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The Mystery of Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham City Demo

Backmasked dialogue somehow doesn't instruct us to worship Satan in Batman's name (or vice versa).


Well, this Hugo Strange guy appears to be totally well-adjusted and normal. 
Well, this Hugo Strange guy appears to be totally well-adjusted and normal. 
When it comes to games that have been recently shown to the assembled press over the past few of weeks, two games are battling it out for the top topic of discussion: Battlefield 3 and Batman: Arkham City. BF3 was shown off at an event during the Game Developers Conference last week, and the Batman demo made its first appearance at a Microsoft event the week before that. I caught the demo there, and was pretty impressed... so much so that we went back to see the demo a second time during GDC (and shoot an interview that you'll see in a few days).

Along with that interview, you'll get a bit about the last bits of the GDC week demo, which weren't shown last week and I've apparently signed away my ability to talk to you about the new bits until Friday. But let's talk about one of the more interesting "old" bits. In the demo, Batman has an exchange with Catwoman. He's just saved her from Two-Face and he's about to save her again from Joker, who's rigged up a sniper rifle in a nearby bell tower. But between those two attempts on her life, there's time for a brief interrogation.

Batman asks about what the Joker's up to and what role Hugo Strange is playing in all of this. But he also asks about something--and this is the part that is presented as backwards audio in the demo--called "Protocol 10." Catwoman claims she's never heard of it, but speculates that Strange, as the guy that's in charge of Arkham City, has something big planned for Batman... and that maybe that's what this Protocol 10 is all about.

What's it mean? It means that Warner and Rocksteady still have plenty of things to reveal about the particulars of Arkham City. That shouldn't surprise you, but I have to admit that I was a little surprised by this weird little quirk in their demo... it's definitely the first time I've seen anything like this, and it made for a fun little game for me and my rudimentary audio editing skills. Of course, "Protocol 10" doesn't seem to turn up anything related to Batman online, and the Comic Vine team had nothing to add, either, so it's safe to assume that this is something new for the game and not something directly plucked from the books. So I suppose the mystery is still a mystery?

We'll have more with Rocksteady's Dax Ginn on Friday.    
Jeff Gerstmann on Google+

84 Comments

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televisionomy

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Edited By televisionomy

Mystery, I love it!

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aidros

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Edited By aidros

I think the bigger mystery is: What happened to Protocols 1 though 9?

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Example1013

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Edited By Example1013
@SuperJew: I got it. I just don't hate Steve Jobs, so, y'know, I wasn't about to make that joke.
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SuperJew

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Edited By SuperJew
@example1013: I was thinking a kind of stylized Steve Jobs.
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Electric_Zen

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Edited By Electric_Zen

So what was the new piece from the "final 10 seconds of the demo" that was embargoed until last Friday?

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ppcat517

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Edited By ppcat517

there better be a demo

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Cybexx

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Edited By Cybexx
@JeffGoldblum
@Cubical said:

" OH joy more of the worst 2nd Zelda game.  Wake me when there is a 3d link to the past or NES zelda with extra content.  "

wut. 
You know this is a Batman game article right?
No wait, this man's ramblings are onto something. He's possibly implying that as a sequel this game will disappoint most but be celebrated for its differences by a select few.

But jokes aside he's clearly crazy and meant to post this in the Master Quest news thread. Really crazy because Ocarina of Time was the 5th Nintendo Zelda game and totally crazy because that game is great. I think I can triangulate his craziness and get a point of origin, give me a bit of time.
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jeffgoldblum

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Edited By jeffgoldblum
@Cubical said:

" OH joy more of the worst 2nd Zelda game.  Wake me when there is a 3d link to the past or NES zelda with extra content.  "

wut. 
You know this is a Batman game article right?
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Cubical

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Edited By Cubical

OH joy more of the worst 2nd Zelda game. 
 
Wake me when there is a 3d link to the past or NES zelda with extra content. 

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DenizenofDespair

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Edited By DenizenofDespair

Can't wait for Arkham City to be released really looking forward to checking it out since I loved Arkham Asylum :)

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Bakaneko

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Edited By Bakaneko
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popmasterruler

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Edited By popmasterruler

Misleading title.I was hoping there's be news of a demo for the public.

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Mechanized

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Edited By Mechanized

I wonder if Hugo ever gives himself a stranger.

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xAbleAssassinx

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Edited By xAbleAssassinx
@Undeadpool said:
" @PossiblyKevin said:
" It's not just Hugo, round here people are strange! "
Only when you're a stranger. "
Ergh.
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Citizenking

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Edited By Citizenking

Awesome, i really enjoyed the first batman arkham game, this one will be much better!

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NegativeCero

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Edited By NegativeCero

But can I hang a dude off the ledge of a building to interrogate them?

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koolaid

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Edited By koolaid

Is it possible they said project titan instead of protocol 10?  I don't know if it was hard to understand and if it just sounded like protocol 10...

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Voxatron

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Edited By Voxatron

"Protocol 10" drug therapy? 

