Batman Arkham City, anticipation keeps on building

The lovely Collector's Edition of Arkham City

On October 17th 2011, when the clock strikes midnight and it shifts to the 18th of October, I will be at my local Gamestop picking up my copy of Batman Arkham City. Naturally I bought the Collectors Edition and yes ladies and gentleman its already payed off. My console of choice the Xbox 360 version. This bad boy is also available for the PS3 and Games for Windows PC as well. The Story picks up one year after the events of Batman Arkham Asylum. Quincy Sharp, played by Tom Kane, is now the Mayor of Gotham City and as Mayor has closed Black Gate Prison and Arkham Asylum, he has closed of a slum section of Gotham City and has deemed it the new Arkham, naming the slum section Arkham City. Hugo Strange, being played by Corey Burton, is hired in as the psychiatrist of Arkham City and an outside corporation Tyger, is brought in as security. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprise their roles as Batman and Joker respectively. Tara Strong also returns voicing the always lovable Harleen Quinzel. The events of the game are set in motion when Two-Face, voiced by Troy Baker, devises a plan to publicly execute Catwoman, voiced by Grey DeLisle. Batman decides for both the safety of Gotham and of his past relationship with Catwoman that he must stop the execution by entering Arkham City. Catwoman is also a playable character and has side missions. Robin has also been confirmed as a playable character through the Challenge Maps feature that was introduced in the last game. He is the Tim Drake, version of Robin.Who as of right now is only confirmed as bonus content for a Best Buy pre-order, I expect him to turn into DLC content later. Another interesting twist is Bane is also returning but this time as the Bats ally. The story line promises to be much more elaborate this time around.

Wired 360 and the wireless PS3 Batarang Controller

Aside from the awesome collector's edition, which includes a Batman statue by Kotobukiya, a collectible art book, a digitally acquired music album "from WaterTower Music including original songs by hit artists", the DC animated film Batman: Gotham Knight, as well as additional in-game content such as an exclusive skin from The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel and an Iceberg Lounge challenge map. Warner Bros. Interactive entertainment is also launching two Batarang Controllers. One for PS3 and the other for 360. You all know I am getting the 360 one, its kind of a shame its not wireless like the PS3 version but it is still pretty cool none the less. A prequel comic was also released by DC being written by one of the legends of the Batman Mythos, Paul Dini, himself. The artwork is being drawn by Carlos D'Anda. The 5 part limited-series was released on May 11, 2011. A new issue has been released monthly ever since, with only one more left. I sadly have not been able to find them but I am always on the look out. I leave you with the latest trailer released. I am pretty sure I will post more at a later date. In fact I am most likely going to devote the week before the 18th of October to Arkham City in the form of screen shots and trailers. I will still of course post other blog posts. Just a Arkham City tidbit for each day. Its safe to say that once this game is released my GPA will decline for at least a month.