Batman: Arkham City

[nightwolf]

It might seem silly to have detective mode on all the time, but you put the aesthetics aside because it gets you to your goal quicker. Like the way you would forward-roll Link accross Hyrule field before you got Epona, or strafe-run everywhere on Goldeneye. It looked stupid, but it got you from A to B faster.

 

Yes, true, but I personally find it irritating to have dectective mode on all the time, it's actually a very good looking game and seems such a waste to ignore it just to complete the game quicker.

 

As it is, it is my personal taste, I assume they'll change it if it bothers them.

[Aimless]

They could always change the way Detective Mode works, namely adjust it so that it's used to detect and tag things rather than track. So, say you're following a trail like in the first game: you scan the material you're looking to track in DM, then once it's tagged subtler markers appear in your normal view so you don't have to stick to your x-ray vision to follow the trail.

 

Anyway, I'll stop my armchair developing now. Rocksteady did a pretty damn good job the first time around so I'm sure they'll come up with their own solution.

[ReZourceman]

http://video.comicbookresources.com/video-game-trailers/batman-arkham-city-teaser/

[Murr]

some artwork revealed...

 

[Dante]

Batman: Arkham City - VGA Trailer

[ReZourceman]

Damn, that looks great.

[flameboy]

ok so even though its not ingame still looks immense cannot wait!

[Dog-amoto]

Want...it...now...!!!

[Dante]

I am amazed this trailer was all CGI and Christopher Lee is voicing Hugo Strange.

[Retro_Link]

I am amazed this trailer was all CGI and Christopher Lee is voicing Hugo Strange.

Yeah when it started with the guy lying in the chair, I genuinely thought it was actors, and thought to myself (having watched Mass Effect and Resistant) 'lol, there seems to be a theme this year'. Then when it dawned on me it wasn't I had to go back and watch the intro to check!

[jayseven]

I forget the rockstar game that we recently had a vid for, but this combined with that shows just how eerily accurate lip synch is getting! It makes me grin and cower in fear at the same time when I contemplate just how realistic graphics are getting (though I'm sure the rockstar one purputed to be in-game cut-scene graphics, while this is clearly just FMV-material).

[Dan_Dare]

I forget the rockstar game that we recently had a vid for, but this combined with that shows just how eerily accurate lip synch is getting! It makes me grin and cower in fear at the same time when I contemplate just how realistic graphics are getting (though I'm sure the rockstar one purputed to be in-game cut-scene graphics, while this is clearly just FMV-material).

 

Nope.

 

LA Noire uses real time facial recordings for all it's animation- literally like motion capturing all the muscles and whatnot- that's recorded while the actors deliver their lines in the studio. And it's all in game too.

[Shorty]

They might use that lip synch method in the actual game, but there's no way they're using those graphics in game.

[Aimless]

I'd guess it's another Blur production; they've worked on BioWare's recent CGI trailers, amongst many others.

[Dante]

Batman: Arkham City Interview And Screens

 

GS: As the title suggests, it seems with Arkham City that you're trying to expand the world and give Batman a larger arena to use his crime fighting know-how. Is the development team going for a sandbox-style approach where players can kind of go at their own pace--picking and choosing side missions--or will Arkham City be more of a streamlined open-world experience?

 

SH: The footprint of Arkham City is about five times bigger than Arkham Island, but our primary intention was never to create a bigger gameworld just for the sake of it. In Batman: Arkham Asylum, we really focused our effort on creating an intense, pressure-cooker atmosphere by locking Batman in the madhouse and allowing The Joker to turn up the heat. In Arkham City, we want to take that attitude to the next level, so we created an experience in which gamers will have a huge amount of navigational freedom, but they will also feel the extreme pressure of the challenges that they face. Players will be able to go anywhere at any time, but we have made sure that players will always have a very clear idea of where they are needed most if they want to just stick to the core narrative path of the game. Explore the streets of Arkham City, and you will find many side missions, secrets, and street brawls, so players won't find it difficult to get into some trouble if that's what they are looking for.

 

I wouldn't describe the game as "sandbox" because a totally open and free-form gameworld would not allow us to create the kind of atmosphere that we wanted to, but we don't hold your hand either. Arkham City is its own place; a massive superprison, jam packed with supervillains, thugs, and psychopaths. There aren't any rules, but it has a law of its own, and this is why it is a perfect setting for Batman. Gamers will have to think and act like the Dark Knight if they want to survive in a place like Arkham City.

 

GS: Were there any features of Batman: Arkham Asylum that the team knew it wanted to tweak and refine right away when jumping to development for Arkham City? Obviously, detective vision was one of those, but it seems like combat is also being changed around.

