The AP asks: Where's the Dark Knight game?

by Justin McElroy on Aug 8th 2008 10:45AM

We don't know about you, but we've been doing a little internal happy dance that a crummy video game version of The Dark Knight wasn't rushed to shelves, sullying in some way our love of the film. But The Batman's absence was apparently enough to get under the skin of the AP, which tried to dig up any dirt they could on the Caped Crusader's video game incarnation.

The general consensus? No one expected The Dark Knight to do as well as it did, meaning EA didn't feel a rush to get the game out day-and-date with the film, a miscalculation that analyst Michael Pachter estimates cost the company $100 million. Of course, it's mainly guesswork and speculation at this point, what really happened is anybody's guess. But make no mistake: Though we're happy there's no botched Dark Knight title on the market, we do want one. We just want the right one.

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Tags: batman, dark-knight, ea, Electronic-Arts, pandemic

Reader Comments (46)

even if it comes out next year, it will probably still suck. I am definitely not looking forward to it.

Okay, let me show you a magic trick!

Is Joystiq actually demanding a licensed game?

All they need to do is somewhat follow the events of the film and let the player drive the tumbler through buildings/walls/cars.

Oh and jam a pencil that is stuck to a table into a guys head.

What world are they living in to assume that a Batman movie wouldn't do so well at theaters? Especially this one.

Also, they need to make it a 2.5D beat 'em up in vein of NES Batman or, more preferably, SNES Batman Returns.
Remember that scene in the beginning of TDK where he was beating his way through a line of goons? THAT is the game I want to play! None of this run around doing 'missions' shit for me!

Seriously. It was hyped for well over a year, enough time to rush a game.

The movie was mostly narrative, so a game based on the movie would probably suck. Now If we were to talk about a stand alone Batman game, count me in.

I think I agree with RV. Even if they put some considerable time into it, it still won't be comparable to a AAA development cycle. They want to get a game out right away, and probably couldn't care less if it's a "halo killer" or just another Madagascar. Maybe they'll release it with the DVD and Bluray?

My problem with it would be what genre is it going to be? A standard action game would be the only obvious answer, but I'm afraid the sure-to-be-in-the-game mix of racing, flying (gliding?), protect-the-hostages, and hand to hand combat scenarios will just get awful. I have a feeling I'll die before there's ever a decent batmobile game. Let alone the batpod.

I kinda remember hearing that it supposedly is going to be a sandbox game last year or something when it was assumed it would be out with the movie.
Ugh if true.

i was also thinking a bluray/dvd release would be a good time to pyt out the game. they could do a bundle or if the games not ready put a bemo in like star wars. but we have psn and xbl. oh well thats all i got

No one expected The Dark Knight to do as well as it did?Really? That's just stupid.

Clearly you weren't around on comic book forums when all you had were people pissing and moaning about how awful casting Heath Ledger was, and how it should have been someone "wackier", and how great Jack Nicholson was, and blah blah blah.

I swear, the fastest way to become a misanthrope is to hang around on internet forums.

I'm with GUTS.

I didn't want to get hyped since last year movies taught me hype is the best way to get disappointed but when I enter into that Theater in the premier and I saw guys disguised as the Joker and Batman I knew I should be prepared for Epic.

Great movies and I don’t they should make a videogame but a normal Batman videogame,yeah.

Doesn't make sense to me.

Wasn't it pretty much expected from the start to be a block buster?

We don't need another cookie-cutter POS that will be released on every console known to man. Far better to honor the memory of Heath Ledger and the film with a moment of silence rather than hours of mind-numbing stupidity.

If you're that desperate for Batman action go rent the latest Stuntman game. It has an eerily similar "Batman" scene in which you drive a Bat Pod style motorcycle and even face off against their version of The Joker in a semi-truck. It's a lot more campy than The Dark Knight (and climaxes in you jumping your "Batcar" into the Joker's space rocket (!?!)) but it definitely reminds me of the movie's vehicular action.

If anything, it was guaranteed to be massive the day Heath Ledger died which was a long time ago so that's a really bad excuse.

Lego Batman is coming next month. That's enough for me.

They thought Dark Knight wouldn't sell and they lost approx 100 million for that?

Serves them right : )-.

Maybe Pandemic bit off more than they can chew, with the LOTR: Conquest and Mercs 2 coming out this season.

I'd be happy if Pandemic did a pallet swap with the Mercs 2 game. I still think and open world version of Batman, using similar mechanics and tech seen in the Mercs 2 game, would be awesome.

They have two studios free as far as I know that could easily be working on this game.

