Would-be Batman: Arkham City trailer is fishy, let's take a closer look

by Christopher Grant on Jan 26th 2011 2:40PM

This is fun! A supposedly leaked trailer billing itself as "Batman: Arkham City - Warner Bros - Trailer Fight" has made its way to French video-sharing site Kewego. The approximately 2-minute clip features our fearless Dark Knight beating up baddies with ... the Joker? Putting aside our canonical concerns about the caped crusader clobbering criminals with the clown prince of crime, a few other things raise immediate bat signals.

Join us after the break for our best world's greatest detective impersonation as we piece together the clues and reveal the truth about this "Trailer Fight."

Now that you've seen the evidence, let's break it down piece by piece:

Isn't the Joker supposed to look different in Arkham City? The first teaser for the forthcoming sequel revealed a Joker that was a little worse for wear following the events of the first game. The video above is clearly Arkham Asylum-era Joker. The still below is what he'll look like in Arkham City.
That urban environment in the "new" trailer certainly doesn't look like Arkham Island, home to Arkham Asylum and eponymous setting of the first game ... but it does look like the first game's Crime Alley DLC challenge map. Watch the below video of the DLC, and we think you'll agree that the setting of the video up top looks identical.

And did that dialog sound ... familiar to you? "Why my dear, delusional Dark Knight, it hasn't even begun." That's because it's lifted straight from Arkham Asylum! You can catch it at the tail end of this trailer:

In short, the video appears to be a fake. It's a really well-made fake, but it's still a fake. Anyone else have a sudden urge to play Batman: Arkham Asylum though?

Via: RPS
Source: Kewego

Tags: Batman-Arkham-Asylum, Batman-Arkham-Asylum-2, Batman-Arkham-City, machinima, microsoft, playstation, ps3, Rocksteady-Studios, WBIE, xbox

Reader Comments (55)

@super troll

You're not exactly an original troll, are you?

Wow. Who did that?

can someone explain the process of how someone can create a fake vid like this?

@Tradio

Well the game was also ported to pc, so they may have taken the assets from the pc version and arranged them together somehow either in game or using 3d editing software like Maya or 3ds max and used a video capture program.

@Tradio
1) Access to a PC copy of B:AA
2) Access to the games models and 3D animation tools
3) ????
4) Profit

@Tradio Using the PC assets.

@shattercross
WB could also have used assets from the first game to put this together as a sizzle trailer that was never intended for public view. This could be some sort of internal marketing video that was created a year ago.

Wow, if it's a fake, it's REALLY well done. Woulda fooled me without the analysis.

@mxpowar LOL well i got fooled until i started reading the comments below haha. I just went straight to the video without reading the article and i was like o.O wth? BATMAN & JOKER? SWEET! then when i read people's comment i was like ARGH! is fake!?!?!?!? T-T

@mxpowar
I recognised the Dialogue and thought about the Joker being seriously F'd up in the old trailer but I thought it might just have been a quickly cobbled together trailer using assets they alreay had.

@mxpowar

Tell me about, I'm the one who started the rumor xD I feel like an idiot now.

@iceytoa1
The point of trailers is usually to make the game look better then it actually is, not worse.
A lot of effort is put into trailers, they usually aren't just slapped together.

Darn good video! :) But yes, appears to be fake. Someone has skills!

this would be awesome as a co-op crime alley type mode, which is what it might be?

This screamed fake right away. i feel sorry for anyone fooled by it

@KiDPANDA
To be fair anyone who hasnt played through the first game could easily be fooled by this, The only elements that prove it's fake are elements that someone would have had to see first hand like the dialog, or the Joker's condition, and even that doesnt have to stick seeing as it could be a co-op game that doesnt require any real logic.

So this is definitely a fake then?

I don't care if it IS a fake, that was awesome.

Well so far from what I understand only game press have actually seen Arkham City in action. With that said can anyone verify if the counter moves Batman uses in the trailer (throwing objects and the double counter) are the same animations used in the demos the game devs showed off to the press?

Personally I think more likely than not it's some sort of little advertisement for co-op Challenge rooms. One of the playstation magazines reported that multiplayer content is in AC, but to what extent is unknown. This could be the reasonable unknown.

the developers are entirely capable of making mock trailers just as a PR stunt. It's called marketing - it's not witchcraft.

@FakeJamaican They're also more than capable of making actual high quality trailers as a regular pr thing

@TheDarkWayne

perhaps the point is to tease and get people talking about the possibility of co-op scenarios.

It is likely a fake - but I don't understand why people take so much time to put out fake trailers.

well since Arkham Asylum was made with the unreal engine, I imagine this person managed to extract the assets and cobble together an animated sequence, the tag team moves were probably hand animated. very well done.

this is obviously real and it means there wll be co op atleast in the challenge option of the game

That was actually painful to watch.

