Rocksteady Studios is developing Batman: Arkham Asylum for Eidos and Warner Bros. as a 1 player action game for that is scheduled for release on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC sometime in 2009.

“Batman: Arkham Asylum offers players the chance to battle Gotham’s worst villains with Batman’s physical and psychological strength in a graphically distinct and story-driven game. We look forward to working with Eidos on expanding DC Comics’ world-renowned character Batman in the game space with a noticeably different feature set in an incredibly dark interactive environment.”
Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

The game is built with the Unreal Engine 3 and most of the game uses the over-the-shoulder perspective with gameplay that is said to balance Batman’s role as a detective as well as his combat prowess. Eidos’ Batman license includes all 70 years of comic book fiction and has Paul Dini (Batman: The Animated Series, Detective Comics) in charge of the story.

“In Batman: Arkham Asylum Eidos and Warner Bros. are building a true action adventure game experience worthy of gamers and fans. Players become Batman, like he has never been seen before in a video game, as he fights through intense circumstances in Arkham Asylum utilizing his intuitive detective skills and aggressive melee attacks.”
Phil Rogers, CEO of Eidos Interactive

Voice acting has been hinted that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill will reprise their roles for the game. While not all has been revealed - some of the villians said to be in the game will include Joker, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Zsasz, Penguin, Riddler, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and Mr. Freeze.

Here are some screenshots from Rocksteady:

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“If ever there was a team we were destined to work with and a game we were destined to publish, this is it! Going beyond the brilliant concept, Blazing Lizard has shown us that their title will set a new high bar for gameplay and graphical expectations in downloadable console games.”Mike Wilson, Gamecock Media

Gamecock Media and developer Blazing Lizard are set to release Pirates vs. Ninjas™ Dodgeball for download via Xbox Live Arcade on September 3rd at a cost of 800 MS points ($10 USD).

The game consists of 4 teams - Pirates, Ninjas, Zombies and Robots, each with a unique special move, back-story and personality. There are two modes of play traditional and enhanced that can be played single player or multiplayer using Xbox LIVE.

• Traditional Dodgeball mode – This is the game you played in elementary school with the field split down the middle, there are no special moves and if you cross the line you are automatically forced back to your side of the field.

• Enhanced Dodgeball mode – Similar to the Traditional Dodgeball mode except with special moves, also there’s a three second timer before you are returned back to your side of the field.

Here is preview to the special moves that you will have at your disposal:

Gamecock Media produced this behind the scenes video:

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Codemasters and Blue Omega Entertainment have developed a new action game that takes place in an alternate history where the American Civil War didn’t end. This dark, immersive third-person shooter was built using a heavily modified Unreal Engine, looks impressive with large open environments, a lengthy campaign and full featured online multiplayer, the developers are promoting Damnation as a “shooter gone vertical”.

You will be able to play Damnation around the end of this year on the Playstation 3, Games for Windows and Xbox 360 platforms according to Codemasters. If you want to get a closer look at the game you should watch the following 2 minute trailer.

Creative director Ed Boon details how the upcoming fighter is able to blend two worlds in the upcoming fighting game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe and also shows off some of the spectacular moves a few of the fan favorite characters have at their disposal.  Midway plans on having this in stores this November for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Over three years in development Raven Software is nearing completion on the latest Wolfenstein, built with the id Tech 4 engine (formerly known as the “Doom 3 engine”) for the PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360 platforms.  The official release date has not been announced yet, but the official website displays the copyright for 2009, so don’t expect this to be on the shelves until early next year.

Here is the press release:

Wolfenstein™ – From id Software’s critically-acclaimed and multi-million unit selling Wolfenstein universe, which pioneered and defined the first-person action genre, comes the ultimate supernatural thriller. Set within a near-fictional, historical WWII setting, players take on the role of the heroic OSA agent BJ Blazkowicz as they are thrust into the unknown and unexpected to battle against combat troops, otherworldly forces, and the dark science created by a supernatural Nazi force hell-bent on world domination. Wolfenstein offers players an action-packed experience as they investigate the powers of a dark parallel dimension, join with resistance forces, and employ an arsenal of conventional and otherworldly weapons in attempts to annihilate the Nazi war machine. Ensuring a deep variety of action, Wolfenstein provides gamers with an assortment of interlinked missions that drive an intense, story-driven combat experience; while the Wolfenstein multiplayer experience continues the world-renowned tradition of class-based team objective gameplay with a full arsenal of conventional and supernatural weapons for addictive online warfare. (Xbox 360™, PS3, Windows® PC).E3 2008 Press Release

Check out the latest screenshots and teaser trailer for Wolfenstein.

Executive Producer Todd Howard demonstrated Fallout 3 gameplay during the Microsoft press conference at E3.  The demo takes place in Washington D.C. and briefly highlights a few of the weapons, Fat Man nuclear catapult, the VATS system, the PIP-Boy 3000, and combat with several enemies.  Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic action RPG is due October 7th for the PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360.

Ubisoft Romania Lead Game Designer Thomas Simon describes the gameplay experience that we can expect to find with the upcoming Tom Clancy’s HAWX due this fall for PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360.

If you enjoy sandbox style games then you may find you may find Mercenaries 2: World in Flames of interest. The game features include destructible environments, offline and online co-operative mode, an advanced fire effects engine and the Havok 4.5 physics engine. Look for it August 31st (September 5th in Europe) on PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PC & Xbox 360 platforms.

Lead designer Scott Warner introduces three different characters and play styles in Mercenaries 2: World in Flames in the following HD video.

Left 4 Dead puts four characters in a co-op apocalyptic setting where they must protect themselves against hordes of the Infected. With the developers behind CS:S, and running Valve’s Source engine expect this survival horror first person shooter to deliver the goods this November 4, 2008 on Xbox 360 and PC platforms. In the meantime check out screenshots and watch the game in action presented in HD.

Dan Hsu sat down with Cliff Bleszinski of Epic Games to discuss the upcoming Gears of War 2 multiplayer experience. This 16 minute special features in-game footage mixed throughout the video interview really sheds light on the improvements made to the online portion of game.

Details include the new 5v5 matches utilizing Xbox LIVE’s TrueSkill ranking system, the ability for friends to party up and play ranked games, host advantage, how achievments will be handled, the updated Gridlock, new battle cam view, the flamethrower, new characters and some of the new gameplay elements that are being introduced in Gears of War 2.

If you have any interest in the upcoming Gears, due this fall, then you really don’t want to miss this.

Here are the some of the latest images:

This is the bonus content from the upcoming Unreal Tournament 3: