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Hands-on: Batman: Arkham Asylum

by Ben Gilbert { Jun 3rd 2009 at 1:20PM }

After we got to get an eyes-on with Batman: Arkham Asylum's single-player campaign last week, we were hankering for our first hands-on with the game. Luckily, Eidos brought the title to E3 this year, offering more than just the challenge rooms (available for play on kiosks at your local big box store) but also a slice of gameplay from the single-player campaign. Twenty minutes later, we had silently "not murdered" a slew of baddies employing the game's Detective Mode, and found ourselves smiling ear to ear.

A cinematic guided us through the intro to the game -- essentially dropping off Joker at Arkham Asylum and witnessing the subsequent takeover of the facility. And that's when we started sluggin' dudes. Lots of dudes -- with big veins popping out of their arms. Each punch felt surprisingly satisfying and various on-screen commands helped to fluidly guide Batman's blows from one enemies' face to another.

Gallery: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Continued →

Square Enix and Eidos dropping Warner Bros. publishing

by Majed Athab { Jun 1st 2009 at 4:10PM }

Although the ink has dried on Square Enix's buyout of Eidos last month, there still remains a few issues to iron out before the handover is complete. One of these issues is the publishing rights of currently scheduled titles. Batman: Arkham Asylum and Mini Ninjas were originally under Warner Bros. Interactive before the takeover and will continue to go under that name; however, all future titles will return in-house.

Kane & Lynch 2 and Just Cause 2 can be counted among those titles donning the Square Enix logos, though thankfully the influence stops there as Eidos will continue to run as an independent company. Don't worry, Kane & Lynch will be androgyny-free.

Batman: Arkham Asylum Joker DLC will be free

by Jason Dobson { Jun 1st 2009 at 9:00AM }

What's with the goofy grin? Did you dip into the jar of Smilex, or are you just giddy that playing as the Joker in Batman: Arkham Asylum won't cost you a dime?

Eidos has confirmed that the PS3-exclusive DLC will be free, allowing players to frolic about in the game's challenge maps as the Clown Prince of Crime when Batman: Arkham Asylum swoops onto store shelves this August.

E3 2009: Entering our bedcaves with Arkham Asylum room keys

by Alexander Sliwinski { May 31st 2009 at 3:58PM }

click to embiggen

Riddle us this: What insane card will let many E3 attendees find their way to a bed each night?

Answer: The Batman: Arkham Asylum room keys that apparently all associated hotels of the show will receive. Yeah, we're definitely taking this as a souvenir. Sorry, Hyatt.

PS: Eidos spent all that money on these cards and they were printed backwards (the arrows point the wrong way). Clearly, the Joker teamed up with The Riddler in the production.

[Thanks, Sam Houston]

Impressions: Batman: Arkham Asylum

by Kevin Kelly { May 29th 2009 at 12:15PM }

Unlike the character it's based on, Batman: Arkham Asylum has been prancing about in broad daylight quite a bit as of late. We've seen walkthrough videos, tons of screenshots, and we've gotten our hands on it. In fact, if you really find yourself itching for some quality time with the Caped Crusader, you can head down to your local Target and try out a combat demo on the PS3 for yourself. Even PlayStation Home broke news via an in-game ad that players will be able to control the Joker, only in the PS3 version (video just after the break). Seriously, the game has been everywhere.

So how did Eidos and WB decide to whet our appetite even more? By showing us another gameplay demo, of course. This time, it was all about showing off Batman's CSI skills, which should come as no surprise (he is the World's Greatest Detective, after all). Get the details after the break, and dust the brand-new screenshots below for fingerprints.

Gallery: Batman: Arkham Asylum (05-29-09)

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Batman: Arkham Asylum committed to retail Aug. 25 in NA, Aug. 28 in Europe

by Alexander Sliwinski { May 29th 2009 at 10:43AM }

The Dark Knight is finally ready examine the bats in Arkham Asylum's belfry on August 25 in North America and August 28 in Europa. The game had previously been delayed to "late summer" from its June 23 release date, so the wait doesn't appear to be much longer, but it's already felt like a Ra's al Ghul lifetime.

Remember that if you're not looking to play so seriously, that the Joker will be an "exclusive" character in the PS3 version of the game. Batman: Arkham Asylum will be playable at E3 next week and we'll be sure to give our updated hands-on impressions of the game that might actually do Batman justice.

Yoichi Wada declares industry ready for the next stage

by Majed Athab { May 29th 2009 at 4:00AM }

Great minds across the industry all seem to agree: Video games are heading into a new era. President of Square Enix, Yoichi Wada (pictured, right), has proven he too belongs to this school of thought, sharing his musings on the coming of a "second stage of growth" for the industry. Wada says it's a combination of the platform having stabilized as a mainstream form of entertainment and the leveling off of demand (as it's reached its limit), that will load gaming into the next level.

"From now on, it will grow further as an established mainstream entertainment, and there will be further convergence of media and entertainment," said Wada. With that in mind, we'd like to point out that proof of accelerated convergence is already happening in the industry. It looks like the gears are all set; all that's left is to turn them.

[Via Edge-Online]

Lara's Underworld adventure goes budget in the UK

by Richard Mitchell { May 22nd 2009 at 4:15PM }

According to Tomb Raider Chronicles, Eidos has announced that Tomb Raider Underworld has become part of the Xbox 360 Classics range as well as PS3 Platinum Hits in the UK. The upshot here is that both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions should now be available for a mere £19.99. We've contacted Eidos to see if the new price applies to all PAL regions and if North America will see any budget love.

Considering Eidos was disappointed in the game's sales in North America and the game enjoyed relative success in the UK, we're not holding our breath.

