I swear these are just actors in costume actually fighting. I mean, damn! According to the videos description: “Batman: Arkham Origins features an expanded Gotham City and introduces an original prequel storyline occurring several years before the events of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. Taking place before the rise of Gotham City’s most dangerous villains and assassins, the game showcases a young, raw, unrefined Batman as he faces a defining moment in his early career as a crime fighter that sets his path to becoming the Dark Knight. As the story unfolds, witness identities being formed and key relationships being forged.” All of us Batman fans here at The Mary Sue are still slightly wary of this next installment considering it isn’t being made by Rocksteady but remain hopeful. What about you?

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Warner Bros. has been quietly marshaling its forces to create the next installment of the Arkham franchise, and its domain name registrations have not gone unnoticed. But today the company officially announced Batman: Arkham Origins. The good news is there’s a new game. The bad news is it’s a prequel, so it won’t be delivering on any of the loose ends left wafting at the end of Arkham City. Also for a moment there I entertained the notion that since it was a prequel, it might actually involve Barbara Gordon when she was Batgirl and not Oracle, but the devs are saying it’s a “young Batman” meeting some of his enemies for the first time, so I doubt there will be a lot of Batfamily shenanigans, unfortunately. But with eight assassins descending on Gotham City on Christmas Eve to compete over who can kill Batman first, there’s a good chance of say, Lady Shiva, Cheshire, White Canary, or, if they wanted to pull from the Batman Beyond universe, Curare. Either way, Warner Bros. Games Montreal has some big Rocksteady Games shoes to fill. (And the DC Universe really needs some lady hitpersons who aren’t Asian ninja-types, sheesh.)

Previously in Batman

Yeah, I chose Paperboy as the header image for this post and you’re just going to have to deal with it. Best of lists are bound to attract controversy so prepare yourself to have some opinions on Time Magazine’s list of the 100 best video games. 

Vivienne Jolie-Pitt. Learn her name. Love it. She’s a future Oscar winner. Or so hopes her parents, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The 4-year-old has herself a role in momma’s upcoming Sleeping Beauty film, Maleficent. Read on for who she’ll be playing and to find out which comic book professional wrote the script.

Arkham City is getting a port to the oncoming Wii U, and because every console has got to have something to boast about, all the playable characters are getting special “armored” versions of their costumes. The Catwoman one, we can say unequivocally, is about a million billion times better than the default one. As much as we love the game. And kicking ass as Catwoman. (Kotaku)

The cast of BBC’s Doctor Who may be (almost) out by they’re not down. Except perhaps Arthur Darvill who may be about to take a tumble in this photo. Darvill, along with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan are making the press rounds at Comic-Con right now for what will likely be their last SDCC together. *sniffle* (via BBC America Tumblr)

If there’s one thing any geek can appreciate, even if they’re not a gamer nor a passionate Batman fan, it’s watching awesome people do voiceovers for things. Take the aforementioned awesome people — in this case, Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman, and Mark Hamill, voice of the Joker — put them in a completely unnatural environment, like a recording booth, and then say “Action” and watch the excellence ensue. Both actors reprised their roles from Batman: The Animated Series for Batman: Arkham City, because they love us and want us to be happy.

On another note, Hamill should really follow Conroy’s example and do a guest voice on The Venture Bros. next season. Let’s please start the Twitter campaign now.

(via Game Informer)

Previously in Batman

For all your geeky present needs! (via Paper Source) 

For many superhero fans, Kevin Conroy is THE Batman. Although he’s only ever voiced the character, he’s held onto the role for over twenty years now and has become synonymous with the caped crusader. At the premiere of the latest Warner Home Video feature, Justice League: Doom, we got a chance to speak with the seasoned actor about his long run with the character, how he sees Batman, and how voice acting for video games like Batman: Arkham City, is a lot harder that it would appear.

As a thank you to Rocksteady Studios, the creators of Batman: Arkham City, Blue Goggles Films made a Christmas video as cheery as one could expect considering it was filmed in the overrun, super-sized mental asylum. A summary of what you’re about to see? “Set on Christmas Eve within the confines of the Arkham City prison, two of the Penguin’s dullest lights on the tree, attempt to enjoy the holidays together.” What could possibly go wrong?

Also, this may be the sweetest Christmas thing I’ve seen this year.