Batman: Arkham City

[Daft]

You crossed the line. The line is a dot to you. Joke Steal No. 2

[ReZourceman]

I actually thought that was pretty clever.

[Dante]

Artwork:

 

Edited August 5, 2010 by Dante

[flameboy]

ooooooooooohhhh catwoman.

[Daft]

Catwoman rocks when she's done well.

[Retro_Link]

I agree the name is pretty rubbish.

How is it suddenly in a fortified area at the heart of the city... shouldn't it be set in The Narrows?

Edited August 5, 2010 by Retro_Link

[Happenstance]

I think the Narrows was just made up for Batman Begins, there is an area similar in the Batman books which is just controlled by all the gangs at the moment but I cant remember the name of it so Arkham City seems fine to me.

[Shorty]

Aye the Narrows was just made up for the Nolanverse (well, by made up I mean borrowed from the original Gotham City, New York).

 

But in Batman: Arkham Asylum, the asylum was clearly just one small island...

[Happenstance]

Im assuming that its just been named Arkham City because most of the criminals that haven taken over the area were Arkham inmates at one point so theyve named it after that.

[Strange Cookie]

"Arkham City"

 

Makes sense!

[Ryan]

Can't wait to read about it in OPM next month.

[Dante]

Well it is base a little bit on No Man's Land

 

A) Shit name.

 

B) Bet its got driving sections.

 

Paul Dini Interview

 

We all knew it was coming. The sequel to the best game of 2009, "Batman: Arkham Asylum." Earlier today, Game Informer revealed the title of the much-anticipated follow-up, "Batman: Arkham City." Paul Dini, who was the lead writer on the first game, is back again for the sequel, and spoke with MTV about how the game's progressing (in addition to his work on the "Ultimate Spider-man" animated series). He also mentioned some of the elements that got cut from the original "Arkham," but may see new life in "Arkham City."

 

 

Planned for release in 2011, "Batman: Arkham City" is likely Warner Bros.' biggest game of the year. With such a high-profile title, a holiday release is likely, which gives the team at Rocksteady a solid year of development time. Dini mentioned that work on "Arkham City" started right after "Arkham Asylum" was finished. "Everyone really loved it and it sold really well and it would be a mistake not to." That means the game will about have two years of development time under its belt when it finally releases.

 

Having a year remaining is not as much time as it seems, especially when so much needs to be finalized early on. For example, Dini is going to be working with the voice cast of the game this week, which means much of the dialog and major story elements have been locked down. "We're well on our way through production," said Dini. "We're doing recordings all this week here in Los Angeles. I actually have to go over to some of the recordings later this week. It's all sounding great and it's looking terrific."

 

Unfortunately, Dini was unwilling to give us any details about the story or which characters will be appearing (even though we've made plenty of educated guesses, and Catwoman is prominently displayed on the Game Informer cover).

 

He did say, though, that if you're looking for hints at the "Arkham City" story, play through the original game again.

 

"The more we got into developing the first game, we were like, 'Hey, let's do this. Let's put in this clue for the second one.' At that point we were pretty sure we were doing a sequel at some point."

 

Dini also spoke about some of the elements that had to be cut from that first game, due to time and budget...elements that could possibly show up in "Arkham City." "There were some ideas we had for the exteriors," explained Dini. "Some fights we would have outside [the asylum] and perhaps a little more Batmobile action."

 

It sounds like there was a desire to expand the scope of the map of "Arkham Asylum," but certain limitations (it taking place on an island, for example) made that infeasible. For "Arkham City," though, there's a lot more freedom, now that the action has moved into the streets of Gotham City (as evidenced by the first teaser trailer).

 

For the time being, Dini is definitely keeping his cards close to his vest on anything "Arkham City"-related. Stay tuned, though, as we'll be hearing a lot more about the game when Game Informer drops later this month.

[Happenstance]

Trailer we had before, just slightly altered with the new name:

 

[Dante]

GameInfomer Updates

[Ryan]

Should be a clue today? Damn time difference!!

[Dante]

Finding The Asylum's Biggest Secret: Arkham City's Blueprints

Many gamers spent hours scouring every nook and cranny of Arkham Asylum last year. Whether it was Riddler trophies, interview tapes, or Chronicles of Arkham, the game wasn't short on hidden goodies. However, there was one area that most people never even knew existed...Warden Quincy Sharp's secret room. Inside this area, you can clearly see blueprints that lay out Arkham City. We ask developer Rocksteady how it remained hidden for so long and we provide a video guide on how to find it yourself.

 

Even if you've played Batman: Arkham Asylum through and through, got 100 percent clearance, and unlocked all of the achievements or trophies, you still probably haven't found Warden Sharp's secret room right off of his office. It's not located on any of the maps. You can't see the weak wall with Batman's detective vision. And you can only blow it up with several applications of explosive foam. We asked Rocksteady Studios lead narrative designer Paul Crocker how the team kept it hidden in the Internet age:

 

While building Batman: Arkham Asylum, we placed a number of ‘hooks’ into the game that tie into the ‘Arkham-Verse’. From the beginning we knew that Quincy was a bad guy, and planned what his next move would be. The room obviously ties into Arkham City, but to be fair, we hid it pretty well. We did assume that it would be found eventually and after following forum posts for 6 months or so, decided to announce it in the ‘Game of the Year’ podcast. The fans of the game have been amazing and again, reading the forums, we can see how much they value the efforts we have put into creating the background stories for the various characters and it was great to see all the posts and theories about the secret room once it was discovered. What I think people are really going to enjoy is not just how Arkham Asylum led to Arkham City, but also how the story in Arkham City sheds new light on the events you saw in Arkham Asylum.