 

SH: We reappraised every aspect of every feature that was developed for Batman: Arkham Asylum and rethought them in the context of the new game setting and story of Batman: Arkham City. Thankfully, we had some very strong core systems to build upon. Our goal was, therefore, to develop these systems and add even more depth and gameplay instead of changing them fundamentally. Taking the freeflow combat system as an example, the core mechanics of this system remain in place. However, it has been updated with lots of new features, including multiple simultaneous counters, aerial attacks, projectile counters, environment counters, beatdowns, the ability to combo in gadgets, new special moves, and more. We have invested as much time and effort into the improvements for Batman: Arkham City as we did in creating the entire systems from scratch for Batman: Arkham Asylum, so I really hope players will appreciate the new features and depth.

 

GameSpot: One of the great things about Batman: Arkham Asylum is that the mechanics associated with Batman felt true to his character and everything felt like it was placed in the context of that universe. With that in mind, what are you doing to expand Batman's repertoire of moves and abilities in Arkham City and how difficult is it to keep those in line with the Batman character?

 

Sefton Hill: The range of moves and abilities that we developed for Batman in the first game were designed to meet the threats and obstacles that gamers would find within Arkham Asylum. We wanted to reinforce the feeling of genuinely being the Dark Knight and then come up with a series of challenges, which best tested these abilities. Taking the game onto the Gotham streets has given us the opportunity to significantly increase Batman's repertoire. Our primary goal is to deliver the "Batman in Gotham" feeling, and this meant completely overhauling the traversal and navigation system. We wanted the player to experience the freedom and exhilaration of gliding down alleyways and soaring above the skyline, and this has meant [adding] nearly twice as many moves and animations as in the original game.

 

But none of this has been difficult to keep in line with Batman's character as this is where we always start, even before we design any challenges or locations. "What would it be fun to do as Batman?" Once we have the answer to that question, we can then start to make the rest of the game.

 

[Nintendohnut]

Pretty damn excited about this game - the city's looking excellent so far.

[Dan_Dare]

I still don't like the use of the Unreal Engine but the first game was so bloody good that this remains pretty high on my list. It was about as close to perfect as any super hero game has ever come and that goes a long way in my book. Especially when it involves hip poppingly brutal martial arts as The Batman.

[Nintendohnut]

Yep, any game in which a man dressed in spandex can, in slow motion, kick another man (who is dressed as a clown) in the face so hard it crunches... well I'm just not sure that can be topped.

[Dog-amoto]

I hope we see more Scarecrow nightmare sequences. They were by far the coolest parts of the first game.

[Happenstance]

Im not sure id want anymore of them. They were very good in the first game but theyve been done now, id rather we got something new.

[Daft]

I wouldn't mind Scarecrow bringing up Jason Todd. Bruce is never going to live that one down. Plus, it would be cool to have Robin established but not there.

[Jimbob]

Scarcecrow returning would be interesting, but i'm not sure if he'd work in the new game.

 

Game is looking great so far.

[Dante]

From a action figures blog called Idle Hands -

 

Batman Legacy Action Figures

 

Series 1

 

・Golden Age Batman

・Silver Age Batgirl

・Modern Age Catman

 

Series 2:

 

・Golden Age Joker

・Silver Age Mr.Freeze

・Modern Age Batman

 

Batman 2-Pack Figures

 

Series 1

 

・Arkham City Batman & Arkham City Riddler

・Batman（Dark Knight） & The Joker（Police Honor Guard）

 

Series 2

 

・Arkham City Nightwing & Arkham City Joker

・Batman（Prototype Suit） & Lt.Jim Gordon

 

Series 3

 

・Arkham City Batman & Arkham City Catwoman

・Batman（Batman Begins） & Ra's Al Ghul（Ducard）

 

Please note these images came from an un-named source, and while we trust the info implicitly, as he's been right 100% of the time, the pics above look a little photoshoppy. We apologize if that's an image of Hot Toys' Police Costume Joker in there!

 

**UPDATE: It was brought to my attention by the crew at Fwoosh forums that a number of these pics are recolored customs by some talented folks I'll name when I have the full info. My source on the topic says he knew about these toys in advance and had his intel confirmed when they popped up on a major retailer website, though he is reluctant to mention their name and possibly get them in trouble in the middle of Toy Fair time. Understandable, so again, we think the info is solid, but the pics are highly suspect.

 

 

[Dog-amoto]

New(ish) IGN preview.

 

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/115/1152009p1.html

 

Disappointing comments about Detective Mode

[Dog-amoto]

First gameplay trailer.

 

http://uk.ign.com/videos/2011/03/15/batman-arkham-city-this-aint-no-place-for-a-hero-trailer?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d7fb1f9efbd7530%2C0