warner-bros-interactive posts

How big will Batman: Arkham City be? Pretty darn big, according to a new interview over at GameStop. Sefton Hill, the game's director over at developer Rocksteady, stated, " The footprint of Arkham City is about five times bigger than Arkham Island," the setting for Rocksteady's last game Batman Arkham Asylum. However Hill adds, " ... our primary intention was never to create a bigger gameworld just for the sake of it." While Arkham Asylum had a " pressure-cooker atmosphere" according to Hill, Arkham City will give gamers "a huge amount of navigational freedom, but they will also feel the extreme pressure of the challenges that they face."

In the meantime you can check out some more screenshots that have been released from Batman Arkham City in our gallery. You can also see a rather ... interesting ... poster after the jump:

F.E.A.R. 3's release day may have been moved this week from March to May but the horror-themed first person shooter from developer Day 1 Studios is moving ahead, at least in Europe, with plans for a Collector's Edition of the game. A video showing its contents was posted up earlier this week.

Besides coming in custom packaging, the Collector's Edition will include a code to access a unqiue weapon and a DC Comics-produced F.E.A.R. comic book. But the centerpiece of the edition has to be the 7 inch figure of a creepy and very pregnant Alma, the central character in the game franchise. It even glows in the dark. There's no word on when the truly scary edition will be released in the US.

The horror-themed first person shooter sequel F.E.A.R. 3 may have had its release date pushed back yet again. The game from developer Day 1 Studios and publisher Warner Bros Interactive was originally supposed to come out last fall and then was delayed until March 22. A few days ago, however the game's official message boards had a post from its administrator announcing yet another delay.

According to the message board post, the new release date for F.E.A.R. 3 will be sometime in May 2011 with the post saying the decision was made "to deliver the best possible game for our fans."

[Via Gamershell]

Developer Turbine's move to turn its fantasy MMO Lord of the Rings Online last fall seems to have paid off for the company. In an interview on the TenTonHammer podcast, Turbine reps stated that since the switch from a subscription-only based business model, revenues for the game have tripled and player numbers have also increased.

Of course, Turbine, like most MMO developers, has not revealed what the actual revenue and player numbers are but if revenues have indeed tripled it seems like the switchover to free-to-play has been successful. Later this year another subscription-based MMO, Champions Online, will also move to the free-to-play business model.

Batman Arkham City got its first trailer reveal at the 2009 Video Game Award and on Saturday the upcoming sequel to 2009's acclaimed action game Batman Arkham Asylum will get yet another trailer. We've been promised that the visuals of this new video footage won't look like a video game but if someone had filmed what happens.

And that's not all. The trailer on Saturday will also reveal a villain that will make an appearance in the Rocksteady-developed game. Who could it be? Ra's Ah Ghul? Hush? The Red Hood? Ma Parker? The Bookworm? (OK, those last two came from the 1960's Batman TV show).

It was announced about a year ago and earlier this year Game Informer did the first real preview of the game but now it looks like the marketing for Batman Arkham City is ramping up. Today MSN Games hosted the a new teaser trailer for the game. It's only the second such video released for the Rocksteady-developed sequel to 2009's Batman Arkham Asylum.

The 30 second video, which you can check out after the jump, is a CGI-only affair but it does show The Dark Knight doing what he does best; kicking the crap out of the bad guys. We should see a longer version of the trailer on Saturday during the Video Game Awards show on Spike TV. Batman Arkham City is still due for release in the fall of 2011.

After being pushed back from a previously planned fall 2010 release schedule, the horror shooter sequel F.E.A.R. 3 now has a solid release date. IGN reports that the game from developer Day 1 Studios and publisher Warner Bros. Interactive is due to be released in the US on March 22, 2011.

In addition to the new release date, the publisher also revealed that select retailers will offer pre-order incentives for F.E.A.R. 3. Amazon.com will give pre-order customers a 12-page prequel comic book to the game. Best Buy offers an exclusive in-game weapon, The Shredder while GameStop customers get their own exclusive weapon, The Hammer.

While we wait for more info and screenshots to be released for Batman: Arkham City. the first Batman game from developer Rocksteady is ready for yet another sale. Yep, the Game of the Year edition of Batman: Arkham Asylum has a big price cut at the Steam PC game download service.

Normally priced at $39.99, the Game of the Year edition is now on sale via Steam for just $13.60, a 66 percent discount. The game is almost a steal at that price and if you have not yet played it you need to do so before Batman: Arkham City comes out.

It's rare that we post a news story that is mostly about some new screenshots of an upcoming game but we make do make exceptions. We are making one now for the first "official" internet screenshots for Batman: Arkham City. You may remember some other screenshots that were released earlier this year but those were leaked and didn't come directly from publisher Warner Bros. Interactive.

These new screenshots from developer Rocksteady are no less impressive looking, however. The Dark Knight looks like he's about ready to do some big damage to Gotham's wild and crazy criminal element. The new screenshots come as the official web site of Game Informer magazine has finally reprinted its preview of Batman: Arkham City which remains the only really detailed look at the game due out in late 2011.

With DC Universe Online being pushed back to early 2011, it looks like this fall's PC game lineup is looking a bit sparse than in previous years. On the other hand the first quarter of 2011 is looking like it will have plenty of new PC game titles.

• New Steam bug patches have been released for Puzzle Quest 2, Mount and Blade Warband, Puzzle Dimension, Galcon Fusion and Worms Reloaded.
• The Steam client also got a bug fix update.
• You can also pre-purchase the upcoming PC port of Lost Planet 2 via Steam and save 10 percent. off its normal price.
• Former Glu Mobile CEO Greg Ballard is now the new head of Warner Bros. Interactive's new senior vice-president of digital games.
• Disney Interactive now has two presidents, John Pleasants and Jimmy Pitaro.