Don't care if it's fake.... a job well done.

Why so serious? Looks like a good time!

Lol If I didn't know better would have thought t would be a co-op trailer

Most likely PC based if it is faked. Or.. they haven't finished Batman's and new texture, or don't wish to release it yet. Although we'll find out when we see the notorious [UPDATE] on the post.

That was very disappointing. From the description, I was expecting Batman to be using Joker as a weapon.

Anyway, I guess nobody has played MK vs. DCU but me. That's obviously where the Joker's buzzer move comes from. I'm not sure I remember this particular scene from that game (though it's possible), but I think someone might have used recycled animations and dialog from both MK vs. DCU and Arkham Asylum to try and pass it off as an Arkham City trailer.

@Fuzunga

What are you talking about? MK vs. DCU doesn't share the same voice actors or remotely the same animation as Batman or Joker in AA. There's nothing from MK vs DCU in this trailer at all fake or not.

If you didn't know, the moves you see Joker pull off in this trailer can be normally done in AA...

The curious move sets are the co-op moments where they both interact with each other and/or a thug at the same time and the two new counters Batman pulls off. Otherwise everything else is normally done in AA.

@LtCmdrChar Well I didn't have the PS3 version so I wouldn't know anything about the Joker's moves.

Nicely made!

If you are too uptight and can't look beyond the fact it's fake to appreciate the epicness, then you don't deserve the sequel.

Fake or not fake...that was pretty neat. You don't see those two fighting side by side everyday! If it's not fake...sweet combos!

BTW I still can't change my avatar...I've tried different sizes, a GIF, different browsers...help please...

Someone ripped the models from the PC version, along with the animations and sound.

Though some of the movement is tweaked, most of the animation is from the first game, specially Joker's.

real or fake, the trailer looks great. BatmanAA couldve benefited from some co-op content, hopefully they do something like this

Arkham City is a terrible freakin name. Why not call it Gotham City? There is no Arkham City!!! I can understand wanting to connect to the first game on store shelves but hel, put a blurb on the cover or a subtitle like "Arkham Asylum 2" or "From the makers of Arkham Asylum". God this name pisses me off. Grrrr nerdrage

@Bitter Kevin

It's called Arkham City because it literally takes place at a location within Gotham City called Arkham City.... Just like how Arkham Asylum was named such because it literally took place at Arkham Aslylum....

You don't see the first game being called "Batman: Arkham Asylum that's on an Island Within Gotham City" now do you?

What would be really funny (albeit weird) would be if this was actually in Arkham City, just a prototype (hence the reused art and dialogue), and was a bonus game type (like the fighting/stealth modes in Arkham Asylum).

I don't know whether I'd want that...
Oh, who am I kidding, I'd LOVE it!

OK GUYS LISTEN UP. my thoughts. this might be an easter egg in arkham city. where originally you play as batman and robin or catwoman, but you find some sort of unlockable easter egg and then play as the joker. even thought they talk to each other and joker gets punched by bats, it might be just an easter egg teaser. altough the dialog really makes this so fake:)

Fake or real I loved it :)

Well, I'll say this.

Batman teaming up with the Joker isn't exactly an unknown phenomena. They have done it before. Trying to say the Joker would never team up with Bats would lead him to do it once just to prove you wrong.

So, as a mode outside of the storyline (or even in the story, if done right) is perfectly fine with the two teaming up.

As to whether or not its real or fake, who cares.

@DevilSei

Hell! Just adding to my previous statement, but Batman has even helped the Joker before, and have even shared a laugh.

It looks completely recycled from the first game, but a well made trailer even if it is fake.

I've been playing through AA recently so it was pretty easy for me to spot the re-used dialogue and Batman, The Joker's, and the cronies re-used character models.

Not a very convincing fake overall once you actually sat down and thought about it.

Warner has confirmed that the video pertaining to be footage from Arkham City is indeed no such thing - indicating it's an impressive fan-made effort. The firm told CVG that the video was not a "DC approved asset for any WBIE game".] - Source: CVG

this could be the multiplayer that was talked about for Arkham City. I doubt the multiplayer component will be something like 8 vs 8, it will probably be something like this where two people fight together, and joker could be a character you can choose.

@ChrisGrant

Might be re-used dialogue, but the cadence is off from how it was delivered in Arkham Asylum. Might be fake, or might be Warner's attempt to cover up a co-op challenge mode.

After that beautiful CG trailer at E3, it just wouldn't make sense for this to be a real trailer. Congrats to however made it though, its still a cool video.

I would laugh if this actually is a trailer for Arkham City. And the reason it hasn't been taken down was because people think it's fake, therefore Rocksteady doesn't want to lend any credence for it to gain traction.

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Batman: Arkham City

Would-be Batman: Arkham City trailer is fishy, let's take a closer look

Reader Comments (55)

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 2:49PM Mach2 said

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