Batman: Arkham Asylum Video Game Surfaces

Details have spilled forth into the world of a new Batman game, going by the title of Arkham Asylum.

This comes courtesy of US mag, Game Informer. A teaser image for the cover of the upcoming issue blurts the game's existence to the world. A few sentences of preview text tell us, "This completely original title explores Gotham City’s darkest location, the infamous Arkham Asylum. But as a routine prison transfer goes wrong, the Joker sets his demented plan into action and Batman comes face to face with an army of his worst enemies. In a dark and gritty setting reminiscent of Bioshock (with a story co-written by Paul Dini), Arkham Asylum is setting the stage for a true-to-character Batman game."

First things first, this is not a game based on The Dark Knight or the Batman movie universe. As SPOnG reported yesterday, such a game remains unconfirmed (although it almost certainly exists).

The game shares its name with one of the most famous Batman graphic novels ever produced, written by esteemed comics scribe Grant Morrison and rendered in creepy paintwork by Dave McKean. There's no word on whether the game follows the book, but given the graphic novel's heavy psychological focus SPOnG's resident comics (whoops 'graphic novels') nerd, Mark, suspects the game won't have much more in common with it than the title, characters and setting.

That said, reports suggest that the license for the game includes all 70 years of Batman's comics history, so hopefully the Arkham Asylum graphic novel will get a nod.

It is also rumoured that the game runs on the Unreal Engine 3.

SPOnG is encouraged by the involvement of Paul Dini. He currently writes Batman: Detective Comics and was one of the masterminds behind Batman: The Animated Series, not to mention having numerous other comics credits under his belt. He knows his stuff.

Batman: Arkham Asylum will reportedly be out in 2009 on PC, X 360 and PS3.

^{Sources: Game Informer
Gamers Daily News}