Absolutely zero expectations for any video game adaptation of any big name licensed property. I'd love to be pleasantly surprised, though. :)

Screw it, release Batman Returns on XBLA and call it the Dark Knight. Ill just pretend its the Jokers thugs and not the Penguin's. At least this way it will still be a somewhat decent game.

All I can think of when someone mentions EA & movie tie-ins is one thing:

Superman Returns

I worked at Criterion whilst that was in production & it was pretty much awful from start to finish, despite EA having to draft in engineers from our office & being released embarassingly late.

Thankfully, EA seems to have improved a LOT since I worked there & they're not releasing /quite as much/ chaff.

The movie was good. Not nearly as good as Batman Begins.

The movie wouldn't have done nearly as well if Ledger was still alive. Thats the truth.

Aonther truth is that the game will suck. It might be better than Superman, Hulk, and Iron Man. But still won't be very good.

There we go, Iridium, my man. It's nice to hear another person online say that TDK was a good movie, but not as good as Batman Begins. Nobody get pissy, but TDK is extremely overrated. Not bad, not great.

Numbers can say anything they want. I'm not a damn computer so numbers don't rule the way I think. That was one of the dumbest things I've ever read. People do have their own opinions and tastes you know. Just like some people actually like the Ang Lee Hulk "movie".

Thank you EA. You have traded away $100 million dollars in exchange for possibly a few dozen metacritic points. It worked for Goldeneye.

I wonder if Joker will be voiced by Heath Ledger? Oh...

SPOILER ALERT:

The joker dies of a drug overdose in batman 3!

For the love of Heath Leger, please don't create or publish one. Just think, if it exists someone, somewhere will need to say "Eh, the game sucks, but at least the movie was good."

Just let Dark Knight remain an unblemished bit of greatness. Go play some Streets of Rage or Final Fight if you want to beat people up.

Actually the game is coming out supposedly, it was confirmed by Gary Oldman (Gordon) and he said it will be out in time for the DVD. It was during an interview on G4, I believe.

"No one expected The Dark Knight to do as well as it did"

What what whaaaaat???? With all the hype about Heath Ledger and the crazy success of Batman Begins? I never heard anyone express anything but confidence that The Dark Knight would be anything but a blockbuster. I doubt this is the reason for there not being a Dark Knight game; but whatever the reason, I'm glad.

LOL what a bunch of idiots. Were they closing their eyes and plugging their ears for the last year? The hype for this movie was big and it delivered.

Sorry for double post...but actually I would rather not have a game.

Honestly its fairly obvious that the Joker will feature a very crappy sound-alike for the game, and I don't want to hear some shit imitation. Unless Ledger recorded the dialogue for the game during the movie's production? Or perhaps they pull a Brando for the Godfather game and just use audio clips from the movie.

"No one expected The Dark Knight to do as well as it did, meaning EA didn't feel a rush to get the game out day-and-date with the film, a miscalculation that analyst Michael Pachter estimates cost the company $100 million."

Are you frakking kidding me? How did they think this wouldn't do at least as well as the Simpsons movie? Superman Returns? Godfather the game?

I should be thankful though. I enjoyed spiderman 3 the game but even so, the game was abysmal. Transformers was horrifyingly bad.

the AP forgot to ask if gamers even care about a game based on the movie....

Apparently they do since they regularly sell over a million copies.

When I was seeing The Dark Knight, I got to talking to some guy next to me in line. He was playing his DS (dunno what game) and he said he can't wait to play The Dark Knight game. His logic was, and I'm being 100% honest here, that Spiderman 3 the game was awesome (I quickly gave up trying to convince him otherwise) When I told him that there is no TDK game even announced yet, he seemed dumbfounded.
I never actually met anyone like that (in real life, at least) who seemed so into videogames but at the same time was so uninformed.
It was at that point it dawned on me that there are probably lots and lots of people like him out there, nice as he was...and suddenly I understood why trash like Spiderman 3 and Transformers sold so tragically well.
It was at that point

Wait,someone is really asking for a mediocre all platforms movie based game?
Why?

WE GOT LEGO BATMAN

So true, it needed to be posted twice.

f*ck it.. don't want to ruin a fantastic movie

If the movie is good (it only came out here today) it should have the legs to retain a decent following when the game is released.

Its only over-hyped, short-lived movies and bad cash-in games that need to launch simultaneously. (eg:phantom menace)

Maybe it'll be out for the DVD. Or the special edition dvd. Or the unrated special edition dvd. Or the extended special edition dvd. Or the director's cut dvd.
I'm sure there are other chances..

Most likely this game would come out around the dvd release. If they want any chance to still tag it around the hype of movie. I'll give it a try, but i know its going suck like most movie tie in game.

The AP asks: Where's the Dark Knight game?

Reader Comments (46)

Posted: Aug 8th 2008 10:48AM R V said

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