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Undeadpool

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Edited By Undeadpool
@PossiblyKevin said:
" It's not just Hugo, round here people are strange! "
Only when you're a stranger.
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Nomin

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Edited By Nomin
@example1013:  
Yes...someone who took one too much bite out of a poisoned Apple. 
 
Looks like Jeff got a case of viral marketing hype unfortunately...get well soon Jeff! 
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PossiblyKevin

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Edited By PossiblyKevin

It's not just Hugo, round here people are strange!

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Cirdain

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Edited By Cirdain
@brownsfantb said:
" Tell me about the numbers. "
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Example1013

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Edited By Example1013
@SuperJew said:
" If Hugo Strange was wearing a black turtle-neck and blue jeans... would he remind you guys of someone? "
Hipster Mr. Hyde?
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kennybaese

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Edited By kennybaese

My guess is Protocol 10 is something that Hugo Strange put in place to deal with Batman's entrance into Arkham City. Probably something to do with his capture. 

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kalmis

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Edited By kalmis
@DoctorLazy:  OK, except for that
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brownsfantb

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Edited By brownsfantb

Tell me about the numbers.

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SuperJew

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Edited By SuperJew

If Hugo Strange was wearing a black turtle-neck and blue jeans... would he remind you guys of someone?

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CastroCasper

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Edited By CastroCasper

I love shit like this. 

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veektarius

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@Deathpooky: I'm John McCain and I approve of this message.
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Pop

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Edited By Pop

Protocol 66 destroy all jedi :P yea I know it was order 66. maybe it's related to some other marvel thing? so in the arkham asylum or w/e story arc what happened to Robin? was there ever a Robin?

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LegalBagel

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Edited By LegalBagel

Protocol 10 rearranged is "Loco Port 10".  I'm guessing Hugo Strange is opening a new latin nightclub at Gotham's harbor district. 
 
Of course, it rearranged is also "Crop Tool 10" and "Color Top 10" so it's possible he's developing a devastating new image editing software or prop-based comedian.

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yevinorion

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Edited By yevinorion
@kalmis: Damn straight.
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DoctorLazy

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Edited By DoctorLazy
@kalmis: Batman Arkham City canceled in favor of new title, Aquaman: Municipal Pool.
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striderno9

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Edited By striderno9

Pretty awesome find Jeff, even if it's a bit vague, it's cool you went through the actual motions to try and figure it out, look at that, showing off some journalist cred ;)

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fillmoejoe

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Edited By fillmoejoe

Battlefield and Batman are all I want to play right now.

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kalmis

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Edited By kalmis

Any Batman news is good news

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MooseyMcMan

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Edited By MooseyMcMan

Neat.

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bungalowbill79

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Edited By bungalowbill79
@Yanngc33:  Well put
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deactivated-64b8656eaf424

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That's really weird that they would reverse that bit, since it doesn't actually mean anything to anyone who knows anything about Batman anyway.

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capt_ventris

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Edited By capt_ventris
@Alphazero said:
" I don't know about Protocol 10, but:  Protocol 1: Call up Poison Ivy and see if she wants to go get a churro  Protocol 4: Rearrange seating at dinner so you can only see Two Face's good side.Protocol 7: Realize that being a billionaire ninja playboy is pretty awesome and cheer the fuck up.  "
Protocol 3: Profit! 
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Edited By woodroez
@LOZZAT said:
" @OllyOxenFree said:

" WHAT DO THE NUMBERS MEAN, BATMAN?!? "

Russian Martian Batman's name is Viktor Reznov, and he will have his revenge!     "

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Yanngc33

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Edited By Yanngc33

DANANANANANANANANANANA BATMAN

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deactivated-6418ef3727cdd

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@MrKlorox said:
" @BadFeelingAboutThis said:

" Protocol 10 allows Batman to have stealth gameplay by literally turning invisible, but gamers forgive its garbage programming because of the excellent dialogue system. "

I get it. Because 10 in hexadecimal is A, which is of course Alpha in the Greek alphabet. I feel smarty ding dong. "
Ooooh nice one there!
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MrKlorox

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Edited By MrKlorox
@BadFeelingAboutThis said:

" Protocol 10 allows Batman to have stealth gameplay by literally turning invisible, but gamers forgive its garbage programming because of the excellent dialogue system. "

I get it. Because 10 in hexadecimal is A, which is of course Alpha in the Greek alphabet. I feel smarty ding dong.
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LOZZAT

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Edited By LOZZAT
@OllyOxenFree said:

" WHAT DO THE NUMBERS MEAN, BATMAN?!? "

Batman's name is Viktor Reznov, and he will have his revenge!    
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LOZZAT

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Edited By LOZZAT
@OllyOxenFree said:

" WHAT DO THE NUMBERS MEAN, BATMAN?!? "

Batman's name is Viktor Reznov, and he will have his revenge!

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rmanthorp

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Edited By rmanthorp  Moderator
@buft said:
" im sick waiting to see this video "
This is the greatest post.
 
HYPE!
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AmishCellPhone

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Edited By AmishCellPhone

Which is your favorite - Batman, Batman, or Batman?

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Edited By berva