Poison Ivy, Batman's green-thumbed nemesis, revealed

by Xav de Matos { May 21st 2009 at 6:30PM }

It ain't Uma Thurman (thank goodness), but Batman's plant-loving adversary, Poison Ivy, has been revealed as a baddie in the upcoming action title, Batman: Arkham Asylum. A new trailer (posted after the break) for Rocksteady and Eidos' impressive Arkham features the green thumb merging with a giant piranha plant with the intention of killing The Batman. Kill Batman, huh? Why hasn't anyone ever thought of that before?

Continued →

Report: The Last Remnant sold better in the West, poorly in general

by Ben Gilbert { May 20th 2009 at 2:50PM }

It seems as though Square Enix's attempt to reach out to Western gamers with The Last Remnant has done little in the way of olive branch extension, with the title selling 220,000 units since its release last year. According to Siliconera (and corroborated with info from VGChartz.com), the game sold even worse in Japan, where 360 saturation is notably low, moving only 160,000 units, making the game a relative success with Western audiences.

That being said, combined worldwide sales for the game totaled just over half of a million units, with 560,000 selling altogether (more than 400k of which were sold in North America and Europe). Hopefully the acquisition of Eidos will do more for the Japanese company in the west than The Last Remnant did.

A younger Lara will star in next Tomb Raider film

by Richard Mitchell { May 19th 2009 at 3:40PM }

Speaking to About.com, Terminator Salvation producer (for the film, not the game) Dan Lin stated that the next Tomb Raider film will feature a younger Lara Croft. Lin spoke of the "rebooting" of the franchise -- revealed earlier this year -- saying, "It's a great origin story that we're going to tell." Lin added that the film would be "very character-oriented" and that it would be "more realistic" than previous films in the series. While Lin did not reveal any information on who would be playing Lady Croft, he did note that it would be a younger Lara, so don't count on Angelina Jolie making a third appearance.

Furthermore, Lin said that the films and games have become "too action-oriented," while he would rather see "action, but with character." We have to agree with Lin, action has never been Lara's strong suit, as combat is typically the worst aspect of any Tomb Raider games. Still, we suppose a movie about platforming might get a little boring.

[Via Kotaku]

Age of Conan survives one year, gains unspecified growth

by Richard Mitchell { May 18th 2009 at 10:08PM }

FunCom has announced that Age of Conan is officially celebrating its first anniversary this week, adding that the company has seen a "significant" increase in the number of players per month. The company also noted that activity levels in the game have increased "significantly." Just how significant is all of this significance? That's anybody's guess, as Funcom hasn't provided any hard numbers.

Considering that the Age of Conan log recounts a litany of woe and despair, we suppose any player increases would be good news which, in and of itself, would be significant for the beleaguered MMO. In celebration of the first anniversary of the game, players will be treated to in-game fireworks and the chance to win prizes. Also, Funcom will soon be adding the ability to buy additional character slots and, as a bonus anniversary gift, will provide veteran players that have subscribed to the MMO for at least six months with a new character slot for free. Everyone else gets to keep playing World of Warcraft.

You must CQC this new Batman: Arkham Asylum footage

by Randy Nelson { May 15th 2009 at 4:35PM }

What do you do when the most promising Batman game in, oh, years gets delayed to "the end of summer?" You get angry. Well, that and you watch every bit of gameplay footage you can leading up to when it's finally in stores ... and hopefully doesn't disappoint.

It's with the intent of helping you through this time of Batman: Arkham Asylum-focused longing that we bring you what you need: video of the Dark Knight smashing goons' faces with man's earliest weapons, his fists and feet. Walking you through the on-screen beatings is Shefton Hill, designer of the game and a rather pleasant-sounding fellow given how dark and violent what he's making is. It's almost like getting a hands-on demonstration, only without ... your hands ... on -- oh, who are we kidding? Eidos, can we at least have a demo?

Battlestations: Pacific launch trailer launches war over the Pacific

by Ben Gilbert { May 11th 2009 at 6:00PM }

Just one day from the release of Battlestations: Pacific, the game's publisher Eidos has released the sea battle-infused launch trailer. We're not sure how much of the trailer is actual gameplay versus the game playing out, but rest assured you can find out for yourself by checking out the demo on Xbox Live and PC.

You'll forgive us if we don't express heady excitement for the game as, like Treyarch's Noah Heller, we're just kinda done with World War II titles. That being said, for those of you looking to retell history on the Eastern stage, Battlestations: Pacific may very well be right for you. We'll be over here thinking about Modern Warfare 2 and sneaking around New Mombassa in the future. Can you really blame us?

Gallery: Battlestations: Pacific

Livingstone: Kane & Lynch 2 aimed for Sept., more Hitman, Tomb Raider en route

by Ben Gilbert { May 11th 2009 at 11:00AM }

In Mumbai for the Golden Cursor Animation Awards, recently appointed Eidos "life president" Ian Livingstone sat down with the folks at GamingIndians and spilled a full bag of beans. Unsurprisingly, he says the Square Enix acquisition was "a great deal in many ways" and that the various Eidos development studios would remain largely independent. "It's great news for the brand and for the people," he says.

And also, apparently, great for sequels, as Livingstone confirms work on the next Hitman game, a sequel to Kane & Lynch currently targeted for a September release date and -- big shock! -- a re-imagining of Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider series. "The next Tomb Raider, I think, will surprise a lot of people and reinvigorate the franchise," Livingstone notes, stressing the relevance of game characters in mainstream media these days. Incidentally, he more than intimates that Eidos Montreal is working on Thief 4, though now we know that to be a fact -- the "worst kept secret in the industry," in fact.

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