his avatar..*
yer, now i get it...
ram it pal. scots are just realists. we know s**te when we see it and hardly get our hopes up just to be let down. unlike those english who believe they're gonna win everything going then blame someone else when it doesn't happen.
has there been a single good batman game yet? no. will there be one from eidos who f**ked up the tomb raider franchise, probably not. optimisim has nothing to do with it. lego batman will be the only half decent batman game out this century except maybe MKvsDC.
Oi!! We can be optimistic but look where it gets us! Football - beat France twice and still get put out of the Euros cos of those cheating Italian .... We played better football than England for Christ sake! In fact that's all i've got! god damn world getting us down!!! Hopefully the game will be a decent affair seeing as its not a duff movie tie in - fingers crossed!
please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...please dont suck!!...
Hmmm - I wonder if the storyline will follow anything from the Grant Morrison storyline 'Arkham Asylum'...certainly has more than a few similarities.
I won't be getting my hopes up too high on this one - but, it is Batman...so I'll remain incredibly hopeful that it'll be good.
Not too sure on the whole 3 button approach, but the fact that it's a 'stealth' type game is certainly a good start. Now make it nice and gritty, dark, adult and make sure those puzzles are good!
Sounds like another s**t batman game to me. the last good one i played was the old head over heels style one on the c64. and no i won't be drawing my pension anytime soon incase anyone asks.
come on why so down?, you could be a bit more optimistic...*notices the Scottish flag on his avatar..*
yer, now i get it...
Oi!! We can be optimistic but look where it gets us! Football - beat France twice and still get put out of the Euros cos of those cheating Italian .... We played better football than England for Christ sake! In fact that's all i've got! god damn world getting us down!!! Hopefully the game will be a decent affair seeing as its not a duff movie tie in - fingers crossed!
hahaha, calm down!!, keep your trinidad & tobago shirt on!! it was just a joke...
Sounds like it could be very good. But also still could be very crap.
To me a perfect Batman game wouldn't be based around the movie specifically, but just an Arkham release, collecting the bad guys and maybe stopping one major one. It's not the best story but still... I'd be in two minds about it being free-roaming, but if done well it could be good. Though a more linear approach isn't a bad idea. Some missions would have to go outside of where you can normally go... Stealth would be used, with the combat maybe of Assassins Creed but done a lot more, so instead of just attack and counter you have all the weapons but it would still be quite stealth based. You should be able to glide obviously, not just run around like a prat. Gotham could be done brilliantly on the PS3/360/PC.
I like some of the puzle solving things too. Nothing too big or hard, but a few puzzles which requires some thought.
Then again, I'd settle for loads, as long as it's good. You'd think making a Batman game good wouldn't be that hard considering Batman already has loads of stories to choose from, and it's all about the combat.
Batman the movie (Ocean) (Spectrum, Amstrad, C64) Batman Returns (Sega) (Megadrive)
I'm sure there are others but those 2 stick in my mind as being classic Batman games.
i meant this century or at least after the 16bit generation. the movie game by ocean was good though especially on the amiga. the driving sections were class
Sounds like another s**t batman game to me. the last good one i played was the old head over heels style one on the c64. and no i won't be drawing my pension anytime soon incase anyone asks.
Sounds like another s**t batman game to me. the last good one i played was the old head over heels style one on the c64. and no i won't be drawing my pension anytime soon incase anyone asks.
I actually remember that. It was simple innocent fun. But Batman the Movie on the Amiga in 1989 was brilliant.
Arkham Asylum isn't a novel that lends itself to a computer game interpretation. Eidos are going to churn out Tomb Raider in a cape, mark my words.
We have had a few good Batman games in the past but they were a long time ago no. The isometric one was good, as was the arcade adventure one with the Joker on one side of the tape and the Penguin on the other. Batman: The Movie is still the best of the bunch by a long chalk, though.
the assassins creed idea of combat in a batman game would pretty cool but i also feel that a combat system similar to the one found in the bourne conspiracy would be pretty sick... i mean the combat in that game was i believe amazing and showed the pure physicality of combat something previous batman games have lacked but watever this n the dark knight game just better do Batman justice
I gotta say that Rocksteady don't have a great track record, and as for Eidos feeding them money for this, i doubt it. Eidos are shutting down studios left right and centre, most recently Pivotal Games, so they can keep themselves afloat.
I seriously doubt this will be anything to get excited about, especially with Eidos being involved in it....
Whatever happened Ocean Software? I used to love their games. Robocop and Total Recall were some other great games I loved.
I think they were absorbed by Infogrames about ten years back, and became Infogrames UK.
One of the first games I ever got was by Ocean. It was called Cosmic Wartoad and was rock hard but I loved it! Played it on an emulator a few months back and was still impressed. They were a great developer. Someone remake Wizball!!
I really hope it follows Arkham Asylum in both story and artistic direction. The Graphic Novel is one of the best looking I've ever read.
Yer that insane way the novel is made up from scraps of scribbled paper & blurred brush strokes would look incredible in a game engine done right. Kind of like Okami but with a water colour paint bleed like the new street fighter but really dark & Gothic...for me that would be a great place to start.
I really hope it follows Arkham Asylum in both story and artistic direction. The Graphic Novel is one of the best looking I've ever read.
I can't really see them pulling off the Dave McKean art in a graphical interpretation, but it would certainly make a memorable game
Personally, I suspect that it may follow an 'Arkham' crossed with 'Knightfall' type story....therefore, you may also be able to extend out into parts of Gotham to round up the escaped villains.
In fact - now that I mention Knightfall - any other Batman fans think that the screenshots have a fairly Kelley Jones-esque quality to them?
Whatever happened Ocean Software? I used to love their games. Robocop and Total Recall were some other great games I loved.
I think they were absorbed by Infogrames about ten years back, and became Infogrames UK.
One of the first games I ever got was by Ocean. It was called Cosmic Wartoad and was rock hard but I loved it! Played it on an emulator a few months back and was still impressed. They were a great developer. Someone remake Wizball!!
Thanks for that. I never really knew what happened to them after my spectrum days. I always liked their games because they seemed to be just that bit more impressive both visually and gameplay-wise. I really should dig my speccy emulator out some time.
Whatever happened Ocean Software? I used to love their games. Robocop and Total Recall were some other great games I loved.
I think they were absorbed by Infogrames about ten years back, and became Infogrames UK.
One of the first games I ever got was by Ocean. It was called Cosmic Wartoad and was rock hard but I loved it! Played it on an emulator a few months back and was still impressed. They were a great developer. Someone remake Wizball!!
Thanks for that. I never really knew what happened to them after my spectrum days. I always liked their games because they seemed to be just that bit more impressive both visually and gameplay-wise. I really should dig my speccy emulator out some time.
Arkham Asylum isn't a novel that lends itself to a computer game interpretation. Eidos are going to churn out Tomb Raider in a cape, mark my words.
Yes it is. Which book did you read?
Arkham Asylum. Why?
Consider what happens in the book - there's not much there to hang a game on. What elements there ARE (notably the fighting) is implied or portrayed in a very oblique manner, something which games just don't do.
Back in my late school days fter Playing Batman: Vengeance on the PS2 I designed a purely on-paper Batman game while being bored to tears in various classes. Beyond the actual programming and drawing some pictures, it was practically done.
It was like Splinter Cell, but with a bit more adventuring, cool gadgets , and a decent fighting system
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