 

Go ahead and give Arkham Asylum another spin in your console if you'd like to check it out for yourself. We show you exactly how to find it in the video below.

[Dante]

Gameinformer info leaked.

 

Gameinformer Story info:

- Quincy Sharp is no running for mayor.

- Arkham Asylum and Black Gate Prison are unfit to hold inmates.

- Quincy Sharp buys off part of the slums and walls it off, creating Arkham City.

- Hugo Strange is in charge of Arkham City.

- Two-Face plans to execute Catwoman to gain respect of inmates.

- The overdose of venom may not be what's wrong with the Joker.

 

Gameinformer Gameplay info:

- You are now able to counter two attacks at once.

- More puzzles.

- All gadgets included in the first game are available from the start.

- Side missions now feature in the game.

- Gangs roam Arkham City, these are recorded in Batman's criminal database.

- You find people who work for Ridler to find Ridler challenges.

- Batman has his smoke bomb.

[Ryan]

- Quincy Sharp is no running for mayor.

Now/not?

 

 

- Hugo Strange is in charge of Arkham City.

I just watched his episode not too long ago from The Animated Series. Sounds good to me..

 

Pics of Catwoman and Two-Face from the magazine.

 

 

[Dante]

Catwoman is good in the scans.

 

GI Summary:

Sharp took credit for getting the Joker situation of the first game under control. He then used that incident to help win the Mayoral election. After winning, he declares Blackgate and Arkham unfit, and buys off a portion of the slums of Gotham. Walling off the area and calling it "Arkham City", he contracts a mercenary group called Tyger into defending the walls. The prisoners are only given one rule: "Don't try to escape", with the penalty for doing so being death. Beyond that, they can do whatever they want within.

 

-Hugo Strange heads the new Arkham, though it seems like this fact is cloaked in mystery to the outside world. Those who look into him disappear.

 

-It's been a year. Two face is admitted into Arkham City and he realizes he has to make a move to assert himself in the new prison lest he be eaten alive (not literally, of course). He captures Catwoman, figuring a public execution should do the trick.

 

-The team is aiming for a highly detailed city, on the level of what they did in the first game with Arkham itself.

 

-Gadgets can now be used during fights- the article mentions Batman putting explosive gel on the back of one of his opponents during a brawl.

 

-You can now pull off multiple counterattacks at the same time.

 

-Many of the super villains have formed gangs, and taken control of differnt portions of the city.

 

-The team wants to push the "forensics" angle of the first game more, incorporating puzzles in them that will become more complex as the game goes on.

 

-Most of the key gadgets that were unlocked late in the first game are available by default (Beyond the explosive gel, the article also mentions the line launcher).

 

-Interrogations replace the Riddler maps of the first game.

 

-Batman can now taunt his enemies via a button press.

 

-Certain characters have optional sidestories within Arkham city (the article mentions Zsasz), that you can dig into.

 

-Harley has a new costume. From the article: "Instead of a nurse outfit, Harley now wears red and black pants, and a matching midriff-baring top. Her face paint has been scaled back to a much more subtle degree, and she now has a Joker tatoo on one of her hips peeking out over her waistband."

 

-Batman's been given a new gadget called the "broadcast analyzer". The article mentions several broadcasts Bats can listen in on, like the GCPD dispatch and Gotham FM. The main usage here has Batman tuning in to listen to a message left for him by the Joker.

 

-Oracle is missing, so Alfred is the one in Bruce's ear (at least at the beginning of the game).

 

-Rocksteady wouldn't detail their multiplayer plans.

[Daft]

Catwoman looks dumb. Has she got short hair?

[Konfucius]

Catwoman looks dumb. Has she got short hair?

 

Looks like it, but she could also have covered it with her clothes.

Short hair is easier to render though.

[Ryan]

All part of the illusion with the mask. I bet if she took it off her hair would flow out..

[Happenstance]

The character has short hair most of the time anyway

[Daft]

I way prefer it when she has long hair. Makes her more sassy.

[Ryan]

Castle actress Stana Katic, who plays Detective Kate Beckett on the show, has just revealed, via Twitter, that she has joined the voice cast of the latest Batman videogame:

 

Just recorded a character voice on the next Batman video game. Never did that before. Helpful hint: plenty of water and pineapple slices.

 

And who is she playing? This original message was deleted but here's the screencap.

 

Wicked. All the Batman material I've read/watched, I've barely seen anything of Talia. Could there be a love triangle between Batman, Catwoman and Talia?

 

 

Another voice-actor has also outed his participation on the game via an interview in the GeekCast Podcast: http://www.geekcastradio.com/pod/tooncast/TC_INT-3.mp3

 

Not a bad listen but skip to 1hr 5mins to hear it..