I don't even know what's happening. Only that Kotaku revealed a big spoiler and people got mad.

@N7: Pretty much every gaming site has revealed the spoiler. Rocksteady placed it at the end of the demo for a reason, they want it to be known.

@Dallas_Raines: I haven't heard it yet. Makes me want to know what it was... But at the same time, the game comes out in just a little bit. :(

On the one hand, it's in the demo. But on the other, they've kept it from everyone and haven't really "mentioned" it publicly or implied it.

@N7:

Make sure to avoid any Batman previews and the frontpages of GamesRader and 1up then.

Why are people so fucking dumb?

1. No one stays dead in comics. Ever.

2. Rocksteady would not have revealed such an important story moment in a DEMO if it was truly the last we see of that character.

3. Who cares? It's a video game. There are far more important things in the world to be upset about.

Could be nothing, but people seem to be forgetting Quake 4. Devolopers and Publishers sometimes do dumb shit.

Seriously folks, why would the dev of one of the highly anticipated games of the year  purposely give away a spoiler like that before the game's release?...in a demo of all things?
 
1) If they put it in the demo they clearly wanted it to be seen and create buzz (check that off) 
2) Considering who the "spoiler" involves, you can't really trust it much anyway. 
 
That's like Cliffy B demo-ing the end of Act III in Gears 3 for the press for shtis and giggles.

I think developers should shut up when it comes to critical plot points about their games.

@hbkdx12 said:

Seriously folks, why would the dev of one of the highly anticipated games of the year purposely give away a spoiler like that before the game's release?...in a demo of all things? 1) If they put it in the demo they clearly wanted it to be seen and create buzz (check that off) 2) Considering who the "spoiler" involves, you can't really trust it much anyway. That's like Cliffy B demo-ing the end of Act III in Gears 3 for the press for shtis and giggles.

Exactly this. It's a very clever ploy that every one is falling for it seems.

So who dies then?

If it's in the demo shown to the press with no embargo, it is most certainly going to be reversed soon after. It's not a big deal; all for one last big Arkham City-gasm before release.

Duh, the thing that happens is obviously a trick. I'm not even a huge Batman fan, but yo guess what: that joker is pretty untrustworthy. duh

What a massive spoiler!!!    I should I cancel my Amazon preorder immediately!!!   I am 100% sure DC and WB would let Rocksteady kill off one of the most popular villains not only in Batman comics or the DC Universe but of all time.   
Dying in comic books for major characters is the equivalent of losing a loser gets fired match in pro wrestling.

Look, I don't give a flying fuck if its a "trick" or even a minor spoiler: the fact is, Rocksteady nearly ruined the entire fucking first game for me because they went overboard with revealing which villains were in the game and all that jazz. There's minimal surprise, and the fact they're doing it YET AGAIN is fucking disappointing.

I've been trying really hard to go into this game knowing nothing about it; however, when EVERY SINGLE gaming website has a main article with the title of "VILLAIN X HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED" it completely ruins any surprise the game could've had. This is just even more shit getting ruined.

And even if its a trick, that just makes it worse. What could've been "OH SHIT the Joker really just did?" is now just "Yeah, well everyone already knows this is a trick" There goes all the surprise of that scene.

Its the same thing as when Gordon died in Akham Asylum. They showed it on G4TV, but they even said "Not everything is what it seems" It ruined that moment in the game for me too.

All the small details add up to an atmospheric game. When half that shit is ruined, even if its the developers' own fault for doing so, it pisses me off and brings me out of the game.

And before someone says "lol you mad" yes I am pretty mad. I'm not foaming at the mouth, but its such a damn shame they're willing to ruin so much of their game yet again. The first game I had an amazing time with, but that was also coupled with many moments of "Well I'm glad this part was ruined in a trailer"

Rant over.

If Rocksteady is ready to reveal it, it means in the grand scheme of things it is an insignificant event.

Bioware did that with Mass Effect 2 in regards of the opening. Fans raged. No real consequence. Suffice to say...

PR people are smart. They're good at their jobs. Relax.

I honestly couldn't give two shits about spoilers in any medium, especially ones as minor as this.

The least they could have done is put up a spoiler warning or something.

Whether it's a "big spoiler" or "small spoiler" doesn't matter to me. Developers and publishers need to learn a little bit about having some fucking restraint when promoting their games.

So, which websites am I having to avoid?

Kotaku. Destructoid.

1up? Gamesradar?

This is really fucked up, I've heard that the spoiler is RIGHT IN THE HEADLINE on Kotaku. I don't even visit these shitty websites, but it's nice to have a warning and especially if they continue this practice in the future.

Is this plot spoiler going to be spoiled by Brad in the next Bombcast? Weekend Confirmed?

Do I need to live like an Internet hermit now?

Video games are srs business.

Is this plot spoiler going to be spoiled by Brad in the next Bombcast? Weekend Confirmed?

Do I need to live like an Internet hermit now?

Pretty obvious that specific deaths in story's should be warned to readers before-hand. Can't believe people have to be told this, I'm sure WB thought it was common sense even though they said they could write about it.

All this did was make people go into "media blackout" when their anticipated game are nearing, aka no more page views for these dumbass "journalists".

Did Batman died?

PROFESSOR SNAPES KILLS BATMAN!

@Mentalnova said:

Pretty obvious that specific deaths in story's should be warned to readers before-hand. Can't believe people have to be told this, I'm sure WB thought it was common sense even though they said they could write about it.

All this did was make people go into "media blackout" when their anticipated game are nearing, aka no more page views for these dumbass "journalists".

Not as many people actually do that as you think they do.

