GamerNode: News - You guessed it. New Batman game coming

You guessed it. New Batman game coming

Category: Industry, Posted: 08/13/2008 at 03:22PM EDT by Frank Ling, Content Contributor

batman The Batman movie, Dark Knight, has become a certified blockbuster film, (the Joker still creeps me out) and the not so unexpected announcement that a new Batman game isn't that great a surprise. Eidos and Warner Bros. are holding hands to make the title.

But according to the official announcement, this game isn't just your father's "tie-in" movie video game. The plot takes off from the end of the movie's storyline and continues with Batman delivering the Joker to Arkham Asylum. Emmy Award Batman writer Paul Dini will write the script.

Phil Rogers, CEO of Eidos Interactive, promises the game will meet the high expectation of true Batman connoisseurs.

"In Batman: Arkham Asylum Eidos and Warner Bros. are building a true action adventure game experience worthy of gamers and fans. 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."

Martin Tremblay, president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, chimed in and hyped up the joint venture between Eidos and Warner Bros. and the game.

"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. 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."

As the track record for tie-in games haven't been the greatest, we hope that the two entertainment giants make a Batman game that won't just be an opportunistic event to squeeze more money out of the pockets of Batman fans.

Batman: Arkham Asylum will be available for the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. The game will be in third-person view and be run by the Unreal Engine 3. Rocksteady Studios will develop the game and was responsible for Urban Crisis: Riot Response, an action-adventure-shooter released in 2006.

Expect Batman: Arkham Asylum to hit store shelves in 2009.

[via worthplaying]

Posted by on 08/13/2008 at 05:57PM

Remember the Cube Batman game? That one was awesome. I hope they do a spiritual successor to that. :P

Posted by The Hylden on 08/13/2008 at 07:57PM

You sure about this? I've seen other articles stating this is NOT a movie tie-in game at all. In fact, the very premise of him battling foes like the Penguin, Riddler, Harley Quin, etc., who haven't ever been in the films, further confirms that. EA is publishing another game, called The dark Knight of the same movie name, supposedly, which is a movie tie-in game. From what I've read elsewhere, anyway...

Posted by The Hylden on 08/13/2008 at 08:09PM

Here's one of the articles I saw. http://kotaku.com/5036332/eidos-announce-another-batman-game Info taken from the new Game Informer issue that will be coming out, apparently. You see two of the concept art images used in the magazine, also.

Posted by Quasar on 08/13/2008 at 08:58PM

It's not a direct tie-in but follows the events after the movie when the Joker is slammed into Arkham Asylum. They'll be plenty of familiar bad guys, and almost sounds like a fighting action game. We'll just have to wait and see.

Posted by intooblivion on 08/13/2008 at 10:38PM

I want a game where you get to be the joker and blow shit up

Posted by The Hylden on 08/16/2008 at 05:02PM

"It's not a direct tie-in but follows the events after the movie when the Joker is slammed into Arkham Asylum. "

No, it doesn't. I just got my copy of Game Informer. Eidos acquired the rights to the Comic line of Batman only in 2006. Specifically comics. The license excludes them from any movie tie-ins. Quoting from Game Informer: "The Core License strictly covers the nearly 70 years of Batman comics. No movies. No animated shows. And certainly no campy Adam West antics." Earlier in the article, it tells the opening of the game, which couldn't possibly be following the movie's story, given Joker addresses Warden Quincy Sharp like he's been instatutionalized a hundred times. "Hey, Sharpy. What's the deal? The old mansion was much more civilized." He says something much the same to Batman later when he escapes.

Eidos producer, Matt O'Driscoll: "The license is great. It allows us to do our own story, our own vision of [the characters.] Obviously this all has to go through the approval process with Warner, but they're not like 'It's a movie license. It's got to be exactly this.'"

So, what we have here is Paul Dini, writer for Batman: The Animated Series and Detective Comics writing this along with Rocksteady studios, and comic book artist Jim Lee crafting an authentic and yet distinct new look for all of the characters, to create a totally stand-alone project that's only interested in trying to be "the definitive Batman" seen in games. It's NOT following the movies. EA, again, has the movie license for tie-ins.

From the screens shown, this games graphics are outstanding. It looks like a cross between realism and the comics for the characters, mostly real, though. Killer Croc is 10 feet tall and crazy-looking. The Joker is quite distinctive. Link to screens here: http://computerandvideogames.com/viewer.php?mode=article&id=202897

Sorry about this, but I think it's not quite justified to almost hinder people's expectations of this game by saying it's a movie tie-in when it's not. It was first conceptualized two years ago when they got the license and has been in the works for over a year as a working engine. I think it's pretty sweet. They might also get the cast of the Animated Series to voice the characters. Meaning Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy, hopefully. I think it's looking to be amazing, and can't wait for it. If it's as good as it looks, and they're heralding it as already.

So, yeah, I think it might be best to do a revised article on this.