@familyphotoshoot said:

Why are people so fucking dumb?

1. No one stays dead in comics. Ever.

2. Rocksteady would not have revealed such an important story moment in a DEMO if it was truly the last we see of that character.

3. Who cares? It's a video game. There are far more important things in the world to be upset about.

1. This is not a comic book, it's a video game. Same source material, different adaptations. I think everyone would be pretty pissed if this had happened with a movie, but hey, double standards. Also, Ben Parker.

2. Still, people like me have been purposefully avoiding everything related to this game. It's not that uncommon for gamers to do that, really. Kotaku should have been polite enough to inform that they would be revealing an important plot point inside the article, regardless of whether the developer allowed them or not to do it. Putting that information in the title of the article, which in turn can be seen in the front page of their website, is a dick move.

3. You care enough to waste your time making a list on a video game website to prove that complaining about something on a video game website is "fucking dumb". Pot meet kettle, double standards again and all that.

I think the fact that they revealed it so early means it's more of a swerve than an actual spoiler. We can all comfortably assume that where there is Batman, there will be certain characters, death be damned.

Well it is fucked.
If I played the game and saw Joker die then and not read about it beforehand, that'd be awesome to experience and won't make you think "pr stunt!" when it happens.
But since its laid on so thick, it's bound to be a story twist which now everyone expects.
 
I mean, kill off the Joker, perhaps the best known Bat villian, its logical as there are loads of other baddies this time.
And after Joker's show in AA, he's not ready for the spotlight again without it becoming cliche.
But to have him return at the end, again, like the unkillable clown he is, that'd be great.
 
But not now that I'm expecting it.

I don't like spoilers but this doesn't seem like one. This seems on par with Bioware telling people Shepard dies in the beginning of Mass Effect 2. If it was a legit spoiler they wouldn't have shown it.

I don't think they should have revealed that. I guess it worked as a PR stunt, cause everyone is talking about it, but I think I would've prefered not knowing.

One of the most memorable moment in the first Mass Effect for me was Saren killing Nihlus 30 minutes into the game. Nihlus was presented as an important character and I thought he was going to be in the whole game. Seeing him die was not only a shock, but it was also the best introduction possible to Saren's character. All that would've fallen flat had I known from the start. Just because it happens in the first hour doesn't mean it's okay to ruin a plot twist.

You know what, it was stupid for them to show it. I'm not mad at the press for talking about, and I'll get to the why later. I think most places could have handled it better, but I can't get piss at them for mentioning it. I am pissed at the developer for thinking it would be a good idea to show it. I get that the idea was to create hype around the game, but this game didn't need it. People were interested already. 
 
If you paid attention to the trailers then you probably noticed that the Joker looked like he was ready to keel over and die. The fact that he dies wouldn't be that much of a shocker. However, hearing that he dies in the first couple of hours should not have been exposed. If I didn't know about it, I would be thrown for a loop when I reached that part in the game. I would sit there and wonder what comes next and that would entice me to keep playing because I want to see what the real story here is. That is the hook of the story. It blindsiding me is what pulls me in. Telling me the hook before it happens deadens the effect. I'm still interested in the story, but not to the degree that I would be if I had experienced it myself.
 
Do you want to know who did this sort of twist right? Hideo Kojima with Metal Gear Solid 2. For something like two years we saw footage of that game and all we knew about it was that you played as Snake on a boat. When it came out the entire world was completely surprised by the fact that two hours in you stopped playing as Snake. Snake was apparently dead, Ocelot got away, and now you are playing as this Raiden character in some area you had no clue would even exist. And all that stuff that was totally unknown to you is the bulk of the game. That twist blew my mind. It jerked the rug out from under me and took the plot in a very unexpected direction.
 
Now, would this Joker bit has as much of an impact as the MGS2 one? Maybe not. This doesn't turn everything on it's head quite as much. But did they sacrifice would could have been a real stand out moment in the game? Probably. They sort of robbed us of a "What now?" type moment of bewilderment. At first I thought people were overreacting to this spoiler, but I'm starting to understand the outrage a bit more. But, like I said, I can't be mad at the press for talking about it. If they saw a demo for MGS2 that ended in you playing as a new character in a new setting they would have reported on that. They would probably have made that a headline. In my eyes, the blame falls on Rocksteady.

It turns out that Bruce Wayne was Batman all along!

Okay, even if it's insignificant in the grand scheme of things though, we're drawing that conclusion largely *because* it's been revealed this way. Had the devs left this a surprise, we still would've had more out of that moment, even if it didn't mean anything next to the story as a whole.

It doesn't matter what *part* of the story you're spoiling, a lot of people simply want the whole story to be properly experienced. I agree that it probably doesn't matter/is a trick, but wouldn't it still have been better for it to be part of the experience?

Hilarious. ha ha.

Yes, this is obviously not all there is to it. That's the reason though that it's a spoiler. If that wasn't in the demo I would not automatically know that there wasn't more to it than that. If I'd run across it in game with no pretense I might legitimately think that the spoiler is 100% legit since Mark Hamill is quitting and such. But since I know now that it's in the demo that in and of itself is a spoiler.

Definitely hilarious.

Where is the both option?

How big a spoiler is this anyway compared to, say, the first KoToR or Bioshock? Is it even up there?

@familyphotoshoot:

A little bit of both. It's over the top, but I wouldn't want any story beats spoiled for me no matter how early it is or if the developer thinks it's fine.

When it comes to Kotaku, any chance to get the boot in.

I think it is a little of both because it may not be a big deal but having spoilers in a headline is just bad journalism.